Isildilia.(Book 1 of the White Lily trilogy)

Chapter 21- The giant's bridge

"Seen who?"

"All dem ocean dwel'rs. They be travilin' up river." Valin looked bewildered.

"Why?"

"Where yous been thee' last few weeks. Every'ne gatherin'. For 'er Majest's arrival." Isildilia tensed at her mention.

"It's supposed to be a private function," he snapped. "Has the whole Kingdom been invited?"

"Don't get snippy wit' me. I is not even going. Too much work to be done 'er."

"Jolkef! Just lower it already!" The door finally opened fully so Isildilia could see what Jolkef was.

He wasn't the most pleasant creature to come across. It was probably why he was spending his life alone. He stood hunched over and held his head low. His lower jaw protruded over his top one, showing a row of broken yellow teeth. His right eye was slightly bigger than his left and even bulged from his head. His ears were pointed, and his nose long and crooked. His skin itself looked like that of a warty toad, neither green nor grey. He wore what looked like brown overalls, and carried a large bunch of keys on his left hip. Isildilia had to try and hold back her initial reaction of seeing him. But Froyza retreated a little and Dakelo wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Ye, I always get t'at kinda reaction." He looked at Valin and twirled his hand. 'Nijli nathize unt tatk grόli Valin."

"Nijli nathize unt tatk grόli Jolkef," he replied in a similar fashion. Isildilia recognised those words now from Valin's teachings.

"You know I demand payment,"Jolkef pointed out.

"And you shall get it. But first I need something you have in your possession."

"I is havin' many things in my possession. Wut exactly is it you is lookin' for?" He indicated for them to follow in.

It was very cramped inside. The small house was crammed with junk, piled up to the roof. Valin tried to look for the items he sought. A huge pile of skulls collapsed as Valin pushed his way past.

"C'reful clumsie, I spent a lota time collection those. Is surprising wut ends up in the river."

"There it is," he said, pointing at something sticking out.

Jolkef scratched his head. "That thing..." He climbed across the chasms of mess and dislodged it. Once he removed it, Isildilia could see that it was a longbow. It was made of dark wood and oiled to perfection. Jolkef tossed it to Valin, who threw it to her. It was olive green with a curved blue handle; it was a strange shape for a bow, more of a M shape than one smooth curve.

"What is this for?" she asked.

"It's for you, of course." He told her to hold it out at arm's length, which was difficult in the cramped conditions. "A perfect length," he commented.

"I suppos' you be wantin the arrows to go wit it den?" Without a response he started to dig around. It was minutes before he found them. A neatly embodied red quiver full of arrows, each tipped with bright blue feathers.

"They are beautiful. But I don't know how to use them," she admitted.

"Don't worry, practice makes perfect."

"Oi! Dn't you be forgetting, I want payment," Jolkef reminded them.

Valin groaned. "How about this once..."

"No! I want payment," he demanded. Valin scratched his head, and then started to sort through the bags. It was a while before Jolkef found something he wanted; a silver dagger with a curved blade and a red pommel. It had never been used before and so it still glistened with a mirror like sheen. He seemed delighted in his payment.

"You may go now, barrier is down," he snapped his fingers and outside there was the sound similar to a door grinding open.

"Thank you. Let's go." Jolkef slammed the door as they left.

"Charming character," Dakelo stated.

"No wonder he lives on his own," said Froyza. Valin smiled but said nothing more.

Later that night, Isildilia set into practice. It was bad enough trying to learn swordplay; now she has to learn archery. Her arm shook as she held the bow string taunt by her ear. The arrow shot through the air without a sound, but missed her target by yards. Valin had set it up before, with fallen trunks, painting numerous targets on them for her to attack.

"It was better that time," Dakelo said. Isildilia scowled.

"This isn't easy," she told him. He shrugged once, and then continued his combat training with Valin.

"The key is breathing. As you breathe your aim moves up and down. So try and.... Hey, that didn't count." Valin was interrupted as Dakelo landed a punch on his left cheek, almost knocking him completely over. The two of them were busy in their own combat training, a simple fist fight. Isildilia giggled silently to herself as she was distracted by the boisterous fight. It reminded her so much of her brothers that in seconds the cheery mood was swamped in a moody thundercloud, knowing that she could never again belong with them. She felt her mood darken even further when, by the end of practice, she still missed her targets.

Eventually Dakelo sat down, but Valin still had energy to spare.

"Your turn now," he said to her, jumping on his toes like he was trying to put out a fire. She glanced up at him, her voice escaped as a snap from her bad mood.

"My turn to what?"

"If you get caught out without any weapons you must still learn how to fight." He held up his fists to her, ignoring her mood.

"You're joking?" He shook his head, a foolish grin appearing on his face. "So, not only do you have me studying creatures, plants, medicine, languages, etiquette, mind communication, earth magic, swordplay and now archery, you want to add fist fighting to the list!"

"It is rather unfair, a bit overwhelming to expect so much," Dakelo defended her.

"A lot more will be expected of you once we get you home. The better prepared you are the better it will be for both of us." Suddenly she did feel in the mood to punch him. She wordlessly unbuttoned her cloak and tossed it across to Dakelo.

"That's the spirit." Isildilia was used to rough and tumble fighting, both with her brothers as well as some other street children. But nothing compared to fighting Valin. Fifteen minutes later she still had yet to land a punch on him. She understood why even Dakelo had a hard time fighting him. He moved faster than any human did and easily predicted her moves.

"You aren't focusing enough. You need to put more effort into the aim, rather than the force."

"I'm trying," she moaned. The longer the fight went on, the more she wanted to hit him.

"Trying isn't enough; an enemy wouldn't allow you to have 'breathers', they wouldn't waste any time..." Isildilia ran over whilst Valin was occupied with his lecturing and, without thinking, brought her knee up into his groin. The three of them looked on in pained silence, as Valin fell forwards onto his knees, tears streaming from his face.

"Now that is unfair," Dakelo flinched, wincing on Valin's behalf.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking. The opportunity presented itself when you were talking too much." she explained.

Valin stood up, slowly and carefully. "No, it's fine," he wheezed. "I think that will be all for tonight," he concluded and then staggered away in pain.

Isildilia couldn't help but feel slightly pleased; it helped her mood at least.

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