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Lying by the bed, Arkane stared at the wooden ceiling of her room, deep in thought.
Questions started to fog her head. Why did her father die? Is it true that he committed treason by helping the cast out king ? Why did they kill every person in the manor ? And why didn't his father fought back ? These were the questions she can never answer, the main reason why she stopped thinking about them a year ago but why they suddenly came floating ? Maybe because of the visit yesterday. It triggered the soft spot in her memory, her father, her mom, and their death. A knock from the door get her thoughts back to the present.
"'Ye awake, kid ?" Arthax called.
"Yes." She wondered why he have no family- no wife, no kid.
"Come join us. It's good to 'ear some stories."
"Sure. Just a second," she managed to answer. She sat up and walked to her wardrobe pulling a pair of shirt and trousers on.
She walked back towards the door when her eyes fell upon a cloth sack slumped behind her wardrobe. She reached for it, checking the things inside. She eyed the bow, touching the smooth surface of it and checking its string. It was firm. She wondered if she'll be able to pull the string, it looked impossible to bend. She hanged it against the wall with the arrows, and moved to reach the sword.
"Magnificent", she muttered, " and heavy!" She exclaimed as she lifted it up, rolling her eyes for mockery. Its hilt was carefully detailed with the carving of a phoenix, blades extra sharp which she think can probably slice a paper afloat. "Dangerous" she whispered as she put its sheath on the table as well as the daggers carefully placed beside each other. She took out the tome, gold linings encrypted on the hard leathered cover. Its letters she couldn't decipher, maybe written in some old language or something but she kept it nonetheless. Another book was written by his father but same as the first, she couldn't understand. She kept the two books inside her wardrobe, under her clothes.
She found the bannans talking and laughing around a fire. Arthax was there, having the loudest laugh. Andre, Idra, and Czar was also there same with Eon and Rean including Dys, Bryt and Eron.
"'ey, Arca, come'ere." She heard Arthax call.
"Yeah, I'm suppose to come ya know." She rolled her eyes as he laughed.
"Hey" Rean called grinning. She glanced to acknowledge him.
"Sit ! Sit !" he offered.
"Of course I'm goin' to sit". She heard chuckles. Arthax laughed as usual. "What's this meeting all about ? Are we gonna plan to kill a grisly bear ? Common common!" They laughed out loud.
"What?" She inquired, skeptically.
"You!" smiled Czar, the only one who's not laughing.
"What about me ?"
"You're stupid!" Eon still laughing.
"If ya ain't gonna tell me anything, I'm leaving!" She stumped her foot and turned to walk away but a hand pulled her to sit down.
"We're story telling 'ye know" Arthax grinned. Her eyes looked at him pointedly.
"We've been talking about why you've got here first before us." Rean stated. All of them stared at her and Idra.
"Uhh well, we went to the city and broke into a house." She squired and felt uncomfortable. She noticed the look on Idra's face.
"Actually, that wasn't just a house. It's a manor if you failed to notice. " Idra informed.
"Wa-wa-wait! You broke into a manor ? That's cheating! Arthax told us to attain weapons from fighters." Eon grunted.
"He didn't say we cannot gain weapons from breaking a manor. And he did not particularly mentioned attaining it from other fighters. You just assumed." She grinned.
"Clever. Then how did you do it? Manors can't be easily broken thinking that guards is all over the place as well as servants. It would be impossible for you not to be seen and you haven't been in proper training," Dys inquired while Idra stared at her.
"We used the secret tunnel of course." She acted nonchalant. The people around her looked like fish. Their lips parted then closed and parted again like they wanted to say something.
"How did you know that there is an underground tunnel? It wasn't considered as a secret for nothing, you know." Eons eyebrow knitted. He's only fourteen but act like an expert smart ass, she thought.
"Easy. It was very common that every manor should have a secret tunnel. For emergency purposes."
"But how did you know where to find it? When we entered that cave out there, you moved so sure" Idra asked.
"How can I not know when I used to walk in and out of that tunnel as a child. That manor was mine." She flatly stated. She raised her face when she noticed no one was reacting and saw the surprise written all over their faces. "What?"
"Yours ?" Idra
"You're a real lady?" Eon
"Its impossible" Andre
"Tell me you're joking." Rean
"H-how?" Arthax. "'Ye never told me!"
"You never asked!"
"Tell now!"
"Tell what?"
"Your story. We never knew your story. Arthax warned us!" Idra beat Arthax to answer. She fell silent.
"Tell!" Arthax nudged her.
"Yes. I was a real lady of a manor. My father lead the king's army and I was happy everytime we come outside the manor using that tunnel for my father's training. He's a swordsman, the best in that city. My mother was always nagging at me to act like a proper lady, but I'm just not like that. I enjoy watching my father swing his sword. I always ask him to teach me how to fight but he always answered that I'm still young and I was weak." She paused, hoisted her left hand up, trying to reach the dark, starry sky.
"I was weak. I always stumble. I get bullied that's why I never had friends. I stayed home with my father and I follow him everywhere. I wanna be strong but he keeps saying I was weak in heart, mind and strength." She let her hand fall on her side and stared at the fire.
"One day, palace guards came at our house and killed my mom... in front of me. My beautiful momma." A tear rolled down her cheek. "She called my name as blood spurted out her mouth. I couldn't do anything." She sniffed and felt Arthax threw an arm across her shoulders, hugging her for comfort. "They got my father. He didn't fight. Didn't do anything. Didn't defend himself when the king announced him to be put into that stupid execution hall. People accused him with treason and I was thrown out of the palace. That day was the last time I saw my father. No one dared to help me. They said I was a worthless daughter of a traitor, that I am a plague. I cannot go back to the manor because it was sieged by soldiers. I was left to die on the street, out of starvation. I didn't want to live, but the thought to avenge the death of my family kept me alive. I lived like a thief, I had no choice. One day, a boy caught me and beaten me hard." She looked at Arthax. "That's when Arthax found me. Until now I struggle to grow stronger but my body just felt so weak. Maybe father was right." She smiled at herself.
"Yer not weak, Arca. Yer a brave li'l girl that ye survived all that. Not all people can survive a tragedy like that in the age of ten. And yer brave to join the bannan's quest at your age. You' the youngest bannan ever, and yer a girl. No one tried to join as young as ye. Female bannans join at the age o' sixteen and not all o' them passed. Am proud o' ye, Arkane."he hugged her.
"But I passed because Idra was with me. If he wasn't, I won't be able to." She glanced at her best friend.
"No. You're strong enough Arch. Your heart is strong. And your mind is witty. I wouldn't pass if not with you. Yes you're weak at handling weapons but that's natural. Men are born stronger than women. And I'm proud of you."
She looked at him with teary eyes and curved her lips with a grateful smile. She wiped her tears away as she stood, bulking her chest and lifting her chin. "From now on, I'll announce.." she boomed her voice all over the place, "..that I , Arkane of Swert, Lady of Oris, and a certified bannan, will stop at nothing to overthrow that stupid King of Swert and will lead my own kingdom and my own people and rule the realm. I will lead my own army in every battle, and we will be called victor of each war." She looked distant and punched the air in front. Men stared at her with disbelief and laughed again. "What?" She asked.
"I think, that's a pretty cool imagination of yours. You can't even lift a sword." Rean laughed.
"And, lady, you can't just overthrow a king. Well, even if you can overthrow a king, women are never accepted to lead, you see,. They won't accept a female leader because they are weak." Eron declared while making a motioning movements of his hands. No wonder female on the tribe were just living inside their houses and doing household chores. Out of five hundred bannans, one hundred and eighty five female bannans were only accepted as such because they were married to male bannans, and thirty-three of them were the only ones who have taken proper training.
"Swert is not the only place in the realm, 'ye know. There 're other places an' kin'dom all over an' much much bigger than Swert milady, 'ye can't conquer all o' them wit' only Swertians on 'ye side. Swert is just a piece o'cake." Arthax said, grinning.
"But... but.. " she looked on the ground defeated. 'I'm sure you can!' A soft voice echoed through her head. Her spirit rejuvenated as she thought the voice probably belonged to her. "I'm sure I can!" She finally announced and grinned at them.
"This girl is impossible!" Dys proclaimed while staring at her, round eyed. She saw Arthax bulged his chest feeling proud of her, with a glint of amusement flashing before his dark brown lashes. They all smiled at her.
Before she could enjoy the light amusement around, someone laughed approaching behind her. She turned her head just to see that deep blue oceanic eyes of him, in his left hand lies his lance, sharp blades pointing at the dark starry sky. 'Linith'. That devil she thought.
"Stop bluffing, you girly. Look at yourself will'ya? I bet, you couldn't had passed the exams if not for Idra, stupid weakling!" Arthax shifted in distaste. The others didn't mind him. Once a bannan was accepted, they took everyone as their equal and everyone knows that he could stay beside every bannan as a true warrior if situation's prevail.
Seeing that no one tried to condemn him, his sneer grew wide. "I am more appropriate for that title you're talking about. I'm more capable than anyone of you. A skeleton covered with skin dreamt about being a king? " he laughed. "That's stupid." He spit something on the ground as a sign of distaste. "Can't even protect herself. Tell me. Did you ever try to swing a sword? " he smiled, glint of mock overflowing on his oceanic eyes.
She bowed her head, every thing he said was true. She tried to swing a sword once but ended on the ground, facing the dirt. Now that she thought about it, how could she be able to train swordsmanship if she's not able to contain the weight of the sword on her limbs. This is ridiculous, she thought. She can never be a great warrior or at least a respected bannan. In this camp, respect is earned by the level of strength. The more you beat a fellow bannan, the higher your level is. And in her case, she'll never be able to even though she work hard, she'll still be weak to be called a bannan. It's not in her blood.
"Pity" she heard him say. "Tell me if you want to fight, I'll be more ready on the ring. If you could ever be a fighter. Pity to your father having a daughter as weak as you!" He softens his voice in a fake sympathy.
"That's enough!" At the sound of Arthax's loud voice, she flinched in surprise.
"I'm just stating the truth. I'm strong, well maybe even stronger than you. And she's weak ..old man. I'm starting to think maybe I'm one of those elder descendants their talking about in scriptures, what do you say ? " his smile turned to a evil sneer.
"'Ye boasted enough kid'!"
"Boast you say? Come and fight if you're not a coward old man. Then we'll see who's boasting!" He loudly laughed and turned to leave. Arkane, feeling the sharpness of every insult, sat down and stared at the ground. He's right. She could never protect herself, and she cry a lot. Within those months that she lived here, never did she fight for herself. She acted reckless but in the end, Arthax or Idra will be the one to rescue her. If only she could be stronger. But she can't. She knows that a warrior must possess a heart at battle and blood for weapons, but she never was and will never be. She lives like a shadow, always in need of someone's light.
She felt the heaviness of someone's arm across her shoulders. "That green speck in 'ye eyes, told me otherwise. 'Ye have somethin' fearful an' strong about 'ye. Do not let go o' 'ye dreams." His words are comforting.
'Fear not of those who are fearless, for not without fear, there'd be no bravery' that was one of the old scripture written by Axiné of Ascia. 'Ye don't 'ave to be strong to be brave." He smiled at her.
"How can I be able to be a swordsman if I can't lift a sword." Soft and small as she is, her voice submitted into the air around them. She noticed the two of them are just the only one around. The night's been going deep and everyone got under their own roof to rest.
"Sword ain't the only weapon to fight..'ye know I 'ave a story to tell" he said, poking the fire with a stick. She looked at him.
"There was once a man living among warriors. These warriors are fierce, strong and skilled. The realm was then divided into five large continents- Ascia on the west, it covers the largest woodland and the valleys beneath the mountains of Nithera, Swert , center, covers the plain of abundant farms, the main source of meat and vegetables. While in the North lies Launcen, near the ocean and covers largely the most of the entire population of the realm, Arcus , on the south lies the best hunters ever alive, but the weakest in wars, they live among the beasts of the forest who mostly protected them and were best allies of ascians. And lastly, Magus, farthest east.. .and known as the land of magic. Though the smallest continent, but the most powerful. There lived the elfin country and the oldest sorcerers."
"This man wanted to belong in the heart of the realm, Swert, which have the strongest and skillful swordsman on the realm, he wanted to learn swordsmanship. He trained very hard but never did he gain the level of the skills, Swertians had. He never was respected. On his crestfallen state, he decided to become a mercenary and gave his dreams up. Until he reached Ascia. He loved their ways and grown to be used to their customs. There he found peace and power. There he realized he was bound to use an axe and not a sword."
He looked at her and smiled. "Yer true strength is sometimes found in the right weapon. Do you really like swords?" She knitted her brows. Something's changed in Arthax's voice. Deeply, she pondered on what's really missing or.. is it just her thought ? She doesn't know.
"I dunno! I just loved watching him swing his swords before."she answered.
"How 'bout learnin' to fight wit' axe ? I mean, sword's not efficient in my arms. I'm best mentoring on axes." She silently think for a moment then considered it. She noded.
"Rest up" he said and stood, turned to go inside the house. She followed.