“I just don’t get it,” Ashley huffed as Lance sat on the bench and tied his shoes. She’d just finished a makeup exam for class, and as soon as she walked out, he was waiting for her with a blindfold. “You trust me to know your identity, but I can’t know where your old hideout, which you don’t even use anymore, is? How does that make sense?”
“We came to spar physically, not verbally. Grab a weapon.”
There was still a mat in what she had to assume had been his base when he was still in Franklin. He hadn’t taken the bait to confirm it used to be his headquarters, but it was the only thing that made sense. Along the wall were a number of wooden sticks that she assumed he was referring to when he said weapons. There was a large selection to choose from—long sticks, short sticks, and even medium sticks.
“I don’t like to use weapons.” She shrugged. “I prefer to just fight with my body.”
“I know. That’s why the first training session is getting you comfortable with a weapon. You’ve proven that you’re going to get yourself killed without one.” Lance gestured to the rack, pointing at each weapon as he named it. “We’ve got a few options. There’s a spear, a staff, some escrima sticks, a nightstick. You get first choice. I want you to try everything here to see if anything feels comfortable for you.”
“I’m not going to feel comfortable with any weapon.”
“Well, not with that attitude. Try this.” Lance tossed the nightstick to her. “And come on. I’m not here on vacation.” Grabbing the escrima sticks for himself, he met her on the sparring pad.
“Whatever you say,” Ashley responded, tossing the medium stick from hand to hand, spinning it in each to get acquainted with its weight. She looked up to see Lance standing in a fighting position, a small stick in each hand, waiting for her to make the first move. She was tall at five-ten, but he still had a few inches on her, and he was broader than she had remembered.
She hadn’t fought with weapons before. Having grown up in kickboxing, she’d trained some, but nothing with weapons. She leaned to the side to stretch her still sore knee. Without standing back up, she lunged straight from her stretch and swung the nightstick at Lance’s leg.
He pinned the weapon to the ground with both of his own. “A nightstick isn’t for long-range fighting. It works best when you’re close to your opponent. Same with these escrima sticks,” Lance told her as he released the nightstick and circled again.
You could have told me that before.
Ashley pushed off her uninjured back leg and swung the stick again. He parried her blow with one escrima while delivering a strike of his own with the other.
She yelped. The weapons had been bound with athletic tape to keep from injuring, but they still hurt, especially since it hadn’t been even twenty-four hours since her fight last night.
“That was a better offensive strategy, but you have to defend yourself, too,” Lance reminded her. “Again.”
Ashley sighed but returned to her feet. After five more minutes of training with the nightstick, Lance had seen enough.
“This isn’t going to work. The nightstick doesn’t fit your fighting style. Try this one out.” He retrieved the staff from the rack while returning his sticks. Once he’d traded her nightstick for the staff, he returned to his fighting position.
Ashley again tossed the weapon from one hand to the other, then twirled it with both. Feeling comfortable with the weight of the longer stick, she mirrored his stance.
He again circled as he waited for her to make the first move. Ashley stepped forward and swept the staff through his legs. Lance leapt to avoid the blow and then dropped to his knees to avoid her follow-up swing at his head. Rolling back out of the staff’s range, he hopped back to his feet.
“I can already tell you’re more comfortable with the longer staff,” he called across as they circled again. “Let’s go with this one for a bit.”
Lance made the next move, covering half the distance between them in one long step before pausing. Ashley slashed up with her staff, anticipating him continuing towards her. As it passed through where she’d expected him to be, Lance rushed in the rest of the way, landing a blow to her side with his nightstick at close range. She got the bottom of the staff between her legs and his next swipe, simultaneously landing a hit to his shoulder with the top of the staff.
She may not have any experience with or desire to use a weapon, but her competitiveness drove her to figure it out as quickly as possible. The same buzz that would fill her mind when she was on the soccer field hummed in her now. It was a soft buzz, one that stayed in the background, but it was constant and kept her hyperaware of everything happening around her. She might lose, but he would have to find a new way to beat her each time. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
Lance stumbled back and circled again before resuming their sparring. He cycled through the rest of the weapons to give Ashley the chance to practice with the staff against different fighting styles.
“I still want you to try out these other two weapons to be sure, but it seems the staff is your best bet,” Lance said as he pulled out the spear and escrima sticks.
Ashley felt better with them than she did with the nightstick, but not nearly as well as she felt with the staff.
“So, what do you think?” Lance asked as he sat down next to her on the bench.
“I think I wasn’t expecting a two-and-a-half-hour sparring session our first day together,” she answered, massaging her knee, the injury from the night before that had caused her the most pain during sparring.
“That’s fair,” Lance laughed. “I can’t stay too long down here, and we needed to see where to start. I promise future sparring sessions won’t need to be as long. I meant, what do you think about the weapons?”
“I think I like the staff. It allows me to protect myself best and would help me protect others best. I think I feel less anxious using that as opposed to the nightstick or spear because I’m not as afraid of doing serious damage.”
“That’s wise. Protecting ourselves and others is the top priority. We only want to do damage when it’s the only solution. Protecting others, whether they’re the victim or violator, is important. We don’t want to go further than we intend when fighting.”
“Right.” Ashley nodded along. “I felt okay with the escrima sticks because I felt like having one in each hand made me more aware of the force I was using and provided more protection than the nightstick, but the staff was definitely the favorite.”
“I think you should bring it with you when we go on patrol tonight.”
“We?” Ashley asked, raising her eyebrows. “Like me and the White Knight?”
“Like you and Lance. I’m more just there for support and to see you in action, to better know what the next couple of training sessions should look like. I’ll be back in a hoodie with a nightstick again like I was when I first helped you. No suit or sword tonight.”
“I look forward to it,” Ashley answered with a smile.
“I still don’t see why we can’t start at the base,” Ashley complained as she let Lance into her house that night.
“It’s not time yet. Maybe one day soon.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she answered curtly. “Let me put on my shoes.” Ashley sat down on the couch and gestured to the chair. “Make yourself at home.”
Nicole came out of her room as Lance sat down.
“Oh, hello,” she greeted, stopping in the doorway. “Who are you?”
“I guess Ashley didn’t tell you.” He stood with a smile and stretched his hand to her. “I’m Lance Locke. You must be Nicole.”
“I am. Do you mind my asking why you’re here?”
“Um, me and Ashley are, um working on a project tonight.”
Nicole looked at Ashley as she shook his hand. “What kind of project?”
“Um.”
“The patrolling campus kind, Nicole,” Ashley interjected from the living room. “Nicole, I’d like you to meet Lance, AKA The White Knight.”
“OH,” Nicole gasped, still holding Lance’s hand but no longer shaking it as she stared at him.
“Sorry, I wasn’t sure how much you knew of Ashley’s activities, and I didn’t want to give up her secrets like that. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nicole.”
“No, no, the pleasure is mine. Thank you again for saving us last year.” Nicole quickly pulled her hand back and crossed her arms across her chest.
“Of course. I’m glad to find out you’ve been aware of, and I presume helping, Ashley with taking my place, judging by your lack of surprise at her activities. Paying it forward is the best thanks we can give.”
“Oh, absolutely. For sure, for sure. Is there anything I can get for you? A drink? Some food?”
“That’s very kind of you, but I have my water bottle, and I just ate. We should actually probably be heading out. It was so nice to meet you, Nicole. I hope we see each other again.”
“Me too,” Nicole answered, her face turning almost as red as her hair. Lance was out the door, but Ashley saw it. She raised her eyebrows, but Nicole just slapped her shoulder as she walked past. “Be safe!” she called right before the door closed behind them.
Lance pulled his hood up over his head as Ashley donned her mask. “How do you want to do this?” she asked as they made their way towards campus.
“This is your show,” he answered. “I’m just here for support. I’m your sidekick while I’m in town, not the other way around. You lead the way.”
“Alright then,” she answered, crossing the street, “follow me.”
Eagless will continue with episode 109, November 24th.
For more stories set in this world, buy my books, The White Knight and SAMSON – OUT NOW! Or read my short story series The Street Rat for free like Eagless!
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K. B. Kirtley 