Nasty Little Witchling

I bundled up my unruly bed hair and took the string I was holding between my teeth to tie it together. The knot didn’t hold, and the strands fell back around my face. I opened the inn’s door with my elbow while I tied it again, failing until my hands were free to grab the handle.

The ground floor was empty, and I wove through the tables to exit onto the dark street. The first glimmer of sunlight was brightening up the sky, and I broke into a run towards the castle gates.

Bresden had talked endlessly yesterday, giving detailed demonstrations on how to get through the palace doors and those similar. I got my own set of tools to practice with afterwards, but he took them back after I made a ‘mockery of his craft.’

That earned me another lesson and hand-holding to reach the first click that signified getting past one of the lock's internal mechanisms. He’d commented on my patience being good, but my lack of delicateness was an issue. That made me an interesting student for him since he was used to knights who wanted to kick the door down after a couple of failed tries.

I returned to the inn afterwards with a grumbling stomach, reminding me I’d been dragged out of lunch and skipped dinner. After scrubbing my skin red to get the lingering grime off, I went down to see what I could scrounge up. I got the usual heaping load of roasted vegetables and spent the rest of the evening watching and listening to the patrons around me.

Picking up on interesting gossip about their life at work and home and comparing it to the palace.

The owner had given me some of the squashed pastries that weren’t going to sell the following day. I devoured them until I bit into the last well past the middle of the night, freezing in the realisation that I needed to be up soon if I wanted to keep my commitment to training.

After another turn, the drawbridge came into sight, a short line leading into the gatehouse. I was about to run past and have the knights let me through when I saw Clair and Sam in the line.

My panic about being late was quelled at the sight of them. They were near the middle, hiding behind Isaac's unmistakable bulk, so I went to join them instead of rushing through the gate. I trotted over to them, past accusatory glances from those in line and tapped Sam on the shoulder.

He’d already sensed me, or rather the crystal, and turned as I did so. A smile blossomed on his face, chasing away his previously tired expression and making me grin in turn.

“It’s been a while,” Sam said. “We almost started a betting pool on whether you’d come back or not. Finally ready to face the instructor's wrath?”

My grin faded as Isaac clapped me on the shoulder, and Clair gave me a shallow nod. “Maybe? Would I be allowed to throw in a bet?”

Clair smirked. “You joke, but Instructor Hays is what you should be worrying about. It’s her last day, and she hasn’t been shy about making remarks about you.”

“You three are good,” a knight said as we got to the front. “You, I don’t recognise. Name?”

“Valeria.”

He traced a finger down a list of names he had. “No Valeria here.”

“She’s with us,” Sam said. “She lives in the palace.”

The knight looked me up and down, then shook his head. “Doubtful, considering where we currently are.”

Another knight waved through their target of inspection. “Isn’t that the girl who got Barick in shit? They kick you out for making trouble again?”

An older knight slumped in a chair with his arms crossed cracked open one of his closed eyes. He shifted and yawned, closing it again. “Let her through. We haven't been told otherwise, and I’d appreciate it if we could not mess with the newest darling of the palace right at the end of my shift.”

The first knight’s lips twitched, but he jerked his head towards the gate, and we all walked under the wall into the bailey.

“They still bring up that Barick situation?” Sam asked, frowning back at the gate. “He attacked you, so I don't know why they’d defend him.”

“We’re a part of the ‘they,’ Samuel,” Clair snapped. “There’s usually a good reason knights don't want to let someone into the castle.”

I was expecting her to at least ask what had happened and not go straight to saying it was my fault. But it was an interesting insight into what someone who was only an aspirant thought of me from one accusation.

“Don’t curse us by speaking too soon,” Isaac said with uncharacteristic apprehension. “We still need to get into and make it through Equitier.”

“That’s the first time anyone said anything about it,” I said, ignoring their conversation. “I get along well with the others.”

“Of course you do. Knights are professional and honourable,” Clair said, "Not some petty watch officers.”

From Faraya to those I talked to at the gambling house, they had all treated me well even when nobody was watching. However, that was usually with the duke nearby, and for Faraya, her admonishment had put me in the situation with Barick in the first place. My mood plummeted as I considered that they were all faking it.

“Well, there’s a reason why they have the worst shift,” Sam said. “I doubt anyone else harbours such thoughts.”

After that dead-end conversation, we lapsed into silence. A group of aspirants were ahead of us on their way to the bastion while knights trickled out of the back of the building. The staff houses were still dark except for a few that had light shining against their curtains.

The courtyard’s fluffy inhabitant lay curled up on the steps leading to one. Her eyes were closed, but her ears and nose tracked where we and everyone else were, making sure none approached her flock unnoticed.

A good portion of those training were already stretching their limbs under the watchful gaze of the two instructors. Sam gave me a push when I stopped walking towards them and tried to stay with the group.

I took that as a form of mild encouragement and strode towards them.

Hays didn't deign to look at me after a first glance, and Instructor Daniels had his usual stony expression. I took the last hesitant step towards them, preparing to apologise, when Hays spoke up.

“I will not have her in my lessons,” she said to empty air. “I don't care who she is. I will not be disrespected in my own class.”

She folded her arms and turned her scowl back to the stretching knights and aspirants. All were watching us while trying and failing not to make it obvious.

“While I will not exclude you from the collective training,” Instructor Daniels said. “I must support my colleague and say you’ve forfeited all personal instruction from me.”

“Yes, sir.” It was all I could manage with my lip trembling. The words weren’t harsh, and I’d endured worse without a care. But I felt cheated. She’d goaded me, and because of the events at the gambling house, I’d overreacted. It was still my fault, and I went back to join my team without expressing my arguments.

A little water didn't hurt her; it had embarrassed her in front of everyone. I now knew how that felt as I returned to Sam’s group with everyone’s eyes on me. Their hair-raising stares made me want to bury my head in the dirt.

“No shouting. That’s a good sign,” Sam said with a forced smile. “Or not?”

I shrugged, taking a deep breath to calm down. “No mana lessons for me, but I only came here to exercise anyway.”

Clair rolled her eyes at that but didn't say anything as she dipped into touching her toes. I followed her lead and groaned as my stiff back stretched to its limits.

The laps were easier than ever, yet I still trailed behind the others and was out of breath by the end.

Between this training and the last, I'd spent time climbing down hundreds of yards of ladders in sewers, running from people trying to kill me, diving between their legs, and dodging peluda attacks. After all that, the strengthening activities and their necessity made more sense to me.

I jumped up to the bar and pulled myself up as many times as I could manage, imagining jaws snapping just below my feet.

I stumbled once I dropped, and Instructor Daniels nodded in my direction. He was being fair as it was the same gesture he gave the others, though I grumbled about how that simple acknowledgement made the lack of feeling in my arms worth it.

The sound of a clap laced with mana swept over everyone talking during our break after the few rotations of exercises. It was time for mana training and time for me to shoot arrows.

The aspirants gathered around Hays to listen to the intricacies of spell knots and their formulae. I joined the few other knights practising the bow but at the section with the short-range target. They took their long bows and steel-tipped arrows while I took one of the only recurve bows.

I set my stance and nocked an arrow out of the quiver tied to my waist. Instructor Daniels watched me out of the corner of his eye and subtly shook his head. I reexamined my stance, shifted my feet, and lifted my elbow, looking back at him.

He nodded, and I loosed the arrow, scoring a hit on the outer edges of the circular hay target. I smiled as I readied another, getting another nod at my first time attempt.

Once I was done, the target looked like a sewer wall after a peluda’s passing. Scattershot spikes stuck out at random, with some off in the distance, completely missed their target.

Our groups reformed after the lecture to listen to an announcement. It came from Faraya, who had joined the two instructors. We were to have a surprise guest instructor for the morning, the previous Knight Commander, Keracal.

Clair looked to the sky, mumbling wishes about not having to compete with me for the chance of instruction. She almost jumped for joy when Faraya continued, explaining he’d go around each group regardless of sparring performance.

“Why is she not joining?” Hays asked, motioning to me. I’d sat at the edge of the sparring rings to watch the first set of bouts, not interested in getting pummeled in an attempt to impress someone.

Instructor Daniels looked at me with raised eyebrows, passing the question along. There wasn’t a reason beyond me not being good enough to compete, but I was here to learn. I also didn’t want to sound like I was complaining to Hays, so I pushed off the ground to join the line of cheering aspirants leaning around each other to watch.

I was going to be thrown around no matter who I faced. However, when Clair switched places with the boy ahead of her in the opposite line so she would enter the ring at the same time as me, I was certain of it.

When it was our turn, she stepped up while cracking her neck. I looked to Sam and Isaac for encouragement. Sam forced a smile while Isaac’s was genuine, possibly because he thought this would help us settle our disdain for each other.

I wouldn't even say I disliked Clair much, but this one-sided fight would make it worse.

She reached out a fist, and I reciprocated before taking a few steps back from her longer reach. Clair stayed where she was and raised her hands to block her face. I copied her, getting my answer as to whether we would be using any of the wooden weapons lying around.

I responded to her steps forward by backing away, but I would soon run out of space to go, so my steps became shorter until she was close enough to reach me. Her fist left its defensive hold and came for the side of my head. It wasn’t as quick as Faraya’s jab to my teeth, yet I barely leant out of the way.

I threw out a punch in response. Clair batted it away and kicked while my arm was still extended, her shin digging into my side. While I stumbled, she grabbed at me, and I cracked my elbow into her chin while she tried to get ahold of my wrists.

Clair worked her jaw while I held my side. She recovered well before I was ready to breathe normally again. Her hands snatched at me, and I backed off, slapping them away. She lunged forward, gripped my shirt and yanked me towards her, bringing an arm under mine to hold my back.

I panicked at her hold and how close we were, forgetting any attempt at remembering my short training and twisted about to break free.

I swore quietly as her hip dug into me, and my feet left the ground. Every single one of my organs felt like they tumbled about in my chest as Clair threw me into the air. My body tensed up for the inevitable crash back to the ground. My time airborne felt like an eternity, all of which I spent dreading the impact to come.

My back exploded in agony. Clair kept ahold of my arm, saving my head from smacking into the dirt. However, she twisted it behind my back and pressed her body against me to pin it in place, reaching around to put an arm around my neck.

The throw had been enough to incapacitate me, and without being allowed to use my magic, I tapped her arm to signal my surrender. When Clair let go of me, I let my head settle on the ground and splayed out, groaning at the thought of getting up.

An excited creature offered something else to focus on besides the thrashing I’d received and how I needed to make way for the next participants. Sweeka came sprinting into the ring as a green and black streak, darting through Clair’s legs to place her paws atop my chest.

I brought her closer, letting her lick my cheek. She only did so once before complaining that I tasted of salty dirt. I nuzzled into her soft fur, letting its comfort relax me. Sweeka yowled and complained that I was getting her dirty, pushing at my chest to get away. My arms around her tightened, squashing her to me. Her next complaint was that I smelt terrible like Yis did after he ran.

“Whoever hurt her, I’m going to slice off your fingers and heal them as stumps,” Yis shouted from behind the spectators. A moment later, he pushed through, his curved sword party out of the scabbard. It was the same one that hung from the wall above his mantle. Yis also wore the unadorned Barrett and a faded knight’s uniform with a longer cape than typical.

Whenever a knight or aspirant noticed the man, their eyes widened, and their fists thumped against their chests in salute. They parted around him to reveal that Instructor Daniels and Faraya were in the same position.

I sat up with Sweeka still in my arms. Yis would never think I’d do anything to hurt her, so I wasn’t in a hurry to let go of her.

Yis sighed in relief or exasperation and pushed his sword back into its scabbard. “It’s just you.”

Sweeka let out a long, forlorn yowl at her saviour for giving up the rescue she’d been hoping for. I wanted to complain about the greeting, but I held my tongue.

“Val, what are you doing to her?”

I rubbed a sweaty cheek into Sweeka. “She’s comforting me.”

Yis offered me a hand. “You know she doesn’t like whatever you’re actually doing.”

I opened my arms to release her, and she immediately ran behind Yis to start aggressively licking her fur to clean it. He pulled me to my feet and dusted off my back and shoulders, raining dirt down onto his companion. Sweeka stalked off to the grass at the edge of the training area to roll around in it and resume her grooming.

“You seem important,” I commented, looking around at our audience, still holding their salute.

“Ah, right,” he said, returning the gesture. “I ask them not to, but…”

“You’re the previous knight commander?”

Yis smiled. “And you took my advice? It's impressive that they let you join partway through the aspirant training. Though I’d question if you’re ready to spar if you end up like this.”

“Mhm,” I hummed, not wanting to disappoint him with the truth of why I joined and how right he was about sparring.

Faraya and Instructor Danials stepped into the ring, shooing away the spectators—the latter barking orders to get on with their matches in the other rings.

“You know this girl, Commander?” he asked.

“I do, glad that you let her join. She’ll be a boon for the duchy,” Yis said. “I was actually going to petition you to admit her while I was here, but I see that’s already been handled.”

Faraya eyed me to ask what Yis knew to make him say that. Now that I knew he wasn’t just a retired knight but actually the person who held her position previously, I didn’t feel at all guilty for telling him. But I still avoided eye contact with her for now, choosing to deal with those questions later—maybe when she wanted me to talk with the witch again.

“Twig has shown an exemplary attitude,” Instructor Danials said to Hays’ scoff as she approached our group. “Most of the time.”

Yis luckily chose to focus on the much more important part of that conversation. “Twig?”

All instructor Daniels had for a response was to gesture to my arms, which I folded over my chest while pouting.

Yis still nodded in agreement. “Could we have a talk later on what weapons to train her in? I have a few ideas that could work.”

“Instructor Daniels has already shown me the basics of the recurve bow,” I interrupted, not wanting to be swapped off that weapon. “I’d like to continue with that one and learn how to shoot from horseback.”

“Excellent choice, Daniels,” Yis said. “I was going to suggest that myself. Perhaps we should add a glaive for her to learn?”

My jaw almost dropped when I saw a faint smile cross the instructor’s lips. I wasn’t sure which of the sticks with pointy metal tips would be called a glaive, but I didn’t mind learning it, especially at Yis’ suggestion. It also made me want to practice the bow more.

“A two-handed weapon makes sense for her.”

Hays’ lips parted as if to speak, but she remained silent and scowled at me. I was certain she’d bring up my incident with her and was confused as to why she hadn’t already. Hays hadn’t saluted Yis and wasn’t a knight. There wasn’t much reason for her to care about his previous position.

“Do you mind if I borrow Val a bit early?” Yis said. “I’ll come back tomorrow to make up for missing today. Perhaps I could make it a regular thing and help training; I promise not to teach any of your students my stubborn faults.”

“I think we may get a full contingent in the training fields for once if it were to become known you were participating,” Faraya said.

“We were finishing up soon anyway, and I would appreciate the extra set of eyes,” Instructor Daniels said. “Your decades of experience would be a great addition to the lessons, no doubt.”

“I shall see you tomorrow then,” Yis said, gesturing for me to walk ahead of him. Faraya followed after us, with Sweeka weaving between our legs. She avoided my swipe to pick her up again, but she did let Faraya when we stepped onto the rough pathway.

“How do you two know each other?”

Having learnt my lesson about how I told the story with Charlotte and Donna, I kept it simple. “He let me sleep on his couch a few nights.”

That still earned Yis a questioning look from her. Leaving me to wonder how I was supposed to tell that story and with the resolve to lie the next time it was asked.

“I let her hide out in my hallway from trouble one night,” Yis said defensively. “She chose to make herself at home on my couch.”

“Ah ha, and coming to the palace with little notice?” she asked. “It can’t have been just to see the aspirants and say hello.”

“Some blundering bureaucrat has put it in Janette’s head that we can solve the dragon’s breath conundrum by training animals. She asked me here to help, thinking this rascal is well-trained,” Yis said, digging a finger into Sweeka’s exposed belly. “She does what she wants when it suits her, not at my direction.”

I’d considered smacking Yis when he brought up me running from trouble when I’d gone through the effort of making the story sound good. However, I forgave him when Faraya avoided the topic, only to want to smack him again when he inadvertently called me a blundering bureaucrat.

“We don’t have many other options,” Faraya said. “Every researcher is working on a spell to detect the specific alchemicals used, but that will take time. And that’s only after the alchemists break down the product into its components.”

He held up a hand to stall the rest of her defence on the idea. “I thought it was foolish when coming here, but now I think we have a chance because…ah.”

Yis trailed off, but it was an easy guess what he wanted to tell Faraya. “You can tell her.”

Faraya narrowed her eyes at me, realising that it was actually Yis who knew more than she did.

“Perhaps a demonstration later would be better. Your explanations aren’t the best, and I don’t wish to sound demented.”

“If it’s concerning this one, I’ll believe anything,” she commented.

The guards didn’t bother asking for names when we approached. Instead, they stood to the side, fist over heart, and ignored those they were in the process of permitting in until we passed.

Janette and Yanla were waiting for us outside the foyer. Yis went to greet Yanla first, hugging her, which I found strange until I heard Yanla call him father. Janette was all smiles as Yis hugged her next. They finished their lengthy greetings full of pleasantries and motioned to me at the same time.

“Let me introduce you to—” “I see you’ve met—”

They both looked at each other in confusion and then back to me for an explanation. I’d learnt my lesson twice now, so I kept my mouth shut and let them tell the stories how they liked.

“You know Val already?” Yis asked.

Yanla seemed to recognise what was going on better than Janette. “She’s the ‘Val’ from the opera mother spoke about?”

“Yes, Valeria lives here,” Janette said slowly. “What’s this about the opera?”

“Valeria,” Yis said, dragging a hand down his face. “She’s that Valeria? Arg…it all makes so much sense now.”