The fallen's lament

David stared at Rose’s prowess in front of these obviously important people. After a few exchanges of notes and muttering conversations, the central masked figure spoke in a voice that sent shivers down David’s spine: “Granted, let us begin. You two, you are David and Sophia yes? You came to our village last night during the celebration of a heretic, a most valued time, and since then you have been into the market and take refuge at Lady Rose’s house!”

Rose narrowed her eyes at the figure, David and Sophia stared with amazement as the figure quickly cowered and hid back in the shadows as Rose stepped forward. “Young Sophia here has been offered a place as Autumn’s apprentice, and David has a skill that he has informed me about that our village could use, to prove comfort for our shattered bones after battle and work.”

The figures seem intrigued, and after a while the figure once again spoke. “David, what does this skill involve, and what would you need to do it?”

David looked up. “Just a spinning wheel with fur and leather, possibly a few pieces of cloth too.”

The main figure nodded. “We will grant you a week; should the villagers still desire for you to be here, you may stay – the same to you, Sophia. Autumn may have you as an apprentice, and if in the space of a week you have learnt nothing, you will be banished. Council, Dismissed.”

As they left, David looked at Rose with pure admiration on his face. Sophia was just squeezing Rose tightly; Rose smiled at them. “Thankfully the council granted you leave to stay at ours, and thankfully we have a spare room. Once we get back and the week has passed I’ll get Howard to fix you both up with a weapon.”

Sophia still looked nervous. “Where’s Autumn’s home? I’d like to tell her the news.”

Rose smiled down at Sophia. “We’re going there now, her home isn’t far.”

As they walked, however, they all heard a powerful voice directed at them from behind as they approached Autumn’s home. “Hold it!” They all spun round to see who said the command and the Everseer jumped down from his spire, landing and catching himself on the edges and houses; finally he landed neatly in front of Rose, his staff in hand.

Rose simply bashed the weapon away with her hand as she replied, “And what is wrong now, Everseer?”

The Everseer glared as he pointed his weapon back at Rose. “You interfered with council rules! You were not supposed to interrupt!”

Rose calmly drew her katana as she answered quickly, “I was allowed in, so I was allowed to speak. You don’t want to fight me, Everseer. I might not show you mercy this time!”

David and Sophia both stared as the Everseer grimaced at this, but held his staff firm. After a few seconds, he swung up and brought the staff down. Rose swung her katana to the side, clashing her blade with the Everseer’s.

Sparks flew as the two engaged in a fiery duel of superb combat. Spinning, ducking, diving, stabbing, lunging and slicing, after a few minutes Rose separated from the Everseer, and as he charged, she dropped her katana; then, at the last second, she side stepped the Everseer, grabbing his staff in both her hands and twisting it to the left, forcing it out of his hands. She then twirled and brought the pole end up into his jaw, knocking him to the ground. Rose placed the blade end of the staff at the Everseer’s now exposed neck, ready for the finish. Looking down into his eyes she whispered, “Do you yield, Everseer?”

The Everseer averted his eyes as he growled his answer. “I yield.”

No look of happiness was on Rose’s face as she dropped the staff to the Everseer’s side. She picked up her own weapon and wiping blood from her face as she walked the couple to Autumn’s house.

Once Rose had cleaned herself off she knocked on the door. After a few minutes of waiting Autumn answered, wearing a most beautiful amethyst coloured robe and looking rather happy as she noticed Sophia. “Hello again Sophia and Rose too… and you brought a rather attractive gentleman to my door; it’s not my birthday, is it? Come on in, its cold outside.”

Stepping to the side as they walked inside, Rose, Sophia and David all took a seat on the sofa as Autumn sat on her rocking chair next to the fire. “So, what brings you to my home at this hour?”

Rose smiled as she answered, “Sophia has been placed as your apprentice; she has a week to prove herself.”

Autumn chuckled as she rocked back and forth slowly, looking at Sophia cautiously. “Then we start tomorrow. You know where my stall is, be there when the sun is rising from the mountains in the morning, we will start then.”

Sophia turned to Autumn. “What will you teach me first?”

Autumn chuckled once again with confidence; it sounded comforting to Sophia’s ears. “I’ll get you used to the tools of the trade. Watch me first and then we will start by evening out the cloth.”

Rose stood up and bowed to Autumn. “We must be on our way, Howard and Katie will need their dinner.”

Autumn bowed from her chair as they left. While they were walking, Sophia was getting excited; she was finally going to see something being cooked. David, who saw her excitement, merely laughed until they reached Rose’s home. Walking into the welcoming warmth of the fireplace they stepped over the threshold, where Howard sat with Katie on his lap, telling her stories of Rose’s adventures in the village.

Smiling warmly and bending down to peck Howard on the lips, Rose carefully picked up her groceries, beckoning Sophia to come as she walked into the kitchen. With Sophia in her shadow Rose unwrapped the chicken and placed it on one of the table tops; reaching into a nearby drawer she pulled a long thick knife out of its resting place, and began the process of preparing the chicken for eating. On and on she worked with Sophia watching her every moment, now wanting to try, but Rose did not notice, she simply carried on.

Katie, who had previously shown she had excellent hearing skills, darted into the kitchen before Rose had placed the chicken on the heat, and skidding to a halt next to Sophia looked up and said, “Don’t worry, mother always goes into a trance like state whenever she cooks, she’s not ignoring you.”

After she had stopped speaking Katie walked up to her mother to help her place the vegetables onto the plates. Sophia was now desperate to help, but simply watched. After twenty minutes of preparation, Rose looked up to Sophia. “Sophia, sweetie, could you help us take the meals out?”

Hurrying forward to pick up some of the plates, Sophia held them gently as Rose quickly showed her how best to hold them. Once Sophia had all the plates she could carry, Rose called out to the boys, “Dinner’s ready, go to the table!”

The meal was delicious: the chicken was cooked to perfection and the meat was white but juicy, cutting easily under the knives as Rose and David engaged in conversation. David asked the questions this time. “So Rose, what happens after dinner?”

“What do you mean, David?” Rose seemed almost confused.

“I mean, does your family sit down and talk until it’s time to sleep or something else?” David seemed almost embarrassed as he finished his sentence.

“Oh! We do a variety of activities. Sometimes Katie will dance and we’ll all join in or we train, or on some occasions, yes, we all sit down and talk until we feel tired.” Rose chuckled once she finished then carried on talking. “Tonight is a talking night I’m afraid.”

Sophia, as always, was quiet, wondering if she would be able to stay in the village and if David would be allowed to stay. And did he want her to be his Princess…
*

*

Early in the morning, Sophia was awakened by Rose as she threw cold water over her head. “Come on Sophia, you don’t want to be late, don’t worry, there’s no attack today – there won’t be for some time, at least until the banished one’s get a new leader.”