Sarah7

Ch10

Sarah made her way slowly through the forest. If there was a place more polar opposite to the dark, dead, and cold corridors of the ship, it would be where she walked now. The morning sun shone brightly through the tall trees, casting everything in dappled moving shadows and pollen filled sunbeams. The ground beneath her feet was soft and covered with something she knew was moss, but where that word came from, she was at a loss. In the distance she could hear Creed grunting with effort, and she picked up her pace. Her senses were almost overwhelmed by the smells and sounds of the forest, and even the rough bark of the tree felt novel and almost unreal to her hands.

She wondered if she would ever find out who she was, this strange amalgam of fearful girl, and ... something else. How was she able to defeat those drones on the ship? And why couldn’t she remember anything before she had emerged from that device?

Somehow, she knew Max was part of the answer, and perhaps Creed as well.

Sarah came to the edge of another clearing, and saw Creed standing in a strange pose. His legs were bent, making him low to the ground, and he held a sword above his head pointing straight in front of him. Then suddenly, in a fluid motion, he struck out with his sword, spun in place, and ended with his sword pointing behind him under his left arm.

Sarah looked around the clearing, alarmed. Was there someone there? Was he in a fight? His face was tight and eyes slitted with concentration. Sarah could see no one else there. Creed began another series of motions, striking out with his sword over and over again. His sword became a blur of motion that Sarah was hard pressed to follow, then he stood upright once again.

Without turning to look at her Creed said flatly “if you’re going to just stand there and stare at me, you could at least announce your presence.”

Sarah jumped, and said “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you are doing. Is there someone out there with you that you are fighting?”

Creed stopped then, looked at her directly, and chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. Sarah noticed that he seemed to have a habit of that, especially when he was distracted.

“You really are fresh off the boat, or starship in this case, aren’t you?” he said. He seemed to have lost the anger he had expressed just a few moments before when he had stormed off.

“I - I guess so. I don’t remember anything before waking up in that ship. But somehow, I seem to have memories of common things like trees or sky, but other things I am completely blank. And I also seem to know how to … fight. When I was trying to escape the ship and find Max, some of the drones were accidently activated. I had to fight them to get to Max, and then he rescued us both.” she took a few steps into the clearing.

“Well well, you can fight? “ he gestured to his sword. “What I was doing is something called ‘forms’. It’s a way of learning how to fight with a sword. You practice against an imaginary opponent, so that when you are in a real fight, you don’t have to think about it.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “Come here. Maybe you can be of some use.”

Sarah was suddenly self-conscious. “Use? What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s see if your miraculous knowledge of fighting includes swordplay. I could use a sparring partner.” Creed walked over to the edge of the clearing and fished around for a long stick. After breaking off the branches, he handed Sarah a smooth branch that was roughly the length of her arm. It felt heavy in her hands.

“What do you want me to do with this?” she held it awkwardly with two hands, the end touching the ground.

“Defend yourself! Pretend I’m a drone or something. “ He gave her a big grin and held up his own sword. “Here, stand like this” he pointed to his feet, and how he was turned to the side slightly. Then he held up his sword after she awkwardly copied his stance.

“Bring your sword up, like this.” he gestured.

“It’s not a sword. It’s a stick.” she bit her lip. What was he going to do, attack her?

“Use your imagination. Pretend I’m an enemy, and you have to hit me with your stick. Come on, you can do it.” he similed again and held his sword steady.

She awkwardly raised her stick upwards in a poor mimicry of Creed, and tentatively tapped his sword.

“Oh come on. I’m an enemy! You gotta get past me to survive! Hit me like you mean it!” he raised his voice a bit, and Sarah screwed up her face and swung a bit harder. The stick connected with his sword with a satisfying THWAK.

“Yeah, that’s it. This is how you learn. Practice. Now let me attack you. Hold up your sword, and move it when I swing it towards your side.”

She nodded nervously and he swung his sword in an exaggerated fashion.

Something within Sarah seemed to be triggered by his action, and her vision narrowed to just the motion of the sword. Her stance changed dramatically, and she blocked his attack, then counterattacked, spinning in place and hitting him on the shoulderplate.

“Hey! That’s it. You’re full of surprises. Now attack me!” he yelled.

Sarah’s heart started beating faster, and she looked down the length of her stick, and began a series of attacks. First slowly, then faster and faster, she swung high, then low, then feinted one way, and jabbing.

Creed found himself sweating as her awkward assault turned into a skilled and relentess attack. Chips flew off the wood as she struck his sword over and over. Whenever she swung, he was there to block it, and she grew angry and frustrated, even though a part of her was wondering how she was even able to perform these attacks at all. She was like a person possessed.

As they sparred back and forth, Creed started to attack her back. At first tentatively as he did not want to hurt her, but with more confidence as she would effortlessly block his advances, and counter attack almost immediately.

Sarah lost herself in the back and forth. The clacking of the wood on the sword felt amost like a cadence for a dance. Her thoughts stilled and a peace came over her. She felt detached from what she was doing, but also at the same time she could see and sense everything in extreme detail.

She could see the beads of sweat on Creed’s brow, the chips of wood flying almost as in slow motion as the wood connected with the sword. She also sensed something else. Something like a voice - calling her.

Creed laughed out loud. He had not had a workout like this in ages. Whomever this girl was, she was NOT just some leftover passenger on that starship. She was fighting like a swordsman who had been doing this for years, and apparently without even thinking about it.

Their mock battle was abruptly halted when they both heard a heavy footfall at the edge of the clearing.

Max stepped out of the forest and raised his arm - a blaster rose out of a hidden compartment and he said “Sarah! He’s attacking you! I told you this would happen!” Max let off a shot aimed directly at Creed.

What happened next Creed would never forget for the rest of his life, for at that moment Sarah moved impossibly fast, yelling “Noooo!” and flung the rest of her stick into the path of the blast with a blur of motion. Both Sarah and Creed fell to the ground as the stick connected and exploded.

“Stop it you idiot robot!” Creed said as he lifted his head from the ground. “We were just sparring!”

Max walked up carefully to the place where Sarah was lying. “Sarah? Are you ok? Sarah!”

Creed jumped up and ran to where Sarah had fallen. A large piece of wood was protruding from her side, and she lie there unconscious.

“Look what you did now! If you’ve killed her I’ll tear you apart myself!” Creed fumed at Max.

The battle robot dropped his aggressive stance immediately. “No. Not again.” it said quietly.

“What’s that you say? Listen you bucket of wires. We have to get her to a doctor. There’s one a few miles from here. If you want this girl to live, you’re not only going to have to trust me, but you’ll have to do as I say. You got that Mr. Max Battle Robot?!” Creed was shaking his fist as he spit out the words.

Max looked down at the pale girl at his feet.

“Yes. I got that. What do we do?” Max said plaintively.

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