Chapter seven is here! And the little something something is coming :D Nice long chapter today :P
"There once was a girl from Corsa,
Who rode upon a great big horsa,
She must have been cold,
For he was wearing no clothes."
"Willis shut up!" Karigan yelled.
He was standing up tall with his cup raised and was reciting Karigan's most embarrassing story. He was getting revenge for Karigan beating him in Intrigue and winning 2/3 of his dragon droppings.
"I wasn't naked." She protested. "I was in my night clothes and I didn't arrive at the castle."
The others laughed.
"Sure sure, Karigan! We all know how green riders arrive after being called." Rory joked.
"Hey! Not everyone arrives so dramatically." Mara objected and everyone laughed.
Slowly the jokes died down and Donald left for bed. Willis and Mara left at the same time and Rory left soon after.
Karigan and Fastion were locked in an intense Intrigue battle. Suddenly Fastion took one of her pieces and he won.
Karigan groaned. "I nearly won a couple of times though."
Fastion laughed. "You did."
"I'm going to hurt all over tomorrow." Karigan whined.
"And then Drent will make us even more sour so our sour muscles have sour muscles." Fastion smiled.
"You excited for your secondary examinations?" Karigan asked.
"Not really." Fastion's face moved into a grimace. "It's going to be so hard. Some people have died during it."
"What?!"
"The last death was last year during Brenne's." Fastion poured them each another cup of tea and handed Karigan a cup.
"Are you going to be alright?" The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying.
Fastion smiled. "I'll be fine. I hope." He chuckled.
"At least I might be free of this head ache you keep on giving me." Karigan joked and they burst into laughter.
They chatted away as they walked back towards the weapons, and green rider wings.
"Good night." Karigan told him.
"See you tomorrow in Drent's hell camp." Fastion said as they parted ways.
Karigan chuckled and walked to her room.
Karigan was drenched. Mara was drenched. Rory was drenched. Donald was drenched. Fastion was drenched. Willis was drenched. Everyone was drenched but Drent.
He stood under the only bit of cover in the whole practice grounds. His mouth never stopped smiling. More than once Mara had yelled at him but his mood could not be dampened. He was having way too much fun making them all suffer.
They were being forced to run through an obstacle course. Everything was slippery and everything hurt. Eventually they'd all been through it twice and we're standing in front of Drent, all except him, in the pouring rain.
"Okay, you all did that expertly. Let's make it more difficult." Karigan didn't think it was possible for his smirk to get bigger but it did.
"Oww, that's my foot." Mara snapped.
"All our foots hurt." Rory called right back to her.
"It's feet." Fastion told him.
Rory nudged him and everyone fell over. They had been tied up like a three legged race, but all of them. From right to left it was Donald, Rory, Fastion, Karigan, Willis, and then Mara.
"Now do the course." Drent smiled evilly as they hobbled off.
Within seconds they were sent head first into the mud. Screams and curses filled the whole field. It was so comical that some people left the warmth of the castle to watch them struggle.
They fell again but Karigan and Fastion managed to stay up, until Willis sabotaged their success and they literally went face first into the mud. "I'm going to kill you Willis!" Fastion yelled.
"This isn't going to work. Every second person step with your left foot." Karigan called over the pouring rain. "On my mark. Step,"
For once no one fell. "Okay, change feet. Step."
Another successful step.
"Step, step, step." They all chanted together and they soon mastered walking but it was an obstacle course.
Climbing under the net took ages and Karigan's uniform turned completely brown. The mud even managed to dominate the black uniforms of the weapons.
They all stopped and stared at the swing rope. The way they got past that was way too complicated and would take too long to explain but it included a human ladder each with rolled ankles and one ankle that popped out of its socket.
The climbing wall gave them horrid bruises and a couple of black eyes because of elbows in the face. The swim back across the river was full of coughing and spluttering as they almost drowned.
When they reached Drent again it was five hours later.
"I didn't expect it to take that long." Drent chuckled. "Untie yourselves and we'll start the last exercise of the day."
The platform was one meter by one meter and all six of them had to fit on it.
"Okay, let's think of this logically." Donald said. "Since you girls are smallest you get in the middle."
After a little grumbling and objecting Mara and Karigan squished into the center of the platform.
Rory got on, Willis got on, Donald got on but there was no way that Fastion would fit on.
"What if you guys went in the middle and then we got on." Mara suggested.
Fastion got on, Rory fit on, Donald fit on and Willis made it. Karigan and Mara quickly jumped on.
"Hold it for ten seconds." Drent called. "1, 2, 3,"
Everyone slipped and they landed in the mud.
"Get off me!" Mara called from beneath everyone.
Once they could breathe properly again they stood looking at the platform.
"I've got it." Karigan exclaimed. "Okay you guys get on and instead of Mara and I trying to find a spot. You guys give us a piggy back."
"It might be easier if Mara carried one of us." Willis received a punch across the face from Karigan.
"Ready?" Karigan asked before jumping onto Fastion back. "I'm not crushing you?" She asked.
"You're too light to crush anyone." He replied.
"Unlike Mara." Karigan kick Willis in the back and he fell into the mud. "I'm joking!"
Mara stood on his back and he was sent face first into the mud again.
"Donald is much more of a gentleman than you Willis." Mara sniffed delicately and jumped onto Donald's back.
"Come on Willis." Rory snapped and the other weapon pulled himself out of the mud and jumped onto the platform.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5," they all counted together, "6, 7, 8, 9, 10!"
They all looked towards Drent but he was busy reading a letter. The green foot runner who's delivered it was staring at them.
"DRENT!" They all yelled and the arms master jumped and looked up at them.
"You may come down. Gather around we need to speak about the secondary examinations." Drent called out.
"Where are you two going?" Drent called to Karigan and Mara as they went to walk away. "Come," Drent gestured to them and they joined the circle around him.
"Marcus you can go. Thank you for delivering this." Drent said to the foot runner and the boy hurried away.
"Have some tea." The kettle was passed around and they each poured themselves some tea.
"In three days you will be leaving to go to your secondary examination. I've spoken with Captain Mapstone, the King, Kingston and the leaders on Breaker Island. We have decided that, Karigan, Mara, you can go do the secondary examinations too." Drent started.
"It's completely up to you. People have died in these examinations. If you do this then once you're released from the Green Riders corps then you will only need to take the final examinations before becoming a weapon. I know this is a big decision considering you might not even want to become a black shield in future but I believe that you could do well in these examinations."
"You don't have to answer immediately and you don't have to become a black shield when you leave the Green Riders. Because of your current assignment and your participation in past events you are being allowed to participate in it. It's a huge honor, but again it's up to you. Please give your captain your answers as soon as possible. To you others, in three days you'll be leaving. Don't forget to pack appropriate things. See you all in the morning. These sessions are still going." Drent dismissed them.
Karigan and Mara walked off deep in thought.
"Do you reckon they'll say yes?" Willis asked his fellow weapons.
"I don't know but I hope so." Rory said.
"It'll be a lot harder without them." Donald agreed.
"But people have died during these examinations." Fastion stated.
"You can't possible pretend that you don't want Karigan to come." Willis said smugly.
"I do but it's dangerous." Fastion snapped.
"And they might not even say yes." Rory pointed out. By that time the two green riders had disappeared into the castle.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Kristin Britain
:OOOOOO What will they choose?
