Chapter 03:   Secrets

Darkness all around her…

Screams…

Then silence…

Pain, blood ... one face…

Sam woke up sweating. 'No! Not again. I hate this nightmare.' Cursing she got up.

'What time is it?' She looked out of the window. 'Dawn.'

'I don't want to fall asleep again.' She looked at the mirror. Her face was pale, her eyes red. But she didn't cry. She wasn't able to cry anymore. She had no more tears left.

'Well. If I can't sleep I might do something useful.' She looked at her room. Her clothes were already in the wardrobe. The bookcase was nearly full and some plants decorated the window. 'That's the problem of unpacking everything immediately. Nothing left to do.'

She looked at her bed. At the end of it there was a big chest, made of oak- wood with carvings on it. She touched it lovingly.

She knew it wasn't normal for pages to take such things with them. Normally they took the furniture which was already there. But this chest was something special. It was hers. It was the only thing left from her family. 'I will never forget.'

She opened it slowly. The chest had no key- hole. It was closed by magic and only Sam was able to open it. She looked sadly at the things in it.

After a while she took something out of it. A sword. The hilt and the sheath were decorated with moss green stones and strange engravings. The engravings seemed to be words, words of a forgotten language. Words of the same kind were also engraved at the blade. The metal shimmered green. This sword was very unusual.

'Someday I will be worth wielding this sword.' She took a box also kept in the chest.

'He won't get them. I will protect these things with my life. They are too powerful to fall into his hands.'

She put the sword and the box back in the chest and closed it with a slam. 'I will kill him.' But there was no enthusiasm behind these thoughts, no fierce determination, just resigned knowledge and acceptance.

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The morning bell rang.

Cori was already awake. She had been too exited to sleep any longer. She had dressed herself and was now ready to leave her room.

'Bery will kill me if I come to her now. She is not a morning person. Not. At. All.' She went out of her room and knocked the door opposite to her own. No reply. Cori knocked again. "Come on Sam! I know you are awake. I'm coming now." She opened the door.

Sam was sitting on her bed, legs crossed hands in a strange position.

Cori grinned. "Ok. Let me guess ... you've been up for three hours. You have already trained a bit and now you are meditating to calm yourself down. Am I right?"

Sam opened her eyes slowly. "Two hours." She still had the dreamy look in her eyes she always had when she was meditating. She already wore the pages' uniform.

"These colours suit you well."

"Thanks. You look good, too."

Cori sat beside her. "How do you think our first day will be."

"Long."

Cori giggled and rested her chin on her cousin's shoulder. "Hey, come on, at least a whole sentence."

Sam's lips curled slightly. "The day will be long."

Cori stuck her tongue out and growled playfully. "Very funny."

"What do you want me to say. In the morning we will have training, in the afternoon we will  study. After that we will have some homework. And after that we will fall in bed as if we were dead."

Cori leaned back and frowned deeply. "Spoilsport. That wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear."

"Your problem. Don't ask questions if you don't want to hear the answers."

Cori jumped up." Ok. Enough small talk for the moment. Let's go for breakfast."

She opened the door again. Behind the door Bery was waiting. She tried hid a huge yawn behind her hand, not quite succeeding, and murmured disdainfully: "Good morning."

"Good morning Bery!" Cori said effusively and embraced her. Then she stormed away to greet the two sisters who went out of their rooms at that moment, leaving Bery frozen behind her.

"She knows I hate that. That's why she does it." Bery looked at Sam. "Does she embrace you every morning?"

"No."

"I knew it."

Cursing, Bery went off to the mess hall.

Sam followed her grinning inwardly.

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At the mess hall Cori, Bery, the triplets and their sponsors sat down at one table.

Colin, Quentin and Robert still looked quite angry. They were observing the triplets all the time, as if they thought the three could vanish at any second.

Sam looked around and found Nat sitting at the end of an empty table. He looked up surprised when she sat down in front of him. "What's the matter?"

"I want to eat my breakfast." She replied calmly, not looking up from her food.

"And why not at your friends' table?"

"You are my sponsor." She shrugged and bit in a piece of bread.

Nat shook his head. "I thought they'd already talked to you."

"About what?"

"About me."

"What's so interesting about you."

"I'm a Malven."

"I know."

"My Uncle was a traitor."

"I know."

"Nobody wants to be with me."

"I know."

"So what do you want here?"

"I want to eat." And that she did.

Nat looked confused before returning to his own meal. 'Is she playing with me? She looks serious ... maybe the others haven't talked to her yet.'

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"So you have already been trained. By whom?" Lachran looked surprised at Cori. The four pages were on their way to the training courts.

"Well, we have some soldiers at our fief, you know, the usual protection, and one of them showed me the basics. And I was trained by my father as well, as often as he had the time for it." Cori smiled.

"And what about you Bery? Were you also trained by your father?" Milan asked her friendly.

"My father is dead."

Both boys looked shocked.

"We didn't know that. I'm sorry for your loss." Milan said pitiful.

Bery shook her head. "It was four years ago. Half a year later, I started to train. My mother hired a good fighter, who taught me things like hunting, riding and some other basic skills."

"Then both of you started at the age of six?"

The girls nodded.

Lachran traded a secret look with Milan. Then he continued asking. "And Sam, did she start at the same age, too?"

Bery shook her head. "No, she started much earlier."

Lachran seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. "Well, that really surprises me."

Both girls stared at him quizzically.

"Don't misunderstand me. My aunt also started fighting at the age of six. But I thought your families were very …ähm… conservative. I'm surprised that you three were allowed to come here at all. And now I hear from you that your families even prepared you for being knights. That's a bit strange. The parents of Ariadne and Aidan are known as supporters of the idea of Lady Knights. So it's no surprise they went here. But you ..."

Lachran shook is head. "Well, I don't understand that."

Cori traded a look with Bery. Then she started to explain.

"Both of us have lost our brothers. We are the only heirs of our families' fiefs. Sam's uncle never had an heir. It's only logical that they want us to be prepared as much as possible."

"But there would be other ways, why..."

"They thought it would be a good idea, Ok? I question you for being here, so stop examining me." Cori looked quite angry now.

Lachran was startled. He hadn't intended to annoy her. "Sorry. I was only curious."

Bery sighed. "Come on, Cori, they are nice. They don't want to harm anybody." She looked at the two boys. "Well, the reason why our parents decided to send us here instead of the convent is that Sam's uncle talked to them."

"Bery!" Cori hissed.

Bery ignored her friend. "You are right, the families of Pinehollow, Kourell and Gohman would have never agreed with our wish to become Lady Knights only five years ago. In that time something happened that changed their point of view completely. A member of the Pineh..."

Bery stopped talking when Cori hit her. "Shut up!"

The two boys looked really surprised at Cori, whose voice sounded cold with anger.

"I only wanted ..."

"You don't have the right to tell them anything! It is not your story! I will not allow you to tell anybody more than necessary!" Every sign of a smile had left Cori's face.

Bery looked as shocked as the boys now. "But it concerns me, too. I don't know what's so bad about telling them. It's not something …"

"You don't know half of the real occurrences!"

"My mother told me ..."

"Your mother knows nothing! Don't talk about things you don't have enough information about! If you knew everything you wouldn't talk so freely about it! It's personal."

"But Sam ..."

"If she wants to talk about it, she will do it herself. If I hear that you have started with that thing again, you will wish that you were never born. WAS THAT UNDERSTANDABLE FOR YOU?"

Bery nodded shakily, eyes huge with shock.

Cori turned to the boys. "And you two. Who wanted you to interrogate us?"

"N- nobody."

"Some things are private. This is one of those things. If I notice that you bother Sam with your questions, you will experience just how angry I can get." After that she turned around and rushed away.

The boys stood there, mouth open, staring at the disappearing girl.

"What was that?" Lachran looked at Bery.

The girl shook her head, face still pale, and followed Cori to the training courts.

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Keladry of Mindelan was in the stables, caring for her horse Peachblossom. Suddenly she heard a quiet noise behind her. She turned around, curious who might be here at this time. "Oh, it's you Lachran."

She smiled kindly at the boy. That was the reason why her birds didn't alarm her. They knew her nephew and liked him. "How are you?"

"Well, thank you."

Kel eyed her nephew with care. He seemed a little depressed. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Everything is ... fine."

'He doesn't want to talk about it.' Kel smiled again. "How is it to be a second- year page? Is the training Ok?"

"It's fine. It's harder, and we don't have any free time, but it's fine."

"I remember. And how are the girls." Kel was really curious in how successful the new female pages were.

"Well. They are ... good. I mean, for example the triplets. All the time they play tricks on the other pages. They already had some fights because of it. But during the training they are very attentive, and they learn fast."

Kel smiled again. "That's good. And the other girls?"

Lachran looked odd. "I'm the sponsor of Cori, Corvina of Kourell."

"Good. Do you like her? Are you friends?"

"She nice. Always friendly. A good fighter, but ..."

"What?"

"A week ago I asked her why she was allowed to come here. She told me because her parents had no other heir and that they want her to be prepared as much as possible."

Kel frowned. "But it happens often that there are only daughters in a family. Normally the family searches for an acceptable husband for the oldest daughter. Above all, the conservatives."

"Cori became really angry. She told me that it's her business. Bery, Berenice of Gohman, another girl, wanted to say something. But Cori became so angry, that Bery is too afraid to say anything. I didn't want to interrogate them. I only wanted to be their friend."

Lachran seemed sad. "I told her later that I'm sorry, and that I didn't want to make her angry. I had to promise never to ask such questions again." He looked at Kel. "But I'm worried. Before being cut off by Cori, Bery said some things I can't get out of my mind."

"What things?"

"She told me that Sam's, Samira of Pinehollow, uncle talked to Cori's and her parents, and after that they were allowed to become knights."

"But Lord Victor of Pinehollow was one of the first who criticised me when I became a page." Kel was surprised. "Why has he changed his opinion?"

"That's what I'm worrying about. Bery said that something had happened five years ago, and after that these three families have changed their opinion about Lady Knights. Aunt Kel, they've even trained their daughters since they were six years old for being knights. And the thing that happened concerned a member of, I think, the Pinehollow family. And it concerns Sam. When Bery started to tell me about that, Cori became so furious, you can't imagine. She said that it's Sam's business, and that Bery wouldn't say anything if she knew more about it." Lachran looked at his aunt. "There is something wrong. Completely wrong. Cori acted as if she wanted to protect her cousin. As if she was afraid something might happen if we knew too much."

Kel shook her head helplessly. "And how is that Sam? What kind of girl is she?"

"Her sponsor is Nathan of Malven. They are together most of the time. I don't know how, but she can keep company with him. I wasn't able to stay his friend, even though I tried. But she's like very similar to him in some ways. Calm… suspicious… not very social. The only person she really likes is Cori. But even to her she's silent most of the time. And she learns fast. Not only the theoretical stuff. At the first practise hour with the Shang Horse, you remember, learning how to fall, she was able to do it right after the second try. And she never had training with a Shang, she said."

Kel was impressed. "That rare."

"I wanted to question Cori about it, but she gave that do-not-ask-look, and I didn't want her to be angry again."

Kel couldn't prevent a grin. 'She has him under her thumb after a week. Not bad.'

Lachran continued explaining. "Sam isn't interested in the opinion of anyone. She didn't try to hide how good she is. So, she doesn't have many friends right now. And she's better trained than any of the other first- years. Even better than some of the older pages. I worry about her. I think there must be something wrong with her family. She never talks about her past. Maybe she's in trouble. I came here because I wanted to ask you for advice."

Kel sighed. "Let her live like she wants to. It might be her normal character, and if not ... . I will ask the Lioness when I see her tomorrow. If there is something wrong, we will try to help her." She put a hand on her nephews shoulder. "Don't worry too much. If there was any danger for the girl, we would have already heard about it. I'm sure."

Lachran smiled at his aunt. He felt better now that he knew somebody would help Sam if it was necessary.

Kel smiled back at him. She felt proud that she was the person Lachran came to when he had problems. "What do you think, is it possible for me to visit the girls?"

Lachran grinned. "I think they would be happy to meet you. Especially Danny and Ria. They saw you once at a tournament and they are always saying that they want to be like you. Or like the Lioness."

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I'm finally back. The second semester is starting this Monday and I've been awfully busy these past months. I had to pass a test in English, which was supposed to be awfully difficult, not even native speakers are supposed to get more than 94% of the points. But I actually passed it and now I'm allowed to study English. If I didn't have to learn Latin to do so I'd be even more delighted.

Well, my timetable will be awfully filled and I don't know how much this will affect my writing. I'll see with time. This is my last free evening and since so many of you reviewed lately, I thought it would be spent best by adding the third chapter at ff.net. I hope you like it.

The neighbour living above me seems to be a big karaoke fan or something like that. He can't sing if his life depended on it. It's like listening an ape roaring in the jungle, only with background music. Correction, a drunken ape. And if this wouldn't be enough, he's doing it on a daily basis and especially at night, sometimes past midnight. He is feeling especially vocal at Sundays. Today is Sunday. He never lasts more than an hour, than he has to take a break. After some time he starts again … I'm feeling the urge to kill something veeeery slowly and even more painful right now. If murder wasn't a crime nowadays… even some of the neighbours from the other houses in this street are shouting at him sometimes, and I'm living in a big city, where people are used to noise. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it in the least. Why the heck I'm telling you this? He is singing just this moment. I need to meditate or I'll do something I'll regret later on. If only the music I use to listen wouldn't be drowned by his … you really can't say singing to that kind of noise anymore.

Lady Rhian Knightmage:  My deepest sympathy to your poor brother. German grammar is awfully hard to learn. I hope he will fare well with it.

Kalle:   No problem, I know how hard exams can be. I can still barely believe that I'm finally finished with school. I don't know about college, because the German education system is different, but I can tell you in university life becomes both harder and easier. The standard of education is higher, you have to learn much more, but at least only in the subjects you are interested in. But it's much more free and open than in school. And for example here in Munich, which is a fairly large city, there a so many new and different people to meet, I love it. It was the best choice of my life to have moved here. Hope you will have as much luck as I did, and good luck with your exams.

Moranar:   No I'm not abandoning this story, I won't be able to update as often as when I started this fic, but my chapters are at least longer than the first ones at the old version. I'll try my best.^_^