Chapter 12: The Unfair Fight
Bery was in the stable caring for her horse Brownie. She was the last of the pages because Brownie had decided that mud suits him very well. Bery and her training- masters didn't agree with him, so the gelding had to be cleaned. Bery was not in her best mood. After a while she was tired, exhausted and dirty. But Brownie was clean, finally. Bery closed the box of her horse, ready to leave.
Suddenly she felt somebody standing behind her. She turned around facing three boys. She knew them. They were older pages. Damian of Windshole, Kajus of Grealok and Ruben of Espial. "Can I help you?"
Damian grinned wickedly. "Of course, you can. Go home little girl. That's all we want."
Bery looked at them. "Why should I do that."
Now all three boys grinned. "Because it's your only chance."
'I have no chance against three of them. Even against one of them would be a hard fight. They are trained much better than I, they are third- year pages.' Bery started to shiver, but she didn't want to show weakness. "I guess I'm not able to help you. I'm really sorry. But I won't leave."
"That's a pity." Then the boys came toward her. She tried to run away, to defend herself. But it was no fair fight. After a while she fell down and the world turned black.
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Cori was walking up and down in her room. She was angry, more than angry. "HOW COULD THEY DARE! BLOODY COWARDS!" She turned to her friends.
Sam was sitting on the bed. Her eyes glowed dangerously. Nat was leaning against the wall next to her. Lachran was sitting on a chair, his face as furious as Cori's
"What will we do? We will have to fight them. We will show them how it is to be beaten up everyday. Did you see her when they brought her to duke Baird? How could they do that?"
Sam looked at her cousin. "She will be well soon. Duke Baird said that she won't have scars. But you are right. We will have to take care of them."
Lachran looked at her. "Where and when?"
"The question HOW is more important I think." The three stared at Nat. "Do you want us to fight the whole group together, or do we fight one against one?"
Suddenly somebody knocked on the door. The triplets came in, each of them had pale faces. They looked as shocked as most of the pages after seeing Bery. "Can we help you?"
"With what."
As usual Aidan was the leader of the group. "Revenge for Bery. Fighting these cowards."
The friends were looking at each other.
Sam sighed. "I guess our training group is growing." She looked at the triplets. "Listen to me. We will fight these cowards. But we will fight fair. And to win a fair fight we will have to train. We four are already training every free minute we have. You can join us, if you want. And we will face them, as soon as we see a chance."
Everybody nodded grimly.
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It wasn't as easy as the group thought. The three boys knew exactly what the others wanted to do with them. Sam and her friends weren't able to get them without audience. But the three sometimes had the chance to get one of them alone. It wasn't as bad as Bery's beating, but for months every page in the group always had some bruises or black eyes.
After a while more pages joined the group. Milan, Colin, Quentin and Robert were also attacked. And after her recovery, Bery wanted revenge, too. Her old fears were vanished. She wanted to show these cowards that she would be a better knight than each of them.
Kel trained the group as often as possible. Her friend Neal had told her how furious his father had been because of the brutal methods of these boys. Kel hated bullies. She wasn't able to do something against these boys herself, but she would do everything to let them pay.
She was really pleased how enthusiastic the young pages trained. Especially Sam surprised her. Lachran had already told her that Sam was very well trained. But she wasn't only fit, she learned very fast and she knew some tricks Kel didn't know herself. They were like the Shang fighting techniques, but it wasn't the same. Kel wondered where Sam had learned fighting like this, but she never got a satisfactory answer.
One day the training group was watched by somebody hiding in the shadows. When the pages went away Kel walked towards the stranger. "What do you think about them?"
"They are good pupils. You are training them well." Alanna, the Lioness sighed. "I wish I could help them, too. But if I come near the girls everybody will say I helped them with magic."
Kel nodded knowing. "And what do you think about Sam."
"The blond girl with the moss green eyes and the strange fighting skills. She's good. She will be a good knight. But I never met a technique like hers. After all you told me about her, I made some inquiries. Her mother was the youngest sister of Victor of Pinehollow. She married very young to a foreign knight. They were living in his native country. Samira's parents and her younger brother were killed by Stormwings. Now Samira is living at her uncle's fief, and she became his heiress. That's all I know. There doesn't seem to be a danger for the girl. Your nephew can calm down. I think Corvina only wanted to protect her cousin from remembering that horrible experience. And maybe Samira learned her fighting skills at her father's native country." Alanna looked at Kel. "I want to help her so badly. She has the Gift and Numair told me that she can't control it. They are training and she's getting better every day, but there are still accidents when she tries a spell. And I'm doomed to stay in the shadows and watch. I hate it. But at least the girls have you to support them."
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Another chapter done. I hope you like it. Sorry I need more time to update, but I'm very busy at the moment. But I really try.
Little tip: when I read the reviews I always feel inspired to write more. ;)