Why did Alexandra always run into the wrong people?
Three days after her meeting with the Commander, Alexandra got the information of when and where Jessica and Patrick were going to meet. She had set up Jack, a trustworthy fourth year - to bring her the intelligence.
Apparently, Jessica was going to meet Patrick in the Military Camp - a small forest area just behind the camp was where they always met. It was secluded and quiet. Just perfect for them.
Back to the initial question - why did Alexandra always run into the wrong people?
Like for instance, why did she run into Liam on her way?
Goodness alone knew.
This time, it was on her way to the Military camp. Mid-December, cold, dry winds blew the whole days out. Nobody came out into the streets much.
The Military Camp was a long way from the Council. It was part of the whole Military Block - which included the Military Barracks, Military Headquarters, Military Mess, Military Arena and the Military Meeting Hall.
The rest were fine, but in the Military Arena, as all the "dangerous" men went about showcasing their immense skill and talent, the one particular person she had to collide with was Liam.
'Sorry!' Was what Alexandra squeaked - not quite realizing who it was, but with so many aggressive males around, it was always better to be a bit well-mannered. Then she looked up - saw the familiar face. But Alexandra had not even been able to complete her sigh of relief when Liam lost his marbles.
At least that was what Alexandra thought happened - in that split moment. She had been holding Moira under her cloak, anyhow. Liam had taken one look at her, he himself was only armed with a dagger - one look and then,
SLASH!
He slashed his dagger in the air - Alexandra jumped back, had she not, she would have been back with Nurse Rose.
And then, Hell broke loose.
Liam was pushing her so hard - all Alexandra could do was keep away from that blade. All her practice was futile - she had never seen such an unconventional dagger-use.
'Come on, duel with full strength. Disarm me.' He muttered, his golden eyes glittering menacingly.
Alexandra's mouth opened in surprise at that. What was going on? A sudden duel?
Disarm?!
Could that even be done? Given the speed, the skill and the danger, Alexandra seriously doubted it.
But she could try, if this was only a practical test. Liam wasn't going kill her, for sure. And this was an Arena - people practiced here.
Besides, it was fun.
Alexandra had half a view of somebody else - maybe the person who'd been earlier dueling with Liam. He had a perfect I don't know what in the world is happening look. Alexandra would have laughed - had she not been so busy in saving herself.
She ducked - she had a hazy memory of teaching people to duck, she turned and bent down, flipping over. Alexandra had never exerted herself so much in a dagger duel. They had always been easy for her.
Five minutes of the duel was how much it took for Alexandra to get out of breath. The bind of her hair broke loose, scattering her face with the dark, reddish chestnut brown hair. She blew them away, exasperated.
'Come on, a bit more Alexandra,' Liam meanwhile smirked. Then she realized that he was toying with her. That if Liam came upto his full potential, she wouldn't last for ten seconds.
That, was the breaking point. She hadn't been ready for a duel anyhow. And then again, she was trying - he had had this training for like how much - twenty years? Fifteen years? Alexandra had how much - barely three years, four years at most.
Alexandra twirled Moira in her right hand, and struck - she missed, but then the duel domination changed. Alexandra pushed - for her part, she wasn't angered fast. But once she was, she didn't cool down fast either. And a pretty hot lump of anger kept boiling in her all that time.
She had almost won.
Almost.
Alexandra had pushed Liam behind, strike after strike. He was grinning brightly all the time, not allowing her to close in but submissively moving back. That had always been Alexandra's speciality, she took time to get used to the opponent, but once she did, it was difficult to stop her.
And then, when only the final strike was left - the intensity was on a different plane altogether - she had pushed the grinning Liam back enough. And one strike was all that she needed. But that one blow had to be on place. Otherwise, everything would go for a toss.
Check! Alexandra thought, as she raised Moira up, above herself. Her strike would fall in place, there was no way it could go wrong.
But there was always a way.
Alexandra had been so engrossed in her upper body, in fighting with Moira - she forgot Master George's first direction of Combat Training. She forgot that your body is your first and best weapon.
She didn't realize how Liam had positioned himself: the lower half of his right leg touching the lower half of her left. As soon as Alexandra raised Moira up, he widened the gap between his feet and since Alexandra's left foot was right after it, her legs got pushed apart too.
Alexandra used the worst curse she knew of as she landed in a full split on the ground. And when she had put her hands down - they were empty.
Check Mate! She hadn't even realized when Liam had disarmed her.
'Fine!' She relented, accepting defeat. She somewhere realized that Liam had only been bored of fighting that single man over and over again. So he had changed his opponent. At the same time, given Alexandra a reality check. It was time she worked a tad bit harder.
'Now explain,' she nevertheless said, getting up, looking around for Moira. Alexandra didn't have any mood for a trial now. It had only been ten minutes, but it felt like an hour.
'The Emperor of this land can certainly assess the dexterity of his Exclusive Agents.' Liam shrugged, he looked at her provokingly. Almost like he was seeing if Alexandra would do the mistake of flying at him angrily.
'Yes,' she agreed calmly, massaging her shoulder. 'But you know I don't understand that language. Explain in my language - and yes, get my dagger.' And Alexandra waved him off in an emperors work for me gesture.
'I simply meant,' Liam explained, handing her Moira, goodness knew from where. 'That I was testing you. Added to the fact that I really was a bit bored. But,' he nodded seriously, 'I didn't expect this much improvement in four years. Very good, impressive. Now you should go back to tailing the Commander's daughter.' He suggested.
Alexandra almost dropped Moira again, 'How do you know I'm going there?'
'I know much of what happens in Idgard,' the annoying know-it-all repeated, with a small shrug. Then he patted Alexandra on the shoulder twice, returning to his earlier dueler in order to explain the woman he had all of a sudden started dueling.
* * *
Alexandra now needed a shoulder to cry on. And she used the very first one she found.
Kane was still in supervisory - and he was the first familiar face Alexandra caught. She walked over to him, it was pitch black outside, more than nine at night, and sat down, pulling out a chair.
'Hello,' Kane said, not looking at her face properly, he stamped a few pages. 'You're still here?' He then asked, it was his Night Shift today.
'What would you do Kane,' Alexandra asked, looking into the distance as her eyes brimmed over and one thin, round tear oozed out, leaving a watery trail on her cheek. 'If you found out that a man was cheating your Sister?'
Kane still hadn't looked at her properly, he raised his hand to stamp another sheet, but then he heard Alexandra's last line and looked over.
His reserved blue eyes softened in a split second.
'Mabel,' he said, standing up and walking over to her. 'What's bothering you?'
'Just what I said!' Alexandra replied, her voice shaking as she hastily wiped the tears, 'That William Atkinson is cheating on Betty!'
Kane didn't know who William Atkinson and Betty were, but Alexandra applauded his patience.
'And Betty's your sister?' He asked.
'She's good as one!'
'Tell me the whole thing Mabel. Right from the start,'
Alexandra did, 'Betty is engaged to him, she's an heiress. And - this William Patrick Atkinson - he - he,' Alexandra voice shook. Kane's hand slid to her waist and he pulled out her dagger from its sheath, putting it on the table.
A wise move, because Alexandra was extremely angry.
'He - he is also engaged to Jessica! The Commander's daughter. That evil, vile dog-'
'Thinks he will take your Sister's property, ditch her and then give it as dowry to the Commander, marry his daughter, and become the most influential figure of Idgard - the Commander's Charming Son-in-law. From a mere soldier, to the leader of the Military. Good as the Emperor's brother.' Kane completed.
Alexandra burst into fresh tears, so unlike her, but she couldn't digest those cruel fact, 'Yes!' She sobbed, 'How will I face Betty?! What will I tell her?'
'Mabel,' Kane said, putting a hand on her shoulder. 'You say your friend's a heiress, isn't she?'
Alexandra nodded,
'In that case,' Kane continued, 'she has got to be practical and smart. Heiresses are the prime targets of our society - they are believed to be foolish, stupid geese who have just stumbled upon wealth. Every second person will want to wrest it away from them. She has to learn to live her own life - her own way.'
'I know!' Alexandra said, 'But you didn't see her, she's so simple, she's so very believing and naïve - Kane, this Atkinson was the first time she truly felt loved. And telling her that - that he was just feigning it - that he was only after her money - Kane, I'm scared she'll do something foolish. She'll blame herself - she'll - she'll punish herself for that man's dirty game!'
'Get up,' Kane told her. 'Up, up.' He said, when Alexandra didn't register, she got up, 'We're right away going to this Sister of yours. I don't care how late it is,'
'Kane, she'll not be able to handle it!'
'Mabel, you are not understanding her! If there is a thorn in your path - it will hurt you either ways. But if someone tells us in advance, "there's a thorn in your way," at least we're ready for the pain.'
'You're - you're right - but the Night Shift-'
'As for that, we're waking up Ventocks and putting him to the job,'
'That's ragging!'
'That's taking advantage of your senior-hood.'
* * *
'Kane, last chance,' Alexandra said, as they approached the handsome building. 'Let's go back.'
In reply, Kane walked over to the door and knocked.
'Does anybody remain in the hall?' He asked,
'Could be - it's not very late,' Alexandra replied, looking down and rubbing her palms together.
Yes, there was. When Kane knocked again, they heard the latch click from inside.
Stunning Sarah opened up. Her hair was pulled into another messy bun - but this one was really messy. Tendrils of golden-blonde hair fell onto her face sides and her brilliant blue eyes were a bit sunken, like she hadn't slept for a long time. A quill was stuck above her right ear and her dress was old - and ink stained, like she had tried to see if the quills were working by scribbling on her skirt, or had used the dress to store Ink Tablets.
'Yes?' She asked, seeing Kane. 'How may I help you?' Not at all bothered by the look of her dress.
Alexandra knew lots of people who were stunning without trying to be... on the top of the list of such people was the particular person she had dueled that morning. Alexandra didn't know somebody could appear so attractive after hours of sweating and fighting.
'You can't be Betty,' Kane said, meanwhile, bursting Alexandra's bubble of appreciation.
'Of course I'm not,' Sarah replied.
'Sarah,' Alexandra said, coming forward.
'Mabel!' Sarah squeaked, throwing herself upon the spy, then she left her. 'But - at this time... come in, first of all...'
'Yes,' Alexandra said. 'Come on,' She told Kane, 'Sarah, this is Kane - my senior,'
Sarah nodded, 'Nice to me you, Mr-'
'Alden.'
'Alden.' Sarah agreed, 'You were looking for Betty?'
'Yes,' Alexandra said, 'Kane-' Kane raised his eyebrows. 'And I have got to talk to her. It's very, very important - very, very urgent.'
'Er - she told me not to disturb her - she was feeling unwell and jittery. She's afraid - something - something bad is going to happen,'
Alexandra looked at Kane, who looked at Sarah.
'Still, Miss Sarah. We have to talk to her,' He told her, rather politely.
Sarah looked hesitant for a second, then she nodded, 'I'll get her.' And left.
Alexandra looked around the house, then her eyes fell on the manuscript Sarah was scribbling at,
'Ariana looked around her, uninterrupted darkness surrounded her. The deafening silence was punctuated by only her high heeled soles falling upon the unsteady glass floor. Any one of the huge birds of prey, circling the ceiling could swoop down that instant and rip her to pieces, the coyotes following her could reappear, the glass floor itself could break underfoot. A hundred things could go wrong, yet- she held on to the silver strand of hope. She kept putting one leg after the other, calming herself, she kept hoping against hope that she would find Leila and they would return home. The hope that everything would be fine once again,' She read out, 'Just like us- a hundred things can go wrong. And here we are, trying to tell Betty-'
'Because we have a silver strand of hope too, that your sister will gather her life again and live on own her terms.'
If Alexandra wondered why Kane was taking such a special interest in Betty all of a sudden, she decided it was best not to ask. She heard a pair of footsteps coming closer and closer, descending the steps.
Betty turned around the corridor. She wore a white skirt, her hair looked like messed up bushes crumpled into a ponytail.
'At this time? Mabel - everything is fine, isn't it?' She asked,
'Betty...' Alexandra began, but Kane put a hand on her shoulder and fixed her with an I better I handle this look. She nodded. 'Betty, this is Kane - my senior, and one of my closest friends. We have got - something to tell you.'
'And I have a feeling it isn't happy news,' Betty agreed, nodding grimly.