Page 102 of The Serpent’s Shadow

Hersir Osfen grunted, “Begin,” and stepped back with his arms crossed.

Grim lifted his shield—nearly the size of Randi entirely—and stomped toward the smaller girl.

It was David and Goliath.

Luckily, Grim had been the one to show David how to defeat Goliath. Randi had shown her stuff during the midterm, fending off Rolf Blisdan after the big man had thrown her like a ragdoll during the first weeks of class.

Rolf was not Grim, however. He wasn’t as large, wasn’t as focused, wasn’t as skilled.

Grim gave no quarter. He marched in a measured pace to Randi, directly at her, closing the twenty-foot gap in a few long strides. His face was focused, flat, lips pursed beneath his beard.

Gone was the helpful advice, the kind smile behind the beard. He was in battle mode, and gave Randi hardly any time to prepare her actions.

Right when Grim got to her, she skittered to the side, so she wouldn’t be forced back out of the Sticks by his unstoppable force.

Like a locomotive, he simply wheeled and stepped toward her again.

What followed was hard to watch.

Randi struck skittishly, letting out high-pitched grunts and squeals when she attacked—broadcasting herself and her intentions.

Grim defended them effortlessly.

She only needed one “kill shot” across his torso to win. And the man’s torso was fucking huge, so in theory it shouldn’t have been a problem.

The problem was the giant shield and giant wooden sword standing in her way. For the first back-and-forth of their bout, Grim didn’t swing his blade. He only used it for parrying and pushing Randi back.

Axel wanted the students to show their command of a shield wall, which was why we were forced to use a sword and board. It was the most common, iconic Viking battle formation.

Only problem was it was useless in single combat. All it did was tire you out, putting you in purely defensive postures. In actual combat, the whole point of a shield wall was to utilize your allies to your right and left and behind you. Spears came in over your shoulders, or under your arms. You blocked the warrior to your right with your shield, and the warrior to your left blocked you. It was a formation based on camaraderie.

There was none of that here, so Randi abandoned the up-and-back motion of the wall, the retreat and advance, within seconds.

That’s where she faltered. She thought she could use her skirmishing tactics—plunging into the fray to try and land blows, and bouncing out before Grim could strike.

All this did was exhaust her, and I could quickly see it in her movements. She needed to conserve energy. She was expending it much too swiftly.

My eyes darted left and right as I watched. Grim hadn’t broken a sweat. Hadn’t swung his sword. Randi’s chest was heaving.

On her fifth futile charge, she yelled a battle-cry.

Grim changed his strategy at the last second, sidestepping—a complete surprise to his smaller apprentice.

Her momentum carried her, Grim swung down, and his wooden sword cracked over Randi’s hip.

With a yelp, she crumpled to the ground.

“Bout, Grim,” Axel announced.

The cheers of the students around the Sticks became muted for the second bout. Randi was well-loved by everyone because of her bubbly personality, but we could all see how this was going.

She needed to change her strategy, but the pressure had become too much for her. Everyone watching made her nervous. She floundered the next fight faster than the first.

The third bout came, and I whispered a silent prayer to the gods to see her somehow pull out a win.

Sadly, Grim landed her on her ass a third time, and the match was quickly over. He showed no mercy, no smile, and stepped to the back of the Sticks with a grunt, studying her.

I cursed under my breath, dipping my head, sad for Randi. I was ashamed to look over at her because I didn’t want to see the hurt.

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