Chapter 6
**Disclaimer: I do not own Tamora's characters, but I own Leila, her father, etc. I am not trying to infringe on anyone's rights, I am simply enjoying myself and stretching my imagination by writing stories.**
The palace bells rang, and Leila was startled awake by Buri's voice booming, "Rise and shine, girls! We've got work to do!"
Leila sat up quickly, as did every other girl in the room.
"You've got twenty minutes to get to the mess hall. Down the stairs and to the left." Then Buri turned and strode out of the room.
For a moment, they all stared at each other. Then a girl said, "Whoa. We better get going!"
The rest of them burst out laughing and started to get ready.
After breakfast, they had horseback riding. Leila had no trouble at all saddling Star and getting on.
"Now," said Onua. "Ride your mount to the other side of the meadow and back. I want to see if you have the feel of your mount yet. And just a steady trot will do, we don't need any broken legs or arms on the first day of training."
They all set off and right away a tall girl with short-cropped, curly blonde hair and bright green eyes rode up to Leila.
"Hi!" she said cheerfully. "My name's Aspen. How about you?" "I'm Leila," Leila answered with a friendly smile.
"So, how did you decide to become a Queen's Rider?" Aspen asked.
"It's a long story," Leila said. "I'll tell you later. I promise." She did, and the two fast became inseparable.
*****
Buri turned to the Riders after an early-morning riding practice. "Good work. Now get to breakfast. Leila, Aspen, will you stay after a minute?"
Leila and Aspen exchanged glances. "Sure," Leila said.
"Follow me, then," Buri said, beckoning. They followed her into the barracks and up to her office. She dropped into a chair heavily. "Whew! I'm getting too old for this…but make yourselves at home girls, please," she said, gesturing to the neatly made up bed. They sat.
"Now, I noticed you two each have very good archery skills, very good. I was planning a trip to southern Tortall soon, and I was going to take a few talented trainees. I think you would be perfect for the trip. What do you think?
*****
"Okay, trainees," Buri shouted. "Time for hand-to-hand combat! Everyone pick a weapon from over there." She pointed to a cabinet full of knives with eight-inch blades.
Leila groaned and trudged over to choose a knife. She was terrible at hand-to-hand combat. She always ended up blocking attacks, instead of making them.
I'll have to ask for some extra help with it, Leila decided. If she was going to be a successful Queen's Rider, she was going to have to be able to do everything. I'll find out what I'm doing wrong.
She was paired with a tall, thin, blonde-haired male trainee. At least he doesn't look too intimidating, she reassured herself, smiling inwardly. She looked at his face, and was thrown off guard by his eyes. The iris was brown with yellow flecks, and there was an outer rim of yellow on it. They were deep and sincere, and made Leila feel like he understood her completely, even though they'd never met before. He smiled at her.
"All right, everyone ready?" Buri asked, making Leila focus on the task at hand. "Now," Buri continued. "I want you to try attacking and blocking. Remember, attackers, try to look for unprotected or vulnerable spots. Blockers, try not to leave them any. These are dull blades, so they shouldn't hurt anyone. Later we'll sharpen them, to see if you've learned anything. Let's see, left line blocks, right attacks. Now, ready … attack, block! Attack, block!"
At least now I have an excuse to block all the time, Leila thought.
The boy thrust his blade toward Leila's left side, forcing her to turn sideways to block his attack. He quickly drew back, only to attack her right side. Leila blocked that too, but just barely.
"You shouldn't leave your other side open like that," he said in a deep voice that you wouldn't have expected from his appearance. He smiled charmingly, so much so that in ordinary circumstances, Leila's heart would've skipped a beat. But she knew better than to do that while fighting. She remembered that much from Robin's lessons. She kept her guard up, warily keeping an eye on him. They continued this for a while, Leila quickly learning to keep her whole body protected all the time, while receiving tips from the boy.
"Now switch," Buri commanded. "Left attacks, right blocks!"
Leila lunged over and over again, her attacks being easily parried by the Rider.
"Okay," Buri said at last. "That's enough for today. Put your knives back in the cabinet and go in and get ready for the midday meal. Hustle, now, we don't want slackers for Queen's Riders!"
Leila finally relaxed her aching muscles. She headed in to get cleaned up for the meal.
*****
Leila sat down with her food at the table Aspen was already sitting at. All around her were the sounds of Riders groaning about aching muscles. This had been their first day of hand-to-hand combat, and everyone certainly felt it.
"Oh, my legs ache so bad," Leila moaned. Suddenly she noticed Aspen's expression.
Her mouth had formed a small "o" of surprise, but her eyes had a dreamy, unfocused look to them. Leila turned her head and looked up at who was behind her. It was the male trainee she had been paired up with.
"Any room for me?" he asked with that charming, heartbeat-skipping smile of his.
"Sure," Leila answered as nonchalantly as possible. He wasn't going to make her swoon! She saw that Aspen was already a lost cause.
"Always room for one more," she sighed. "Especially someone as handsome as you," she added under her breath.
Leila rolled her eyes. "Oh, gods," she muttered as the trainee slid onto the bench next to her. He was handsome, she had to admit it– especially those eyes of his.