“Rivi! Wake up!”

  I snapped awake, my heart racing in my chest.

  “We overslept! You have to go!” Igraine said, hurriedly snatching my boots up and pulling the covers off of me in the same movement.

  “Shit…” I managed to get out before grimacing as I sat up, my entire body more sore than it was the night before. I squinted in the bright light as Silvo opened the curtains. Shit. The sun was up.

  I threw myself out of the bed and took my boots from Igraine, jumping on one foot as I put one on. After I switched feet to put the other one on, Igraine bent down and started lacing my first boot for me. So much for good first impressions… showing up to the training grounds late on the first day. I set my other foot down and starting lacing that one up, my fingers shaking as I tried to get the laces knotted. Igraine finished my first boot and took the laces on my second boot from me, knotting those.

  “Here.” Silvo said, tossing me an apple.

  I caught it and took a bite, ignoring the pain radiating from my jaw and neck. Whatever it was that had the king in its grip would most definitely be hearing from me soon. Payback would be satisfying for me. I hoped at least.

  “Keep eating, I’ll get this.” Igraine said, snatching my belts up from where they were lying on the chair nearby. She wrapped the first one around my waist before looping the cross-body strap around my left shoulder, attaching it to the loop on my right hip.

  I nodded in thanks, taking another bite of the apple, adjusting it all so it sat comfortably. I snatched my rapier up and took off out of the room, not bothering to buckle it onto my belt just yet. I didn’t want to risk accidentally dropping my apple, it was too delicious to have to toss it yet.

  “Good luck!” Igraine called after me. I raised my rapier and waved with it, hurrying down the hall. I wasn’t sure when I’d see either of them again, but I didn’t have the luxury of time.

  I screeched to halt when I saw a mage and a knight headed up the hall towards me. Shit. I panicked when I remembered I’d forgotten to put the stupid bracelet back on after my bath last night. It didn’t matter anyway, as the mage held up an even bigger one when she got to me.

  “Looking for this?” She asked with a nasty smirk.

  “Enough, Samsara.” The knight next to her rolled his eyes before turning to me. “This is Samsara and I’m Kaine. I’d say it’s good to meet you, but only under better circumstances. You’re already late, so let’s go.”

  Samsara reached forward and snatched my arm and ripped my rapier out of my hand, holding it out to Kaine. He took it and unsheated it, admiring the blade. “We’re supposed to search all of your belongings, but that’ll have to wait.” She said before snapping the cold metal of the bracelet onto my wrist. It was a tight fit, not squeezing too much, but uncomfortable all the same.

  My heart started racing as I felt every bit of mana drain from me leaving me unable to even sense other mana. I looked at her in panic. At this rate, my neck wouldn’t heal very quickly, I felt more tired than I had before, and it was like I’d completely lost an entire part of myself.

  “Mm, yeah, that’s about what I expected.” She flipped my wrist over and tugged at the metal some. “I’ll let Lord Silvo know it’s working perfectly. You have no mana left and it fits.” She nodded to herself and turned away, her raven hair shining in the sunlight.

  “I’m sorry about her.” Kaine shook his head. “Come on, I’ll take you down to the training field.” He turned around and followed after Samsara so I hurried after him, finishing my apple as quickly as possible. “I was there last night.” He said quietly, pausing for a brief moment for me to catch up to him. “You’re… a little scary.” He laughed nervously. “I’ve seen plenty of magic before, being on the frontlines fighting the southern kingdom’s mages, but the way you were able to stop the… beast… in its tracks was, well, it was really cool.” He shrugged. “I’ve been sent to be your bodyguard, a double-edged sword, so to speak. If you set even a hair out of line, I’m to bring you down, but to also keep you safe from… them.” He nodded at Samsara just ahead of us. “Samsara can be trusted, she just… really doesn’t like you right now.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure why, but ever since last night’s fiasco, she’s been like this. Oh, I should mention, the Guard Captain already knows about your predicament as he was also there last night, but you’re going to be given a slightly different schedule than everyone else. Queen Elincia has paired you up with a new recruit and both of you will be under Captain Marigold’s command. Apparently it’s really gotten under Lord Silvo’s skin, so… we’ll have to be careful for a while.” he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

  I nodded, nibbling at the last bit of my apple, trying to get every juice bit of it off as possible.

  “Can you not speak?” He asked, stopping suddenly, causing me to almost crash into his side.

  “A tiny bit.” I rasped out. “My neck is just sore from last night. The k- uh, beast, grabbed me by the throat and squeezed it.” I shrugged.

  He reached out and tugged at my collar, pulling it down. I tipped my chin back so he could see the bruises.

  “Oh,” He said softly. “Hey, Samsara!” He called to her, causing her to huff and turn around.

  “What?” She snapped.

  “Would you mind helping her with-”

  “Yes, I would. I’m not helping her with a thing.” She spun on her heel and kept walking.

  “Well, there goes that. Sorry.” He ran a hand down his neck.

  I shrugged and kept walking, “It’s fine.” I tossed the apple core out a window into the garden below. It was fine. My neck would be sore for a few days, but I would be fine. I would make certain I found who was responsible and unleash my anger and frustration upon that beast.

  We walked the rest of the way in silence, occasionally stepping to the side out of the workers' way. I managed to get my hair braided quickly and twisted into a bun at the base of my neck by the time we made it to the barracks. Former Guard Captain Teodoric had constantly tried getting me to cut my hair short so it wasn’t a weakness in battle, but I’d refused repeatedly. I used to get picked on by other kids for the color, but I loved it and was generally too fast for it to even be a problem. As long as I stayed low and struck quickly, I was fine. The only time it was a problem was the time I was practicing with my halberd and my braid had somehow gotten caught in the blade and subsequently wrapped my hair around the pole. That was a painful memory. Almost literally. I could swear I still felt the hairs being pulled out of my head.

  “Ah, there you are.” The Guard Captain Burkhardt said, waiting for us as we approached. “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show.” He smiled warmly at me.

  I saluted, just as Teodoric had shown me hundreds of times, making sure I had it perfected. Snapping my arm 45 degrees away from my body before snapping my hand over my heart, signifying a sword and shield. I paused, waiting for him to return it. A vow to fight and defend your heart so you could live to do the same for others.

  “Teodoric taught you well, unsurprising.” He chuckled, returning the salute, allowing me to relax. “As much as I’d like to throw you in with the rest of the recruits, I’ve been instructed not to by the queen.” He scowled quickly, before his smile reappeared.

  “Please don’t give me any more special treatment.” I asked, almost pleading. “I’m already late and this is the life I want.”

  “Oh, believe me, I’d love to see how you shape up against the others, but our Queen has spoken and I must oblige, besides, too many questions are going to be asked if I just lump you in with them in your current state.” He said, motioning to the hideous bracelet. My long sleeves did almost nothing to cover up the lumpy gold piece of metal.

  “Now, seeing as you missed a lot of warming up and basics this morning, you’ll be paired up with your training partner and Kaine here will be overseeing your training for the next two months.”

  “I- what, Sir?” Kaine asked, gaping at the Guard Captain.

  “It was your duty to make sure your charge was here on time, seems only right to me that you be in charge of everything else too.” Guard Captain Berkhardt smiled, satisfied with his decision. “Serenity is inside here, get started immediately. I expect to see good teamwork between the two of them by the end of the first week.”

  “Sir, are you not going to see how she fights first?” Kaine asked, motioning to me.

  “I already know how she fights, it was hard to not watch her train with some of my best over the years. I’m curious to see how Serenity pairs up with her.” Berkhardt waved a hand and disappeared around the corner, presumably headed to meet up with his other trainees.

  “Well, let’s get this over with.” Kaine sighed, passing me my rapier as he headed into the small building in front of us. “Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t mind working with you both, it’s just… I had other plans for my time.”

  I followed, buckling my rapier on as I ducked through the door, shutting it behind me with my elbow. “Sorry, but I think we all had other plans for ourselves. I’ll try to make it as painless for you as possible.” I grimaced, laying a hand on my neck, the muscles protesting loudly.

  “We’ll see about that,” He squinted at me with one eye.

  “Rivienne?”

  I looked up as a girl with braids just like Shalana’s stepped forward. I recognized her immediately, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen her before.

  I nodded and held out a hand to shake hers.

  She took it and smiled, her brown eyes instantly lighting up with warmth. “I’m Serenity. I’m an archer, hoping to, well, be an archer.” She shrugged. “Though, I’m not entirely certain with our… new arrangements.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” I rasped out, cursing the beast once again. “I’m a m- uh, well… fencer.” I said, my shoulders drooping involuntarily.

  “Mage. You can say it. I already know some about you, I mean, you’re all anyone seems to talk about back home.” She said, grinning.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Home?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

  “Deepwood, I’m from there too.”

  I gasped in surprise, instantly recognizing where I’d seen her before. “You’re friends with Alisdair! I remember seeing you once while you were both practicing archery.”

  “Yep! I’m also Shalana’s little sister. Well.. much much younger sister, considering she’s what… 326 years old?”

  I gaped, completely forgetting Shalana was a Lagonus, half-human, half-rabbit. Lagonai typically lived for thousands of years, almost as long as the elves did.

  “I don’t have any rabbit ears either though.” She shrugged. “Believe me, I was rather disappointed when I found out my specific heritage and didn’t have the cute ears to match.”

  “Consider yourself lucky as your kind are still not widely accepted here.” Kaine said, sitting on a cot near us.

  “I’m aware.” She rolled her eyes as she turned away to grab her bow. “It’s why I’m here with you.”

  “Consider me honored and glad to have you as my partner.” I smiled, glad to relax at least a little bit.

  “Well! I’d like to see how we can pair up in different scenarios. The Guard Captain left some cards here for us to figure out solutions to. Based on terrain, number of enemies, number of companions, how best we would handle each one.” She shuffled through the stack.

  I sat in the floor and she sat across from me and passed me half the stack.

  “Well, seeing as you’re an archer, you’d ideally be up and away from the fighting and I’d be on the ground in the middle of it.” I said, flipping through some of the cards in my hands.

  “I’d be picking off as many front runners as I could before they got to you and then I’d be watching your back for you, in case someone else isn’t able to.” I set the stack in the floor in front of me.

  I nodded, grabbing the first card off the stack. “This one says inner city, small gang of people, 5 companions including yourself. If they have you outnumbered, what do you do?”

  “Easy. Assuming it’s the inner city here, the buildings are tall. Assuming it’s just a regular patrol, I’d already be up above, watching the ground. I’d be able to pick off some of the gang members. The inner city gangs are much, much slower than the beasts I hunted in Deepwood, so they’d make easy targets for me.”

  “Don’t get cocky.” Kaine warned from behind us. “They have mages, and even with one Astral mage per patrol, one mage isn’t enough to protect you from the gangs’ mages.”

  I sighed, wondering how we’d be able to get the upper hand in this scenario. The inner city gangs did have a lot of mages, but the knights had better training, but we were also known as the King’s Cowards for turning tail and fleeing before the gangs instead of standing up to them… That needed to change.

  “In theory… I used to climb trees all the time. If, say, they were expecting an archer up top, but not a fencer to drop in the middle of them, would that be enough to scatter the group?”

  “Oo, that does sound like a possibility.” Serenity said, leaning forward, a glint in her eyes. “Wanna try it out?”

  Kaine leaned down to look at us both. “And just how do you plan to try this… out?”

  “Easy, there’s striking dummies right outside, if we climb the barracks-”

  “No.” He sighed.

  “Why not?” Serenity asked, cocking her head to the side. “We’re supposed to have good teamwork by the end of the week, but how are we supposed to have good teamwork if we don’t practice it?”

  He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Why do I get the feeling you’re both going to be the death of me? Fine… Just don’t expect me to help you with anything.”

  “Sounds good to me, let’s go!” Serenity jumped up and held a hand out to pull me up. I grabbed her hand and got up, and followed her out of the barracks.

  “Too slow!” Kaine called out, from where he stood under the awning of the Captain’s barracks.

  I reached down to pick up the dummies again and set them back up, sweat pouring down the side of my face. We’d been at this for about two hours or so. We’d circled the dummies in different places to represent a mob and then we’d both climbed the roof, jumping from roof to roof a good distance away. The first time I’d jumped off, striking out at as many as I could, I felt like I’d done decently well enough, but Kaine thought otherwise.

  I knew I was getting slower the longer we were at this, but I wanted to keep pushing on. I climbed back onto the roof and stood next to Serenity, watching as she pondered something, chewing at her bottom lip.

  “What if… have you fought with other weapons?” She asked, still staring at the dummies below us. “I remember Alisdair talking about other weapons you’ve tried, but I didn’t know if you have recently or not.”

  “Mmm… I’ve practiced with a sword, an ax, a halberd, a bow, a pair of knives, and a rapier. If I had to pick a second weapon, I’d go for the halberd. It’s much more versatile than the axe, has more range than a sword, and I might be able to take more out with it. Rapiers are good for piercing, but it’s not ideal.”

  “Mm… let’s try it.” She said, pointing to a building just over from us. “There’s the armory, they probably have one there.”

  “What are you two doing?” Kaine hollered up to us.

  “Scheming!” She grinned down at him.

  I jumped down the roof and jumped off, rolling back up as I landed and jogged over to him.

  “How you manage to do that like it’s nothing is something I’m not sure I’ll ever understand.” He shook his head. “Anyway, what’s your plan now?”

  “I grew up jumping out of trees, this is nothing.” I shrugged, satisfied with myself. “I’d like to go to the armory and see if they have a halberd there I can borrow.”

  “A halberd? Those aren’t used very often anymore, except by the Riders, and even then, they prefer a lance.” He said, referring to the horseback, wyvern, gryphon, dragon, pegasus, and other obscure creature riders throughout the King’s Army. Most were on the frontlines, so they weren’t around much anymore.

  “They have plenty of other uses.”

  “Fine, armory’s over there, just don’t annoy the blacksmiths too much.”

  “Got it.” I saluted before jogging off towards the armory. Torgrud had pushed me to use a sword, but I preferred the speed of a rapier, even though I was kinda slow with it at the time. It took me to start training with the dragons before I was able to get faster. It was then, with a pang, I realized I’d never said goodbye to any of them. I’d definitely get an earful from them the next time I went home, whenever that was.

  I ducked into the quiet armory, with only one of the blacksmiths milling about, absently polishing some of the weapons laying out, clearly bored.

  “Excuse me.” I called out, saluting as he turned to me.

  “Can I help you?” He said gruffly.

  “Yes, I’m looking for a halberd I can borrow.”

  “New recruits aren’t being given out weapons yet, but you would know that if you were a new recruit, wouldn’t you? Yeah, there’s some right over there, take your pick.” He said, nodding to the rack on the left wall before turning back to his work.

  “Thank you.” I said, not taking the time to correct him.

  I walked over to the rack and dug through, finding one that would work for my height. Most of them were clearly for someone taller than me, but in the very back, there was a much shorter one. It was rather rusted looking, but it would do for today. At least until I got my own halberd back.

  “Did you find one?” The blacksmith asked, coming up beside me.

  “This one. It’s a little rusted, but it’ll do for now.”

  “No, it wont.” He said, taking it from me. “My job is to make sure you have a weapon that will last and not fall apart on you. Keeping you alive is just as much my job as it is yours. Not sure how this one was missed during inventory.”

  “All I need it for is training this week.” I shrugged. “I have my own, I just… can’t get it right now.”

  “Fine, but at least let me put in an order for you. You say you have your own, but I would feel better if you had a backup here.” He handed the halberd back to me. “Come with me.”

  I followed him to a table at the back where a bunch of papers were scattered. He picked up a pen and some paper and sat, jotting down some notes.

  “How tall are you?”

  “Five feet, three inches.”

  He looked up at me with an eyebrow cocked up. “Are you sure that’s the right weapon for you?”

  “Uh.. I- I’ve practiced with one before and it feels okay in my hands.”

  “Mm, no. Feeling ‘okay’ is unacceptable. What is it you’re trying to do exactly?”

  I explained to him what we were doing and he looked increasingly more confused and stressed. “You do realize that’s really bad for your knees? It’s not conventional, nor is it… what are you even trying to accomplish? If you’re taking out a mob, you’d do best with an ax, but you’re narrowly thinking about one situation.”

  “Take out as many adversaries as possible in the shortest amount of time? Preferably without outright killing them, no matter how many there are or what the scenario is?” I squeeked out, my neck was beginning to hurt again and my vocal chords were at their limit.

  He sighed exasperatedly. “You younger generations get stranger and stranger… If that’s the case… Here, try a falcata. It’s small enough for your frame, and you should be able to still take a few out with the flat of your blade.” He reached over to grab a falcata, but paused halfway before straightening back up to look at me. “Have you tried dropping low and sweeping their legs out from under them? I’m assuming you’re a patrol guard.”

  Every solution I’d tried to come to for this current situation led to the eventual use of magic, but I couldn’t do that at all. All it did was make my blood boil, thinking about the lack of magic. “I hadn’t thought about that… I’m not entirely sure where I’ll be placed, just under a Captain Marigold?”

  “Captain Marigold… Ah, you’re Rivienne, then?” He asked, sitting back down.

  “Yes, sir.” I said, my heart starting to pound in my chest.

  “Ah, well, that changes things.” He shuffled through some papers on the table. “Right here…” He squinted at the paper, his eyes crinkling up, betraying his smile lines. “Well, I can already tell your placement, but without giving anything away in case it changes, I’ll get you a weapon that will work for you. Use that halberd for now and your rapier there, trade off between the two, get a feel for both.”

  “But, sir-”

  “Listen up and listen well, I shouldn’t be telling you this so you didn’t hear this from me, understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” I saluted sincerely.

  “Good. Queen Elincia is a fickle woman and when she gets an idea in her mind, she sticks to it. From what I gather from this,” He tapped the paper in front of him. “She has a plan for you. Captain Marigold and all of her squadron are personally trained by the former Captain of the Guard, Teodoric. They’re not just some run of the mill soldiers. Hardened veterans, ready for anything, going on special missions for the queen.” He dropped his voice low, whispering. “Between you and me, I’m not even sure the king knows all this.”

  “Why are you telling me this? Wouldn’t that be something top secret?” I asked, waving my hand in confusion.

  “Technically, yes, but you should have a little bit of base information before you get involved. You and young Iktuk out there were hand-picked by Queen Elincia for a reason.”

  “Serenity?”

  “Serenity Iktuk, yes. Now, go on. Get out of here. Show off everything you’re capable of. Our fair Queen has a way of analyzing what she sees and doesn’t see and placing someone where they rightfully fit. Best of luck to you, Nightingale.” And with that, he turned away from me and went back to flipping through pages.

  I left the tent, jogging back to where Kaine and Serenity were waiting for me.

  “What took you so long?” Serenity asked as I jogged up.

  “It took me a minute to dig this out, sorry.” I shrugged, showing them the rusted halberd.

  “All that time and that’s all you came up with?” Kaine scoffed, looking at the rusted thing like it was some sort of disease.

  “I have my own, I just can’t get it right now. This’ll do.” I shrugged, turning to Serenity. “Ready to try again? I have another idea.”

  After the 4th or 5th try, I was finally able to drop from the roof, roll, and stay low, bringing my halberd around in a circle, sweeping the dummies over. My muscles were straining from the effort, but it worked. I sat, panting from the effort and waited for Serenity to join me, cheering.

  “You did it!” She squeezed me in a tight hug. “We got this one solved, ready for more?”

  “I think I need some water, first.” I laughed silently, rubbing my neck muscles, wincing as the bruises pulsed under my touch.

  “I’ll be damned… You actually did it.” Kaine said, coming to sit across from us on a fallen dummy, passing us both water jugs.

  I chugged from it, ignoring the pain in my throat from over-exertion. It felt really good to have finally worked something out and push myself to do something I’d never done before.

  “What’s next?” Serenity asked, pulling the next card out of her pocket. “Oo… Battlefield, open plain, army.”

  “Easy, follow orders.” I shrugged. “You’d either be mounted or hanging back with the other archers and I’d be up front with the squadron.”

  “Can you follow orders? Even if it meant doing something you know is morally wrong?” Kaine asked.

  I snorted and closed my eyes, taking a breath through my nose. “I’m not using magic, aren’t I?”

  “Only because you can’t.” He pointed out.

  “True… but, I can and I will follow orders.” I took another sip of water before putting the top back on it.

  “Good. Pick up the dummies and then meet me on the training field. I think it’s time to see how you hold up against me.”

  “What about me?” Serenity asked, standing.

  “Same thing goes for you, you’re an archer, yes, but you need to watch how Rivienne fights. Once we’re done it’ll be your turn to show me what you’re capable of. Enjoy your break while it lasts.” He nodded, before standing and walking away from us towards the training field, his silver armor glinting in the sunlight, blinding us.

  “Sit back and watch… got it.” she said bitterly.

  “Hey, you'll get your turn, he said it himself. Then I’ll get to sit back and watch you shine.” I grinned, standing. “We’ll do our best to show off all of our skills.” I held my hand out to her.

  “Fine, but make it fast, I’m getting bored.” She grabbed my hand, pulling herself up and we headed towards the training grounds together.