Chapter 4
Weapons and Grass Ropes
Walking onto the lush green field, Drogo could see all of the warriors training. Only not archery, they were fighting hand to hand; he smiled, this is what he was good at. Aranyos looked at him as he stared toward the fast approaching men.
"Some of the boys asked if you could teach them Dothraki fighting techniques, think you're good enough?" She challenged. Drogo gave her an impossible look, as if she were a fool to ask that sort of question.
"Well you did almost get killed by a 16 year old princess, sorry if my faith in you isn't 100%!" Aranyos countered playfully, grabbing an arrow from her quiver and holding it close to him- reminding him of being stabbed a few days earlier.
"She wasn't just any princess. And she snuck up on me," Drogo defended, a frown darkening his face, but resolved to a flirtatious smirk. Her eyes narrowed.
"Snuck up on you? You grabbed me!" Aranyos exclaimed. Drogo didn't have time to respond, they had reached the men- who had stopped fighting to look at Drogo and pay respects to the princess.
"Drogo would be honored to teach you the ways of Dothraki hand to hand combat," Aranyos told them happily, in a veiled noble way. Drogo looked at each of the men, they couldn't be much older than he.
"We are honored to learn from you, I am Vado" one tall, attractive boy nodded toward Drogo. He was surprised that he could understand the warrior- his Csango lessons had already been paying off.
"This task does not require many words, fortunately for me," Drogo replied in Csango, ignoring Aranyos' stupid grin. Vado smiled and led him to the armory.
"What's it like to be a Dothraki?" Vado finally asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them as Drogo looked through his weapons. He looked up at the blonde warrior-
"much harder than being a Magyar." He said indifferently, gliding a stone over his arakh- he was happy to have brought a wide array of weapons with him.
"How?" Vado asked wearily, sitting down on the bench next to Drogo and beginning to polish his own sword. Drogo smirked,
"more fighting, more violence, more death- everywhere."
Vado digested the information he was just given; the stories about the Dothraki hoard were true, they fought and killed each other for the littlest things. Sex and blood were a staple in their lives.
"Well at least the stories were right," he commented, trying to not offend Drogo. For how calm the Dothraki boy seemed, Vado did not want to push his luck. Drogo smiled slightly, this boy had no idea what he was talking about; hearing stories and living it were 2 totally different things.
"Wouldn't want to disappoint," Drogo replied, he was beginning to like this boy- Vado.
Aranyos couldn't stay to watch the boys training, Zigere loomed across the field back by the stables. She rolled her eyes, unexcited about talking to him; but walked over, seeing as he was waiting for her.
"Princess," the warrior acknowledged as Aranyos came up to him. He stood with his hands on his hips, a smug smile on his face. The princess eyed him suspiciously- uncomforted by the warrior's air of superiority,
"What do you want Zigere?"
"Its what I don't want," he grinned smugly. He was toying with her, and Aranyos didn't have the patience that day for it.
"Just tell me what you want, I am not up for this today," she replied hotly, mirroring his arrogant stance.
"You are not to see the Dothraki boy anymore," Zigere said flatly, all hints of joking gone from his voice.
"You can't do that. You have no reason to belie-" she was cut off.
"I saw you with him at the lake Aranyos," the warrior interjected. She instantly deflated, but tried to mask her horror.
"Nothing happened Zigere," Aranyos affirmed, blushing furiously. The warrior smirked at her discomfort.
"Don't make me tell your father," Zigere pleaded sweetly, "I don't want the Dothraki boy's head on a spit, I just don't want you on him either."
"Like Hell you don't. Some day you will be able to tell me what to do, but not today," Aranyos replied angrily, unable to believe he was threatening her.
"And when that day comes, I don't want you spoiled for me," he explained, getting into her personal space and ignoring her words completely. He knew she would obey. Zigere then turned and walked away arrogantly.
Aranyos turned and looked back across the field, seeing Vado holding one of the Dothraki weapons. Drogo stood next to him, explaining something. Vado nodded and swung the weapon as instructed. The princess couldn't help but smile as all the warriors watched with rapt interest. She headed back to the palace once she felt Drogo's eyes on her; it was for his own safety, Zigere wouldn't hesitate to get him hurt if he thought they were together. Of course Zigere couldn't have seen when she stabbed Drogo with an arrow, or when he grabbed her, or even earlier that day! He had to see the one moment they had acted out of character. Because that was what it was, they had gotten caught up in the moment; Drogo didn't really harbor any feelings for her, and she certainly did not. They were friends, and even that was pushing it. Aranyos sighed, cursing the gods for their horrible timing; she was going to have to avoid him for his own good.
Aranyos stopped for a moment, Zigere had long gone and she turned back to the field; her brain hatching an idea. She had to look like she was avoiding him. Zigere would never have to know.
Completely pleased with herself, Aranyos walked back to the palace in search of Gyongi and Csilla.
"Hurts your shoulder after a few blows," Vado commented to another boy who was trying to fight with the arakh. Drogo smirked- walking up to them,
"gets you a strong arm."
"A stronger arm!" The other boy, Tawak joked, flexing his arms. Vado laughed, comparing Tawak's relatively toned arms to Drogo's bulky tan ones.
"A stronger one," Drogo agreed, taking the arakh and putting it back with his other weapons.
"We're going riding later, do you want to come? I heard that you tamed the bay stallion. I gotta see this," Tawak told him.
"Let's go to the mess hall. I'm starving," Vado complained. For the first time, Drogo realized it was dark outside; and that he was hungry. He nodded and the three set off toward the barracks for dinner.
"Gyongi! Csilla!" Aranyos yelled in the hall of the palace as she ran toward the stairs. The girls met her with worried faces on the second floor.
"Come into my room. I need you both to do something for me," Aranyos whispered as she led the way into her massive chamber. Csilla plopped down on the light pink couch and Gyongi stood with her arms crossed.
"What is it that's so important that you had to scream for us from downstairs?" Gyongi asked incredulously.
"I need you both to take a ride, every night after dinner," Aranyos told them. Gyongi's face didn't change and Csilla looked slightly confused.
"We do take rides though, everyday," the shorter girl replied.
"Take it at night, and take Arabejla with you…okay?" Aranyos asked desperately.
"I'm going to guess this has to do with the Dothraki boy, am I right?" Gyongi asked flatly, a smirk covering her face. Aranyos blushed slightly, but her overriding anger at Zigere allowed her to stifle it.
"More with Zigere," she replied bitterly, both girls gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Just…will you promise me?" Aranyos asked almost desperately.
"You're not going to explain why?" Gyongi asked, obviously annoyed. Aranyos ushered both of them to the door. Her sister sighed in exasperation but nodded on her way out. Csilla grabbed Aranyos' arm and pushed back in.
"Tell me."
"I- I- I wish I could, Csilla I really do. But I don't want to get you in trouble," the princess explained truthfully.
"If something bad happens, you will tell me though? If you need help or something?" Csilla pleaded, running a hand through her long sandy blonde curls. Aranyos smiled and hugged her long time friend.
"Of course. But this is a problem I have to work out alone, hopefully it will be over in a few weeks," she confided. Csilla nodded and left the room. Aranyos was alone with her unsettling thoughts for the rest of the night.
"So you're saying that you roped a wild horse…with a grass lasso?" Drogo asked Tawak, not believing one word the warrior was saying. Vado burst into laughter.
"Must have been some grass! Don't let him fool you, it took him weeks to catch that pony!" Vado joked, dismounting the pinto he was riding. Drogo laughed.
"It was! And it only took 1 week to catch him!" Tawak defended as they led the horses back into the stable for the night. Walking down the isle, Drogo noticed Arabejla's stall door was slightly ajar. Stripping Athdikar's tack and turning him loose back in his stall, Drogo walked back down the dimly lit isle to Arabejla.
"So how was fighting?" Aranyos asked from the shadowy corner of the stall. Drogo strained to see her in the low light. Arabejla sat beside her, that was the only reason he knew where she was.
"The men are weak, my weapons are useless to them," Drogo replied, but his words were not said disdainfully, just a statement of fact. She looked up at him as he stood in the stall door way.
"But…?" Aranyos asked, waiting for him to say something positive about the group of skilled warriors. Drogo smirked and sighed in defeat.
"They are quick to learn and are making progress." Aranyos laughed, standing up. Arabejla shifted unhappily, upset that the princess moved away from her.
"I heard you speaking Csango, you're practically fluent," she joked, but was secretly proud of how quickly Drogo had picked it up from their brief lessons.
"The words are much like Dothraki, but I still have much to learn if my teacher wants to teach me," Drogo gave her a lopsided smirk and Aranyos rolled her eyes.
She was about to speak when female voices intruded into the otherwise quiet barn. Csilla and Gyongi walked in, in the middle of an intense conversation. They both stopped when they saw Drogo and Aranyos standing near the crème mare's stall.
"Csilla, Gyongi. You wanted to meet Drogo right?" The princess asked sweetly, panicking about being caught by the two girls she had sent to keep her secret. Gyongi swallowed her fear of the huge warrior and strode over to meet them. Csilla inched slowly over behind her.
"We were just going to go for a ride. Do you still want us to bring Arabejla?" Gyongi asked, trying to ignore Drogo's dark stare. Aranyos made a face at her sister, hoping it would convey 'SHUT THE FUCK UP!.' Gyongi smirked at her baby sister before turning and leaving, "come on Csilla, lets go get the horses. We'll bring Arabejla too so you can do whatever you guys want."
Aranyos was furious at her sister, glaring daggers into her back as she walked down the isle with Csilla. She didn't want to face Drogo now, knowing that he would want an explanation.
"Anything?" Drogo finally asked, once it was obvious the princess wasn't going to willingly explain the situation. Aranyos turned to him, relieved that he didn't seem angry. She shook her head.
"No."
Drogo nodded and headed out of the stable, for a moment Aranyos thought he was actually angry with her. Then he stopped, waiting for her to catch up.
The princess breathed a sigh of relief and ran after him, walking together to the palace.
A/N: As of 8/25 I revamped this chapter cuz I felt like it was a minor fail and wasn't as in-depth about situations as I thought it could be. Hope this helped a little! R & R :)
