The Grim Wanderer Read Free Page B

his sword hurtling diagonally down. Taem turned the blow aside as he stumbled back. Logan lunged for Taem’s right flank. Taem dropped his crosspiece to catch Logan’s strike, their swords met in a perfect cross. Logan swung again before Taem could even move. Taem tried in vain to bring his sword up to block, but Logan was just too fast. With incredible control, Logan’s flying wooden practice sword stopped just short of Taem’s ribcage. Had it been a real fight, Logan would have cleaved Taem in two.
    ‘You are faster than that,’ Logan said to Taem – not with annoyance, but something worse, disapproval.
    Taem cursed himself. It infuriated him he could not just get things right.
    ‘Again,’ Logan withdrew his sword and took a step back.
    Taem relaxed his body – exhaling deep, and loosening his tense muscles – as he prepared to fight once more.
    Elena, Macen and Edar had stopped the drills Logan had set them, to watch as their brother fought their Master. Where Taem was of average height with a runner’s build, the middle brother Macen was taller and far broader than him, despite Taem being three years the elder. Macen could be shy, but Taem knew he was dependable and loyal, with an unusually good heart.
    Taem leapt forward with his sword raised above his head and brought it down fast, aiming for Logan’s head. The older man sidestepped, allowing Taem’s blow to sail through thin air. At the same time, Logan brought his practice sword down on the back of Taem’s head and hooked his leg under the youth’s. Taem tumbled to the grassy earth in a clumsy heap. Although it looked comical, Macen and Edar did not laugh. Being defeated by Logan happened all the time, not just to Taem but to all of them.
    Elena winked at her brother Taem without Logan seeing, which turned his grimace into a smile. His sister had the courage of a lioness, and she was often the one to inspire them when they were down. Elena was inches shorter than her brothers, and her slender frame was half the size, but years of fighting them had made her the toughest and fiercest of them all.
    ‘Lose your focus and you will lose your life,’ Logan said harshly, as the young apprentice lay vanquished on the ground. ‘ Never overextend your thrust. It will put you off balance, make you vulnerable. Do you think the most skilful swordsman always wins in a fight?’ Logan asked his students. ‘No. There are many factors involved in determining life and death.’ The Master’s tone softened as he said to them, ‘Remember what I have taught you. To be a master of the Way of the Sword you must be able to block out unwanted emotions and feelings, but still be aware of everything – every flicker of your enemy’s eyes, every twitch of his body, every breath he makes. There is only you and your opponent, nothing else truly matters.’
    ‘Yes, Master,’ the brothers and sister murmured.
    Logan smiled and offered Taem his hand, which the younger man grasped with an appreciative grin, and the Master pulled his apprentice up to his feet.
    ‘Again,’ the older man said.
    Standing watching the combat, Edar tried to spin his practice sword over in his hand – as he had seen Logan do many a time – but it cartwheeled out of his grasp and clattered to the earth.
    Macen raised his eyes skyward at Edar’s clumsiness. Elena chuckled and shook her head.
    Edar shrugged his shoulders at his bear of a brother. Edar was the youngest, two years junior to Macen, but always wanting to be involved in anything his elder brothers and sister were doing. Taem always admired the ease with which the youngest brother took things in his stride. Taem, similar to most people, esteemed in others what he found so hard to do himself.
    The combatants exchanged a furious rally of blows. The Master and the apprentice rained down smashing strikes on each other’s darting blades. A savage inward chop met an eastern block. Taem’s horizontal swing was smashed away by Logan’s tight