Olivia watched from out of sight in the house. Orn dodged and blocked, in the rear garden.

She was sure he was fighting someone, but she knew there was no one there. The first day it happened she was worried something terrible had happened to him.

She thought back to when he suddenly started running around like something was attacking him. Olivia had panicked, but there was nothing there. It caused her to hesitate. Her job was to watch and step in only if he would be hurt. When he suddenly froze and grabbed his side, she cursed at her indecision. She had run toward the door only to watch him stand back up. One moment he looked as if he had been stabbed, the next he was running around again it was as if nothing had happened.

Over the last year she watched it happen over, and over again. The unseen enemy fought with Orn every time he was in the garden. Orn would struggle and be struck down, only to get back up and do it again. Little boys everywhere dreamed of becoming heroes and fought monsters with sticks. But the light glinting off the steel blade, and the expression of shock and pain on his face every time he fell with an unseen injury sent a shiver down her spine. There was something innocent in the way children fought their fake wars, even when they pretended to fall. But what she was watching gave her chills. It was as if every day he was not playing a war, he was fighting one.

She could not understand what had happened. One day he was idly swinging a weapon, making her question the lord’s decision to allow him to handle the weapons at all. Then without warning he was fighting as if his life depended on it.

She tried to broach the subject when he came in one day, but he dodged the question. She knew he was hiding something, but what it was she had no clue. It was all too strange. Despite her misgivings, there was one thing she did know; he was getting better, much better, and very quickly. There seemed to be no pattern to what he was doing. Almost at random he would pick up a different weapon, to fight with the invisible opponent. The first day would be clumsy, but slowly he seemed able to hold his own. Then the weapons changed, and he was being toyed with again. The only constant was how he slowly moved faster and more cleanly each day.

The largest change though, was his attitude. At first, he seemed resigned, almost dreading going out, each morning. But after a few weeks, that became a sort of stubborn determination. Over the last couple months, he seemed to be looking forward to it. From time to time, she noticed he was even smiling as he fought.

The adorable little boy she had been assigned to care for and protect was disappearing. In his place was a child, who laughed and smiled while using weapons, with deadly intent. That he often used them better than men with minor skills in those weapons made her chest tighten when she thought about it.

She shook her head and went back to watching Orn’s fight. Pull yourself together. You are too young to be upset a child no longer runs to you when he is upset.