5 Ash 121
Zaichaer, Outskirts
Vanessa's first strike against Aria was easily parried, the older mentor bringing her blade up, blocking with the flat of it, and then guiding Vanessa's momentum off to the side. Vanessa had put much of her strength into the strike, and so she was easily guided away from her path. Aria moved like water, while Vanessa more resembled a particularly obstinate bull.
bringing her blade up, Aria made for a matador's stab at Vanessa's back, but the bodyguard was too quick. Twisting herself off to the side and bringing her blade back up just in time to catch the woman's strike, Vanessa batted the sword so it merely grazed her side. Even in a proper fight, her armor would have prevented any serious damage, and so the bout continued.
Vanessa stepped into Aria, using her sword arm to quickly snap around Aria's outstretched one. Aria was quick to pull back, noticing the over-extension before Vanessa had, but her wrist was caught under Vanessa's armpit. The training blade was pressed against Vanessa's back, but there was no room to get any momentum for a proper hit.
Since Vanessa was left handed and Aria right, both were left more or less unarmed in this moment, but Vanessa was the first one to try to take advantage. She brought her head back, and then slammed her forehead against Aria's cheek in a fierce headbutt. She had been aiming for the nose, but Aria had seen the assault coming a mile away. The hit was solid, and Aria sucked air through her teeth.
“Stop announcing your intents a year in advance and one might land.” Aria said, now stepping into Vanessa, hip to hip. She crossed her leg over the back of Vanessa's, and with a swift tug and shifting of weight tripped the woman over her hip and sent her crashing to the ground like a dropped stone.
The world spun, and Vanessa saw only sky for a moment before pain shot across her back when she struck what remained of the tower's stone floor. Bringing her blade around, she was still able to block Aria's almost dismissive chop towards her neck. She rolled to the side, rising up to one knee, but Aria was upon her again. The strikes came swiftly, each one aimed for Vanessa's chest or head. Vanessa was able to block some of them, but took one in her right arm that would have been particularly grisly were these blades not for training. Grisly was not deadly, and so the bout continued.
Vanessa weighed her options, few as they were. She needed a moment to breathe, but that required an opening Aria was not keen on providing. Vanessa then ratcheted her blade back like a bludgeon, and swung hard for Aria's wrist.
The flat of the blade met Aria's gloved hand, and a pained, reflexive cry of “You fucking bitch!” resounded as Aria recoiled her hand away. The opening was there, Vanessa seized it. She launched up from her kneeling position like a spring and crashed into Aria's chest, and she brought her mentor down.
Vanessa's blade crossed Aria's throat, but then she felt the other woman's side sword pressed firmly up against her stomach. Gods, but she was quick.
“Salt and Storms.” Vanessa groaned, rising off of Aria and then helping her mentor up to her feet.
“Not bad, all things considered.” Aria said, brushing some of the dirt from her shirt and pants. She removed her glove to inspect the damage Vanessa had done. The fingers weren't inflamed, and she could still bend at each joint, so a nasty bruise was most likely. “For a bodyguard, going one-for-one with a threat is still a success, as far as your employer is concerned.”
"What about as far as you're concerned?" Vanessa replied with a smile.
"If you've got nothing else? At least take the bastard down with you." Aria shrugged.
The sparring continued, round after round. Vanessa no nearer to defeating Aria and surviving than her first attempt. Her strategies shifted, and the gears turned in her mind, but she yet lacked the skills to properly enact them. Aria was too smart to be overwhelmed by sheer offense, and bout after bout ended with Vanessa as the loser.
The losses stung, but they rung in her mind. Vanessa was clever, and never let herself fall prey to the same trick more than once. When Vanessa was defeated with a swift slice right against her femoral artery, never again did she over extend her stance. When Aria jammed her sword up into Vanessa's armpit, the bodyguard then kept her guard closer and was more attentive to half-swording.
Each new bruise was a lesson, the blooming pain the ink in which it was written.
This simply meant Aria continued to find new ways to defeat Vanessa, but even her mentor could see the connections beginning to form in her trainee's mind. It made Aria proud, yet only seemed to encourage her to push Vanessa harder. So long as Vanessa was willing, Aria would not presume she was done.
“One more” Vanessa said, pushing herself up off of the ground and retrieving the sparring sword after having been so easily disarmed.
“One more.” Aria agreed, and took her place a few strides away from Vanessa. Unlike Vanessa, Aria looked seldom worse for the wear, aside from her labored breathing. She minded not the bruises nor the aches, while Vanessa was clearly running on fumes.
With ragged breathing, sword slipping and foot placement all wrong, Vanessa still insisted on one last stand. 'Enough' had never been a word that suited her anyway.
This time, Vanessa let Aria come to her as the fight began, keeping distance from her mentor and only parrying strikes when necessary. For a time, it worked, slapping away blows or blocking them with the outside of her arm, and there was a moment that Vanessa could see herself emerging victorious.
But Aria came for her like the tide, and Vanessa was not yet the rocks of the eternal shore.
Aria's assault never wavered, always striking precisely where Vanessa's guard was not, and forcing the younger woman to adjust to her tempo. Aria controlled where Vanessa was at all times, directing her left, right, backwards and forwards with precise application of pressure. Even so, she was not toying with her student.
For so long, Vanessa had survived on cunning and brute force, but Aria knew the enemies she would now face would not be overcome so easily. There would be blades in the dark, collared government mages, and mobs undeterred by Vanessa's dire reputation. Aria may not have known precisely why Vanessa had been hired by a powerful family, but she was not foolish enough to believe it was merely her skill.
She would need to be prepared.
The dance continued, and Vanessa's endurance dragged. Her moves came now a half second too late. Clean parries became messy blocks, and decent blocks slipped into near misses, Aria's blade drawing uncomfortably close to Vanessa's body. Vanessa fruitlessly searched for an opening, but the only ones provided were the ones Aria allowed for, goading Vanessa into going on the offensive only for Aria to quickly re-establish control.
After a few more minutes of testing Vanessa, Aria ended the duel by first feinting a strike, and then surging forward the second Vanessa committed to the block. Aria brought her sword around in a half-moon arc, and slammed it against the side of Vanessa's head, and the bodyguard screamed, dropping her weapon in a clatter to the ground.
Her ears rang, and her vision shocked white for a moment. Vanessa recovered well, but still stumbled backwards and clutched to the stones for support. Aria tossed her sword aside and was inspecting the wound in a moment, brushing Vanessa's hair out of the way. The skin hadn't broken, but it was certainly going to swell into a proper goose egg. It was fortunate that it wouldn't be visible with Vanessa's utter mop of hair to cover it.
“You did well,” Aria noted truthfully.
“Like hell.” Vanessa retorted, shaking her head to try and clear her mind. Even just that seemed to make the world spin, though, nausea taking her.
“What, just because you lost? You're losing now so you don't lose when it matters.”
She was right, of course. Everyone was so damnably right. That didn't make the loss any easier to swallow. Each time Vanessa failed now, it was not merely her own life she saw hanging in the balance, but Anton's as well. Foolishness or stupidity could take her, she had cast that lot decades ago, but she would not let herself endanger Anton. Each failure was a stinging, painful reminder that she needed to be better.
“Aye.” Vanessa finally replied, nodding her head and forcing herself to believe it. She pushed herself away from the ruined wall and offered her hand to Aria. “Thank you. For everything”
Aria took it, and pulled Vanessa in for a one armed hug, which was graciously returned. “Any time, girl. Same time next week?”
Vanessa nodded, and replied tiredly “Promise I'll be here afore the sun.”
“Don't make promises you can't keep. Just gets you into trouble.” Another laugh shared between them, and Aria clapped Vanessa on the back. “Go on then. Get a damn bath before you show up for guard duty. Your ward will appreciate it.” Then Aria begun packing her things, tucking the swords into their scabbards and then into a sack.
The guns were next, given only slightly more care than the swords. She stuffed them into the brace, and then merely tossed them into the same pack as the swords. While some treated firearms with reverence, Aria scarcely seemed to consider them better than tools.
The two bid one another farewell, and Vanessa made her way back to the still waiting carriage. It was one of the ones employed by the Michaelis estate, but still she felt compelled to toss the well dressed driver a few silvers as thanks for waiting. He looked at the tip confusedly as Vanessa heaved herself into the carriage and slumped down into her seat. “To the bath house.” There was a pause before she added, begrudgingly, “If you please.”
“Of course, Miss Quill.”
The carriage rattled on down the path back towards the city, and Vanessa couldn't keep herself from falling asleep.
