Chapter 8

Pyra was really impressed with Elsa's, and especially Anna's ability to show mercy, and therefore taught Anna how not to kill other knights and hold them for ransom, as they were serving their country under the eyes of God. She also told her that if she kills a knight that turned sinful or killed a knight in general, that she must pray for them afterwards so God will forgive her, and keep the dead knight in question safe in Heaven. Anna was actually religious and believed in God, but believed in making her dreams and actions her own rather than God making the decisions for her, unless he came to her at some point and gave her a sign.

Another change was that Anna was taught how to play chess, and how a chess game was like a battlefield being controlled by the armies' generals, using different tactics and pieces to destroy the opposing army. Anna was picking up chess really quickly, and even though she was currently being beaten by Pyra whenever she played, she was picking up on her moves and was coming up with new ways to stop her. To compliment this, Pyra started teaching Anna some simple military tactics, like the V-shaped attacking formation and how to flank small groups of fighters with minimal soldiers on hand. Due to Anna's increasing intelligence and logicality, she was starting to see the point of strategy and planning, however, she was also taught that not all things go to plan on the field and that sneaky tactics are often used in the field of war to gain the advantage.

Anna was now training more vigorously, and was completely focused on her physical, academic, religious and warfare training, and therefore not spending as much time with her family as her family and Pyra would like. Elsa, who was now starting to feel shut out, was now getting concerned by her sister's lack of family interaction and sought to do something about it, and was going to request a special favour of Pyra. A half year has passed since the incident with the wolves, and Elsa was still feeling considerably weak in comparison to her younger sister, despite he slight increase on fist fighting prowess. And so, Elsa was going to ask her request in just a moment, after Anna completes her first lesson of sword combat.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anna was outside in the courtyard with Pyra four paces away from her, garbed in off-white underclothes, brown leather knee high boots, a red short sleeved tunic, a brown leather belt and brown leather fingerless gloves, with brown and black leather bracers and greaves, and an oaken practise sword in her left hand and a large oaken buckler on her right arm. Pyra was in the same clothing and gear, except her tunic was really dark purple and had brown leather pauldrons and a matching leather jerkin over the top, along with a midnight blue hooded cloak over the top, and her shield was a large oaken heater shield. Pyra stood in a relaxed position with her left side forward and loose, facing Anna who was standing at ease, and regarded her with serious eyes before preaching the ways of the sword to her.

"A sword is no mere item to a true swordsman," she told her, "as a sword is an extension of our bodies, working as one with us. A true swordsman fights with grace and strength, with speed and with movements that flow like a river in spring. A normal man with a sword fights with sharp and uncoordinated attacks, switching this way and that without a mind, making them unpredictable and dangerous to fight against. They, however, lack patience and clear mindedness, and that's what gives a true swordsman a huge advantage. And that's what I'm going to teach you today, patience and clear mindedness."

Pyra started moving her body, and started to strike down invisible opponents before her, moving her feet and body gracefully like as if she was dancing with the leaves in the wind. The now eight year old watched her with awe, seeing the deadly beauty in Pyra's attacks, swift, sure, strong and smooth. It was unlike anything Anna had seen before, and in a way, it reminded Anna of a burning fire, moving gracefully in smooth and complicated patterns as she attacked, blocked and parried the unseen foes. In fact, if Pyra was going at a quicker pace, it would be as it a blazing red and orange wild fire was burning through the enemies, crumpling them into the ground in seconds.

Yes, that's what she was.

She was a dangerous and beautiful wildfire.

Pyra stopped her deadly dance and straightened up, turning her attention to Anna as she spoke.

"I will attack at an appropriate training speed," she said, "and your job is to land one hit on my torso, back, legs or arms after waiting for an opening to strike. Keep your mind clear, and don't let frustration and anger cloud your judgement. Now, we'll first pull our sword arms back across our chests, and clash swords together to begin the match, and when the match is over, we'll do so again to end the match. Now, let's begin."

They both simultaneously pulled their left arms to their chests as they stood on their left side on, and flung them out and clashed oaken blades before readying their guards and Pyra attacked.

Anna blocked with her shield on instinct, stumbling back slightly due to the force of the attack and jumped to the side and side rolled away as Pyra went for her with another attack. She used the momentum to roll to her feet and she spun around to face Pyra, jumping around her to the left as she delivered a devastating overhead attack at her. Anna saw her chance as she jumped, and slashed an overhead attack on Pyra's back, sending her face-first into the ground.

She stood up and clashed swords with Anna, saying afterwards "Quick thinking, kiddo, you're a natural already. Now, let's do that a few more times and then I'll teach you how to properly attack with a sword on a training dummy. Okay, begin!"

They practised like this for half an hour, Pyra amping the difficulty up bit by bit so Anna would get a fair workout, before placing her before a wooden training dummy, and showing her how to properly strike someone down.

"Don't strike with just your arms," she instructed after seeing Anna do a few overhead strikes in a row, "Strike with your whole body, and step in more when you attack. That way the tip of the blade won't shake, and the blade will be firm and unshakable. Now, try it again."

Anna nodded swiftly and attacked the post again, using her whole body this time, and found herself feel the blade fall stronger and straighter than before, and it didn't shake at all in her hand. Pyra nodded in approval and stated "Good, now repeat this for five more minutes, and then we'll combine the overhead attack with a shield block."

The next half an hour went on like this, learning different sword attacks, blocking, parrying, and four drill combinations, before Pyra ended the lesson and went off to her study to finish some progress reports for the trainees. Anna, however, had some time to spare before going to lunch, which was nearly an hour away, and decided to keep practising drill numbers three and four (block, forehand, backhand, and thrust, shield attack, forehand) until she needed to wash up for lunch.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pyra was walking to her study in the barracks, just outside the castle, when she saw a shadow move behind her. She turned her head around and, to her surprise, saw Princess Elsa walking towards her. She turned her body to follow her head and asked "Elsa, what are you doing here? Don't you need to stay in the castle for lessons?"

She shook her head and replied "I have some time to spare before lunch, and I wanted to ask you for a favour, in private."

Pyra looked suspicious at this and stated as she turned her body to face the town "I'm heading to my private study now, so you can ask me when we get seated, preferably before I begin my progress reports for the trainees. So please, follow me."

Elsa nodded and followed Pyra for a minute until they reached the barracks and entered the front door, entering a homey type of reception office, the female soldier at the front desk looking up as they entered, surprised to see the royal heiress beside one of her commanding officers.

"Your Highness! Lady Pyra!" she exclaimed, "I didn't know that you were going to come in here today! Was there a memo or message sent out? If so, I didn't receive it."

Pyra smiled at the young blonde soldier and reassured "Don't worry, Chava, this was a last minute change of plans, literally. However, young Elsa here and I are just going to discuss some private matters in my personal study before I walk her home, and then I'll return to finish some of the trainee progress reports. But first things first, are there any more papers or documents for me to check over or sign?"

Chava, getting over her shock, nodded and bent her head to sweep up a small pile of paperwork and told her "Yes, ma'am. You have the weaponry report that you wanted to check over with the Captain, a couple of accounts of related burglary, and what the detectives have got so far, and a report about the Scarred-Skinned Robert case. We've caught him and his gang."

Pyra looked shocked and happy at the same time, carefully collecting the papers while replying "Oh, really?! Good! Good, good, good! I can finally rest that off my mind in a moment. Well done, Private. Keep up the good work."

Chava saluted and chorused "Yes, ma'am!"

Pyra smirked and said "At ease, soldier. Come on, Elsa, let's get this over with."

She walked down the hallway with Elsa on her heels, Chava bowing slightly to the young noble as she passed, and Elsa took in the sight of the hallway with interest, hearing yelling and whistle blasts to her left and seeing two big doors in the middle of the hallway, leading to the noise. Pyra noticed this and satisfied her silent inquiries with "That leads to the indoor gymnasium. We have a large training yard outside as well for weaponry training just behind the gym, and an archery and crossbow training field opposite that on the other side of the castle, which can be entered through the mess hall - which is like a huge mixed dining room so you know," adding quickly at Elsa's confused look.

There were some doors on the right before them and past them and Pyra explained "These doors are full of either practise weaponry, real weaponry with blunted edges to avoid serious injuries, light to medium armour, and different uniforms for the different recruits."

Elsa asked curiously "Aren't all recruits the same?"

Pyra shook her head and said "No. It takes years to become a seasoned trainee, and lots of the trainees have different specialities."

Elsa then asked slowly "Such as …?"

Pyra then elaborated "Okay, just so you know, in the first year of training, the first year recruits, who wear grey uniforms are taught the basics of all forms of military combat, such as using swords, spears, bows, axes, polearms and crossbows for example, to see which ones they are best at using. They are also taught military strategies and commands, and do various leadership training sessions. Then, the second year recruits, who wear blue uniforms, start choosing which weapons to focus on, and they focus on four of them, so, lets say using swords, axes, bows and spears."

"Then, the third year recruits, who wear light green, focus on three weapons, and lets say using swords, spears and bows. They are then assigned to different military bases depending on their skill sets, so if one soldier was good at swords, spears and archery, he'd be put in an infantry based squad, a foot soldier as it were. However, if another soldier was good at knives and/or daggers, bows and crossbows, he would be sent to a scouting, ranger or archery base."

"And then you get those who are masters at all forms of weaponry, such as myself and some of the other officers here. We're called 'weapons masters' due to our affinity to weaponry, and we help train other students who are naturals like us. However, we only train them if their studies are up to scratch, and if their behaviours are good. You getting this?"

Elsa nodded and Pyra looked at the staircase that leads up to the next two levels and said "Well, lets get climbing."

They climbed up the two flights of stairs and walked down the hallway to the left, and then turned right at the end, seeing two other lieutenants, both fairly older males, in deep conversation. They looked up as they saw the two nobles and one of them exclaimed happily "Your Highness! A pleasure to see you! An honour to see you to, Pyra. So, any news about 'Scarred-Skinned Roberts'?"

Pyra smiled and said "According to Private Chava, he and his gang were captured. I'm going to look over the details later this afternoon in the report I was given."

They brightened up and the other lieutenant said "That's great news! I never forgave them for injuring my poor Sergeant like that. He wont ever see anything out of his right eye again."

Pyra looked saddened and murmured "Poor Blake. He's only a young lad to. I'll be sure to commend him for his bravery later on. Anyway, as you were, officers."

They gave each other unofficial salutes, which was appropriate due to their shared ranks and limited company, regardless of the company being royal, and headed off on their way, with Pyra and Elsa walking down the rest of the hallway and turning to the last door of three doors on the left, which had a sign on it saying 'Lieutenant Pyra's Quarters'. Pyra took out a key from a silver necklace around her neck, inserted the bronze key into the lock, turned it and took the key out, opening the door and letting Elsa inside before closing the door behind her.

The study was average in size, with a small cot in the far corner of the room in case of a late night, with a large window going from just above the middle of the cot onwards. A large mahogany desk was in the opposite corner, with a hard mahogany chair matching it placed underneath it, with inkwells, quills and fountain tipped pens neatly arranged on the top part of the desk, with one tray either side of the desk, the one on the left with a card saying 'In' being empty, and the one on the right being full with a card before it reading 'Out'.

Pyra just placed her new files in the 'In' tray, and Elsa noticed the suit of armour standing in the far left corner beside another window, with a mirror by the armour's side, and Elsa recognised it as Pyra's armour, and that her unique sword and shield were standing loyally at the armour's side. On Elsa's immediate left was a large bookcase and a wine cabinet, and in the middle of the room was a small rectangular table with six chairs around it, standing on a handsome burgundy and gold rug.

It was very cosy in Elsa's opinion, and was jolted back into consciousness when Pyra asked her a question.

"Finished staring?" she asked with a smirk, causing Elsa to blush slightly and turn to her at once, doing so surprisingly gracefully for a ten year old princess. Pyra then waved a hand to the small table and welcomed "Come, take a seat."

Elsa nodded and sat at one head of the table, while Pyra sat at the other, and Pyra then asked Elsa "So, what's been ailing you, kiddo?"

Elsa wrung her hands slightly, thinking about a good way to state her request, before saying bluntly "I want to learn how to fight with weapons."

Pyra looked surprised at this and commented "Wow, I didn't see that coming. Whatever for though?"

Elsa frowned slightly and bit the inside of her lip, thinking of how to explain her desire to fight, before once again just speaking her mind.

"It's just that ..." she began, "that time with the wolves, Anna took down more wolves than I did, and she also saved my life. I don't want to keep relying on her to protect me, powers or not, and I can help watch out for her if she does get attacked. I'm supposed to be the older sister, the one who is the protector, but Anna is instead the one protecting me while I'm the one that shies from danger. It'll also be a way for us to reconnect: she hasn't even played a game of any kind with me or Mama or Papa for two months, and has barely talked to us at all! She's just … growing up too quickly, and becoming too distant. Look at her: she turned eight just two months ago, and has already proved to be the bravest girl in all of Norway! I just … want her to talk to us again, and I want to protect her as well no matter what, even if my life is put on the line for it. Please," she pleaded, looking into Pyra's eyes with determination and pleading, "train me to fight as a soldier."

Pyra sat slightly back in her chair, frowning as she mulled it over in her mind. She knew that her parents allowed Elsa and Anna to both train in combat, but she didn't know about armed combat yet. Both of her reasons were just as well, and she had indeed noticed the rift Anna was creating between herself and her family, and it was indeed worrying. It would work with the children training together, but maybe if Elsa was trained with different weapons than Anna, like archery and knife wielding, then that would be interesting to see what combinations they could come up with since they usually worked as a well oiled machine.

The only downside was the Kageran Pilgrimage that Anna will have to go on for several years, and Elsa can't go with her due to her responsibilities as heiress to the throne. Since by the time Anna comes back, her parents would be stepping down and Elsa would be coronated, and then she would knight Anna, Elsa wouldn't be able nor allowed to go on such a long journey, also, she would find out about Anna's knighting.

And that reminded her, that she herself will have to go on the Pilgrimage as well, but she'll leave within the year to let Anna train by herself, and learn to control her powers for herself, and would be left in the care of another senior knight for years to master her weaponry and military tactics and leadership skills. She just needs a worthy enough knight first, but she has three years to think about it.

However, back at the topic at hand, Pyra made her decision and looked at Elsa firmly, saying "You will learn weaponry with Anna for three years, and then Anna will be sent on a special Kageran ritual for a number of years, so she can keep our traditions alive and all, will that be fine?"

Elsa looked saddened at the 'Kageran ritual' part, but nonetheless looked grateful for accepting her request and replied "Yes, Pyra. Thank you so much for this."

Pyra smiled and answered gently "No problem. Now lets get you home."

And with that, they left Pyra's study and the barracks, and Elsa was rushed into the castle for lunch by Gerda as soon as they entered the gates. Pyra sighed and headed back to the barracks to do her work, thinking about the request.

She just hoped that she made the right decision.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The figure blew his or her lips and slumped back in the chair, hands falling on the desk before rubbing his or her eyes from fatigue. The figure looked at the smallish pile of notes and journals on his or her right and said "A few years down," before looking at the floor on his or her left and groaned at the look of the 'small' mountain of notes and journals lying there, moaning/crying out, "so many more years to go-ho-ho!"