The Veiled One

Chapter Ten : I stop delaying the inevitable

After this fight, it takes nearly a week before Sibyl will talk to me again. I see her at breakfast and dinner, and she still comes to train with me, but in that room, we become merely teacher and pupil. I bark at her, urging her faster, harder, stronger, and she responds to my every command. I see the muscle start to build on her, filling her out and making her into the kind of fighter that any commander would pray for. But all her talents are wasted here, in this inescapable castle.

The cabin fever starts to set in about then. It's impossible to stay locked up in this castle day in and day out, trapped, unable to get fresh air or sunshine. I lean out the windows when I can, trying to breathe deeply before some magical force pushes me inside, no doubt anxious to make sure I don't cheat it of its bargain by accidentally falling to my death.

Once Sibyl starts talking to me again, she resumes my lessons. This time, she seems to have given up on philosophy. She's also decided that she's had enough of Corian for now. Instead, she selects a primer in a new language, one belonging to an ancient race of people from across the sea, a sea so wide we cannot cross it anymore. It's called Amaroni.

I start to learn the cadences and rhythms of its words, training my tongue to move around them and form the subtle nuances that make the phrases I'm writing down mean something. Sibyl checks my progress and is pleased, giving me more and more work to do with the language. Sometimes she speaks to me in it, and I'm forced to recall everything I know. I enjoy rising to this challenge, and it isn't long before I acquire a decent working knowledge of the tongue, enough to help me if I were to ever magically cross the ocean.

After a while, I can't take the tension that still lingers between Sibyl and me. As she is leaving my room after a grueling geography lesson, I snag the sleeve of her blood-red gown.

"Sibyl, I'm sorry for all that I said earlier, about the gods and religion. I didn't mean to offend you."

"I understand your reluctance, and I understand your disbelief," Sibyl says, not looking at me. "Without seeing what I have seen and being where I have been, it is nearly impossible to suspend your doubt and place your faith in a group of beings whom you feel have neglected you. But I urge you to think. Is there a time when you have seen or felt something... inexplicable?"

I think of my grandmother's tapestry with a sudden rise of goosebumps.

"I... I can think of one thing," I admit. "An unfinished tapestry of my grandmother's."

"That may have been the divine at work," Sibyl points out. "Do not discount a possibility just because it seems fantastical."

"But isn't that when you know you have to find another solution?" I argue.

Sibyl merely makes a motion under her veil that I assume is a cryptic smile. "Those who say that are forever left without answers. Now, I have matters to attend to. I'll see you at dinner." And with that, she glides from my room, straight towards the stairs, and vanishes. I sigh and shake my head. Even if I was married to that woman for a thousand years, I still don't think I'd ever get used to her comings and goings.

***

I stare at the cabin that is nestled between a plethora of pine trees, snow dotting everything in sight. I shiver through the thick parka that covers my shoulders and half of my lower body, my furred boots covering almost everything else.

My sword is practically burning a hole at my side. I need to take it out, to examine the blade once more. It's new, and I have a feeling that the two of us are going to go through a great deal together.

The blade is perfectly balanced, engraved with swirling designs that actually help to improve the way it's weighted in my hand. The hilt is edged with a thick, dark leather grip, and the cross guard is a durable iron. I have a garnet set into the pommel, the sign of my house, but I pretend that it's not there. This sword is beautiful, yes, but functionally so. This is not a sword of decorations. This is a sword that will kill mercilessly on a battlefield. This is a sword that can save me.