Chapter Eleven - Training Grounds
Elsa wasn't having a particularly pleasant morning. She was still debating with herself about her choice to allow Hjadvaar's domestic intelligence service, and she didn't trust any of the members she'd met. In addition to that, the uprising from a few days ago had created a thousand little administrative details that absolutely had to have her undivided attention, as well as making it necessary for Hjadvaar to train new guards rather than make certain that all of the palace functionaries actually did their jobs rather than sit on their hands about them like he had been in addition to his official bodyguard duties. Also, she had just received word from the King of the Southern Isles that Prince Hans had been broken out of prison while awaiting trial - almost a month ago! On top of all that, she still had to hold court for the day, where she would have to listen to a hundred versions of the count of so-and-so listing reasons why he should be exempt from some part of the tax code. She sighed, and mentally swore to herself that as soon as things calmed down a bit, she was taking a vacation to her ice palace for a few days.
"Your Majesty," Kai said, sticking his head through the door. "Court begins in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you, Kai." Elsa said, trying to ignore a throbbing headache that was beginning to develop in her left temple. "I'll be down in just a moment." She quickly checked a mirror to make certain that she was presentable, then got up and walked towards the longest three hours of the day.
~`~ ~'~
Hjadvaar stood in the shadows of a doorway, watching the assembled recruits mill about the courtyard. Almost all of them were less than impressive in their thrown-together, homemade uniforms, largely because almost none of the uniforms came even close to matching. He'd make them soldiers yet, though, given time. Speaking of time, he pulled something the head butler had called a "watch" out of a pouch at his belt and checked it. Training didn't technically begin for another ten minutes, but they'd have to learn that when he said 'be fifteen minutes early', he meant it. Putting the clockwork contraption back into his pouch, he took a deep breath and marched out into the bright courtyard.
"Form up!" he bellowed when he was about 20 paces away from the recruits, and all movement and conversation stopped immediately. Good, Hjadvaar thought to himself. At least they have disciplin. "I am Stormblade Hjadvaar," he said as means of introduction. "And I will be your head trainer for the next few weeks, at which point your training will be taken over by our veterans. For now, though, you can put your weapons aside. A true warrior cannot fight without balance, so we shall meditate for a time."
"Meditation?" a voice came from the midst of the crowd. "I didn't come here to be a monk, I came to fight people!" One of the recruits, slightly larger than most of the rest, pushed his way through the crowd until he was right in front of Hjadvaar. "I don't think you really know how to fight." the recruit said, obviously itching for a fight. Well, Hjadvaar certainly hated to disappoint.
"What's your name, recruit?" he asked the obnoxious man trying unsuccessfully to intimidate him.
"Jyri Bergstrom."
"Could everyone please form a circle about 20 paces wide?" Hjadvaar said. "Jyri here has just volunteered to help demonstrate the importance of balance." He then drew one of his spare swords and tossed it to the offensive recruit. "Don't cut yourself on it, it's sharp." He then waited for the new soldiers to form a circle, which took longer than it really had to due to many of them placing bets on who would win, the majority of which seemed to be in the favor of Jyri.
"All right, Jyri," he said. "Try to kill me." To Jyri's credit, he did try. He charged at Hjadvaar with the borrowed sword held in both hands over his head, while Hjadvaar just stood still, not even bothering to take out a weapon of his own. Then, at the last possible moment, he grabbed the charging man's wrist, wrenched the sword out of his hands, spun, and slashed across the recruit's belly with just the very tip of the blade, producing a thin line of blood, then spun and punched the man right in the side of the head, all in less than a second.
"Are there any other volunteers?" he asked as Jyri slowly clambered to his feet and stumbled back into the crowd. There were none. "Then it is time for us to meditate."
~`~ ~'~
Anna could only describe her mood as ecstatic. Elsa had taken her supper in her study, citing a headache, which had put a bit of a damper on her mood, but she was about to learn magic! She and Hjadvaar had found an unused room in the southern wing of the palace with a good view of the harbour that Hjadvaar had deemed suitable for instruction, and they were just about to begin her first lesson.
"To begin," Hjadvaar said," Most prospective mages would learn the basic theory behind a spell from a spellbook before attempting to perform it. However, the only spellbooks I know of are written in Cyrodilic, so we'll have to wait until I can get it translated to do that. Now, to actually perform the spell, you should raise your hands to about shoulder height as though you were holding a pair of fist-sized stones." Anna did so, barely able to contain her excitement. "Now, you must direct your magicka into your hands with the purpose to heal yourself." Anna tried, and grunted with effort. She searched for the magicka Hjadvaar had told her about, but couldn't find it. She tried for about fifteen minutes before Hjadvaar put his hand on her shoulder.
"Perhaps we were hasty." he said. "We'll try again once the spellbook is translated." Anna sighed, and nodded her agreement. It probably wouldn't take more than a few days for the book to be translated, and she swore to herself that when that happened, she'd learn faster than anyone else.
~`~ ~'~
Fredrik grumbled to himself as he settled into a cramped shipboard cabin. He'd been told to carry that bloody letter around in Rome wearing some ridiculous set of clothes and allow himself to get mugged by someone wearing white robes. At least he'd be able to see some of the landmarks he'd heard some Italian merchants blabbering about. Still, he thought to himself, One more job like these last ones and I'm leaving. I'm not being paid enough for this. His thoughts were interrupted just then by his supper deciding to go on vacation. "Of course I get seasick." he muttered, wiping his mouth. "What else could go wrong?"
~`~ ~'~
Esben walked up to the dimly lit alehouse room and entered without knocking. He didn't really like Bjarne, but he was willing to tolerate him, just so long as he got paid. These last few days, though, Bjarne hadn't been giving him or his men in the forest any jobs to do, and they were getting tired of sitting around watching the trees grow.
"Bjarne." he said rather abruptly.
"What is it, Esben?" Bjarne said, looking up from some papers he had been reading.
"My men won't stand for much more inactivity. Give them two more days and they'll start coming after me in my sleep, and then they'll start coming after you. If we don't do the job tomorrow, I'm breaking off our deal." Bjarne sighed, and buried his face in his hands.
"Fine, do the job." he said wearily. "But if everything falls apart because of this, you'll take the full blame." Esben didn't even grace him with a reply as he walked out.