Chapter 8 – Cora’s Past

The carriage bounced as it traveled down the dirt road.

“Cora, would you like a pillow to set on?” Randolph asked.

Randolph was my older brother and a knight in training. He looked down at me with his brown eyes and chiseled features. I could see why the maid’s of the house were always gossiping about him.

“Thanks, Randolph,” I said as I rubbed my bottom.

“No problem, I couldn’t bear to see my sweet little sister suffer so.”

I wasn’t used to such long rides in the carriage. We had quite a ways to travel. Lady Pricsa, the duke’s daughter, was hosting a tea party. This was an important event for her as this was her introduction into noble society. We were expected to mingle, make friends during this tea party, and build relationships among the other noble houses.

Even though I didn’t want to go, my father made me. “Socializing is an essential part of being a noble” I could see him lecturing me in my head. So here I was on this long carriage ride to the capital city of Strafton.

The carriage came to a stop, and shouting could be heard off in the distance outside the carriage.

Concerned, Randolph stepped out of the carriage.

He looked back at me. “Stay here.”

I nodded, staying behind in the carriage. Opening the small window on the carriage door, I peeked out to find out what was causing all the commotion.

Up ahead of us on the road, I could see several men surrounding a merchant’s wagon. An old man sat in the wagon next to him was what I assumed to be his wife and his two children. The two children were maybe seven or eight, about the same age as me. They cowered in fear from the men that surrounded the carriage and waved their swords.

Immediately I was struck with fear like any little child would have been. This was my first encounter with bandits. I lived a secluded life in my family’s mansion with only people I meet being either tutors, servants, or family. My head was racing with thoughts. What would they do when they were done with the merchant and his family? Would they come here and kill my brother and me? I began to shake with those thoughts racing through my mind.

Unlike me, my brother didn’t look the least bit scared. He stood tall, taking quick strides straight for the wagon. Watching him this way made all the fear wash from my body, and I couldn’t take my eyes away.

“Hey, Boy! We will get to you after we finish up here!” One of the bandits shouted. Sending my brother a dirty look.

Quickly Randolph made the rest of the way, positioning himself in between the three men and the merchant's family.

He gave the men a cold stare. “I am Randolph Wimark. As no one has been hurt, I will give you the chance to flee now.”

“Ha, some nobles too. Looks like today we have a good haul. How about this, you put down your sword, and we won’t make the young lass there watch as we kill you.”

Randolph removed his sword from his sheath and faced the men.

The words should have sent shivers down my spine. However, the knightly image of my brother was still seared into my mind. To me right now, he was the very definition of a knight. He exuded such confidence that I was filled with confidence too. I couldn’t imagine a scenario where he would lose.

“One of you would fetch a high enough price for us. Men, kill him.”

The other two men charged my brother, swinging their swords.

Randolph parried one of the men with his sword, and it let out a loud clang as the two swords came in contact. My brother then turned towards the other, raising his foot and kicking him directly in the stomach.

The man he kicked didn’t have enough time to react while he was charging my brother. He fell to the ground gasping for air as the other backed up after being parried.

I could tell from watching them that they were not skilled swordsmen. I had watched my brother practice with his tutor many times. The openings his tutor would always point out these men displayed in abundance.

The third man stepped forward. “Maybe we will leave you alive and kill your sister in front of you, runt.”

I didn’t think the cold stare my brother was giving them could get even darker, but it did. As soon as the word left the man’s lips, my brother began to move. He dodged past the two who had attacked him; before they could even move, he was upon the third man.

Randolph plunged his sword straight through the man's heart. The man tried to move away, but it was already too late. Letting out a gurgle, he fell to the ground.

The other two bandits turned around to see their boss slumping to the ground. Randolph turned back towards them with the same icy stare he had before. They didn’t even have enough time to react when he sprinted in between them.

The two men readied their swords, pointing them at Randolph. With a mix of fear and uncertainty in the eyes.

I couldn’t take my eyes off my brother. Even the gruesome combat, I couldn’t take my eyes away. Was this what knights were? People to protect the weak and wash away their fear.

“Surrender?” My brother asked.

The two men looked at each other, then dropped their weapons.

The merchant handed my brother some rope. Randolph used it to bind the living bandit's hands and tie them together.

My brother walked back to the carriage, his familiar gentle smile returned to his face.

“Hey Randolph, when we get back home, can I start training with you and your tutor?” I asked.

Randolph looked troubled for a moment before his smile returned.

“Sure, I’ll talk to father.”

♦♦♦♦♦

The clack of wooden swords being smacked together could be heard in the courtyard. Two people were engaged in a practice battle—a handsome young man and a young girl in her early teens. Sweat dripped from both of them as they danced around the courtyard.

“Watch your footwork,” Randolph said.

I looked down at my feet then felt the sting of a wooden sword slap my arm.

“Ouch! You told me to watch my footwork.”

“That doesn’t mean you can take your eyes off your opponent.”

I glared at my brother and swung my wooden sword at him.

He batted it away, knocking it from my hand. I looked to where my sword had fallen then felt his wood sword against my neck.

Randolph laughed. “Didn’t I just say don’t take your eyes off your opponent?”

Our sparring matches always ended like this. Randolph would give me a chance and danced around before he would brutally crush me when he noticed an obvious opening.

“You’re getting much better.” He said as he slapped my shoulder. “If you keep it up, you may even be as good as me one day.”

“Awfully full of yourself, aren’t you, brother.” I rolled my eyes.

“No really, you have improved a great deal. I’m actually impressed you are better than some of the men in my regiment.”

Randolph had finished his knight in training and joined the regiment of knights directly under the control of Duke Strafton. He had worked his way up to vice-captain. That was an influential position and propelled our family up in the ranks of the nobles. My brother was next in line to inherit the family name. On top of that, he was vice-captain of the soldiers that served directly under Duke Strafton.

“I’m beat, want to take a break and have some lunch?” Randolph asked.

It was around noon and time for lunch anyway, so I agreed.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s get some food.”

I took out the basket of food I had brought with us to the courtyard and handed Randolph a sandwich. Brother was away from the house most of the time with his new duties as vice-captain, so our time to practice and hang out was limited to the few times he got to return home.

I looked up to Randolph and asked, “How long till you have to leave again?”

“Tomorrow at the latest,” he sighed, “I wish I could stay longer, but I need to get back to Strafton.”

“Ugh… Can’t you stay a bit longer? I barely get to train with you anymore, and Dillion doesn’t put up much of a fight.”

“Hahaha… where is he? I haven’t spared with him in awhile. I think it would be fun.” Randolph eagerly looked around.

Dillion was my brothers' old tutor. After Randolph became a knight in training, my father had asked Dillion to stay and be my swordplay instructor. Whenever Randolph would come home, he mysteriously always had matters to attend to outside of the mansion, only to return once Randolph had left.

“When I told him you were coming home, he said he had business to attend to and wouldn’t be around.”

“Guess he didn’t want to spare.” Randolph let out another laugh. “Well, in any case, I’m glad you are doing so well in your training.

“Of course! I want to join the knights. I’ll at least have to be this good. Right?”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re plenty good.”

“Could you ask father then if I could become a knight in training?”

Looking away, Randolph furrowed his brow. Every time I asked father myself, he would just answer with “We’ll see” or ignore the question outright. Father must understand how I feel, right? He used to be in the same regiment that Randolph is now, just like grandfather before him. If Randolph tells him how hard I am working, he’ll have to let me join.

Reluctantly Randolph answered. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, you want another go?”

Only now I realized we had both finished our lunch.

“Sure, I’ll win this time!”

♦♦♦♦♦

I stood in my father’s large study. Behind a large oak desk sat my father. He had gotten a bit of a belly now that he had retired from the military, and you could tell his age from his peppered hair and beard. He stared at me as if he was deep in thought. Paperwork was scattered on the desk. I’d never understood his organizational method, but once I had tried to clean up in here for him, and he scolded me for moving things around.

“Good evening, father,” I said.

I wasn’t sure why my father had called me in here, but I was hoping it had to do with becoming a knight. I had asked Randolph several times to talk to father about it, and he said he would each time. Maybe he finally sees how much I want to be a knight and let me join the knights in training.

“Evening Cora.”

“A maid said you wanted to speak with me?”

“Oh right, it's about your knight's training.”

It really was about me becoming a knight. I could have jumped with joy if I wasn’t in front of my father. I would have been scolded again if I did.

“Yes, Father, I have been training hard.” I could hardly contain my excitement.

“Yes, Well, about that, you won’t be able to do that. You just had your 18th birthday not long again, and it is about time you married. If we wait much longer, no one will want your hand.”

“What!?!?” I blurted out furiously. I had spent all this time training, waiting for him to okay the next part of my training, and he was telling me now that I have to become a housewife.

“NO…No!” I shouted, “I will not be marrying anyone. I am going to become a knight, and only after I have become a knight, will I even think about marriage.”

I had never spoken to father this way, and he blinked a few times, shocked at my outburst. He stood up from behind his desk. The pressure he radiated could kill. I thought Randolph’s glare was scary, but father’s was like hell had frozen over.

“You will marry Marquess Claytree’s son Edgar, and that’s the end of it.” He said in a deep stern tone.

I was stiff with fear. I couldn’t believe I had talked to father like that. What was I thinking? No, No, I am going to become a knight. I shouldn’t be afraid of my father, and I will not be marrying someone I didn’t know.

“No, father,” I said as I matched his stare. “I will not be marrying anyone until I become a knight, and then only if I want to.”

Father’s anger seemed to subside somewhat after I had put my foot down.

“Cora, this is an important marriage. Your brother has raised our house's influence, and marrying into the Marquess house would be great for both of our families.”

What father said made sense. Our house was only a small barony, and with my brother’s rise through the ranks, it had painted a target on our back. Those who were jealous and envious would be coming out of the woodwork to use us. We would have a hard time declining an offer of an Earl or a Viscount. However, I wouldn’t abandon what I had worked so hard for.

“Father, I can’t. I can’t give up on my dream. I won’t; I’ll pursue it even if I don’t have your support.”

My father turned towards the window behind his desk and stared out the window. The sun was slowly setting out in the distance. I couldn’t see the expression he was making now, but the pressure in the room had subsided a great deal.

“Leave if you must then.”

The silence in the room was deafening.

“I will leave, father, I will.”

“Then Go!” he shouted, his voice slightly cracking.

With tears in my eyes, I ran to my room. Gathered my gear and what I could pawn for money and took off out of the mansion. I wasn’t sure where I should go, but in the stories I used to read, the knights that saved the day always got stronger in dungeons. That’s what I would do. I would go to the closest dungeon and train. I would become stronger and show my father I could become a knight.

♦♦♦♦♦

Lord Wimark’s Viewpoint:

I slammed my fist down on my desk, startling Everly, the maid standing next to me.

“This is ridiculous!” I shouted.

“What is my Lord?” the Everly asked.

“This!” Showing her the letter I was holding. The Marquess Claytree sent a letter demanding that Cora and Randolph be married into his family in no uncertain terms. Being as he was of a higher rank, I wouldn’t be able to tell him no.

“That vile man! He thinks of his own children only as pawns!” I spat.

I crumbled up the letter and threw it on the desk. “I can’t tell him, no, he will just have me killed and do it anyway.”

Everly came over and rubbed my back. “We will figure something out. I love that girl as if she were my own daughter. I won’t let some man treat her as a pawn even if he is a Marquess.”

Her gentle, reassuring smile calmed my nerves. Everly had been in my service since before the children’s mother passed. We had slowly gravitated towards each other over the years, but I wouldn’t be able to come out and wed her due to our positions.

“Then, we need an excuse to refuse,” I suggested. “If Cora were to run away, that would throw a wrench in his plans.”

Everly gave me a quizzical look. “How does that ruin his plans?”

I explained to Everly that with Randolph’s recent achievements, the Marquess was likely attempting to absorb our family name. By having Randolph and Cora married into his family, he would essentially absorb our noble house into his. By naming Randolph as his successor and having Croa marry into his family too. However, if Cora didn’t marry into their family, she would still carry on my family name and continue to be my successor.

“If she were to just venture out on her own, there would be nothing I could do, and if the Marquess doesn’t get both of them, then it will just be a wasted attempt on his part and will likely not waste his pawn marry her off to my son.” I shrugged.

♦♦♦♦♦

“No, father,” Cora said as matching my stare. “I will not be marrying anyone until I become a knight, and then only if I want to.”

Everly had summoned Cora to my study. The plan was to give her an ultimatum. She either gives up on her dream and marries Marquess Claytree’s son or goes off on her own. As a father, I didn’t want to push my little girl away like this. If I were to tell her the truth, she was naive enough to think there was a way to bring justice down on Claytree.

If I knew my daughter, though, she wouldn’t let me destroy her dream. She would fight for it with everything she had. Randolph said she has made substantial progress and is actually a better fighter then some of the knights in his regiment. If I were to send her out into the world, she could handle it.

“Cora, this is an important marriage. Your brother has raised our house's influence, and marrying into the Marquess house would be great for both of our families.”

“Father, I can’t. I can’t give up on my dream. I won’t; I’ll pursue it even if I don’t have your support.”

I turned to the window behind my desk, staring out across the horizon, the sun setting off in the distance. Holding back the tears, trying to form in my eyes. I couldn’t let her see me like this.

“Leave if you must then.”

There was a silence that seemed to last for an eternity, and I was slowly breaking. I wanted to turn around and hug my darling little girl, but this was for her own good. I had to play the part of the bad guy right now.

“I will leave, father, I will.”

“Then Go!” I shouted, tears now running down my cheeks.

Cora stormed out of the room without so much as a goodbye. I looked over to Everly, and she looked like she was in as much pain as me.

“She will be alright?” I asked

“I’m sure she will be. She has grown into such a fine, strong woman.” Everly forced a smile, trying to reassure me or maybe herself.