Crossfire

8

"How do you like it?" Kimdie asked, leaning on the hilt of her sword.

"It's . . . actually pretty nice," Palka said. They were on the training grounds preparing for their spar, and Palka had taken this opportunity to try out the outfit Kimdie had made for her.

"Alright, let's see how tough it is." Kimdie set her sword a safe distance from them and grabbed two bamboo poles, one of which she tossed to Palka.

It had been two weeks since their run-in with Cloap Shurt, and nothing that added to his story was discovered. Palka had spent most of her time in the stables cleaning stalls, tack, feeding and cleaning horses, and other barn tasks.

They both got into a defensive stance. At first the fighting was intense, and then they both started doing silly moves and eventually tripped over their own feet and landed in the grass laughing.

"What in the world was that?" Palka asked between outbursts of laughter.

"I've done it before, I swear!" Kimdie said, her composure no better than Palka's.

"How are you ever going to become a knight of you act like that?"

The new voice startled Kimdie and Palka into sitting up. Kineou stood over them with a disgusted expression.

"Knights know how to take a joke," Kimdie pointed out as she stood and offered her hand to Palka.

"Knights know when it's not appropriate for a joke. Like now," Kineou said.

"What makes now so much more different than other times?" Kimdie asked, figuring she had him trapped.

"So blind," Kineou sighed as he handed a rolled price of paper to Kimdie, who quickly snatched it from him. Palka watched as her face turned pale.

She handed it back to Kineou. "It's a threat."

"From who?" Palka asked.

"We don't know. The messenger arrived poisoned and he probably won't make it through the night. He hasn't said anything so far," Kineou said.

"Well, what's the threat even about?"

"It said they wanted to destroy the districts of Sari. We don't know how strong they are," Kimdie spoke up.

"They're probably weak cowards. They wouldn't even let us know who they were," Kineou scoffed.

Everyone stood in silence as the news settled in. Eventually it just started to get awkward. Kineou left and Kimdie walked with Palka to the stables.

"We should go for a ride," Kimdie offered, "and check up on that messenger later."

Palka nodded and walked to the pasture. Throughout the last week, working with Katana was quite challenging, but fun. The horse was very independent, and made sure that her opinions were understood by who was riding her. Palka had learned how to work with this and make everyday doings more interesting. Palka also learned that Katana did not like surprises. But there wasn't a way out of that, other than letting her understand her surroundings.

Palka walked Katana out to the entrance to the pasture. A few minutes later, Kimdie walked out with a bay mare. They started on their ride through the woods bareback.

At the edge of the forest, Kimdie stopped abruptly and held up her hand. Her narrowed eyes searched the trees before she whispered to Palka, "Stay behind me."

As they moved forward, Palka heard voices that must've been the cause of Kimdie's precautions. One of them was very low, and Palka thought she could guess who that was. Relaxed, she said, "It's fine, we know them."