Fortified Minds, An Inheritance Ff

Chapter Three.

I leant against the wall as I watched Alyce and Careen flirt shamelessly with Murtagh, they giggled happily at everything he said. “But Aénor is just a girl still of course.” Alyce stated.

“I thought you were eighteen now.” He asked turning around to look at me, eyes alight with amusement.

“She’s not eighteen yet!” Careen laughed before I could even open my mouth. “She’s barely fifteen, aren’t you?”

“I’m actually nearly nineteen.” I shrugged as Murtagh smirked at me. “I grew up with Murtagh; he knows how old I am.”

“Like brother and sister?” Alyce asked putting a hand on his arm as he sat amused. “I bet you were the kindest brother in the world.”

“More like best friends.” He stated winking at me as I rolled my eyes. “Come on, I need your help to find a perfect place for the training.”

I pushed myself up off the wall intending to follow him through the door but was pulled back by four hands on the back of my skirt; I turned and saw the narrowed eyes of my two companions.

“Who do you think you are, laughing at us?” Alyce hissed.

“Thinking because you know him you are better than us, because you’re not.”

“He will be ours long before he’s ever yours.”

“You look like a child, why would anyone think of you otherwise?” Careen ended landing a direct hit before they let me go, pushing me from the kitchens. 

I stumbled as I tried to keep my balance, slipping on the clean floors slightly before gaining my balance and slowly walking to the main doors where no doubt he would be waiting for me. He’d said we were like best friends, but it had always seemed like I was the annoying younger tag along sibling or even worse, a friend’s sibling.

“What’s up with you?” he asked turning back from staring at of the castle doors to look at me as I reached his side.

I barely reached his shoulder.

“Nothing.” I shrugged stopping to see which direction he would take. “Where first?”

“Where do you think?” he asked turning away from me and looking back out to the grounds.

“The tilting lawn maybe?” I asked and he nodded starting to walk to the east until he noticed I’d not followed him, “The tilting lawn is this way.” I laughed as he nodded looking like he knew that and made a u turn before stalking off towards the west.

I sat on the low brick wall as Murtagh shouted at the men who’d been sent to him for extra training, we’d spent the entire afternoon together so far, I mean it’s only three but still. We’d wandered over the large and generally degraded Castle grounds for an adequate place to practise until we decided that the tilting lawn was indeed the best idea.

“When you can fight off this little kitchen maid you can go home.”

“What?!” I asked in shock, I officially had no idea what was going on.

“You can use a sword if I remember rightly.” He shrugged tossing me a large, sharp, metal sword. “If they can hit you, they get to carry on with the training.”

A chorus of sniggers ran through the crowd in front of me as I tossed the sword in my hands, judging the weight and length of it and the strength in my arm. Murtagh muttered something beneath his breath and my skirt morphed into trousers, I sent him a look as he shrugged leaning back against Thorn, who had come to watch the show.

The first few men who came up to try for a hit underestimated my skills, none of them made it through to Murtagh’s training, but soon the men didn’t look at me as some silly kitchen maid and started fighting like they should be. Occasionally they would still underestimate me though; I took these opportunities to show them up.

“Enough!” Murtagh boomed as one soldier went to swing his sword down upon my head. “What do you think you were doing, killing her?!”

“Well you said one hit.”

“As in training.” He growled picking the man up by his neck. “What kind of man would willingly hurt a woman?”

“Leave it.” I whispered behind him as panic rose through the crowd. “Murtagh, he’s an idiot I’m in one piece.”

He dropped the man and grabbed my arm roughly, nearly pulling it out the socket. “Trainings over, tomorrow you’ll fight me.”

---

Anger poured through every vein in my body, that bloody idiot could have split her in two. He was twice her size and if I hadn’t been watching I’d have had to have killed him on the spot and feed him bit by bit to Thorn.

“Murtagh, you’re hurting my arm.” She whispered.

My hand burnt where it had touched her, I dropped back scared of my own reactions as she rubbed it gently. I turned and set fire to a piece of tree branch that had been broken off during a storm a few days ago, a hand touched mine as I glared watching the flames dance.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice softly breaking through the anger I felt at myself and that huge idiot. “Murtagh, I wouldn’t have let him hurt me.”

“You didn’t see it like I did; you wouldn’t have seen him till it was too late.” I stated turning to glare at her.

“Maybe.” She shrugged turning to look at the fire, again her hair was set alight with colour as I watched. “Thank you, now stop staring at me.”  

I snorted turning back to the fire which was starting to die down now all the fuel had been consumed. I fell to the soft earth beneath my feet and just relaxed, dissipating the anger as Aénor picked at some flower on a tree close by.

This was nice, peaceful, just being here with Aénor.

I wonder what she thought, did she find this peaceful? Did she even think being with me was fun or was she simply waiting for me to calm down so she could go back to the castle?

I turned to watch her again; she was making a chain of the flowers off of the tree, linking them with long pieces of grass to spread the flowers out. “If you’re not careful the elf who planted these trees will come and chop your fingers off.”

She turned and smirked at me, “The elves don’t worry about me making a crown when you are out to kill them all.”

“I don’t want to kill them all.” I stated seriously as she threw the crown at me, “We were ordered to attack, I didn’t have a choice.”

“I believe you.” she sighed grabbing the crown from beside me to put it on my head. “You’re not a malicious person otherwise you’d have ignored me and slept with Alyce and Careen long ago.”  

“Who says I didn’t.” I smirked trying to make her fall for it.

“I say.” She laughed finishing her handiwork and taking a step back. “I would have heard all about it by now and anyway, you look pretty.”

I scowled at her as she laughed wandering further away from me into the dense shrubs and trees.