Semper Fidelis - Sunrise and Sensibility Ch. 3

Chapter Three – Swordplay
After school let out, I stopped in at my house only long enough to say hi to Mom and grab a doughnut. Chewing, I headed over to Ann’s house. I rang the doorbell and waited.
After a bit, Ann opened the door. “Hi Grace! Ooh, a doughnut!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, I forgot to get you one,” I said. ”Wait here.” Hurrying back across the street, I asked Mom if I could take half the doughnuts over to Ann’s. Mom said yes, so I put them on a plate and went back to where my friend was waiting.
She grabbed a doughnut immediately and went up to her mom. “Grace's mom made doughnuts!”
“Oh, really?” replied Ann’s mom, just as I brought them in. Between the three of us, we polished off seven doughnuts, taking the rest down to the basement.
I looked around. It was amazing. There was all sorts of training equipment all over the place. Swords of all kinds, from the smallest, dullest, woodenest training blade all the way up to regular swords hung on the wall. But the one my eyes were drawn to was the one that had to be the Granddaughter of Light. I let out an “Ooh!”
Ann smiled. “You have keen eyes,” she said as she went up to where it was mounted. I set the plate of doughnuts on the table near the door with the cooler and followed.
Ann took her sword down from the wall and showed it, still in the sheath, to me. On the sheath was an emblem I knew quite well: the sun rising above Penneth Ador, the image on the back cover of The Door Within! I touched the design; my finger traced it. “Nice,” I remarked.
Ann grinned. “Oh, that’s nothing,” she answered, “compared to THIS! Behold, the Granddaughter of Light!” She drew the sword out of the sheath.
My jaw dropped. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen up to that moment! Set in the very center of the blade were three diamond-shaped, blue jewels that sparkled in the light from the fixtures on the ceiling. Beneath the jewels were strange runes that I couldn’t read. All along the blade were intricate designs, and at the base, just above the magnificently fashioned hilt, was the emblem that was on the sheath.
Ann grinned wider. “Isn’t it AWESOME!?” I could only nod. “But wait! There’s more!” she continued, purposefully sounding like an announcer for a commercial. “Watch this!” She added, “These words may sound a little weird…” Then she spoke the words that were engraved in the sword, from memory.
They were indeed strange words…but the most amazing thing of all was that as her voice died away, the jewels lit up with a blue fire that could only be real…and Ann’s eyes glowed blue as well!! And something else amazing: I COULD UNDERSTAND THE WORDS!! I couldn’t read them on the blade, but I knew what they said when spoken aloud.
In that instant, I took my next steps towards believing.
The light died away, and as Ann slid the Granddaughter of Light back into the sheath, I grinned. “That was the MOST AWESOME THING I’ve EVER SEEN in my LIFE!!” Then, as Ann put the sword back on the wall: “And do you want to know something that’s even MORE awesome and that can’t possibly be a coincidence cause there’s just no way it could be??”
Ann, confused, replied, “What?”
“I know what you said. I know what those words mean!” I cried.
Ann’s eyes widened in shock. “What did I say!?”
I replied, “Was it, ‘All who wield this blade with a pure heart will prevail’?”
Now it was Ann’s jaw’s turn to drop. It quickly ascended to form a wide grin. “Yes!! That’s exactly what I said!” She beamed. “That’s awesome!” Then: “You must have some special purpose!”
I looked blank. “What does that mean?”
Ann only grinned wider. “You’ll find out!”
Then it was time for my first lesson in swordplay.
“Now, before I begin lessons, there’s something called a Skill Test.  It’s done to see if there’s any natural-born skill in someone,” said Ann. “So, pick out a super-dull, super-wood training sword and let’s get started!”
I picked out a training sword, and Ann did too. Then we each ate a doughnut and drank some water from the cooler before getting into position.
All that was wrong with my fighting stance was the position of my left leg (LOL). “Move it over…” Ann gestured. I moved my leg a little. “Perfect! Now, when I count to three, we begin. One…” I felt a wave of excitement, but calmed myself. “Two…” I tensed, ready to begin. “Three!!!” Then we were moving.
We fought. Sword hit sword with a dull thunk that slightly dampened my experience…but oh well.
I seemed to have some knowledge of sword-fighting somewhere deep inside me; if I believed in that sort of thing, I might have said I had been a warrior in a previous life!
I don’t remember that much about the fight itself, just that I tripped a few times and almost fell…typical. But I was never off balance for long. It was as if I had been fighting all my life – everything came so naturally. I found I was able to tell what Ann was going to do before she did it.
We moved across the room, almost dancing with each move and parry. For it was just like a dance to me…a dance that I had somehow known, somewhere inside me, for who knows how long, that was finally showing itself in a moment of extreme awesomeness!
Then all of a sudden Ann found herself pressed to the wall, with me right in front of her. She was so shocked she messed up…and I found the right opening. With a single sword-stroke I sent her useless wooden blade skittering away…and then my useless wooden blade was pointed straight at her heart. Just…boom. It was over.
There were a few moments of astonished silence. Then, I straightened, stretched, and as Ann did the same, I tossed my worthless, dull thingy over to Ann’s worthless dull thingy.
Neither of us spoke; we just moved to the door. I gulped down cold water, then let out a happy sigh and picked up a doughnut. Ann did the same, and we sank into the chairs that sat along the wall.
Finally she said, “Now THAT, was awesome.”
That was all she needed to say.