The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Twenty-Five: Wake Up

"Get up." A gravelly bark startled me from a deep sleep. I jumped beneath our blankets and my eyes popped open to see Llinos glaring down at me. A long-held breath slipped from my lips, relief that it was him and not a beast growling at my ear washed over me. "Get up." He repeated. His hands were on his narrow hips, one clutching the hilt of his sheathed golden sword. "You've skipped out on your training long enough."

"I don't want to." I yawned, turning over to face Knut. Knut lay flat on his back, his face lax in peaceful slumber. His hands were folded over his belly, his chest going up and down shallowly. Three days. It had been three days since we returned from Mab's palace. Three days since last I saw him awake. Three days since he'd even flinched. "Leave me be." I pulled the blanket up over my shoulder, burrowing down into the warmth beneath its shelter.

"Get. Up. Or I'll drag you out by your hair." Llinos growled. He snatched the blanket off my side. My gown was bunched up above my knees and the bare skin was suddenly exposed to the Underground's chill, sending shivers up and down my spine.

"Student or not, you can't order your queen around!" I spat, snatching back the blanket and returning to my comfortable new home in my nest of blankets. I lay watching Knut's face, wishing his eyes would just open. I hated seeing him that way. It had occurred to me on the way home, that I'd never actually seen him sleep. I was always the first to fall asleep and the last to wake. Now, seeing him so still, his face as placid as death, void of his usual humor, was unsettling.

Llinos threw the blankets off of me again and threw me onto the ice-cold floor. "Don't breathe your fire at me, girl." He jabbed a clawed finger at me. "You're the one who declared war on the Unseelie Court." He said. "I would give you more time to recover, but we can't afford such luxuries now. Your fighting skills are still sub-par at best. You need to train. Staying here isn't going to make him wake up any faster."

If he were anyone else, I'd have stabbed him by now, but Llinos was one of the few people I liked. He couldn't care less that I was queen. To him, I was just a stupid girl, too dumb to get her footwork right and who talked too much instead of listening to his instructions. He didn't believe in coddling, a trait that won him a lot of favor with me. "How long is he going to sleep?" I asked, groaning as I sat up. I'd pretty much just been laying around, sleeping and working on my languages and reading ever since we returned, waiting. My muscles were all stiff.

"His father once slept for a month after a particularly long and bloody battle." His answer felt like a stab through my gut. "But each king is different. Some have more endurance and bounce back quicker than others." Llinos strode towards the door on his long, thin legs. "While he recovers, we must begin preparing you for war."

"Why? It's not like I'll actually be on a battlefield." I scoffed at the very idea, raking my hands through my hair. A month? A bloody month? I was going to go insane from sheer boredom if I didn't put my energy into something. Maybe training wasn't too bad of an idea, whether I ever used it or not.

Llinos' eyes glinted. A smile stretched wide beneath his beaklike nose. "You're under the ill-informed opinion that we fight wars like humans. Your sparring uniform is on your vanity. Get dressed. You've got ten minutes to meet me in the arena. For every minute you're late, I'll make you run twenty laps."

Ow. I tumbled head over heels across the arena floor. Not for the first time that day.

"Your footwork is sloppy." Llinos chided. From my disgraceful new viewpoint with my face in the dirt and my arse in the air, I watched his boots pass by me, each slow step thoughtfully placed. Like a dance's learned pattern. "No claws. No fangs. Blondie can't even stay on her feet."