Morph

Chapter 2 : I Almost Get my Head Cut Off

It had been four years since Uncle's death. I was twelve now, and Father was preparing me for my first training course. They were going to test me on every skill, and see which I was best at. I knew I was going to be an archer, so they probably shouldn't even bother to test me at it, but Father had told me that there were a lot of courses they would test me for, and that you never really know where your skills lie until you have tested all the possibilities.

They were first going to teach me how to put on my armor, and how to make sure the chinks were too small for an enemy arrow to slip through. This was taught to all warriors. The three great warriors were there, staring at me expectantly as if I was about to blast a bunch of enemy warriors into dust.

Not very likely! I told myself.

Father had shown up, as all fathers of warriors were supposed to show up for their children's first training course. The exception was if you didn't have a father, which meant your grandfather was to show up. And if your grandfather didn't show up... well, you get the jist.

It was very rare that the warriors were woman. The only way you could get into the ranks of the warriors as a woman was if you were descended from the king or Harper the Great, which I was descended from both, as father had taken the throne soon after Uncle had died. He had not wanted to, but he was forced into taking the job. It was either that, or he had to pick a new ruler, which none of the common folk would meet the qualities, nor would the bravest warrior, because they were all too wanting. Each one wanted to be crowned for a different reason. The commoners, so they could gorge themselves with food, and the warriors so they could be head of battle. And plus, Father was much more wise and knew a lot of advanced sword skills that not even the best swordsman could master, well, except for the great warriors, who knew many more tricks, and had much more wisdom than most, even Father

The great warriors were going to see if I could put on the armor by myself, but each time I tried, one of them had to correct something.

They were always popping in with orders.

"Double tie that."

"Tighten that."

"Here. Let me do it!"

Once the great warrior of swordplay had just done the armor for me and told me to try it his way. But the great warrior of Archery had told me to do it another way, because the chinks in the armor were too big, and an enemy arrow could easily pass through. I decided to trust the great warrior of Archery, because she knew more about that kind of stuff than any of the others did.

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After about an hour of frustration, and about fifty million tries at trying to get the armor on correctly, I finally did it. The great warriors nodded their approval, even though the great warrior of Swordplay grumbled under his breath about how I should have done it his way because he was the smartest. I personally thought he was just thick-headed.

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Father, as my guardian, was the one who decided which station I went to first. We met eyes and an understanding passed between us.

"How about archery first?" He asked.

"Excellent! We haven't had a child interested in archery for ages!"

Father smiled and nodded his head. "Not exactly ages..." He chuckled.

"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean!"