Hope you like it.
midnightread
Chapter 3
As we walked I looked around and saw that the walls of the tunnel were covered in pictures. “What are these?” I asked Willow, looking around me.
“They depict the Spirit Warriors battles. What do you see that they all have in common?” Willow asked, stopping and turning to face me.
I looked at the painting carefully, “The sword they’re all holding, it’s the same,” I said, looking at the paintings again.
“Yes. They all have the same sword. The Spirit Sword,” she carried on walking when she had finished speaking. I took one last look at the paintings and ran to catch up with Willow.
“What is the Spirit Sword?” I asked, walking next to Willow once more.
“The Spirit Sword is the sword all Spirit Warriors use in fights and the sword that they keep near them at all times,” Willow turned down a passage that was hidden in shadows.
“Do I get to use it?” I asked, thinking that being the Spirit Warrior may not be so bad after all.
Willow laughed and opened a door in front of us, “Does that answer your question?” In front of us stood a tree that had a sword sticking out of it. “It’s beautiful,” I said going up to touch the hilt. “Do not touch,” Willow suddenly said. I jumped and drew back my out stretched hand. “Why can’t I touch it?” I asked, facing Willow.
“You can’t use it just yet. You’re not ready,” she spun me round and steered me toward a shelf of parchments, “Before you can use it you have to read some of these. They are on sword skills and sword tricks.” She paused and I butted in,
“Sword tricks?” I asked, going over and leafing through the parchments.
“Yes, sword tricks. Things that haven’t been seen or taught since the last Spirit Warrior was here,” she said, coming over and standing behind me, “You have to learn them before I can allow you to wield the sword.”
“Why can’t I use it now? I’m one of the best at sword wielding in my class back in the village,” I said, spinning to face Willow.
“I know you are, Aspen. That’s one of the reasons you’ve been chosen to become the Spirit Warrior,” she paused, then looked down at the pile of parchments I had left on the table, “When you have learnt five of the techniques on this sheet, you can use the sword,” she picked up a sheet after looking over them all quickly, “That seem fair to you?”
“I guess so, but how am I supposed to learn to do these techniques if I haven’t got a sword, the only sword I’ve ever used is my wooden training sword and I don’t have it, Brandi keeps them all and we can only have them away from class if we have a good reason,” I said, thinking of the times I’d asked Brandi for two swords so I could practice with Kai.
“That’s alright; I got one of her last night for you to practice with,” she pulled out one of the wooden swords that I had used everyday since I was eight.
“Thanks,” I said, taking the sword off of her and placing it on the floor beside were I was about to sit and read through the parchment.
“Ill leave you to it then,” I could tell she was smiling even without looking up. I just grunted and carried on reading. I heard Willow walk down the passage and back towards the entrance of the tunnels. I heard her stop and then heard her shout, “I’ll be back in a few hours.” Then she left.
I read the parchment, growing more excited the more I read. After I had read the parchment through, I stood up, holding my sword and tried out the move at the top of the parchment. It was called, The Flick and it was a move that was both defensive and offensive. What I had to do was to flick my sword from one hand to the other and be ready to fight. “It’s just as well I can fight with both hands,” I muttered to myself, trying it out. “Ow,” I said, dropping the sword and rubbing my forearm, “That hurt.”
For another hour and a half, I practiced and practiced and by the time Willow came back with some food, I had perfected it. “Well done, Aspen. Now you only need to learn four more.”
After we had eaten, smoked fish and berries from the forest, Willow left again, saying that she would be back with supper.
The move I liked the sound of was called, The Skull Crusher, and it was rather simple by the look of it. All I had to do was do an over arm swing with most of my body weight behind me. I tried it out and all I managed to do was let go of the wooden sword and throw it at the wall.
I read through the passage on the parchment again and saw that I had to hold the sword a lot firmer then I was used to. “Right then, I’ll try again,” I said to myself, going over and picking up the sword from where it had landed on the floor.
This time it only took me half an hour to master the move. “Right then, I need to decide what the next move I learn is going to be.” I read through the parchment again and saw the perfect move. “Quarte,” I said looking at the parchment.
“Oh, that’s easy.”
I jumped, “Who the… What the…” I said spinning around. I couldn’t see anything.
“Down here,” a voice said. I looked down and stepped back.