The Golden Years

Year 1000, day one

The morning after the coronation Lily and Georgie were woken early by Oreius. He instructed them both to get dress and meet him down in the courtyard in ten minutes to begin their training as protectors. Of course, though, the siblings did nothing to heed his commands as both were extremely tired from the late night before. So when ten minutes rolled around and they were both still tucked in bed, a pair of satyrs came into their room's unannounced and dumped a bucket of cold water onto each of their heads.

That sure woke the two siblings up.

Once the two had stopped sputtering and were sitting up in bed, their covers now drenched, the satyrs informed them that Oreius was now giving them only five minutes to meet him in the courtyard. They also informed the brother and sister that if they were late again, more severe punishments would be bestowed on them. Not wanting a test the Centaur and see what else could happen, the two siblings jumped from their beds, threw on the nearest clothes they could find, and ran from their rooms, stumbling into each other in the hallway.

In the end, it took them eight minutes to get to the courtyard.

Oreius stood in the center of the bright green field. He was leaning on his large, heavy sword for support, his face stony.

"You are both late," he said in his deep voice, his eye looking from Georgie to Lily.

The siblings shared a look before they started to give excuses, only to be silenced by a glare from Oreius.

"Let's get started," the centaur said after a short lapse of silence.

And so the training began.

It started out with a few laps around the yard to warm up, an extra two laps each was added for their tardiness. Oreius made it look like it was a simple task, but Lily and Georgie were both breathless by the second lap. By the time they finished their fourth, they were both ready to drop to their backs and never move again. Unfortunately, they had to move onto sword work. Georgie knew a little from the quick training that he, Edmund, and Peter had been given before the battle, but that was about it. Lily knew close to nothing so things were more difficult for her. The sword she held in her hand was much too large for her, but Oreius said that they would find her a proper one later and that the heavier sword would help strengthen her arm. Lily thought that was a good idea in theory, but after ten minutes of movements, she felt as though her arm was going to fall off.

After an hour of sword work, was bow work. This was something that Lily rather enjoyed seeing as she had previous experience with the weapon. It wasn't that much of an advantage, however, as Oreius showed both her and Georgie tricks that she hadn't thought possible. He showed them how to shoot more than one arrow at a time and hit both targets, how to accurately throw an arrow when you had lost your bow or the string snapped, and how to hold and use your bow as a weapon when you have run out of arrows.

Next was spear work. They started off with pretty basic maneuvers, but Oreius promised they would become more complex as the training when on. He also promised that they would work with different weapons each day, saying that they were protectors now, which meant they should be well knowledgeable in all things weaponry as well as in perfect shape which led to more conditioning. They ran some more, lifted heavy stone potted plants, and did exercises. But no matter how hard their bodies hurt, they pushed through the pain, having learned early on that Oreius was not really the sympathetic type.

By noon, however, they were not able to go on anymore. Finishing their fifth, and slowest, lap around the courtyard, they dropped to the ground, their breathing heavy. Oreius had given them a few brakes during their training, but they weren't that long; just long enough for them to catch their breath and have some water before they were pushed into the next exercise.

As they lay there, their eyes closed and throbbing limbs spread out, Peter walked out of the castle and across the grass towards them. He had woken up an hour earlier, as well as his siblings, and had just finished eating a wonderful brunch with them when he decided that he was going to keep his word from last night and talk to Oreius. He hadn't know that the centaur was leading a training session so he was a little surprised when he came out to see Lily and Georgie lying on the ground.

"You two look... sweaty," he said as he came forward. "What on earth have you been doing?"

Lily and Georgie both shot the High King matching glares that caused the blonde boy to take a step back.

"Sorry," he muttered softly before walking over to Oreius. "I was wondering if I might have a word with you?"

The great centaur bowed his head before the new King. "Of course, your Highness." He then turned his attention to the two lying on the ground. "You two are finished for the day. Meet me here tomorrow, on time."

After looking at the pair for a moment to stress that it would be in their best interest to show up on time, Oreius once again turned his attention to Peter. With a small movement of his arm, he gestured for Peter to lead the way. Once in the castle, they made their way towards the High King's new study where they discussed his worries of ruling a Kingdom. The siblings they had left out in the courtyard stayed out there on the grass until they both worked up the courage to stand and walk. With their muscles aching, they made their way into the castle for a couple nice, long, hot baths. Neither of them were looking forward to the training session that they would have to endure tomorrow.

Authors Note: Hey guys, and welcome to my stories of the Golden Age! Just a heads up, these chapters are going to vary in length as well as time frame. At the moment, I plan on just posting chapters when I'm finished with them so they might not always be in order. I do plan on putting them in order after a while, though. I have some ideas of my own, but I would love to hear what you guys want to see. I mean, we have fifteen years to cover. :) Thank you so much for reading and see you for the next update!