Chapter 21
"Faster! Remember, you are like a serpent, never seen until it's too late!" cried the mentor, as Cristoff struggled to land a hit on him; he was just too fast.
Cristoff pushed his attack but could not get a hit in fast enough. Eventually, he stopped out of exhaustion.
"What's the matter Cristoff? I thought you would be better than this." Said the mentor in a tone that sounded like he was mocking him, but with his Westerosi accent it was hard to tell.
"I'm out of breath, give me a minute," replied Cristoff between breaths.
"If you stop and take a rest during a fight you can guarantee it won't be a rest you'll wake from."
Cristoff regained his composure and replied, "Maybe so, but if I were as good as you I wouldn't need to take a rest because they would already be dead."
"And that's why we train." Finished the mentor. "We're done for today. I see that you are truly tired. If it wasn't for the fact that all your formal education was already complete, we would have something else for you to do. So I suppose you can have the rest of the day to yourself."
The mentor walked out of the room. Laenah walked in and gave a bow to the mentor as he walked by.
"I saw you, you're doing well. Not many who have spent so little time here can last as long as you did against him." Said Laenah
"What about you? Can you move like that?" asked Cristoff
Laenah shook her head, "No, my talents are more with my hands than my blades."
Cristoff remembered the first time they met a few days ago, and how suggestively she had moved. Where all women in Westeros this, sensual? Cristoff had seen women from Meereen in the pleasure houses that his brother took him to, and they were flexible and quiet, but he hadn't met a woman who was like Laenah, then again, she was the only woman from Westeros he had met at all.
"Would you care to spar?" asked Cristoff
Laenah blinked in surprise,
"Alright, with blades?"
Cristoff was confused by the question,
"Yes, with blades."
"Oh, sure. Why not. Let's see what they teach you in Essos."
She flicked out her blades and got into a ready stance. Cristoff did the same and they circled for a bit. Cristoff decided to attack first, lunging low but striking high with the other blade. Laenah just backed away just in time and retaliated with a swipe to Cristoff's head, which he ducked under, and swept her feet from under her. Cristoff leapt forward but she rolled sideways and nearly cut Cristoff when she sprung back up and attacked at the same time, "A handy trick," thought Cristoff
Laenah swung twice with both blades, overlapping each other, Cristoff deflected them with the bracer of his blades and directed the second to twist her arm over her front. Realising she was open to attack, she tried to spin away but Cristoff followed her and knocked her off her feet with a strong kick. As she fell, she made to grab the wall but missed, and Cristoff leapt in for the finisher. They finished with Cristoff above her with his blade at her throat.
Laenah's face soured, "You win." She said
Cristoff helped her up, and she dusted herself off.
"If I may, I noticed some things while you were fighting." Said Cristoff
Laenah looked at him sideways, "Go on,"
"For a start, you make it obvious what you're about to do, whether it's offensive of defensive, by how you shift your weight back or forward before you do it. And your windups for your wide attacks are too long, you can get just as much power if you control it and aim past the target."
Laenah creased her brow and looked a little ashamed at Cristoff's lecture.
"What's the matter?" he asked
"Everyone says that I'm one of the best acolyte fighters." She replied quietly
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know." Cristoff was suddenly unsure of what to say,
"No, it's fine. If you noticed that, then I should have been more careful-"
"Laenah, you are one of the best acolyte fighters." Torrhen's voice came out of nowhere and then he was standing next to the doorway.
"Master Torrhen?" asked Laenah, confused
"It's not a case of your abilities lacking refinement, but Cristoff's fighting style is to find a weakness in his enemy's technique and striking when they're vulnerable. That makes it very easy for him to pick up on mistakes. So listen to what he says and try to improve."
Laenah turned her nose up at Cristoff and walked out of the room. Torrhen walked over to Cristoff and said in a quiet voice, "You have damaged her pride; since she is not Dornish by birth she takes great pride in the fact that she is of a higher skill level than her fellow acolytes. However, you are of a higher skill level than her anyway, I was surprised she accepted to spar with you in the first place. She's not normally that impulsive."
"I don't think she knew that I was more skilled than her." Said Cristoff
Torrhen shrugged, "Probably not, but nevertheless, I think she likes you, so apologising was the right move. As I said, she is not impulsive but she is vengeful. If you anger her, you may just find yourself joining the ranks of those like Varys the Spider."
Cristoff had heard of that name, Varys was famed even in Essos, "I'd become an information dealer?" asked Cristoff
Torrhen shook his head, "A eunuch."