Shards of Flame

Chapter 7: Esmerella

The next morning, I sit idly on a rock, absentmindedly sharpening my dagger. I trace the small swirls of crimson that stain the edge. It really is foolish of them to leave me with a weapon, and a sharp one at that. They've left me unguarded, well mostly. The guard from last night, Jinkley, is tailing me at a distance, trying to look inconspicuous but failing miserably. He really is a sweet thing, but I've yet to see him in a fight, perhaps he's brutal and merciless, the way a guard should be. However, considering the way he is trying to hide behind an eakra tree and attempting to look like he's in a conversation with a servant who's desperately trying to see to a horse, I'm guessing not. "Jinkley!" I shout, waving at him. His blonde head pricks up, green eyes wide in surprise. "Come over here!" He looks around and points at himself. I roll my eyes. "Yes, you." I say.

Obediently, he trots over to me and looks up, my rock placing me a scarce few inches above his large frame. He really is abnormally tall, but not broad. He's all gangly arms and lanky legs that he is clearly not used to, stumbling all over the place.
"Yes miss?" He says, his puppy like eyes staring up at me.

"How old are you?" I ask, setting aside my dagger and swinging my legs over the side of the rock so they dangle off the edge.

A faint green blush creeps its way up his neck. This guy really seems to have a thing for blushing. "We're not supposed to give out personal information." He says. "Miss." He adds

I roll my eyes and tap his shoulder with my boot-clad foot. He doesn't even flinch. " Jinks, I'm going to call you Jinks by the way, if you are to be my guard for the time before I enter the trials, I'm going to need to know some more about you."

He sighs and shakes his head at me. "I'm seventeen." He says, somewhat reluctantly.

"No way!" I say, jumping up to my feet and springing off the rock, performing a flashy somersault in the air and landing in a crouch. "Me too!"

Jinks looks like he's going to faint from my acrobatics, his face alarmingly devoid of green. "Please miss-''

"Ess." I say, "Call me Ess."

"Please...Ess." He says, frowning at the name, "Don't do that again, you might injure yourself, and that can't happen before the trials."

I sigh. "All right. Just because you asked so nicely, I won't do it again." I smile, and reach up to pat his head, but since he's so tall I kind of just stroke his nose. His green eyes sparkle with light amusement. I pull my hand away and loop it around one of his bony arms. "Walk with me." I say.

He stiffens, but doesn't pull his arm away from mine. We walk through the campsite, Jinks walking stiffly next to me. The way our arms are joined draws stares and murmured comments from the guards and servants around us.

One particularly snotty looking one says loudly, "Who does she think she is? Strutting around like she owns the place." She scoffs and tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder, looking away with a haughty expression on her face.

I grit my teeth as I unhook my arm from around Jinkley's and start towards the evil little servant. I feel a hand wrap around my wrist, stopping me from going any further.

"Ess. It's not worth it." Jinks says, looking nervously over my shoulder at the blonde haired servant, his eyes flicking back and forth between us.

My smile is pure honey when I look at him. I take a step forward, deliberately stepping on his toes. He hisses in pain and tries to pull away from me, but I keep him trapped, pushing all my weight down onto his foot. I push up, putting even more pressure on his toes "Don't ever tell me what to do, okay?" I whisper softly in his ear and push away from him. I leave him staring after me as I stalk towards the offending meadower. I paste the sweet smile back on my face and greet her cheerily. "Hi there!" I say, doing my best impression of my mother.