Gwen let out a slow breath and relaxed her shoulders, her stance somewhere between one she remembered from dances at the palace and the one Corbin had been teaching her for fighting. She held her sword and gave a practice swing.
Sirus nodded a little as he watched her move, the movments now less awkward and more fluent.
Gwen gave a small smile as she felt the change in that last swing compared to earlier. There was still some work she needed to do in order for her to be fluent but it was a big difference as she went through the maneuvers again.
Sirus nodded a bit, looking back to Corbin to see if he approved, though he wasn't really expecting any kind of approval.
Corbin was smiling broadly at the two of them and gave Sirus a nod of thanks. He had made more progress with improving Gwen’s technique than he had been able to in months.
Sirus found himself shying away a little from her mentor's reaction, resisting the urge to shift on habit out of shyness.
Gwen’s smile grew as she continued with the practice… the maneuvers seemed to be coming easier.
Sirus turned his attention back to Gwen, pleased that her movements seemed to be improving rapidly.
Gwen spun around and held the blade up in front of her, facing Sirus and Corbin.
"Much better." Corbin grinned at her. "Seems like he gave you some good advice."
Sirus let out a soft breath, slowly shoving all the emotions of awkwardness and pride down deep to revel in later on his own.
"It's definitely helping." Gwen nodded, still grinning excitedly.
"That's good to hear." Corbin chuckled softly and picked up a second training sword. "Now, do you think you're ready to try defending yourself?"
Sirus stepped back out of the way to give them space, watching with interest as he moved away further, pulling out a couple of daggers and setting himself up to run through his own movements.
Gwen nodded excitedly and held up her sword to defend against Corbin. But he looked past her and glanced at Sirus, for a moment. Seeing that he had his own plans, however, Corbin raised his own weapon and started making slow attacks to get Gwen used to the moves.
Sirus ignored them for the moment, needing to rebalance himself while not feeling like he wasn't doing anything. Therefore, doing his own practice was best. He raised his daggers to a defensive position, before starting forwards in a series of movements he'd created himself.
Gwen swung her sword carefully to block her teacher's attacks. They kept going at the slow deliberate pace, though Corbin had to keep reminding Gwen to slow down for her own sake. "At least until we know you know these. We'll speed up soon, just not yet."
Sirus on the other hand was moving at a much faster speed, fast enough that anyone getting in his way may end up injured, though it was clear he was focused on an invisible enemy.
Gwen nodded at Corbin's words and tried to focus on her new stance as well as the defensive moves she was learning. This wasn't the first time she had practiced them but it was still important at this point before they became reflexive.
Sirus kept moving through the motions, resisting the urge to bring magic into the mix, as well as the urge to shift.
At some point, Corbin did speed up his attacks but not too much. He didn't want to overwhelm her, just help her improve.
Gwen was able to keep up though after a while her arms were starting to burn from the exercise. She did her best to fight through it for as long as she could.
Sirus by that point was lightly pulling on shadows to aid his imaginary attacks. pulling them into defensive moves as well.
Corbin finally stopped his attacks and lowered his sword when he saw how Gwen was pushing herself. “I think that should be enough for today.” he said gently, though he was still proud of the improvements she had made thanks to Sirus.
Gwen nodded and handed her practice weapon to her mentor, breathing heavier due to the exercise.
Sirus had stopped a few moments before, his own breathing a bit heavy as he resheathed his daggers, the shadows around him misting away to their original places. But at the same time he wasn't paying attention to Corbin and Gwen.
(Time for an attack from other bounty hunters?)
(I believe so. Do you want to do the honors or shall we split them?)
Gwen stretched her arms to try to alleviate some of the stiffness that was sure to build up later. Though looking around, the village suddenly felt too quiet to her, even out here.
Hmm….))
Sirus frowned a little, the shadows converging around him once more as he stared out into the woods. "You may want to arm yourselves…" he said after a moment, his stare intensifying.
(Do you wanna bring them in?)
(Ok… I was thinking about maybe having three or four in this group so if you want to take over a couple, I’m fine with that.)
Gwen gave Sirus a strange look at his comment but picked up the nearest bow and arrows she could find since she was much more fluent with that. Corbin stood close to his student, now quickly armed as well, as his eyes fixed on the woods in the same manner as Sirus.
An acrid smell clung to the breeze as a small group walked out from the tree line. It seemed like the scent was coming from just one of them, most likely, the leader.
(I can handle that, :)
.
Sirus growled softly, shadows swelling around him, "They're bounty hunters, and the leader is a fire mage" he said softly, clearly not happy about this as two of the other men spread out to the mages sides, hefting their weapons.
"We're here for the Princess, let us take her home to daddy and we might let you two live." Said one of the men.
Gwen glared at the men when Sirus warned them who they were. Though she wasn't surprised. They looked more like the type of people she was originally expecting to come and attempt to take her back. “We have no Princess here!” she called out angrily. “Now leave before I start firing!”
The leader laughed, a bit of a raspy sound, as if he had been smoking all his life. “Guarding a real spitfire there, aren't you Lonely Wolf?” he said addressing Sirus.
Sirus growled, "I'd rather think she's just fine on her own." he responded, "Why don't you and I tango, bet you can't take down a lone rogue." he taunted the other with an almost reckless attitude, his shadows swelling up in a show of strength.
"Defends herself eh?" asked goon #1, stepping forward with his axe, "Why don't we just prove that, hmm?" he smirked, closing in on Gwen with his buddy.
The leader laughed again. “I wouldn't mind taking you down. But she's coming with us either way.” he said, confidently as he summoned a ball of fire in his hand.
Gwen quickly notched her bow and fired a warning shot at the ax in the man’s hands, the head burrowing itself in the handle. “Next one goes between your eyes!” she snarled.
Sirus smirked, "Prepare to lose then." he said with a low growl, before rushing him with a surge of shadows, inky tendrils looking to wind around the man's limbs and prevent movement while Sirus rushed in with his daggers.
.
"ooooo feisty" Taunted the axeman, "Can the noble prince really stomach the killing of another human being??" he laughed as he rushed her, axe swinging to catch her in the legs.