First of Spears Read online

  Claire shrugged. "I don't really favor engaging in contests of pure strength or physical power. I prefer being able to use the full breadth of my knowledge, creativity and smarts." While he knew she referred to doing so in an all-out fight, he liked the way she put it. "Though that doesn't necessarily mean I couldn't win."

  "Would you be willing to test it out when you're in better shape?"

  She seemed to consider. "Maybe if I felt sorry enough after you lost a duel badly to me, that I decided to give you a chance to save face."

  "We'll have to see about that duel first, then." He recalled something that made him frown. "Speaking of which though, my father intends to have his champion, my swordmaster Gunther challenge you when you're healed."

  "That huge bearded man who stood beside the throne, yes?" He confirmed it with a nod. "I understand. Even if the king believes I'm not at fault for the conflict with his subordinates, my defeating the three of them does put the quality of his warriors into question. If Gunther beat me, it would help quell that."

  "He's a monstrous fighter. I've seen him cleave a man in twain with his greatsword held in one hand." It had been all he could do to hold back his vomit as a young teen then. "Even you might have an uphill battle against him."

  "My pride is quite tempted by the idea of a match against such a foe. But unfortunately, unless he wants to fight a severely injured woman, it won't be happening anytime soon. I'll have to leave soon."

  Theo gaped. "How soon is soon?"

  "I can stay two, maybe three weeks more. But I have to report back to the Hierarch, and since I was already somewhat delayed getting here..."

  "Two or three weeks, in your condition? You can't possibly travel."

  "I won't be fully recovered. I can handle it, though. When you have a job to do, it doesn't impress anyone to look for an excuse to delay it."

  He gazed meaningfully at the shape of her midsection under the covers. "Excuse? What happened to you hardly seems to qualify..."

  She held up a hand. "You're right, of course. It would be reasonable for any average person to take months to come back from this, if they even did. The First of Spears however is held to higher standards."

  "But isn't that title just one you give yourself and not anything official?"

  "Sure, for now. If I want it to ever gain widespread acceptance though, I'll have to live up to it. Besides, the Hierarch does expect me to report back. Even if I'm slow to do so because I'm hurt, I can still be blamed for letting myself get hurt."

  "I suppose that's true. But weren't you going to spend some time here learning about our land? Now you're just going to leave right away once you've healed up enough?"

  "Don't worry, there's somebody else who can explore your city for me." Claire winked towards Lily. "Even though it's not ideal, I'm sure you've picked up enough traveling with me to discern the information I need and convey it back to me."

  Theo guessed she was talking about relationships between important figures, the state of the military, business conditions and so forth in Egrent. "Might it not be dangerous to send your cook out alone to do your work?"

  "It's okay," Lily said. "I'm sure after this incident, the king will give a stern warning to his people not to let anything similar happen again." She looked guiltily at her friend. "So Claire's probably bought my safety with her blood."

  "It's true my father won't want further problems. That doesn't preclude others among us from being reckless though, and you're, well... an easier target than Claire."

  "The thought of her braving unfamiliar streets by herself does make me worry a little," Claire admitted. "I hate to be a bother, especially since you've already helped us a lot and it may not seem like a task fitting of a prince, but I'll just ask—would you mind keeping an eye on Lily for me?"

  Despite her ambivalence about whether or not he would find her request acceptable, he jumped at the opportunity. Keeping Lily safe would no doubt improve his standing in her eyes, and continue to build a friendship between them. "You just want me to teach her about the workings of the kingdom, take her to see some important places and maybe meet some people, right? That won't be an issue at all. I'll be happy to show a guest of our royal family around."

  "Thank you. It'll put my mind at ease knowing my cook is guarded by the prince of Egrent."

  "Good practice for protecting the kingdom, and my future wife." He'd said it in jest implying he referred to Claire, but thought of Sophie and frowned. What he would give for the freedom to pursue a woman with some spark and life, like the wondrous First of Spears.

  #

  Theo spent much of his free time over the next days showing Lily around town, letting her visit important places of business and get acquainted with prominent merchants, nobles and public servants. These powerful figures tended to raise their brows when he introduced her as a cook, until he learned to describe her as an envoy from High Waloros. She was serving in Claire's place while the latter rested, after all.

  At night he visited Claire in her room, sharing with each other their lives, knowledge of the world, and hopes for the future. He learned that both her parents were alive, but had grown somewhat distant from her since they'd tried to move away from getting involved in conflicts before she decided to follow in her grandfather's footsteps as a warrior. He'd been the person she admired the most since childhood, and died still a proud champion on the battlefield at age sixty-three. It was with his passing that she joined the army at fifteen, determined to bring honor to her family as he had. And what a magnificent fighter she proved.

  "You're a girl, though," he mused after she told him of her goal. "I know your ancestry will still be recognized, but won't it at least somewhat diminish the 'family name' aspect when you get married and take your husband's?"

  She grinned humorously at him. "In High Waloros, the husband's last name doesn't automatically take precedence. Whichever spouse is more accomplished gives their name to the other, and their children."

  "Oh... interesting." He figured that encouraged both women and men there to be more ambitious, if they had another thing to compete for. "But what happens if it's impossible to determine who's 'more' accomplished?"

  "Usually we manage to reach a decision. If not, both parties keep their name and their children's naming alternates."

  "First child named after the man or the woman?"

  "The woman."

  "Why?"

  Her brow furrowed in thought. "If I'm not mistaken, it's originally because children come out of the woman's body, so association with the mother comes 'first.' But a lot of people aren't even aware of the origin of that tradition anymore, so it's more just that we're used to it."

  "What if who is more accomplished in the relationship changes at some point?"

  "Then their next child's last name will follow suit, but the previous children's will stay the same."

  "Your system seems quite fair," Theo said, wondering what other things High Waloros did differently from Egrent. He looked forward to learning of them. "Does it cause excessive friction between couples, though?"

  "The places where I've traveled, it doesn't seem like there's noticeably less friction than us. We tend to view it as a friendly contest—if we didn't find it acceptable competing against that person, we wouldn't take them as a partner in the first place."

  "Sounds reasonable. I imagine it would take quite a man to be worthy of competing with you, though."

  She shrugged. "There are plenty of people who take a partner accepting that they'll be the less impressive even in my country. More women than men, honestly."

  Men were probably more competitive than women on the average. It was nice to have a system that took into consideration the outliers on either side, though. "So your famed grandfather, was he on your father's side or your mother's?"

  "Mother's, but it doesn't matter particularly much. My mom's the one who convinced my father to retire from the military because she hated him being a warrior, after worrying too much for
her dad as a child."

  He was suddenly struck by the contrariness of it. "But you, even though your beloved granddad died in battle, you still..."

  "Everybody dies at some point. He died doing what he was born for, and I'm sure he wouldn't regret it. I too was born to battle, wouldn't you agree?"

  The image of her tearing apart Rufus flashed through his mind. "Very much so."

  They continued to talk, Theo wishing they had much more time than a few weeks at most. He loved listening to her stories of battle, which she somehow made beautiful even though he imagined they must've been scary as hell to live through, and hearing her thoughts on how rulers should interact with their subjects. She proposed that a king's chief advisors should be chosen by the people, and only continue to serve as long as they wished.

  When he asked if she got the idea from her homeland, she said, "No, I'm inspired by a city-state I visited where the leaders were elected by the populace. While our big countries may not be ready for that yet, I think a step in that direction would help things."

  Given how knowledgeable she was, he considered asking her to help convince his father not to make him marry Sophie. But he doubted Darius would be inclined to listen to an envoy of High Waloros or someone he viewed Theo as having inappropriate feelings towards. Plus, requesting such a favor of her so soon might not give the best impression. He'd come up with a way to get out of that arranged marriage himself, somehow.

  Lily proved admirably perceptive of the politics of the city, capable at reading between the lines and figuring out who were allies and enemies among the influential folks she met. Not that much of a surprise, if she was as well traveled as he thought. She also asked about the state of Egrent's army and the local garrison, which made Theo a tad nervous even if he viewed Claire favorably. When he revealed the small number of troops in the capital, she commented, "Should you not increase the size of your standing armies, if you fear war draws near?"

  "I don't make the decisions. There is a point in what you say, but it would strain our resources to keep more men from doing other work to be prepared to fight. Also we have fortresses closer to the border, so this wouldn't be the first line of defense anyway."

  "And do those fortresses have adequate troops stationed?"

  Theo remembered hearing that the officers in charge complained about a lack of manpower. But that wasn't a vulnerability outsiders should know about, even attractive and intriguing ones. "They stand strong in defense of our territory, yes."

  "Still, you should remain cautious. If the leader of Ailune's forces really is a dark elf, they will likely have had many human lifetimes to learn their share of devious tricks."

  He wondered too with hundreds of years of combat experience, how much better such a being might be than even the likes of Gunther. They could well be head and shoulders above the best of human warriors, and nigh impossible to overcome one on one. Yet it occurred to him that Claire might welcome the chance to face such a foe. Plus, if said dark elf wielded a spear, it would call her self-granted title into question.

  "You take after Claire well," he said to Lily. "You seem pretty knowledgeable about all the things a diplomat should be. But not in fighting, it seems?"

  She averted her gaze. "I think I'm not all that comfortable committing my body fully to strenuous physical actions. Even in training, it takes a certain amount of nerve to really give your all. It might be somewhat of a rare gift, especially if you haven't trained since a young age to nurture it."

  Theo didn't necessarily agree with all she said, as he had a feeling most people could learn to fight at least competently if they tried. She probably just hadn't had a need to do so pushed hard enough into her mind, what with living most of her life in peaceful circumstances and now having Claire to stand behind. "Didn't you wish you could have done more to help your hurt friend, instead of just getting punched out easily the one time you tried?"

  "You defended me before," she reminded him. "Didn't you say he was a top notch fighter in Egrent, who I couldn't be expected to stand up to?"

  "Yeah, in that situation it would be asking a lot for you to win. Still, maybe if you'd trained more you could've distracted him longer than you did, even just evading him for a few seconds, and given Claire enough time to take advantage—if she had needed it, I mean."

  She hung her head. "I would feel awful if she died because I couldn't help her. Maybe I should put more of myself into learning to fight."

  "I'm sure you'd get better. I used to be considered fairly scrawny and weak in my youth, but I think I've done well enough for myself since then." And now, it seemed like he had new motivation to push himself further still and hopefully reach another level.

  "I'll work harder with Claire to hone my skills then, when she's recovered."

  "Why wait that long? I don't have enough time to be a dedicated trainer, but I could show you some useful things. I may not be as qualified as Claire, but if you get a head start with me you might impress her with your improvement."

  "I wonder what she would think? She might suspect you of doing all this just to impress her." Lily smiled. "Even so, she'd probably approve of you playing the game this way. And whatever your motives, learning what I can from you won't hurt. I accept."

  Theo's time grew more busy then, as he added a couple hours of training Lily each day when the practice yard was free to his schedule. She indeed turned out kind of hard to work with, for she tended to flinch away easily from even faux attacks and couldn't bring herself to swing hard at him no matter how he tried to give her openings. Perhaps some people were really made for peace—but no, he couldn't give up so easily. He tried to channel Gunther's sternness to motivate her by giving her some solid whacks with a wooden sword. Instead of being angered and going after him like he hoped, she sat down after a chop to the arm and took to crying.

  He approached her awkwardly, feeling bad he'd upset her but not knowing what to say or do. The hits hadn't even been that hard, Gunther had given him worse since he was barely over ten. "I'm sorry I hurt you. But you travel with Claire and must have seen a lot of blood before, right? You seemed fairly calm treating her wounds. How can you react like this to a little pain?"

  Gaze downcast, she sniffed. "It's different when you're the one getting hurt. I don't like being weak, you know. But I'm used to it..."

  "How does Claire treat you when she tries to train you?"

  "She used to make me cry too. When she realized it didn't work, she eased off and settled on bringing me along slowly with delicate treatment."

  "But how are you ever going to develop the reflexes needed to handle a real attacker if your sparring partner never even pushes you hard?" Theo thought Claire every bit a legit warrior, but questioned whether she might not be too lenient as an instructor. "Listen, if you don't practice fighting rather than just going through motions, it's unlikely you'll be able to contribute much in a life or death situation. That's what you want to be able to do, right?"

  "Claire never talked about it that way before. She always promised in a dangerous situation, she would protect me. But seeing her like this now, I realize even she can't always be the strong one." Lily looked up. "You're right, Theo. To be a good companion to her, I should grow and become stronger." She stood, raising her wooden blade in her overly tense, still hesitant stance—but with new resolve in her eyes.

  "So you won't mind me going a tiny bit hard, and cry if I swat you now and then?"

  She wiped her eyes and managed a smile. "I might still tear up a little. Old habits are hard to break. But I won't stop unless I really get hurt."

  Theo nodded appreciatively, then grinned. "So maybe I am a decent trainer after all."

  "You can say that when I've shown visible improvement."

  "Well in that case, let's begin... again."

  Chapter 4

  Despite his repeated wishes for time to slow down, the passing of days proved cruel to Theo. Two and a half weeks after her injury, even though she still struggle
d to sit up, Claire said she was ready to go. "Are you sure you should leave?" he asked while helping her out of bed along with Lily. "You could at least stay a few days more, considering you said two or three weeks."

  "Three weeks would be pushing it. I don't know if we'll be delayed on the way back, either. Don't worry, we'll be riding horses and then a ship for most of the way. As long as there isn't a fight, there shouldn't be a problem." She flashed a clever hint of a smile. "Even if there is, you've seen that I'm good at rallying my strength in a pinch."

  "All right, I suppose I'm just being selfish trying to stop you. One other thing though, I know you're hurt, and if you can't or don't want to do it just say so—but would it be possible for you to test Lily's sword skills right now?"

  She looked curiously at her friend. "I had been wondering where those bruises on her came from, but didn't say anything because she didn't seem unhappy and I figured it would all become clear in time. Did you give them to her, Theo?"

  Caught off guard, he said, "W-well, yes."

  "You shouldn't abuse my cook."

  "Why are you glaring at me like that? We were only sparring, trying to help her get better..."

  She laughed. "I'm just playing with you. But, she let you treat her that roughly? I'm intrigued. I think I can go at about the pace we usually practice at without aggravating my wounds too much. Let's try it."

  Claire readied her spear, and Theo lent Lily his sword. Using live weapons instead of the wooden ones worried him a tad, but if Claire was willing, she probably knew what she was doing. The guest room being quite small, Lily might not be able to show all her progress including in her defensive movement, but Claire should get to see her improved reflexes. The First of Spears made a couple of lazy jabs at Lily, who deflected them with a steady hand. Claire already looked surprised. Theo did remember how hapless Lily had been when he started with her, almost like she didn't train. Without warning she pushed Claire's spear out to the side with a harder parry and jumped in slashing down. Claire's eyes widened.