Royal Ambitions

Chapter 8: A hidden warrior

There was no way these people would have ever been prepared for what was coming but I had to try. I taught many of them basic swordfighting and combat. Some were already aquatinted with the bow, so I helped them steady their aim.

Ava looked to me as I sharpened another blade made by Vuli. She held a stick with a mighty smile.

"I want to help, like Thaprus!"

"You know how you can help? By staying with your mother and healing the wounded."

"I want to help you!"

I stopped and looked at her, "no you don't. What's coming is not fun and it's not a game. Your mother will protect you."

Edo was listening from around a building. She thought I wouldn't notice her but the pink tendrils that adorned her face gave her away. She seemed to be shifting her weight.

"Fine... I will teach you to defend yourself and no more."

"Yay!"

"It's not happy. It's necessary. Do you understand?"

She nodded as I drew the dagger from it's sheathe. It was engraved with my family crest, a sword with thorny vines wrapped around it. I demonstrated how to stab with it and how to slice before handing it off to her.

"You always hold the sharp end of you are giving someone a blade. Trust them to not cut you."

"Okay. Should I do what you did?"

"Yes, be careful and slice the air," I guided her small hand. To her the dagger could have been a sword.

"This is not a toy. You are to only use it if you are in deadly danger, understand? Do not play with it and do not throw it."

"Okay Mister Lucifer! I understand."

I took off it's sheathe and fitted it to her body before showing her how to put away the weapon.

Edo walked over to us with a small frown. "Thank you for teaching her. Ava, you must be careful with it. If I catch you playing with it then it's going back to Mister Lucifer"

"Okay mama..." Ava left to what I could only assume was her house.

"Miss Edo, your daughter mentioned a person to me in passing. A person named Thaprus?"

Her face contorted into a grimace, "Thaprus is a warrior. He has been gone in search of a giant beast and hasn't come back in nearly two years. I f- I fear he may be dead but Ava admires him, so I can't tell her of what has mo- what's most likely happened, not until she is a bit older."

"I understand. We are going to need more warriors... if this Thaprus is alive, where would he be?"

"He left in that direction," she pointed towards where I knew the palace was.

"I will go. If I do not find him in a short while or if I see troops on their way here then I will return." I stood up and took the sharpened blade to Vuli.

"He's dead! You'll be looking for years."

"Do you have proof?"

She shifted her weight again, "Yes..."

She led me outside of the village by quite a few miles. We came upon a massive skeleton, a creature larger than any I'd ever seen.

"This was him..."

"How did he die?"

She remained silent as I looked around the large skeleton. I looked at the skull and embedded into the skull was a sword made of wood. It's handle wrapped in dyed leathers, yellow and blue. I looked at Edo.

"He... was working with the old king and was going to kill Ava, and everyone else! I couldn't let that happen!"

"You are a warrior."

"N-no I just-"

"This blade is weak and yet you found the perfect spot in his skull to pierce? In battle I assume based on the other small cuts in the bones of similar depth"

"Fine! Before Ava was born I used to be a traveling mercenary. I never killed unless I had to though."

"You can help, but you must take your blade and stand with us against this same threat. This time you might have to kill a king."

She joined me and removed her wooden blade, still not decayed and still sharp after those years. She stood like a warrior, a demanding presence. A healer assassin living right under my nose.