The boys all turned their heads and their eyes were glued to Sasha’s frame. They didn’t say a word, but when she walked towards the training square all their heads turned simultaneously.

“I guess you are soon ready to enter the world out of here, serving as the king's guards. Are you ready?” Sasha asked.

The king didn’t train his guards to be smooth but brute. They were a force to be reckoned with, but still, they were just boys. The silence following her question was thick. She saw them swallow, their throats dry.

“Well, I am”, the boy who had challenged Elias before said and stepped forward.

He was a tall man, and broad. He towered over Sasha, not as a mountain but as a big, sleek tree. The boy was not only two heads taller than Sasha, he was lean and toned. The muscles are well spread. He would not only have bulk, but he would also be able to use it as well.

“I would have made meat of Elias, for you, I will do with no less”, he said, bowing towards her.

The sharpness and awareness in his eyes told Sasha that although he bragged he was a worthy opponent. The boy had not made the mistake to underestimate her due to her slender figure. Or at least he didn’t think so. She smiled at him.

“Well, let's see. Shall we?”

Their fight was fast, he had chosen to use no weapon, instead, he danced like a wind around her, trying to wrestle her to the ground. Sasha had no problem slipping his grasp, sending him to the ground in the process. But he always jumped back, eager for another throw. Had he been better skilled, he might have gotten lucky wearing her out, but as it was now, she used his strength against him, the rougher his hits, the harder he fell.

“I see you are well trained in the classic techniques”, Sasha laughed, once again slipping his hold, making him scream out loud when she with ease twisted his arm backward.

She would give him that, he must have had a really good teacher. He didn’t miss a beat, the movements a perfection of the arts the way you were supposed to learn. How should he know that the more perfect he made his moves, the easier he was to predict?

“That is enough”, Sasha whispered, ending the fight with ease. She didn’t want to seriously hurt the boy, and continuing any further would be too shameful. Would she ever need the king's knights, she would be sure to let Isaak train them, but if she had it her way, this shameful institution would be the first to close down.

“Someone else wants to test their luck?”

“I would”, a boy who had been standing in the middle of the crow-stepped forward. His voice was low, and if the other boys hadn’t parted to let him forward she would have heard him. He was the same size as Sasha, actually a bit shorter when Sasha eyed him up. His muscles were more of the bulky sort, and his face was red-lit with embarrassment. “I would at least like to try”, he added still holding his head down, and still shy.

The boy was well aware he wouldn’t stand a chance. Sasha looked around at the others, seeing them looking at him with almost motherly compassion. She scanned the area, looking for the bully, but didn’t find any. Either there were no, or the one that pestered the life of the boy belonged to another group. She longed to ask Elias for the odd reaction, but for now, she just bowed.

“Let's try something else shall we?” Sasha said. She stepped forward, looking more closely at the boy, her brows drew together. “You are skilled in magic, aren’t you?”

Sasha took his hand in hers, closing her eyes. Something was disturbing with the magic evading from the boy.

“I can heal some”, he whispered. “Not especially good though.”

Sasha nodded and let go of him.

“Well, it feels good to know you will attend to the wounds you make”, she said and smiled brightly.

The boy was slow in his movements, but he was skilled with his sword. He did take the blows she threw at him with stoic patience. Not that he was a threat, but he was a good build tank, and surprisingly good at defending himself. Sasha danced around him like a hummingbird, giving him only light scratches before he countered her sword and steered it away with force.

Unfortunately for him, he was like the previous one, well trained, and played by the rules. Sasha sighed and teased him with the sword while she at the same time swept away his legs underneath him. Before he had the chance to regain his balance she had the tip of the sword at his throat.

Sasha gave him her hand, helping him up from the ground. She nodded towards him, acknowledging not the good work, but that he at least had tried.

“Well, why did he lose?” Sasha asked the group of the boys who had been looking, none of them seem eager to volunteer for a new round.

“You was the better one”, the first guy said, “Obviously, you have had a lot of training.”

Sasha nodded. The skill was toned. If not by training, then by practicing.

“And what was the biggest mistake you both made? As the king's men?”

The boys looked towards each other. They had fought very differently. They had not much in common at all.

When no one seemed to come up with the answer, Sasha turned around to Elias. She raised a brow.

“They tried to take you down,” Elias said, stepping closer. His hands caressed her shoulders, softly looking for injuries. “No men of the king should ever lay their hand on the coming queen.”

Immediately soft chatter filled the air. The boys looked at each other, sending glances Sasha’s way.

“No”, Sasha said. “Their biggest mistake was not to run.”

“Not to run?”

“Yes”, Sasha looked at the boys, her steely glare silencing them. “I am sure if I indeed would have been the queen, that I would have been more interested in finding out who my enemy was than finding a dead body.”

She brushed off Elias, despite already missing the warmth of his hand at her back.

They stayed for quite a while. Elias trained some with the boys, easing the atmosphere and getting some laughs out of them. Sasha enjoyed it as well. After their first shook they loosened up some, curious to how she had learned the skills they had sawn.

“What do you think about them?” Elias asked as they walked away from the camp.

“Why haven’t they trained him?” Sasha asked.

“So you felt it as well,” Elias said. He fell silent for a while pondering what he would say. “Magic senses come by blood, and his parents are common people.”

“Wouldn’t be the first infidelity” Sasha countered.

“No, that’s what everyone believes, but there is something twisted, something dark in the boy's healing,” Elias said. His jawline was hard and his hand's fists. “Something familiar.”

“You think someone has pushed the magic into the boy?” Sasha nodded. It did make sense. There was something about the way the boys had protected him. As if he was younger than them.

“Well, let your mother take a look at him when things settle in.”

“She already has. It almost killed him.” Elias said.

Sasha puts her hand o his shoulder, smiling at him.

“No Elias, I meant your real mother.”

Elias snorted and Sasha smiled sweetly.

“Give her a chance, will you. For me?”