Callie's Heroes

PART V - FIRST LESSONS

Callie blinked and saw the sword falling towards her. It wasn't a fast swing, and it was well-projected, designed really to just give Callie something to swing her rickety blades against. Instinctively she crossed her swords and caught the falling blade between them.

“Good reflexesss,” Vonn called. “How about thisss one?”

Again, Vonn swung, this time from Callie’s right side. As before it wasn’t coming fast, but Callie’s own sword in her left hand intercepted it, almost as if she’d done the same motion a hundred times, deflecting the swing and sending it up and over her head. Callie saw an opening, and without even thinking she lunged forward with the half-completed blade in her right hand. Vonn gave a startled expression before effortlessly bringing her own long blade down to knock Callie’s thrust aside.

But Callie wasn’t done. Vonn’s parry sent the Gnome into a clockwise spin, and Callie controlled the motion, using the movement so her own left blade could now lunge forward. Vonn’s sword swooped down and back, deflecting the second thrust just in time for Callie’s right sword to come back yet again for another attack. CLANG CLANG CLANG the three swords danced in a rhythmic pattern. Vonn was effortlessly blocking every one of Callie’s attacks as the Gnome kept going, the new combat perks blossoming within her. Callie started to see a rhythm. Use one sword to get Vonn’s out of the way before trying to strike with the other; either hand, it didn’t matter, she could use them both equally well now.

“Very good, Callie,” Vonn said, a bright smile on her face as the swords again glanced off each other. “I’m going to come back on the attack now. Concccentrate on defending, not attacking."

Callie jumped back and set herself, grinning back, a crazy excitement building within her. “Come at me!” she hissed.

Vonn raised one eyebrow in surprise. “As you wish!” The veteran Ranger darted to Callie’s left, lashing out with her blade. Callie’s swords were in poor position to intercept, but she instinctively lept backwards out of this swing’s path. Vonn’s fluid motion continued into an overhand strike, a little faster this time. Callie once again blocked with her crossed blades, before using her right sword to smash the long blade away from her. She danced back again and got into a low, crouched pose, a sly grin on her face. She was starting to breathe hard, but having a blast doing it.

Vonn grinned in return and the two slowly started to circle each other. Vonn noted several recruits had stopped to watch, and saw both the Training Master, Thorn, as well as Major Celeste, watching at a distance. The Lamia giggled to herself, deciding to let Callie give a show, and lunged.

Callie easily saw the move and used her crossed swords again to catch and send Vonn’s blade to her right side, before taking another step backwards. Not stopping, Vonn spun, her serpentine body twisting in a corkscrew before dashing to Callie’s right. Callie had a confused sense of Vonn’s direction with her legless lower body, and Vonn’s sword strike came swooping in from the side. Callie twisted, just managing to slip under the blade as she dove to the left and rolled with Vonn’s swing. Callie leapt out of the roll as Vonn again swung and Callie swung in turn to block. But Vonn was enough of a veteran to know the path the Gnome’s sword would take, and changed her own. Callie missed the parry and over-extended, falling forward off balance. Vonn smiled, turned her sword sideways and smacked the little Gnome on her butt.

“Ow!” Callie called out, but Vonn didn’t stop to let the Gnome recover. She launched another overhand swing, slow enough for Callie to see it coming, which she took advantage of as she smacked it fiercely, almost angrily, away with one blade. Callie’s eyes had completely changed. She had a much more serious look on her face now, and gone was the wide-eyed and crazy excitement, replaced with an unexpected determination. Now the Gnome meant business!

The tiny Ranger slashed upwards with her left blade, grunting in determination. Vonn’s sword was thus out of position as Callie lunged forward with her other sword, forcing Vonn to backslither to avoid getting hit. Callie pressed the momentum as Vonn reset herself, and again the three swords clanged in a staccato rhythm as Callie repeatedly blocked more strikes and then dodged, rolling backwards before springing to her feet. Vonn wasn’t trying hard, nor was she using the height difference to her advantage. That wasn’t the goal. Callie was too new and too slow and projected her movements what seemed like minutes in advance. No, this was all about letting Callie just get used to holding a blade, some basic movements and to gain a little confidence. Her new perk was working fast, though!

Tenaciously, the little Ranger kept coming, the confidence Vonn was cultivating welling like an eruption within her, and Vonn slowly backed away, content to let the Gnome keep attacking. Callie was really beginning to get tired now, and it was starting to show.

Vonn pressed an opportunity and swung again, but this time as Callie counter-swung to intercept, Vonn snagged the Gnome’s little sword with her own and ripped it from Callie's right hand. It flew a good five or six meters away, landing outside the ring at the feet of Celeste and Thorn, who had both moved closer to watch. But Callie didn’t even notice she’d been partially disarmed. Her remaining sword seized at the gap Vonn had opened in order to fling Callie’s sword, and lunged forward. Surprised, Vonn attempted to dance backwards to dodge the strike. She almost managed to completely, but Callie’s sword was fast and the mostly-dull blade actually landed a nick across the Lamia's lower body.

Vonn winced at the tiny cut. It certainly wasn’t serious, but it showed that Callie was actually playing for keeps, now, losing sight that this was a simple sparring match. Vonn grinned and pressed the return attack, driving the little Gnome backwards as Callie ducked, weaved or blocked every slow strike.

As they clashed, Vonn used her long body to encircle the little Gnome. She feigned a lunge, causing Callie to properly step to the rear, where she promptly tripped over the end of Vonn’s serpentine tail and fell backwards with a thump. Callie was about to roll and leap up again when she noticed the end of Vonn’s sword holding steady just a few centimeters from the end of her nose.

“Do you yield, Little One?” Vonn said with a cool tone, not even breathing hard.

Panting, Callie seriously considered getting back up for a moment before she looked around. At least twenty recruits and staff had stopped to watch. She even noticed Kaisess was standing there with his mouth hanging open, while front and center were both Major Celeste and Master Trainer Thorn, now joined by Vanis. How long had they been watching? Callie looked back at Vonn, and for the first time since the fight started, really realized how much taller the Lamia was, and how much her rookie skills were completely outmatched. Vonn’s sword was not wavering in the slightest, and with a deep breath, Callie nodded. “I yield.”

To a smattering of applause from the onlookers, Vonn extended a hand to Callie and helped her to stand with ease. A moment later, Fizzlebek stepped close with a metal cup of water for each of them. “I think it’s safe to say you now know the basics of wielding a sword,” the Artificer said.

As Vonn and Callie sipped their water, Major Celeste and Master Trainer Thorn both approached, along with Vanis, Celeste holding the sword Callie had lost. Thorn and Vanis were chatting quietly with each other, but with the blood still pounding in Callie’s head, she wasn’t able to make out what they were saying, even with her enhanced hearing. Callie’s sword in Celeste’s hand was so tiny compared to the relative size of the weapon in her own, almost embarrassingly small. Seeing the little sword, it was a painful reminder of, once again, how small Callie really was, and what a liability that size might be in a real fight.

Outside the circle, a gaggle of four Goblin recruits, three males and a female, were still still applauding Callie’s performance, while a few other recruits were chatting together, periodically looking or pointing in Callie’s direction. Kaisess was still there too, talking with an Elf Callie didn’t recognize, and gesturing towards Callie.

“I think you dropped something,” Celeste said as she arrived with Thorn and Vanis. She held out the partially crafted sword, pommel first, and reluctantly Callie accepted it.

“Uh, thanks,” the little Ranger said, feeling a little guilty for losing her sword like she had. Callie knew Vonn had been holding back. Holding way back, in fact. So there was no real reason she should feel like that. But now that she had an idea what she was doing, she saw mistake after mistake that she made during that brief sparring match, and was mentally kicking herself for each and every one.

Thorn cleared his throat. “Recruit Calliope, first I’d like …”

Vanis whispered something in Thorns ear.

“Ahh. Recruit Callie, then. I’d like to congratulate you on a successful binding with your Symbiote. I had some concern I had made the wrong choice about your class, but it appears not to be the case.”

“Thanks,” Callie said, taking in a deep breath, trying to get her panting and heartbeat to settle down. “Before this, I’d never held a sword before. I hope I did okay.”

“What? You’ve never held a sword before?” Celeste asked, looking at Callie incredulously. She turned to look at Vonn and then Vanis, getting no explanation from them.

Callie shrugged, still breathing heavy. “At least not that I know of. Memory holes, remember? I just got my Dual-Wield Style and Ambidextrous, what, ten minutes ago? Twenty? Vonn suggested trying them out.”

“That was with no training? Just brand new perks?” the Major asked, skeptically. “You unlocked them just now? You know how to unlock things?” Celeste added in a terse, quiet voice.

Callie nodded her head. “Uh huh. No training. Just the sword perk and Ambidextrous. Long story, but the Commandant told me how to unlock things earlier today.”

“She did what?” Celeste sputtered in disbelief, but then turned to Vonn, snarling. “You put her in a ring wielding two swords not ten minutes after unlocking her combat perks? Are you mad?”

Vonn shrugged. “We were confined to the combat cccircle, as we should be. And I did not try very hard. I only wanted to give the little Ranger a sssmall experienccce.”

“That’s true,” Callie said, “She was hardly trying at all. I could tell.”

“And look what it got you, Vonn!” Celeste growled, gesturing to the centimeter-long cut on the Lamia’s stomach.

“Barely a scratch,” Vonn said with a smile, dismissing Celeste’s concern with a wave.

The Major threw up her hands in exasperation. “Crazy! And now I need to spend the rest of the day and night worrying when a bunch of stupid recruits are going to start sparring just because they saw the crazy, pink-headed Gnome doing it!” Celeste spit out a loud grunt of frustration.

Vonn simply shrugged and extended her hand to Celeste. Rolling her eyes, the Major reached back and they clasped each other's wrists, before Vonn pulled her into a back-patting embrace.

“Bah,” Celeste said, breaking the hug. “Fine. But only because we were on the lines together, Vonn. And off the record Callie, you looked pretty good out there for a first timer. On the record, though, please don’t make my job any harder? You and your Pixie friend seem to always be cropping up when something is happening, so I’ve got my eyes on both of you now. And whatever you do, do not tell anyone how to unlock things!”

Callie beamed at the unofficial praise, and oddly, also at the idea she and Pixyl were becoming the center of mischief, too. “Understood, Major.”

“Duwana, Recruit Vanis,” Celeste said with a nod.

“Duwanai,” the Warlock responded.

“I’m off to babysit, then,” Celeste said. As she walked away, she called out, “Hey! You two! Whatever you’re thinking of doing, you better stop!” at a pair of Catkins that were looking suspiciously suspicious.

Thorn chuckled at the Major as she walked away before turning back to the rest of the group. “She is right, you know, you probably shouldn’t have done that, Vonn.” He then added, “But also unofficially, you did very well, Recruit. Recruit Vanis, it was a pleasure to chat and I wish you all a good day.”

“You as well, Sir,” Vanis said in return.

As Thorn took his leave, Vanis introduced himself to Vonn and Fizzlebek as they all moved under the shade of the crafting building, Callie picking up her belt on the way. If Vonn knew who Vanis really was, she didn’t give any indication, and neither did Fizzlebek. Vanis, himself, proved adept at socializing and easily engaged both the Artificer Gnome and the Lamia in smalltalk, and Callie was content to stand back and listen, learning about Vonn’s former life as a professional adventurer before she was Conscripted. Vonn was actually a graduate of the training camp, receiving her Ranger Symbiote with the third class that had gone through. She finally retired from Rangering, after serving her Curse, in order to take up crafting, her Ranger skills and experiences proving invaluable in weapon making.

“I mussst return to my dutiesss,” Vonn finally said, taking the two small swords from Callie. “Ranger Callie, I am going to complete these ssswordsss and see them sent to you, blunted of courssse, as required by the training rulesss. They are a little long, so I will fix that asss well. But with your permission, I’d like to work on another ssset that would be sharpened for when the needsss arissse. We must ssspar again when next you visssit ssso I can sssee how you have progresssed and we can discusss what ssstyle and sssize would work bessst for you.”

“Of … of course,” Callie said, dumbfounded.

Vonn looked briefly at Vanis, before turning back to Callie. “Many of usss are perplexed by a Gnome Ranger, but at the sssame time, we wish very much for you to do well. If anyone here in Crafting can asssist, pleassse do not hesssitate to asssk.”

“Sure,” Callie said, still a little shocked about the sword offers. “I really appreciate everything.”

“We, too, the little people here in camp, are excited to see another one of us in a new role,” Fizzlebek added. “Both you and the blue Pixie, actually. I heard she also has a strange class?”

“Uh huh,” Callie said. “She’s a Bladeweaver.

“Interesting. She will not need much equipment from us, as she can make her own from Ether, but do know we are happy to help if we are able.”

“Thank you both, again. It means so much,” Callie said.

“For now,” Vonn said, “return in two daysss and I will measure you properly for your bow. We can finalize your rune ssselection then and discuss proper swords.”

“Yes, and I will begin on the enchanting stones so they are ready when Vonn needs them,” Fizzlebek added.

The four broke up, Fizzlebek giving Callie another hug. What was it with him hugging so much? Was it just him or was it a Gnome thing? Vonn and Fizzlebek returned to their work, Callie retrieving Thorn’s bow. Callie and Vanis walked away from the crafting area together, not really having any particular destination. “Where should we go?” Vanis finally asked.

“Back to the house to join the others, maybe? If they’ve left we can catch up.”

“Sounds delightful,” Vanis said with a smile. “Home it is, then.”