Air Warrrior

Prince Christopher

My nerves grew as I approached the training grounds. Claire gave my hand a gentle squeeze, "Don't worry sweetie, you are going to do great. I'll meet you in your room later this afternoon." She nodded as we parted ways. 

"Ah, good. I see Lady Claire has taken good care of you." His voice startled me and caused me to jump a little. I turned towards the voice, Prince Christopher.

I fell into a curtsey, "Your majesty." I shook my head in agreement, "yes, she has been very kind to me, thank you." 

"Please, when we are alone call me Christopher. There is no need to curtsey, you are a guard in training now, I shall treat you as my equal." He smiled revealing his dimple. "Shall we begin?"

We walked a little farther into the open field, there were practice dummies, targets and an arrangement of different training equipment scattered around. "So, you said your father taught you to use your powers, did he teach you to fight as well?" He said with is back to me.

"Yes, well... sort of." I questioned myself, which made him laugh a little. He turned to face me, and the sun reflected on his eyes making them glimmer.

"What exactly does that mean." He chuckled.

"Well, he taught me to use the air to strengthen my punches and kicks_" Before I could say anything else I saw his drop into a fighting stance and put his hands up. They were taped up and cover with cloth.

"Show me." He nodded as he moved towards me. I gave him a confused look as he took another step towards me. I shook my head; I couldn't fight him... he was the prince. 

"I_I can't." I backed away. He smiled as he lunged forward, hitting me softly in the arm. He raised his eyes brows and flashed me a smile. He took another swing, this time I stepped back to avoid him. I nodded as I put my hands up. We sparred back and forth for a while. He connected a few punches on my body and arms. He was quick on his feet and even with him holding back, I could feel how strong he was.

 My father had taught me how to protect myself and how to find the weakness of my opponent. I am average height for a female but, most of the warriors are men so, they had a size advantage. He told me it didn't matter how big or strong my opponent was, that everyone had a weakness. All I had to do was find it and I could defeat them. I studied his movements, I narrowed my eyes and smiled when I saw it. He was right-handed but, he was favoring his left side. I just had to wait for him to swing with his left and then go for it.

I baited him towards me allowing him to take a few jabs at me, he surprised me when we kicked my leg causing me to stumble. I dropped to a crouch, extending one leg as I spun around guiding the air towards my foot as I sweep his legs out from under him.

He fell with a grunt. I stood up quickly... shit. A smile spread across his face, "now it's on". 

He got to his feet and lunged at me again. I dodge it but he came at me again. This was my chance; I could see him shifting his left arm back getting ready to swing. I waited for him to pull back after he hit me and took a deep breath, letting the air fill my body. I let it flow down my right hand and pushed the air outward at this chest. I watched as he flew back with a scream. He landed with a loud thud that was followed quickly by groaning.

"Oh god!" I ran to him crouching next to him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. Are you okay?" 

A wave of relief washed over me when I heard his laugh. "Damn, I guess now I know not to fuck with you." He sat up slowly and I plopped down next to him. I could feel his eyes studying me as I stared at my hands. "Hey." He bumped my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm fine. You did great. You're a strong fighter."

"For a girl?" I scuffed.

"No. For a warrior in training. I'm not going to treat you any different or go easy on you just because you are a girl." His voice was serious.

"But you were holding back... I could feel it." I looked at him from the side of my eye. 

"Yeah, because you have no armor on, not because you are a girl." I looked at him surprised by his answer. "And don't try and tell me you didn't hold back because I am the Prince." He said as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Maybe a little." I let a laugh escape my lips and he smiled. "You are right-handed..." I started to speak, as I stared at his hand. "But you favor your left side. Why?" I met his eyes when I asked him.

"My shoulder is still recovering. When you saved me the other day, I landed on my shoulder, and it popped out of place_"

"I didn't mean to hurt you... I'm so sorry Chris." I hugged my knees to my chest.

"No one's called me Chris in a long time." He chuckled as he grabbed my hand. "I know you didn't, I meant it when I said I owed you my life Sky. Wounds heal but, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." He got to his feet and held his hand out. "Come on."

I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet as if I weighed nothing. "Where are we going?"

He flashed me a smile and started jogging away, "You're training isn't over my lady!" I heard him laughing as kept running. I smiled a little as I took off after him.