The Grim Wanderer Read Online Free

defence. Logan launched a reverse swing for Taem’s stomach, and the apprentice parried low. Logan leapt over Taem’s sweeping strike. Taem sliced upwards at Logan’s throat, and the Master slipped back out the way. Taem ducked, as Logan swung for his head. An almighty smiting blow was turned aside by a sweeping deflection. Logan threw a lightning combination. A swing for Taem’s stomach, for his left ear and then his right ear. Taem’s sword flew out to meet each of the three strikes. Taem riposted, swinging downwards at Logan’s head. The Master side-stepped and countered, coming in with a cleaving blow to Taem’s shoulder. Taem whipped his sword upwards, spun round and struck out horizontally. Logan met the powerful blow with a shuddering block.
    The relentless crack of wood on wood was ever present, as the combatants strived to outmanoeuvre and out-fight the other. Taem fought as if his life depended on it, but the Master was too good.
    Taem stormed in with a furious assault, driving Logan onto the back foot, but the older man had an answer to every one of his probing attacks. Every strike Taem could think of he threw into the offensive. He feinted a thrust low to Logan’s right side, but before clashing with his adversary’s practice sword, he pulled his own sword back and reversed the attack, aiming for his Master’s unprotected left temple. Before his sword was anywhere near its target, it was battered aside with a swing of the Master’s training weapon.
    Logan seemed to know what I was going to do before I had even done it , Taem thought to himself – although he would expect nothing less. Now it was Logan’s turn to go on the offensive. The Master was relentless as he aimed strike after strike at his apprentice, forcing him into a frenzy of defence. Yet Taem managed to maintain his composure in defence, despite the pressure the older man heaped on him. Logan continued his onslaught, swinging for the left side of Taem’s head. Instead of parrying the blow, Taem ducked at the last moment, forcing Logan off balance. Taem shot back up and brought his practice sword up to rest on his opponent’s neck.
    Macen let out an approving whistle and Edar smiled. Elena nodded her approval.
    ‘Excellent!’ Logan’s eyes flashed with surprise.
    Taem felt his chest swell up with pride, that rare compliment was praise indeed.
    ‘We will stop now for lunch,’ Logan walked over to the oak tree where their equipment was stashed.
    ‘After you have run through the Forms,’ Logan picked up a real sword, inside its sheath, and threw it to Taem.
    Taem caught the scabbard with his right hand, discarding his wooden practice sword. Quick but smooth, Taem drew the real sword using his left hand. Even though the venerable sword was familiar to Taem, he still marvelled at how the sunlight flared along the shallow curve of its single perfect blade. It was Logan’s sword, named Mantioc, crafted years ago for a Sodan warrior, when the Way of the Sword was more than a distant memory in a handful of people’s minds.
    Grasping the sword’s hilt in two hands, firm but not too tense, Taem took up the guard position and emptied his mind.
    ‘Elena,’ Logan threw her another sword. ‘Try not to show your brothers up too badly.’
    Elena grinned, as she flashed her sword through a dextrous figure of eight. She flipped the sword over and round her back, and repeated the attack pattern with the blade in her other hand.
    ‘That won’t work in a real fight,’ Macen smirked, ‘little sister.’
    ‘Well little brother,’ Elena smiled, ‘on the day you can give me a real fight, I’ll be sure to listen to your advice. Until then, try to keep up.’
    ‘That told you brother!’ Edar smirked at Macen.
    ‘Ahh,’ Elena said, ‘at least one of my brothers knows his rightful place.’ She smiled a beaming white smile at Edar. Her long blond hair and bright blue eyes shimmered under the summer sun. Had she been raised in the city, Elena