Mispromised

Chapter 2

A soldier stood near the end of the pathway. Only the tips of his black hair shown underneath his helmet.

"Yes, you. Where did you get that dagger there boy?"

She gaped at him. How dare he call her boy! For his information, she was sixteen and a girl. She was legally a lady. Of course, she was only 5' 2", so, she must have looked younger.

"You slipped it from one of the royal guards, didn't you? Thought you were pretty sneaking did you? Well you've been caught, now hand it over." He didn't sound much older than her but as he tried to pull his broad sword from its sheath, he fumbled and it fell to the ground. Men and some women had been taught swordsmanship since they could lift a throwing knife. Those chosen few who actually got anywhere with that kind of skill had been born, sword in hand. This soldier was obviously not one of them.

"I only wanted to become a soldier." she said deepening her voice a little, thinking up a quick lie.

He had raised the sword and held it steady, "Give me the dagger and I'll buy you a real blade all your own and teach you how to use it."

She had already used the dagger for what she needed it for, so she handed it over. The prospect of getting her own weapon excited her.

He lowered the broad sword and leaned on it, pocketing the dagger. "So, what weapon do you favor? A dagger? A short sword?"

"A long sword." She had seen one once and it had really caught her eye. She would have stolen one of those if she had thought she could get by unseen.

He looked surprised. "Alright then. By the way, I didn't catch your name, what is it?"

"I want yours first."

He smiled, "Peter. My name is Peter Ferral."

"Nick. Short for Nicholas. Nicholas Everglade." She made up the name wildly.

"Welcome to the Soldiers, Nick." He said casually. "Now that you're part of the Soldiers, we need to get you a horse and saddle. But first, you'll be needing a weapon. A rapier you said?"

She nodded enthusiastically. She would use him to get out of town and then ditch him, she decided quickly.

"We'll patrol the forest at dawn. But first," His eyes gleamed with pleasure, "training."

They went to the armory and got her suited up. Black shining armor with a thin, light, silver long sword that was tinted slightly red.

"Each soldier gets three weapons. Two primary and a secondary." He said while the armor was fitted to her. "What would you like for your second primary and your secondary?"

"A bow and a long dagger." She replied

Immediately a long recursive bow was handed to her along with a quiver of arrows. Each metal tip on each arrow was Iron tinted blue and a couple had crimson red dots on the wood that looked suspiciously like blood. It sent shivers down her spine just to look at them. Then a steel dagger was handed to her, the blade was tinted green with swirls of purple.

With just these weapons, even with no training what so ever, she was dangerous. She could protect herself by herself. She would be independent. Nothing could stop her now. Except for the thing in the castle dungeon.