Chapter 21 Pink
"DANNY! RIA! COME ON!" Bery knocked heavily at the sisters' doors. "WE WILL BE LATE TO TRAINING! EVERYBODY IS WAITING FOR YOU!"
Sam and Cori traded a look. Bery seemed to develop the temper of a commander. But she was right. It was time to go to meet the boys to get their daily morning training. Feli and Mo watched the whole scene in front of them with tired eyes.
Sam looked at Cori again. "Bery is getting the same impressive voice as you. Do you two train in secret?"
Cori glared daggers at her cousin. "I. Do. Not. Shout. Like. That."
Mo and Feli turned around, complete disbelief in their faces.
Suddenly Feli started to giggle. "No, that's right. You are louder when you are angry."
"Hey! That's not true."
Mo looked slyly at her. "I'm surprised that you haven't broken any glass yet. Your voice is high enough."
Feli grinned. "Well, if I remember correctly her little mirror is broken."
Cori stared at her sister. "It fell down."
"Of course." Feli grinned even more.
Mo and Sam chuckled lightly.
Cori glared at her friends and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Oh, wait until we get to the training court!"
Suddenly they heard Danny shouting from inside her room. "Go without us. We will come soon."
Bery grumbled furiously. "FINE!" She turned around. "We. Go . Now." And walked quickly away.
The other girls stared surprised at her and followed after a moment.
"I was told that the Lioness has an equal temper."
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It was early in the morning. He wasn't able to sleep anymore. So he was sitting here, at his desk, watching the sunrise.
Sleep was something for the innocent. Which meant it was nothing for him. He had thrown it away many years ago. But for what?
The power he had been looking for was still limited, even after all those years. He knew he had to wait until his plan developed its full potential. He knew he only had to wait and stay out of any trouble which could harm his reputation in public.
Nobody knew what he had done ... except for them. Except for the only beings who could become dangerous to him. But luckily they weren't fighters.
The man chuckled. 'Oh yes. These stupid pacifists. These pitiful cowards. I will destroy them, one by one. Maybe they have survived centuries, but they won't survive ME.' He took a deep breath and smiled lazily.
There were only a few things missing from his complete bliss. Well, two things, if he was honest to himself.
One of these things would only be a matter of time and money. His men have been searching for years now. He knew they would be successful. He could feel it.
The other thing, well, he had already thought that he had found her once; the other half of his damned soul. The one person who should share her life with him. But the woman he had chosen was broken by the circumstances. A pity. She had been beautiful and pure, once. But now it was only a facade.
His eyes became sad. 'What I've done to get her. And now it was completely useless.' He shook his head to clear his thoughts. 'Don't think about it. You have a goal. And you will do anything to reach it. ANYTHING!'
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Danny and Ria peeked out of their rooms, grinning at each other. "Showtime!"
Silently they closed their doors behind them and moved towards Sam's room. From a corner in the shadows, Aaron joined them. The fact that the girls had their own corridor which couldn't be entered that easily helped the triplet now. There was no magic spell to lock the door. The three siblings opened the door quietly, entered the room and closed the door behind them. They looked around curiously. They noticed immediately that the main colour of this room was green. Not only the blankets, carpet and some of the furniture. This room was full of plants. At the window, on the table, even some ferns in the shadows. Between these plants there were some crystals, most of them green, but also some in different colours. This room had a mystic atmosphere which caused the triplets to shiver a bit.
Danny was the first to recover from it. "Ok. I guess we'll start now. We have to be fast. Otherwise the others will be suspicious and return before we have finished."
Aaron and Ria nodded and each of them started to look around the room to find something which could bring them some fun.
Aaron looked at Sam's books and shook his head. "That's really dry theoretical stuff. How can she read this?"
Danny looked up from the desk and looked at her brother. "What are those books about?"
"Mhm. There are some about magic, history, plants, crystals, and ... etiquette. There is a book with the title 'How to heal without the Gift'. Oh and here, 'How to run a fief'. Strange girl. Really strange."
Ria looked at the plants and crystals in the room. "I heard her uncle is very strict. Maybe she has to read that stuff." She suddenly felt much more uncomfortable and murmured: "I don't know if it's right what we are doing here."
Her siblings looked surprised at her.
Ria blushed a bit and murmured. "Forget about it. I'm just paranoid."
Danny shook her head and said. "Well, we don't have much we can work with. No diary or stuff like that. Because of the fact that she will beat our asses mercilessly if we exaggerate, we will only annoy her a few days. Do you agree?"
Her siblings nodded in agreement. Danny was always the leader when it came to jokes and tricks.
Danny started to grin. "But I've thought about something ... special. Something we have never done before. Come on, join me. Let's do some magic."
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Sam enjoyed the movement of her body. There were only a few moments in her life she was able to arrive at that state, a mixture of concentration and harmony. She new the movements she had to make, her body remembered and did what it was supposed to do.
"What the hell is she doing with those damned two swords? Can anybody tell me?" Robert asked, staring at Sam who made a strange dance with two swords in her hands.
"She's training." Cori didn't even look at him while answering.
"Oh, really?" Robert replied sarcastically. "And what?"
"Fighting with two swords." Nat yawned.
Robert looked at Nat, Cori, Nat, Cori and finally threw his hands in the air and said. "Ok. Am I the ONLY idiot here around who wonders HOW she can fight with TWO swords at once. I don't remember being taught that here at the palace. And I've never, I repeat, NEVER EVER heard about it. Would you please be so graceful as to explain this to my pitiful self, before I make myself a complete fool? I would ask her myself, but you never get a satisfying answer out of this girl. There are stones which talk more than her."
Nat and Cori looked at their friend, inwardly grinning at his reaction. "What shall we explain to you? She is fighting with two swords. She has been taught it at home. It is a rare skill and not easy to handle."
Robert narrowed his eyes. "Why haven't I ever see her training like this before?"
"She does it when she is alone or when she's practising with Nat or me." Cori answered bored.
Robert blinked surprised. "Nat can also fight with two swords."
Nat shook his hands. "I've just started. I'm not very good at it. Cori has practised for two years now. She's better."
"Not when you go on like that. I think you will surpass me soon." Cori smiled at him.
Nat blushed at bit. He still wasn't used to compliments.
Robert stared at the two. "Is there anybody except me who doesn't know how to fight with two swords? I'm starting to feel like an outsider."
Cori chuckled. "No, no. Don't be afraid. It's only Sam, Nat and me. Oh and Feli, of course. Bery tries it, but she doesn't like it very much."
Robert rubbed his forehead. "Ok that's it." He walked towards Sam, who had finished by that time. "Teach me."
Sam blinked in surprise. "Pardon?"
"Teach me how to fight with two swords. Please."
Sam looked surprised at Robert. Then at Nat and Cori. She noticed that the whole training group was listening. 'I shouldn't have trained in public. Now I have this mess. Well, I guess I can't change that now.' She sighed. "Fine." She looked around. "Anybody else? I must warn you, I am not an easy teacher."
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Galina was starring at the huge forest below her. She was home, standing on top of the holy mountain. It had been difficult to get back here without leaving a track back to the girl she had visited.
She was worried, although her face showed no sign of it. She could feel the danger coming towards them. She knew that it was only a matter of time until the storm would break out.
She felt the wind playing with her loose white hair. She still remembered the time it had been black. She had been another woman at that time. Her life had been easy compared to her actual situation.
'But it is nothing compared with Samira's situation.' She felt sorry for the little girl. Well, she was not that little anymore. Galina still remembered how she had been when her parents were alive. She still remembered the day Allister had told her that his beloved wife had given birth to a daughter. He had been so proud of his little girl.
Galina smiled. But it was a sad smile. He was a good man. And how he had loved his children, his daughter and his little son, born two years after Sam.
Sam had the look of her mother and the character of her father. Ilja had the look of his father and the sensible and innocent character of his mother. Maybe that was the reason he had to die at the age of three, instead of his sister. He didn't have her strength. He wouldn't have beared the loss of his parents. But when Galina thought about it, Sam hadn't beared it well either.
Galina sighed sadly. She was worried. Sam took the path of violence. Galina had known that this would happen when the girl was sent to her uncle. But it had been the only possibility, and it still was.
'Maybe it was the right choice. She will need all the strength she can gain. She will need all the fighting skills she can learn. He is still searching for the sword. I don't think that he knows that she is alive. Yet. But it is only a matter of time. He knows that the sword has a keeper, and he has send his men all over the world to find it. If he finds her, she will be lucky if he just kills her.'
Galina shook her head and whispered: "We are dying. I can feel it. If nothing happens, we will be gone soon. Oh Great Mother Oak, why have you left us? Why have you left me? You don't send me visions anymore. How can I decide what to do if I'm unaware of the consequences of my choices? I'm not a leader. I'm only the Priestress."
She closed her eyes. 'I can feel Sam's power. She will get her magic back. It wont be long until she has all her power back. She will be stronger than ever. But she won't be able to hide anymore. Is that the reason why she had lost it in first place? Was it an act of protection? I hope it will last long enough until she is able to defend herself against him. If not, the consequences will be horrible. Not only for us and herself, but also for everybody around her. Maybe he will challenge the king of Tortall. When he has the sword, when he gets rid of us, he will want to prove his strength to the whole world. The Tortallan king is strong. He has the Dominion Jewel on his side. But even this won't help him against the enemy who is waiting for him. Only she can face him successfully. I hope it at least.'
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Sam looked around curiously. She was back in her room. Everything seemed all right. But she felt that something had happened here while she were gone. 'Damned triplets. What can they have done in ten minutes time? If they think that I don't know that they want to trick me, they are more than stupid. The looks they gave me when they finally arrived, as if they wanted to laugh at me at every minute.'
Sam couldn't figure out what the triplets had done to her room and shrugged. 'Time will show me. Oh, wait until I get you in my hands if it is as bad as I think it is.'
She turned around to leave. When she touched the handle she felt something soft and wet on her palm. She moaned annoyed. 'Great. I expected more from them.' She looked at the strange yellow paste in her hand. 'It smells strange. What the hell is it?'
Much to Sam's discomfort the smell didn't vanish. Not even after trying to wash it away. It even seemed to get stronger with time. After a while, the other pages watched her curiously. She heard some mutter: "You should think that girls know when it is time to wash."
The triplets acted wisely, not to get in Sam's way. But Sam still had the feeling that there was more waiting for her.
Next morning.
Sam was in a very bad mood. The smell of that paste had finally vanished. That was a good thing. The bad thing had been the sand in her bed, keeping her awake. She wasn't very attentive because she was still half asleep.
When Sam put on her boots she suddenly froze. "Hell no!" She had the same paste in her shoes now. 'How did it get there? Everybody will smell my feet now. Great. Oh, meet me alone, you three little snakes. I swear you will pay for that. I guess the sand was there to make me tired so I wouldn't notice the paste until it was too late. And it worked. These kids have to much time to think about nonsense.'
Sam's day was more horrible than the last. The smell was stronger than yesterday, and the source being her feet made the whole thing worse. She was the joke of the day. 'Strange I don't meet my dear little friends now. Cowards. Don't expect me to cool down when you hide long enough.'
Next morning.
Sam awoke to a smell more horrible than the last. She sat up in her bad, trying to find the source. 'That smells like a dozen of the heaviest perfumes mixed together. Where is it coming from ... Oh no!'
The source was her wardrobe. All her clothes seemed to be soaked with the most intense perfumes ever produced.
Sam rubbed her forehead. 'Why don't I simply go back to bed? Every time I wake up, the old smell is gone ... and replaced by a new one. How are they doing this? They must be using magic.'
Cori looked worried at her cousin who glared daggers at everybody staring at her. Her eyes told everybody to shut the hell up or she would beat him here and now with no mercy.
Nobody complained anymore that Sam showed no emotions. She now showed clearly what she felt: anger. First, she had been teased that she tried to hide her enormous foot smell. But now most of the pages wished that they could get the old Sam back. She had been quite aggressive the past two days, but now she was the most feared training partner at the lessons. She used all her force and laid all her anger in every strike. And when she was teased she paid it back verbally as well.
Even the triplets had gotten something of it. Aaron had the bad luck to be one of Sam's training- partners. He could tell now that she really knew where to hit a boy.
That evening, Sam felt really exhausted when she arrived at her room. She had beaten the promise out of Aaron that the smell would be gone tomorrow and that there would no longer be any other smell attacks.
She had a hard time falling asleep. 'I can't understand why on earth the noble ladies at court wear this willingly. I can't imagine that this makes you more attractive to a man.'
After quite a peaceful night with no sand in her bed, Sam slowly opened her eyes. She blinked surprised, rubbed her eyes and tried to find out what was wrong with them. "No. That ... that can't be ... oh my gods. I will kill them."
Her whole room was pink. Even her clothes, books and plants.
When Sam shook her head furiously she noticed something else. Her hair. The most horrible and intense shade of pink she had ever seen belonged to her hair.
She growled dangerously. "That's it. They are dead!"
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Well, what do you think? I'm not sure if the tricks of the triplets are that funny for you. I'm not very good at playing tricks on others. I once tried at school with one of my teachers when I was about nine years old. It was a disaster. I never tried it again.
I was quite busy this week. I've replaced chapter 1 till 19. My friend has corrected these chapters for me and now there are less mistakes. But I haven't changed the story itself, don't worry.
By the way, I've finally found out how to send E-Mails again, although my computer still isn't very co-operative. If anybody wants me to send an E-Mail when I've updated, tell me in your reviews.
Silver Raven: In my children name book Aidan is a name for girls. It's meaning is, according to the book, "little fire". Maybe it's wrong, but that is what I thought was right when I named my character. And I must confess that I really like the name.
Lady of Faith: I hope you know that Cori's parents aren't dead. Only her brother died. And Bery's mother is still alive, too. Her father died, and so did her brothers. I mention this just in case. [About the cull-thing: I had difficulties to figure the meaning out myself. (I had to ask my dictionary with limited success) And do I have to know who Donny is?]
After the fun I had with the first one I would like to start another poll. ^_^
1 For which persons do you want a detailed description about their experience in the Chamber of the Ordeal?
2 Who do you think will be a couple with whom when they are older? I've already planned three couples which will consist of people already mentioned in this fic. Who do you think they are?
3 What do you think will happen to our "three friends"? (Damian, Kajus, Ruben)
4 Does anybody want me to tell the meanings of the names of my characters and why I've picked them? Or is this not interesting for you? (I'm interested in such things, but I don't want to bore you.)
I'm looking forward to your answers.