"Alright, yesterday we you all how to properly hold your swords, and today we are going to learn basic stances" said Katarina.
"Finally!" said Maddie as she could literally jump for joy right now, she did not want this to be boring, she hated to admit it, but she was jealous of Ollie and his sword skills, he was way too good, she wanted to be better than him.
"Alright for the purpose of this exercise, you are not going to use real swords" said Katarina.
"Aww what??!" asked Maddie in annoyance as of course Katarina crushed her hopes once again, she seemed to like doing that a lot.
"Due to some people I don't trust among us" said Katarina.
"Of course" said Maddie as she scoffed, Katarina did like picking on her, it was obvious, she wondered just what she did to annoy her so much?
"You will practice with these" said Katarina as she picked up some long wooden sticks on the ground as she threw them one by one to Annie, Maddie, Matt, Curtis and Ollie as they caught them.
"Do I have to practice with this as well?" asked Ollie as he looked at the stick in his hand and he looked at Katarina.
"No, you will help me teach the others how to properly stand when using a sword" said Katarina as Ollie nodded his head.
"Wow great, this beats the real purpose to learning how to use a sword, I'm stuck with this big stick" said Maddie as she scoffed.
"It would be easier to handle you accidentally hitting someone with a wooden stick, than a iron sword, so I see nothing wrong" said Katarina as Maddie scoffed.
"Anyway, we are going to spilt into teams, Matt and Maddie you both are going to pretend to spar with each other" said Katarina as Maddie and Matt nodded.
"Curtis and Annie, you two will be together, and Ollie you watch them, make sure that they have the correct stance" said Katarina as Ollie nodded.
"I'm on it, you can count on me" said Ollie as he smiled and Katarina nodded.
"Alright then, Maddie, Matt you come with me" said Katarina as she walked to the other side of the training ground that was right before the many trees that were surrounding them.
"Alright, so you and Matt are going to spar, first of all, you need to show honour, because this is a friendly fight, you will turn to face each other, bow at each other, and then from there you can fight, hold the sticks the way you would hold your sword" said Katarina.
"Sorry Matt, I'm not going to go easy on you" said Maddie as she smiled and she bowed at Matt.
"I knew that you weren't" said Matt as he smiled and he bowed.
"When fighting you have to have the correct stance, you point your front foot forward and your back foot must be at a 90 degree to it, your feet have to be apart, and your legs should be bent in order to enable you to readily move speedily to make an attack or to defend" said Katarina.
"Like this?" asked Matt as he stood the way Katarina said.
"Yes like that" said Katarina as she nodded.
"*Ugh*, is this stance really necessary?" asked Maddie as she groaned.
"Yes very much so" said Katarina.
"But that's a lie, you don't stand like this when you fight" said Maddie.
"Because I have been doing this for many years, and I know what to do if I find myself in a dangerous situation, you on the other hand dear, need to learn the basics" said Katarina.
"Whatever" said Katarina.
"Now, the two of you fence, I want to know what you can do" said Katarina.
"Finally, something fun" said Maddie as she bowed at Matt and he did the same as they both looked at each other and she did not wait for him to make a move at all as she moved straight for him and she was about to hit him when he used his own stick to block hers as he made a quick movement and before Maddie knew it, Matt was pointing his stick towards her neck.
"I like your form Matt it's firm" said Katarina as Matt looked at Katarina.
"Thank you" said Matt as he smiled.
"Maddie, you are too forward" said Katarina.
"Well that's just how I am Katarina" said Maddie as she looked at her and she smiled.
"Let's work on more fine techniques" said Katarina as Matt nodded.
"Alright now, one thing you always have to be mindful of when you are fencing or doing whatever has to do with a sword, is that you need to be able to defend yourself, while also attacking your opponent" said Ollie as he looked at Annie and Curtis.
"You cannot allow yourself to open up areas that could lead to you being hit by your opponent, your chest, arms and legs have to be protected places for you" said Ollie as he smiled.
"Wait, so you are consciously always protecting those areas?" asked Annie.
"Well no, not exactly, you see when you are in a real fight, you will forget that those places exist, you will be more worried about getting your opponent more than anything" said Ollie as he smiled.
"Anyway Curtis, aren't you like thousands of years old? Have you never learnt how to fence before?" asked Ollie as he looked at Curtis.
"Well no, I have never had a need to learn how to fence" said Curtis.
"Wow, anyway, don't worry guys, I will make sure to teach you all that I know" said Ollie as he smiled.
"Okay" said Annie as she smiled.
"Everyone should get used to what they are doing now, we are going to be here all day" said Katarina as she announced to everyone, she had a lot of free time today.
"Okay Katarina" said Ollie as he smiled, this was going to be fun.
…
"Is it possible to get a cramp from holding a stick for so long?" asked Maddie as she Annie, Matt, Ollie and Curtis were walking back to the house after so many hours of training.
"I don't think that you are allowed to complain Maddie, you are the one who wanted us all to learn this together with you" said Matt as Maddie looked at him.
"I'm not complaining dear Matthew, it's nice to learn how to do something new for fun, besides I like a sword, it's like I was born to do this" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Maddie, should I be worried? You are liking this way too much" said Annie.
"Oh I'm fine Annie, I just can't wait to kill all my enemies with my sword" said Maddie.
"Violent much" said Ollie.
"Shut up Blondie, no one was asking you" said Maddie as she scoffed.
Katarina sighed as she shook her head as she heard what Maddie and the others were saying as they walked back to the house, she was genuinely worried about Maddie, that girl was weird.
"Can you please tell me why you are coming back here more than usual, I gave you what you wanted yesterday" said Katarina as she turned to look at the old woman from yesterday who was standing right behind her.
"That girl" said the old woman.
"Which one?" asked Katarina as she looked at the woman with suspicion.
"The one with the green eyes" said the old woman.
"Tell me, what do you know about her?" asked Katarina.
"I cannot say anything that I am not sure off, after all, I might be mistaken and she might just bear a resemblance to who or what I have in mind" said the old woman.
"I do not like the way that you are sounding, if there is something that I should know, you should tell me now" said Katarina.
"Child you worry too much, you cannot control everything" said the old woman as she smiled.
"Are they all dangerous?" asked Katarina.
"Not at all dear, not at all, you are welcoming very good people, but that green eyes girl, and her close friend that follows after her, there is something familiar that I cannot put my finger on" said the old woman.
"Whatever you say tell me, do you want more food or what?" asked Katarina.
"I do not need anything from you, I just wanted to come and see you" said the old woman as Katarina raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh alright, and also to see the girl" said the old woman.
"You should go back home now, it will get cold soon, come on, let me walk you home" said Katarina as she walked ahead of the woman into the forest as the woman followed after her as she sighed internally, she wondered when Katarina would stop being so cold towards other people and herself.