Please forgive the short chapter and long awaited update! Easter holidays have interfered in my daily writing schedule :) so far I have gotten really positive reviews (thank you so much x), so please keep them coming! If something doesn't make sense or if I'm having a crappy spelling day, I blame it on year 10 homework :p

Surprises

Chapter 4

Rose arrived at the royal palace just as the sun lay in the middle of the sky. She was ushered through the gates, and into the entrance of the palace. The entry hall was incredible, all the windows were of delicate stained glass, and the floors were immaculate. She and a couple of other men followed their host through the rooms to a large indoor exercise area. Dummies roughly stitched in one corner, shields in the other. A large throne caught everyone's eye, and next to it were three other chairs, all carefully embroidered in gold stitching and velvet cushioning. She guessed this would be for the king and his entourage to watch. "No pressure." She thought.

Pushing the nauseating thoughts of her nervousness aside, Rose limbered up. She would be sore the next morning if she didn't warm her muscles. The other men who were trying out put their armour on first, and showed off their swords. Rose laughed, they would be easy to battle in the combat training because they would be so stiff. Within an hour, the room was completely full of men. Thankfully Rose was tall, so she could she over the shoulders of them all. Hearty laughs and nervous whispers were silenced by heavy footsteps. And before Rose could see who these were, the whole crowd of men fell to their knees, bowing their heads to the King, who sat down in his royal throne. He looked very similar to Jon, with the exception of more wrinkled features and stress lines, what would have been a custom for every king.

Jon and the queen followed soon after, he bore a serious face, sizing up all the men, but his mother did not. The queen was beautiful, she was frail (from many years of sickness), but delicate with dark hair and lashes. Her skin was of Ivory, draped over her high cheekbones, and a kind smile sat at her lips.

"Welcome, men." The king boomed, his voice echoing off the high walls and ceilings. "Only a small portion of you will be selected to guard these precious palace walls, so please show us your strength, courage, and fitness."

The men all stood to their feet and whooped at the king. Jon stood from his chair, the room went silent again. "Half of you will start at hand to hand combat over there." He said and pointed at the well-worn dummies. Everyone's heads followed the direction of his long finger. Jon cleared his throat.

"The other half of you will start with sword practice. Please organise yourselves into the according groups." He finished. All of the cockier-looking men pushed through the crowd toward the sword section, the less confident found themselves being pushed in the opposite direction to the hand to hand combat. Rose found herself being pushed along with the less confident crowd, but that was where she wanted to start anyway. One on one combat was perfect to warm up, if she went straight to the swords she would be less agile and balanced. An old trainer with wrinkle streaked features stood before them all. He had to be at least 70, but what should have been a weak, frail old man was instead a long-legged, ball of muscle. "Welcome, men." Rose heard at least 40 men gulp at the size of his voice. "Please line yourselves up shortest to tallest on the white line. And make it fast." He boomed, but not in a cruel way, just loud enough to make anyone feel threatened. At the very beginning of the long line of men (née Rose), a middle aged man stood at least two and a half metres tall, and at the other end, a small young boy who looked to be about 13 stood. "How do they let small children in as guards, but no strong women?" Rose scoffed to herself. Once she became a palace guard she hoped to change that.

Rose found herself a spot somewhere in the middle, before she heard the mumble of voices steaming through the spectator section. Men and women from both the royal court and the cess pool shuffled into assigned seats, all pushing in one swift movement. Although Rose couldn't see George, she felt his presence and felt instantly calmer. Hopefully she could keep her emotions on the low the entire day.

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"Take that, Pretty boy!" Roses sword partner took a sharp stab at her ribs. Rose swiftly dodged the clumsy movement from her short, middle aged opponent. His face was strung with mixed emotions of fear, excitement, and a strong rage to kill her rather than simply duel. He was the second person she had been commanded to fight. The swords master was impressed by Rose's skill and agility, but wasn't happy with just one duel unlike the hand to hand combat trainer. Rose had easily taken down her combat partner within thirty seconds, he was weak and cowardly raised his hands up in defeat when Rose struck him behind the knees.

Rose plunged her wooden sword into her opponent's abdomen, which in result pushed him heavily down to the floor. "I surrender!" He yelled, which cued the eye roll from the swords master. "Get on your feet, coward" the master snarled. His bottom lip curled up like a Staffy. "Mathew, you have great skill." He turned to face Rose. "Where on earth did you aquire it from?" He asked puzzled. Rose was about to answer the master when she was interrupted by the King. "Yes, where did you Aquire such skill?" He boomed. The King and his entourage now stood behind the sword master. All of the men lowered their heads in respect to the royals. Rose gulped, she couldn't tell them the story of the Mother Goddess priestesses taking her to the boys fighting academy when she was 12. That was before she had to bind her chest and bandage her underclothes every month.

Everyone's eyes fell onto her, but Jon held the only reassuring glance. "I come from a small town on the outskirts of Corus," she began, not knowing what to make up next. "Close to where the Rural Boy's Fighting Academy is situated. I used to take classes there." Rose hoped it sounded legitimate enough, although in speaking, it wasn't entirely untrue...

The swords master and King both nodded their heads in some sort of unspoken agreement. Rose prayed to the gods they hadn't found out she was female. But much to her luck, the King responded. "You're in."

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