Sarah's Companion 19

The man seemed a bit more energetic today, which is what made Sarah realise he was basically permanently tired.

Breakfast was in silence after the 'lesson' outside the cave entrance beforehand, however Sarah did note that he absolutely wolfed down the breakfast she'd made.

Turns out this wasn't to be the only lesson of the day.

When they had both finished, the man retrieved Sarah's sword, handed it to her, then disappeared into his tent.

It didn't take long for Sarah to realise why he'd given her the sword. When the man left the tent, he was wielding his own.

"You ready?" he said

Sarah was half way through starting to talk when the man charged her.

She felt like a house cat staring down a lion.

Sarah was frozen with fear for a moment, and then almost instinctively deflected his blade as he brought it down at her.

She was proud of herself in that moment, she actually parried a blow.

But he hadn't stopped, in Sarah's dazed moment of pride, the man had recovered and was coming back.

The man grabbed Sarah's sword arm, pushed Sarah up against the cave wall like she weighed nothing and brought his blade up to her neck all in the same motion.

Sarah wasn't actually sure what was going on, she just knew she was done. She could feel the cold, rusted steel of his old sword up against her neck and the grip of his warm hand restraining her up against the wall.

Sarah closed her eyes and let go of her sword.

"So I take it you didn't like my breakfast?" Sarah said, opening her eyes and shooting the man a look that would've just melted the heart of almost anyone, it even seemed to have a brief effect on the man but he quickly regained his composure.

"The food was good" said the man, lowering his blade and releasing his grip on Sarah's frail arm. "We're doing practice today" he continued, "pick up your sword".