Silver Dragon (9 page)

Sir Amos
rang the bell again, signaling Aleena to stop. She stood over the fallen warrior, gasping for breath. Fresh blood dripped onto him from her nose but she paid it no mind. Unseen beneath her helm, she was grinning.

Aleena retreated and grabbed her axe. She had never trained with the axe but it felt similar to the mace. She twisted it in her hand and noticed how different the balance was, depending on which direction the blade pointed. She looked up when the bell ran
g and saw her opponent bearing down on her.

She tried to repeat her attack with the mace but he stepped to
the side and caught her axe under the curve of the blade with his sword. He forced it away and rocked his head into hers. Stars exploded in her eyes and she blew fresh blood from her nose. She felt a sting in her cheek, but she couldn't guess what from.

Aleena coughed when his sword crashed into her belly. The chain links saved her from being disemboweled but it forced the air out of her and doubled her over. She felt to her knees and barely managed to use her right hand to keep herself from falling on her face. Before she could begin to think of striking back
, she felt the steel of his blade pressing heavily against the back of her neck.

Her eyes watering from pain and shame, she lifted her trembling shield arm up to signal her defeat.
Sir Amos rang the bell. "This phase of testing is complete. The recruits will be tended to then they shall joust."

The sword was removed from Aleena's neck. She sat back on her calves and reached up to remove her helmet. She saw her opponent standing above her, offering his hand. She sniffed and then offered a grateful smile as she took it.

"You fought like a wildcat," he whispered to her before he turned and walked back through the doors whence he'd come.

Aleena smiled and nodded,
and then gathered up her equipment and returned it to the racks. She planned to clean up the blood later but acolytes rushed through the double doors with buckets and rags. She grunted and turned away so she could follow her fellow recruits out of the chamber so that they could have a moment to recover.

Aleena caught a distorted reflection of herself in a polished shield hanging on the wall on her way out. Her nose was a mess but it didn't feel broken to her. Her lip was split and there was a gash under her eye, making it puffy. In spite of it all, she was smiling and she couldn't remember a time when she'd ever felt this proud of herself.

Acolytes tended to them while they waited, washing away blood and offering them a drink. Their respite was short-lived. Sir Amos summoned them back outside to a closed field where they were given horses to ride. Aleena was given the chance to back out of the joust again for lack of armor, and again she demanded inclusion. She watched Celos and Durak both score strikes on the target, as well as two other recruits.

Aleena stared at the massive stallion brought for her to ride. She still wore the same armor she'd fought in. Her armor felt loose on her, looser even than it had when she'd first donned it.

She stared at the box placed beside the horse and the acolyte who stood near it, ready to assist her. Aleena took a deep breath and blew it out. She'd never ridden a horse before and now she was expected to get on one that looked to her like it was as big as her father's tavern!

Aleena nodded to bolster her nerves. She'd survived so far
. Leander wouldn't let her go after all the work she'd already done, would he? Aleena put a foot on the box and stepped up, and then grabbed the saddle and put her foot in the stirrup. She stepped up and balanced precariously in the air for a terrifying moment until the acolyte sprang into action and guided her onto the horse's back.

"My
lady, snap the reins and kick his flanks. He'll know what to do," the acolyte whispered to her after he handed her the lightweight jousting lance.

Aleena groaned at the weight of the lance. Her arm was tired and her body sore
; how could she possibly hold the lance out to strike on a galloping horse! She thought back to Celos's ride and remembered how he had started with the lance up, and then he lowered it across the horse as he rode. She could do that, couldn't she?

Sir Amos
rang his bell, signaling that she could joust when ready. She took a breath and was about to leave when the acolyte cleared his throat loudly. Aleena looked down and saw him holding up a shield for her. Unlike the shield she'd used when fighting, this one was a kite shield, designed to protect a mounted knight while jousting. She took it from him and rested it on her hip, and then realized she wasn't holding the horse's reins tightly enough to guide it.

She looked down when she heard someone else cough. They expected her to ride. It was cold out, the snow was blowing
, and the sun was starting to set in the west. Aleena bit her lip and nodded again, though the movement was unnoticed inside her loose-fitting helm. She kicked the horse in the sides and let out a yelp when it surged forward.

Aleena's stomach was either in her throat or on the ground behind her. She wasn't sure but she was afraid to turn and look. She squeezed her knees against the warhorse and found herself constantly being tossed up with each uneven step the horse took. There was no way she could ride on it, not with holding
{the lance in} her hands.

The
straw dummy holding the club-tipped lance drew closer to her as the horse ran along the rail. She just had to keep her balance a few more seconds, and then she could toss the lance away and grab on for her life. Maybe even slow the horse down, except she wasn't sure how. What if she kicked it again; would it know to stop?

Aleena lowered the lance and tried to control it as the weight of the weapon pulled it towards the ground. It fell quickly, bouncing off the saddle and slipping out of her grasp just as she reached her target. The dummy's lance struck her shield and slid up to her shoulder, jarring her so painfully that she fell away from the horse. She threw her arms out and opened her mouth to scream but the ground slammed into her and knocked her breath and her consciousness from her before she could utter even a squeak.

Chapter 6

Patrina found Caitlyn sitting and watching the flames consuming the logs in the large hearth. She walked up beside her, making sure she scuffed her feet on the wooden floor to alert Alto's sister to her presence. When Caitlyn didn't look up, Patrina frowned. "May I sit with you?"

Caitlyn jerked out of her thoughts and glanced up at Patrina. Her cheeks flushed to match the fire and she nodded while scooting over on the bench she sat on. "If it pleases you, my
lady," Caitlyn stammered.

Patrina smoothed her dress and sat down beside the troubled woman. She found her eyes captured by the dancing flames and felt their warmth drive away the chill from the visit to her mother's garden. "This is nice," Patrina offered, trying to break the ice between the two.

Caitlyn let out a breath that she'd been holding. "I keep seeing my house burning around me."

Patrina winced. "That's horrible," she said. "I'm so sorry that happened. If I'd stayed just a little bit longer I could have helped."

Caitlyn offered her a weak smile. "Thank you, but it's best you left. They'd have killed you or worse, done to you what they did to me."

Patrina opened her mouth to insist otherwise but she remembered how Beck had fought in the mines. How he'd turned all their attacks away and made them feel like children learning to swing a stick for their first time. "You might be right," she admitted. "We fought him under the mountain before we were separated. He was a very skilled warrior."

"Alto killed him," Caitlyn said.

Patrina's mouth felt dry all of a sudden. She cleared her throat and glanced around. "Did something happen to your brother?" she asked. "When there were three of us fighting against the man who hurt you
, we couldn't touch him, but Alto by himself was able to kill him? What changed?"

"I don't know," Caitlyn admitted. "When they fought
, I was bound inside the house. I couldn't see anything. I saw Alto but thought it was a dream, or that I was already dead. The house was on fire and the smoke was so thick."

"I'm sorry, it must be hard," Patrina said. "You don't have to talk about it. I want you to know that you're welcome here. Stay as long as you like. Live here, if you want. I talked to my father before I came to you. He said that he'd promised Alto he'd treat you as one of his own. My father's a hard man but he's fair and generous to those
who he admires. Your brother has earned his admiration and more."

Caitlyn nodded. "Alto has a way of doing that. Everybody likes him, even the people he used to get in fights with."

"He used to fight?"

Caitlyn nodded. "Not much, but there were a few times." She smiled as her eyes lost focus. "I remember the last time I'd run across a couple of boys while fetching some water. They were neighbors of ours but they were giving me a hard time. Teasing me and doing the things that boys do. Alto saw me crying when I came back because I'd spilled my water and I didn't want to go back and be teased by them again."

"So he went after them?"

Caitlyn nodded. "He did. I saw them a few days later and they were very nice to me. Both had blacked eyes and swollen lips."

Patrina laughed and earned a smile from Caitlyn. "So he's always been saving damsels in distress? He didn't start with me? I'd be jealous but since you're his sister, I guess it's okay."

Caitlyn laughed and nodded. "
We all looked up to him. To Darren, Alto was a hero. Darren used to work so hard to earn a smile or praise from Alto. Our father, too, but mostly Father and Alto worked together."

"What about you?"

Caitlyn stared into the fire and blushed again. "I used to dream of Alto and me running our own farm and all of our brothers and sisters were our kids." She shrugged and admitted, "It was a silly fantasy. As soon as I was old enough I realized it, but then I just kept wondering if I'd ever find a man who could be like my brother."

Patrina nodded and adopted a faraway look in her eyes. "He's trouble that way, isn't he? Hard to find someone to compete."

"He was," Caitlyn agreed. "But I'm worried about him. About what he's become."

"What do you mean?"

"When he was just a farmer, things were simple for him. Chores and family were what mattered. He loved to go hunting with our father, but they always came back and things were the same. Now I'm scared."

"Scared for him? Why?"

"For him and of him," Caitlyn said. She reached down and pulled the dagger he'd given her out of the sack she carried with all of her worldly possessions. "He gave me this and told me to be careful. He said it would cut through anything, even rock and steel."

"May I?" Patrina held out her hand and asked.

Caitlyn handed her the sheathed dagger. The lady turned it over in her hand and studied it, and then frowned when she found nothing impressive about it. The knife looked plain to her, as though there was nothing special about it at all. She drew it out of the holder and studied the blade, and then reached to test its edge.

"Don't," Caitlyn warned her.

Patrina glanced at the young woman. She seemed concerned enough that Patrina turned instead and pressed the tip against the bench between them. It sank into the wood, penetrating it as though it was butter.

Patrina gasped and pulled her hand away, leaving the knife impaled in the wood all the way to the hilt.
"That's amazing," the lady mumbled.

"Alto said he got it from a friend, a shaman by the name of Thork?"

Patrina's eyes flew to Caitlyn's. "He met the troll again?"

"Troll!" Caitlyn's eyes widened and she glanced around to see if anyone had heard her outburst. The men and women moving through the hall ignored her and continued their duties.

"Thork is a troll shaman we met last spring. I thought he'd left the region after he helped us."

"He helped you?"

Patrina nodded. She pulled the dagger out of the bench and slid it back into its scabbard. "I know, a troll. He's large, smells bad, and just looking at him is enough to give you nightmares. But he helped us escape. Later, they found him again and he gave Alto Kevard's Blade, the blade he just turned over to my father."

Caitlyn nodded. "Alto had two swords after he saved me. The one he wore on his back is the one you're talking about?" Caitlyn paused for Patrina to nod. "Okay. The one at his side was a new one. It looked different, but I never saw it up close."

"I caught a glimpse of it; it's a long sword, not a broadsword. Alto's not as good with those. The way he fights isn't suited for a narrower blade like that; he tends to break them."

Caitlyn laughed. "Are you saying my brother's a brute?"

Patrina smiled. "Your brother reminds me of a draft horse, except he's better looking."

Caitlyn grinned. "That depends on which end of the horse you're looking at!"

The two women shared a laugh at Alto's expense. The hall felt brighter for a moment, as though the clouds above parted and promised an early spring thaw. The shadows felt like they closed back in when Caitlyn's smile faded and she sighed.