"High, high, low, high, low, high, low, low, high. Good"
The clanging of swords could be heard echoing throughout the courtyard, as the shuffling of feet slivered around marble floor.
As Loldirr defended another attack from Ethelston during an intensive training session, she wiped the perspiration from her forehead before gripping her sword once more in preparation for the next flurry of attacks aimed her way.
"Make sure your stance prepares you to switch directions with ease. An immobile target is an easy target." Ethelston instructed. He too prepared his stance.
Spinning the sword in his hand he lunged towards the prepared Loldirr "Low, high, low, low, high, low, high." The last swipe of his sword he feinted high before twisting his wrist and smacking the side of the sword squarely on Loldirr's hip.
"OW!" she screamed, before repeatedly rubbing her hip and walking around gingerly. The anger on her face told a story of resentment as she looked towards the chuckling Ethelston. "You said high." she exclaimed.
"If you ever fight someone who shouts out their attacks, then you'll do fine. I'm yet to meet one though. Besides, better swordsmen will be exceptionally good at feigning their attacks. This is something you'll have to learn." Ethelston grinned.
"You cheated, you're not very chivalrous." Loldirr complained.
"When you're on the battlefield, there is no such thing as chivalry. Chivalry is for fools and tourneys." Ethelston rebuked.
Loldirr frowned at his response. "Chivalry on the battlefield is the difference between knights and savages."
The laugh that bellowed out of Ethelston's mouth echoed ferociously through the courtyard. "Where did you hear such tripe!"
"I read it," Loldirr said sheepishly "Knights and legends by Sir Wylymot Melchior."
"Sir Melchior has never been on a battlefield in his life. He always sent his five sons to do that for him."
Loldirr turned away frustrated and despondent from Ethelston's comments. It was a book that Edric had instructed her to read rigorously, to memorise and understand every word that had been written to parchment.
Ethelston could see that his words had hurt her deeply. He sighed before responding "Loldirr, I apologise, I did not mean to offend you. Sir Melchior knows much on chivalry, but nothing of war. When a man, or in your case a woman, is placed in a survival situation they will do anything to survive. This world is a horrible place. Only the strong survive, and strength is not determined by muscles that line their body."
For a brief moment, Ethelston sounded like Sir Edric. The same words of wisdom that lined his mouth spoke all too true. She missed Sir Edric and regretted not taking him more seriously. Despite Ethelston's behaviour, she could not ignore his words. She had come too far to ignore those whose experience outweighed her own.
She looked around at the beautiful courtyard. The white marble with its dark bleeding effect complimented the purples and yellows of the strange but beautiful trees in its centre. Their branches intertwined with each other in an intimate, almost erotic way in which Loldirr couldn't help but glance over at them frequently. It was made worse when Ethelston had earlier blurted out some sexual innuendo about it and commented that the Elves likely hadn't realised as such.
Even the walls that surrounded the courtyard were beautiful and perfectly smooth. It was only when looking up towards the obnoxious, disparaging Elven guards that Loldirr remembered that this beautiful place had hostility behind it.
"Do you trust this Erdudvyl?" Loldirr asked while looking towards the tall overarching tower that seemed to ascend up to the heavens.
"I don't trust any elf, but at present, she appears our only option to determine the next stage of our quest." replied Ethelston. He unsheathed his second sword from behind his back. "Right, back to training. I want to make sure you are ready should we encounter the Shadow once more."
Loldirr was tired and agitated by the hour or so of training that they had already endured, but the thought of facing the Shadow once again seemed to spur a new lease of life into her. That was an encounter that she would definitely not wish to repeat.
***
"Erdudvyl Ar Moal, you have summoned the Priests of the tower, yet you defile the very sacred ground in which you are sworn to protect." A deep voice boomed across the darkened round room in which the young dark-haired elf stood in the centre.
"For thousands of years, no Wiðgýnan has set foot in the tower of mages, yet you, the youngest of our order deem it poignant to taint the sacred courtyard?" another more feminine voice exclaimed from a different point in the room.
Erdudvyl refused to turn her head despite knowing the voices were coming from various different places. She slowly exhaled before looking directly ahead making sure she did not display any sense of anxiety.
She knew this moment would come as soon as she had allowed Ethelston and Loldirr into the city, but the situation demanded that her elven pride be put aside for the needs of the many.
"Fellow priests." she called out with an authority that her physical stature didn't seem to command. "The balance of the spheres has shifted, and dark forces, even now, are preparing to tear this world into destruction." she took another deep breath. "These Wiðgýnan, these outcasts, are perhaps the key to the survival of not only the realms of elves, but the realms of all. We must put aside our difference and do what is right."
Another voice, a more experienced voice, boomed across the room. "They are Wiðgýnan, do not call them anything but by what they are. If the balance has shifted, then we, the priests of the tower, would be the first to know. We have not heard of such reports."
"You are receiving your report now." Erdudvyl retorted.
The same voice replied "Does your arrogance know no bounds? What makes you feel that you would know before the rest of us?"
Erdudvyl had trained hard to restrain anger throughout her life, but this conversation, plus years of being treated as an adolescent inferior member of the priesthood was becoming taxing. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before responding. "What makes you feel that I am not able to provide you with a report. Does your arrogance know no bounds." she shook her head and bit her lip. That last comment may have been too much.
"Erdudvyl Ar Moal, remember you speak to your superiors, I'd advise you speak to them with the respect that they deserve." another feminine voice scolded.
This conversation was going nowhere, the conversation needed to be brought back on track. "Forces of evil have been working in hiding for years and are now prepared to strike. We sit here and debate things of no consequence while the answer to the coming danger stands just yards from us. You must hear my plea to provide her with the training of the spheres and prepare her for the coming dangers."
"Hah!" one of the feminine voices exclaimed. "If the dangers you claim are true, then a human would not be able to save us in the way you describe. The last human that received the elven teachings now sits in the frozen plains bordering on insanity. How do you even know she is able to control one of the spheres?"
Erdudvyl sighed. She had hoped that they would not ask how she knew. "I have seen her abilities." she hesitated "In visions."
There was loud murmuring among the thirteen or so Elven priest that stood in the room.
"Visions, " one man scoffed "you waste our time with more of your visions."
Erdudvyl frowned, despite knowing that this was the response she would likely get. "You mock me, and my visions, yet to this day all have come to pass."
"Predicting crop shortages and weather changes is not the same as predicting sorcerers of the spheres and end of world events. Your contempt for this court suggests that perhaps we should reevaluate your position within the tower."
Erdudvyl slammed her first down on the table that sat in front of her, her eyes glowed white and her face red with rage. "I am a sorceress of the sphere, you have no right to remove me from the tower."
"It is true that a sorcerer or sorceress of the sphere has never been removed from this tower forcefully, however, your continued arrogance must be punished."
Sighing once more, Erdudvyl realised she had overstepped her bounds. "You talk to me of arrogance, yet you are not willing to see if this woman is a sorceress and is capable of understanding our texts and learning our ways. At least let her undergo the trial of spheres to indicate if she has such powers?"
There was some murmuring among the priests once more before a brief silence in the room.
"We accept your plea, Erdudvyl Ar Moal, bring her here when the sun is at its highest for the trial of spheres." the experienced voice exclaimed.
"Should she fail the trial, you will accompany her in exile from the realms of elves." another voice continued.
"And when she succeeds?" Erdudvyl responded.
"And if she succeeds, " the voice responded "We will still consider your position within the walls of the tower anyway. Your continued disregard for our ways has proved to be too much for us all to bare. Erdudvyl Ar Moal, you are dismissed from our presence."
Almost instantly the room fell silent and a glow of a door appeared behind Erdudvyl. She sighed and lowered her head in disappointment. She was risking everything for this red-haired human that she only just briefly met. But if her visions of the coming darkness were true, then exile would be the absolute least of her worries.