~~:Review Thank You's:~~
Shayley Rain: I don't have a flaw! ::runs around yelling:: See? I am updating! I AM PERFECT! ::blinks at sudden outburst:: Anywyas, yes i felt inspired lol. Am updating be happy.
shadow kitty: Small evil demon, I like that. ;) And youngets stone mountain was updated, 'cept it's not exactly what I summarized. When I wrote it it developed a mind of it's own and is now mutated. Anyways, you'll understand if you read it. It's under Not Everything is Pretty.
mae15: You're welcome
starblossom: I know it's confusing but it all gets explained in the end, I promise.
Peachblossom: I know Haven was destroyed. I just don't like the name New Hope. So I have used my artistic liscence and changed it back. I even told Tammie, she sort of went uh hu ok and nodded. ::well not really but she did say fanfic was all about artistic liscence and no she was not going to tell me what her new book was about ;) :: And for your information I did not like Lady Knight. Though I am glad some one does. I know fluffs not cool but the evil little fluff bunnies tend to take over me fingers and force me to write it.
Maddi: ::ducks flying bottle's of hair dye:: Thank you, I wish I could publish fanfic too, then maybe I'd have sum money...
Superalicea: I wrote it, you didn't read it :( And Chemise exists because she is a cat, they have cats in Tortall. I'm just not sure about camels. I know chemise is french for shirt, I take french (it sucks) I could have called her Chatte but you know, thats boring.
lady knight: I'm sorry I missed you! Knew I missed somebody. Forgive us? I tried to do a good job with the dress. Don't keel me!
Tomato Beatles Fan: I like kiwi. And no I didn't know A day in the life was a song, but i do now.
Eccie87: ehehehehe, yes the plotline thickens, Mwhahahahah!
White-wolf: lol, no I can't take priority I've already finished this. I update on the basis of when I get chappie back from me beta. lol. You're lucky you've got a kitty, mine parents won't let me have one.
JadeGreenGoddess: alright, alright, I updated happy now? Yes? Yes? Good, review!
Saturnpyroprincess: I hate writers block 2! ::bashed it over head and lights it on fire:: pyro's rule by the way.
cAroLYnrOSe: I luv u too! **hugs** and Erikk is Mine. If you try anything with him I will find you! lol
Peachblossom: lol, Simom? OH! A gypsy guy that is Erikk's friend from a while back, since he lives there and all. I just felt bad cuz Lia has all these friends and you guys haven't met any of them, I have them all written out on the nice little sheet of paper I have titled ERIKK. lol. And I'm 15, well, I was 14 when I wrote this. And I have a palm unit with a word processor on it so I can write anywhere anytime, in the car, during class whenever
Shiningami Clara: I know haven was destroyed. I just didn't like Lady Knight and I refuse to admit to myself that anything but the seccond to last paragraph was written. As to Alanna have insanity in her family Alanna herself says it to Faithful in I think it's Lionness Rampant but I'm not postive so don't quote me on that.
Jazmin: I love being insubordinate. lol, and Neal is a stubborn pig.
Xirleb70: There isn't really a way to reply to your review, so I leave you with a question, why do kamakazi pilot's wear helmets?
Thank you all fro the reviews.. I'm sorry if I sound crabby. I had kind of a hard day. Finals and crap. I had and essay test on The Red Badge of Courage, disgustingly painful book to read and it's only 150 pages! And my older brother is in the hospital so I'm a little stressed, but enjoy this chapter!
~~: Chapter 19: Trials:~~
Chemise watched amusedly as Lia kicked a hole in the punching bag and the training master shooed her to breakfast. Lia could have sworn she heard him say something about crazy violent women as he did.
Lia walked back to her rooms to bathe. After she did she felt more awake and jogged to the mess hall for breakfast. She grabbed an apple and ran to the north field with Chemise running after her.
~~:~~
A week later Lia was called to meet with Kel in her office. Lia thought this was odd because normally they met in the library or in the mess hall when they were both eating. Lia ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach as she entered Kel's study.
"Hello," Lia said cautiously. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Kel said looking up from her pile of papers. "Sit please." Lia sat and waited expectantly. "You have to go back to the city on Monday." She said. Smiling as realization hit Lia smack dab in the face. She had completely forgotten about squire trials.
"Oh yeah," Lia said dumbly.
"You forgot eh?" Kel said trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, what day is it?"
"Friday, you have two days to pack. Squire trials start next Saturday but we're leaving early so you have a few days to practice with your year mates." Kel said with a smile.
"Okay, great. So I'll meet you in the court yard Monday morning."
"Noonish." Kel said. "I'm not as young as I used to be. Leaving at dawn, what a joke that is now." Kel said with a smile. It was rumored Kel still practiced at dawn, but no body knew for sure. Lia just nodded and left.
~~:~~
Monday afternoon saw Lia and Kel riding towards Corus. Lia was very nervous. She hadn't studied with her year mates in years. What if she didn't know as much as they did? What if she didn't pass and had to do the year over again? What if she never passed? What if she stayed a page until she was thirty?
Kel sensed Lia's mood and left her mostly alone for the trip. Once they had made it to the city Lia's despair only grew worse. Kel instructed her to take a bath and go to bed, and she did, she just didn't sleep.
Lia watched as the morning dawned warm and crystal clean. Lia glared at the small red kitten asleep peacefully on the windowsill.
Bed and began a sword dance.
Chemise had woken up and was watching Lia with interest. Five minuets later Lia was dressed and walking out the door to the mess hall, small kitten trailing not two feet behind.
"Lia!" She turned around to see Aaron was running up from behind her. Smiling she waited for him to catch up.
"Hey, I'm surprised you're up and moving this early."
"Ah, woe is me. Years of training have gone into my unfortunate awakeness at this hour." He said sadly. Lia laughed.
"I bet Gerry poured water on ya huh?" Lia asked smirking.
"Ya, that to."
"Uh hu." Lia said as they walked into the mess hall. She gasped as she remembered just how big it was. How many people were in there. Arron looked at her oddly. She smiled as they got in line.
Quietly observing the others in the room Lia decided that she might live through the trials. There was a few big fourth years Lia was positive she would loose to in wrestling, only two or three wiry boys that would do well in archery. The rest of the events would go well for her.
She told her friends everything she had done in the past year. For some reason they seemed impressed.
"Most of us won't learn the stuff you know until we're second year squires." Gerry said after seeing her look of confusion.
"Really? It's very useful to know." Lia said surprised.
"Probably, but we don't have a clue." Arron said as the bell rang. "To the practice courts!" He said with an arm in the air. Lia sighed as they jogged to the practice ring. Upon arrival, they were paired up and told that it was a freestyle sparring session.
Arron winked at Lia and attacked. Lia rolled her eyes and blocked. She only had one sword; the training master had asked her to practice with only one. Grudgingly she had consented. Arron was winning, or so it appeared. She was waiting for him to make a large mistake so she could disarm him.
"Loosing your touch Lia?" He asked.
"I can beat you at any time." She said evilly.
"Prove it." He challenged. She smiled. Lia began attacking, really attacking. He could barely block her attacks. Had she had her other sword she would have beaten him already. He was panting. She twisted her sword around his and pulled it from his grasp. Lia caught his sword and laid it at his throat. He gasped.
"How did you do that?" He asked.
"A lady never tells her secrets. Go again?"
"No! I can only get beaten by a girl so many times in a day." He said bowing. Lia laughed and they waited for the others to finish.
From there they went to archery. Her attempts were remedial. She hit the target all of the time but her arrows stayed in a circle around the center.
"Very pretty art work Queenscove." The training master barked. "But it doesn't quite cut it.
On their way to wrestling, Lia realized some one was missing.
"Where is Jasson?" Lia asked surprised.
"His sister's getting married. He'll be back tonight." Gerry said brightly. He liked wrestling.
Lia got paired up with a big third year who was supposedly very good. Not as good as Erikk, but she had beaten Erikk on occasion.
Her opponent lunged at her. She merely sidestepped him and kicked his knees so he fell over.
"Queenscove! What do you think you're doing?" The training master asked.
"Using evasive tactics?" She said slowly.
"Oh, get to your next class." He yelled before walking away.
The rest of her classes went smoothly. She did much better than she had expected. Her fan club began to follow her after lunch. Arron found this amusing and began teasing them. The little gang of stalkers first ignored him but by dinner both parties were highly annoyed and sat on opposite sides of the room. Jasson showed up halfway through dinner and began eating off Arron's plate before getting smacked.
"Did you hear?" He asked excitedly.
"Alex, John and Erikk are all trying for their shields this winter." That started a whirlwind of talking. Gerry went as far as to say he would refuse knight-masters until they were knighted. Lia had smiled at that.
She fell into bed later that day; ready for anything the trials could throw at her.
~~:~~
She woke up early the next morning, so early that the sky was still dark. After exercising and stretching for an hour, mostly stretches, she didn't want to tire herself out. She went to sit in the mess hall.
Lying longwise on a bench, she closed her eyes. Breathing slowly she concentrated on the tasks ahead of her. To her it felt like her ordeal. It felt that important to her. She pulled her knees up and sighed.
Some one sat near her feet and laid their arms on her knees. Lia opened on eye to look at them and smiled.
"Hey," She said looking at them. "I was told the royal prince wouldn't be back for another week." Lia said sarcastically.
"Ah, yes. It really is an unfortunate place to be." He said. Lia looked at him like he was insane.
"You realize that made no sense whatsoever right?"
"Yes," John said simply. Lia rolled her eyes and went back to brooding.
"What are you brooding about?"
"Nothing."
"You lie. The trials aren't as hard as you're all making them out to be. Don't worry about it." Lia looked at him. Suddenly Chemise jumped up onto her chest and started washing her face.
"When did you get that?" John asked looking slightly offended.
"Awhile ago, her name's Chemise." Lia said smiling. John reached out and gingerly patted her on the head before withdrawing his hand quickly.
"I guess it's-" He stopped when Lia and Chemise looked at him. "She's okay for a cat." He said. "I'll see you at the trials." He said as he got up to leave.
"Okay, see you then." John shook his head as he left, he was positive that was no ordinary cat. Lia ate as much food at breakfast as she could force down her throat.
Finally, it was time. She and her friends filed out of the mess hall and into the practice courts.
Bleachers had been set up around each ring. The judges were seated in front of the bleachers. After a few moments they would begin. Lia waited impatiently for them to begin.
Finally, the judge sitting in the middle of the chair stood and read the list of events. Archery would be first, wrestling second, Shang third and swordsmanship last.
Archery targets were set up fifty paces away and the would-be squires handed bows. A few seconds later they were told to begin. They would be judged on form, accuracy and time. Lia knew that in form she would do well, but in the other two? She was worried.
The call came to begin. Lia quickly pulled up her bow and released. Five times she did this. Looking around she realized that she was not the last one to finish she relaxed against the fence post. The last few finished and the judges were busily writing down scores.
The archery targets were taken away and a ring drawn. The pages were quickly lined up and a large man stepped out of the crowd.
"You will each face off with this man He will go through a series of attacks each one you block gives you a point." Lia gaped; this man was huge. She was guessing that she was faster and more limber than he was. As he fought she realized that he wasn't really trying that hard, because of that it was hard to spot his weakness. As Arron was fighting him she saw he favored his right leg. When he finished Lia stepped into the ring.
As they started she was grinning like an idiot. The man gave her an odd smile as he attacked. The blow swung at her head. She crossed her wrists to catch his blow and then kicked the back of his leg. She slid around behind him and hit his right shoulder. Lia ducked as he swung again. She began a series of attacks aimed at his right side.
His breath came in ragged gulps before long. Finally he bowed out giving Lia the win. She smiled as she returned to her seat.
The Shang masters came out and turned to face the crowd. All fourth year pages would be subject to an expedition of skill. The Shang masters were to have them line up and go through movements called out by the masters, who would be moving thought the line grading their movements.
Lia inhaled and exhaled slowly, calming her breathing and clearing her head. She was placed in the centerline near the edge. One of the masters--the shorter one--stood in the front and began to yell commands. Right block, high kick, backlist, round kick--the list went on and on, and soon Lia was lost in a trance of repetition. Her breathing was slow, shockingly slow.
Her vision blurred and she saw herself entering the chamber of the ordeal. Eerie laughter filled her hearing and then she snapped back into reality. Her limbs were still moving to the commands but her mind was reeling. What did it mean?
The drill finished and they were sent to get their swords from their rooms. Lia had hung hers by the entrance to her room and was about to leave when an angry kitten landed on her head
.
"You want to come?" She asked the kitten. Chemise glared at her and climbed onto her shoulder. Running back to the training ring Lia prayed that she wasn't late. Lia slipped into her seat just as they were announcing the rules.
Lia already knew them; they had been paired up with another page and were supposed to exhibit a wide variety of moves. For herself Lia was going to use the double swords and torment whomever she was paired with.
The pairs were called; she was paired with, well, no one. As the first pair started, Lia walked around the gravel ring to the swords master. He looked at her as she came to stand next to him. He looked at her expectantly.
"I wasn't paired with anyone." Lia said. She bit her lip as she received another blank stare from this man. "What do you want me to do?" Lia asked, struggling to keep the annoyance from her voice.
"I would have thought that was obvious." He said as if Lia were dumb. That was it for Lia; she smirked evilly before spinning on her heel and walked away. She smiled as Jasson gave her a worried look. Lia waited patiently as all of the pairs were through. Cutting through her swirling thoughts, she heard her name called.
Stepping confidently out into the cleared ring she smiled as silence reigned. Quickly she began a sword dance. Slowly at first, the dips turn and spin slow and graceful. Then faster spinning and whirling. As it became more violent, she slid the two swords away from each other. Gasps came from the crowd as they realized she had two swords.
Her dance was more violent now. Silver flashing as her swords caught the sunlight. Her black hair swung out around her. Jumps and flips were soon added to her deadly dance, and then, quickly, the swords clicked back together. Lia stood there, unruffled, if you hadn't known she had been moving. She smiled and walked back to her place in line. The judges conversed for a minuet before scoring her.
Physical trials over, the tired fourth years walked to the mess hall. All of them shoveling food into their mouths faster than Lia thought possible. Shrugging her shoulders she went back to eating, a then her male friends, a tad bit slower
~~:~~
So, how'd I do this time? Thoughts? Comments? Flames? Flames are amusing, why do you suppose their called Flames anyways?
~ANA~
