from the force of our weapons colliding.
He meant business, and I wasn’t sure what I thought about that.
“It is worth mentioning that Jade has likely never held a proper sword in her life outside of handing them to me during classes at my request.” Batbayar also stepped back, straightening his posture. “Yet she parried without a single thought about it. It wasn’t muscle memory, although her body will learn that soon enough. So, what just happened there?”
I wanted to know the answer to that question, too.
I wasn’t the only one confused or at a loss, as none of the students said a word.
Batbayar smiled. “You have learned a valuable lesson today, although you don’t realize it yet. None of you know how Jade could, without having touched a sword, deflect an attack such as mine. It is simple. She observed.”
I had what? I stared at the old man, unable to fathom what he was trying to tell us.
Movement out of the corner of my eye captured my attention. One of the students, one of the older boys who’d start attending adult classes soon enough, raised his hand.
“Speak, Kaldin.”
“Because she has watched and listened for so long, she already understood the base concepts you’re trying to teach. She has heard so many times that when attacked, one must parry, so she parried. But, since she hasn’t touched a sword before, how was she able to make the movement properly?”
“She didn’t make the movement properly. She made the movement sufficiently to protect herself, but I would not call her effort handling her sword properly. But in a real battle, sufficiently suffices.”
I took that to mean sufficiently translated to ‘not dead.’ As I’d rather avoid an early case of dead, I agreed with the old man. Anything that kept me from contracting a serious case of dead sufficed. Mother Nature kept me on my toes enough as it was.
“But she got the job done,” Kaldin replied, his brows furrowing. “Isn’t that properly?”
“Jade, I want you to attempt to mimic the same attack I did on you on me. Don’t hold back. Try to hit me as hard as you can. If I fail to defend myself, you will have earned the right to bruise me.”
I almost laughed. In the time I’d worked at the martial arts studio, no one had managed to bruise Batbayar. Not even Mother Nature dared to cross him. I couldn’t tell if the weather feared him or if she liked him and didn’t want to erase such a treasure.
While I wouldn’t hold my breath hoping it would last, I viewed him as a living defiance. I adjusted my grip on the katana’s blade, considered how he’d struck at me, and attempted to mimic his blow.
Only a fool would believe I might land a blow. As expected, Batbayar intercepted my blade, and with a flick of his wrist, he somehow managed to knock the wooden weapon out of my hand. The katana smacked into the wall, and the students dove out of the way. It thumped to the mat.
“That is what should have happened had she done the move properly and been against an equal opponent. Had she failed to disarm me, I would have struggled to maintain my grip on the weapon. She deflected the blow, and she turned aside my blade when I struck at her side, but she failed to find my weakness and take advantage of it. Knowledge is what wins wars. Her grip is weak, uncertain, and easy to overcome. But have heart. Once she learns the way of her sword, it will be very difficult to disarm her.”
I retrieved the katana, mumbled an apology to the poor wooden sword for abusing it, and returned to my place across from Batbayar. “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”
“Everything worth doing does. Prepare yourself. It is time to see just how much you have learned observing my lessons. It will hurt, but you will learn a lot.”
Sometimes, I really hated the old man. When he said something would hurt, he meant it. But as long as I did my best, he told me the truth. It would hurt, but I would learn.
I had a lot to learn if I wanted to stay afloat in life—and remain free.
Saturday, May 2, 2043.
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Alley.
* * *
There was no way in hell anyone with a pair of functioning eyes could miss the giant of a black woman skulking outside of the martial arts center. The first time I’d noticed