Chapter Three

All the newer students lined up in the courtyard for drills. As I took my place, I saw Aien in the row ahead of me. He glanced around, looking for someone or something, perhaps a friendly face amongst the crowd, and his eyes fell on me. He stepped backwards, to stand at my side.

“What is this?” He asked me. “Is this meant to be a sword?” He looked at the wooden practise sword that he held in one hand.

“Drills,” I told him. “As training goes, this one isn’t so bad, as long as you stick to the middle and try not to stand out. The sword master will lead us through the poses and postures,” I nodded up to the raised platform. “We just copy her.”

“Why do I suspect that it’s not as easy as you make it sound?” He wondered.

“Because…” I lifted my chin to the wall where the dark elf guards had gathered to watch. “And…” I inclined my head to the base of the wall, where the senior knights were gathering. “They’re meant to be practicing hand to hand combat, but… They mostly watch. And mock us.”

“Great,” he said with a sigh.

“It’s your first day,” I told him. “No one will expect you to be any good.”

“At least they won’t be disappointed,” he replied dryly.

“Watch closely,” I cautioned him. “Don’t let them distract you. We’re considered fair game. After all, in battle there are many distractions. You’re allowed to be terrible on your first day, but not to break rank and…” He didn’t seem like the type to get into a fight, as many of the first-time knights did.

“And what?” He wondered.

“You’ll see.”

The sword master stepped up onto the raised platform and ran her eyes over us with a sneer that only a dark elf could manage. “Very well, let’s see how terrible you all are today.”

After his initial hesitancy, his cheeks coloring and his eyes locked to the sword master whilst he learned the routine, the sliding step from one posture to another, the position of sword and arms combined with the set of feet, Aien was not terrible. Luckily, a new recruit was far, far worse. A muscled younger son, the young man had received training before coming to the academy, and seemed determined to show that training off, even when it ran contrary to the sword master’s instructions resulting in an altercation between the two, and mockery from the on-watchers.

As the young man grew more and more frustrated, Aien slid me a look. “This is not going to end well.”

“No,” I agreed shaking my head.

It did not take long, and was, typically, Valerian who broke the recruit, Valerian’s laughter ringing out above all others. The recruit broke rank. “What is so f-king funny?” He demanded of Valerian, and my younger brother slowly rose to his full dragon height, his grin widening in delight. Around him, Caraway, Rue and Tarragon straightened, flanking him, and causing the heat to leave the young man’s anger, replaced with a cold wave of fear.

“I don’t know,” Valerian drawled. “I’m not entirely sure what dance it is that you’re doing, but this is not a ballroom.”

“Think about it carefully,” Rue advised the young man. “This is not a fight that you can win.”

“They’re rather… impressive,” Aien said from my side. “Who are they?”

I glanced up at him in surprise. I was so accustomed to being known, that it had not occurred that he would not recognize my siblings. “Um. Tarragon, Rue, Caraway, and Valerian, of Queen Diandreliera and King Valsaurienkachelial taradrakyn.”

“Oh. Uyan Taesil,” he nodded, leaning slightly on the wooden sword. “Valsaurienkachelial taradrakyn? A dragon.”

“Mhm,” I watched his face from under my eyelashes.

“You sat next to the big one…” He nodded to where Rue was grinning down at the young man, who was swiftly re-evaluating his anger.

“Rue.”

“Rue,” he repeated, his eyes on my brother as the sword master intervened, saving the young recruit from a beating.

“My eldest brother,” I answered the unasked question. “Tarragon is my eldest sister. I have another brother, Arbor, who has chosen the traditional dragon way of life, and then there is myself, and the twins Val and Cara, then my sister Shara, who will be coming here next year. After Shara, there is Basil, Yarrow, Tyme, Lea, Kale, and the baby, Sorrel.”

He had turned to look down at me his head tilted to the side. “That’s… a lot of siblings,” he said slowly.

“Yes,” I agreed. The sword master was calling us back to order.

“And they’re all dragons?”

“All except for me,” I said quietly. “Apparently dragon only breeds true twelve out of thirteen times.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly as we resumed the drill. “That must be hard.”

We made it through the drill without further incident and broke form when the kitchen rang the bell to announce that lunch was being served in the main hall. As we returned the wooden swords to the stand, Aien leaned closer to me.

“Come with me?” He whispered and gestured with his head towards one of the gates out of the castle. I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder to where everyone else was filing towards the main castle but followed him to the gate and out of the courtyard.

We crossed through the kitchen gardens and orchards, and Aien shamelessly filled our pockets with stolen fruit and vegetables, taking a bite of an apple as we passed out of the main gates into the city.

“There’s a forest,” Aien pointed to the trees in the distance. “I’ve been wanting to explore it since the King brought me here. I’m not used to,” he gestured around us at the busy city streets. “At my father’s castle, I’d leave every morning before the sun rose and spend the day in the forest surrounding the castle and village. I feel closed in here… I just want to escape for a few hours.”

“I can understand,” I said sticking close and dodging around the humans and brethren of Nerith who were busily about their days. “I have been wanting to escape since my first day here.”

The streets of Nerith were too frantic for conversation. We paused at a baker selling his wares on a tray carried before him, and bought some meat-stuffed pastries, eating as we walked, heading across the city without knowing the roads, simply following the general direction of the trees on the horizon.

“What is it like being a princess?” Aien asked me as the streets gave way to trees. He paused in the shadows of the forest canopy and lifted his face up to the dappled sunlight, his expression relaxing as his eyes closing as he basked in the greenery. I could see the tension melt from his shoulders. He belonged here, I realized, amongst the trees and green undergrowth.

“I don’t know,” I answered absently. “I’ve never been anything else.”

“Yes, but…” He opened his eyes and looked at me.

“I guess… It is different here,” I realized that was what he meant. “In Uyan Taesil I have ladies in waiting, and I’ve known them and they me, since childhood. I’m never alone, not completely, and they’re my friends. We take lessons together, go for walks in the gardens, shop, and… Well, it’s not like here. It was… happy and fun. I also had maids, many of them, who spent their days running and fetching whatever it is that I needed. Here I just have Hen and she’s busy and really only spares me a few hours a day to help me dress and bathe and keep my clothing mended and room clean…”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend,” he said quietly and began to walk forward through the trees. His footfalls were as skilfully silent as a hunter, I thought, never disturbing a crunching leaf, or snapping a twig. I was not so silent following in his shadow, my shoes slipping in the mud and my cloak catching on twigs.

“There were servants, but…” He shook his head. “They either don’t last long, or they’re not very friendly. There were some brethren in the forest, but they’re not same as around the castle here. They’re wilder, less trusting of humans. There was a hobgoblin that I was trying to win over. I’d bring him cakes from the village. They like honey…” He smiled slightly at a memory.

It sounded very lonely I thought as I accepted his hand over an area where the forest floor was rough with debris. He did not immediately release my hand and we walked that way for some time, picking our way across a little murmuring creek. We sat upon oversized boulders to share the fruit and vegetables we had stolen from the castle gardens before kneeling to scoop the icy water up in the palms of our hands.

Just as we reached the point at which we were thinking about turning back, we saw in the distance through the trees, a tower poking up through the canopy.

“We will need to leave earlier, or bring horses,” Aien decided, standing on a rise of earth, his hands on his hips. “I want to see who lives in that tower in the middle of the forest.”

“Is that wise?” I wondered. “People who live deep in forests tend not to want to be disturbed.”

He laughed as he jumped down and walked over to join me. “I think it will be empty, and so safe enough,” he told me. “We’ll leave early tomorrow morning and come back.”

“Oh, we can’t,” I told him, shaking my head.

“Why not?” He tilted his head to the side. “What are they going to do if we miss a class or two?”

“No classes tomorrow,” I told him. “It’s the tourney. Attendance is mandatory, and if we’re not there,” I shook my head solemnly. “It’s straight to the stocks.”

“Even for a princess?” He seemed dubious about that.

“I don’t want to find out, do you?” I asked him.

“A tourney, hmm?” He sighed heavily. “Just great.”