The Veil - Chapter 16 Part 3

This time Lekan waited, frowning in exasperation when Obi did too, a smile upon his face that did not seem so friendly. There was silence. He wasn’t sure why, but Lekan was determined not to make the first move. Obi slid his foot, and Lekan jumped in the opposite direction, right into his uncle’s blade. He swore, shooting a glare at Obi as he paced away.

“You’ve lost your touch, Lekan,” Obi reprimanded softly.

Lekan calmly faced him again, feeling his muscles tighten and his chest fill with anger and fear and frustration. He could breathe with all of it clambering for his attention. There was no chance at thinking. How was he supposed to focus on the small tells fencing included when he couldn’t focus on the fact that he was leaving in less than two weeks, to go to an enemy country. He barely heard the words flying from his mouth, “What? You let me win when we fenced too?” He thought it was a sarcastic mutter slipped through the silence Obi left, but from the utter quiet that rang in the basement as his emotions settled for a split second, he knew it hadn’t been so.

Obi cleared his throat and stepped out of the court. “Yes. I did let you win when you were young, and now you’re grown.”

“So that’s it?” Lekan muttered, stepping out as well. “You’re grown, so I feel like I can tell you that you can’t do anything right. See you later as I hole up in my office, scheming about getting my hands on your mother.” He wanted to bang his head against the wall violently, as Obi’s brow wrinkled and relaxed.

Obi took a deep breath as if he was going to say something very long of great importance. “Sometimes we need to be outside of the court.” He leveled a long stare at Lekan that was thrown back defiantly. “I will ignore the other statements with the assumption that you weren’t thinking when you made them which isn’t very different from the norm, really.” He moved quickly, but not as he had when going by fencing guidelines.

Barely having time to lift his foil, Lekan swore as he backed away and parried. “Why do you turn everything into a lesson?” he demanded, gasping as he returned blows. He took another few steps back as he blocked a complicated maneuver of Obi’s.

“You have so much to learn. No time can be wasted.” He advanced, and Lekan glanced up to meet his gaze which was coolly resting on his face. “Like so-” He dodged an attack, using Lekan’s momentum to make him stumble. He smiled grimly into Lekan’s wide eyed expression when he realized that he was outmatched. Clearing his throat, he continued, “You’re distracted, and you’re letting your distraction keep you from your best performance.”

“How do you know what my best is?” he snarled and lunged to attack again, only to be put on the defense by a flurry of quick twists of his uncle’s blade.

“Dear boy, it’s not hard to find out about the silly duels you and your companions decide to have. It’s no secret that you’re a second worth having, and your skills with the sword are enviable.” His words were a little raspier now as Lekan, full of wrath, put all of his power behind his blows.

Lekan made a sound that was confusion and anger and frustration balled into one whine. “Why then?” He suddenly barked out a pleasantly surprised laugh when he was able to lock their blades together when blocking another maneuver. His shoulders were broader than Obi’s, and he was younger, he definitely had more power. While Obi probably out classed him in skill and experience, brute force could win too in the right situations.

Obi changed his footing, his feet scraping against the gray brick as he did so and leaned against his foil as if he planned to try to out-muscle Lekan as well. He smiled in response to Lekan’s smirk, enough of a warning that Lekan was worried just a second before Obi sidestepped. As Lekan stumbled forward, a flick of Obi’s blade sent his flying. Lekan completely lost his footing, sprawling across the floor.

The clatter of the foil onto the brick floor accompanied Lekan’s panting as Obi stood over him, wiping sweat off of his brow with his shirt sleeve. “Because…” He took a moment to catch his breath, taking deep breaths. “The talented can learn the most, and you have a lot to learn.” He watched as Lekan struggled to his knees. “I’m also tired of being the only one worrying about you.”

Lekan squeezed his eyes shut, sighing heavily. Damn, he was tired of admitting his weaknesses to everyone today. He realized that Obi was trying to look out for him, but it didn’t make it any easier. “I’m not going to pretend like I think everything you say is right just because it happened to fall out of your mouth like you seem to expect from me all the time.”

“Did I just hear an, ‘I want to try to cooperate, Uncle Obi?’”

Lekan looked behind him and up at Obi. “I hope I didn’t sound that obnoxious.”

Offering a hand to help Lekan up, Obi smirked. “You always sounds that obnoxious, boy.”