Morning comes early. I find myself getting up without trouble. This is no different for me. My eyes come into focus and the room I was hoping I would wake in was not here. I look to the side of my bed and find my armor resting where I put it last night and my lance resting next to my father's.
My face falls with depression rising up once again as realization hits me. The Prince's words echo in my mind and I push aside my feelings. I push myself from bed and approach my dresser. I withdraw my under-armor garment and replace my sleeping gown with it. I pull it on and turn to my armor waiting for me on its stand.
My gaze slides over to the small mirror over the dresser and find a lost girl staring back at me. I see fear threatening her from deep within. I turn back to my armor stand and approach it. My clock on my nightstand says six o' clock. Training starts in an hour.
I sigh softly and pull my armor over my body, piece by piece. I take the Prince's words to heart and put my trust in them. Otherwise, there is nothing left for me to fight for. I firmly grasp my lance, secure it on my back and face the door.
As I approach the door, a soft knock startles me slightly, "K--Katarina?"
"Uh, y--yes?"
I open the door and find Daphne standing there. Her green hair curls around her face and is accented nicely with her green under-armor garment and the blue armor she wears. A standard lance is secured on her back. I recognize it as 2 levels higher than mine, rank C, if I remember the ranks correctly. She smiles sweetly at me when she sees I am all ready to go, "Oh, good. I was hoping you were up. It is close to time to begin training. Ophelia sent me to retrieve you. Lady Nova has requested that Ophelia to be your trainer and she will be watching the activities today,"
"Understood," I say as I nod firmly.
"Good, right this way,"
My stomach fills with butterflies again as I start to follow her towards the courtyard. The morning is dark and the chill in the air blows through my hair. The sun won't rise for another couple of hours and it will not bring much warmth with it. A cold chill runs down my back as we leave the hallway and out the door to the balcony overseeing the courtyard where the staircases are found.
Torches light the courtyard with glowing red light as Knights fill the courtyard slowly. A group of them are already out there swinging wooden lances while many more are walking towards them.
I follow Daphne down one of the staircases and she leads me to the north wall where the wooden lances are stored. Several Knights are there receiving one from the trainers. I find Ophelia there handing them out and giving some instruction to the ones talking to her. She looks over to Daphne when we get near and smiles when she sees she has brought me too.
"Morning Daphne! Thanks for bringing Katarina here. You will be in my training group today. So, I will ask you to be Katarina's first partner for today after we finish the first set of practice sets,"
Daphne bows slightly, "Yes ma'am,"
She picks up a wooden lance from the barrel full of them near Ophelia and proceeds to enter the courtyard. Ophelia turns to me and hands me my wooden lance, "Morning, Katarina. Please follow Daphne when you are ready. When everyone arrives, we will begin the practice sets. For now, follow Daphne and practice yourself before we begin. She will show you the basics,"
I nod, trying to ignore the increasing butterflies in my stomach. Ophelia smiles to me and I turn around to find Daphne. She is swinging the weapon over and over again in the same way. I slowly approach her, feeling shy and nervous with so many Knights around. I have no idea how to use this thing.
Face-plants into the dirt here I come.
The courtyard is lined with torches and there are clear sections on the grassed area in the center marked with torches in square formations. Daphne is in one of them with several others while the rest are in other sections.
When I enter the section within the torches, Daphne stops swinging her lance and turns to me. She waits for me to reach her position and she smiles, "Nervous?"
I nod shyly.
She lowers her wooden lance and holds it horizontally with both hands in front of her, "So Ophelia told you of the four practice sets, correct?"
"Yes," I hold my lance at my side with one hand.
She studies me for a moment, then raises her lance with one hand with the end touching the ground, blade up, "Good. Set one is swinging practice basically. It is filled with different motions with how to use the lance to practice technique,"
I nod, silently watching her. She nods in return and raises her lance from the ground and holds it, blade pointing forward, with her right hand, "Now copy me. This set is the one we practice together separately. The other three are with a partner,"
She turns to the other six Knights in the section with us, "Katarina is new, so Ophelia wants me to focus on her, but still follow the set with us,"
They move their gazes to me from her and I feel shyness overwhelming me. None of them feel judgmental though and smile at me, making me feel a bit better, before nodding to Daphne.
"So this is Katarina. Hello, young one," One of the older ones say to me. She has a scar on her forehead that is half concealed with her long brown bangs covering her left eye. Her hair is shorter in the back, hugging her neck. Her voice is lower than I expected for a woman and she has clear muscles lining her arms under her shoulder armor.
Daphne nods towards her, "Yes. Good morning, Sandra,"
She nods slightly and takes her place among the others. Then all eyes move from me to Daphne as she begins her instruction. I awkwardly move into an open area with the others where we all have view of Daphne.
"Set one begin," From the corner of my eye, I see each Knight move their lance to their right hands and hold the lance in front of them with the blade pointing forward before Daphne even moves hers. She turns to me, tilting her head, "Katarina, follow my lead. Each motion we repeat thirty times once with each hand,"
I nod nervously and quickly glance around, attempting to hold my lance how the others are. Daphne does the same with confidence and in an instance, in half a second after her, all the lances swing to the right in unison. Slightly startled, I do the same, moving my lance to my right with my blade pointing out.
With this single movement, a small pinch radiates from my left shoulder and I stop myself from making any noise. My face contorts from the pain as thoughts from my injury flood my mind. These movements with a weapon must be agitating my shoulder that recovered not too long ago from that arrow attack back home.
I hope this training helps it and it doesn't get worse, again.
"Good," Daphne approves from her position. She nods and begins to repeat the motion over and over to continue the set. Everyone follows. I sigh, hold my breath and do the same, trying to keep up with the speed of one per second for thirty seconds.
Every swing forces a pinch in my shoulder and I have to hold back the urge to cry from the pain as I push myself to keep going to finish the set. It feels like a needle is poking my shoulder from the inside. I focus my thoughts on swinging the lance instead and ignore the pain. I focus on how hard I am gripping the lance. I focus on my breathing. And I focus on the arc of the swing to Daphne's arc.
"Thirty... and switch!"
Daphne calls to start the next set and everyone swaps their lances to their left hands in one swift motion. She nods and again, within a half of a second after her, everyone swings their lances in the opposite way. I hesitate without realizing before beginning and find I am a swing behind. My shoulder is already so sore that it is numb with pain, it feels warm, and that swinging with the shoulder is almost unbearable.
I continue the set slower than the previous one and Daphne does not attempt to force me to keep up. I keep my own count and do each swing as fast as I can with the least amount of pain possible. I feel sweat starting to collect on my forehead and under my arms which washes a coolness through my body from the cold winter winds. The cold chills makes my hot shoulder more noticeable and more difficult for me to ignore. I can't help but to wish for it to be over. I force myself not to stop and clutch my shoulder.
But it hurts...
"Thirty! Alright, good job ladies," Daphne calls. Her voice warbles in my ears as I push myself to finish the set. Twenty-six...Twenty-seven...Twenty-eight...Twenty-nine...Thirty...
As I finish my set and allow my arm to fall to my side, I feel instant relief as the pain slows to a faint throb. The coolness in the air helps keep me from getting too hot as I lift my gaze up to Daphne who nods towards me.
Movement from the corner of my eye attracts my attention and my gaze slides over to the top of the balcony above us to find Prince Vega looking down over us. He stands tall in his full golden lined armor of white that I have never seen him wear before. His matching white lance lined with gold rests on his back and matches his golden hair. The cool wind brushes his bangs across his forehead as he rides up on the back of his horse equipped with its own matching armor.
Then I notice the Princess standing next to him. She approaches the railing next to her brother and stands tall, moving her gaze between all of us below. Everyone bows in their presence so I do the same and then the courtyard becomes filled with the strong voice from the Prince.
"Royal Pegasus Knights. May the Gods be with you during your training so you may protect our symbol of our land, Thebe Castle. I am leading my Cavaliers into battle this morning. I leave Thebe Castle in your hands. We will not allow those Rhea warriors to take over our beloved castle,"
He turns to Lady Nova, "Sister... Stay safe. I will return... I promise," His voice lowers and you can hear the concern in his voice.
She nods firmly, "Of course, brother. You too. Please be careful. Call upon me if you require my assistance. Rhea will not take our home,"
The Prince spins around upon his mighty horse and leaps down the staircase elegantly. He gives one last look to all of us before taking his leave out through the archway towards the castle entrance way. We watch him gallop away and the rest of the Cavaliers appear around him as they fade into the distance. The sounds of horse hooves fades away until the silence of the winter remains.
We all slide our gazes to the Princess who nods down at us, "From now on we are at war. Any moment we may be attacked. I have my most experienced as scouts who will watch over our borders of the castle for any attacks. While we are not fighting, we are training,"
She elegantly glides down the staircase and joins us in the courtyard. She stops to face us all at the front and slowly looks around at each of us, "May the training begin,"