AN ENCHANTER'S FORETELLING. [NARNIA]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | STRAINED

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
STRAINED

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"Alright. I see we are all here, now," the Queen Susan had began minutes after her Lady had arrived to the open training yards. Her hands were firm, resting on her hips as she glanced between the three young girls standing before her.

Lucy Pevensie with a proud grin plastered on her freckled features; Lady Anne carrying a confident look about herself; and as for Susan's Lady, she fiddled with her fingers with a sickly expression. She looked as though she was gonna faint at any moment, given that her face had drained from color as soon as Susan presented them a set of different weapons.

It was the day after the masquerade ball, and the day had, fortunately, been sunny enough to be able to train in the yards of Cair. And, after Edmund Pevensie had convinced his sisters to help train Rose Lovell earlier that morning during breakfast, she desperately wished the day would turn for the worse.

Strange enough, the once bright-blue sky was littered with light-gray clouds, but there was still a patch of the sky uncovered by them, and it did not dare conceal the sun from illuminating the land. But still, despite the gloominess of the sky, it didn't indicate that it was going to rain – but there was, still, sudden gusts of cold wind threatening to ruin their training session.

Rose slightly winced when Susan led them towards the armory, and showed them an assortment of weapons that seemed like they could easily cut through bone: axes, swords, bows and their arrows, daggers, mace, spears, and more. All were stashed in a locked cabinet in the armory, but the ones used for spars were laying about on a long table in the same room. So, Susan grabbed a few of the swords, bows, daggers, spears – with the help of Lucy and Anne – and, returned to the open training yards outside.

Rose immediately paled; she stopped in her tracks as she spotted the man from the night of the masquerade strolling about the gardens. She gulped when she caught his eye, and she rushed to the queens' sides with a bundle of weapons. He seemed to have been watching her; he watched her with such intensity that it made her skin crawl. Oh, how she loathed the feeling! But, as Rose's gaze travelled to the lonesome man at the other end of the field, it seemed as if he had disappeared.

How strange. The Lady was to ask the queens and Archen Lady about the peculiar encounter at the ball, but just as quickly as he had disappeared, her contemplations vanished. It was as if the lord had vanished with a puff of smoke, Like a magician of some kind!

They laid them on another long table next to the table of refreshments, and Susan turned to the ladies with a kind smile. "Alright, as I've said: you two will each pick one of these weapons to start with. But, mind you, Lucy and I will help you with how to properly use them in battle."