Master Swordswoman Pt. 02

Practice:

I

Alnia and I lay on the grass on our sides facing each other, holding and caressing each other for a short while after making love, whilst regaining our breath. Soon, however, I knew I had to be getting back to the village for my daily afternoon practice and lesson. Eventually, after giving Alnia a good kiss and a quick fondle of her left breast, making her smile, I stood up and grabbed my sword. I then wrapped the belt it was attached to round over my hips, fastening it at the front.

I slid the two wooden sandals I'd worn over my feet, since I preferred not to cut them on the rocks like I did once, as Alnia did the same, and I took her hand and climbed over and down the rocks, leading to the Millton road.

There were only a few people walking or riding down the road, which headed off to the south west before arriving at the small village of Little-Hay-Field, (or 'Littayfeed' in our local slang/dialect), an hours walk or so along the road to Millton. (They try to do the same to Bymeatonsfield, ('Bymeensfeed'), but I prefer the full name, so I use it properly, though I don't always give the other towns and villages the same honour -- certainly not Middlestone, ('Midston'), since our friendly rivalry had been slowly gathering pace with the new distribution of traffic through our village instead of their town).

A few people smiled at us, and I'm sure I caught one of the older women winking at us too, as we walked the short distance to the village gate. We passed by two large wooden constructions that had yet to be turned into houses on the right, outside of the wall and in-between the road and the river, (and also my favourite place and the village), as we did so.

As we walked towards the village, my mind wandered, as it always did, and found its way back onto the one issue that was consuming my thoughts at the time…

Even on that day, after the most pleasurable moment of my life so far, I was still confused…

I'd been confused for some time, which was one of the reasons why I was still in Bymeatonsfield. Even then, with the pleasure of Alnia's company, as we walked back to the village, hand-in-hand, naked, though wearing our weapons on belts over our hips, it was still the case.

(Alnia also chose to use a sword, mainly so she could practice with me when required, usually twice a week).

Aside from the swords, on our belts we both had a house key on a chain, and a small box on the opposite side to the sword carried a small cloth bandage and some healing salve, just in case. Since Alnia was a trainee healer, she'd taught me how to use and even make these most basic items of the healing trade too.

It had become clear long before this point in time, that I had a choice to make governing my future…

As I was with Alnia at that time, however, the strongest choice, as always, was to stay with her in the village, and continue as we were - her as a healer, and I as a member of the local militia, though living together in a place of our own once available, rather than with our parents as we still did.

I always had problems foreseeing that future for us, or at least myself, fully though - other parts of me considered such a future a betrayal of my other abilities and potential as a swordsman, which was reinforced when talking to and learning from Teacher Paynor in his lessons. And if I couldn't become a swordsman, (or rather, woman), then at least I could complete my basic training and join the military academy across the Randal mountains to the east in Evendale. But that would mean leaving Alnia…

I was so confused, unsure, doubtful and afraid of which choice to make, even then as we walked through the southern gates into the village, past the few large, 2 storey dark brown wooden houses, and down the road towards the village hall at its centre. The people we saw, even those on the small horse-drawn carts passing through the village, to and from Millton, some as naked as we were, seemed to look at us and smile as we walked past. I don't know how, but they all seemed to be aware of what had happened between Alnia and myself, and also seemed to take pleasure from it, judging by their smiles and waves.

We also caught a glimpse of a couple making love in between two of the houses on our right; my younger sister, Teela, and her boyfriend, Nepin, the baker's (second) son, from what little we could see and hear. We stopped briefly to join a few others and have a good look, watching his bottom rise and drop between his open legs, and his cock underneath ram into her open dripping pussy, over and over, and also listen to them grunt and groan -- ('Ugh… Oh yes...! Oh fuck…! Oooh… Aaaah…!' etc.). Alnia and I looked at each other and grinned, gripped each others hand tighter, then turned round and walked away, further into the village, leaving room for more people to watch who needed it more than we did.

'I wonder if she'll get pregnant this time?' I asked wistfully, as we walked along, as I knew they'd both been trying for children for a while.

'Shak knows,' replied Alnia, 'they've certainly been trying hard enough.'

(I didn't know anything about the name Shak, or where it came from, then, although its use in this context is, and was, extremely common).

It only took a few minutes or so to get to the village hall, though we certainly weren't in a hurry, passing by the rest of the large three wooden houses on the right to get to the end of the road, as it diverged round the hall at the centre. Alnia's mother, Steylia, was standing outside her house, on the right corner before the hall, talking to one of the wenches, Gella, from the inn opposite, naked as always, contrasting with the dark grey apron Gella wore. Looking at Steylia, my confusion abated, becoming lost in her beauty.

She was about the same size as Alnia herself, a couple of inches shorter than I, and also had the same, long, thin, blonde hair and pale skin. She was little plumper round the middle than Alnia, and had larger breasts, which was to be expected, and her bottom was also larger, but just as round. Looking at her from the side just then, you could see how long and big her nose was, but it still seemed to fit on her long face, who's creased lines on the side of her cheeks were the only real sign of age she had, save for the grey tips at the end of her long, thin strands of hair. I imagined her blue-grey eyes twinkling, and watched her thin red lips move while she spoke to the young woman in front of her. I couldn't help but look between Steylia's legs to see her small mat of pubic fur, either, which wasn't lost on Alnia.

'You like Mum, don't you?' she asked me, as she slid her arms round my neck, and circled in front of me, to look me in the eye, smiling.

'Of course I do,' I replied, also smiling, 'she's beautiful, just like you.'

I leaned forward and kissed her, putting my own arms round her, underneath hers and hugging her tightly as our mouths and tongues met again, then my hands wandered down to her bum, squeezing it tightly, pulling her body even closer to mine, feeling our nipples then breasts touch also, making us feel close again.

She eventually broke the kiss, then drew her head back to look at me with a smile, and asked, 'have you fucked her yet?'

The familiar vulgar language she used made me smile too, as it contrasted with the nice, sweet, loving feelings I had for her at that moment.

'No,' I replied, 'though I'd like to. I'd love to make her cum -- just like you.'

She looked really surprised at my reply.

'You haven't?' she asked, shocked, 'but I thought you'd spent lots of time in bed with our parents? I know you like sleeping with me, even if it has taken us so long to fuck, and I know you've been having sex with your Mum, especially since I've been watching! I thought you'd been fucking my Mum for years!'

She almost started crying, and I could see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

'You better come and sleep with us tonight, and fuck us both to bits before and after you've been on duty, ok?'

She kissed me then rested her head on my left shoulder and held me really tightly, until I heard her start to cry properly.

'Hey,' I said into her ear, 'what are you crying for?'

'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed, 'I never realised you weren't having sex with Mum… I guess I never realised how little sex you must really get, with all the guard duty and training and stuff… Damn, I should have been fucking you for years…! You probably needed it so much more than I did…! Oh my Lord, I'm SO SORRY!'

She was bawling into my shoulder now, her tears running down my skin from her face. I noticed her Mum and Gella had stopped talking, and were now looking at us, concerned. I nodded at them to let them know things were ok, before Alnia finally stopped crying and stood back from me, looking at me again.

'You better get to your lesson,' she said, 'then come over and see us and I'll make sure you get a good time and a nap before you need to be on duty, ok?'

'Ok,' I said, my eyes watering too, as I looked at her wet face.

As I looked up at the sundial at the top of the stone front of the village hall, I realised I was quite late for my daily lesson from Teacher Paynor, and he never liked it when I was late -- he expected me, as his best student, to be an example for the other students, including the three I trained with first on that day.

As his best student, Teacher Paynor had arranged for me to become a full-time paid member of the village militia, and I therefore get paid both to train every day in the afternoon, and also lead the night/early morning guard shift, which we considered the most dangerous and vulnerable.

With that in mind I kissed Alnia goodbye, then waved to her Mum as I quickly ran to the south-west corner of the village, helped on with a grope of my bottom from Alnia as I turned round to run off. Looking back as I ran, I saw her bright grinning face, still wet, staring at me, and her nice slim, naked, and so sexually alluring and attractive body… Her small breasts with small dark red nipples, and a small light triangle of pubic hair pointing down between her legs, all reminded me of what I had waiting for me for when I'd finished…

II

As I neared the familiar small training area, just within the village wall behind Teacher Paynor's house, I could hear the usual shouts of instruction from teacher and cries from the students if they failed to follow them, which tended to be often.

As I rounded the last house, I saw that they were working on their footwork, with one of the boys, Levin, the old Smith's son, seeming to have a large amount of trouble with that, as he crossed his feet and fell to the ground in front of me. I could see Teacher, (which is all he told us to call him during lesson), close his eyes and sigh, as the boy got up then watched me walk towards them, then re-open them and also look at me as I approached him.

'Sorry I'm late Teacher' I apologised as I finally stood in front of him, though out of the way of the boys to my left.

He looked down at me, being slightly taller at about six-foot, to my five-foot-ten inches, his brown eyes twinkling under his balding head, and his short brown beard framing his small mouth which smiled at me as he replied in his deep voice, 'no you're not. Everyone in the village knows you've been with Alnia, so don't lie to me. I hope you enjoyed yourself?'

'Yes Teacher. It was wonderful,' I smiled at him.

He broke out in a big grin, 'good. It's supposed to be. It's about bloody time you and Alnia finally got round to it, I suppose. I'm surprised you even bothered coming to see me today…'

'Well, errm,' I wasn't sure how to reply to that, not even realising I might have gotten away without being here. Damn! I was glad no-one seemed to be mentioning my occasion with Waymin, though, which I was very grateful for.

'Alnia was always my nemesis as far as you are concerned,' Teacher said under his breath, though loud enough for me to hear, again referring to the decision about my future I had to make, all of which he knew about, 'but since you're here, you might aswell join in and give this lot some idea of how it should be done, as usual.'

Before I started the lesson proper, though, I warmed myself up briefly, though not too much; just enough so I wouldn't pull a muscle or anything else so stupid during the lesson, as he'd taught me during my first 'practical' lesson so many years ago that it had become almost second nature, as it should have.

I then joined the others, though unlike them, I completed all the movements, involving steps in each direction and turns to both sides in all three basic stances: left, right and neutral.

'There, you see,' Teacher said, as I completed the routine once more, 'that's how to do it.'

'Yeah, but she gets paid to do this cra-err-stuff,' the youngest boy, Draylon Tearson, complained, 'and her tits are really distracting…'

My tits? I was surprised, since my breasts are pretty small, and was surprised he felt they were so distracting, but then, as you've probably gathered by now, I'm not a man, which might have something to do with it. I also knew he was looking between my legs too, but he obviously wasn't going to tell teacher that. Actually, it was obvious Teacher was looking at me as much as they were -- he was just better at being discreet about it!

Not that I minded them all looking at me, of course. I knew that all the men, (and boys), liked to do so, and I was glad that they enjoyed it. Just so long as they kept their hands to themselves that is -- I don't really like being touched by men, I find their hands too hard and course and much prefer the slightly softer and loving caress that women manage to convey, and which men fail at so miserably - (at least all the men I'd run into by then anyway).

'Watch it,' Teacher said, sternly, 'or I'll show you the hard way how crap this is when you facing an Orc that's trying to kill you, understood?'

'Yes. Sorry Teacher,' his head down, looking at the floor.

Teacher shook his head, sighing again, 'And I don't care if you are distracted, ok? So much the better in fact. If you can learn to complete the movements when you are distracted, it'll just make it so much easier when you're not, right?'

'Yes Teacher,' he sounded even more dejected.

'Look, I know it's hard for amateurs, ok, unlike Kathina here, but you need to be able to defend yourself in case the worst happens, understood?'

Draylon nodded.

'All that I ask, is that you try your best, ok?' Teacher continued, 'and concentrate'

Thankfully the lessons for them didn't last long, before they were replaced by a couple of the regular militia, like me, (who were much better than the boys who left, though still not quite as good as I was, (though that still might have something to do with my nakedness again, but I wasn't as sure this time)). I stayed throughout their lesson too, working through the basic blocks/parries and attacks, before they left, leaving just Teacher and I alone.

He liked to spend a little more time with me every day after the normal militia members had left, just before it was time to eat, in order to teach me the more advanced form of Mathan, which he wanted me to learn fully before sending me off to Evendale, (I thought - I had always assumed that was the fate he had intended for me).

Mathan, is the most basic martial-art for swords, and has both simple and advanced forms, methods and patterns.

The most basic form just covers the basic stance, (with the sword held out vertically in front of the body), simple offensive and defensive moves, and associated footwork.

The more advanced form, includes another stance, (with the sword held horizontally above the head, (which I had yet to learn to use)), and basic combinations of moves and patterns - generally going from defence to offence and back again - which was the main component of my personal lessons.

We'd then spar to check that I'd learned what he had just taught me properly, and all the other lessons I'd learned that week.

Using special wooden training longswords, rather than our normal metal blades, we worked together, helping me practice and learn the moves he'd taught, before getting into a more general sparring contest.

As always, he won. His attacks always had me on the defensive straight away, and I could always tell I wasn't quite quick enough to respond with my own - it took a tiny pause after each move before I'd start on the next one, either through brief indecision, too much momentum in the wrong direction that I didn't know how to use, or just a slight lack of speed on my part, which gave him a slight, but still too large, advantage, which he took without quarter. Of course, he also knew more moves than I did, though I still usually managed to block them, but it was always just a matter of time before one got through… It was only a fraction of a second that was the issue here, but against Teacher it was all that mattered, and meant that I always lost. Against anyone else in the village, however, it was more than enough. The only real question was if it would be enough against any Orcs I end up facing…

The problem was that some of the time I wasn't sure if it was me or the art itself that was the cause of this, and Teacher knew I should be able to do better, which is why I'd end up arguing with him afterwards about it… I could tell he didn't like that -- he always seemed angry as he tried to explain, though he never seemed to do too well at it.

The best theory either of us could come up with initially, was that I was so used to my short-sword, and with it being lighter and therefore quicker, (though, of course, shorter), than the heavy wooden training sword, I just still hadn't figured out how to use the training sword properly. That worked for about half-a-year, but it had become obvious since that it was something else which was at fault; something that teacher had never managed to explain to me fully. In hindsight, it was obvious he was trying to see if I could figure things out for myself, but it never worked out that way. Unfortunately, I was generally never in a good mood afterwards to care much about the problem either way, and so never gave it the amount of thought that I really should have.

I didn't realise it that way at the time, but I didn't really have the confidence I needed to fight Teacher Paynor properly either, nor, it has to be said, did I really concentrate on the matter quite as much as I should have, or perversely, too much -- (at times I found it hard to really concentrate properly, and had too many thoughts swimming round my head to make sense of, but at the same time, I still tried really hard to do what I needed to do, just not quite well enough). My mind simply wasn't as clear as it needed to be either way it seemed. My main problems all stemmed from one root cause, but I didn't understand what it was, and any and all explanations from teacher would just start off a new argument. Back then, I had no idea of what to do about it, and neither, it appeared at the time, did Teacher Paynor…

Unfortunately, it was obvious that until I'd figured it all out, I wouldn't be leaving for Evendale, even if it was obvious I knew more than enough to do so by then, (which, yes, in hindsight should have been a sign that it wasn't what he intended for me)…

III

Thankfully, by the time I got to Alnia and Steylia's house afterwards my mood had lightened somewhat. (I guess thinking about the sex to come helped a lot!).

As soon as I walked through the door, my stomach rumbling as I smelt the food in the background, and started to undo my belt, Alnia pretty much jumped on top of me, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me as hard as she could full on the lips.