The little minx was unbelievably FAST. I knew that the cat race was faster than the human race but I didn't realize the gap was so large! I chased after Kalistra for at least a half-dozen blocks weaving through mid-day traffic on the busy streets. Yet, I was able to keep her in my sight. Somehow. I suspected that the cat girl was purposely slowing down in order for me to follow her back to her dojo. After all, I was her get-out-of-punishment card with her dad.
Despite my dead man's run at my top speed, I was never able to close the gap in distance between Kalistra and myself. Mercifully, I saw her round a corner at a more secluded part of town and came to a complete stop in front of a building. It was a traditional looking dojo with a ten-foot tall stone wall surrounding the compound. Two large heavy doors stood at the entrance. Standing next to the doors was a statue of a cat swordsman to the left and one of a cat swordswoman to the right.
I was panting heavily by the time I caught up with Kalistra and decided to examine the statues more closely while regaining my breath. The male warrior had his left foot out front while leaning more heavily against the back right foot. His sword was held in both paws and the sword handle was pulled behind the right ear. The tip of the sword was pointed at a downward angle at the imaginary opponent's chest.
The female warrior had a much different stance. The positioning of her feet was a mirror image of her male counterpart in having her right foot out wide while the left knee was bent to support the weight of the body. However, the sword was held across and in front of her chest. The blade was turned in her paws to run parallel to her torso. Furthermore, the blade was raised so that it was just under the wielder's chin.
Kalistra stood in front of the doors as if to wait for someone to open them. Her fluffy ears moved periodically as she stood silently. However, once my breathing became normal again, Kalistra pushed on the right door and opened it with only her right hand. She turned her head back toward me and said, "Follow me."
I resisted the temptation to face palm my forehead when I entered the compound. As I went through the doorway I couldn't help but notice the thickness of the door. The middle was made of wood like I expected, but the exterior was lined with iron. I wondered if I had the strength to push it open with both arms, let alone with one hand like Kalistra did. This cat girl had some serious strength in those skinny arms!
As I followed her, my head swiveled back and forth like a clueless tourist. Immediately beyond the doors was a large courtyard with several groups of students practicing either armed with swords or unarmed. Another group of students was running along the walls. None of the students paid attention to us as we passed by. I noted with interest that the students were of mixed races and not solely cat people like I was expecting.
I saw that we were heading toward a building beyond the courtyard. There was a stone terrace on the right and inside was a small pond; I heard the water stir as I walked past. Apparently, there was fish inside. On the left side, there was a well on the ground.
Finally, Kalistra led me to the building in question. As I approached the dojo, I examined the building more closely. It was only one story tall but very long horizontally in the style of Chinese architecture. It was also built on top of a raised platform. The walls and pillars were plain looking. However, the roof had a sweeping curvature that rose on the corners in the style of a religious temple.
As I contemplated the style of the roof I could hear the sound of steel clashing from within the dojo. Before we stepped inside, Kalistra looked down at my feet and said, "No shoes are allowed inside the dojo. Please remove your footwear and leave them outside."
I quickly sat down on the ground and removed my shoes. I tilted my left shoe to ensure that the precious platinum coins hidden inside remained in the toe section. I winced at the smell of my stinky feet.
Kalistra's face curled for a split second as well when she smelled my feet even from a distance. But she was a disciplined warrior and she quickly smoothed her expression back to neutral. She stepped inside the dojo and I followed her.
When I walked in I saw grand murals on the walls. There were depictions everywhere of glorious battles from the past. Each depiction showed the cat people facing foes of the various races and even mythical beasts including a dragon! I was mesmerized by the mural of the red dragon. It was huge, ferocious, and angry. The dragon had its massive wings spread out and hovered just above one solo cat swordsman who stood in the stance exactly as depicted by the cat swordswoman stone statue outside the door! This particular mural was painted on a wall directly across the entrance on the other end of the dojo; in fact, it was the first mural that I saw when I walked in. I noticed that the students were practicing their swordsmanship in both one-on-one and group mock battles.
Kalistra noticed my intense stare at the mural and slowly moved to stand at my side. "That was Kallimon, the founder of our school, fighting the terrible red dragon, Hleandros. When the dragon suddenly appeared in Tregome back when it was barely a town, Kallimon was the only warrior able to withstand the dragon's aura of fear. Kallimon fought the dragon by himself and won. Other people who witnessed the battle was mesmerized by Kallimon's brilliant swordsmanship and begged to become his pupils. After some initial resistance, he finally relented and opened the dojo where we stand today. Every sword technique that we have in the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship was passed down from Kallimon to his successors," she explained.
I looked at my guide with deep skepticism. "The red dragon has a very tough leather hide that is nearly impenetrable with common blades. How can you be certain that Kallimon didn't receive assistance in fighting the dragon? Perhaps he didn't defeat the dragon by himself," I scoffed.
When this skeptical comment left my lips, the students immediately stopped fighting each other. They all turned their eyes toward me and then HISSED at me.
YIKES! I quickly raised my hands to show that I was unarmed. "What did I do wrong?" I asked Kalistra.
Before she could respond, an older cat man stepped through the throng of hostile students and walked toward me until he stood right in front of me. His arms were behind his back. Like Kalistra, he had white fur with yellow stripes. He also had a large brown spot over his left eye. He was taller than me and stared down at me with his yellow-green eyes. I felt an intense aura emanating from this cat man.
I looked up at his floating caption and read, "Name: Kalistro, Level: ?, Disposition: Angry." Seeing his disposition, I quickly apologized. "I'm not sure what I did wrong but I sincerely apologize for offending all of you." I bowed deeply from my waist and held the position.
It took a few minutes before the cat man spoke up. In the meantime, my back was killing me. Beads of sweat started dripping down my face but I dared not move an inch from my contrite posture. If I had read the situation accurately, I was very close to having my life extinguished by these people!
"Look at me, human," the cat man said finally. He waited until I raised my head and began to speak. "You are a weak and arrogant fool. Had you not immediately apologized for offending our founder, our school's Honor demand that we rip you from limb-to-limb on the spot!" Kalistro turned toward his students. "Continue!" he ordered in a booming voice that reverberated around the room.
The students in the dojo immediately returned to their practice.
Kalistra stepped in front of me and offered an equally deep bow to Kalistro. "I apologize for not teaching this foolish human better. I bear equal responsibility for his error."
The cat man reached out with his hand and petted her head. "You should know better than to associate with fools," he admonished her softly, "especially foolish humans. Most humans lack Honor and Dignity and, instead, are enslaved by their greed and desire. However, that doesn't appear to be the case with this particular human. He is foolish, yes, but not greedy. Perhaps, he may be able to walk along our Honorable path," he pondered aloud. His anger exhausted, Kalistro turned back toward me. "Why are you here?" His whiskers started twitching.
"Kalistra offered to teach me at her dojo, and I accepted her offer. She also saved my life when I was fighting off a robber on the street," I explained. "I was very impressed with her skill in knocking out the robber with just one blow," I added.
"Yes!" the cat girl jumped in to take advantage of the convenient opening. Her ears turned. "I had to provide a statement to the Watch regarding this street fight and that was why I am late today. I'm sorry." She bowed again.
"If you had business with the Watch then your lateness cannot be avoided." Kalistro accepted her excuse with a nod. Then his eyes glowed in amusement and his tail swayed in the air. "I will permit you to teach this foolish human."
The cat girl's ears bent backward. "Yes, Grandmaster," she said with a whimper. Kalistra bowed again. This time, the bow helped mask her shock at what her papa had just decided.
I caught the trace of a grin on the Grandmaster's face as he turned his back on me. He started walking through the spars and continued providing instructions to his pupils.
Hiss!
I immediately turned my attention toward Kalistra. She was furious with me. Gulp.
"Do all humans have lousy hearing like you, Lawrence? Back inside The Noble Lady, I had said that I can give you a discount to take lessons from my dojo. I never offered to teach you personally," she berated me while putting her paws on her rather slender waist.
I dropped to my knees and grabbed her right paw. "Oh, please be my instructor!" I begged her. "I don't need the discount. I'll pay the full amount charged by your dojo for your personal instruction," I quickly added.
Kalistra heard the gasps from the other students and immediately understood why. She roughly yanked her soft paw out of my hands. "I thought I told you not to do that." Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
I bent my face down to the ground and started kissing her feet.
*Smooch-smooch-smooch*
Yeah, I was pitiful. And desperate. A small frontier town like Tregome usually had only one school to teach swordsmanship because there weren't enough students to support an additional, rival school. If this dojo refused to accept me as a pupil, then I would have to find an instructor for the Ranger profession instead. Therefore, this was my one, sole opportunity to become a swordsman. I could not leave Tregome without a profession and I much preferred melee fighting over ranged fighting. After all, my aim was lousy.
The other students started chuckling when they saw what I was doing to Kalistra. "You taught the monkey real well," someone blurted out in mockery of my antics.
Her face turning crimson with embarrassment, Kalistra bent her knees to lower herself and then yanked my head off her feet. "Fine," she spat out. "I'll teach you. We start the lesson immediately." Her eyes burned with anticipation at the hellish lessons she had planned for me.