"Hello?"

Kaden called out from the center of the arena where he thought he was to meet Princess Lyla for another lesson as the suns of a new day rose. But, as it was, she wasn't anywhere to be found. Nor was Sakhar Bul, his normal instructor in the absence of Prince Relastin.

"Hello?"

"Do you always announce yourself to your enemies so loudly?" On a balcony of the third level, the same dark form Kaden had seen previously hovering there called to him with the voice of Princess Lyla. "Because if you do, your either very foolish, or very brave. I will, however, bet on foolish."

Kaden removed his weapon from behind his back, spinning it like a propeller twice before entering a ready stance with the forked end in front of him and the bladed end over his shoulder. "My princess? What are you doing all the way up there? Look, I know I'm intimidating and all, but you don't have to hide from me."

The princess stepped forward out of the shadows, dressed in her warrioress armor, swords at her side and arms crossed. "Your attempt at making light of a serious situation is, I suppose, charming on a certain naive level."

"I came for my next lesson as you requested."

"So you have. I suppose, considering that, there is some bravery in you then." Thirty feet up, the princess stepped up on the balcony's railing and then, without hesitation, walked off into the air.

Kaden took a step forward, but then quickly realized he'd never make it to her before she reached the ground. Almost just as quickly, he noticed her descent towards the arena floor was slower than a normal fall. Princess Lyla reached the lowest level, and with a slight pull on a nearly invisible line attached to the back of her belt, the anchor on the other end detached from the balcony above and came back to her while being drawn into her belt.

"Now that," Kaden marveled, "is a neat trick. Some sort of spring wound pulley?" He even arched his neck to one side to see if he could get a better look and discern what device had been used.

"I saw you take a step, thinking to save me." Princess Lyla was more about the business at hand than humoring him. "Part of me is flattered. Part of me is also disgusted that you would think I needed saving. You men are always thinking such foolish things about us women." She drew her swords. "Are you ready?"

"Sure." Kaden reentered the ready stance he had left when he took the step towards the falling princess.

Stalking towards him, she readied as well. "You're not going to cry the second I hurt you again, are you? Like yesterday?" Before reaching him, she started to sidestep to her left, just out of his range.

Kaden moved left as well, keeping her in front if him. "Come on now, princess. I think that's a bit of an exaggeration about what happened."

"You need to take this more seriously." She feinted.

Kaden flinched, revealing exactly how unprepared for a serious contest he really was.

The princess offered further advice. "This is not a world of beakers and flasks and potions. It is one of sweat and steel and blood. You can never drop your weapon in battle. A real enemy would never have shown you mercy. A real enemy would have finished you off. You must hold on to it at all costs. For without your weapon, your life if forfeit. If you want your time as the Karo Shar to last more than a few sunsrises, if you want revenge, you have to be a real warrior. Not just a pretender."

"Perhaps you've heard? I killed a Koronai." Kaden swiped his bladed and forked staff in a wide and inviting arc that spoke of how proud he had been of that. "All by myself."

"A lesser one. Yes." The princess's admission was not enthusiastic. "I was there when you presented your trophy to the prince. Remember? The way you entered and demanded acknowledgement on that day was the way a true warrior acts. Not like you did yesterday. Anyone can be bold when fueled by essence of Rage and Courage. The truly heroic are those who do not need it to bring out their warrior instincts."

"As I said, I'm here to learn, aren't I? So teach me these things."

At that moment, Princess Lyla stopped moving left. She slammed both of her swords back onto her hips with defiance of his request. "Why do you want me to teach you? Why not Sakhar Bul? Why not my brother?"

Kaden stopped as well, but did not lower his weapon, fearing the speed he suspected she could go from looking harmless to killing him. "Well, you offered. You also implied you knew how to use this weapon I've chosen. And to be honest, I get the impression that you are a match for the prince in terms of skill. If not his superior."

"Flattery?" Through pursed lips, the woman warrior contemplated that comment. "Hmm. Interesting. Do you think that will get you into my bed quicker?"

"I'm more interested in learning how to fight at the moment. And staying alive." Kaden reversed his previous stance. Now the bladed end of his weapon was in front of him, and the forked end under his arm. The blade of his staff wobbled ever so slightly. "I'll worry about getting between your legs later."

"Ha! Now that is boldness. I send slave to fuck your brains out, and you think yourself man enough to take me?"

"Well, there will only be one way to find that out, princess. Now, are we going to do this or what?"

The princess redrew her swords. They rang. "All right. Just remember, you asked for this."

Kaden had no time to do anything other than block twin strikes, one high and one low from separate swords. He then did the same a second time.

The princess reversed and went low, then high for her third attack, and Kaden foiled that as well.

"Are you learning these things from books?" She asked as her fourth assailing of him was likewise held off. As was her fifth.

Kaden swung her momentum into his advantage. He jabbed with the bladed end of his staff, which the princess avoided easily. "I can see the footwork diagrams and the weapon movements in my mind, and then recreate them." Kaden pressed his attacks, mixing long stabs with attacks from alternating ends of his weapon.

The princess backed up and defended casually, as though there was no real danger. "So it's all textbook for you?" Steel from blades chimed against its counterpart held in Kaden's hands. "There's more to fighting than that. You need your instincts to work and supplement the basic knowledge. You need to rely on what's inside you. That's how you killed the Koronai."

"I killed the Koronai because I was on Rage."

"Those emotions already exist within you. Pure essences only enhance them. The best warriors do not put their lives in the hands of the chance they will have those when needed. Enemies can strike at any time." Princess Lyla, deciding she'd had enough, once more took over the battle and controlled the flow of the swinging steel. "There might not be time to grab an essence and wait for it to take effect."

Her blows were more forceful than before. She was showing Kaden she more powerful than she had shown. But he also could also tell she was still holding back.

Kaden's feet fought to keep him balanced as he battled to keep her swords off him.

"I haven't taken a whiff of Rage or Courage. Never," she boasted. "And I would stake my life on the fact that I could beat any man who had." After a few more blocks by Kaden, she added. "You're doing better today."

"Good enough to into your bed?" Kaden said with a sly smile.

"Not even close," the princess bit back. "But I can show you what it would take." Princess Lyla didn't wait to see if the Karo Shar would answer. She merely tripped her effort.

Kaden lasted not more than five seconds before he was again on his back and the princess pounced on top of him, swords crossed over his neck. Like he he had witnessed her do to Sahkar Bul.

She blew a lock of black hair out of her eyes. "I'll be honest," she said. "You did better than I thought you would. But you still have a long way to go." Rising, she put both swords in one hand and offered her free one to him in assistance.

Hesitating, Kaden accepted it after a moment and a stern look from the princess signaling that she expected him to accept her offer of help.

She started helping him up and then Kaden felt himself pulled past her and being thrown to the ground again. Once more she was over him with swords crossed and the edge of the blades ticking this skin while forcing him to hold his breath to avoid being cut.

The princess shook her head. "Don't ever let your guard down. Don't ever assume anyone is your ally. Always assume the hand given to you wants to kill you."

Again she stood, and again she offered him a helping hand.

Kaden again took it. He felt her muscles tense, just as they had moments before. He tensed and braced with as much strength as he could. She pulled and the Karo Shar did move, but only slightly. Ultimately she was unable to perform the same maneuver again.

"You learn fast," she said, releasing his hand.

"Thanks."

"Your technique is textbook, which is to be expected from the way you are learning. But, you are learning." She then grabbed his bicep. Her fingers fiddled with it. "You are gaining strength, too."

She seemed to linger with her touch a little longer than Kaden felt was natural. In the end, she gently scraped the nails of her fingers along his skin and gave him goosebumps while pondering his increasing physique.

Drawing a reaction from Kaden, she made a request. "Let me see your weapon."

Kaden almost handed it over, but halted and pulled it back as the princess reached for it. "That might not be wise on my part. I would be unarmed."

Lyla smiled. "You do learn fast, indeed. I will give you my word that I will hurt you while you are unarmed." Seeing his hesitation, she took her two swords and threw them at his feet. "There, now I am unarmed, and you have my weapons within your reach."

Reaching her hand out, Kaden handed his bladed pole arm over to her. "You seem to believe you know this weapon."

"It's called a Rohs Fang."

"And what's that?" Kaden asked.

"A weapon used by the most elite of the Sava Warrioresses. Those who protected the Queen of the Barren Sands herself. The question is, is it real, or an imitation." Princess Lyla ran her fingers along the shaft, stopping on the collar halfway from either end.

Her fingers curled around it and the shaft on the side where the pole was bladed. She twisted and the two ends came apart. Half of the weapon now in each hand, Lyla examined them and put them through a set of paces: checking their weight, balance, and maneuverability.

"I didn't know it could do that," marveled Kaden.

"Yes. This is a true Rohs Fang." She nodded, bringing the two ends back together and clicking them to form one weapon again. She performed a set of finely tuned maneuvers with it in its unified form, the weapon acting as a seamless extension of her.

"I suppose you're going to want that?"

The princess ceased her exercises, continuing to examine the weapon with her eyes. "I could lie and say that I did not desire to possess this miraculous weapon." She ran her finger ever so gently along the blade. "But, if you were not to have it, my brother would no doubt grow suspicious. Besides, a Rohs Fang can only be taken from its owner upon death in single combat." She handed the weapon back to Kaden.

He accepted. "Well, you could pretty much beat me right now if you wanted to."

The princess erupted in laughter. "I could do that, yes. But it would not be honorable to defeat an untrained opponent. Besides, as I've told you, I have plans for you. Killing you is not, at this time, part of those plans."

"I can only hope you'll continue to feel that way in the years to come."

"That, my dear Karo Shar, will be entirely based upon your performance." Princess Lyla reacquired her swords. "On the battlefield, in the Abyss, and in my bed."

Kaden, aroused by her cockiness, although warranted, decided he wanted to make a statement of his own. He let her take the first sword, but upon her reaching for the second, he slapped the forked end of the Rohs Fang into the dirt, each tine on either side of her wrist, trapping it.

For her role in the confrontation, the princess didn't even flinch. But her eyes did trace up, slowly, until they met his. "A bold move," she said. "And a dangerous one."

"I figured it was time to establish that I intend to have my revenge."

"Your revenge, Karo Shar? And that's all you will have?" She stayed where she was, unmoving.

"Well, when the time comes, I'll see if you're qualified to share my bed." He pulled the Rohs Fang from the dirt and the princess completed recovering her other sword. "Teach me what you can. I want to learn."

Lyla gave a quirked smile. "I can teach you much, young Karo Shar. But, to do that effectively, I will have to teach you the hard way. The way of pain."

"If means I can have my revenge for my father's death?" Kaden again entered his ready stance and squared off. "Then by all means, let's begin with the pain."

The princess nodded. "And so you shall have it then."