...
A familiar pull removes Ashes from the bed. Phi'lip once again drags her out from it. She lands on the ground and lies her back against the wall.
''Tsc, remind me how'ye convinced me to let'ye stay 'ere.'' - He moves past her, to reach under his bed and change his dirty boots for clean ones.
''Oww... I liked you more when you helped me get up, instead of pushing me down.'' - She gets up and cleans her face with her hand, speaking with a much deeper and rougher voice than normal.
''Stop complainin', wake already, Máistir Sano must be done with ye sword by now.'' - He throws a leather bag towards her.
''What is this?'' - She asks and immediately opens it. A thing she recognizes quite well, elven bread. Her eyes light up just by the sight of it- ''Where did you even get these?''
''Athair brought it on his way back from Chambéry market, said he'd never seen it before. I didn't quite like the taste but-'' - As he speaks, she is already munching on the bread.
It's lightly sweet, soft and fluffy, regular bread was more bland and tougher, though better for mixing up with more ingredients. Elven bread is usually eaten by itself, those certainties appeared in her mind the moment she smelled the bread from the bag. Though the baking process isn't wildly different than regular bread, the few changes make it so even regular bread enjoyers might not like the elven variant.
''It feels like i have not eaten one of those in ages...'' - She keeps munching on them, speaking with a full mouth.
''Okay... didn't think ye'd like 'em that much.'' - He moves towards the door. - ''Máistir Sano is waiting for us, aye. Eat on the way.
''Fine.'' - She agrees quickly, as if she's just finding excuses for him to leave her alone eating her sweet breakfast.
They leave Boulder's house and walk towards Sano's backyard, a straight path moving left from the house. The village doesn't have too much movement, only a couple of people walking around. Yet the air is just as fresh as yesterday, clear skies.
Sano's house is not as big as the Bask's from the front, but as they walk around the house and get to the backyard, that's something else entirely. A big open area with a couple of roofs being held up by thin wooden pillars, metal bars and other forging materials are scattered around, a nice open area lies behind it all, a calming view for a workspace. Closer to the back of the house itself, Sano is smacking his hammer into iron, on top of a small anvil, molding it into a spearhead.
''Maidin, Máistir Sano, where is Iris?'' - Phi'lip approaches the man, gesturing a greeting with his hand.
''Wish-a-knew.'' - He finishes smacking the hammer and with a crude metallic plier, picks up the red hot iron and submerge it in a bucket full of water. - ''I imagine ya'll here to get her svord? 'Tis done already. I'll fetch it.''
Sano is not as old as Ashes expected him to be, a couple of years older than she is, at most. Yet he has that ''younger than he looks'' appearance, as if degraded earlier than it should, perhaps due to the line of work, she imagines. He wears similar clothes to the people of the village, with the exception of his oil-tanned hide parts. A thick black apron, gloves and headwrap. She can't quite see his hair, but the bulge on the headwrap makes her think it might be long.
He pulls the spearhead out from the water and sets it back on the small anvil, then walks over to the house wall and unravels a blanket, revealing a couple of finished weapons. He picks a sword protected by a leather sheath, connected to a leather belt. Although covered in soot and coal, the leatherwork is a fine job.
He handsit, all wrapped by the belt. When she holds it, she almost immediately lets go of it.
''Ah! It is heavier than i thought...'' - She says, awkwardly readjusting the sword's weight around her arms.
''Good svords are heavy.'' - He then tilts his head, noticing how wrong she's holding the blade. - ''D'ye 'ven know how to use it?''
''Not really...'' - Ashes replies with a lower volume, almost talking to herself more than anything.
''Nae, but she'll have the best swordsman in town to teach 'er!'' - Phi'lip pulls his own sword in a flash, a trick that seems to always impress Ashes, one moment she can't even see the thing, the other, it's already pointed at her.
''Aye. But i thought Máistir Seán was away.'' - Sano taunts him with a grin on his face.
''Heh. That's funny.'' - Phi'lip speaks with a sarcastic giggle. - ''Anyway, let's get going Ashes, i've got a spot to train swords.''
''Aye!'' - She replies, getting closer to the way they speak. Sano lets out a loud, dry laugh as she attempts to mimick them.
While leaving, Ashes straps the leather belt, with the sword in the sheath. Though with a certain level of difficulty, she eventually makes it. Phi'lip only observes with a side-eye, letting the girl figure out how to put it on herself.
They walk to the back of the Bask's house, where a bunch of ''targets'' lie. Cloth tied in a human-like shape, set in place by wooden planks. Some of them are cut open, filled with leaves, smaller sticks and straw.
''It's like a real training camp...'' - Ashes starts walking around, looking at every one of the dummies, the arrow targets, the the wooden shelf holding different weapons.
''Quite easy to set up, maybe i'll teach'ye how to make'em.'' - He traces his hand over one of the dummies, showing how sturdy they are, even if he pinches and pulls, it stands. - ''So, show me what ye've got, hit 'em.''
As Phi'lip gets out of range, Ashes pulls the sword from the sheath, slow and clumsy, she doesn't pull the sword out in one go, it's too heavy for her and she loses strength right before the sword reaches the end of the sheath. When she finally pulls it out, she holds it with both hands, trembling slightly, struggling to point it straight into one of the dummies.
She makes her first move, her feet all wrong, giving close to no weight to the draw, the downwards cut she does seems to gently kiss the target, not even giving enough kinetic energy to bounce back, it just goes in and stays there, not because it gets stuck, but because it doesn't even get in.
She pulls it and tries again, a stab this time, and somehow-
''Somehow ye miss the stab on a actually immobile target... Wow...'' - The attempted stab doesn't even connect, the sword slowly points down until she hits it in the ground. It feels far heavier than it should be, in her head, holding it and waving it shouldn't be so different, however merely holding it, seems fine. Still heavy, but fine. Yet the moment she makes a move, any move... it all crumbles and she can't wield it properly.
''Shut up!'' - She yells, starting to lose her temper. She knows how terrible it seems, Phi'lip's criticism have less room to mess around this time.
''Aye, that's enough-'' - He walks towards her as she starts winding up another strike, grabbing the blade before she puts any strength into it. ''Repeating mistakes won't help'ye.''
As she softens her grip, he pulls the sword into him, easily disarming her. He spins it around, with apparent trouble, takes the handle into his hands and give it a slow spin around, testing it's weight against the wind.
''Well damn, It really is heavy...'' - Ashes gets a spark of a smile, thinking maybe it isn't all her fault after all. ''Nae, i kid you. 'Tis about the same as mine'' - He starts throwing the sword from one hand to the other, shamelessly displaying how unbothered he is about the weight, the one thing that seems to be holding her back.
''Are you purposefully trying to make me feel bad?'' - She tells him with a serious tone, a blank face and crossed arms.
He stops displaying his movements for a second, then spinning around, handing her a different sword, one she didn't even see until now. ''Ye think so lowly of me? Use this one for now, it's lighter. Will do just fine for practice. Not to mention ye're not quite on the healthy side yet.''
The sword she picks from him really is quite lighter, feels faster too, though it is half a hand shorter and thinner, also blunt. Looking at her own wrists, she realises he's right, she is still malnourished, she has been eating well in the past days she'd forgotten less than a week before, she could barely walk. While making fast, good progress in restoring physical fortitude, time is still a necessary component.
''You've an idea of how to use it proper?'' - He asks, pointing at the sword he gave her.
''Stick them with the pointy end?'' - She stabs the air between them.
''Aye, good enough. Now let's start, Lady Ashes.'' - He raises a similar sword from his back. Seriously, how does he do that?, she thinks to herself. His sword-spawning is starting to scare her at this point.
She raises her sword, at first mimicking him, but slowly defaulting into a different position, the handle lowered to one side, with the tip pointed at the other side. While Phi'lip stands with offensive stance, pointing the tip in her direction, as one would do with a spear. While her stance looks good, he feet are not following through, as if she'd forgotten the half of the position, a mimicry her body still remembered, however incomplete.
She prepares the slash, figuring whoever strikes first has a higher chance of winning. The tip of the blade quickly turns left, while the handle stays almost stuck in place, she takes a step forward, starting to move te blade from the side into Phi'lip, a wide cleaving attack with all her might.
And yet he just stands there most most of it, right before the sword connects, he slaps it away with the side of his blade, using the momentum of throwing his arm to the right to press his right foot down and raise the left one, landing a full blown kick right into her stomach.
She loses air, sight gets blurry, her hand drops the sword and goes into her chest, trying to calm herself down. He keeps pressing forward, this time with sword coming into her face from an downwards slash.
She sees the blade coming in slow motion, she barely rolls to the side, still struggling to breathe. She recalls the campfire training, how Phi'lip made her struggle until failure. Forcing her to adapt, think outside the obvious path and against all odds, make it happen anyway.
The next strike comes at her, and her hands are still empty and she is still with her back to the ground. In a clumsy effort, she lifts herself from the ground moving backwards, they move in a way that her sword is between them, and he's holding his foot on top of it, as if saying 'what now?'
She looks down at the sword, then up at him. Suddenly she dashes directly towards him. He's taken by surprise by her boldness, but she's still unarmed, taking her down will be quite easy-
''FUCK!'' - He screams, scratching his eyes with his left hand.
When she was getting up, she snatched some of the dirt from the ground, and she'd thrown it into his eyes.
While unable to see, she gets her sword from the ground and manages to land a strike on him, hitting his head on the left side. Though the sword is blunt, it's still metal.
Phi'lip goes on a backwards dash, swinging his sword blindly left and right, still effectively blinded due to the dirt in his eyes. When he gets the dirt off his eyes, he looks around slowly, blinking rapidly, yet she's nowhere to be seen.
She walks slowly behind him, ready to strike again, but from the back. Yet he turns around with the same stance as before, their blades connect and he walks towards her. When he gets close enough, their shoulders meet and he rams her backward.
His leg quickly moves behind her own and she falls again. When she opens her eyes after the fall, his blade is already at her neck, the cold steel pressing her skin.
''Smart move, I'll give'ye that. But ye'should've pressed on right away.'' - He pulls back his sword an point it backwards, holding a reverse grip on it. He leans in, extending his hand to help her get back up.
''Yes... However, i thought that by getting a precise hit on your head from the back might have-''
''Nae, ye just needed to stick me with the pointy end. Said it yerself, aye?'' - He chuckles after she's pulled up.
''You were swinging around like a madman! I'd never connect the stab.''
''Ye micht've, but didn't try. I was surprised by the dirt, could have surprised me with a calm strike through my swings too.'' - He passes his hand on the spot she hit him with, it doesn't bleed, but he makes a painful face as he feels it with his fingers. - ''Got me nice and clean though. Still lost, so ye've own me a favour, aye?''
''Tsc, aye.'' - She rolls her eyes, starting to push him towards the village again. - ''You shall tend to that, yes?''
''Máistir Ewan will take care of me, don't worry.''
As he mentions Ewan is the one that will look into his wound, she frowns.
''Of course...''
''What's between you two anyway? Look like cat and dog, seriously. Ye're scared of him, he scared of ye, i mean, really? What am i supposed to-'' - She stops him, turning her head sideways in confusion.
''He's... Scared of me?''
''Aye he is, dafty. Man's been avoiding ye like the eel.'' - Avoiding like the eel? Really? what the hell is that even supposed to mean? She thinks to herself, crossing her arms.
''And why would he be doing that? How'd even know about it?''
''Ye crep him out or somethin', I dunno, that's what Iris told me anyway.'' - He goes back to moving.
''And how would Iris know that?'' - She stops him again.
''How'm i supposed to know? I'm not-'' - Before he finishes, she completes his sentence for him.
''-Omniscient.''
''Aye, yeah, whatever. Ask her. Or him for that matter. Now can we keep moving? This thing is starting to hurt.'' - He passes his finger around his wound in the head, yet when he brings it down to look, his fingers are covered in blood. - ''Great...''
''Ah shit!'' - She says with a concerned face, raising her hands in the air, unsure of what to do.
''Aye, ah shit indeed, i've go to see Ewan, pain's getting worse.''
...
Ewan's hut is quite far from the center, where the well is. The hut has a triangular-esque form, though not pointy, it looks less stable than the other houses, and completely unaffected by the recent fire, something that immediately makes Ashes suspicious about him, again. They open the door right away.
''Máistir Ewan, I've got a pretty bad head inju-'' - Phi'lip's jaw goes slack, for his sight curses him. ''Ah hell nae.''
''Just what the fuck is going on here?'' - Ashes is just as shocked and disturbed.
Both Ewan and Iris are sat with their backs to each other, completely naked, inside a scribbled circle in the ground that covers them. The text written alongside the circle is familiar to her, but still unintelligible.
Phi'lip walks towards them, but he right before he can cross the circle, a flash of light jumps, from one of the words written down the circle, towards his face. A voice erupts, not from Iris or Ewan, but the circle.
''One ought refrain from interjecting.''
Both Phi'lip and Ashes glance at each other in a mix of confusion, afraidness, curiosiy, and in Phi'lip's case, just plain pain.
...