“Blair!” My father’s gruff voice flew through our house shaking its weak foundation. Lazily, I opened on of my eyes to see him above me with a vein bulging under his tanned skin, looking like an earthworm that disappeared a bit before his ear. “You have class! What the hell are you doing in bed!?” he seemed outraged. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked out the window to see I was late for class anyway. The sun was at its peak, school began while it was still hovering over the ridge of Mount Rotun.
“I was sleeping, father dearest,” I spoke sarcastically to him, causing his vein to bulge even more prominently in annoyance, “and who cares about school? It’s not like they even pay too much attention to the girls, they’re too busy weeding out the weak to make warriors,” I added with a Cheshire smile pulling my lips away from my teeth. He ran his fingers through his course black hair in an agitated way. “The only reason girls go to school is so we get introduced to a lot of rich boys to marry and bring ‘our family honor’,” I made finger quotations and my father’s pale blue eyes sparkled with amusement. He tried to hide the smile threatening to play upon his lips.
“Just go get dressed and I’ll walk you to class and explain that you were taking care of your granny.” He winked at me as a sly smile formed on his face. I beamed, Granny was long dead, but we often use her as an excuse when I’m late, or if I disappear halfway through the day. It was fool proof because my family lived a distance from the town so everyone thought she was bed ridden and no one dared take the trail to my home, it cut straight through the forest so it’s not like anyone knew that she was buried in the back yard under the willow tree.
I made my way to the restroom and changed into a pair of my father’s old trousers and a white blouse. I braided my dark red mane of hair, taming it for the moment. I smirked at myself in the mirror, I looked like one of those prissy princesses gone to the ‘dark side of female kind’, as my teacher so kindly put it. I grabbed a role from the basket on our round kitchen table and held it in my mouth as I put on boots.
I nibbled on the role while waiting for my father to make his way downstairs in his uniform. My father was one of the guards of the mayor; he wore a dark brown leather armor which would do little good in a fight. His way with a sword made up for the poor protection, he could fight and defeat several men at once. He glanced at me before wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I lifted my hand and took his much larger, calloused one in my own. “Come on Princess,” he murmured.
We walked the path together, listening carefully to the creatures around us. These woods were infested with beasts that could kill either one of us, that is, if we weren’t both armed. I carried a dagger in each of my boots and could work a sword in a decent fashion, thanks to my father. My father himself, he smiled in the face of danger. I remember once, a week or so after mother had been taken way, a bear tried to attack me and Granny while we walked to town for bread. He appeared from thin air and slayed the beast with a roar rivaling those of the bear. That was the day I decided I wanted to be like him, strong and mighty. So, he trained me like his father did him.
“Do you think some man will ever trek up the path to ask my hand in marriage?” I asked my father who looked down to meet my eyes. His eyes burned with hatred for whatever man wished to take his precious baby away for a moment before he laughed.
“That poor boy would be killed in an instant from the wolves!” My father howled with laughter. I giggled myself finding his laughter to be contagious. He gave my hand a light squeeze while trying to calm himself down. I leaned against him with boredom creeping into my heart, the trail seemed longer than usual as our usual banter seemed to have disappeared. Maybe it was because we were both late today, our brains weren’t as foggy and in need of stimulation.
We eventually made it to town and I ran off to class while he headed to work. I noticed the women speaking badly of my clothes and my father, but paid little attention to it. The gossip on my father and I was rich in this town, being that my mother hadn’t contacted us in several years and I acted much like a unmannered male than a lady-like girl. The class was outside so young children could listen in, so running into the middle of it wasn’t the best entrance.
