by Scott Toney
Diligence
The sun beat down on Lilya’s back as she hammered a nail into the hull of a half constructed wooden vessel. She had been outside all day working on the construction of many ships and was sweating in the heat. They were constructing the ships to sail to Havilah.
It had been decided that something had to be done to stop Thomas’s madness. They would build and train an army to join Assyria’s knights in overthrowing Thomas and his mercenaries. Some of Cush wanted revenge, not Lilya. She had left the people of Havilah alone to deal with their mad king. She knew her heart wouldn’t stop hurting for Havilah’s people until something was done to rescue them from Thomas’s rule.
Clang! Clang! The sound of swords clashing rang through the air from an open field close by where men and women were training to swordfight. The knights from Havilah had taken up the task of training Cush’s civilians. They parried in the sunlight, thrusting swords against thick leather armor as they dealt blows.
“Watch the corner of your vision!” she could hear one knight calling to a man he was sparing with. “In a battle a second opponent could come at any time!”
Lilya picked another nail from the basket at her feet and held its tip against a plank being added to the boat’s hull. She swung her hammer against the nail and pounded the nail tight into place. “Will these hold?” she turned and asked an elderly ship builder from the river town at Cush’s edge.
“Aye, they will,” the old man responded as he moved his fingers along the wood. “My family been building ships to sail this river since before Cush been formed. We’ll pour a mud mixture between her planks to hold her firm.”
Sweat dripped down Lilya’s brow as she picked up another nail and drove it into the board. She took a step back. That board was firmly in place now. “One more board down,” she said. “Where can I help next?”
“I could use your help bringing this one to the ship,” Vansir said, leaning down to pick up the end of a massive board.
“I’ll be right there.” She walked to the other end of the board and dug her fingers into the earth beneath its end so she could get a better grasp. “One, two, three,” she counted and hoisted the board into the air. Her muscles burned as she walked it to the side of the ship with Vansir and was greeted by ship builders who helped them fit it into place.
“Hold it firm. Bend it to the hull’s form,” one of the men said as she held the board with all of her strength. Soon several men were hammering around her and she could feel the board molding to the boat’s side. “I can’t believe we’re building boats, that I’m helping to build boats. That’s one thing I never thought I’d find myself doing,” she said.
“Well, you’re doing a fine job,” a skilled ship maker beside her said as he drove nails into the board.
Soon the board was fixed to the ship’s side and Lilya took a moment of rest beneath a large tree by the river’s edge. She watched the water ripple as a cool breeze skimmed over it. The breeze felt good in the day’s heat. “A part of me wishes Thomas was the man he seemed to be when I met him,” she spoke to herself as she heard the clanging of swords close by. “He seemed so genuine.”
A fish leapt from the river water and splashed back down from where it had come.
“Lilya!” Amari called as she heard his footsteps plodding toward her. “Come and spar with me! You’ve been working on the ships all day! Surely you need a change of pace and some practice with the sword!”
She braced her hand against the tree’s trunk that she had been sitting under and slowly stood. Her muscles ached, but he was right, she could use some practice with the blade. “I’ll whoop you. You know that, don’t you?” she grinned.
“We haven’t sparred for a few days,” he smiled back. “I’ve learned a few things. You might be surprised.”
Lilya walked beside the boat she had been working on and hefted a sword she had taken from the ground at Westwood Castle. “I’m going to teach Amari a lesson,” she told Vansir. “But I’ll be back later to help with the boat.”
“I’m glad it’s him and not me,” Vansir said as he hefted a board from the ground with the help of another man. “I’ve seen you with a bow and arrow. If you’re half as good with the sword as you are a marksman, then Amari is in for a swift defeat.”
Lilya ran with the sword toward the field where the others were practicing. There were at least a hundred people practicing here, breathing heavily with exhaustion as their swords clashed. She wondered what was more tiring, building ships or sparring with swords. Probably sparring, she conceded.
A pile of leather armor lay nearby and she picked up a vest and arm and leg guards to protect her in case Amari slipped and hit her with his sword. “Can you help me get these on?” she asked him and he came to help her tie them onto her form.
She held her sword at waist level as he lifted his own once more. She had sparred a few times as of late and decided the bow and arrow was definitely her weapon of choice. Most swords were just too heavy to use for long and the lighter swords were easier to maneuver but were of little use when a larger sword clashed with them.
Lilya and Amari parried around the field, their eyes locked, as each of them looked for the perfect time to strike. Sunlight gleamed off their blades.
Suddenly Amari thrust for her and she jumped back, making sure she had steady footholds before she made an attack with her own blade.
Clang! Amari met it with his blade. Clang! Clang!
Lilya spun around, lifted her sword up and brought it down on top of Amari’s blade. Clang! “Don’t go easy on me,” she told him as she knocked him off balance. “I fenced during my years in Westwood Castle. I may surprise you.”
“I’m not going easy,” Amari said as he stumbled backward and caught his footing. He took a step forward and swung his sword toward her. It was met by her blade. Clang! The sound of the blades colliding rang across the field.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Again and again Lilya fended off his blows. She struck at Amari and hit only air, the movement and weight of her blade throwing her off balance. She could see his sword coming down at her from above.
With all her strength she lifted her sword back into the air and struck his blade, knocking it away. Clang! Lilya breathed heavily and took the upper hand as she struck Amari’s sword again and again, driving him back into the field. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A worried look was on the boy’s face. Is he close to defeat? She struck her sword toward him and he leaned back, totally avoiding the blow and lifting his sword out of her sword’s way. She kept her balance and struck his blade with hers as he swung it in attack. Clang!
Amari’s blade scraped from hers and he kept pressure behind it, sending it into her leg guard. He pulled it back just as it touched so she could barely feel the effect.
Lilya breathed a startled breath and retreated, still facing him. Her sword was braced at waist level as she anticipated any attack. In a battle I could have lost my leg, she shuttered. Or it’s possible that my armor could have saved me. She needed to be more aware. Despite the weight of her sword she was handling it well. It’s the unknown factors I need to be more aware of, she realized.
Amari came toward her with his sword braced for attack. “Are you alright?” he asked sincerely.
“I’m fine,” she said. “But that was a close one.” She held her ground and he did the same. “Don’t give me a breather. If this was a real battle then I wouldn’t get to catch my breath. We need practice for the real thing.”
Amari grinned and came at her with his sword once more.
Clang! Clang! She defended his blows and felt the sword reverberating in her grasp. Her arms were sore. She quickstepped to the right and brought her blade down into his. Clang!
He sliced his sword for her legs again and she stopped it with her own. Clang!
She saw her chance and spun to the side. Before Amari could react she sliced her sword toward his waist and it dug into his leather armor, knocking him to t
he ground.
Amari lay there, breathing heavily. He looked panicked and then grinned. “Phew. That was rough. I give in. You win.”
Lilya came to stand beside him. “You had me when you struck my leg. Let’s call it even.”
They were both breathing deeply. Lilya sat down in the grass beside Amari, then lay back and looked at the clouds as she felt her sword beside her. “I hope we’re prepared when we meet Thomas’s army.”
“You were prepared when you fought the mercenaries in the marketplace,” Amari said as he watched the others practicing.
“Yes, but I’ve had some training. So have you. Most of Cush’s people have been farmers and tradesmen their whole lives. I wonder if we’ll be able to train them well enough to stand their ground against the mercenaries when we meet them. We need to do something to help the people of Havilah. But the cost could be high.”
Amari wiped sweat from his brow. “Princess, you know most of the people of Cush are going to war with Thomas for revenge, don’t you? If they hadn’t attacked us then Cush’s people would be content to let Thomas reign.”
Lilya sat up and clutched the hilt of her sword. “Whatever reason they fight, Thomas’s cold heart will be removed from Havilah and he will no longer be allowed to hurt its people.” She stood, pushing herself up with her sword. She extended a hand down to Amari and he took it, using it to rise.
“I have two reasons to fight Thomas,” Amari said. “I fight for Havilah and I also fight to avenge Clare. He will regret what he did to her. I’ll see to that.”
“How is she?” Lilya asked.
Amari’s face was reddening with the heat of the day. “She is depressed. She accepts me and I share most hours by her side but she never leaves The Canyon of Eyes. I was hopeful the rainbow we saw from the boat’s deck would cheer her and help her through this, but she still seems consumed by what Thomas did to her.”
Lilya put her hand on his shoulder. “She will come around. Give her time. I should visit her more. The world has changed so rapidly that I haven’t had time to come and be with her. It shouldn’t matter what we go through in the world, we should find time to be there for our friends no matter what.”
“I’m sure she’ll love to see you. Try and convince her to get some sunshine. I know that would help to lift her spirits. I don’t know what I’ll do when we go to attack Havilah. I don’t know how I’ll leave her side.”
Lilya held her hand above her eyes, blocking the sunlight so that she could see Amari’s eyes clearly. “Maybe you should stay with her. We need people to defend the canyon anyway. And she needs you. What if something happens to you in battle? How would she be without you?”
They were silent for a few minutes as they walked together outside the practice area. “I may.” He looked at two men sparring close by. “But I’ll feel guilty about letting others fight when I do nothing.”
“Sometimes the most important things are not the wars we wage, but what we do for the ones we love.” Lilya drew a deep breath and could smell honeysuckle in the air. “Care to spar again? I think I’m getting my second wind.”
Amari scratched the back of his head. “I think one defeat at your hands is enough for me for one day. I’ll take a few more minutes catching my breath and then go to work ship building.”
“Suit yourself.” Lilya smiled as she swirled her sword in the air.
“I’ll duel with you, princess,” Carn’s low voice called to her as he advanced across the field. He wore no armor and clutched a sword that was twice her sword’s size. “If you are practicing to go into battle with men from beyond the Euphrates River, then perhaps you should try your skill with a man from that place.” Carn grinned as he approached. The circle in the center of his forehead glowed. His rock-like shoulder muscles ground against each other as he moved.
“Don’t,” Amari almost whispered to her. “You know the things Jonah has told us about him. Carn’s just as likely to kill you in practice as he is in battle.”
“I can hear you, boy,” Carn said as he stabbed the ground with his sword. “Haven’t I earned your respect by defending Cush against my people? What more do I have to do?”
“I don’t trust him,” Amari said.
“I’ll spar with you,” Lilya stepped into an open area of field, her sword held waist high before her. “You won’t harm me, even if you want to. There are too many armed people here. They would kill you.”
Carn laughed lowly as he withdrew his sword from the earth. “Very few men could kill me. I’d like to see them try.” He slashed his sword through the air and displayed the sheer power in his arms. “Shall we?”
Lilya backed away and sized him up. What would be the best way to attack a man this large? “Don’t you want to put on armor?” she asked.
“Ye won’t land ye blade,” he assured her. “And don’t worry if ye do. My hide is as tough as stone. Ye cannot harm me.”
He took a step toward her and she took another step back. She was clearly outmatched. Run. That was the thought racing through her mind. Run. There is no way to beat him. She held her stance, ready for his first blows.
Clang! His sword smashed down into hers and she was knocked back. She felt her heels dig into the ground as his blade forced hers downward. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! He beat blow after blow against her sword. She was certain her sword would break with one of his attacks and his sword would lodge in her stomach. With the pressure in his blows she knew the leather vest she wore wouldn’t stop his attacks.
“I thought ye would have some fight in ye,” Carn said as he rained down another blow.
Clang! She almost dropped her sword with the weight of the strike. She had to escape, had to give herself a second to think and reason a way of defeating him. Clang! She deflected another blow.
Lilya stumbled backward and then dodged Carn’s blade. It came close to her head and she suddenly wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t kill her. She swept her sword toward his leg and he easily defended it away. Clang!
Carn took a step back and she saw her chance. Lilya pivoted and ran quickly across the field, weighed down by the leather armor strapped to her. Better some protection than no protection, though, she thought and looked to both sides, trying to think of a way to best Carn. There had to be something she could do.
“She runs!” Carn called. “Are ye not even man enough to stand ye ground, princess?”
Lilya looked over her shoulder to see Carn lumbering after her. Sometimes the way to win is not to stand your ground, but to find a different way. A large oak stood at the edge of the clearing and she ran for it. Half of the tree was lush with leaves and the other half was charred black from the blaze. The fact that half of the tree had lived was encouraging to her. It was proof of something overcoming a force much greater than it.
She ran to the tree’s side and turned to face Carn.
“She stops. Ye will regret that. Ye should have hidden in the woods,” he said as he came to her. Carn walked slowly toward her and held his sword high.
Lilya stepped behind the oak’s massive trunk and listened for Carn’s movements. With each step he took she stepped away from him around the trunk, waiting for him, for the perfect time to make her move.
“I should have known ye would do something like hide behind a tree,” she heard him say. “I’ll get ye. If I have to cut this tree down with my sword I’ll win this duel.”
“You may have to,” Lilya smiled as she spoke, “because I’m not coming away from this tree until you leave.”
Carn let out a deep noise as he slammed his blade into the tree, sending bark flying. He hacked again and again at both sides of its trunk.
There was no way he’d be able to hack through the tree but she was humored to see him trying. Lilya slid her sword between her back and the leather armor and gripped onto the bark. This will have to go just right, she thought as she climbed the tree’s bark and limb stubs that protruded from its trunk. She was counting on the fact Carn would continue chopping h
is sword into the tree. The noise would allow her to climb without him hearing her.
Soon she was up in the tree and hidden in its remaining leaves. Lilya perched stealthily.
Crack! Crack! Carn hacked his blade into the tree as more bark flew from where it hit.
The limb beneath her shook with each hit. I need to get above him, she thought and grabbed a limb to her side, pulling herself up on it. She walked back on the limb toward the trunk and walked out onto another limb close by that stretched over Carn.
Crack! Crack! “Come out, girl!” Carn called and stood for a second, staring at the tree. “Ye won’t get away.”
Lilya barely breathed as she drew her sword from the leather armor. If he moved then her plan wouldn’t work. She had to do this now. She took a deep breath and then stepped off of the limb with the sword’s blade pointed to the sky.
Thump, she slammed the sword’s hilt on the top of his skull as she fell and Carn crumbled to the ground beneath her. Lilya stumbled backward as she landed and caught her footing.
Carn didn’t move but the circle in the center of his forehead still glowed a faint orange. Was he alright? She hadn’t meant to kill him.
“Uhh…” the large man grunted as he stretched his hands and moved his head to the side. “Uhh…”
“Sometimes wit wins the day,” Lilya said as she backed away. “I’ll take this as a win.”
“Uhh… wha…?” Carn grunted again and searched the ground for his sword as Lilya ran back to the sparring field.
҉
Later, as she was finishing off the work on the ship she had worked on earlier in the day, Lilya told Amari about how she had bested Carn. The sun was setting in the sky and a pink hue glistened off the river.
“I’m sure he never saw that coming,” Amari said as he helped her apply a mixture to the boat’s hull that would help waterproof it. “How did you think of that?”
Lilya smiled as she dipped a sponge into the water-repellent substance and wiped the ship’s boards. They glistened as the dense liquid set on them. “I knew I wouldn’t win a regular sword fight against him. He has a lot more experience and is so much stronger. So I tried to think of what he normally would come up against in a fight. Then I did everything but that.”
Amari dipped his sponge and then applied the substance to the ship. “Well, I don’t know if a tactic like that would work on the battlefield. But if we think the way you do then we may just stand a chance against Thomas’s forces.”
Lilya reached high and spread the substance on the boards above them. “However things happen, I just hope what is right and just is what we achieve.”
They worked on the ship through the setting of the sun, later than most of the ship builders, and as the last hue of light faded to darkness, Lilya picked up the shaft of an unlit torch and lit it on a fire they had built up close by. “Care for a flight back?” she asked Amari as he covered their bowl of water repelling substance. “Alexander said he’d fly us back to the canyon when we were done for the night.”
“Gladly,” Amari said as he joined her side and walked toward the riverbank. “I can’t wait to get back to Clare and eat a nice meal. Maybe I’ll cook up one of the cave’s jellyfish tonight. It sure is nice to have Alexander so we can fly back and don’t have to live in tents here like the others while we prepare.”
As they reached the river bank Lilya looked out at the reflections of the stars on the water. “We’re ready for you,” she said, knowing Alexander was listening.
I’m close by, his words came to her thoughts and she watched as a small red light appeared in the darkness where she knew a mountain range was in the distance.
“He’ll be here soon,” she told Amari as the light slowly became larger and larger.
“I think he cares for you as more than a friend,” Amari said.
She turned to him in the torch’s firelight. “Why would you say that?” she asked. She was more surprised than anything. How could a dragon have feelings for a woman?
“It’s the way he looks at you, the way he speaks to you. I swear I’ve even seen him blush before when you were together.”
The torch flame crackled and Lilya could hear frogs singing along the riverbank. She didn’t want to say anything. She knew Alexander was listening. Now that she thought about it though, Alexander had seemed different with her than with other people. “I’ve told him before. I will love no man.”
But is he truly a man? Could I stop myself if I did love him? She could choose to not show her emotions but she knew Alexander would know. “Maybe,” she said. “Maybe.”
As Alexander’s light neared them Amari smirked at her. “Maybe? What does that mean?”
“Hello, Lilya,” Alexander said as he dipped down to them and hovered above the river. A flame was lit in his mouth. That was what she had seen as he came to them. “It’s good to be with you again. And Amari? I’m sure you both are ready to be home.”
Amari stretched his arms. “I won’t lie, it’s been a long day.” He looked to Lilya and smiled as he walked toward the river and stepped into Alexander’s extended paw.
“It’s good to see you too, my friend,” Lilya said as she walked into his palm’s embrace. “It’ll be good to get back to the canyon and relax.”
Lilya laid down on Alexander’s palm as he flew into the darkness. Her torch blew out as winds rushed by. She rested her head on him and felt his skin warming her. She was so comfortable with him, so happy. Is Amari right? Does Alexander have feelings for me? There was something oddly comforting about the thought, something solid and calming.
Below them Lilya could see fires on the ground speckling the night. People sat around them or danced. I want someone to dance with, she thought and looked up to see Alexander’s form flowing above her as he pulsed his wings. I could never love a man. But could I love Alexander? Could he be my dance partner?
Lilya continued to lie in the warmth of his palm, watching the night fly by. Soothed and calm, she slowly fell asleep in his embrace.
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