Antebellum Awakening (The Network Series #2)(36)

“The wooden swords aren’t sharp,” I pointed out.

“No, but if you’re fast you can break it. I’ll give you a few swings to start practice. A block, a lunge, and swing, for example. You’ll practice on this dummy.”

Off to my right stood a figure cloaked in a white sheet. The fabric fell away, revealing a four-limbed wooden figure with a grotesquely painted face and a distorted frame. Many swords had bitten into its wood.

“What is that?” I asked.

“This is Mikhail, or so the Guardians dubbed him. He’s the practice dummy for sword work.”

“Mikhail? Named after the Southern Network High Priest, Mikhail?”

“The very one,” Merrick said, walking toward it. I followed just behind. “He just stands there and doesn’t do anything while all the Guardians work around him, a shocking resemblance to the South’s High Priest.”

I would have laughed if Merrick hadn’t looked so serious. Focused on the objective as usual, he immediately began to demonstrate several new sword movements while I mimicked him.

“Practice again tonight,” he said, casting his eyes over the dummy. “We should be able to use Mikhail for a couple of days. Oh, and carry those back with you.”

He pointed to two buckets filled with rocks.

“Why?” I asked, already dreading it.

“Because I said so.”

I glared at him. No doubt he enjoyed having someone to boss around. As an apprentice, he probably had very little power of his own. I couldn’t begrudge him a little flexing of his control. I’d probably do the same thing, but I didn’t have to like it.

“Can I ask you a question?”

He looked back at me, his green eyes bright, almost dazzling, in the full sunshine.

“Yes.”

I hesitated. Ever since my visit with Isadora I’d been contemplating what she said. There are strengths you possess that she does not. Every witch has a weakness. I hoped that putting the question to Merrick wouldn’t bring me, or my intentions, too much attention.

“Do you think physical strength could match magical strength in a fight?”

His brow wrinkled.

“In what regard?”

I wanted to ask him outright: I cannot beat Miss Mabel with magic; she is too powerful. Could I kill her with physical force before she kills me with magic? But I couldn’t for so many reasons. How I loathed the dark secrets of my heart.

“Oh, just an idle question.” I kicked at a clump of grass nearby, certain that my lackadaisical response made him more suspicious than ever. “So many witches rely on magic that I wondered if, or when, we fight the war, we could triumph through non-magical means.”

Merrick thought about the question, and I was glad to have a moment to recover my wits. Oh, just an idle question? That must have been the single most suspicious thing I could have said. I would have smacked my forehead if my arms weren’t so tired.

“Yes, I think it can,” he said. “The Eastern Network has fought battles entirely without magic in the past, and triumphed. While I think it presents its own challenges when the opponent does use magic, it’s by no means a death wish.”

“I agree,” I said, hoping to close the conversation. But my heart sped up just a little. Is that what Isadora had meant when she told me I had strengths that Miss Mabel didn’t? Perhaps I really could destroy the contract and win my life back. Maybe by learning sword work with Merrick, I could physically fight Miss Mabel for my life.

Could I meld the two? Magic and sword work? There must be a way. I thought back to the day at Sanna’s, when the magic slipped and buried the ax in the stump.

“Can magic and sword work be used together?”

“Together?"

“Yes," I said. “I mean, could a witch use magic to make her sword work better?”

He pressed the tip of his wooden sword in the ground and leaned on it, looking me directly in the eye.

“What you’re really asking is if Miss Mabel came after you again, would you be able to win if you were using a sword and she was using magic?”

At first his straightforward response scared me, but having it out in the open felt better.

“Yes,” I said, averting my eyes. “That’s what I meant.”

“It depends on if she knows how to fight with a sword.”

I looked up at him again, an unnatural desperation in my voice that I couldn’t control. “But could I use the magic to make my sword fighting better? She’s too powerful for me to defeat any other way. A physical fight would be my only chance.”

I’d said far too much, with too much emotion. I could see the surprise in the way his face wrinkled and his eyes focused on me. But I couldn’t take the words back so I waited, holding my breath.

“Magic can give strength and power to skills that you learn if you can figure out how.”

“How do I do it?” I asked, breathless.

He shook his head. “I don’t think you can.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because there’s more to sword fighting than swinging your arm and having good footwork.” He tapped his head. “Sword fighting is all about what’s up here. Until you’re ready to let go of whatever is holding you back, you won’t be able to really learn.”