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Chapter 23 - Trial by blade

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Skye settled in with the Silverborn faster than she'd imagined.

They treated her no differently from one of her own, and she spent her days regaining the muscle she'd lost in captivity sparring with them in the field. If she wasn't there, she was around Alguarde, trying to put her magic to use wherever she could and prove to the people that she wasn't like the Master, despite the attempts from the Advisor to stop her from doing so. 

Her nights were spent in the soul-link with Kiarae. The library proved infinitely useful in that regard. Skye could practice her magic safe from view and research anything that caught her interest. She devoured tomes about the nature of the corruption and the exploits of various nature Sentinels, filing away several thing she wanted to try for later. A few of the Silverborn, namely Verdrana, joined her regularly, keeping her company as she conducted her own investigations. 

Two weeks flew by in the blink of an eye, training and helping and dodging the Advisor, and before she knew it, the Silverborn trials were upon them. 

Feeling stifled inside the tent with several Silverborn adjusting their armour, Skye headed for the exit. 

“I’ll be outside,” said Skye, pointing. “I need five minutes away from the noise.”

The Silverborn around her nodded in acknowledgement, their attention quickly returning to their armour as they ensured each piece was polished and sat squarely. Skye rolled her eyes as they continued primping and moved away. She understood their need to look presentable, especially today, but this was excessive. They’d been fiddling and adjusting for nearly half an hour.

Skye moved swiftly. Outside, her boots left small puffs of dirt in their wake. The small action got a smile out of her. She wasn’t entirely sure why. Something simple to penetrate her whirlwind of thoughts and distract her, she decided. Something that didn’t require a lot of thinking, watching, judging.

She kept walking, finding that her feet carried her to training grounds. 

It was a magnificent sight, she had to admit. Alguarde's arena, a structure she wasn't sure why they had in the first place, had been transformed. Silver decorations lined the edges, a fresh coat of pain applied to the walls and a new layer of dirt added to the floor. The entire thing was encircled with the built-in spectator seating which even now was crammed with more people than she'd have thought possible. 

People everywhere, thought Skye as she took a deep breath. You knew this would happen. Relax.

The only breaks in the mass of bodies were the entry points, although she knew it wouldn’t remain that way. Once proceedings began, there would be a constant flow of people filling them. 

Having asked Tayne the day before, Skye knew the two at the edges led to sectioned off pavilions where aspiring Silverborn hopefuls would reside during the day. The central one was for the initiated Silverborn to enter and leave through--it was the one that she would enter through.

An uneasy feeling crept over her at the thought.

She was dreading her entrance. There’d be people staring at her, and no matter which way or how quickly she turned, there’d always be someone behind her. Someone she couldn’t see. Skye glanced nervously at the passage, watching the shadows of the silver ropes flicker as their physical counterparts danced in the wind.

She didn’t feel entirely safe inside Alguarde’s walls. No matter where she went, her skin prickled as unseen eyes watched her every move. The nightmares hadn't stopped, usually interrupted by Kiarae's initiation of the soul link.

Someone was watching her every move. Someone she couldn’t trust. She jumped at shadows, waiting for the moment the betrayer would emerge and whisk her away to the confines of the Sentinel’s citadel. She feared imprisonment more than anything, and being trapped within Alguarde’s walls, knowing that the Sentinel lurked outside, waiting for her to make a mistake, was slowly driving her mad.

Skye brought her foot behind her to rest on a wall as she slumped against it. She clutched her head as the thoughts began to spiral out of control once more.

A pair of women moved through the corridor, pulling Skye back to reality. They stopped when they reached her, both turning into a deep, graceful curtsey. Skye hastily pushed herself off the wall and tried to respond in kind before realising she lacked the skirts to do so. She attempted to hide the clumsy action with a low bow, but failed.

The two women moved off once more, faces hidden behind fans and whispering.

Cheeks burning, Skye began walking once more. It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. The people were used to seeing her now, to an extent. As the weeks went by, she’d been thanked by many for healing their loved ones.

Donovan stated his opinion on the matter several times, but Skye refused to listen to him.  She continued to use the time when she wasn’t training or studying on the people. It wasn’t as often as she’d have liked, but it was paying off. She was gradually gaining their respect.

King Darian appeared nonchalant on the matter, leaving Donovan fuming when he officially decreed that Skye would be the only one to dictate the uses of her magic.

Skye knew the King favoured her over the Advisor. After several encounters between the King, Silverborn and the Advisor, she tried to avoid putting them in a situation where that fact would become apparent. The Advisor had it out for her, and while she didn’t know why, it was another reason to watch her back. Aggravating the lanky man further would not help her case, something Luke was still to discover.

“Skye! Over here!”

Her reflection cut short, Skye searched for the owner of the voice. Her eyes were drawn to a figure with a mop of blonde hair waving around a hand. He called again, still trying to get her attention.

“Skye! Hey! Over here!”

A smile broke out on her face as she wormed her way through the crowds. Jesse was still searching the masses for her when she came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Sky-- hey! Oh! It’s you, Hi! I was looking for you, Tayne wants you at the pavilion, and, um, yea. Let’s go!” Without waiting for her answer, he grabbed her wrist and led her through the crowds. Slightly stunned by his behaviour, Skye followed behind him without a word.

In truth, she was grateful that he’d arrived when he did. The thoughts were becoming too much, the stress of people and expectations overwhelming.

“Excuse me! Oh, sorry miss. Here’s your umbrella back, I didn’t mean to-- That’s quite alright. Excuse me, Silverborn coming through, um, if you could just move over a bit I’m sure that we can just squeeze past, thank you!”

He’s hopeless, thought Skye, but she was unable to contain her smile despite the people milling around her and touching her arms.

Several minutes and many amused spectators later, they arrived at the grassed area where Tayne had pitched the Silverborn’s commanding tent. Jesse, still grasping her wrist tightly as if worried she’d slip away, pushed aside the fabric to allow her entry.

At the movement, Tayne glanced up. Lines of worry creased his face, disappearing before Skye could be sure they were there.

“Ah, you found her. Thank you Jesse,” said Tayne. The young Silverborn nodded enthusiastically and stepped aside. Skye stepped forward when Tayne motioned her forward.

“And to what do I owe this visit? I thought you were swamped at the moment?” Skye asked.

Tayne nodded. “Wrain and Luke are back from the meeting with the King and the escort has been arranged, so I have a spare few minutes. I need to ask you something.”

“Escort? Who are they escorting?” Skye asked, avoiding the question.

“The royals. It was tradition for them to attend the Silverborn trials in the past. Wrain has decided now will be no different,” said Tayne. “They used to be held once every two years, but in the five years we’ve been operating, this is the first official one. At first we just held individual trials at each city.”

“Are there people from other cities here now?”

Tayne nodded in response, unrolling a large piece of parchment which appeared to be a list of names. He scrawled across it as he spoke. “Yes. We sent Silverborn escorts out three weeks ago for any hopefuls. The roads between Alguarde and the cities are warded to an extent, but demons are still a threat to travellers, especially now.”

He rolled the parchment back up, replacing it on the desk and meeting her eyes. There was no escaping the question now, whatever it was. Behind her, Jesse slipped out of the tent.

“Now. I wanted to ask, would you be willing to assist in the combat trials today?”

Not what Skye was expecting at all. “What?”

“Well, you were already going to be a part of the ceremony, being the closest thing to a celestial Sentinel we have at the moment-- although, we’d still want you even if we did have one.” Tayne took a deep breath, visibly calming himself. “Sorry. I’m just a little overstretched at the moment,” he said.

Skye nodded, waiting for him to speak again. She was curious as to what he had in mind. Tayne pulled out another piece of parchment and faced it towards her.

“We’re stretched too thin. I’ve had to assign Silverborn pairs to patrol the walls where the demons have breached. We can’t relax, today of all days. The rest of the Silverborn are either already assigned guarding the royals or in several other things,” he said, gesturing around the page. Skye flicked her eyes around the page, seeing the truth behind his words. He rushed on making frantic gestures at the page.

“You’ve been helping Luke with his initiates and training with us, so I figure you have a fairly good grasp. It can’t hurt to show the people how good you are with a blade either, right? In a way, it might make them feel safer knowing their Sentinel isn’t incompetent,” he said, noting the look on Skye’s face. “Not that you are. Although you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but it’d really help a lot and--“

Skye looked up from the parchment. Tayne was practically begging. She knew how much stress he’d been under lately from the Advisor and the King, she just hadn’t realised how much it was affecting him. The lines of worry were back as he spoke, the facade of calm dissolving.

She placed a gentle hand over his arm that rested on the parchment, halting his rambled words. He met her eyes again, waiting for her reply. Skye sent a slow stream of energy into his body in an attempt to calm the panic she knew was rising.

“I’ll help. Just tell me what I need to do, and if there’s anything more I can do before it starts, let me know,” she said quietly. 

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