Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress of Ashtown

Loner by Necessity

"Oh, man! That was some fight! I don't think I've seen a spar like that in a while!" Christo praised Caspian as they walked down the hall toward their dorm room. The day was over, classes had ended, and it was time for the students to get their rest. Most of them would need it, since the next day promised to be just as grueling as this day had been. "I can't believe you actually beat an instructor! I mean, I know you're good and everything, but still... beating an instructor is something else. I'm impressed."

Caspian felt a small bit of elation at the praise. He would admit it felt good, but he couldn't let that get to him. This man might have been friendly now, but that was only because he had yet to show his true colors. All nobles were the same; arrogant and deceitful. They couldn't be trusted.

Caspian had learned that the hard way. Christo was not the first person who'd tried this tactic—getting close to him, pretending to be his friend, only to stab him in the back. He would not allow himself to be deceived. Never again.

"I don't see why you're so excited about something like that," Caspian grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Even when asking a question Christo sounded abnormally sunny. "Of course I would be excited! You just beat an instructor! Those guys might not have become a Sorceress's Knight, but they're still pretty hardcore. Not just anyone can take one of them on and win, especially Murdok. I heard the only reason he didn't become a Sorceress' Knight was because his Sorceress was assassinated before the Knighting Ceremony could take place."

"I just got lucky," Caspian replied with the same nonchalance Christo had come to expect from him. The young teen with the roguish attitude was as cool as a cucumber, rarely showing any emotion—aside from annoyance and irritation. He had been that way for as long as the cheery noble had known him. "Instructor Murdok was angry and wasn't thinking clearly. That's the only reason I won."

That, and he had been training his butt off in order to show up those arrogant instructors who always told him that he was a pathetic waste of space. They'd been screwing him over for far too long. No way was he going to keep putting up with the way they belittled him. If they were going to fight him with fire, well, he was just going to have to douse them with a cold dose of reality.

Christo just chuckled at him. "So you say, but we both know otherwise. After all, you aren't ranked number two in our school for no reason."

"If you say so." Caspian decided to just drop the subject. This wasn't something he enjoyed talking about. It had nothing to do with being uncomfortable or modest. He just didn't like being the topic of discussion. It happened far too often for his liking.

All around him, people stopped and stared as he walked by them.

"Do you see him?"

"The one with the bandana?"

"Yes, that's Caspian Sol."

"Really? That's the peasant boy?"

"Hmph. He certainly looks like a peasant. You can tell from the way he walks that he's of an ignoble breed."

Caspian tried to block out the noise. How many times had these words been spoken? These people didn't disguise their conversation. He was positive they did this on purpose; talking loudly enough for him to hear whenever he walked by. It was their way of letting him know that he didn't belong there, that he didn't belong with them.

"Hey, man, don't mind these people," Christo said in a loud voice. He threw an arm over Caspian's shoulder. "They're just a bunch of idiots who don't know what they're talking about. Pay them no mind."

"I don't care what they say," Caspian said, his voice hollow. "I never have."

The look Christo gave him told Caspian how much the other boy believed him.