Barinon and Hailey sat at a table inside the kitchen while the cook, a thin woman with dark eyes and hair scurried about the kitchen. Hailey hadn’t realized how much she had expected all cooks to look a little like Bruce. She piled food on the table. A cold roast roast turkey, bread and jam, cooked carrots and milk. “Thank you, Elsbeth,” he told her.

She nodded and returned to the kitchen to set about her next task. Just watching her made Hailey tired. Her feet still throbbed from the long walk in the forest and she could feel the muscles in her legs start to stiffen. When she climbed off the bench, it was going to require an uncomfortable process, but for now, she let the food distract her. Hailey couldn’t remember a time when she had been this hungry. She ate like a girl who didn’t know when her next meal would be.

As they ate, Barinon spoke in a low voice. “We are going to have to continue your lesson.”

Hailey groaned over mouthful of bread and raspberry jam. She had tried so hard not to be whiney, not to be a problem for Barinon, but if she were setting the schedule, she would be done for the day. She needed time to accustom herself to her new power. When she thought about it, she could feel the power there, waiting for her, thrumming through her. It had been there before, of course, but there was so much more of it now that it almost distracted her from her meal.

Already today, she had braved the forest, faced a dragon and survived, talked to the lady at the well, got new powers and set a portal glyph. It was too much to happen all in one day.

Barinon just smiled. “If there were more mages and more time, then yes. Today your lesson would be over, but there are no more mages and no more time. You will have to learn quickly. There is much the kingdom will need of you and soon. I don’t think we have time to wait.”

When they had had their fill, Hailey stood. She had certainly not gotten that much exercise I a long time. She picked up her plate and fork and looked around. Where did the woman want her to put it. “I will take that, miss.” Elsbeth hurried forward and snatched it out of her hands. Then she curtsied to her.

Hailey thanked her but the woman just shooed her out of the kitchen. “What was that about?” Hailey whispered as soon as they were out of earshot.

“You’re a mage and she is used to cleaning up after people. Didn’t you realize that your status in the household would change?”

“I hadn’t thought about it.”

He shook his head at her. “There have been many hedge witches who went through the whole rite just so that they could raise their status. It didn’t even occur to you.”

Barinon led her back outside. Most of the lands around the Manor were being used for something but the well tended garden that greeted them had Barinon frowning. He showed her how to bind, the way he had done with the leaf. Then he moved on to something more complicated.

This, he told her summoning a glowing blue sword from mist, is a mage’s weapon, one of them. He practiced the motion with her. He drew one arm back and the other forward. Then he stepped forward, bringing both hands out in front of him. He wrapped his hands around something that wasn’t there. As his hand wrapped around the hilt, a glowing blue sword shone in his hands.

Hailey gasped. It was beautiful.

“To keep it there, you must constantly feed magic into it, but unlike another sword, you would be able to throw this one and summon another. It is a handy thing to have in any battle.

Hailey concentrated. This was much harder than creating a glyph and she could feel the sword draw more magic from within her than anything she had learned yet. She let the magic flow and held in her hands a sword. She looked at it dumbly and then she let go. It disappeared into mist. “Why a sword?” She asked him.

“The dragon may come back. I want you to be ready to face it if it does.”

Hailey nodded, feeling uncertain. Could she actually try to attack the dragon? She could not imagine it. Stealing a scale was dangerous enough. “Do you really think it will come back?”

A look of uncertainty crossed his face.

“Keep practicing this one until it feels natural,” he told her. “The dragon went the opposite way of the kingdom, towards the dark castle. Hopefully it will be Millicent’s problem.”

Hailey gave him a questioning look.

“Millicent was the one who had cast the curst on the princess when she was a baby. As far as I know, she lives alone in the dark castle.”

“Was she one of the mages that was there when that kingdom fell?”

“No.” His voice was certain. “That kingdom fell long before she would have even been born. Besides, the dragon may have just been hunting for food. It does not come here very often.”

Hailey formed the sword and let it dissolve again.

“The shimmer should protect the kingdom from the dragon. Hopefully it will not be able to get through. Every few years, I see it flying around our kingdom, but so far the power of the heir has kept it at bay. There is no harm in preparing for something that does not happen. The same is not true of the opposite. When last it actually attacked the kingdom, there were many mages to keep it at bay. Now, there is only you and I and the power of the heir. That is all that protects the kingdom from everything in the forest.”

“Hey, new guy!” Aaron rose from his spot on the bench and glanced around to see who was calling to him. It was a pale skinned man who had an arrogance about him that could only mean he had been raised a noble. He even seemed to frown at his fellows condescendingly. He beckoned Aaron over.

Aaron stood warily. None of the soldiers had taken any notice of him yet today except to ask for water. The practice yard had been full of soldiers, swinging their swords at each other. Now a fine dust had settled in the air. As he walked forward, the other man stretched his neck and waited.

He handed Aaron a practice swordand then glanced back the way Aaron had come. A couple of women sat watching the noble. “I’m Edward. I figured if you really want to train to be a soldier, someone should help you.” Aaron felt his mouth go dry. The michevious glint in the man’s eye did not bode well for him.

Still, if Aaron was ever going to be a soldier, he would have to get along with these men. He squared his shoulders and said, “Thank you,” even though he knew he was about to take a beating. Aaron didn’t have to look around to know that some of the other soldiers had stopped their sparring to watch.

Edward began slowly. “Here, hold your sword like this.” He showed him a proper two handed grip, something Aaron was not capable of.

He heard chucked all around him. Aaron clutched the sword in one hand and waited.

“I forgot you are only a one armed peasant. Right, well. One hand, then.” Edward took one hand off of his practice sword and took a stance that Aaron had the soldiers take when practicing one handed.

Aaron held his sword and tried to imitate the other man’s stance. In one motion, Edward knocked the sword out of his hand. Aaron turned to go get it and Edward smacked his backside with the flat of his blade. It stung and Aaron was sure he wouldn’t be sitting right. “Again,” said Edward. “You got to keep a better grip on it, and try to block.”

The next few minutes were some of the most humiliating that Aaron had ever had. He was smacked across the ribs, hit in the hand so that he dropped his sword, but Edward seemed to have a fondness for whacking him in the butt. His fellows laughed heartily. The women seemed to think it was funny to a point and then they left the practice grounds. Edward left Aaron in the middle of the field and told him to put his sword away. Then he followed where the women had gone.

But the soldiers weren’t done with him yet. Aaron glanced around for Derrick and realized that the captain of the guards was nowhere in sight. “Hey, new guy. I have some things to teach you.” Aaron didn’t know the names of the soldiers who tormented him after Edward but several of them had wanted to give Aaron a beating when Edward was done with him. Eventually, though they tired of it, but Aaron figured he would have days of this to look forward to. He spent the rest of the day fetching water and watching the other soldiers practice.

Aaron sat carefully back down on the bench, watching the other soldiers practice their steps. He was sure his entire body was covered in bruises. One man had even managed to trip him. Aaron came down hard on his bad elbow. Even his bad hand, which didn’t feel anything, seemed to have taken a beating today. He wondered if he were just being foolish. Maybe he never would make a good soldier and the chance that Hailey had given him was no chance at all.

He watched the way they treated each other. Under the banter and the beating they gave each other, there was a real camaraderie. He wanted so badly to fit in, to be part of this, to defend his kingdom. He knew it was a job like many others, but as long as he could remember, this was what he wanted to do.

He blinked back tears of frustration. He would not give up yet. If they beat him every day, then eventually, he would learn. He watched their stances, the way they held their swords. He couldn’t practice when they were watching, of course. That would just be asking for an extra beating, but he could do this. All he had to do was try.