The Greater Challenge Beyond (The Southern Continent Series Book 3) (20 page)

“They might, the first few times, until I get back in shape,” he conceded.

“And also, but probably not today, we’ll schedule an appointment to present you to father,” she told Grange.  “We’ll wait until you’ve gotten the right attire from the tailor, of course.  And we’ll have to decide exactly what your message is going to be.

“It wouldn’t really do to go in and say something inflammatory,” she continued.  “Although,” she conceded, “you seem to keep your temper in check pretty well.  I thought that you would have cut off Sweyn’s fingers by now.”

“That reminds me, we’ll have to pay another friendly visit with him today,” Grange agreed.

“Let’s go meet Hope for breakfast, and get the day started,” Jenniline said.

“Just a moment,” Grange asked.  He turned his face to the western sky, where the moon had almost set, and he asked the energy to help him deliver his words to Brieed.

“Master, I will speak with you this evening, and send you my story,” he reported to Brieed.

“You do some astonishing things,” Jenniline spoke softly, as she watched glowing parcels of light carry his words through the morning sky, quickly disappearing into the distant western sky.

“Okay,” Grange said, pleased to have impressed the unflappable Jenniline, “let’s go eat breakfast.”

They ventured down the stairs, and Grange followed Jenniline through the various buildings to enter a large dining hall, where Hope sat with a group of young men surrounding her in an otherwise nearly empty room.

Jenniline and Grange headed straight over to her table.

“I saved these spots for you,” she indicated the spaces on either side of her, where the two newcomers took seats under the baleful glare of Hope’s companions.

“This is my sister Jenniline,” Hope unnecessarily introduced one, “and this is the Champion of Acton, and the man who rescued me from the Bloomingians!

“This is Tomas, and this is Kiergar, and this is Remar,” she introduced the three men closest to her.  “And these are my other friends,” she summed up the other four who sat around the table.

“Grange said he’d like to work out in the armory,” Jenniline told the group, as servants brought a pitcher of juice, and a plate of toasted bread.  “We’ll go there this afternoon, after we run some errands.  He’s very good, you know,” she told the crowd.

“May I come watch?” Hope asked.

“You can come join the practice if you want,” Grange told her.

“You fancy you’re pretty good?” Remar asked skeptically.

“Or do you just steal a win when you can?” Kiergar asked, in a hostile tone.  “I heard that last night the Acolyte of Acton called you a pickpocket, and told you to leave the temple.  Was it true?”

All eyes turned to Grange.

“That’s more or less true,” Grange hesitantly agreed.  “Hockis was a con man in Fortune, but,” he paused, “if Acton trusts him then that is the God’s decision,” he spit the words out, wanting to say more, much more, but refraining.

“You were a pickpocket?” Hope asked in shock.  Her body seemed to shrink away from his.

“For a time,” Grange admitted, seething inside at the disclosure.  He wasn’t proud of that part of his past, but he couldn’t deny it.  Hockis had cleverly managed to damage Grange’s reputation, and Grange suddenly realized it would prove difficult to repair.

“We need to move along,” Jenniline said suddenly, grabbing a piece of toast as she stood.  “Come along, my Champion,” a subtle note of discord in her voice.

They left the hall, hearing the voices buzz in low tones behind them as they walked away.  When they left the room and went around the corner, Jenniline stopped and thumped her hand against Grange’s chest.

“What’s the story here?  Are you a hero or a thief?” she asked angrily.

“I was a thief, but it seems like a long time ago,” Grange told her.  “And I’m told I have to be a hero, even though I never planned to be one.”

“You’re a mess,” she replied.  “Father may refuse to even see you, if he’s got an excuse like this.”

“It’s all in the past, and I can’t change it,” Grange said, frustrated that something that seemed so long ago and so far away had burst into such a complication in the here-and-now.

Jenniline removed her hand from his chest.  “Let’s go to the tailor and have your clothes prepared, and I’ll think while we walk,” she said, then resumed leading him through further portions of the palace complex that he didn’t know.

“This man needs clothes suitable for attending the royal court and moving about the city,” Jenniline said abruptly as they entered the quarters of the tailors and seamstresses who were sewing and fitting various items as they sat in a room with large, north-facing windows that invited plenty of sunlight inside.

“I’ll measure your young man, my lady,” one elderly man rose from his work and approached.  “It’ll be the day after tomorrow before I can start working on his things though – I’ve got a backlog ahead of him.”

“From what I hear, I think it’ll be a good idea to wait a couple of days before trying to approach the court anyway,” Jenniline said, giving Grange a sideway glare.

She stepped back as Grange was thoroughly measured, then she led him outside into a garden.

“How are you going to perform if I take you to the armory?” she asked.  “Everyone there is going to want to take a shot at you, especially now that you’ve been called a thief, and admitted it.”

“I’ll need a few matches to restore my timing,” Grange replied, started to grow tired of being reminded of his past.  “I’ve been in prison, tortured, and trying to recover for the past month, you know.”

“Alright, we’ll go to a private gymnasium in the city and do some work there, to see if you’re ready for what you’re going to face,” she said.

“A what?” Grange asked, stumped by the word.

“A gymnasium,” Jenniline snorted.  “You don’t know it?  A place people go to practice – mostly tumbling arts, but there’s room for us to practice swords,” she said.  “They’ve got wooden swords, but no pads, so prepare to get bruised, because I’m going to take out my growing frustration on you!”

She led Grange out of the palace and into the city.

“I still think picking you to be my counselor was a good idea, but now it’s mostly because all the other ideas look bad,” Grange complained to her as she led him at a rapid pace through the city.

“We’re going in here, and I’m going to show you how bad a choice it was,” she said as she abruptly stopped in front of a quartet of doors in a non-descript building.

They entered the building, and Grange immediately noticed two things: the building has the same smell of stale sweat as any armory, but also a different odor, one that was strong, but a softer, inorganic smell, like powder on fine ladies of the nobility.

Inside the large central room, Grange stopped to look around.  There were people practicing walking on beams, or doing flips, or spinning around on ropes that hung from the high ceiling.  There were rings that people held on to and swung their bodies around, and mats that they tumbled on.  But virtually every person he saw was a woman, or girl.  In fact, every person was female – every person except him.

“Am I allowed in this place?” he asked hesitantly.

“No, but no one will say anything if you stay with me and keep your hands and your eyes to yourself,” Jenniline dismissed his concern.  “No one will see us working out here; now come with me to the back.”

She led the way along the wall to a door in the back of the practice chamber, and they entered a narrow, dim, alley of a room, with padding on the floor.

“Here,” she pulled a wooden sword from a locker and hefted it to Grange, then pulled one out for herself.  “Let’s see what kind of shape you’re in,” she told him, and she moved onto the matted floor in a fighting pose.

She reminded him of Brielle he thought momentarily, as he stepped onto the mat and assumed his position as well.  Brielle had been no-nonsense, and all business.  And she had been a good fighter, he remembered.

Jenniline launched an attack, a thrust at the left side of his chest, and he parried it easily.  She immediately riposted and turned his defensive success into a new challenge with her blade held lower than her hand, so that Grange had to drop his defenses to block her again.

She stepped back, and he tried to go on the attack, lunging towards her, but she took an extra step further than he anticipated, and her blade landed soundly across the top of his skull as he stumbled downward.

“Ow!” he said loudly, then sprang back up and backed away.  He felt angry, and determined to retaliate.

And after that, their contest grew brutally competitive, as Grange started to regain his timing and remember the tricks to watch for and the traps to avoid, and the advantages he could use.

“Stop!” Jenniline finally said through clenched teeth.

“Wait here just a minute,” she ordered, without saying any more, and she limped out of the practice room, red welts visible where her flesh was visible.  Grange was little better, with welts and bruises of his own, and a small trickle of blood on his wrist.

A minute later Jenniline was back with another woman.

“This in Ingrill,” Jenniline introduced without ceremony.  “Let’s see how well you fare against her, and then against the two of us.”

Ingrill smiled a warm smile as she selected a practice sword of her own, but she had fresh legs and arms, so that when her match with Grange began, she battled him to an even draw for several minutes before he began to deliver a few tentative strikes, unwilling to batter her as ferociously as Jenniline and he had battered one another.

That lasted until she managed to savagely strike his thigh, ripping his pant leg with her wooden weapon that struck him with painful effectiveness.

“So, are you going to keep going easy on me?” she asked with a grin, and the competition grew heated thereafter, until Jenniline jumped in alongside Ingrill, and the two of them pressed Grange backwards.  He ceased trying to attack, and focused only on defending himself, bringing the match to a long stalemate, and an agreement to call it a draw.

“Phew, I think your boy should have no trouble against the puffy-sleeved dandies at the palace,” Ingrill told Jenniline, as she unconsciously stroked a welt on her forearm.  “When my husband sees these marks, I’m not sure he’ll let me come back to the gymnasium again,” she moaned.

“Tell him you’ll give him the same kinds of marks if he tries to stop you,” Jenniline brushed aside the complaint.

“Thank you for your effort,” Grange said, from where he sat on the locker nearby, panting in exhaustion from the trying exercise.

“Get up,” Jenniline ordered him, “and put the practice swords away.  We need to get you back to the palace and get you cleaned up for your appearance at the armory there,” she dictated to him.

“I almost think you enjoy bossing him around,” Ingrill observed with a grin.

“No, no,” Jenniline said in a mock tragic voice.  “This is the price I must pay to serve my nation.”  She was silent for a long second, then burst out in laughter, and she and Ingrill clapped hands together in a spontaneous celebration, as Grange grimaced.

“Let’s go, thief,” she told Grange, then she opened the door and led the way out into the larger room.  The three of them passed through quickly, and exited from the gymnasium.

“Why does it smell like that inside?” Grange asked as he inhaled the fresh air deeply.

“Because girls sweat when they exercise, and because the gymnasts use powder on their hands,” Ingrill explained.  “I’m going this way, and you’re probably going that way to the palace, so best of luck to you today,” she wished Grange.  “I’m sure you’ll do well.”

Grange followed Jenniline, and listened as she started describing the opponents she expected him to have to fight during the afternoon.

“Two of the men who were with Hope – Kiergar and Remar – will definitely be there expecting to defeat you,” she began.  “And both of my brothers will have to fight you: Halsten and Inge.  Halsten will be fighting for blood.  Inge will be fighting for honor.”

“Why would Halsten fight for blood?” Grange asked.

“Because if you hadn’t shown up with Acton’s command that you become the heir to the throne, Halsten would be the rightful heir,” the elder sister stated.  “He’s not a bad boy, so the notion of him being displaced isn’t really necessary for the nation, in my opinion,” she said, “but the god commanded, so we listen.”  

“That’s an understandable motivation,” Grange conceded.  “And the other one?”

“Inge is a good boy.  He’d make a good heir to the throne, or a good second in command, but he wouldn’t be a good king.  He doesn’t have enough viciousness in him,” she theorized as she walked alongside him.

“And you think I have enough viciousness to be a good king?” Grange asked, indignantly.

“I never said I thought you’d be a good king,” Jenniline riposted, then laughed at the injured expression that crossed Grange’s face.

“If you’ve got magical powers, and the backing of a god, and you defeat these demons that are coming, then you’ll be a king without being vicious,” she consoled him, as they arrived at the gates to the palace.

“So, as I was saying, before you interrupted, Inge will try to fight you as well as the others, and I’d ask that you not beat him as badly as the others,” she said in a lower voice.

Grange glanced over at her, and saw by her expression that she was serious.  He felt a spark of empathy, pleased to see her show a softer side.

“I’ll not harm nor embarrass him,” he assured his counselor.

“Thank you, Grange.  I appreciate it,” she told him.

“Now,” she said more briskly.  “There’s your tower.  I’m going to my rooms to clean up; you go do the same.  Then I’ll tell the servants to move my things into some rooms on your lower floor.

“And we understand there’s nothing more to this move, right?” she spoke in an ominous voice.

“Believe me, I understand,” Grange hastily assured her.

“Right then – I’ll see you in a bit.  Look sharp,” she told him, then left him as she turned off the path.

Grange climbed the steps of his tower, wondering at the fact that he never saw anyone else on the stairs, and cleaned himself as best he could in the dribbling shower of water that was available in his bathing facilities.  He promised himself he’s take a page from Kilau, and place a water tank on the roof of the tower to provide better pressure, then he put on his clothes and was startled to find Jenniline waiting just outside the bathing chamber.