NOVEL WEB Chapter Four: A Normal Sparring Session
Chapter Four
A Normal Sparring Session
Vera had been arguing — with herself and with Aesling — about whether or not she should just spar with her casual day-dress on. On the one hand, Galladio would likely be upset with her, and it would probably not go over well with whoever made her dresses.
On the other hand, the courtiers would love it. They always gathered whenever she trained, and there were gasps from the balcony if she took a sparring partner. The impropriety of it all was the talk of Coalis’ nobility. But if she swapped into trousers, put her hair up and wore a loose-fitting shirt, most people didn’t really pay her notice. Sure, that would still upset Galladio, but most people didn’t recognize their Queen like that;
In the end, she decided she’d keep the dress on, for practice. She hadn’t had the opportunity to train against more than two people in a while now, and even if they were children, a fourteen year old with a sword could still swing a stick.
“Good,” she said as the kids entered the courtyard. Already people were gathering to watch. This was a rare treat for them. Not only was the Mad Queen going to swing swords in a most unladylike fashion, she was doing so against what appeared to be a couple of street youths. Vera smirked. The kids were wearing the kind of outfits she’d worn when Rubicus had trained her, when she had still been a part of his mercenary company. And she’d been the same age, too.
“Look at you now,” Aesling said, “daintiest Princess in all the land.” Vera couldn’t help but chuckle slightly as she grabbed three wooden swords from the rack.
“I’m Queen, thank you very much,” she mumbled, then raised her voice. “So.” She tossed each of the kids one of the swords. The one with the fiery red hair and the tall girl snatched it out of the air easily — Vera could recognize the grasp of an experienced pretend swordsman. The third one though, he seemed to struggle with it a bit more, unfamiliar with the weight of it. She cocked her head. Maybe he’d be more comfortable with a dagger? Oh well, it was a stick with a hilt, he’d figure it out. “Any questions before we begin?”
“Yes, several,” the girl said. “Where’s your sword?” She kept the sword raised, though. Good. Clever. She wasn’t letting her guard down. Vera began to circle her, and the other two kids quickly picked up on the fact that they had, in fact, already begun.
“I do not need one,” Vera said. “I’ll simply take one from you.”
“What’s the goal?” the red-haired boy said.
“You try to hit me.” Vera switched up her step just a little bit, and she could see the three of them mentally stumbling a little. They didn’t know what to expect from her, and for now, that was to her advantage. “If you hit me, I will give you… uh… What do children like these days?”
“Why are we doing this?” the last boy asked, clumsily holding his sword with two hands. He was shaking. Vera smiled at him as she took a step closer to the girl, who swung her sword in a little arc.
“A few reasons,” Vera said. “One.” She leapt forward, quick and low, bouncing off the ground with a quick push of her hands, to make up for the lack of mobility the dress granted her. The boy with the red hair had seen that she was coming for him, but he was too late. His swing was strong and vigorous, but uncoordinated. She rapped him on the knuckles with the back of her fist, and he dropped the sword. She caught it before it hit the ground and used it to deflect the attack coming from the girl. Good. “Exercise is good for you! One would be surprised how quickly sitting around and Queening all day goes to one’s thighs.” She dodged the next swing, and then stepped back. She tossed the boy his sword back. “Again.”
“Answers,” the solemn boy said. “Children our age want answers.” He stepped forward, and the other two did so in perfect unison. This is what Vera had hoped for. The three of them were clearly fast friends, and now that they were taking the initiative, they were synchronizing.
“Well, two,” Vera said, “I think fighting is honest. I’ve learned that the way someone fights—” she sidestepped a vertical attack from the girl, and then ducked under two swipes from the boys. With Aesling’s help, her reflexes were beyond human, but this was still a fun challenge. “— it says something about their personality.” The girl was already thrusting and swinging again, and the three of them were getting in each other’s way less and less. “And three: There is something I wanted to see for myself.”
The three kids attacked again. They were perfectly coordinated this time, a sword coming at her from each angle. While deftly dodging between the wooden swords, she deflected the flat of the closest with the palm of her hand, and knocked it out of the solemn boy’s hand and took it herself. He dramatically fell to the floor, which was a bit of a disappointment. Not deterred, Vera tapped the red-haired boy’s sword away and then smacked him on the back of the hand and a few times on the arm, like Rubicus used to do to her. He dropped his weapon, just in time for Vera to strike the girl’s second swipe away and press the faux blade against her neck. To her surprise, the girl smiled.
“You seem chipper.”
“It seems you owe us answers, Miss Queen,” she said. Vera looked down. The solemn boy had caught the other boy’s sword and now gently held it against her stomach.
“I like them,” Aesling said. “And they’re fast. Faster than they ought to be.”
“You know,” Vera said with a grin as she flipped the sword and offered it back to the red-haired boy, “the proper honorific is ‘Your Highness.’ And it does seem like I do.” She turned around and stretched. “This was excellent, thank you. Now that I’ve gotten to know you, what are your names?” When she turned to face them again, she flashed them her widest grin. They hadn’t dropped their weapons.
Thankfully, after some chiding from Galladio, they had given up the sticks. Much to Vera’s amusement, they’d also been hoisted into clothing that was considered appropriate for the castle. Waiting for them around the back of the palace, Vera couldn’t help but replay the mock fight in her head.
“I saw it as well,” Aesling said. “They’re almost as fast as we are.” They both looked out over the city. While not very high up, the balcony still provided a lovely view. Some genius had also placed several stone tables there, surrounded by grass and a solitary small pond. Vera still didn’t know how they got the water up here.
“That isn’t supposed to be possible,” Vera said. “Not unless all three of them have someone such as yourself living inside of them.” She frowned. “Is that likely? The three of them seemed to be friends. What are the chances of that happening?”
“Not high. There are so few of my kind left. I think we’ll need to expedite the trip north. Speaking of which…”
Clarus walked up behind her. She’d recognized his footfalls, the sound of his breathing. He didn’t know, and didn’t have to know, that their senses were good enough to be able to tell if he was asleep or not by the sound of his heartbeat. “Hello, my loves,” the King said quietly as he wrapped his arms around her and softly kissed the back of his neck.
“Hello, my Clarus,” Vera and Aesling said together, then turned around. “The children are on their way here, but I’m already very certain.”
“That they’re all gifted?” Clarus said, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Or that they are… well… displaced?”
Vera smiled. “Nothing on that front I could possibly make a definitive statement, though I have some suspicions, especially the quiet one. I see a lot of myself in him. But no, my feeling is they’re touched, and unless we find out why, this nation will soon find itself in a crisis.” She took his hand. “We may have to—”
“Already ahead of you, my love. I had a messenger sent ahead before you even got out of your sparring dress.” He held her hand up and gently spun her around. “One of these days you’ll drive the seamstresses mad.”
“I will see they’re paid generously,” Vera said. “And how did you know?”
“Galladio told me,” Clarus said.
“Traitor.”
“Traitor,” Vera passed on. Clarus kissed her on the forehead, which had become something of a symbol between them, a sign he was thinking of not one but both of them. In five years, they’d gotten awfully good at communicating.
“His words were, I believe, ‘she’s smug as anything, Sire, and she lost.’ Which is impressive. You never lose anymore, not even to Ruben.”
“In our defense,” Vera said, a little indignantly, “I wasn’t trying very well, those wooden things are not properly weighted, and I was wearing a very frilly dress.”
“I saw,” Clarus said with that bright, kissable grin. “What was left of it, leastways.” He bit his lip, then moved closer. There was a cough coming from behind them, but Vera and Aesling were both completely lost in the kiss. Sadly, the moment couldn’t last indefinitely, and another cough caused them to turn to their guests, presented by Galladio. The three kids had all been hoisted in outfits that made Vera uncomfortable for them, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“What are they wearing? I didn’t even know the palace had clothing so… restrictive!”
“Goodness, Galladio. They look positively miserable.” The manservant’s face was perfectly expressionless. “Please, sit,” Vera said, gesturing at the nearest stone table, surrounded by wooden benches. The kids looked at her with the same consistent level of distrust, but sat down when trays of food were brought outside. Clarus and Vera shared a look of quiet satisfaction when the kids dug in, although the girl — Maria, Vera now knew — kept a suspicious eye on them. She did seem to realize that, if Vera meant them harm, there would have been no need to resort to something like poison.
“Well,” Clarus said, “that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a person inhale a chicken.” He laughed. “I may as well join them!” He sat down and immediately the kids froze. Vera they could mistrust. Vera had a reputation. But Clarus was the King, and a Hero. “Wine?” he said, looking at the three of them with the mischievous glint in his eye Vera had grown to know and love.
“Legima never lets us…” Roja said, wiping his lips with a piece of bread.
“Well, I won’t tell if you don’t,” Clarus said, pouring three very reasonable cups of wine. Roja immediately gulped it down, without a moment’s hesitation. By contrast, Selico’s careful sips were equally inexperienced, and yet completely opposite. What surprised Vera was Maria, simply enjoying the wine like she’d done nothing else her whole life. Vera sat down at the table too, and chewed on some salted bread as Clarus and the kids dug in.
The silence was wonderful. The evening sun bathed everything in a warm glow, and the gentle whistle of the wind brought along with it some appreciated cool air and the smell of roses. Vera stopped herself from filling up on olives.
“What do you want from us?” Maria asked, breaking the silence without even looking up from her plate. Vera and Clarus shared a glance.
“You’ll have to tell them eventually, love,” Clarus said. Vera nodded.
“In the past few years,” Vera said, “I’ve been trying to help a certain kind of youth, both in Coalis and the Kingdom as a whole. I’ve enjoyed some moderate success, but it is during my… travels that I, that we —” She nodded at Clarus, not wanting to reveal Aesling’s existence, “— discovered that there may be more and more people who are touched.” She took a deep breath and looked at the three of them.
“Touched by what?”
Vera chewed on her tongue for a moment, wondering if she should reveal everything.
“Not yet.” Vera nodded. Just words, then. For now.
“I believe you may have been infected with magic.”
