Iris woke up the next morning to the incessant clanging of weapons. She opened her eyes slowly as she sat up and immediately found the source of the noise.
Kayde was dueling Dregar... and winning. Iris could tell that much from the moment she laid eyes on the two figures. Dregar had a layer of sweat on his forehead and was panting while Kayde was still swinging effortlessly. The whole scouting group was already geared up and watching them fight, including the general.
"Damn," Dregar said and swung his sword again, and even though the blow looked very finesse and solid, Kayde deflected it.
It didn't take Kayde awfully long to completely disarm Dregar. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, laughing a little and chattering among themselves.
"Where did you learn to wield a blade like that?" Dregar shook Kayde's hand, respect clouding his eyes.
Kayde pulled up his sleeve to show the tattoo on his bicep. Immediately Dregar's face paled, and Iris wondered why seeing it had affected him so much. Dregar quickly spoke before Kayde could say anything.
"You're a Remorda Guardian," he said, "Of course you're so damned good with that sword, what in the hell are you doing here?"
This made everyone stop talking, and stare at Kayde. Judging by the reactions, Iris wondered if she was perhaps the only one there that had not been aware of what being a Remorda Guardian meant.
"That I am," he confirmed, and then pulled his sleeve back down over his arm. "And I am here because I am headed to Wallfront to protect our country, as I mentioned previously."
"A Remorda Guardian, eh?" said General Zayn, "I would like to challenge you, then."
Kayde turned to Zayn, who looked a tad confident. Iris wondered instantaneously who would win between the two. Even though she had bested the general when he wielded his daggers, she hadn't been nearly as successful when he used his real weapon against her. Also, Kayde had been her mentor, who had taught her most of what she knew. She knew that this was sure to be an interesting fight.
"Very well, then," he held his sword out, and the general stepped up, ready for combat.
After a few moments, and a shake of hands, they began. Iris watched intently as their swords clashed together. She admitted to herself after a few minutes that both of them were absolutely terrifying. Neither one of them was able to gain the advantage for a very long time. Iris was surprised to find Kayde fully-focused.
She watched as Zayn wielded his blade with such a refinement that she almost felt as if his sword was an extension of his very arm. She wondered if he had focused so intensely when he had fought against her.
They sparred for the greater part of ten minutes. General Zayn was a fantastic combatant, to be sure. But Kayde, even with the injuries, danced a dance that even the general could not counter. Kayde Vorantis had won. Every member there was agape by the time the swordplay ended.
"Gods' damn," Zayn couldn't help but say. "How many years have you been at this?"
Kayde lowered his blade. "Since I was a young child. You're quite good yourself."
The general took care to shake Kayde's hand. "That's a compliment when you're giving it. Well done. I haven't fought someone of your like in ages."
Iris was no doubt dazzled by the spar. Despite having trained with both of them, their skill still vastly outdid her expectations. She inspected them both, as well as the rest of their group, and wondered how she'd hold up in a spar. She looked to Kayde, and decided that that wasn't happening anytime in the next life. She looked to Zayn and thought the same.
"I'd like to try," she said before she could catch herself. Everyone's eyes were immediately upon her. She saw how Kayde looked at her and elaborated. "Maybe not against the Remorda Guardian," she said considerably. Finally, she looked over to Dregar. "Would you like to spar?" she asked him.
Dregar let out a small chuckle. "I could hold out for one more, if it's alright with you, general," he said andglanced over at the Zayn, who looked surprised. Upon being spoken to, he gave them both a nod to proceed. Iris immediately crouched, ready for whatever was to come. She stared directly into Dregar's eyes.
I learned from the best, she thought to herself. Kayde trained me.
She was the first to move. She rolled around as quickly as she could push herself to go, trying to get behind him. Iris could tell that he was surprised a little at her speed, but he was able to turn around fast enough to refract her blows and swing at her. However, his attack was too slow. She quickly leapt away from the blow, and took four rapid swings at Dregar and immediately jumped to the side.
Her assaults were unsuccessful, as she expected. She noticed how strong they had been as all four of them drove his sword back a little. He took two swings at her. Due to her training, she knew how to dodge both. She jumped over one, and threw herself back on her heels to avoid the other before pursuing him once more. She feigned left and attacked right, almost hitting him.
She could tell now that he was disconcerted by her speed.
As they fought, her feet and arms moved with such grace that it looked as if the rogue were a dancer rather than a fighter. Dregar attacked with such dominance that it looked, for a moment, as if he was the true counterpart of Iris's dance, guiding her moves and actions as if he were leading her very steps.
She realized after a long while that she would not win if she didn't do something different. As a rogue, she would need to deceive him -if only for a moment- to best him. This, she feared, because she would have to do something she wasn't good at; she would have to improvise. Kayde had only briefly taught her how to feint.
She would have to do something that Dregar wouldn't expect.
Thinking for a quick second, she came up with something. Knowing she would look stupidly clumsy for a moment. Iris knew she would probably be laughed at for it, but what the hell. It was a means to and end. With a few cautious steps backwards, she simulated a fall, as if she had tripped over a root of some sort.
Dregar walked up to her, ready to claim his victory. Only feigning uncertainty for as long as she had to, she swung her leg out... hard. It caught his shins, making him stumble backwards in obvious surprise.
That was all it took.
She leapt up quickly and rolled in behind him before he could register what she had done. With a swift kick to the back, Dregar fell forward onto his knees. With a leery smile, she jumped on top of him, after she transferred the blade in her left hand to her right, she used all of her strength to rip the sword from his very hands and throw it out of his reach.
Grabbing her dagger back from her other hand, she crossed both of them at his neck, giving him two little cuts.
"Well, damn," Dregar said at his loss.
After hearing those words, Iris vaulted from her kneel to a standing position in order for Dregar to stand up. As she stood there, she noticed the other soldiers gaping at her. She averted her eyes from their astounded faces and sheathed her daggers. She lowered a hand to further help Dregar back to his feet. After they shook hands, she finally met Kayde's eyes.
If Iris wasn't mistaken, she could have sworn he looked proud of her.
"Good job, Ingred," Dregar said as he sheathed his own sword.
With that, silence seemed to envelope them. Iris looked toward all of the other soldiers, finally breaking their stupor and packing for the road again. The only one that still looked her way was General Zayn. His lips twitched for a moment, but otherwise, he said nothing. He just offered her a nod of congratulations.
With that, everyone finished getting ready to leave.
The other men were still very quiet for a long while. In fact, Iris noticed that none of them talked at all until they were well out of the woods, which took a good couple of hours. She and Kayde were quiet as well, as they didn't want to disrupt the peace. Yet, they shared a few glances along the ride. In those looks, Iris could tell that Kayde had something, maybe a few things, that he wanted to say to her. This did not surprise her in the slightest. She assumed that it would be about her spar with Dregar.
Iris couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Maybe they'd be good things.
----
It was about midday when the town of Morthrior came into view. Even from a little under mile away, Morthrior appeared to be a peaceful place. Iris could make out a few commoners running about. She immediately was reminded of Eda, her home town. The feeling made her want to rush headlong into it. Gods, how she missed home.
"Is that where we're staying?" Jehrth asked.
"Mhm. That would be Morthrior," Zayn told all of the men, "Your new home for the next few days."
"Good," Kayde said quietly to Iris, "Maybe I can get some new robes there. White doesn't much suit me."
His statement almost made her want to laugh, but she bit it back. She assumed by the low tone of his voice that he did not wish any of the other men to hear him. Still, her lips twitched. Kayde and his dark tastes were humorous.
It didn't take long after that for them to reach Morthrior. Their arrival had all of the peasants and commoners startled, as the usual bustle had stopped. Instead, everyone was simply standing still, and watching them in awe. Their gazes made Iris uncomfortable, as she had never been looked at with so much admiration, not even by Shad when he'd been at her side.
Even so, she sat straight in her saddle, and gave a small child a little wave. She watched as the same little girl beamed and waved right back. Iris forgot herself and grinned for a minute, but quickly retracted. The small girl reeled in shock for a moment, no doubt at Iris's sudden femininity, causing the rogue to panic. She looked around to see if any of the other villagers scattered about had seen. No one had appeared to notice the small exchange. From then on out, Iris kept her head low, cursing herself.
"Why are they looking at us like this?" said Ra to no one in particular.
"Morthrior is a very small town. They don't see a lot of soldiers here," Zayn answered. "By the reports I've gotten, though, I bet they've seen more of the Tokens than they probably care to. A couple small groups have already been through here. I imagine they're hoping we'll be the ones to stop it. And hopefully they're right."
Iris thought a minute on Eda possibly being attacked. She couldn't help but outwardly cringe and hope to gods that it never came to that. To distract herself, she spoke up. "When will we hear word on Krenshai Caverns?"
"There'll be a messenger arriving here at Morthrior tomorrow to update me, if the gods are good," Zayn answered. "I'll relay what I can."
Iris was hardly comforted at the words. She could only hope, as all the rest of them, that their men would hold up at the Caverns.
"For now, I've got more than one person to see here. I'll be meeting with him shortly," the general went on, "I'll see if I can find anything more on the Token fortress. All of you are free to do as you will for now," he dismissed.
The soldiers stopped.
"But keep your eyes out for Tokens," he said quietly, "As I've said, they're known around this place. It wouldn't be a surprise if something were to happen."
This made Iris cringe inside, and wonder if she was really ready to fight someone to the death. After all, the war had officially started between Eldia and the Tokens, even if she herself wasn't in battle as of yet. In a sense, even though she was part of a mission to help destroy their leader, she felt guilty for not fighting on the front lines --for not fighting alongside her camp friends at Krenshai Caverns.
She thought of Kelgar and found herself discomforted that she didn't know whether or not he was alive anymore. She hoped that he was, because he was her friend. She knew, though, that terrible things happened in war, and that the death of a friend was something that was definitely not unheard of.
Thinking of him made her think of their training together. While most of her skill had come from Kayde, some of her moves had undoubtedly been his. What had he thought of her when she took what could've been his place in General Zayn's scouting group? Would he have been proud of her? Or would he resent her? Try as she might, Iris couldn't know.
Iris was the first off her horse. She led Gretchen to the town's stables, paying the stable master a few coins to keep her well taken care of. Kayde had the same idea, as his horse, Dhangru, was placed in the stable beside Gretchen.
They were sitting there, small talking, when Iris heard a little voice.
"Psst!"
When she turned to see the source of the noise, she immediately saw the same girl she had smiled at just a few minutes earlier and concluded that the child must have followed her. Iris saw Kayde's confused expression at her sudden appearance. He grew even more puzzled when the girl beckoned Iris to come with her.
"I'll go see what she wants..." Iris told Kayde, heart once again leaping in her chest, "you can go ahead and start unpacking your horse."
With that, she began walking toward the girl. Seeing this, the child led Iris behind the stables. After a couple of quick glances at her surroundings, she stopped in her tracks. Iris made sure there was no one around before she stopped as well. The tiny girl clapped in delight and then looked up at Iris with big, brown eyes.
"Are you a girl?" she whispered gleefully.
"I'm a soldier, child," Iris said, hoping to dispel the rumor before it could even start.
The girl only grinned, and Iris could tell that the child was stubborn and hardly convinced of her lie"I won't tell no one if you are," she whispered candidly, "I've just never heard of a girl fighter before."
"Neither have I," Iris countered.
"Why are you fighting then?" the child's voice was sickly sweet, and her eyes were filled with even more curiosity than before.
Iris gave the deepest grunt she could manage, still not confirming the girl's suspicion. "I'm fighting so my dad doesn't die. I took his place in this war so he didn't have to go."
"Wow," the girl stared at her in astonishment, "you are a really brave lady. I wish I could be more like you, but mom tells me that I'm not supposed to learn how to fight. She tells me that it is not ladylike. I am scared of my mom. She would give me a beating if I did what you did. So don't tell her that I want to be more like you, okay?"
"I don't know about the lady part, now... but I do know how to fight." Iris let out a short laugh. "And more like me, eh? What's that supposed to mean?"
The child stared unblinkingly into Iris's eyes, and then answered.
"Fearless."