The Ancients

Chapter 7

The morning after Alexander's funeral Vipin received a shirt and jacket with a pair of leather pants. The handmaiden that passed them to her said her clothes she'd arrived in were little more than tatters. The long-sleeved shirt was warm, a little too big but that and the jacket she was given fit comfortably underneath the worn leather jacket her father left behind.

This would be a good pair for the journey she was going to take soon. The more layers she brought with her to stay warm the better.

She and Liam started to work on his left arm immediately. He had the knowledge of everything he was supposed to be able to do. The muscle memory, though, started from scratch. While he used to be able to twirl his sword around his fingertips over the back of his hand, now he could barely hold onto it. Starting over aggravated him, which made him even more messy. He would cross his feet, forgetting his new lead foot, or lose his grip when blocking, the entire choreography of his attacks was wrong now.

Vipin could see his improvement, even with only the few days they had to practice. He had a spectacular foundation, he just had to rewrite his body movements, she would try to comfort him. To him, he wasn't improving fast enough. Regaining the functionality of his right arm was nowhere in sight, and they were going to start a dangerous journey where he couldn't even defend himself yet.

Vipin felt behind as well, she wanted desperately wanted to start practicing with Echo but had decided against it just yet. They hid the sword in Liam's room, thinking if someone were to go snooping it wouldn't be in the prince's chambers. She would start practicing with it when they left, the last thing she needed was for Jackson to see her sparring with his family's heirloom. No fights before they left.

Not that Jackson hadn't tried, in the days since the funeral he had made multiple degrading comments to her in the hallways. One time even going so far as to spit at her feet. Liam and Marcus weren't present, Jackson would never risk disrespecting her in the presence of someone with authority over him. A handmaiden had witnessed Jackson spitting at her and had offered to tell Marcus for her. But Vipin smiled kindly and declined. "After ninety years of it, you stop caring."

Which wasn't true, but she didn't need the conflictions that would start with that particular disagreement between her uncles. And if she told Liam, her normally cool headed temperamental best friend might just kill the youngest Tallis himself. No, she didn't need any of those things to affect her now.

They both had started to surprise Marcus and Serena with their newfound appetites. Not that they were suddenly hungry mind, but neither of them was particularly heavy set. Both had slender builds with dense muscles that stretched their skin. But muscles wouldn't keep them warm on the cold road or keep them from starving when they couldn't find game, so they decided their best bet was to put on a couple pounds between now and when they left.

Helen had done most of what she could do for Liam's arm. His skin would heal stiffly without the ointments she treated the burns with daily. This was Helen's main concern now, almost certain that as long as he kept fresh bandages on it, and little to no use of his arm, they were past the risk of infection.

This raised alarm for Vipin who asked Liam later in private if he understood that if he left before his arm was healed, he might never be able to use it again. "I would rather lose my whole arm than let you do this alone," was his response. His tone had told her that this was the final time they would speak about it.

So, every morning they woke, attended first meal, saw Helen, sparred until midday meal, sparred again until last meal, if there was still light in the sky they sparred until night rose over the horizon. Most of the time, however, it was dark and starting to snow so they stayed inside starting to plot their course. The north was a vast area of land to cover, but the dragon had been targeting the towns to the west so that would be where they started their search.