The Queen of Shadows

Chapter 22: Forge and Temper (Part 2)

"This sucks!" Mordred complained, her frustration exemplified by her kicking the ground and spraying dirt. "We got our asses handed to us again."

"Would you relax?" Mashu said with an exasperated tone to the Red Saber. She and the other Servants were waiting around, still exhausted from their last session with Scathach. The warrior queen had taken a moment to go hunting for a little while before resuming their "lessons", and nobody was really eager to continue upon her eventual return. Morale was low for everybody, and Mashu herself was feeling a little pessimistic despite the overall intention of these exercises to help them become stronger. "Your complaints aren't going to make these sessions any easier."

Mordred huffed in response and crossed her arms. Just then, Astolfo, who was lying down nearby expressed his dismay, which was far off from his usual cheery attitude.

"Mordred's right," the pink-haired Rider said sullenly, optimism completely absent in his voice, replaced with dread. "At this rate, we're going to be stuck going through these lessons FOREVER..."

(A/N: "..." cough*)

Mordred's visage of frustration wavered a little upon hearing Astolfo sounding so utterly defeated and NOT looking forward to whatever Scathach had in store for all of them next. She felt a modicum of sympathy for the Rider, having been through the ringer as all the Servants here have when it came to the warrior queen. Mordred knew things were dreadful when even the happy-go-lucky Astolfo is downtrodden.

"Glad someone is sane enough to see how farcical this whole situation is," the Red Saber remarked offhandedly, earning her a narrow stare from Mashu, who no doubt felt that statement was directed at her.

"You're just mad that you couldn't beat Scathach," Mashu said to the Red Saber, not willing to put up with her antics after their brief confrontation yesterday before Scathach intervened. "She's proven to be more formidable than any foe we've faced. I'm actually not surprised she brushed you off..."

"You admire her now?" Mordred asked the Shielder callously, not liking that Mashu was implying and glared in her direction. One does not simply label Mordred as weak and gets to brag about it...

Mashu, however, stayed calm and steered the topic away from the Red Saber, having already bruised Mordred's ego as much as she wanted and left it at that.

"I'm just being objective," Mashu replied as she leaned against a tree and crossed her arms. "I bet she could take on Solomon all by herself. Would make our job much easier."

Mordred's glare narrowed briefly before she broke away. Having wanted to give the Shielder a piece of her mind, she decided Mashu was not worth wasting effort on. Instead, the Red Saber scoffed and said under her breath:

"NOT ANY FUN is more like it..."

As much animosity Mordred had towards Mashu for almost getting on her bad side, her real plight was with the warrior queen. The Red Saber wanted so badly to defeat Scathach in combat after being beaten by her three times now. At first, she thought it was because of how easily the Guardian of Dunscaith just bested her so easily that Mordred felt weak for being defeated by her. If there was one thing Mordred hated as a knight, it was feeling weak... even remotely.

But the more she thought about it, Mordred realized her obsession was not because she felt beating Scathach would prove she was strong. It was more personal than that. Mordred's arms ached whenever the warrior queen stood up to her, exerted strength over her, called out her actions. It was a feeling Mordred had not felt since she was alive and scared her to know that she could still feel as a Servant.