After bidding farewell to Ray at the bar, Audas, Dray and Alika were back at the training arenas within two minutes.

  It had only been at least an hour or two, give or take, since Audas and Kaine had their ‘scuffle’ here. But it didn’t take a genius to see that the events were still on the minds of the people here. Wolven heads turned and tracked him as he walked by in tow of Dray and Alika. Every face was either blank or respectful, but even if he couldn’t work out every little facial twitch yet, Audas knew that some of them would be troubled by his return so soon.

  They reached the edge of the ring where Dray had fought earlier, who now strode towards a wooden weapons rack. Training weapons, Audas assumed, judging by the dull sheen of their blunt edges. “First off.” Dray started, hand resting on the edge of the rack, “What do you want to use? We’re going to have to focus on one if this is going to work.”

  Audas crossed his arms as he scanned the rack, filled with everything from swords, axes, shields, spears, knifes and even a solid-looking hammer. He circled the rack like a vulture, scanning for something worthwhile using. Good job this is for training… might as well play it safe.

  He retrieved a rather reasonably sized longsword, similar to the last one he used. The weight settled easily into his hand, letting him flick the blade up round with a twitch of his wrist. “Nice choice.” Alika observed from behind him.

  He shrugged in reply, “Jack of all trades, right?”

  “And master of none.” Dray replied, as he reached for one of the shields, but his hand hung short from the circular item. His face wrinkled for a second before he retrieved another longsword instead. “Might as well use the same stuff. Until you get the hang of it.”

  Dray directed him into the centre of the ring, and as he stopped at the chalked line, Audas couldn’t help but sense someone’s gaze burning into him. He glanced round himself, wondering if another crowd had formed… but only Alika herself was directly watching, arms crossed as she planted her foot on the ring’s railing. But either way, he couldn’t shake the unpleasant feeling that many of the Nyúlfur in the training area were watching him.

  “Okay, sword fighting is a lot more complex than you think.” Dray started, standing opposite him, “It’s not just waving a sword around and hoping you hit someone. It’s stances and positioning, plus a lot of technique.”

  Audas nodded as Dray spoke, his voice beginning to flow as he pointed at the weapon in his hand, tall and confident as if he were a professor giving a lecture and Audas was a meagre student. “Everyone follows different schools of combat, especially when it comes to longswords. They all have their own approaches to the problem. We try to mix and match with the different schools but in Cascadia, most people practice based on the Cascadian School. Technically it’s the German School of Longsword fighting, we do have a few documents based on what the fencers then had developed but we have obtained-“

  “Dray!” Alika chuckled from the sidelines with a shake of her head, “Audas is looking to fight, not learn history!”

  Unable to hold it back, Audas’ lips peeled back into a grin, whilst Dray winced. “Yeah… good point.” He lowered himself down, one foot stretching out as his hands drifted next to his knee, tight round the hilt of the sword. The blade itself was angled upward; tip aimed towards the sky. “Alright, I want you to try and hit me.”

  Audas was resting the blade in his free hand when Dray said that, and immediately frowned, “Hit you? You sure?”

  “Believe me, I can take it. Just aim for my core.”

  Audas bit down onto his lip, looking back towards the blade as he ran a finger along its edge. It was blunt, like before, but it was still heavy. He was half worried a solid hit could still knock the Nyúlfur out cold, and his body began to ache from where Kaine’s bladestaff had been whipped against him. Who am I kidding? Kaine didn’t knock me out at least.

  With that, Audas lifted the sword up, both his hands tight around the grip and stiffly settled into a stance similar to that of Dray’s. He slowly approached, then lunged with a downward slash.

  Dray stepped forward and the two swords clanged against each other. Audas’ sword sprung back and he quickly backpedalled as his opponent’s sword flashed. Gasping, he tried to swing his blade ba-

  The longsword tip stopped just short of Audas’ own neck.

  He froze; eyes locked onto the blade hovering in front of him. He caught Dray’s shining grin as he held the sword there for a moment longer before letting it fall. “The Cascadian style is built around offense.” He stated, “Even a defence can be used to springboard an attack. We can use stances called wards to help with that.”

  Lowering the weapon, Audas nodded, running the brief clash in his head. “And basically, keep the pressure up on someone else.” He hummed back, the realisation being akin to a set of curtains opening. Now I can see why Kaine fought the way he did, he kept me off balance and counterattacked when I tried to retaliate. And likewise, how I could get that one hit in.

  And that bladestaff of his was designed to perfectly enforce that style of combat, every time one blade was struck, the other was ready to throw another attack.

  “Exactly that.” Dray replied, “If you keep attacking, the enemy won’t be able to retaliate without paying the price too.” He shrugged, “Well, that’s the theory. The Nova Scotians love going for defence.”

  “I see what you mean.” Audas noted, frowning. “The idea at least. Execution might be a bit more problematic though.” It was a solid thought, if he couldn’t just swing away, how did one actually use a sword?

  “Only at first!” Dray laughed, lowering himself back into the same stance. “Just follow my lead… this is the plow…”

  Come on, cross ward!

  The sword tip flicked down and deflected Dray’s sword towards the left. With the cross guard covering him, his back leg snapped Audas forward, the point of the sword plunging towards the Nyúlfur’s chest.

  The blunt weapon halted just short of full contact. “That’s it! You’ve got it!”

  Puffing out, Audas grinned back at Dray as he pulled the longsword away. His arms pulsed and shuddered as air blew in and out of his body. For the last two hours, Dray had not given Audas the courtesy of more than a few minutes break. Every time he slowed, Alika barked at him from the edge of the ring, sending a jolt up his back to spring him back into action.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Dray had Audas dance around, feet moving back and forth as he shifted from ward to ward, throwing volley after volley of strikes, thrusts and parries. Every few attempts, Dray would turn the dial up, moving faster, harder in an ever-increasing attempt to make Audas trip up. Frustrated, Audas would fumble around like some clumsy fool, tripping up over his feet or twisting his arms into knots as he tried to transition from one ward to the next. But as the training picked up, increased in pace, he found his footing more easily, meanwhile his swings became crisper and smoother. Soon enough, he found himself flowing between the different wards. Ox, Plow, Cross, Key and, most notably of all, Wrath amongst others. And with that, his own strikes found their mark.

  “That’s enough.” Dray huffed, taking hold of the blunt blade of his training sword. “Don’t want to overdo it on the first go.”

  “Gotta admit, I didn’t think you would pick it up that easily.” Alika said, strolling around the ring as Dray led Audas back towards the weapon racks.

  “I told you.” Audas panted as he placed the weapon back onto its place on the rack. “I’m a quick learner.”

  “It’s still best to take it easy.” Dray warned, locking his own longsword into place. “I still wouldn’t think it would be a good idea for you to go up against Kaine again right now.”

  “I’ll try and not let it get to my head.” Audas replied, wanting to reassure him as we wiped an arm across his sweaty forehead. Besides, he had no intention to start getting into another sword fight right now. Not without getting more practice, and probably got fitter for good measure, judging by his heavy panting. I suppose that even Nyúlfur can get exhausted.

  That, and he hoped that the Hub at least had healthy amounts of ammunition. By post-outbreak standards anyway.

  He glanced back at the swords, frowning at their exposed position. “Shouldn’t we lock these up somewhere?”

  “A few people are on rota to clear it up.” Alika explained, “Besides, someone else might want to use them.”

  I can’t exactly argue against that.

  “Still, that was great start.” Dray confessed.

  “Thanks. It felt like it.” Audas replied. He paused, pondering the words for a moment, rolling his arms as the dull throb worked its way through the limbs. “Even if we end up getting knackered.”

  “You’ll get used to it.”

  The trio started working their way up to the Hub’s buildings. But his aching muscles brought another question to mind, especially given the reveal of his lack of melee training. “How often do you actually do this training?” he asked, feeling his heart slow down and his breathing return to normal.

  “Depends.” Alika replied, “Say… three times a week? At least?”

  “At least?”

  “It’s… a bit traditional.”

  Traditional… I always thought the swords was a pragmatic move. Why would the Nyúlfur see it as traditional?

  “Either way,” Dray interjected, “We’ll just have to have to practice when we can. We still need to work here after all.”

  “I understand.” Audas replied, nodding to himself. It would have been a pretty stupid move for the Nyúlfur to just spend all the time training. Someone had to tend to those farm fields in the back anyway, especially if the Hub really did have over a thousand people living here.

  “Besides, maybe in a few months’ time you can get into the Autumn League or some other tournament.” Dray added.

  “I don’t know about this ‘League’… but it does-“

  As he looked forward, he stopped in his tracks.

  Leaning against a fence running through the yard, looking over a pair of silver daggers that glinted in the sunlight, was a white furred Nyúlfur with blonde hair.

  The same one from the clinic when Zackary was checking him over, still dressed in that green sleeveless top as before.

  Some sixth sense made her freeze, and her head turned towards them. Those emerald eyes drifted across the trio, halting as they focused on each one of them. He tried to look away, wanted to, but instead he could only stiffen as his heart fluttered back into a race again. Her lips peeled back a touch, and yet he couldn’t tell how.

  Was she frowning? Or was she smiling?

  He finally managed flicked his gaze away, What is it about her? Why is-

  Something hard thudded into his side, clubbing his mind back to attention. “Looking a little flustered there aren’t you?”

  Alika stared at him, one side of her face twisting into a smirk. “I know what’re thinking of. Just as a heads up? It won’t happen.”

  He blinked, his jaw floating in the air as his mind struggled to follow her, “I-I don’t get what you-“

  Then it clicked. That same thought intruding upon his mind, as if it was booting down a locked door. “No…” he growled lightly, “I’m n-“

  “Yeah right.” She accused, winking at him as she elbowed his side again, sending a pulse throbbing through his ribs. “Just be careful.”

  Grey orbs flicked between him and Dray, “I’ll catch up with you two later. Be safe.”

  Breaking formation, she widened her stride, making her way towards the white furred girl. It was definitely a smile now forming across her face, a shy one as she stepped forward to meet Alika. Glancing once more at the two men, smile still present, she turned away and fell in alongside Alika, headed further up the hill.

  Dray chuckled lightly next to him, “Quite a pair aren’t they?”

  He didn’t even glance over at him, Audas merely watching the two go. “Who is she?”

  “That Audas, was Katori Kingsley.” Dray replied warmly.

  Audas’ head snapped round towards him, “Wait… she’s Alika’s-“

  “Sister.” He confirmed.

  Huffing, Audas looked back at the two Nyúlfur, now climbing up the steps towards the main building balcony. Sisters? He pondered as his heart started to calm down again, She couldn’t look any more different… then again Everest shares the fur colour… that makes sense.

  “You’re not-“

  “I’m not thinking of that.” Audas interrupted him, eyes narrowing as he turned back towards him.

  “I’m pulling your leg.” Dray confessed with a half-hearted shrug. “But don’t get worried if she doesn’t say anything to you.”

  “What do you mean?” the former human asked, baffled at the sudden detail. Was Katori just as hostile as Dorian was? No, not with how gentle she was in that clinic.

  The brown furred Nyúlfur started to scratch at his ear again, “I don’t know all the details, but Katori’s selectively mute.”

  Audas frowned, “Selectively mute?”

  Mutism was one thing. Heard of it more than a few times, namely with incredibly traumatised individuals. But a selective variation? That is something he had never heard of.

  “It’s what it says on the tin.” Dray explained, “She can’t speak in public. I’ve not heard her say a word in twenty years.”

  “Twenty years…”

  Audas, now feeling a lump form in his throat, flicked his eyes back up the Hub building, but Alika and Katori were long gone. Out of sight.

  She couldn’t say a word at all back in the clinic?

  “The only person I know she can speak to is Alika.” Dray continued, glancing up to the buildings. “She hasn’t even spoke to her dad or brother from what I know. Verbally anyway.”

  Audas kept his eyes fixed on the Hub’s structures, his entire core slumping a little bit as he stood motionless. What would it even be like? To not be able to speak to anyone for years on end, unable to express oneself even to those they cared about… Nyúlfur or not…

  “It… must be horrible.”

  “It is.” Dray replied, sadness evident. “Luckily she can sign and emote brilliantly, so she can still get her point across if she needs to do.”

  Relief only barely filled Audas as he let out a heavy sigh. “Well… that’s something, at least.”

  He turned back towards his companion, “So there is Alika and Katori… and Dorian.”

  Dray winced, “Yeah.”

  Sensing his lips peel back, Audas glared into the trees, fighting to stop his fist from clenching and partly glad for the sudden surge of anger inside his chest. “And he would probably kill me just for talking to them, right?”

  Dray coughed, stifling a chuckle. “Maybe give you a piece of his mind… but yeah.”

  Great. Audas thought as he forced himself to relax again. So not only he doesn’t trust me, but he’s also got two sisters that he probably has a complex over. And one of them is actively talking to me…

  Kaine he could put up with given time. Dorian on the other hand…

  Sighing again, Audas pulled his eyes away from the trees. He would have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

  Dray stepped in front of him. “Just don’t give him any reasons to have a go at you and you’ll be fine. Come on, drinks are on me.”

  As the thought of Dorian slipped away, Audas pulled a grin and followed Dray back towards the Hub. There was no point in getting tied up with the drama and crap that came through earlier. He figured he might as well try and end it on a good note.

  And indeed, with a few more drinks and some casual conversation, he was feeling in a much better state of mind when he finally hit the sack.