Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 6i

This dedication goes to belladonnafox, a recent and most veracious reader. I'm not normally a reader of Urban Fantasy, so my first steps into her work was quite tentative, but my initial apprehension was soon cast aside. 'Guardians - Book 1. Magic rising' is very much a grown up member of the genre. It is dark and intelligent, and the Juxtaposition of its fantasy and more mundane elements are a joy to read. Please do check it out.

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Grifford kicked the wooden wall of the training-arena for the third or fourth time, then slumped down into the long grass that surrounded it. The sun was well clear of the horizon, and he had been waiting since before its top edge had begun to show, just as Master Sprak had demanded. His early presence had not been in deference to the High Madriel-master's wishes, however. He had simply been eager to begin his training.

No one had come or gone from the training-grounds for two hours, and it was only when the air began to grow warm and the shadows started to shorten, that he saw anyone at all. First, a group of Field-hands rode through from the direction of the Enclosures, and each one looked at him quizzically as they passed. Grifford glared back defiantly. A few Madriel-masters came and went, but none came over to him or said a word to acknowledge his presence. Then there was a growling and discontented hissing as some young madriel were driven down the fenced causeway that ran through the centre of the training-grounds. Grifford could not tell, through the causeway's close set railings, if any of them was his beast.

"Hello, brother!" said a bright voice.

He turned swiftly to see his sister standing demurely behind him. She was not wearing one of her usual newly dishevelled dresses, but instead had on a tunic, with trousers tucked into tall boots. She also wore a hunting tunic, though not the accompanying corset.

"Where have you been?" he snapped.

"Sleeping and having breakfast. Why?"

"Master Sprak said we should be here at sunrise."

"No, he did not."

"Yes, he did."

"No, he did not. He said we should be here at first light, which according to the rules of the Enclosures, as I am sure you will remember from your lessons, is the time the sun rises high enough over the first arena wall so that its light touches the ground inside. Today, that is seventeen minutes past nine. I know, because I checked."

His sister gave him her brightest, most annoying smile.

"You have not been waiting here for three hours have you!"

"Might have."

"Oh you idiot boy! And l bet you have not even eaten breakfast. Well it is lucky that I brought some for you."

She patted the pouch hanging from her belt.

"Come and sit down. You cannot train your beast on an empty stomach."

She went to sit in the shade of the nearest arena, and Grifford, bereft of any good argument, went and sat down beside her. As he did, he silently cursed the words of master Sprak, which had almost certainly been intentionally deceptive. Tahlia handed him a hunk of bread and a squashed wrapping of ghat cheese, and then unstrapped her water bottle and dropped it in his lap. He picked up the bread and ate.

While Tahlia broke off a nearby grass head and began to pull the green seeds from it to see how far she could flick each one, Grifford opened the cheese wrapper. He looked inside, grimaced at its mangled contents, and threw it down. He continued eating the bread in silence.