Chapter 16: Chapter Sixteen

ADA

Over the next few days, whoever was available or willing came to teach me different techniques and secrets of the trade. I found myself growing stronger and more skillful.

I was able to hold the men off longer, even hit one or two of them, mainly by pure luck. Cayden was the only one not to fight me. Instead, he stood by me, teaching and offering recommendations.

It was late in the morning on the fifth day of my lessons. I was in the middle of my first fight, putting the lessons into practice.

“Good, you’re beginning to think like a warrior now,” Cayden said as I darted out of the way from Gosta’s sword.

I saw the opportunity to stab him as I moved, and as my sword hit his side, he pretended to fall to the ground and die.

We laughed along with his portrayal, and I graciously bowed to the other men’s applause, pulling the end of my shirt up to wipe the sweat off my face.

“I think your greatest strength may be distraction, cailín,” Gosta said, looking at me from the ground. “Pull your shirt up like that in any battle and you will have the men frozen.”

“I will keep that in mind for next time. Thank you, Gosta.” I rolled my eyes, smiling at him. I could see Cayden was bothered by our exchange.

Of all the men, Gosta had the biggest reputation for being a certain way with women. Cayden had never been so forward, nor did he appreciate his friend being that way with me.

“Should I also know how to fight without a sword?” I turned Cayden’s attention to my question.

“To fight in battle without a sword would be death,” Caxton said. Cayden ran his hands through his hair, as if thinking intently about my question.

“She has a point. If all else fails, it is important for her to know how to fight by hand.” He began taking off his vest.

“Padriac is the best fighter among us. He will coach you until the rest of us finish eating lunch.”

“Do I not get to eat?”

“There are no meal breaks in battle.” The men chuckled, leaving me and Padriac out in the field.

He showed me basic fighting skills over the next hour and offered important information, like the golden rule of never letting someone push you down onto your stomach.

“If your opponent has you on your stomach, you might as well give up… All right, Ada. Get some water. I have a feeling that this afternoon will be especially hard.”

I nodded and practiced the maneuver he had just shown me before taking a seat. He sat down next to me and took the canteen out of my hand as we watched Cayden and the men approaching us.

“I hope you asses have brought us food as well.”

Cayden sat down next to me—a little too close. I felt excited by it. He handed us a cloth full of food.

“Padriac, I’m not so worried about your appetite,” he said mockingly, leaning over me to pat his friend’s stomach.

“But I am worried Ada here may be wasting away. From the view we all saw this morning; we apparently do not feed her enough.”

“If I repulse you so, then I would hate to put you in a position like the other night again,” I said to him quietly, hoping to catch him off guard.

This was our first moment “alone” together since the other night. He looked at me with a half-smile.

“I admire everything about you, Ada... Your smile, your laugh, the way your lips taste, the warmth of your body…”

“Cayden, are you ready to have your ass beat?” Egil said, interrupting us. He was jumping up and down, stretching his body from left to right. Cayden’s eyes lingered on me for a moment.

If the men had not been present, he would have taken me right there on the grass.

“Ada, we will demonstrate how a real fight should go, and then you’ll fight me.”

He winked his eye at me and I could not help but beam back at him. This would be the first time I saw him fight. I glanced over at Padriac, who seemed to have been listening to our whole conversation.

He took a bite of the meat Cayden had brought us, chuckling as he did so. I felt my cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.

Some time later, Cayden helped Egil up off the ground. He had taken his shirt off at the beginning of the fight, showing a few battle scars on his chest.

I wondered how badly he had been wounded, or if I could have survived in the same battle. The reality of our practice settled in.

The fight between them had been a brief one to show me certain moves and ways to get out of different holds.

I tried my best to pay attention to Padriac as he narrated the fight, but I found myself distracted by Cayden.

My mind wandered to what it would feel like to have his strong body against mine; then I would hear Padriac’s voice bringing me back to the fight.

Having just finished my meal, I regretted eating so much so fast. He would not let me rest any longer. Egil walked over and sat down on the grass.

I looked up at Cayden, who seemed excited to fight his next opponent. Looking at me, he motioned with his finger for me to come over to him.

I set myself up across from Cayden, and he started to come toward me. I heard myself squeal and backed away from him. He started laughing at me and rested his hands on his hips.

“Hold on...hold on a moment. You are going to fight me as you did Egil? I only just learned the basic techniques an hour ago.”

“There is only one way to learn fighting.”

“Yes, yes... You have repeated that to me one hundred times, but just remember ~my ~words as you fight.”

“The only thing I am thinking is how much I am going to enjoy this,” he said before advancing toward me.

I mirrored his stance and unintentionally continued to back away from him. I could hear the men sneering behind me.

“Woman, you might as well run away. Either fight or forfeit yourself.”

I would never admit defeat without trying. These were the words that I needed to hear. I took a deep breath and ran at him with all my might. Not expecting my force, he fell backwards onto the ground.

For a second, I was on top of him until he flipped me over. We struggled a bit in that position. I brought my knees to my chest and pushed my legs as hard I could to get him off me.

This gave me enough time to stand up and throw a few punches at him. While it seemed like I was winning for the time being, things quickly changed. Before I knew it, I was back on the ground struggling.

My shirt had moved up toward my ribs, and Cayden’s hands were holding my stomach. They moved down to my hips, attempting to roll me over. My body was growing tired, and I could not resist him anymore.

I tried one last time to thrust him off, but he anticipated this move and used it to flip me over onto my stomach. He had won, almost without breaking a sweat.

I was so tired that I continued to lie there, motionless. One of the men threw a water canteen over to Cayden, and he sat down next to me, drinking from it.

“Well, I think we all might need to take a dip in the cold river after that,” Gosta said, receiving laughter from the rest of the men.

“Is she dead?” Caxton asked.

“Ada, are you dead?” Cayden nudged me with his leg. I slowly raised my head and then got up onto my knees. He slapped me on the back, handing me the water. “She lives!”