Acingeria Chapter Thirty Four: Training Day

Desiring to sharpen his skills, Redmond goes out to the garden to spar with Lawrence. However, on the way he encounters someone quite... Interesting.

Chapter Thirty Four Training Day:

“Are you enjoying your stay at the castle so far?” Lawrence asked.

I grinned and nodded. I looked at the table. Other servants had entered while I was looking at Lawrence and they were clearing the table.

            “Would you like to take a walk? I would be most happy to escort you anywhere you desire. Within my ability of course.” Lawrence said.

I thought back to what Raymond said about being allowed to train on the castle grounds. I figured that there could be no harm in practicing my combat skills.

            “Yes please. Can I go back to my room and get my weapons? I’d like to practice my fighting skills outside.” I said.

Lawrence bowed at the waist.

            “Yes, sir. I will escort you to your room.” Lawrence said.

I stood up to walk out of the dining hall. As soon as I walked beside Lawrence, he started walking, too. As we exited the dining hall, I noticed the subtle scent of roses in the air left by… well, all of the freakin’ roses. I decided that it wasn’t worth asking about. We began climbing the staircase that lead to my room. I opened my door and Lawrence waited outside. I grabbed my knife with the inscription as well as my dagger. I didn’t take my flintlock because it would make too much noise. The last thing I wanted to do was draw unnecessary attention. When I had my two weapons, I put them in my pocket and walked to the door. I opened it and stepped through.

            “Shall we go?” Lawrence asked me.

            “Yes, I’m ready.” I told him.

Lawrence led me down the corridor that the rooms were in. Before we rounded the corner, I looked to him to say something, but slammed into someone coming around the corner at the same time as I did. We both fell to the ground. I saw an object topple to the ground from the person’s arms.

I looked up to see a girl who looked to be about fourteen. She had very dark, short black hair with a red rose pinned in it, light violet eyes and a pink dress with white trim the dress came down to her ankles. She was fairly thin, but not scrawny. Her facial features we smooth and delicate looking. She was blushing ever so slightly.

Recollecting my wits, I hastily stood up.

            “I’m so sorry, miss!” I exclaimed, holding out my hand to help her up.

The girl looked on the ground for a second or two and her eyes fell on a book bound in worn, brown leather. She reached out and grabbed it. That must have been the object that fell from her arms when I bumped into her. Once the girl had her book, she reached out and took my hand. I pulled her to her feet with minimal effort.

            “I’m sorry!” I exclaimed again.

The girl giggled, as if amused at my frantic apologies.

            “It’s alright, don’t worry. Thanks for helping me up.” The girl said.

            “It was uh… No problem. Are you okay?” I asked.

            “Well, I think I have a little bruise, but I’m okay.” She said.

There was a brief silence. Before things got awkward, I decided to break it.

            “I’m Redmond Bradford.” I said with an apologetic smile, holding out my hand to shake.

The girl smiled and took my hand, shaking it with a grip that was stronger than I would have thought.

            “Estaire Yuka. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The girl said.

Something about the name seemed familiar. It took me a second or two to realize who I had just bumped into. My smile fell from my face.

            “Is something wrong?” Estaire asked.

            “You-you’re queen Yuka’s daughter! I’m sorry I knocked you down!” I said frantically, fearing what queen Yuka would do to me if she found out that I injured her daughter. I also feared what Estaire would do to me. If she took after her mother, it wouldn’t be anything good.

Estaire giggled once more.

            “I told you, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you, and I won’t tell my mother. Calm down, okay?” Estaire said.

Wait, Queen Yuka’s daughter wasn’t evil?

            “I abhor my mother’s sadistic and cruel nature. I don’t take after her in the slightest. You have nothing to fear from me.” Estaire said in a calming tone.

I exhaled in relief. At least I wasn’t going to die today.

            “Lucky you, huh?” Estaire asked.

I laughed and nodded.

            “Well, I suppose I should be going now. Since you have a servant, I assume you’ll be staying at the castle for a while?”

            “I’m not sure for how long, but I’ll be staying.” I told her.

            “Well, it seems that we’ll meet again. Until then, Redmond.” Estaire said, turning on her heel and walking down the adjacent corridor.

As she was leaving, my eye fell on her book.

            “Estaire!” I called after her.

She turned around.

            “What’s in that book?” I asked.

Estaire looked down at her book.

            “Oh, it’s uh… It’s nothing.” Estaire stammered, turning around and walking the other way with the book hugged to her chest.

She disappeared around a corner just ahead of her. I turned to Lawrence.

            “Do you know what’s in her book?” I asked, curious.

Lawrence shook his head.

            “Not to sound mysterious, but no one does. She always keeps that book with her and I have never seen her share its contents with anyone.” Lawrence answered.

Queen Yuka’s daughter has a mysterious book and no one knows what’s in it. Could it be her diary?

            “You are quite lucky that Estaire does not take after her mother in her ways. If she did, you would most likely be punished by now.” Lawrence said.

I laughed in relief.

            “I know. Anyway, let’s get going. I have to train, remember?” I asked Lawrence.

            “Of course. “He said as he walked ahead.

I matched his pace and we were once again walking side by side. We descended the staircase and exited the castle the way that we came in. The guards didn’t stop us.

            “I know a perfect place for you to train.” Lawrence said as he led me through the garden.

I took note of all of the roses. There were a few other kinds of flowers, but it was mostly roses. Lawrence led me through the garden until we came to a bend. We followed the bend and came to a little circular clearing that was about ten feet across. The clearing was grass, a patch of green among all of the red and white roses.

            “Well, this place looks nice, but how will it help me train? I don’t see any targets or anything set up here.” I told Lawrence.

Lawrence chuckled.

            “There is no need for a target. I see that you have two weapons. I will be your opponent.” Lawrence said.

I shrugged, pulling out my dagger and handing it to him. He took it. I pulled out the knife with the inscription that I found in the ruins.

            “Now, stand on the other side of the clearing.” Lawrence instructed as he moved to his edge of it.

I did as I was told.

            “Just to be clear, we are not trying to kill each other. We are sparing. Nothing more. Each of us is to land a light touch on the other. That is the objective. Do you understand?” Lawrence asked.

I nodded.

            “Good. Now, begin.” Lawrence said, immediately assuming a fighting stance.

Lawrence crouched down low, keeping his body turned away from me at an angle. He held the dagger in the hand that was closest to me. He slowly advanced. I did the same, mirroring him. When he was within range, Lawrence thrust his dagger at me. Not hard enough to impale me, but hard enough to give me a cut. I dodged it without breaking my fighting stance.

            “Is that all you got?” I taunted.

Lawrence chuckled.

            “Not by a longshot.” He said as he thrust his dagger forward, hitting my arm.

I yelped in pain and jumped back. Lawrence grinned.

            “Be more careful.” He told me.

I thrust my knife at him. He struck with his dagger and our weapons hit each other with a metallic clang! I didn’t leave our weapons in contact for more than a second or two. I thrust forward, taking a step to break the defensive guard he had when our blades locked. To avoid being hit, Lawrence stepped backward but stumbled and fell on his butt. I walked over and stood over him, holding my knife over his throat. I gently pricked his throat with the knife, drawing a small dot of blood. Lawrence laughed.

            “Well done, Redmond. I underestimated your strength.” Lawrence congratulated.

I grinned and offered him a hand. He took it and I pulled him to his feet.

            “We’ll both need to see Tabatha after we’re done.” I said, examining my arm and his throat.

            “Who is Tabatha?” Lawrence asked.

            “She’s the witch that’s travelling with us.” I replied.

Lawrence nodded.

            “I see.” He said.

            “Well? You aren’t done yet are you?” I asked with a grin.

            “Not a chance.” Lawrence said, returning the grin.

            “Alright then, let’s go again.” I said, walking back to my end of the clearing.

Lawrence walked back to his and we both sized each other up. I began to walk towards Lawrence with my knees bent, ready to spring at him or out of the way at a moment’s notice. Lawrence bent down, holding the dagger up at his chest, ready to attack or defend. When I was within distance, Lawrence lashed out at me. I stepped back quickly and let him follow through with his missed swing. While he was still recovering, I stabbed at him lightly. He stepped backwards as well and brought the dagger back to his chest. He came at me with a thrust. I blocked his thrust with my own. Our blades collided with a loud clang! I pulled back before Lawrence could do what I did last time. Thankfully I did, because he tried it and he wasn’t expecting that I’d move so soon. He stumble forwards and landed on his chest. He scrambled to get up but I pinned him down by placing my foot on his lower back. I touched my knife to his back.

            “You win again, sir. Nicely done.” Lawrence congratulated.

I took my foot off his back and he got up.

            “I think that I am done sparing for now. You are very good with that knife.” Lawrence said, wiping my blood off of his dagger and handing it back to me.

I wiped his blood off of my knife and took the dagger back, putting my knife and dagger back in my pocket.

            “I’m done too.” I said.

            “Well then. Shall we go and see your witch?” Lawrence asked.

            “Let’s go.” I said.

Lawrence and I went back into the castle to find Tabatha’s room. We entered through the castle’s entrance and walked across the big entry room to the staircase. We ascended it and passed where I bumped into Estaire. We came to the section of the castle where our rooms were. I walked up to the room I saw Tabatha go into last night and knocked. I heard footsteps coming to the door on the other side. The door opened, revealing Nattallie, Tabatha’s servant.

            “May I help you?” She asked, her beige eyes flashed with curiosity.

            “Yes, we’re here to see Tabatha.” I said.

Nattallie nodded, closed the door and walked back into the room.

            “Miss Crawforde, you have visitors.” Nattallie said to Tabatha on the other side of the door.

            “Okay. Thanks Nattallie.” Tabatha said.

She walked to the door and opened it. Her brow furrowed.

            “Oh, hi Redmond. Do you need something?” She asked.

            “You sound disappointed, Tabatha. Expecting someone else?” I asked with a grin.

Tabatha gave me a slug on the arm.

            “Shut up. Now, did you need something, or are you just here to harass a witch? That’s a big mistake, by the way.” Tabatha said with a grin.

I rubbed my sore arm.

            “No, no. You see, Lawrence and I were sparing and… well… we need to be healed.” I said.

Tabatha then caught sight of the blood on our clothes.

            “Oh! Well, okay. Come in.” Tabatha said, stepping aside to let us in.

We entered her room. It looked much like mine. I noticed that there were a set of witch clothes on her dresser. There was a hat and a dress with a skirt that was black with green trim, and there was a pair of black boots. Her staff leaned against the clothes. Didn’t she leave her witch clothes behind at the bunkhouse in Riverguard?

            “Courtesy of Queen Yuka’s witches.” Tabatha explained.

She walked over and grabbed her staff.

            “Alright you two, hold still.” She said.

She walked over to us and held her staff out in front of her.

            “I’ve never tried healing two people at once, but I need to start somewhere. Here goes nothing.” Tabatha said with a grin.

Lawrence looked a little scared. Maybe he never saw a witch in action before.

            “Healing gaze!” Tabatha cried.

Warm green light enveloped Lawrence and I. I felt my wounds stitching back together. It was a strange, tickling feeling. After a few seconds, the warm green light receded back into Tabatha’s staff.

            “No matter how many times I see a witch’s magic in use, it never fails to amaze me.” Nattallie said in awe.

Tabatha chuckled.

            “With me around, you’ll see plenty of magic Nattallie.” Tabatha said.

Nattallie grinned.

            “Thanks for healing us, Tabatha.” I said.

            “Hey, no problem.” Tabatha said.

She then strode across the room and grabbed me by my shirt collar. Her rich brown eyes turned serious. She met my gaze.

            “Hey!” I protested.

Tabatha was stronger than she looked.

            “And remember, don’t say anything to Don about our little conversation. Okay?” Tabatha asked.

I nodded slowly.

            “Okay, okay, you got it Tabatha.” I said.

She let go of me. I rubbed my neck where the collar had restricted my breathing. I saw Nattallie giggling.

            “Come now, sir.” Lawrence said, ushering me out of the room.

I went with him. He shut the door behind us when we were in the hallway.

            “What is she to you, sir?” Lawrence asked.

I laughed. How do I describe the relationship between Tabatha and I?

            “Um… She’s my friend. She comes on as hostile at first, but when you get to know her, she lightens up. She’s a good person.” I explained.

Lawrence laughed.

            “I could tell. Anyhow, what do you want to do?” Lawrence asked.

I thought about it. What else was there to do?

            “Anything you want to know, anything you want to do, just tell me. I will do my best to be of service to you.” Lawrence told me.

I nodded, thinking of one thing I did want to ask him.

            “Lawrence, there is one thing I want to know.” I said.

            “What is it?” He asked.

            “Do you know what types of witches and warlocks Queen Yuka has?” I asked.

Lawrence nodded.

            “Sadly, no. Why do you ask, sir?” He asked.

            “I’m just curious is all.” I lied.

I really wanted to learn if Queen Yuka had a dark magic witch or warlock on her side. I also wanted to know what we would be up against if our cover was blown.

            “Well, you could ask her yourself if you really wanted to know. Other than her, you could ask members of her court. Perhaps they would know?” Lawrence asked.

I shook my head.

            “No, I’m fine. Thanks anyway.” I said.

            “I would do it myself, but it is not my place to ask.” Lawrence explained.

So there was still a chance that Queen Yuka had a dark magic witch or warlock with her. Not good. Not good at all.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[KeithKVH]

Interesting encounter to introduce Estaire, doesn't show much but it seems she's better than her mom, and the book draws attention to itself as well. Lawrence and all the servants seem cool but I wouldn't be abl to trust them in that situation myself, considering their employer. Couldn't really remember their appearances since their intro last chapter either, just going with minds eye for now.

That end and the constant uncrtainty of whether she does is troubling, it foreshadows that she really has a dark magic witch, but there could be a different way to use the jewelry too.

[Ryan Henderson]

You are very clever Keith, I need to give you that. You make good predictions based on my foreshadowing. Things get even more heated later on!