“One! Two! Three! Four!” Locksley yelled, and all the attackers swung high on the left, then on the right, then low on both sides, all at the same time. It was more dance than swordplay. Still, Elena followed his commands, readjusting her stance to compensate for David’s height. She swung hard, and David winced every now and then as he defended.

“Advancing! Three! One! Two! Four!” Locksley yelled and the attackers took a step forward with each attack, their partner backing up and blocking them away.

Locksley would pass by and inspect each of them. Elena purposefully shifted her weight as he approached. She brought her feet too close together, and swung for a spot well shy of David’s body. David blocked it, though he had no need to, their sticks click-clacked in the empty space between them where neither could get hurt. There was a pause in Locksley’s gait. He was considering fixing her stance, her aim.

Instead, “Good, Elena.”

No, it wasn’t.

Because he wasn’t training them to be good. He was only training them to be good enough.

Still, good enough was a high goal for some of them, so Elena did not object. Locksley put his hands on David’s shoulders, rotating him.

“Turn to the side, make yourself a smaller target.”

“Go on, John,” Will snickered nearby, paired up with John Little. “Make yourself a smaller target!”

John smiled and turned sideways, laughing at his own giant belly. “It doesn’t appear to be working!”

Will swung his stick to attack, but was blocked, and again. But next he smashed the stick in half over his knee and swung at both of John’s sides at once, tapping him for a killing blow.

John just swatted it off. “Be careful there, people will say that Robin split your sword in twain!”

Even Will found the humor in that, though he didn’t seem eager to show it in front of Locksley. As the laughter died out, one little voice came springing from the rest.

“It’s my turn now!”

“Not today, Much,” Locksley said, more patronizing than ever. “Why don’t we keep working on your archery instead?”

“No!” Much wouldn’t let him get away with that. “Yesterday you said tomorrow, and that’s today. I’m going to tell everyone that Robin Hood is a big liar.”

Elena made a point of it by breaking their formation, and quickly enough everyone was grateful for the break. Much likely wouldn’t get a chance like this again—it was the sort of thing Lady Marion would put an instant stop to. But Marion was gone at the moment, having traveled south with her heirloom knight to magically transform stolen jewelry into usable coin. Which meant nobody was like to stop a friendly sword match between Locksley and a child.