She was determined.
I thought the Princess would give up on the training after the first day. She got tired early, and the next day the fatigue and muscle ache set in. She didn't complain as much as I expected though, and stopped playing the slavedriver. My palfrey had more time to rest.
"Okay, Cath, I'm ready." She announced, finishing her lunch. It was her third day of training. "Hand me the waterskin."
"We are a bit low..." I noted, giving her a flask instead. "The previous river seemed dirty, but there is a spring nearby. According to this map, the stream flows parallel to the Imperial Road."
She focused more on learning from me than looking for the Pope. We kept traveling deeper into Saipole but had yet to meet sentient beings. It was a huge country, and the fringes were deserted, as most of the continent.
"Should we wait until we get a refill first?" She asked, glancing at the map. I had a much better idea. Her arms must have been sore anyway.
"I think it would be best to work on your endurance today," I claimed, gathering our stuff. "It's not all just swinging the sword after all, you need to be able to outlast your opponents or fight after a forced march."
"Aww, but that's boring." She complained. Yes, she was the Princess I knew. "You want me to run a mile or something? Or do some trivial workout? I want to learn sword techniques."
"One mile? No, more like ten." I noted, rubbing my hands. "If Your Highness can still remember, all my latest fights happened after a long march or against multiple opponents. No matter my skill with the sword, if I lose my breath after the first few swings."
"Ten miles?" She was shocked. Ten miles was a little extreme, but we traveled a lot lately, so she should have been up to the task. She wasn't particularly keen on it though.
"Ten miles until the stream. I'll refill our waterskins, then we can start the actual sword training." I announced. I wanted to see how determined she was exactly... Since she demanded I train her, I was happy to oblige, but only if we did it seriously. "Or you'll remain thirsty..."
"You monster." She declared but started her preparations. She got rid of her heavy cloak and stretched her legs. I packed everything on the palfrey, and we were off running. She seemed surprised. "Huh, you are coming too? And in armor as well?"
"I'd be the worst trainer if I didn't do the same, what I expect from my soldiers," I noted, leading my horse alongside us. This way it could rest some too. We overworked the poor thing lately, and my armor set was light. I had heavier dresses back in Sanctuary... As a high-ranking officer, I had to attend lots of annoying parties. "Once your stamina built up, we could combine endurance and sword training. A light duel across ten miles."
"L-let's not get ahead of ourselves..." She lost her enthusiasm but did everything I asked of her. I never would have thought. She always seemed to be the annoying brat type, spoiled rotten, and abusing her powers to the max. "I'm aware, that I won't become a paladin in a single day. This wasn't just a passing whim, I plan for the long term."
"I'm glad to hear that. I didn't expect such a request from Your Majesty." I nodded and barely avoided a punch. Her aim was good, but she was way too slow. "Sorry, I know. I keep forgetting it."
"As long as nobody can hear it..." She let it slide, maybe because she was already out of breath, a mere five minutes into our jogging session. "How far is... The capital of... Saipole?"
"Well, we won't get there at the end of this ten-mile run," I said jokingly. "It's near the north-eastern corner of the continent... If I have to guess, about five hundred miles. But hard to say if there are still people living there. Let's make it to that stream, and maybe we can cool ourselves off in it."
"So we are... About... Half way there?" She kept insisting on talking. I hoped she wouldn't get dizzy and fall over suddenly. "We made... Roughly... Five hundred... Miles so far... Right?"
"That's a generous estimate, but yes... Between around four hundred and four hundred and fifty, I guess." I nodded. At first, I thought she meant half of our running session, but we only started. She barely kept up with me. "I'm surprised you knew..."
"I'm... Not... That... Hopeless." She claimed, wheezing already. Her face was red, and she was sweating a lot. We were less than ten minutes in, but she wasn't slowing down. I had to praise her somehow.
"Oh, it's not what I meant..." I protested, trying to think of something nice. "It just seemed Your Highness was down in the dumps the whole time... I thought you weren't paying attention to where we were..."
I evaded another punch. It was less fierce than the first one, but I called her the wrong name. She seemed like she tried to complain, but no voice could escape her lips.
"Sorry, I know." I apologized at least. "Should we take a break?"
"How much... Did we run?" She asked.
"Um... About a mile?" I answered. I hated to disappoint her, but we were still at the start. "But early on, it's normal to walk half the distance. Don't force yourself, that would hurt more than you could gain from it."
That did it. She suddenly collapsed and laid out in the grass, and struggled for air. I didn't tell her to stop though.
"I said walking, not sleeping!" I yelled, trying to drag her to her feet.
"I can't... I'm dying." She protested, letting herself go completely.
"This is how you can get cramps... Or a cold," I warned her but was willing to allow some rest. "If Your Majesty manages to stand up and walk, I can offer you more water..."
She punched into the air, her lowest effort so far. She closed her eyes, her face all sweaty and red. She gathered her strength.
"It's Elizabeth." She said. "Why can't you call me by my name?"
"Ah... Um... Force of habit." I explained. It was... Ever since I enlisted in the Church's army, they forced me to respect the higher ranks, and there wasn't much higher than being the last remaining Princess of Cranta. She demanded us to keep her rank in mind too, but now she wasn't satisfied with my answer. She opened her eyes only to glare at me. "I'll try my best... Elizabeth."
"Good..." She sighed, slowly collecting herself. "It's not like I told you to call me Lizzy or anything... It's just my name... Use it properly."
"Yes, Ma'am." I smiled. She reached her arm towards me, and I pulled her up from the ground. "Let us continue then. How about we walk to that ruin, then try some more running?"
"I'm not going anywhere until you give me that water you promised." She announced hands on her hips. This had me laugh, and I handed her the waterskin. "This barely has anything in it."
"You can drink as much as you want once we get to the stream." I reminded her. At least she was a little more motivated to continue. I didn't let her walk lazily either. She couldn't catch her breath by the end. "All right, let's run some more."
We had to slow down and even stop a few more times but reached the stream. Normally, it would have taken me an hour, maybe one and a half. Her first attempt was closer to two and a half, but she didn't give up.
Her entire body steamed though. Losing her composure, she stripped off most of her garments and jumped into the stream once we finally got there. She didn't even check the water beforehand and screamed cold. I decided to set up a campfire before filling up our waterskins. I couldn't have her get sick in this early autumn weather.
She finished playing and ran to warm herself up, by the time the flames vigorously danced. Her hair got wet, leaking the dye I used to hide its unique color. I also warmed some food, and she wolfed it down without a question.
"See, even your appetite is much better after jogging." I laughed. "And we just had lunch, before setting out."
"Ifs bheen haaf a gey." She claimed, her mouth stuffed with food.
"It was less than three hours." I shook my head, still smiling. "This time needs to improve a lot. One hour would be ideal."
"Han wour? Imhossibu." I couldn't imagine seeing the Princess gobble her food like this before, let alone talking like this. While she always acted like a brat, she took the etiquette seriously.
"We'll just have to practice until your stamina gets better." I nodded, satisfied with her performance overall. "Once you finish, and dry yourself, we can move on to the sword training."
She didn't answer this time, maybe didn't hear from all the chewing or pretended not to listen... But I could grant her a little rest. I still needed to fill our water supply and wanted to bathe. The stream was crystal clear and rather cold, but it felt nice after our ten miles.
The spring must have been close since the other bodies of water seemed a lot dirtier. The only exception was the little stream of Nateaser... I wondered how they kept it that clean in the middle of the forest and was curious about how they were doing now. I hoped they didn't abuse Lambert as much as our Elder did, always having him treat the wounded and order him around.
"Hey, Cath. What's the holdup? Aren't you ready yet?" The princess demanded right as I finished with everything. She seemed eager to continue. "I'll be borrowing your sword this time. You get the scabbard."
"Fine by me." I giggled. So far we did it the other way around since the scabbard was lighter than the falchion. She realized it quickly, trying to unsheath it. She refused to complain though. I felt proud. "All right, let's get started, Elizabeth."
"Finally!" She yelled and started her bargaining. "If I can land a hit on you, you'll teach me a prayer as a reward."
"That's not how prayers work..." I tried to explain, but she attacked. Well, it didn't matter much. If she wanted to learn them after landing a hit that wouldn't happen anytime soon...