《The Trials of The Fallen Paladin》Guests

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I woke up in a familiar, yet unfamiliar place.

The thick woven fabric above me was familiar, as it was what I had normally woken up with during these past two months. The light shining through the thick fabric showed that I had woken up later than I would've liked.

This tent was a much better place to sleep, despite the slightly uncomfortable ground I lay on, than the end partition of the dorm. It was smaller, warmer, and was much better at keeping the rain off us than that ill repaired wood shingle roof.

So if that wasn't the issue, could it then be the earthy smell from the new fur blanket. Hallvard had brought them recently, but they weren't new enough to force me to feel unfamiliar.

The warmth of Alis as she wrapped herself around me, was a comforting newness, one which I welcomed.

Yet that was not what made things feel more familiar and more welcome. Something I feel like I had gained in these past two months.

The salty sea air which filled the tent could've been it.

But there was more.

Not the earthy smell of the furs, nor the salty sea air, nor the extra warmth from Alis clinging to me more than she had in the past.

Nor was it due to the fact that I was up later than I would normally be, especially with the shortening daylight hours in the winter.

There was something else which I could not quite place.

'What do you think you are doing here,' boomed a gravelly voice.

Yes, that was it. There was a faint increase in the sounds of people moving, not the sounds of just any people moving, but the sounds of soldiers moving. It was a sound which I had been used to within the training forts I had been in during the past six years but which had not been present these past two months.

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I kissed Alis on her pale freckled forehead, hoping she wouldn't mind that I took advantage of her gentle snoozing.

By the slight red tinge on her cheeks, her pretty smile on, and those cute dimples, I guessed she liked it.

'We got guests, we better get ready.' I whispered, gazing down upon her half-wake cute dozing face.

Her cute half dozing state instantly changing to a wild-eyed valkyrie. Before I knew it, she had her sword in her hand, unsheathed.

'It's fine, I think.' I whispered. 'Hallvard sounds annoyed, not angry, or threatening.'

Then I heard his booming voice shout, 'curse you, Olvald. Why did you think I promoted you to be my Temple Head if not to stop annoyances such as this.'

'You know, full well, that you skipped out of more than one important meeting with more than one important bishop and noble factions when you rushed off to get whomever is in there.

'I hope he is worth it.'

As Hallvard and this Olvald were shouting at each other Alis and I quickly dressed and climbed out of the tent together. With the contents of shouting we wordlessly decided independently of each other to wear our squire outfits.

As we came out of the tent our appearance caused the argument to come to a skidding halt.

Standing in front of the mountainous giant of Hallvard with his wild black hair and beard was a slender man. They were slightly shorter than Alis, and even more slender than her. Like Alis they were pale skinned, but without the defining features of her beautiful freckles. Instead of her neck length fiery red hair, his hair was long, smooth, and almost pure white. So white that it could've passed as camouflage in the snow.

The crimson robes he wore were striking against his pale skin and hair.

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'Squires...' Olvald said, looking over at the two of us.

Maybe it was because of how close we were normally, but it felt comfortable for Alis to stand so close to me. Olvald noticed this lack of distance between us.

'So you took pity on one of them and took the lover too, did you? You have grown soft, old troll.'

'If that is what you think, then maybe I will need to replace you as the Temple Head.' Hallvard said, his voice rumbling more like thunder than any mountain sounds I had heard from him before.

Olvald paled even further. Something I didn't think was possible.

'Alis,' Hallvard turned his head to look at her, 'fight Leof there.' He pointed to a stocky man, a top a stocky pony, wearing the order's crimson and white quartered tunic. In the upper right was a stylised image of a temple. This man was an elite temple guard, not normally someone like a squire should be able to fight.

He was wearing full armour, including a breastplate, under the surcoat. His helmet was one of the new full face helmets leaving the ears and back of the head protected only by a mail coif.

Not caring about the mismatch of skill levels, Hallvard continued his instructions. 'Olvald is here so you can go all out. He'll be able to heal anything short of death. So both of you fight with the intent to seriously wound each other.

'This will be good training for the both of you.'

'Are you sure, Hallvard, he's one of the best temple guards we have.'

'Oh, don't you worry,' Hallvard said with a wicked smile, 'this is training after all.'

Seeing that smile, one step short of evil, I was worried about how Alis would cope. Still I realised Hallvard had yet to put us in any situation in our training which we were not capable of coping with. Or if he did, there was a reason he did so. Hopefully, the lesson would become clear soon.

All I could do was to put my trust in both Hallvard and Alis.

The elite temple guard, Leof, got off his stocky pony. There was a grace to the way he walked, which reminded me a bit about how Alis walked. But whereas she walked with grace and a bit of deadly beauty his gait was a bit more full of swagger.

It was as if he knew how powerful he was and wanted to prove it to the world.

Alis left my side, her usual confidence somewhat missing. Not that I could blame her for having to face off against such a powerful enemy. And not only that, they would have to fight to injure each other. This was a new situation for the both of us as normally we would restrain our pulls somewhat as we were worried about what would happen if a stray blow landed.

She drew her sword and settled down into a guard pose. Even I could see that it was not her best. Her nerves were getting the better of her.

Seeing the hesitation in Alis, and the way her guard pose was lacking, the set of the shoulders became even more confident. It was as if he was about to train an upstart not to get ahead of themselves.

I just had to hope that the lesson would not hurt Alis too much.

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