Chapter 3

"Son of a BITCH!" thought Aric with some frustration, as he lay once again on his back looking up at the sky.

He had already lost count of the number of times Brianna had put him down there today.

It was frustrating him that she was so easily knocking him to the ground. He never really realized how poor his skills with a sword actually were until today. Aaron wasn't kidding with his advice.

Every time he thought he figured out what she was going to do next, she did something different. He still didn't believe she had even broken a sweat yet and he was sweating so profusely that his shirt was sticking to him.

"She keeps knocking me around so easily and now she just went and bent one of my good practice swords. I'll need to go to Gerald's place later to use his forge and anvil to fix it, " he thought

"I know I should have been paying more attention to the fact that the area near the guard of her sword was blunt and not sharpened for a reason. But how the hell is she able to do that though, and just who hell is she? She's right, if I had met her on any battlefield I would have been dead before I had known what had hit me, " he continued thinking.

As Brianna waited for him to get up, she herself was lost in thought.

"He's rough around the edges, but he can be taught. He does remember quickly and I really can't seem to use the same attack twice on him. He was right about remembering something he sees just once. But even though I can still sneak variations in on him though, it's only a matter of time before he starts to anticipate them as well, " she thought.

"Also, he's not bad with the basics. If he learned the better sword forms I bet he would make a phenomenal swords master. But I still can't believe he just tried to block my over hand attack.

"He knew to raise the sword overhead with the flat side up though to prevent the sword from reversing and cutting into his head, but if he had known to let it slide off his blade instead I wouldn't have been able to bend it. Bet he thinks I'm crazy strong because of that, but it is all in knowing where to hit. But his doing that did make it easier to hook my leg behind his during my spin, and to knock him off balance while he was stunned while he absorbed the shock from the blow, " she continued thinking.

"Because it was a weighted sword I figured he'd get out of the way and I'd get him with a spin kick, but not for him to try and block it as fast as he did. How strong is he to move that weighted sword as fast as he did? That sword is really very heavy. I knew he was going to underestimate me when he decided to use it to spar with me, but I may have underestimated him as well, " she thought

As Aric slowly stood up again, he decided to take stock of Brianna.

She was just a little taller than average. He estimated around about 5'8 or 5'9 easy. Possibly even 5'10. She kept her usually red hair fixed tightly in what he had always heard referred to as a 'French braid', whatever that meant, and the braid ran down to about the middle of her back.

Red hair was extremely uncommon around the southern end of the continent. Her hair was the rich color of a new copper coin and it shined in the sunlight just like the coin would have done was well.

That mischievous smile she had, as she stood waiting for him to get up, started and ended at a pair of uncommonly cute but deep set of dimples that showcased her extremely clear emerald green eyes which almost seemed to sparkle. If red hair was uncommon, he had never seen, or even heard of, anyone with emerald green eyes before.

"But where the hell is she getting all that power from, " he thought once more today.

While physically he was certainly much larger than her, almost twice as big as her really, she was still a well built woman and clearly stronger than he expected.

She had taken off her leather vest and the underlying chain mail vest, and she was sparing with him in just her loose and thinly-padded short shirt. He was able to see her breast were obviously a little bigger than he thought. But what was interesting was that the short shirt ended just half way below her breast leaving some of her stomach exposed.

If he cupped his hands with his fingers spread out he thought her breast would just about overfill them, or a regular soup bowl, quite easily. While her waist wasn't small enough that he could get both of his hands around it, she clearly had a well defined hourglass figure that was very hard to ignore. It just wasn't as obvious though with her shirts on.

Over all she wasn't too much larger than most of the women he had run into before, just a little taller.

But that figure she had, was obviously well packed with a little muscle.

"She must be pretty strong since she routinely wears chain mail shirts and bent my sword with an over head attack for god's sake," Aric thought.

And from what he could see from her muscles that were exposed, her shoulders, arms, and stomach were all very well defined.

"You are really enjoying this aren't you?" asked Aric with a smile and a groan as he finally got to his feet. "I admit I don't know enough to be a good sparring partner, so guess I still have a long way to go before I'm good enough to challenge you huh?"

"Well, once you learn to incorporate your unarmed skill with your sword practice you will get better, but to be perfectly honest you do have further to go than you realize," said Brianna as she smiled and waved her right hand. "You see, I'm not really left handed."

"Who IS this man?" thought Brianna again, and not for the first time that day.

She had months ago given up using just her left hand to spar against him. It had been six months since she started teaching him and he was improving too fast to be believed. If she wasn't the one teaching him she wouldn't believe it herself.

Also, because he practiced unarmed combat when she wasn't around, his progress there was also just as shocking.

He had already mastered all 15 forms for unarmed combat. They were an even match now, though she could still pull out a win due to her vast experience, but those times were also getting few and far in between. Very soon she expected that Aric would start to beat her consistently.

She knew he wasn't using magic to enhance his abilities because she had magic detection jewels in the end of each of the pommels of her swords. They would lightly glow and cause the hilts to heat up in the presence of magic.

But somehow this was all his skill.

She knew she was still better with swords than him. And if she ever had the cause to use two swords at the same time, he was screwed.

While he was quick and fast, she was still a bit more flexible and had seasons of experience.

But she still had to pay attention if she wanted to win with a single sword. Her margin for victories was by an extremely thin width sometimes.

What amazed her was that Aric didn't seem to mind losing to a woman.

He didn't start making excuses when he lost. If she put him down on the ground, he just laughed at it and said "That's something new I'll need to pay attention to as well," and would get up and start over.

Before, when they finished for the day, he would thank her for the lessons and apologize that she had to teach such a slow student. And he always appeared sincere.

Slow? Hell, his learning capacity and the speed he mastered a new move was unbelievably scary.

The first time he called her "Bri" after a lesson absentmindedly, almost subconsciously, she didn't realize it till later that afternoon that he had done it.

And at first it made her mad. Not because he called her that, but because she accepted it without question. But later that night when she thought about it, she realized she didn't notice because it felt natural. So when he did it the next time they sparred she didn't really seem to give it much thought.

"Have you been practicing with your left hand as I told you too?" asked Brianna.

"Of course, but it's not enough to use against you," said Aric.

"I'll be the judge of that. Let's go," said Brianna.

He was right of course, but his left hand was of the skill level his right was six months ago.

"Given time he will be completely scary. Good thing he's too much of a good person to abuse his skill, " thought Brianna.

"Where the HELL did THAT thought come from?" wondered Brianna.

"He's still a man and they are all only after one thing. Give him time, " she thought.

But even as she thought that, she remembered he never made a move on her, never tried to touch her, or even find a reason to rub up against her.

It was like he was totally aware of his surroundings and kept to his own personal space and never tried to invade hers. And if she got too close while she spoke to him, he would casually back away to a comfortable distance. And when he did he always made it look like a natural movement.

Brianna wouldn't admit it to herself, but for some reason she kept hoping he would try at least once to get close enough to really invade her space.

"Starting today we will train left hands against each other until you strengthen your abilities with that arm," said Brianna.

Aric groaned and stared at his left hand.

"Well you know more about my weaknesses than I do, so if you say this is what I need to do, then I'll do what I need to the best of my ability," said Aric with a smile.

Brianna nodded and took up her position, but again was impressed that he accepted her criticism without a second though.

"Who IS this man?" she thought.

Because they sparred before breakfast during the day, Aric always brought a meal with him for the two of them to partake of whenever they finished sparing.

The first time, Brianna looked at his basket with a single raised eyebrow and asked him if it was his wife or girlfriend that made it for him. Aric laughed and said he made it himself. He enjoyed cooking and thought it was the least he could do to repay her for teaching him since she wouldn't let him pay her with gold.

He then told her he cooked at the tavern sometimes, and that the meal she had the first night they met he had made.

"A man who enjoys cooking and doesn't believe it's supposed to be only a woman's work? Who is this man?" thought Brianna again at the time.

But after months of Aric bringing the meals, it just became accepted and something she looked forward too. He really was a good cook.