Don't Forget to Dream (16 page)

Lady Emelia walked towards the cit
y view to lean against the wall. S
he breathed in deeply and smiled with some contentment.

“
I do love this city. I spent most of my life in the country, first
at
my parent
’
s estates and th
en the home of my husband, the Bear Clans E
states. But at various times throughout my life I was lucky enough to spend weeks or even months here, either at the Palace or a nearby town house. Oh, you should have seen the parties in my youth. We were so full of life, always dancing and feasting.
”
Her expression
became
lost in the memories of her youth.

Rhyla watched her relive the past
but the threat of what was going on
distracted her. She wandered from her mistress
’
s side to look over the wall into an isolated portion of the Palace courtyard. Below her about fifty men of the Palace Guard were undergoing intensive training with swords, bow and arrows and barehanded wrestling. Ther
e was activity in every quarter. She thought if there was
any more
available
space there would be more men training.

Below to her right a couple of figures quickly stood out. Callum and Martin were p
ractising with sword and dagger;
an unusual choice as mo
st fought with sword and shield.
That
preparation was for prolonged combat situations. They w
ere not sparing with each other.
Callum was paired with a man of equal height but without quite his breadth of shoulders
. Martin had paused to talk to
a man with grey hair, an unusual feature within the fighting troops.

“
That is Thomas, our Master at arms. He is also Martin
’
s father,
”
Lady Emelia said from Rhyla
’
s side.
She
had not even heard her cross the walkway.

“
I can see the resemblance now,
”
Rhyla said taking her mistress
’
s arm to help support her before turning back to the men below. For several minutes they watched the men at their training. Martin returned to his sparring partner carefully mixing feints and rapid attacks with steady parries.
“
Martin is a well studied
swordsman
, cautious and skilful.
”

“
He has learnt well from his father,
”
Lady Emelia said with a soft laugh to her comment.
“
Thomas was a little reckless in his youth, but he learnt from it and ensured his son didn
’
t make the same mistakes as he did. He has tried to instil that in my grandson but unfortunately without the same success.
”

Rhyla turned her attention back to Callum, somewhat reluctant to even look at him even though there was no possibility of him meeting her gaze. The lithe moments of his body as he flowed back and forth with his sparring partner were somehow mesmerising. Every lunging attack and strike beautiful to her eyes, but a sudde
n movement made her
gasp
out loud
, startling her mistress.

“
What is it Rhyla?
”

“
Oh, my lady.
I am sorry to have startled you. It is just the attack Callum made.
”

“
What do you mean my dear, he is perfectly fine. They only spar.
”

“
I know it is just that he was
too
flamboyant in his parry and followed with an aggressive lunging attack. He overbalanced as his opponent stepped out of his reach leaving him without the speed to regain his composure to defend himself. In this case his opponent continued in the retreat but a more aggressive foe may well stand his ground sooner. Countering such with an inverted pa
rry across his body
can easily be turned into a powerful overhead strike that could severe a man
’
s head from his body,
”
Rhyla did not realise she was trembling as Lady Emelia began to rub her arm gently.

“
Hush my girl. Do not think such things. They are but sparing,
training;
it is such that he must learn these
things. Thomas will correct him.
No
doubt Callum will know exactly what he has done wrong,
”
Lady Emelia said soothingly.
“
He is a fine swordsman, trained since boyhood. Perhaps he is tiring from long hours on this ground. He has been pushing himself so hard recently.
”

“
No
doubt
you are right my lady. Forgive me, I spoke out of turn,
”
Rhyla said bowing her head respectfully.

“
You spoke the truth of what you saw. Don
’
t apologise for that,
”
Lady Emelia gently scolded.

“
Yes, my lady. Thank you.
”
Rhyla turned her attention back to the training ground. Callum was in discussion with the Master at arms. Rhyla got the impression that he was discussing just the mistake she had seen.

“
You certainly do know a great deal about swordsmanship Rhyla. Most young women, even those here in the Palace, are happy to watch the young men at their training and contests, but very few have any idea of the actual skills they are seeing. How is
it that you know so much? How were you able to
identify Callum
’
s error?
”
Lady Emelia seemed truly confused by her young companion, looking at her intently as if she were a puzzle to be solved.

“
My father taught me,
”
Rhyla said simply
while
shrugging her shoulder a little.

“
You father seems to have taught you a lot of things
,
my dear,
”
her mistress observed
,
clearly not content with such a simplistic answer.
“
How did he come by this knowledge and why was he educating his daughter?
”
she pressed further for answers.

Rhyla continued to watch the men for several minutes, chewing silently on her lower lip as she worked out how to explain what she was sure the Lady would think of as an unusual upbringing. She started slowly,
“
Father was never able to move as agilely as he wanted, as he had been able to in his younger days. He didn
’
t speak much of it but I now believe he had been
a guardsman
at some time. His movements were similar to those of these men but he had an old injury to his left thigh that slowed him up significantly.

“
We did not raise any stock for meat and rarely had coin to purchase much so we often had to hunt game for ourselves. When I
was old enough I went with him. I was an only child
so he taught me what he could of woodcraft and hunting. I learnt early how to shoot a small hunting bow to make a clean kill, as well as how to gut our prey. We mainly caught rabbits and game birds but on the odd occasion we would catch a small deer.

“
About five or six years ago the bandits first appeared. Father brought out his sword, polished and honed the edge but he knew he could do no more than defend our home,
”
Rhyla paused to draw several deep breaths before she could continue.
“
Several of the village men and the older boys wanted to learn to defend their homes and families. He started teaching them. Most were competent with the bow so he focused on training them to handle a sword even though few were abl
e to get hold of an actual sword. M
ost were forced to learn with hardened wooden blades. For weeks I would just watch discretely,
”
she laughed softly at the memory,
“
Mother was convinced I had my eye on one of
the village lads and was upset
when I denied it. She was even more distressed when she learned that I was secretly practising in the barn rather than doing my chores. When father learnt of this he decided that despite my femininity I was strong enough to wield a blade and set to training me as well. The men all thought it was a joke to begin with, but after a few bruises they took me just as seriously as any other. I may not have had the
strength that they did
but I was by no means weak.
I was faster and more agile than most as well.
”

“
That also explains how you knew so much of Callum
’
s injury and of his armour,
”
Lady Emelia stated, looking closely at Rhyla while she reminisced.

“
Yes my lady. Father said he had seen many wounds as a result of training and in battles. He thought there was no use in just learning how to fight if you had no idea how to care for yourself or your friends once the fighting was over.
”

“
He was a very clever man your father.
”

“
Yes my lady, he was,
”
Rhyla said smiling.
She
was very proud of her father.

“
When did you last hold a blade?
”
Lady Emelia asked after a few minutes.

“
It
has been several months now. My father
’
s
leg pained him in the winter but he still found time to make sure I practised.
”
Rhyla turned serious for a moment,
“
If only I had
been home when he was attacked.
We
could have fought together to save our home.
”

Lady Emelia firmly squeezed her hand to draw her attention
back from the painful memories.
“
If you had been there you would have only died alongside him, or perhaps something even worse would have befallen you. Those men would have thought nothing of taking you captive.
”

Rhyla nodded, knowing in her heart the truth of her mistress
’
s words.
“
I
t still pains me to think that I could have helped him.
”

“
Is that why you are so distressed about Callum going after these men? You want revenge?
”

“
No, it isn
’
t that. Yes I want to see those men pay for what they have done. But I don
’
t want to see Callum risking his life for me, for my father
’
s murder. He is too important,
”
Rhyla said, still not sure she was fully expressing how she felt
,
but struggling to find a better explanation.

“
Callum isn
’
t putting his life at risk without due cause. It is not just your father
’
s death he seeks justice for.
There
are countless other crimes that these men must be held accountable for, and the prevention of the crimes they intend to commit in the future,
”
Lady Emelia insisted.

Rhyla looked again down to the men training below. Callum
’
s shirt was covered in sweat, his muscles bunching and driving him on in yet another furious counter atta
ck that drove his opponent back.
She
was glad to see him stop before over reaching once again. He really was a fine swords
man. He exhibited
a strength and grace with his controlled aggression that she greatly admired. Callum paused for a quick word with Martin and Thomas who were watching him from a few feet away. As he returned to his starting point he looked up, meeting Rhyla
’
s gaze before turning and continuing his exercise with a renewed vigour. Her cheeks flushed as she remembered their last embrace.

“
I think it is time we went back inside my dear,
”
Lady Emelia said turning away from the training ground. As they walked back to the door into the Palace she asked Rhyla of her father.
“
What was your father
’
s name
,
my dear?
”

“
Donal.
Donal Farminer.
Why?
”

“
If he was a
guardsman
here then perhaps Thomas may remember him. He has been in the Palace guard since he was barely more than a boy. I would expect they were of a similar age,
”
Lady Emelia replied.