Silver Winds

Chapter 19

That day, when the boys returned, Astra took them to get weapons. Rune, she got a pair of knives that seemed to suit him. He held them in a double scabbard, and he looked more mature wearing them. For Kay, she bought a sword that was forged in the Synestran style, a long and thin rapier that would give him a little bit more reach than he had. She bought an Illiquan sword for herself, and one for Jon.

The weeks following were absolute torture, but Astra pressed on. She woke early in the morning, and with Rune beside her, she ran the training ground over and over again until she almost dropped. Then Pengill would arrive on the field and so would the rest of the boys, and they would train. On alternating days, they either did strength training or worked with their blades. She gained two more vicious cuts along her arms, but then she came in fourth and avoided it. Rune stopped coming in last also, and Astra was happy that her early rising was paying off.

In the night time, she would go to the fire and talk to Oskar, Odin, and Onyx. Her interrogations were coming up fruitless, however, and she was about ready to pull her hair out in frustration.

One interesting thing she had found, though, was a boy named Hemming Bjorn. He was one of her suspects at the start, but she had found she enjoyed being in his company. Unfortunately, his attractive personality had been overshadowed by the overwhelming disappointment of being unable to find out who the killer was. That had come to the forefront of her mind, and it was crowding her like a black curtain that had fallen onto her.

It was keeping her up at night, leaving her clutching her head and curling into a ball while she wept. The horror of the Fergusen’s death replayed itself in her mind, but she managed to shove it away during the day to focus on her training.

“Astor,” a smooth voice purred. Astra looked up to see Odin. She stopped chewing her charred meat.

“Hello, Odin,” she replied. She had arrived at the Kinerell for breakfast early, so early that only one of the cooks was even awake. He had whipped her up something quick, but it was still as overcooked as all the food that came from the cooks there ever was. Odin was the only other person there. Rune had taken the day off of training because he had a slight fever.

“Been up to much recently?” he asked, taking a plate filled with meats and sitting across from her on a bench that lined up with the long table she was seated at.

“Not really,” she answered. “Training keeps me busy, you know.”

“Right. Kennet’s lost to you the past few times, hasn’t he?”

Astra nodded in reply. “That cut hurts, and he gets worse if you lose a few times in a row.”

She spoke from experience. Her left hand traced the scars of varying lengths on her arm, and Odin’s eyes shot to the movement. He shoved another bite of meat into his mouth.

“Yeah, I bet he does,” Odin murmured. “Hey, you know the Jarl’s death?”

Astra stiffened, her entire body on high alert. Her very cells vibrated as she asked her question. “What about it?”

“There’s a rumor going around that someone here killed him because of a failed bribery attempt,” Odin remarked, food almost sliding out of his mouth before he shoved it back in. Astra’s nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Oh?” she replied, keeping her face blank and neutral. She pushed her food away and planted an elbow on the strong pine wood of the table.

“Yeah, they’re saying that. I’m not sure if it’s true, though. I mean, I saw the body, and it didn’t look like he’d been stabbed anywhere.”

“Really?” Astra inquired, her eyebrows raised. “I saw the body too. His wrist was almost sliced completely through. It looked like it could be murder to me.”