Hi!

I can't believe this is chapter 25 already, we're about half way through the book! I know I've said this before, but thank you so much for all the support you've shown!

Without it I don't think I'd have gotten past chapter 10 ;)

Thanks for bearing with me these far apart updates and giving me so many votes and lovely comments!

The media for this chapter is by @fighterlove, thank you!

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Chapter 25

Bree led me, followed by Autumn, to a sandy arena closed off by a wooden fence.

"First, we need to find your weapon, the one that you feel the most comfortable with, the one that, were you a warrior, you would in time learn to master." Bree said. She was in her element here, I could tell, but she just had to underline the fact that she didn't think I was capable to master a weapon.

"Let's start with the one that is the most commonly used by otherwise helpless princesses: the dagger. Pretty faces who think more about their style than their security can get all kind of daggers decorated like jewelry." The tone of her voice said much about her opinion of such women. "But, if used correctly, daggers can also be deadly. They're small, easy to hide beneath your clothes, but a flick of the wrist, and-"

I gasped. A knife had appeared in her hand out of nowhere and was now two inches away from my face.

"You're dead." Bree finished. She brought her hand back down, thankfully away from my face, and twirled the knife around her fingers. "Bring out a target," she called out to the small group of on lookers that had gathered around the small arena.

Someone brought a target, which was set down about fifteen feet away from us. Bree stood in front of it, aimed, and let the knife fly. It embedded in the red circle in the middle. The redhead didn't seem to think much of her perfect throw and casually retrieved the knife and handed it to me.

"Your turn."

I held the dagger uncertainly. I knew how to use a kitchen knife, but not a throwing knife. How was I supposed to do this?

"Don't drop it on your toes," I familiar voice called out.

Bree frowned. "Aiden, didn't I tell you to go train?"

"Nope, you told me to go get my bow, which I did, so now I'm back," Aiden answered. Even though he was behind me and I couldn't see his face, I had no problem imagining the mischievous grin on his face.

Bree wisely decided to ignore him, and turned her attention back to me.

"Well? Throw it."

"But I've no idea how," I said.

"I just showed you. If you don't pay attention, you'll never learn anything." Bree snapped.

At that moment, I was very tempted to accidentally drop the knife on her toes.

Bree grabbed my wrist and positioned the knife correctly in my fingers.

"You know how to throw something, I hope?"

I gritted my teeth. Not wanting to leave her time for another derogatory comment, I bent my arm back, aimed towards the target, and threw the knife forwards.

It did not even hit the target.

Wordlessly and without even looking at me, Bree held out three other daggers for me. One of them bounced off the target, but the two others didn't even reach it.

My face burning with embarrassment, I watched as some guy hopped over the wooden fence, picked up the daggers in the sand, and gave them back to Bree.

"Hey, that was still good for your first throws ever," he told me with an encouraging smile.

"It wasn't bad," Bree said, "Actually, it was more like pathetic. Obviously, daggers are not your thing."

I bit my lip. I knew I hadn't done well, but why did she have to be so mean?

"Steady there, Bree. No one can hit a perfect target on their first throw," Chase's quiet voice, accompanied by the soft ruffle of wings folding after a landing, stopped her from spitting out another insult.

Bree looked at him for a minute without saying anything. She seemed torn between barking at him for contradicting her or letting his comment go. After all, from what I understood she slightly outranked Chase, so she probably wouldn't mind yelling at him, but could the great red-haired goddess really be bothered to yell at yet another person? Apparently the answer was 'no,' as she humphed and said, "Well then, why don't you try and make something out of her? As it is, she's barely able to defend herself against a stuffed bunny, and the king wants her to be able to take care of herself a minimum."

"Oh, don't worry. After fighting off a morsydrus, I don't think she'll have much of a problem with a bunny," Chase simply said, referencing the flying snake that he practically fought all by himself.

Bree apparently hadn't heard the story, because, for once, she had nothing to retort. She walked off to rest against the wooden fence, ready to laugh at me for my next mistake, most likely.

Chase looked around, and Aiden tapped him on the shoulder.

"Got them for you, no one was smart enough to have them out," he said, handing him two wooden swords.

Chase grinned, "It's like you read my mind." He turned to me and handed me one of the swords, which was surprisingly light. "Now we're going to practice sword-fight. If you're good, we'll figure out what kind of sword suits you best."

Someone scoffed behind me. "Seriously? Have you looked at her? It's obvious she's an archer, not a sword-fighter," the speaker, who turned out to be Lance, said.

Chase ignored him but murmured to me, "As much as I dislike the guy, I have to admit he's got an eye for these sort of things. If you want, we can skip right ahead to archery."

"It doesn't matter," I said more loudly. "I want to try different kinds of fighting anyway."

Chase sent me a smile, and Lance rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, have fun wasting your time."

Chase and I both ignored him, and I thought I heard Aiden say something that sounded like, "Hey, guess what? No one cares!"

Chase showed me how to properly hold my sword, advising me to start off by holding it in two hands to have a better grip, and got into a fighting stance. I suddenly felt unsure about all of this.

"Um, Chase? This is ridiculous, I mean, I don't even stand a chance here."

"Well, I should hope so," he laughed. "I've been sword-fighting most of my life, it would be pretty bad for me if you could beat me the first time you held a sword." Then, more seriously, he explained, "This isn't about winning or losing, but about seeing how comfortable you are with a sword, and if your natural, untrained fighting style shows that this is your kind of weapon."

I only nodded.

"Ready?" Chase asked. "I'm going to swing first. Try to deflect the blade, or at least not get hit."

I nodded once again.

Chase stepped forward and swung his sword without any more warning, and I jumped back on reflex, narrowly avoiding the wooden blade. He thrust his sword again, and I raised mine fast enough to block him.

"Good. Try to be a bit lighter on your feet."

I acknowledged him with a nod, keeping my eyes on his blade. Chase swung towards my right, and I moved my sword in that direction, but at the last minute he changed and was swinging left. The tip of his sword grazed my left cheek, and I flinched away.

"Concentrate, Hailey."

When Chase swung again, it wasn't a feint, and I thrust my sword out to meet his with a resounding 'thwack.' The impact sent ripples down my arms, but I somehow managed not to drop the sword. Chase raised his eyebrows and nodded praisingly. Seizing the chance of having him slightly distracted, I swung my sword towards his left, as his sword was hanging limply in his right hand. Faster than I thought possible, his wooden blade was up to meet mine, this time with more force than before. My sword was knocked out of my hands, and I lost my balance and stumbled backwards.

Chase picked up my practice sword and shot me a questioning look. 'I'm okay,' I told him through a reassuring smile. The winged boy then looked at Bree expectantly, showing that sword-practice was over and he was awaiting her judgement.

The red-haired girl shrugged disinterestedly. "It wasn't as awful as I'd feared." Coming from her, that was a big compliment. "From her performance with the dagger, I thought she was going to knock herself out." Ah, I was almost starting to think Bree had a nice twin sister, but no, never mind, it really is her.

A blonde haired boy thrust a bow towards me. Lance. I grabbed the bow and turned it in my hands. It was nowhere as fancy as Aiden's I had held earlier and most likely a practice bow for beginners, same as the wooden swords.

Aiden pushed himself in front of Lance, handing me an arrow.

"Here, let me show you the basics."

Aiden showed me how to properly stand, hold the bow, and shoot the arrow, demonstrating it to me and hitting a bullseye on the target without even really looking at it.

"Show off," A voice I recognized as Autumn's laughed.

I mimicked Aiden's stance, nocked the arrow, aimed, took a breath, and let it fly. It embedded in the target with a soft thud.

"Good job!" Aiden high-fived me.

Although I was far from hitting a bullseye, the arrow had still lodged firmly in the second of the three red rings.

"Told you she was an archer," Lance said with a smile. Aiden rolled his eyes, but Lance ignored him.

I shot a few more arrows, all of which stuck to the target.

I turned to Bree, who had been silent the whole time. Even she couldn't blame me for not getting any bullseye. After all, it was the first time I ever touched a bow.

"All right! Well I guess you suck less at archery, so that's what you're going to do. Hope you're happy, because if you aren't, I don't care." Bree closed the matter, dismissing the onlookers.

Autumn joined me in the sand arena. "Hey, that was pretty good!"

I smiled in thanks, my earlier embarrassment with the knives forgotten after my performance with the bow, and she continued, "I bet I would be such a bad archer my arrow would have accidentally hit Bree or something."

I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I was thinking the same thing when I had to throw that stupid knife, although that would have been less because of the 'accidental' side and more because, well, it's Bree," I joked.

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