Mylidred

18

Things were going extremely smoothly. Well, as far as I could tell. Everyone had gotten better. I still had to keep Kerran from running off to find my sister, but he had let up on it a little since she was much better now.

Training was more vigorous than ever,with the voice in the back of my head telling me that this wasn't going to be a small war. It brought back memories of my own training back when I was 14 and Alea was 18. It was like I was only just relieving those days.

She had taken charge of the castle after her parents had died in an accident on a trip to one of the neighbouring lands. She took charge of the security with an iron fist, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I got the brunt of it all.

***

Alea took it upon herself to personally train me.

"Defend yourself, Nora! The only way you won't get hit is if you block my strikes. Unless you'd like me to grace your body with more bruises, I'd advice you to get blocking!" Alea taunted.

"Another strike landed on my body. I winced, getting angry. She was just having fun whacking me all over. I raised the wooden pro sword and aimed to hit her upper arm the way she'd done like the past few days. Her sword blocked mine, as she manoeuvred and the swords met a great distance from her skin.

"Ah, ah, ah, Nora. I said block not attack. You don't get to do that. You need to learn to defend your own body before you can harm someone else's."

When she spoke like this, it made me wonder, if she really wasn't much older than she looked. As though she'd been fighting all her life.

Outside the arena, we were the best of friends. The moment we stepped onto the training grounds we had become the worst of enemies, I became a stranger to her.

She didn't train me the way others were trained. She was extremely cruel to me within the arena.

She'd keep me at swordplay for hours even after the others were long gone. Everytime, I attacked first, letting my anger drive me. She parried my blows easily and pushed my swords away as though I were simply playing with her. She defended herself well even though I fought with two swords. She wasn't ambidextrous as I was and yet, she easily tossed me aside on the grounds. It was very embarrassing.

She was always on the defensive, up until I had tired myself out, then she'd rain her own assault on my swords. I wouldn't be able to match her blows because I'd be too weak to.

"Can we take a break?!" I'd ask desperately.

"No!"

And she'd continue to beat down on me till I couldn't even hold my sword up anymore.

"Can I have a drink of water?" I'd ask.

"No! Not till were done for the day."

She loved to fight me till I fell on my arse, her sword to my throat and both of mine laid several feet away from us.

She kept her words but by that time, I wouldn't even be able to lift myself with how my body protested in pain. Water would be the last thing on my mind.

Everyday, she carried me out of the arena with my joints throbbing and my muscles aching, where I couldn't protect myself from her blows.

I always came back to the arena more positive than I was the day before that I'd be able to retaliate so she'd feel the pain I felt. She didn't. It made me angry everytime I failed, and she always laughed at the situation. It only fuelled my anger at the unfairness of the situation.

She only started letting me fight others on occasion when she believed I had improved significantly.

She allowed me to fight her least advanced soldier, the first time. I beat him so hard imagining he was Alea all the while, till I held the prop sword to his chest. I walked away satisfied that someone finally felt how I'd been feeling after every training session with Alea.

That day, I fought four more soldiers after the first one. Each one more advanced than the last, up until Alea thought it was enough for the day. I won the last round.

***

The next day, we went back to our usual training again as though I hadn't won just the day before. It was so frustrating!

By the end of that year, I could easily beat her. She made sure of it. She never trained with anyone else since then. She trained with me alone, because I was the only one who could floor her.

She appointed me the Commander of her Armed Forces and personal guards therefore, I took it upon myself to be her protector to repay her, even though she was very capable of taking care of herself.

I turned my attention back to the training and continued dishing commands for my soldiers.

***

It was getting uncomfortable just how smoothly things were going. There seemed to be something wrong. I could feel the tension in the air and I was waiting for something, subconsciously. I was even more convinced when Kerran didn't come that night.

I almost didn't sleep because my body had become accustomed to Kerran's presence beside me whenever I slept. I lacked it, and it robbed me of sleep almost all through the night. His absence, even if for just that night, had made me slip back into my insomnia.

By the next morning, I practically flew out of bed, wanting to know what felt wrong. No one seemed to be sick. There wasn't any sign of fatigue within the castle, from it's staff and my soldiers.

I tried my best to ignore the foreboding feeling and go about my day like I had for the past few months since the declaration of the possibility of war. I did my best to delude myself into thinking all was well and I just needed rest from the lack of proper sleep the night before.

I had fared well for most of the day and things seemed to be just great, but of course, something had to destroy that peace, because the sighting of soldiers marching up the hill over towards the town that very evening, was the best way to get rid of any hopes I had been harbouring within the day.