Far From Never

“Where are you going?” Langston greets me.

I had just stepped out of my rooms and found Langston standing against the opposite wall. “Why are you standing guard outside my door?”

“Your father wanted to make sure you didn’t run” he straightens up, “Now, where are you going?”

“Training, I’ve got to practice hand to hand with Victor.”

“No” he steps in front of me.

“What do you mean ‘No’?” I stop and put my hands on my hips.

“The royal family from Stratahema is going to be arriving in a few hours, you need to be ready.” Langston matches my stance in a much more masculine way, “Besides, in a few weeks’ time you will be married and have no need to train anymore.”

I stare at him in silence and I know he is expecting me to blow up or freak out. Langston grew up with my brother and I and he is the only one who dares to push my buttons. I smirk, finally deciding on my course of action, “Fine.” I turn away from him and start walking back toward my suite.

“Oh, okay” Langston stutters in disbelief but proud that he could change my mind, but then he hesitates, “Wait?”

I stop and in the second that he hesitates, I jump into the air, throwing myself in to a flip. I twist mid-flip and land facing him. He takes a step forward to react, but in taking that step has lowered himself to the perfect height and I place my hands on his shoulders. I jump and push off from his shoulders, stretching my legs toward the high rafters and land behind him. As my feet touch the floor I push him forward, throwing him off balance and giving myself enough time to turn around. I take off down the long hall, but I hear Langston thunder after me. My small body mass helps my speed and agility as much as his large body mass hinders him.

I round the stairs and grab the banister throwing my body over the side. I land on the next landing with a little jar to my shins. Langston leans over the banister to see where I disappeared to. As our eyes meet he just shakes his head, laughs and gives up the chase.

“Morgan Elisha!” I hear my father yell as I take Victor down to the ground. The two of us ignore him and continue fighting. I raise my foot to strike Victor in the shoulder but he rolls out of the way and my foot hits the dry dirt.

“Oh my, stop him before he hurts her!” I hear a female voice and as I spin to get a better stance, I see a flash of finery. The Stratahema royal family has arrived.

My father speaks again, “I’m more afraid of her hurting him. She’s relentless when she gets in the heat of a fight.”

Victor lunges and I shift my body, but he anticipates it, swings his arm out, and hits me in the chest. I grit my teeth as I struggle to regain the air he knocked out of my lungs. I step back, crouch down and slide my foot behind me along the dirt right into Vic’s legs. It knocks him off balance and he stumbles back a few steps before hitting the ground. I stand and do a front walkover and land crouched down with my leg extended and my foot placed on his neck.

“I win” I say applying pressure to his neck before standing. I start to walk towards the group of finely dressed people. I hear Victor flip up and then I hear his foot slide into the dirt. I do a front handspring and avoid hit foot before he can trip me.

“Morgan, you knew they were coming today” Father says under his breath, “And what are you wearing?!”

“You’re right, I knew they were coming. That’s why I covered up” I smile and cross my arms.

Izaiah’s POV

We walked through the passageway dividing the front of the castle from the back courtyards. The king, in the absence of his children was giving us tour of the grounds to kill time before they showed up.

“And through here we have the training court where all our best men practice their skills.” The king drones on, obviously trying to keep the anger at his children at bay. I lag behind a bit, watching the various men practice all forms of combat.

“Morgan Elisha!” I hear King Baiyer shout. I catch up and see what he is yelling about. Princess Morgan is battling Prince Victor in hand-to-hand combat. She ignores her father’s yells and throws Victor to the ground. She goes to stomp her foot into his shoulder but he rolls out of the way before her foot can make contact.

My mother sucks in a gasp and says, “Oh my, stop him before he hurts her!”

“I’m more worried about her hurting him” King Baiyer says, “She’s relentless when she gets in the heat of a fight.”

I stand and watch the siblings battle and exchange blows. I study the fighting style of both and notice that there is no way Victor can win. Elisha is avoiding his blows and distracting him with flourishes and flips, using her slim build to her advantage. They stop as Elisha lands with her foot against her brother’s throat.

“I win” she gloats and stands to walk toward our group. Victor uses his sister’s turned back to try and get the advantage but she smiles as she hears him and does a front handspring to avoid his swinging foot, Victor accepts defeat. The two of us make eye contact and he just shakes his head and smiles.

I hear Baiyer mutter something harshly to his daughter and I look to them. She looks at him with spite in her eyes and says, “You’re right, I knew they were coming, that’s why I covered up.” She gestures to her clothes and I smirk to myself.

She is wearing a tight corset made up of many leather straps wrapped horizontally around her torso. The straps have moved during her fight and slits of exposes skin were showing across her stomach and back. Her skirt was many short layers of a translucent fabric that moved very easily. There was dust coating the hem of her skirt and she had a streak of it down her calf.

She brushed the dust off her hands and her eyes met mine. The look I saw was of her expecting me to be disapproving, but I only returned her a gentle smile and she rolled her eyes at me.

When I look around again I see that our parents have left us and Victor and Elisha now stand across from Davie and I. Davina does a small curtsey to Victor and Elisha, I nod my to the pair and shake Victor’s hand. Victor does the same while Elisha stands with her arms crossed.

“Sorry to say this Victor but I don’t think you’ll ever win against your sister” I say in jest.

Elisha’s face changes slightly and Victor gives me a look, “What makes you say that?”

“You’re an excellent fighter but you’re too big to fight her” I pause, “She uses her small body mass to avoid your huge one. Princess Morgan has a more lean build which gives her improved speed and agility.”

“So what you are saying is that I have too big of muscles to win in hand-to-hand with my sister?” Victor says.

“Yes, although I think you could beat her in a sword fight” I smirk and he knows that I’m speaking from prior experience.

“Why don’t you have a go then?” he stands aside and sweeps his arm toward where they were just fighting, “See if you can defeat my sister.”

“Only if it’s alright with the lady?” I look to Elisha.

“It would be my pleasure” she smiles with a slightly malicious glint in her eyes.

I start to take off my traveling coat when Victor grasps my shoulder, “I warn you, she will try to use certain assets of hers against you. You didn’t see her use them on me because I’m her brother, but with you she won’t hold back.”

“You mean she’ll try to distract me with her body” I say bluntly, I pull my shirt off and crack my neck.

“Not in so few words but yes” he nods his head.

“Trust me I know how to play that game” I smile and step toward the waiting princess. Victor goes to stand next to Davina.

Elisha and I stand face to face for a while both waiting for the other to make a move. She finally gets bored with waiting and lunges forward into a sprint. She does a hop and launches her body into a twisting layout. I hold my ground and she lands inches from my feet. She steps back with one foot and bends her torso until her hands touch the ground. I stand anticipating what she will do next. As soon as her hands make contact with the dirt, she kicks her foot up in the air and flips with the goal of kicking me in the face as she goes. I lean back and catch her second foot in my hand.

She knows she’s in a tough position and a vulnerable one too. Her first foot hadn’t made it to the ground before I caught her second one, so for a moment she was suspended in the air with only her hands for support. I hear Victor chuckle behind me and I take a step toward Elisha. She uses the slack I gave her second leg to stretch the toe on the first leg to the ground. She planted it between her hands and then stretched her leg even more to press down on her heel. She then pushes off her first foot again, sending it through the air back at me. I don’t have time to react as she kicks me in the face and rips her foot out of my hands. She lands crouched down.

I stumble and wipe my brow with my hand. I feel the blood and sweat and wipe it on my pants without looking. In this moment, I feel Elisha’s leg make contact behind my knees causing them to buckle. I fall to the ground and am eye level with her still crouched figure. I can tell already she works better on the ground by making herself small and using the earth as leverage. She looks me straight in the eye and I know what ever she’s going to do next is going to hurt.

She head butts me and the force pushes my already off balance form to lay flat on the ground. I feel her straddle my waist, her knees on my upper arms, and then her arm presses against my throat. She leans down and whispers in my ear as her cheek brushes mine.

“Watch yourself” she says slowly and in a low sultry voice. I smile because she thinks she’s got me beat but she placed her knees a little too high. With slight effort I reach up and grab her hips and throw her off me. Stunned she lands on her butt, but she quickly back rolls out of it and to her feet.

I stand and she comes at me again, in pure anger and hurt pride this time. She spins her body, whipping her long braid behind her, aiming for my face. I duck and grab her outstretched arm. She keeps spinning and spins right into my body. I grab her by the base of the braid and pull her head slightly to the side, exposing her neck. I have her arm wrapped around her body and she can’t move. I lean my face right next to her ear and just stand there for a while. We begin to breathe in sync and I can see gooseflesh forming on her neck from the touch of my breath. Our bodies are pressed right against each other with not an inch of space. Our sweat mingles and our body heat becomes one.

“Enough!” I hear a commanding voice yell. I look up and see King Baiyer and my father, both with similar looks of fury on their faces.

I press my mouth against her ear and breath, “I win.” Then I let go of her and step away.

I walk toward my father and he grabs me hard by the arm, or at least he tried. He’s been growing weaker and weaker as of late and I have taken on many of his responsibilities. “That is not how a gentleman from Stratahema behaves toward a lady!” he whispers harshly to me.

“With all due respect to the Princess, she doesn’t exactly have the mannerisms of a proper lady” I say in a hushed tone to my father.

“You hold your tongue!” his voice raises slightly above a whisper, “Now go get yourself readied for dinner!”

He lets go of me and I step back. I square my shoulders and snap my arms to my sides, “Yes sir” I bow at the waist and take my leave.
I hear King Baiyer speaking to Elisha in a very upset tone. In fact he is on the brink of screaming at her and I resist the urge to look back. The last thing I hear is him instructing her to assist Davina to her room.