‘Did you bring a weapon?’ asked Tolly.
Dale produced a rather fancy dagger which had belonged to his father but he was rendered speechless and motionless when the Kitchen Master reached under his apron and drew out a massive knife. To Dale’s astonishment his friend handed him the knife and took the dagger, looking at the grip and the fine blade.
‘This is a beautiful dagger,’ Tolly commented. Dale stared at the knife.
‘Tolly I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this,’ he said nervously.
‘Try to kill me.’
‘I can’t. This is some sort of machete. If I hit you by accident it would do serious damage.’
The kitchen staff burst out laughing and Dale felt even more self-conscious. A grey haired man wearing a white apron chortled, ‘Go ahead lad. Don’t be shy! Go ahead!’
Dale raised the machete uncertainly and waved it in Tolly’s general direction. There was a flash of blade and the machete smashed out of Dale’s hand. Dale gave a yelp and leapt backwards as the machete dropped to the floor where his foot had been a second before.
‘The first thing you need to know,’ said Tolly calmly, picking up the machete and handing it back, ‘is that you don’t use a knife to duel. You use it to kill your opponent. Your opponent will not only try to defend himself. He will try to kill you. Now try to kill me.’
This time Dale drew back the weapon and slashed it past Toll’s throat. Tolly dodged back nimbly and while Dale’s arm was still swinging high he jumped forward and held the dagger against the Squires ribs.
‘You also need to know that your attacker will not stand still.’ He reached out and moved the machete in Dale’s hand, adjusting his grip slightly. ‘Do your best to kill your attacker on your first blow. Unfortunately if someone attacks you unexpectedly it’s doubtful you will even have time to draw your weapon, and you certainly won’t have time to plan just how you are going to kill him. By that time, you’re dead.’
Dale looked down at the machete.
‘Now if you fight, you’re going to get cut. If you panic, you’re going to die.’ He raised the dagger and pointed it at Dale’s face.
This time Dale ducked backwards and slashed the machete across attempting to smash the dagger away from his face. Tolly whipped the dagger back, allowing the blow to carry through then calmly stepped forward and kneed Dale in the groin. He dropped like a stone and the crowd politely clapped.
‘Now you’re trying to kill my weapon. You need to kill me.’ He reached down to help the Squire to his feet but Dale spun around bringing his machete up as he turned, not trusting that the Kitchen Master wouldn’t smash him back to the ground to teach him another lesson.
‘Good, you’re learning. Now, when you tried to kill my dagger you caused me to withdraw momentarily. As soon as I moved my weapon you should have gutted me. Try again.’ He raised the dagger to the same position, pointing it towards the Dale’s face. Dale slashed his machete at the dagger once again, but this time when the Kitchen Master drew his dagger away, and he backhanded the machete across the space Tolly had occupied a split second before. The Kitchen Master leapt away, a smile appearing on his face.
‘Yes!’ he shouted. ‘Better! Very good!’ The crowd politely clapped again.
Tolly gestured to a bench at the side of the room and Dale followed him, whilst the crowd began to drift back towards the kitchen. The Kitchen Master sat studying the beautifully carved handle of Dale’s dagger.
‘Dale, there are no rules and no set method for defending yourself with a knife. If someone comes after you with a dagger, or a machete for that matter, there’s no long and drawn out knife fight, there’s typically just a lot of blood and then someone dies. It’s usually over in seconds. I’ve never heard of a knife fight that went for any length. So if you cannot kill your opponent outright you need to try to cut them badly – better still if you hit a tendon or a muscle. That’s very crippling. And it’s useful to be practiced with your weapon of choice – different weapons handle differently of course. If you are attacked by someone and they draw a weapon and you don’t have one, you need to have a completely different tactic.’
‘Weaponless Defense and Attack?’ asked Dale uneasily, recalling all the bruises from the previous week, most of which still violently colored his body.
‘Run like a rabbit!’ said a voice from the doorway, and they turned to see a very dusty and weary King Dannicus leaning in the doorway.
‘Majesty!’ the two men said simultaneously standing and bowing their heads towards the King.
‘I see you’re training our young Squire, Tolly,’ said the King, looking with raised eyebrows at Dale’s battered body. ‘I trust he will survive the experience?’
Tolly laughed. ‘He’s better than most students you’ve sent me Majesty, including yourself, and he’s by far the most determined. He learns faster than I can train him and just now he almost left a machete scar across my chest.’
‘Really?’ Dannicus looked from Tolly to Dale with interest. ‘Are you serious?’
‘Quite serious, Majesty.’ There was no mockery in the Kitchen Master’s voice. ‘And I had Borgulnay arrange for a bunch of our faster soldiers to chase him through the forest. I just wanted to find out how fast he could move.’
‘And?’
‘He barely moved at all. He outwitted them and left them wandering around the forest whilst he was back in the kitchen stealing Charie’s pastries.’
King Dannicus laughed. ‘Swords?’
‘Perhaps tomorrow.’
‘He looks like he could use a break.’
‘I’ve offered the Squire rest many times but he refuses,’ Tolly lied earnestly. ‘I know he looks a little battered sir, but in actual fact he didn’t look much better before the training.’
Dale gaped at the Kitchen Master in silent protest as the King chuckled knowingly.
‘Just make sure I get him back in one piece, Tolly. I have plans for him.’ He turned to Dale and said, ‘Squire, if you could come to my conference room – perhaps after you bathe.’
Dale handed the machete to Tolly, who slid it into the sheath under his cooking apron. Tolly looked over the dagger one last time and then passed it back to Dale. Dale bowed his head to the King and made his way back to his room, not looking forward to having to bathe with hundreds of small cuts all over his body, and wondering just what the King had in store for him, as it was apparent he had requested the training.
King Dannicus motioned for Tolly to sit back on the bench and he sat beside him.
‘Queen Aithne and the little Princess are safely away, Danny,’ began the Kitchen Master.
‘And just in time it seems.’ Dannicus’ forehead furrowed. ‘Supreme Majesty! Tolly, I would not have wanted to live had my little girl been taken from me.’
‘I don’t believe Henal was the only traitor, but whoever else is disloyal is lying low, because they know that we know they’re still out there. Has anything been heard of Moran or the soldiers you sent?’
‘The soldiers I sent to keep an eye on Moran? Dannicus asked. ‘The two I sent were good men and Jaralina said Nandul tortured and killed them both. Then he killed Moran.’ He laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes sadly. ‘I sent them to their death,’ he said remorsefully.
‘Who could have known? You can’t blame yourself, Danny.’
Dannicus sighed. ‘Did Elliot go with Eijelin?’
‘Yes. I don’t think his brother wanted him to go, but he agreed that it was safer for the child. He has no-one else to look after him, and Callum can’t always be watching him.’
‘To lose one’s parents so young is tragic.’
‘The Queen loves him as though he was her own child.’ The kitchen master smiled at the kindly King, his friend.
‘Tolly, I’ve learned much from the Daoine Maithe and there is far more at stake than I could ever have imagined. Could you please find the King’s Marshall and his wife and have them meet me in the confe
rence room.’ The King rose and hurried from the room with his guards close behind him.
‘His wife?’ Tolly asked disbelievingly, but the King had gone. He stood up feeling more than a little confused and went to find Danil.
Chapter 15
Instinctive Duty
‘The Emerald Mountains – I think?’ Immosey gestured to the east. Elena and Immosey were now well wrapped in warm cloaks and in the front of the cart there was a cloth sack containing many woolen blankets and several sheepskins which had been unceremoniously dumped in the cart the previous night by Telas. Louisa had not felt the need for a cloak. The cart stopped for quite a while and the girls were left alone.
‘What’s south of here?’ asked Elena.
‘Nothing. The Ice Coast,’ said Louisa.
‘Louisa,’ said Elena softly, ‘something has happened to you. What is it?’ Louisa looked sadly from Elena to Immosey wondering how they would react to her recent discoveries.
‘You’re our sister Lou. It would be crazy for me to ask ‘what’s wrong’ because everything is wrong, but I know there’s more. We know something must have happened to you. You’ve been so quiet.’
Louisa made her decision. ‘The warrior who brings us food - do you know I can sense his thoughts and he can sense mine?’
‘Milgorry? What does that mean?’ asked Elena.
Louisa ignored the question. ‘Have you noticed that I’m not cold and I’m rarely hungry?’ She looked anxiously from one sister to the other. ‘And that I can run without tiring, and that I can pick up heavy things?’
Elena and Immosey were now staring at her in confusion.
She went on. ‘I can jump further than I should be able to jump and I can fight. Fight,’ she repeated, and her voice was terrified. ‘Milgorry said I nearly broke Orpel’s neck. He was the one who tried to attack you Immy. I nearly broke his neck!’ Her heart was beating loudly in her chest now. ‘I wanted to break his neck.’
Elena was looking at her with comprehension dawning. ‘Lou, do you remember your parents? Before the floods, I mean.’
‘I cannot remember anything before the floods. Not my home, not my parents. It’s blank like someone has taken my memories from me.’
Immosey stared at Louisa, remembering the clash between Louisa and Orpel. At the time she thought maybe Orpel was a human in the fallen’s service, because Louisa had managed to defend against him quite successfully. If Milgorry hadn’t intervened, Immosey was fairly sure that Louisa would have broken his neck. She had never seen Louisa in such a sudden, complete and relentless rage. There was only one race whose women had the power to break the neck of one of the fallen.
‘Louisa,’ Immosey said gently, ‘are you a guardian?’
Tears rolled down Louisa’s face.
‘When did you find out?’ Elena asked in a whisper.
‘At the campfire, when we were allowed to get out of the cart. He said I was a guardian.’
‘Milgorry told you?’ Elena asked wonderingly.
‘Yes. I knew deep down that something was different, I guess I just didn’t want to know.’
‘Can you send us your thoughts or hear ours?’ Immosey thought this would be most useful.
‘I think every one of the fallen would hear me if I tried to do that.’
‘No, you can control it,’ Milgorry appeared at the side of the cart, carrying food. ‘You already have enough self-control. I know that no one hears you when you call me.’ Elena and Immosey looked at Louisa who blushed. She had called out for Milgorry several times when she lay awake in the cart during the night, and he answered reassuringly each time.
‘I could escape,’ whispered Louisa. ‘I could get help. We’re not so far from Emerald.’
‘If you go guardian, your sisters will be killed immediately. They’re only being kept alive to guarantee your good behavior.’
‘And once we reach…wherever we’re going?’ Louisa was horrified.
Milgorry didn’t answer. He dropped a new water bag over the side of the cart and walked away.
‘Don’t panic Louisa.’ Elena’s voice was deliberately calm. ‘Kelian will know by now that we have been taken and he will come after us.’
‘How can he possibly reach us, or even know where we are?’ asked Louisa, her voice rising in pitch. ‘I cannot let this happen! I have to get you both out of here! I have to do something!’
Immosey shook her head. ‘Ah…Lou, I can’t believe we didn’t know you’re a guardian.’
‘I won’t let them kill you. I need to think.’ Louisa sat back against the side of the cart, her mind suddenly becoming strong and determined. Milgorry’s thoughts came to her and she could sense his approval.
‘Now you are becoming useful, guardian, and dangerous.’
At that moment, as clearly as if she was standing beside him, Louisa saw a dark shadow rise behind Milgorry.
‘Behind you!’ she mentally shouted. Milgorry spun round, drawing a long knife. The shadow lunged forward, Milgorry leapt backwards, and both of them overbalanced. They were on their feet in an instant, facing each other. Milgorry was motionless, gripping the knife and watching the sword in Orpel’s hand with a calculating look. With a sudden flash of movement Orpel rose, lifting his sword and swinging in a precise and deadly blow towards Milgorry’s neck. In the instant Orpel moved, Milgorry threw himself under the swinging sword and he came to his feet, a heavy dagger appearing in his left hand. He flicked the dagger hard at Orpel. The dagger did not strike true but the spinning blade grazed Orpel’s shoulder causing him to draw breath and step back, his eyes glittering angrily at Milgorry. Orpel attacked again and sent the long knife spinning away into the bushes. Milgorry landed on his back and a satisfied look came over Orpel’s face. He raised his sword.
To Milgorry’s astonishment the next blow never came. A figure appeared behind Orpel and Milgorry saw a slender arm slice his own dagger across Orpel’s neck. Orpel fell to his knees with a gurgling scream which was cut short as a long knife was driven up under his ribcage. At that moment Elena and Immosey noticed Louisa was missing. Seconds later there was movement behind them and they leaned over the side of the cart to see Milgorry carrying the unconscious body of Louisa. The two sisters stared at them in shock. Louisa’s hands were covered in blood and she gripped the short dagger in her left hand and the long knife in her right.
‘What happened to her?’ cried Immosey. ‘Oh Louisa, what happened?’
‘She returned Orpel,’ said Milgorry, laying her body gently on the ground. ‘I think she acted on instinct, which is typical of the guardians. It’s their duty to return people who behave like Orpel. You need to clean her, get rid of the blood. Don’t worry, she just fainted. I don’t think she has ever returned anyone before.’ He didn’t seem to notice how bizarre that statement sounded to the sisters. He lifted Elena and Immosey down from the cart and grabbed the two water bags and several old rags. ‘Now!’ he ordered. He considered the girl’s horror and confusion then nodded slowly. ‘Understand me. If anyone realizes what Louisa did to Orpel she will endure the remainder of the journey unconscious and bound.’ He gently eased the two knives from Louisa’s hands. ‘Right now, they think Louisa has no idea she’s a guardian. I’m going to disappear for a few minutes.’
‘Where will you go?’ Elena whispered.
‘Don’t worry, I won’t be far away,’ said Milgorry confidently. ‘They won’t be able to track me.’ This was stated without conceit, but as a simple fact. ‘Clean her up. I’ll return with more water as soon as I can.’ He wiped clean the weapons and then turned back to where Elena and Immosey were frantically trying to remove the blood from the front of the still unconscious girl’s dress. He knelt beside her and placed his hand over the Louisa’s eyes. Her eyes flew open and she sat up. With a strange, gentle expression, Milgorry ran the back of his hand down Louisa’s cheek. He lifted her to her feet and before she could protest he dragged her dress over her head. He held the dress away from his body and took the
larger of the water bags, upending it over the front of the bloody dress. Without comment she held out her hands and allowed him to pour the water over her hands and arms and over her chest where the blood had soaked through her dress onto her undergarment. He handed her the dripping dress and she dragged it over her head then tried to rub herself dry with a blanket.
‘Wrap it around your dress,’ Milgorry suggested, scuffing dirt and dry leaves over the little puddles of water on the ground.
‘What was it you did to wake her?’ Immosey asked curiously. Milgorry looked at her for a moment as though he didn’t know what to say, then shook his head.
‘I shouldn’t be able to do that,’ he said, as if to himself. His eyes fixed on a point in the nearby forest. ‘They’re coming.’ He lifted the girls into the cart and Elena and Immosey quickly wrapped blankets around themselves. Milgorry tossed the almost empty water bags into the front of the cart and gathered up the dirty and wet rags, and then he was gone. Seconds later the fallen were in the clearing and surrounding the cart.
Telas motioned to Louisa. ‘Get out; in fact, all of you, out of the cart now.’
Louisa lowered Elena and then Immosey over the side of the cart, lessening their drop to the ground then leaned over the side as though she was afraid of climbing over. She wondered for a moment if she was strong enough to fight these five of the fallen. Milgorry’s thoughts came to her like a blast of heat.
‘No! You’re not strong enough! Even amongst the greatest of the guardians few are strong enough to take on five and you are barely mature!’
Telas motioned to one of the fallen. ‘Garet, get her down.’ Garet reached up and lifted Louisa down from the cart.
Telas frowned as if trying to sense her thoughts. ‘My brother Orpel lies dead and I think you know who did this. Tell me.’ His voice was cold and angry. The girls stood in terrified silence. He turned to one of the fallen who was carrying a very sharp looking knife. ‘Amil,’ he said inclining his head in Immosey’s direction. Amil was behind Immosey in a flash with his knife held across her throat.
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