Lady Thief [on hold]

~ Chapter Four ~

Whispers of dissent were tossed around, but none of them dared to speak any louder. The tension was as palpable as smoke in the air. The girl’s steely gaze shifted away from Key, and she walked away silently, her sword still in her hand. Suddenly, the ringing of some great bell echoed through the air. The word ‘dinner’ bounced through the crowd, and they left all at once, heading off to eat their meal.

Key shoved herself up into a sitting position, feeling her head to make sure her hair was still there. It was, and without even a strand missing. She’d come so close to losing it, the root of most of her disguises.

A hand was thrust into her line of sight. She looked up and found herself staring into the face of one of the other swordsmen here, though it wasn’t one that she had fought. Key scrutinized him. He was one of the younger swordsmen, perhaps around Link’s age. He had bright, clever eyes and short cropped, sandy colored hair. A pair of round glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

She accepted the hand, letting herself be pulled up onto her feet. “Thanks.” she muttered, still sullen over her defeat.

“No problem, Malakandora." he paused for a moment. "That is your name, right?”

She nodded. “Yes. What would yours be?”

“Eren."he said. He started walking off in the direction of the others, signaling for her to follow. Key, with nothing else to do, followed suit. “Well, I've got to hand it to you, you fought a good match.” he told her. “Congratulations on that.”

Key couldn’t help but scowl. “Congratulations?” Her voice pitched upward, making it sound more like a question.

He nodded, smiling brightly. “Well, yes. Furerre isn’t exactly an bad with a sword, and neither are the other people who challenged you.”

Key still wasn’t smiling. “But I lost."

Eren shrugged.  "So that means . . . what, exactly?"

"It means that I lost." Key repeated.  "That last girl beat me. She pulverized me and nearly chopped off my hair.”

They started walking back down the graveled drive that lead to their swordsman house. “Oh, you mean Vida?"

Key bit back the urge to say, No!  I meant the other girl!  She managed to hold her tongue though and calmly say.  "Yeah.  Her."

"Oh.  Well, don’t worry about her. I don’t think anyone’s ever beaten her in a sword fight.” he said.

Key’s eyebrows shot up an inch. “No one?" she asked incredulously. 

Eren’s brow furrowed as he thought. “Well, I've never seen anyone beat her.”

Key scowled as she mulled over that.  A girl, one who must've been younger still than herself, and she wasn't exactly old to start with, who was a nearly undefeatable swordsman.  It sounded like something out of a story book, not something that had any base in reality. "How does someone even get that good?" she muttered to herself.

Though she hadn't intended for him to hear, Eren replied anyway. “From what I’ve heard of her, I’d venture to say that she’s a member of one of those training guilds in Afrikka.” Afrikka?  Key nodded as she thought it over.  It made sense.  While the Europan nations had been developing, Afrikka had been regressing, in some ways. After the great war some centuries ago, most of their countries had disbanded, and their entire continent being divided into city-states by warring tribal groups. Despite these things, they were still known to be the home of some of the most powerful sorcerers in the world, and some of the most hardened warriors.