Time flowed slowly. Zara didn’t move, didn’t react. She still waited for the boy’s blade to take her life. Yet, as she perceived herself from the outside, the boy didn’t move. Her perception narrowed back down to herself and she was back in control of her body. She was shivering uncontrollably but she at least had some agency.

“But I attacked you?” she managed.

The boy laughed. “That was no attack. Hands are not for attacking.” He said as if it made any sense. “I take it you agree to the trade?”

Zara wasn’t sure what was going on. A boy that could, and did kill six men on his own, men if not trained in the sword than at least experienced enough with it to protect themselves with one, was offering to follow her around to… learn from her? An idea formed into a plan. Not a plan she liked, but a plan that she was sure would give her protection. From her captors, and the very boy that was going to follow her around. She didn’t like the fact she had to use someone, a man especially, to protect herself, but when needs must…

“Yes” she agreed.

“Great!” the boy smiled fully “Come, I will lead you to my camp.” He strode past her and the corpses he made. Than as he passed he turned around to face her, looked her up and down than started to relive the bodies of their swords. That desecration did not sit well with Zara.

“Why are you taking their swords? Shouldn’t a dead warrior be left with his weapon?” she asked from the side.

“They are Free. They don’t need them, and we do. I didn’t take them before because the swords weren’t unique. But, now that I have an apprentice she will need a practice sword, and the swords are varied in length enough for you to choose which one you want to use. I know no forgers here.”

Free? Is freedom the same as death to him? the bargain she made didn’t sit well with her before, now she was regretting it. It seemed important to ask so she did.

The boy thought for a moment than waved his hand at her as he unhocked the last sword off a belt. “What you call death I call Freedom. For it is a freedom from the world. All of it. The bad and the good. But it is not complete. True Freedom is what I seek. Freedom from the world on my will and choice.” He stood from his task and handed her the swords “Pick which you want to use.”

Zara couldn’t see the difference between the two like she could the swords. She hovered her hand over the sheeted weapons offered to her. She was never interested in swordsmanship, but stories of great deeds done by wielders of such weapons were a common part of almost all stories. So she picked.

Her own pick surprised Zara. A sword no longer than her forearm rested in her left hand. And in her right she held a sword the length of her whole arm. The boy offered her no shield and she thought she could use the shorter sword in place of one until she got it. The knights in the stories always had a shield to complement their sword. She looked to the boy for some kind of confirmation that she chose correctly. He looked unimpressed by her choice, but she could not detect any disapproval either. So she guessed she was ok.

They started off towards the Dragon spine in a tail-wards direction. The boy in front leading the way and carrying the other four swords under his arm while his swung off his left side. They walked for a time when a thought occurred to Zara.

“Why would you want to teach me how to wield a sword? Aren’t women supposed to stay off the battle field?” She asked.

The boy turned to her not breaking his stride looking befuddled. “What does your gender have to do with using a sword? I know you will fight differently than me, but what does it matter? Also what is a battlefield?”

Zara was speechless. That wasn’t what she expected, but she would take it. How he didn’t know what a battlefield is was another thing entirely.

“A battlefield is a word for a place where a fight happened, but blood must be spilled. That’s how I would explain it.”

He chuckled. “You people are so strange.” He started, almost to himself. “Why bind names to things that do not need them. Chain me to a rock, you people even bind yourselves to land. Did you know those men found me all the way in the woods were someone named His Lordship’s and I hunt in them? I asked them how they knew that the woods were his, did the forest tell them that? They pulled their weapons at that, demanded I come with them, I responded in kind. It was a new kind of fight, I never fought more than two opponents at once. It was trickier than I expected.”

What did she get herself into? That was the question that rang in her ears as they walked through the Star lit forest.