Silver Dragon (12 page)

After several more minutes of attacking her dummy with little improvement
, the bell rung. They switched to slashing attacks. This time Aleena was more critical of herself. The first few cuts were soft and she knew it. She fought past the pain in her arm and forced more power into the swings. The dummy suffered for it, but she couldn't hit the same place twice, let alone the part of the straw body she was aiming for. She looked for Celos and saw him shake his head and turn away.

The sword practice ended but rather than having a rest
, they started with their maces. Aleena groaned when she picked the heavy weapon up. There was no finesse and great skill here; the mace was not a gentleman's club. It was designed to break bones or shatter and bend armor. She used hers to pound the straw dummy until her wrist and hand ached in ways she hadn't thought possible.

Staggering and gasping, she struck the dummy as hard as she could and felt the mace rebound when it hit the wooden pole the dummy was mounted on. The weapon rebounded and slipped from her grasp to roll across the ground. Aleena scrambled after it, forgetting her exhaustion. Losing her weapon was
proof even to her that she might be better off waiting tables.

Celos stepped on the shaft of the mace as she grabbed it, trapping her hand underneath it. She looked up in time for her vision to be blotted out by a shield rushing down to smash into her head and shoulders. She cried out as she was driven to the ground by the strike.

Aleena rested on the floor for a moment, fighting to keep the room from spinning around her and forcing to spew her breakfast onto the tiles. She spat blood and started to raise herself up on arms that felt like they were cast from solid lead.

"Stay down," Celos taunted her. "Drop your weapon in a fight and you expect to be allowed to live? The only mercy you'll find will be to be taken back and used as a whore for your enemies! You'll never be a knight. You shouldn't even be allowed to use knives in a kitchen."

Aleena let out a sob as Celos put his foot between her shoulders and pushed her back down to the ground.

"That's it for today. I've seen what you can, and can't, do. Take the rest of the day for prayer, reflection, or to pack up your things," Celos called out to them. He turned and walked away, exiting the training room and leaving it in silence.

Durak rushed over to her once the door shut. "Are you all right?"

Aleena nodded as bloody spittle drooled from her mouth to the floor.

"You look a sight," he said. Two of the other recruits looked on while the rest were returning their weapons and looking anywhere but at Aleena.

"Why does he hate me?" Aleena asked.

"I don't think he hates you," Durak said after a moment.

Aleena knew he was supposed to go hard on her, but this wasn't beneficial
; this was cruel. Hateful and abusive, even. She rose up and wiped the blood from her lips. "Show me how to fight," she said.

"What?" Durak glanced at her dummy.

"He said I don't know how to fight. Show me what I'm doing wrong."

"I don't know what you're doing wrong!" he protested. "I've failed my testing twice
. I'm not sure I'm the best man to ask."

"Then who is? You're the best warrior among us now that Celos is gone."

Durak frowned. He looked around and found that the other recruits had escaped, leaving only the two of them in the training room. He sighed. "All right, show me how you strike. Lunges first."

Aleena grinned, showing teeth colored red from blood. She grabbed her sword up and focused on the dummy. Her body was tired but it didn't matter anymore. Tired or not, she wasn't going to let Celos belittle her like that again.

They spent the next hour with Durak offering tips on how to wield the sword and mace. He showed her what worked for him and they tried to come up with ways to use her smaller frame to invent moves that would work for her. Aleena couldn't generate the force that Durak was capable of but she was quicker and more agile.

She learned that she'd been striking too hard and exhausting herself. A thrust that buried her blade into her opponent was no more effective than one that pierced the body. Putting that much force into a lunge made it not only tiring, but also wild and inaccurate. By the time Durak convinced her enough was enough
, she was beyond exhausted. Her body was tingling and each step she took made her feel as though she would either float off the ground or collapse onto it.

"Why are you grinning?" Durak asked her.

"I won't let him beat me," Aleena said. "I have a friend who is a great warrior. I watched him when he barely knew how to hold a sword and now he has become a champion and a hero. I saw how he was beaten and laughed at many times while he learned his way, but he never gave up. He never backed down. He is my inspiration. He showed me what we're capable of."

"Not all men are the same," Durak pointed out. He grinned and added, "Or women."

"Do you really believe that?"

Durak laughed. "Of course I do. Otherwise everyone would be a Knight of Leander."

Aleena shrugged it off. "I can feel it inside me. In my heart. I know what I want to do. I don't know how, but I'll figure that out on the way."

Durak was silent as they walked through the halls and ended
up at the feasting hall beneath the temple. "I admire you," he admitted. "I've always had things come easy to me. The sword, the mace, the bow, everything but riding. I never got along with the horses my father had so I didn't bother trying. That's been my problem. If I don't get something right away, it's hard for me to learn it because I don't want to try."

"You're afraid of failing," Aleena observed.

Durak shrugged. "I don't know, maybe."

"Don't be, it's the best way to learn."

He chuckled again. "I think watching you might be the best way to learn! Or at least working with you. Just today I taught myself a few things I'd never considered while teaching you."

"We make a good team," Aleena said.

"Just don't tell Celos that. I don't want him breathing down my neck like he does yours!"

She laughed at his joke. Durak had come across as a jerk at first but the more time she spent with him, the more she liked him. He'd be a good friend, she was sure of it. Then again, she'd thought the same thing of Celos and now look at him. "Has anybody made it through on their first testing?"

"Not in recent history," Durak told her. "Even Celos was here for two full tests. He became a recruit the day after a testing so he'd have the entire time to learn and be ready for it, but still it took him two tries."

Aleena flashed him a smile
and then gathered her dinner and moved to a table. She gave her blessing for the food and then devoured it. By the time Durak joined her, she was finishing up the last of her meal. She grinned around a mouthful of bread and then washed it down with a cup of water. She leaned closer to him and said in a hushed voice. "I'll make it at my next one!"

Durak smirked, spilling some water down his chin in the process. He scowled and wiped his face clean with his hand. "You're going to need to do a lot of work and even then, I've heard there are a lot of people who don't want to see you succeed."

She glanced down at her empty plate and nodded. Sir Amos had told her the same thing. But he'd also told her that if she worked hard, she could do it, although not in so many words. "Why should that matter?" she looked back up at Durak and asked. "Whether I succeed or fail is up to me, not them. I will work harder than anyone. My only real challenge is you, and you already told me you're lazy when it comes to something you're not a natural at."

Durak coughed on his food, earning a laugh from her. When he could breathe without obstruction again
, he looked at her and sighed. "You're something else. I'm not sure what though. Insufferable? A brat? I don't know."

Aleena
smiled and nodded. She'd been called those things and more in the past for how she always managed to get her way at the Foaming Mug. "But you're still going to help me, aren't you?"

"I don't know, I'm awful lazy," he teased.

She let him know what she thought with a raised eyebrow. "That's okay, I won't wear you out completely. When I'm done with you, I'll make one of the others spar with me."

"You're mad," Durak muttered. "Don't we get enough abuse in a day around here?"

"Just think of it, we'll all get better! And this will be one of the best group of recruits and future Knights of Leander that the church has seen! Isn't that alone worth it? Shouldn't we all be working as hard as we can?"

Durak lowered his fork and stared at her. Aleena met his gaze without backing down. "I don't know if you're inspired or naïve," he admitted. "You've got a way about you that makes me look into myself
, though. That sort of thing could be dangerous to some people. Yes, I'll help you and yes, it will make all of us better for it. Just be careful is all I ask."

She grinned and barely managed to keep from jumping over the table to give him a hug. "I can't promise anything," she told him, "but I'll try."

Durak grunted and focused on his food. Aleena rose up and returned her dishes to the kitchen. She made her way back to the barracks before heading for the library; there was one more thing she wanted to take care of before spending her evening in reflection and study.

She was thankful when she found the barracks empty. She moved to her bed and grabbed the sheets hangin
g around it. She pulled them down and folded them up, and then looked at her chest and bed. The light was already better, as was the flow of air to it. She nodded, reassuring herself, and opened her trunk to retrieve a change of clothes. Her training outfit was stained with dirt and blood; the priests and acolytes tending the library would turn her away in such a state.

She changed into a dress and was out before anyone interrupted her. She'd deal with their sputtering later. It was for the best
; she was sure of it. If she was going to be treated as an equal, then they had to accept her as such. Hiding behind mysterious sheets and always wondering what each overheard whisper and sigh meant would only complicate things.

Aleena smiled. Alto had made a name for himself by demanding
to do things how he thought they should be done—why couldn't she? She knew he'd be proud of her for sticking up for herself. She had six months of hard work ahead of her and then she'd show them all, starting with Celos.

Chapter 8

Alto
rode Sebas to the north through the night and most of the next day. By the time the sun was dipping below the horizon, the foothills bordering the Northern Divide lay ahead of him. He was close enough to the mountains that ash mixed with the snow to cover the ground in a dirty gray.

"I don't suppose you want to split watches with me?" Alto asked his horse
after he'd dismounted and began to set up camp. Sebas turned and looked at him while chewing on the oats in his feedbag. Alto sighed, reminiscing how Winter had been both a mount and a traveling companion. "Figured it couldn't hurt to ask."

He wandered around, gathering up what sticks and bushes he could. He drew his dagger and sawed at the smaller limbs of some trees in hopes that he could make a fire hot enough to burn the green wood.

The rest of the night he spent huddled next to the smoldering fire. Alto dozed fitfully and woke with a start every time a pine bough popped in the fire or the weight of snow and ash cracked a branch on a tree.

He rose stiff and cold in the morning. Sebas, at least, was spirited and playful. Alto scowled as he readied and then mounted his horse. He headed north without a word, rising into the foothills and looking to the mountains ahead as the rising sun defined them. A few wisps o
f smoke still rose from the caves in the easternmost mountain.

As cold and unfriendly as the terrain looked, Alto knew it still teemed with life. The animals had fled or been driven into burrows by the ash but he knew they'd come back. The monsters in the mountains had been shaken as well. Goblins, ogres, trolls,
and even the yeti that had attacked Alto had been trying to escape. He wondered what other horrors lived within the peaks. He knew of one: the dragon Sarya. Alto suspected he'd learn of many others on his way to find her.

But first he had to find Thork. Alto surveyed the landscape and wondered how he could go about it. The troll seemed to like warm places and this was definitely not a warm place. He'd found him in caves twice now, but Thork had said he was going to get far enough away to get a good seat to watch Alto's attempt to bring the mountain down on top of Sarya's forces. As far as he knew, Alto had succeeded. But where was
the troll now that “the show,” as he'd called it, was over?

"Where would you go if you were a swamp troll shaman with no love for Sarya or her men?" Alto asked his horse. Sebas ignored the question and continued to plod through the dirty snow.
"He said he looked for places like this. Places where battles were fought. Places where there was bound to be fear."

Alto fell silent as he wondered where he might find another battle. He'd just put a stop to a
potential battle, or at least delayed it. No doubt there would be many more in the future, but he didn't know where they would happen at or when. Thork had been spending time in caverns near the dwarven mines, waiting for one to break out.

"He felt my fear!" Alto hissed. Sebas snorted beneath him in reaction, but not because he had anything to add. Alto stared down at his horse
and wished again that Winter was with him. The unicorn was far more than a horse could ever be. Sebas was a good horse but Winter was something else. The magical equine was not only the finest steed Alto had ever seen but he was smart, too. As smart as a man, if not smarter than many Alto had met.