Yurimi was overjoyed to discover that the exams were scheduled to begin the
next day. Yuri was laced neatly into her dress uniform and Danil led her
behind the others through to an antechamber leading onto the room where the
tests were taking place that morning. One by one, the other first years
were called out. Each went in turn, silently, wished good luck by their
remaining friends. As the newest arrival to the palace, Yurimi would be
called last. Finally, when she was the only one there, the steward put his
head in and said,
"Yancen of Coll, this way sir."
Yuri followed him through a door and found herself on a stage, alone with some elderly knights. The 'audience' were the other pages, apart from the fourth years. They were far too busy preparing for their own, more important, examinations. The chief examiner got laboriously out of his chair and began to quiz Yurimi thoroughly on all of her classroom knowledge. Other than a few moments of panic when she grasped helplessly for the answer, she answered glibly, hands clasped tightly behind her back to stop them shaking with nerves. At last, the man nodded and sent her to sit down with the others. He then informed the gathered pages that they had all somehow managed to scrape through the morning's exams. One or two pages breathed sighs of relief at hearing that. The examiner then went on when everyone was quiet again.
"High marks among the first years went to Danil of Trebond and Yancen of Coll. In the second year."
Yuri smiled proudly. She had come top! It appeared that all of her work had paid off so far, but she still had to survive the afternoon.
After eating lunch, the pages were tested in their physical prowess. Yuri found her weapons in her room and carried them down to the practice courts as she'd been told to do. Most pages she saw were carrying the standard weapons: sword, staff, bow and dagger. She carried her glaive as and extra. One second year boy had a sword belting on both sides.
Since she'd been failed so dismally by Lord Wyldon, Lady Keladry had pulled strings and found a Shang warrior who would agree to teach her. There were Shang warrior resident at the palace these days, so it wouldn't be an unfair advantage for her.
The opponent Yuri drew for unarmed combat was another first year, a boy called Geoffrey. He was tall for his age, and seemed confident of beating her. Yuri smiled sweetly at him and began, equally confident of her own skills, which had been honed against boys of sixteen. Within a minute, she was sitting unmoveably on his chest and the judges gave the match to her without a second thought.
Then Yuri picked up her staff and lined up against Danil in the next court along. The judge's arm came down, and they were off. Danil was good, but no Yamani. She knew a number of odd manoeuvres that she had learned to transfer from the glaive to the staff. She let Danil keep going for a while, since she liked him and didn't want him disgraced, then came down sharply and knocked the staff to the ground, following up with a tap to the chest.
When she drew an opponent for swords, Yuri was less lucky. It was still her worst skill by far, and she drew a second year page as her opponent - Francis of Contë. He appeared to be the boy she'd seen armed with two swords, and he'd had the finest tutors since he could walk.
"I'll heal your bruises afterwards," Danil reassured her as she stretched before beginning. "He's amazing! Not even the fourth years can beat him." Yuri gulped and drew her sword, Francis drew his two in a fluid motion. Then Baron Owen held up his arm.
"Just one sword I think, Francis. Yancen is only a first year, not a knight." Francis bowed, totally nonplussed.
"Yes my lord." He grinned at Yuri and sheathed one sword, then tossed it over to a friend. At a word from Baron Owen, they stepped forwards and crossed swords. As the Training Master signalled, they began the fight. Yuri knew immediately she was outmatched. Before she'd even begun, she found herself on her back, with her sword lying halfway across the practice court and Francis's lightly touching her throat.
"Match to Francis of Contë. Coll, report to the archery field. Contë report to court three." Yuri sighed with relief - at least it was over. Francis helped her up politely and they bowed to Baron Owen before jogging briskly off in opposite directions.
After months of hard practice, Yuri found that she could now at least hit the target every time, even if it wasn't the gold. To her relief, Geoffrey ( the boy she'd fought earlier) was also doing archery, and he didn't appear to be doing any better than she normally did. She strung her bow quickly- that was the easy bit - and stood perfectly still while a knight checked her grip and stance. Then she was allowed to shoot. It was her lucky day - two of her ten shots hit in the gold and another three in the red. She jogged down to collect her arrows, returned them to the store and waited while Danil shot. He was much better than she was, hitting the gold seven times, and the red the other three.
The last main exam she had to face was in riding and tilting. She gained admiring glances as she rode over on Cirrus - many of the pages still rode palace horses and wouldn't have their own until they were pages.
"Nice horse," Danil said approvingly. "What's he called?"
"Cirrus -it means cloud."
"It's nice. May I try him sometime?"
"Sure."
The riding master had them trot round the ring clockwise and anti- clockwise, then allowed them to proceed to the tilting. Just a few weeks before she had left the north, something had suddenly clicked in her brain and she now often hit the target circle. Keladry had told her how to impress the examiners, so she waited eagerly for her turn. When the examiners called her up, Yuri kicked Cirrus comfortably into a canter, then a slow gallop. Since she'd given herself plenty of time to prepare, she hit the circle bang on and safely passed the sandbag to the applause of the watching pages. On her second run, more confident now, she went at the quintain at a full gallop. She hit the circle, but the lance shattered on impact.
"Excellent, Coll," the examiner shouted from his place back with the pages. "Return your horse to the stables and report to the first practice court as soon as possible."
Yuri waved her assent and rode off, feeling very smug.
"Yancen of Coll, this way sir."
Yuri followed him through a door and found herself on a stage, alone with some elderly knights. The 'audience' were the other pages, apart from the fourth years. They were far too busy preparing for their own, more important, examinations. The chief examiner got laboriously out of his chair and began to quiz Yurimi thoroughly on all of her classroom knowledge. Other than a few moments of panic when she grasped helplessly for the answer, she answered glibly, hands clasped tightly behind her back to stop them shaking with nerves. At last, the man nodded and sent her to sit down with the others. He then informed the gathered pages that they had all somehow managed to scrape through the morning's exams. One or two pages breathed sighs of relief at hearing that. The examiner then went on when everyone was quiet again.
"High marks among the first years went to Danil of Trebond and Yancen of Coll. In the second year."
Yuri smiled proudly. She had come top! It appeared that all of her work had paid off so far, but she still had to survive the afternoon.
After eating lunch, the pages were tested in their physical prowess. Yuri found her weapons in her room and carried them down to the practice courts as she'd been told to do. Most pages she saw were carrying the standard weapons: sword, staff, bow and dagger. She carried her glaive as and extra. One second year boy had a sword belting on both sides.
Since she'd been failed so dismally by Lord Wyldon, Lady Keladry had pulled strings and found a Shang warrior who would agree to teach her. There were Shang warrior resident at the palace these days, so it wouldn't be an unfair advantage for her.
The opponent Yuri drew for unarmed combat was another first year, a boy called Geoffrey. He was tall for his age, and seemed confident of beating her. Yuri smiled sweetly at him and began, equally confident of her own skills, which had been honed against boys of sixteen. Within a minute, she was sitting unmoveably on his chest and the judges gave the match to her without a second thought.
Then Yuri picked up her staff and lined up against Danil in the next court along. The judge's arm came down, and they were off. Danil was good, but no Yamani. She knew a number of odd manoeuvres that she had learned to transfer from the glaive to the staff. She let Danil keep going for a while, since she liked him and didn't want him disgraced, then came down sharply and knocked the staff to the ground, following up with a tap to the chest.
When she drew an opponent for swords, Yuri was less lucky. It was still her worst skill by far, and she drew a second year page as her opponent - Francis of Contë. He appeared to be the boy she'd seen armed with two swords, and he'd had the finest tutors since he could walk.
"I'll heal your bruises afterwards," Danil reassured her as she stretched before beginning. "He's amazing! Not even the fourth years can beat him." Yuri gulped and drew her sword, Francis drew his two in a fluid motion. Then Baron Owen held up his arm.
"Just one sword I think, Francis. Yancen is only a first year, not a knight." Francis bowed, totally nonplussed.
"Yes my lord." He grinned at Yuri and sheathed one sword, then tossed it over to a friend. At a word from Baron Owen, they stepped forwards and crossed swords. As the Training Master signalled, they began the fight. Yuri knew immediately she was outmatched. Before she'd even begun, she found herself on her back, with her sword lying halfway across the practice court and Francis's lightly touching her throat.
"Match to Francis of Contë. Coll, report to the archery field. Contë report to court three." Yuri sighed with relief - at least it was over. Francis helped her up politely and they bowed to Baron Owen before jogging briskly off in opposite directions.
After months of hard practice, Yuri found that she could now at least hit the target every time, even if it wasn't the gold. To her relief, Geoffrey ( the boy she'd fought earlier) was also doing archery, and he didn't appear to be doing any better than she normally did. She strung her bow quickly- that was the easy bit - and stood perfectly still while a knight checked her grip and stance. Then she was allowed to shoot. It was her lucky day - two of her ten shots hit in the gold and another three in the red. She jogged down to collect her arrows, returned them to the store and waited while Danil shot. He was much better than she was, hitting the gold seven times, and the red the other three.
The last main exam she had to face was in riding and tilting. She gained admiring glances as she rode over on Cirrus - many of the pages still rode palace horses and wouldn't have their own until they were pages.
"Nice horse," Danil said approvingly. "What's he called?"
"Cirrus -it means cloud."
"It's nice. May I try him sometime?"
"Sure."
The riding master had them trot round the ring clockwise and anti- clockwise, then allowed them to proceed to the tilting. Just a few weeks before she had left the north, something had suddenly clicked in her brain and she now often hit the target circle. Keladry had told her how to impress the examiners, so she waited eagerly for her turn. When the examiners called her up, Yuri kicked Cirrus comfortably into a canter, then a slow gallop. Since she'd given herself plenty of time to prepare, she hit the circle bang on and safely passed the sandbag to the applause of the watching pages. On her second run, more confident now, she went at the quintain at a full gallop. She hit the circle, but the lance shattered on impact.
"Excellent, Coll," the examiner shouted from his place back with the pages. "Return your horse to the stables and report to the first practice court as soon as possible."
Yuri waved her assent and rode off, feeling very smug.