The Talented (5 page)

“
The two of us will spar
first,” Adrienne said. “Rosch can watch variations of the moves
I’ve taught him, and if you’re already tired maybe he can last more
than ten minutes.”

“
I thought you beat him in
five,” Ricco said. Adrienne couldn’t tell if the offense in his
voice was feigned or not.

“
He’s been training with me
for weeks,” Adrienne pointed out. “And besides, everyone knows I’m
a better fighter than you.”

“
Say that again when I beat
you in front of the kid tomorrow.”

••••••

Rosch stood off to the
side, looking on with interest as Adrienne and Ricco faced each
other in the training ring. The match was not taking place in the
small ring located in the Yearling training grounds, but in one of
the larger, nicer rings used by the more experienced soldiers.
Adrienne had no problem training Rosch in the smaller ring, but
Ricco had insisted on the change of venue. He did not often
formally spar with Adrienne, and he wanted their fight to be
visible to more than just the Yearlings.

Neither of the two
Kyrogeans held weapons. Swords would play no part in determining
whether Adrienne or Ricco was the superior fighter. Though Rosch
knew that the match had been set up in fun for his benefit,
Adrienne was surprised to see the nerves on her trainee’s face as
she squared up against her larger, more powerfully built friend.
Ricco’s arms were as large as Adrienne’s thighs, and his broad
chest would make two of her. His jaw looked hard enough to crush
granite.

Adrienne dropped into a
low fighting stance, her brown eyes glowing with intensity, and
with a wide grin that more resembled a predator’s bared teeth Ricco
did the same. Adrienne clenched and unclenched her fists in
anticipation of the coming match.

Word had spread through
Kyrog that Adrienne and Ricco had set up a sparring match, and
other soldiers had gathered around to see the demonstration of
superior skills. Quite a few of the Yearlings were there, doubtless
to watch the female soldier they had all faced and been defeated by
go up against Ricco, a soldier with more than six years of training
in Kyrog and the scars to prove he’d seen action outside of the
relative safety of the camp’s training grounds. The more
experienced soldiers gathered to see what promised to be an
interesting contest between the two superb contenders.

Adrienne and Ricco trained
together on a regular basis, but they rarely competed against each
other in a formal way, and some men decided to take bets on the
outcome.

“
Are you sure you want to
risk embarrassing yourself this way?” Ricco asked, his voice
taunting as they circled each other.

“
I’m ready to embarrass
you,” Adrienne called back.

Ricco’s right fist shot
out in retaliation.

Adrienne spun back to
avoid the punch, and the game began.

Ricco came at her like a
bull, head down, relying on size and weight rather than finesse to
overwhelm her.

Adrienne’s kick caught him
in the solar plexus, using his own momentum against him, and had
him doubling over long enough for another sweeping kick to take out
his legs.

He fell hard, raising a
puff of dust, but Ricco was fast despite his bulky appearance. He
leapt to his feet, dodged left, then right, to avoid another
kick.

He settled into a fighting
stance similar to the one Adrienne had so painstakingly taught
Rosch, but he didn’t stay still for long. A quick step forward
brought him close enough to strike, and his fist very nearly
connected with Adrienne’s cheek. She felt the wind from the near
miss brush past her as she threw herself to the right.

They dodged blow after
blow, circling and attempting to strike, until Ricco managed to
land a punch on Adrienne’s chin.

Her head snapped back, and
there were cheers and groans from the crowd as she staggered
backward, barely managing to keep her feet.

Money changed hands as the
first blood was drawn.

“
You’ve a damned hard
head,” Ricco said, shaking his hand out to alleviate some of the
sting.

Adrienne spat out a
mouthful of blood from where she had bitten her tongue, circling
Ricco warily. Her head was ringing, her vision just a little
blurry. If this had been a normal training session, she might have
decided to wait for her head to clear before continuing the
fight.

Since they were on
display, she fought on through the dizziness.

Ricco had her outmatched
when it came to upper body strength, and if it came to a grappling
match she stood no change, but her legs were strong. Jumps and
kicks were something she had that Ricco didn’t, and she used them
now.

She kept Ricco on the
move, twisting and dodging, and he cursed her as fists and feet
flew by his head, missing by inches.

He was tiring, and
Adrienne took the chance of a flying leap, kicking out toward his
head.

She caught him right by
the ear, and he went down. Hard.

Adrienne walked over and
put her foot on his chest. Ricco made only a feeble attempt to lift
it off.

“
We can see now who the
better fighter is,” Adrienne said smugly, pressing down a bit
harder on his chest.

There were chuckles from
the crowd and more money was exchanged. The fight had not been a
long one, but the strikes and evasions had been great examples of
skill. The crowd was obviously pleased by the show, and even those
who had placed bets on Ricco and lost joked as they handed over
their money.

“
To the Abyss with that.”
Ricco’s voice was only slightly stronger than his hands were as he
tried to displace her foot again, and Adrienne reduced the pressure
on his chest. “I can take you any day. Rematch.”

The crowd seemed to like
that idea, and though Adrienne wouldn’t mind another go at Ricco,
she shook her head.

“
Rosch needs you in one
piece,” she told her friend. “Maybe after he has a go at you we can
give this another try.” She removed her foot and offered Ricco a
hand to help him get to his feet. He glared at the soldiers who
were gleefully collecting money they had won by betting against
him.

“
Tonight,” Ricco said,
pointing a finger at Adrienne. “We’ll have another go tonight. See
who wins then.”

Adrienne raised one amused
eyebrow, then nodded. “Tonight.” She looked toward Rosch, who was
watching the byplay with interest. He didn’t look ready to step
into the sparring ring and face Ricco himself. She actually thought
he looked a bit green under his naturally dark
complexion.

She took another look at
Ricco, who was covered in dirt and sweat with knuckles beginning to
bruise, and could understand why the Yearling might hesitate.
“Rosch, are you planning to fight today or just watch?”

Rosch started and looked
sheepishly at Adrienne. Like Ricco, she looked even more imposing
than usual with bruised knuckles and blood on her face. When she
crossed her arms over her chest, he felt oddly grateful that it was
not her that he was about to face. Though he had no delusions that
he stood a real chance against Ricco, Adrienne looked the more
dangerous of the two. “I’m ready,” he said, turning to take measure
of Ricco as he would an opponent rather than a teacher.

“
Very good.” She stepped
away from Ricco and gestured for Rosch to take her place. “Have at
him.”

••••••

“
I’ve seen great
improvement in you these last few months,” Adrienne said one
morning after she and Rosch had completed their run. What had once
been a short morning run that would leave the young man breathless
had evolved into an easy eight miles that he could finish with
energy to spare. They were sitting on a bench just outside of the
mess hall, resting before breakfast and their next training
session.

Adrienne had pushed him
hard in their time together, and his body had adapted just as she
had known it would. She knew a day would come where his new
strength and endurance would serve him well.

“
Thank you,” Rosch said.
His words were simple, but Adrienne could see the surprise and
pleasure warring in his eyes. She was not free with her
compliments, and it was rare for him to receive one.

Rosch’s mind and attitude
had adapted as well. He no longer questioned Adrienne’s methods, or
pushed to progress faster than she allowed. She knew that weekly
practice sessions with other experienced soldiers had helped Rosch
better understand and respect her skill, just as she knew that he
benefited from having variety in his instruction.

And today she would
provide even more variety. “After breakfast, bring a quarterstaff
with you to the sparring ring.”

“
Sir?”

Adrienne could understand
his confusion. Despite four months of training, they had not used
more than daggers when they were sparring together. She pretended
to reconsider her decision. “Unless you don’t think you’re ready
for real weapons.”

“
No, sir, I’m ready,” he
said quickly, before Adrienne had a chance to change her
mind.

“
Then get
going.”

When Rosch was well out of
hearing, Adrienne felt a presence settle into the space beside her
on the bench. She turned to see Ricco sitting there looking after
the Yearling’s retreating form.

“
He didn’t even complain
that the weapon isn’t a sword,” he said, letting her know he had
been close enough to eavesdrop for quite some time.

“
Just because you don’t
appreciate the proper use of a quarterstaff doesn’t mean that Rosch
is so narrow-minded,” Adrienne told her friend.

Ricco snorted. “He’d be
glad for any weapon at this point.” Ricco was more than a little
amazed that Rosch had lasted so long without complaint.

Adrienne bit back her
smile. “Do you wish to be excused from the training rotation until
we’ve progressed to swords?” she asked her friend. “Or at least
until we are done with quarterstaffs?”

After the first time Ricco
had sparred with Rosch, he had started to train with the Yearling
once or twice a week. Adrienne was sure that the extra practice
Ricco provided was part of the reason Rosch was progressing so
quickly. Even when Adrienne could not train Rosch herself, he was
being taught by other Kyrogeans. The other Yearlings were still
being taught by Mylig and a small group of others, but Adrienne had
been able to convince some of the soldiers that they wanted to help
her. As she had heard no complaints from Mylig or the captain, she
felt comfortable planning Rosch’s training as she saw
fit.

“
Not if that means waiting
another four months,” Ricco said. Of all the soldiers Adrienne had
talked or coerced into practicing with Rosch, Ricco was the one who
needed the least convincing. She thought Ricco must enjoy working
with the Yearling.

Adrienne certainly did,
although she had not expected to. She had wanted to teach Rosch to
fight after she had so easily beaten him that first time, but she
had not expected to care for the Yearling, or to take such pride in
his accomplishments.

Ricco and Adrienne stood
up from the bench and got into the mess line, accepting fruit and
oatmeal as well as an egg each. Ricco took a thick slab of side
pork, but Adrienne declined and went to claim a table that was more
removed from the others, where they would be able to talk
uninterrupted and without the need to shout over the other men in
the mess. Despite the serious nature with which the soldiers
devoured their morning meal, they did so in a loud fashion, calling
out to each other between mouthfuls of food.

“
Not four months,” Adrienne
assured Ricco when he had joined her. “We were laying ground work
then. Two weeks with the quarterstaff should suffice, and then we
will move on.”

Ricco frowned. “Two
weeks?” He took a bite of side pork and half-chewed it before
resuming talking. “That isn’t very long.” Adrienne made a face at
the food still in his mouth and he swallowed before speaking again.
“I thought you planned to train him to expert level, the way you
were going about it.”

Adrienne knew that,
despite Ricco’s dislike of quarterstaffs, he was more than
competent with them. And he was right, years could be spent
mastering the oft underappreciated weapon.

She picked up a sweet red
berry and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully as she considered her
response. “He can’t become an expert in everything,” Adrienne said
once she had completely chewed and swallowed the berry, “especially
not within our time frame.”

“
Then why even bother with
the quarterstaff?” Ricco asked, shoveling in some of his egg. Ricco
ate at the speed with which most soldiers consumed their food, as
though they might be called away at any moment.

“
You learned the
quarterstaff, though you don’t use it when given the choice between
that or a sword,” Adrienne pointed out. “Is the knowledge you have
of the weapon wasted?”

“
No. If I didn’t know how a
quarterstaff was used, I wouldn’t be able to defend against one.” A
look of realization dawned on his face and he smiled.
“Clever.”