Sparring

"Ugh!...son of a..." Mika landed on her ass again for the tenth time.

"I distinctly remember my mother telling you to "teach me" hand to hand combat not for you to whooped my ass..." Picking herself up off the sparring ring floor, Mika rubbed her backside of its pain while giving Kaze a murderous glare.

"I too remember what Lady Lyra told me as well. She told me to use the quickest method to get you proficient in combat. And this is the quickest way I know."

"You are being a brute!.."

"And you are being pathetic."

"Now wait, one damn minut-"

"I will not!" Kaze stomped out of the sparring ring. Annoyance radiating off of him

Mika ran in front of him, catching hold of him before he left the training grounds.

"Why are YOU mad?...I'm the one being toss all over the place!" Mika looked him in the eye, though the height difference made it difficult for them to meet face to face.

"I have seen your sword fights with Lady Lyra over the course of these past two weeks. You would use every trick and move you could to win against her. It surprised me how talented you are. I looked forward to teaching and sparring with you, but instead today you show lack of care and respect. You didn't even try. At first, I thought it was a ploy, but you kept up with the act..."

"So your anger got the best of you. That is why you up the aggressiveness of each of your attacks because you wanted a real fight between the two of us?"

Kaze face stilled for a heartbeat before red tint covered his cheeks. Saavi hid her giggles behind her hands when she saw the serious captain Kaze blush.

"Kaze, I was being careless and disrespectful. I apologize for that." Mika bent at the waist. Offering him her sincerest apology.

"With Mother gone for a few days, I wanted to relax from all the training. I didn't take your feeling into consideration. Come...lets spar for real this time. I promise I won't hold back." Mika walked back towards the sparring ring. Kaze collected himself before walking over to join her.

Mika sighed to herself. The real reason she was unwilling to spar with Kaze was that she has already learned hand to hand combat for years in her old life; she had even made up her own style. Afraid she would slip up and her style would seep thru during their matches, she thought to fake her way thru.

Now she has to come up with an explanation on why her twelve-year-old self has these combat skills, all because she hurt the man's feelings. Mika felt her own frustrations building up.

"Hmph! You want to see my skills, okay! Let mama teach you." Mika thought to herself as Kaze stood in from of her.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

_______

"That should do it." Lady Lyra collected the last bit of raw honey from Analise's tree.

For the past week, every day Lady Lyra would come to the cave to secretly collection some raw honey for Mika's trip to the Steppes. The tree only releases a certain amount every day, this was the only way to gather it for before she leaves.

Twisting the last jar shut, Lady Lyra loaded up the few jars into her freezer box. Just as she picked up her things to leave she heard voices coming from the entrance of the cave.

Always on alert, Lady Lyra swiftly rushed to the catacombs and placed the freezer box next to her mother's grave. Stepping back out, Lyra climbed the tree and hid among its branches.

Soon footsteps were heard entering the space.

"Oh my! Look at this! they said I couldn't find it. The first temple... but I did!" A portly man and a slender man stood next to each other as the slender man shouted out in satisfaction.

"WE found it." The portly man, dressed in fine clothing stated as he looked around the area. His eyes flash with greed when he stared at the tree.

"Yes, yes. How could I have done it without you? Once we let the King know, our awards will be endless." The slender man pullout out his cam, and snapped photos of everything in sight.

Lady Lyra heart dropped at the mention of the King. "Was the King looking for the temple?" A cold sweat broke out all over her body. Lost in her thoughts, Lyra didn't see nor did the slender man see the portly man pull out his dagger.

Walking up to the slender man, he plunged it right into the slender man's back.

The scream bought Lyra from her private thoughts.

"...Lord Roderock!...why...."

"Sorry for this....but my clan needs this tree more than the king does...." He pulled out his dagger only to plunge it back in several times again.

A pool of blood collected under the slender man's still body, Lord Roderock clothing was covered in it. Breathing heavy, Lord Roderock, sat down against the tree. Picking up the ends of his cape he wiped away the blood of the dead off his dagger.

Standing up Lord Roderock, went to put his dagger back in its scabbard when his eyes spotted a brown glove laying beside his foot. Bending down he picked it up. Looking at the glove he noticed it was fairly new. Dropping the glove, Lord Roderock spun around at the sound of someone behind him.

*Swish*

Lord Roderock didn't even get to scream as his head was cut cleanly off with one swipe of Lyra's short sword.

It happened so fast, it took a moment for his body to respond before it too fell to the ground.