"Warrior´s Playroom" by Emma Kathryn

Warrior’s Playroom

Emma Kathryn

Virgil had his hands over Tytia’s eyes as he led her through his studio apartment and they both laughed happily even as they tripped and stumbled over various objects.  They finally reached the room Virgil wanted her to see and he struggled the door open while still trying to block her vision.

             “Eyes shut!” he ordered with a laughed as they bundled into the room.

            “They are shut!” she shrieked as she clung to him tightly, trying hard not to fall over.  The motion sensors tripped the lights and a gentle glow warmed Tytia as Virgil finally came to a stop.

            “Ready?” he asked her with a grin.

“Ready,” she replied with a nod, bubbling over with excitement as Virgil slid his hands away from her eyes and brought them down to her shoulders, brushing past her mahogany hair.  Her eyelids flickered open and her jaw instantly dropped as she gazed around what she quickly realised was his training room.

Broadswords, samurai blades, daggers, Sais, staffs, knives, scythes…This was utterly amazing.  She could not believe what she was seeing.  There was some seriously vintage weaponry in here; some must have gone out of production centuries ago, maybe even millennia!

Tytia had only the modern guns that the Academy used.  Stupid plasma or ion guns.  She hated guns altogether – they were a coward’s weapons – but the Academy only supplied or trained their soldiers with firearms.

“You like?” Virgil asked as he watched her closely.

“I love,” she told him dreamily.  “They’re all so beautiful.”

“I know you keep moaning that you have no variety in the Academy so I give you variety,” he said as he gestured towards the weapons and the walls they hung from.  She stood in silent awe, gazing wide-eyed.  “Well, go on, pick something!” he old her with a nod.

“Really?” she asked in disbelief.

“Of course.”

Tytia walked slowly around the room, examining the weapons with hungry eyes; the shining glaze of wooden handles and the winking metal of countless blades all glimmering back at her.  Virgil followed her closely, smiling quietly to himself.  Her hand hovered over a sai; the small three-pronged knife seemed to be calling out to her.  But suddenly something else seemed to be whispering her name and she turned to see a beautiful Chinese staff, decorated black and crimson.  She grinned as she lifted it down and took it in her hands.  It was quite heavy; not so much so to render it unmanageable but still enough to do damage.

Virgil reached past her to take one for himself and, for that split second when his body was so close to hers, Tytia’s heart leapt in her chest.  He selected a wooden staff engraved with Celtic markings then stood before Tytia.

“Ready?” he asked with a wide grin.

“Always am,” came her ambiguous reply along with a wink.

 “Now I know that you soldiers get some pretty severe training so no holding back, you hear?”

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t.”

The moment the words had left her mouth, she lunged forward at Virgil with the staff, forcing him to spin his in order to knock hers and send it upwards.  She quickly changed her grip, grabbing the top, holding it with both hands to block the attacks he rained down on her with.  She countered every one and laughed as the pace quickened.  His grip was the same as hers, leaving a large open space in the centre of the staff.  She seized her opportunity and freed a high kick, catching the very centre of his staff with her foot, ripping it from his hands and sending it flying through the air, over her head and falling to the ground behind her with a clatter.  He looked down at his empty hands but had to duck quickly as she released her hand from the bottom of the staff and let it swipe for his head.  He dropped to the ground to avoid her attack and immediately swung his leg round, catching her ankle and bringing her to the floor with a thud.  He lunged over her, grabbing her staff and getting to his feet before instantly driving the staff down towards her chest.  She rolled away; dodging his shot, then leapt to her feet and snatched two sais from the wall.  She spun them in her hands and gave Vigil a wink.  He grinned as he tried to catch his breath.  They were both in the same state; heart pounding, breath lost, sweat pouring.

Virgil threw his staff aside and turned to her.

“Oh so that’s how we want to play it now?” he gasped as he gazed at her.  She breathed deeply, her breast rising and falling as she stood, gripping the weapon so that the three prongs jutted out between her fingers, like claws.  She nodded breathlessly and took a step away from the wall, granting him the opportunity to select his weapons.  He took two identical sais and returned his attention to her.

They encircled one another for a few moments.  Tension building, hearts racing, not a sound but their breathing which was no in unison.

It was Virgil who made the first strike but Tytia countered every blow with a ringing clash of metal.  One, two, three…Hit after hit after hit.  They began to get faster.  Their timing was perfect to the extent that it couldn’t have been more synchronised if they had rehearsed it.  That it, until Virgil lunged forward and made a swipe for Tytia’s torso.  She leapt back but the blade caught her royal blue Academy uniform, creating a slash clean across and revealing her toned stomach.  She gazed down; surveying the damage then looked back to Virgil with raised eyebrows.

“Oh you’re going to pay for that,” she laughed between breaths.

“Really?  And, here, I thought that you were the one trying to rip my clothes to shreds.”

“I am but this is regulation Academy uniform,” she replied flirtatiously.

She surged forward, instantly clashing blades with him.  They fought wildly and passionately; body temperatures soaring, windows steaming over, sweat forcing clothing to cling to flesh.  And breathing only deepened as their weapons became locked, binding them, each with a blade locked above their heads and the other at about waist level.  They both panted and gasped, gazing at one another longingly, lips parted, getting closer and closer before…

Be-be-beep!  Be-be-beep!

Tytia jumped as her pager began to beep and buzz in her pocket.  Virgil exhaled deeply and turned away while Tytia checked her device.

“I have to…”

“Go.  I know,” he finished her sentence as he replaced the blades.  Tytia approached him quietly and held out the weapons she had been using.  He glanced at her.  She looked pissed off, upset and embarrassed all at the same time.  She stared at the sais in her hands, unable to look into his wonderful eyes for fear of seeing pain filling them.  “Keep them,” he told her, referring to the blades in her hands.

“What?” her eyes shot up in surprise.

“Keep them,” Virgil repeated.

“Virgil, I can’t…”

“Yes, you can.  Look when warriors find the weapon that was made for them, they must hold on to it tightly, treasure it and never let go.”  She gazed longingly into his perfect face.  Oh why, oh why was something so beautifully clear and simple so clouded with complications?!

“Thank you,” she whispered with a smile.

“Don’t mention it, now you better go before they send out a search party.  God knows, they’ve probably already bugged you.”

Tytia walked across the room as Virgil picked up the discarded staffs.  She hesitated at the door, stopping for a moment.

“Virgil…” she began.  He turned to her.

“Yes?”

“I…I…”  Suddenly her confidence drained and she stammered.  “Nothing, I just…Thank you.”  She quickly turned before she said anything more stupid and left.

Once again, Virgil was cold and alone in his empty apartment, suppressing too many emotions to count.