The Knight

Chapter 8

     I sat down in my room, and froze for a moment. The silence was nearly unbearable- even though I was still in a castle, I'd spent the past months with Anne. We'd always talked whenever we had the chance, from when we woke up to late at night when the lights were out. She felt like the sister I'd lost.
I wanted to go out and find her, but I didn't know this castle. It would be unbelievably easy to get completely lost.
Plus, what if she wanted privacy? I could understand that. After all, her mother was missing.
Where was her father? After all these months, I'd never thought to ask and she'd never told me.
     After a while, I knew I couldn't just stay in my room. I had to get out or I would end up going crazy.
     With my chain mail on and my sword at my side, I opened the door to my room and stepped out into a long hallway with doors on either side. From there I went down the stairs and managed to snag the attention of the page. "Can you lead me to the training yard?" I asked him.
     The boy nodded and led me down a long staircase and through several more hallways to the castle lobby and then outside to where knights were clashing swords. "Thank you." I said, giving him a coin. He nodded and bounded off.
     Many of the men stopped and turned to stare at me as I walked towards them. "I haven't seen you around here before." One of them jeered.
     "Soon enough, you'll wish that was true." I retorted, drawing my sword.
     "Wow, she's cutting straight to it." One laughed to another.
     "You sure you can fight us, girl?" One of the men mocked.
     "Why don't you try me and find out?" I responded, lifting my sword.
     The man glanced over at his friends as if inquiring on whether or not he should accept my challenge, and they nodded. He turned back to me. "You're not going to wear steel plates?"
     I smiled smugly. "Why, are you already intimidated by me in chain mail?"
     There it was. Strike three. Like an idiot, the man rushed straight at me, as if that works every time it's used.
     I dodged his blow evenly and in two strikes, I had him disarmed with my sword at his throat. The others clapped, impressed. One even whistled.
"Let me try." Another man said, stepping forward. He drew his sword and we squared off. Finally, he slashed out at me. With pure strength I knocked his blow sideways and slashed back at him. He blocked it but stumbled backward a step. As he did, he tripped and swung his sword out. I dodged it and as it moved past me, I used the momentum it already had to sweep it out of his hand. The man landed hard on his rear on the ground.
Once more, the men applauded and I made a mock bow. This was awesome, and reassuring. I could beat any of these fools without my powers if I needed to.
Just then, one of the men called to someone behind me. "Hey, Alek! You should come check this girl out!"
"Yeah, she even beat Ardith!" Another agreed.
I turned to see a strong man in pure black armor. His hair was slightly long and jet black, and his eyes were dark brown. He was gorgeous. Now that I thought about it, he actually looked very similar to Ray.
     "You should fight her." Another man said.
     "Yeah!" Someone else said. "I would love to see that!"
     The man shook his head as he walked by.
     As he passed, I turned back to Ardith who was on the ground still. I held out a hand, he took it and I pulled him up. "Who was that?" I asked quietly as he brushed himself off.
     "Alek. Ray's twin brother." Ardith said.
     I nodded. "Is he good with a sword?"
     "He's good with pretty much any weapon. The best fighter here- well, until you showed up. I really do want to see you fight him."
     I did too. For a moment nervousness filled me, but I pushed away. I could beat him, there was no doubt about it. Even if he was better at fighting than I was, I had something he didn't.
     Maybe, I could eventually prove to even my parents that my powers could be used for acts of courage, not just hiding in the shadows, killing from the shadows.
     With my sudden hope, I turned back to the men. "Who's next?"