The Vixen Trials

Getting Better

Updated: 24/1/22

Dakkoul

He'd kept his promise to train Malek and every day saw improvement, although he favored safe, defensive moves.

"Come and get me," Dakkoul cried. He danced in closer to incite Malek to attack when the door opened. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keilah followed by Jalen. At least she was no longer limping. Unusual to see her here in this old dilapidated training hall that usually only selected slaves were allowed to use. She was cleverly using her training time with Jalen as an excuse to see him.

She winked at him before slipping into a fighting stance. Jalen stood opposite her, sword in hand. Dakkoul disarmed Malek with a quick, almost lazy move and jumped in front of Jalen.

He felt an unexpected rush of pleasure facing Keilah again, remembering how they'd first crossed swords as kids and even how she'd tried to defend her dying mother. She rolled her eyes at him then attacked.

Jalen was clearly honing her skills in a blunt, aggressive solider's way, but as Dakkoul defended himself he couldn't help wondering if the other vixens would have a very different type of style. Still Jalen was a solid enough soldier and he could see Keilah was faster and more confident in her strokes than before.

"You're better than I thought you'd be," he admitted as he defended against a swipe to his right thigh.

She grinned. "All I'm wanting to do is survive."

"And survive you shall." He stated in his cold, professional voice. She must. "Let's work on your defence. You don't want to get hurt out there and you may as well perform well for your audience. And you should practice dropping your sword at an appropriate time so you can leave with honor. After that would be your best time to petition the Prince."

"Petition the Prince?" she said bewildered even as she blocked his obvious thrust towards her stomach. "For what?"

He stopped the fight and leaned towards her, lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper. He trusted the people in the room enough, but this was dangerous advice only for her ears, her pretty sensitive ears. "For your inheritance. It's the only way you'll get to be the heir. You must ask him, as a great favour, for all the wealth of this House to be given to you."

"Take it from my grandmother?" she asked, horrified.

"She does not use it well. It would prevent the villages from suffering further raids. You can still provide for her of course."

Keilah frowned, slowly shaking her head. Didn't she realize it would be her against them in the end?

"Ask the Prince as a boon after you have fought. He admires your beauty. He hates your grandmother. He will give control of the House to you and then you will be safe. Then you can protect yourself from your uncle. Otherwise once the Vixen Trials are over, he will kill you."

"Surely not!"

He just looked at her. She gulped.

A question that had been scratching around in his head came out of his mouth. "Where's Alyssia?"

Keilah pointed towards the corridor. "She's out there, because Jalen's in here."

Dakkoul stiffened. If Alyssia still persisted in despising Jalen, wouldn't she reject him too when she learned about his past? He wouldn't fight for himself, but Jalen deserved someone in his corner.

Dakkoul almost ran into Alyssia who was hovering outside the door and his feelings bubbled over into his words. "I liked the idea of your God. Of course I knew it was too good to be true – a God that actually required his followers to forgive. The way of the Fox is much more natural. Hate your enemies. Kill those that use you badly. Your God is just a dream, an ideal that doesn't exist. You have shown me that."

"I never," she protested and mumbled something that trailed off.

"Jagur believes like you say. He prays for his enemies. He prays for me," a silly smile crept onto Dakkoul's face. "A ridiculous thought, but the words he yabbers are backed up with action and I admire him for it. But you Alyssia, you speak like Jagur but act like you are of the Fox."

A deep red stained Alyssa's cheeks and she stalked into the room letting the wooden door slam behind her. He followed her in. She went as far away as possible from where Malek and Jalen were sparring and leaned on the wall, her head hanging down. He returned to Keilah.

"What did you say to her?"

Dakkoul shrugged. "She should be in here with you."

Keilah nodded. "She might hate him but see the way he looks at her? It's not just guilt."

A snort escaped Dakkoul. Jalen did seem a bit fox-eyed, the way he kept glancing at her.

"Remember how it started with us?"
She fluttered her pale lashes at him. Her sword hung limp. He could attack and kill her easily now if he wanted but the word 'us' arrested him. There was no 'us' now of course but it once there had been...

He remembered although it hurt now to recall it. "That day you wanted to ride the rim, like the Enderaii do." Before that she'd been a sometimes annoying playmate.

"Only we didn't have a proper rim. We had boards and no rim and everyone had mocked us for spending so much time making boards that were useless."

"But you were so determined," he said shaking his head. "And then my father heard about it, and he took us to that cliff-face not quite on Enderaii land but not far off either. And he fixed our boards somehow, I don't know what he did, but they moved differently."

"And then we rode the rim," she said a echo of her triumph returning to her voice. "We did it and when we went back and told everyone but they never believed us. Said only Enderaii knew the secrets of it. And your dad never took us again, said it was too dangerous, but I'll never forget, chasing you around that bend, so high in the sky, the joy of that moment."

"But you slipped," Dakkoul reminded her, remembering the spike of terror he had felt. "You slipped and I thought you were going all the way to the bottom and my board wasn't fast enough to catch you."

"I saved myself," she reminded him.

"And you wanted to go again," he shook his head. "You had no fear, but I was afraid and my father was afraid because we pictured losing you." He grimaced and added, "The Enderaii have that at least. I hope Jagur gets to rim-ride."

"The time of the three new moons will up the day after The Vixen Trials," she said quietly. "Will you go for him?"

"Is that what you really want, Keilah?" he said wearily. "You know what they want me for. I can save Jagur, I think the Sheradith will honor her word there, but she wants me to help her kill Wayvolkans."

She went even whiter than usual. "Can't you save Jagur then escape?"

He huffed out a sigh. "You say that like it would be easy. The Sheradith is no innocent child. Once she has me, she will do her best to keep me."

"You must be able to manage it," she said stubbornly.

He tucked his sword away in his belt, deciding to distract her, feeling he could trust her with his plan. "The Prince has told me I must leave his realm or be punished for your actions. I will prepare you for The Vixen Trials, but the day you leave for the palace, I will flee here."

"Can't you stay to see me compete?"

He shook his head. "Your uncle won't take me."

"Oh no," she cried, still clasping the fancy hilt of her sword. "I want you there. I will beg uncle to let me bring you. If things go wrong, if my petition is denied, I'll need you. Please stay until after The Vixen Trials. I'll help you leave afterwards, I promise."

He drew in his breath and then let it go again. "I'll think about it," he said roughly. She assessed his face for a long moment and the tension in her shoulders eased. She seemed to take for granted his compliance.

"It's time to go anyway." Keilah hesitated before saying, "I must warn you about this afternoon, Lady Silsa is taking you to the Lady Tynie and Bryne's house. Lady Bryne has a thing for you. She's going to flirt with you, and who knows what else."

"Lady Bryne?" he asked and smirked. "I'll bring Malek. He deserves another kiss."