18 Savarine Ward

_Savarine Ward_

It seemed that a prince made a better friend than Savarine would have previously thought. She had heard tales of tantrums and mood swings, but for the past week she had seen none of that from the boy. She had seen people tell him no, although rarely, but whenever it was said to him, he graciously accepted it. The girl did not see a problem with him.

But perhaps that was the problem, she had thought. He was too perfect, it did not seem right. He was handsome, kind, and he was going to be king some day. Although the king was the most important person in a kingdom, more often than not, they were not good people. One person having too much power was not a good thing. From what she knew, princes were the same way- if not worse.

They were raised being built up their entire lives, and she had come to know this through listening to not only what Devrish had said, but things she had read up on in her attempts to better educate herself. Princes were often fed many lies about how great and mighty they were, how they could get away with anything and how much more special they were than everyone else. She wondered why this had not gotten to the prince's head- certainly it would have gotten to hers.

Perhaps she was only looking into things too much. Of course he was not perfect- the man sometimes said rude things unknowingly- except he owned up to it quite easily. She was not used to such humbleness, and it was that thought that told her she definitely was being too suspicious of Devrish. He seemed to have good intentions.

But he also seemed... and she did not like to make this assumption likely, he seemed to fancy her. Perhaps it was all in her head, or maybe she was not used to a man treating her in such courteous ways, but to her it seemed as if he was interested in her. It was a conflicting thought, because she did not want to have a big head, she was no noble. What kind of prince would be into a common girl? An odd one at that? Yet still the thought of his interests lingered. She did not wish to think anymore of these silly things.

Her ribs had just about healed so she likely would be able train for longer today. Savarien stood and reached into her wardrobe, grabbing a loose shirt and trousers. She changed quickly and left her room, heading to the training room. It was a bit late today to start, but it did not matter. There was likely no one there during this time anyway, and if there was she would go out to a secluded part of the court yard and practice on her own. 

She reached the training room and peeked inside, seeing no one there she walked over to the weapons rack and picked up a heavy blunt steel sword. How long would it be till she could wield a sharp one? Surely she was ready now- but her father said she was not. She had tried to argue with him, but he had asked her to beat him in combat for it- and of course that went just about you would have expected.

Savarine tossed the sword around her hands, getting used to the weight of it. Swords weren't too heavy, but longswords were. What was it that Savarine wanted to use? There were knightly swords, longswords, maces, spears, all sorts of things. Here in the castle they had things like crossbows, which she was told was like a bow and arrow that you only had to nock and pull an arrow to fire. It sounded easier but less effective.

Bows were alright in her opinion, but she preferred the thrill of melee combat. She was also efficient at hand to hand combat- but nothing fancy. Savarine wished to be proficient at a variety of combat and weapons and she was on her way there, but a jack of all trades was master of none. She thought now of the full meaning of that quote. 'A jack of all trades but master of none, but often times better than a master of one'. She had read it in a book she had found in the library- the same library she had been looking for when she met the prince.

Savarine twirled the metal in her hands, doing a few quick movements to perfect her stances. As it stood, she was proficient with the knight sword, and she was practicing with that model now as she ran through her basic stances and moves, treating it like a dance of sorts. She soon lost herself in the movements, letting herself get carried away. She continued to let her mind wander and soon it landed on those doors from before... the doors Devrish had told her not to touch before she knew who he was.

She had forgotten to ask at the time, why she should not touch the doors- and to ask what it was that they were blocking off. But now that she thought about it, she would have to ask the prince about it when she next got the chance to do so.

She stumbled suddenly, and frowned. Next she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before starting up again, moving faster this time and trying to ignore her thoughts. A sound behind her had her spinning, bringing a sword up to someone's throat on instinct. Her eyes widened when she realized it was her brother, and her blade fell to her side.

"Having fun are we?" Her eldest brother, Eric, asked her.

"I did not hear you come in," She said with an apologetic smile. She looked to who was with him now, her eyes landing on the young man. He had light brown hair and freckles to match. By the way he was dressed, she knew he was nobility of some sort. "I should go, you clearly have practice to do with..." She fell short of the kids name.

"Wayner." He told her kindly.

It seemed that Savarine was on a roll now, having not recognized a second prince at this point. She curtsied to him. "My apologies, you grace. I'm afraid I am not familiar with the faces of the Royal family,"

Prince Wayner shook his head, blushing. "I- it's really alright- you don't have to call me grace, prince is sufficient."

"My prince," she said with a nod.

Eric patted her on the shoulder. "Prince Wayner, do you mind if my sister Savarine stays and practices here why we do our own scheduled practice?"

The boy, perhaps ten or younger, looked confused as he looked between the two. "But she is a girl," he pointed out, perplexed at the idea.

"Aye she is," he nodded.

"Why would she need to practice with a sword? Mother told me that the sharpest object a lady need handle is a needle."

Savarine suppressed a frown as her brother spoke up again. "Perhaps, but our family lives, breathes, and falls at the end of a sword and Savarine wishes to be no different. It is an art." He said sounding mystified by his own words. Eric was always good at talking to people, unlike her other brother Fenir, who had a bad attitude and accidentally said plenty of rude things.

"An art? I thought it was a skill," Wayner said this time.

"It is both, my prince." Eric told him with a nod.

The boy took that information in with a thoughtful nod of his own. "She may stay then, but only if she accepts my challenge," He said with a smile now.

Savarine swallowed. What? "Your grace, there is quite an age difference between us- I believe the skill difference between us is not in your favor," She tried, being as polite as she possibly could about it.

The boy frowned. "But you are a girl, how good could you be?" He asked innocently. Savarine held her temper. The child had the same problem as his brother- they did not know when they were being rude and she was in no place to correct him.

She looked to Eric helplessly, hoping for him to diffuse this. He looked a bit frantic. "What if I were to challenge her in your stead? Once you see that you can decide if you still would like to go up against her," he offered.

Wayner seemed to consider this idea, not looking too pleased with it before he nodded. "Alright but you cannot go easy on her. Give me a show!"

Eric looked to Savarine who gave him a weary nod. Her brother went to retrieve his sword as she stepped up to the middle of the marble floor. He returned with a knight sword of his own and took his stance. "On your mark, my prince." He informed.

Wayner smiled now, entertained. "Ready," he started with a pause afterwards. "And go!"

Savarine held her sword up as the two circled each other, daring her brother to make the first move, so he did. He lunged in with a heavy blow that she blocked. She tried to twist the connected swords so that his would slip in his grip but he pushed her away. Eric took after their father, he was also a rather tall man, but not nearly as wide or muscled. Savarine on the other hand, was caught in the middle of her mother and father. She was at an average height and weight, nothing about her that particularly stood out besides her family's famous dark brown-black hair that they all possessed.

She took a steady step backwards, having learned that if she pushed back against men this much larger than her, then she would likely fall backwards. Swiftly, Savarine tried to make a sudden swing at her brother without letting him read her movements, but in case he caught on, this was a fluke too. When he went to block her, she twirled quickly to the left and slapped him upside the back of his head, jumping away when he swung at her.

She smirked when she heard Wayner laugh.

"Playing around are we?" Eric asked her with a smirk of his own, but this one was much more ominous. Her eldest brother was a kind heart, easily sociable too- but give the man a sword and a challenge, and the beast came out. He was a true warrior- the only thing left for him was to join in a real battle. He would no doubt shine on the field.

"Only a bit," Savarine admitted as she felt her heart flutter at the movements of his feet on the floor. He was trying to fake her out- make her guess incorrectly when he was going to swing. She kept her eyes to his in that case- thinking that they would give away more than his mere feet would.

She could not wait any longer however, and found herself making a broad right sweep of her sword that he deflected and quickly shoved his sword forward with a lunge. Seeing this and not wanting a thick bruise on her gutt, Savarine reached forward with the back of her hand and smacked the smooth side of his sword away from her, likely bruising her knuckles instead.

Eric gave her a strange look and moved to swing his sword back over to her but she easily blocked with her own, placing both hands back on it.

"No hands sister, this is a sword challenge."

She laughed at him. "The challenge was not specified! In any case, there are no rules in a real fight- just life and death- the victor and the dead."

Eric snorted. "Do you suppose I should skewer you with a blunt sword then? Or perhaps fetch a sharpened blade?"

Savarine gave him a wicked smirk and clanged her sword against his, pushing it to the left at an awkward angle thinking he would drop it, but the man only twirled it out of the situation and brought it back in front of himself just as Savarine did the same. "Quite bold of you to assume you would so easily win," She said with a chuckle.

"An easy win?" He asked now, "I do not think so low of you- it would be a difficult win."

She snorted. "If you win, dear brother."

He brought his sword down on hers, sweeping from high above in a downward ark- swift and hard. She blocked it vertically but the force sent her down onto one knee. "What was that? I could not hear you over the sound of you imminent demise,"

She grinned and rolled to the right, popping up quickly to her feet. Her ribs burned from training with her father, but she ignored it. Bruised ribs were nothing. She could not afford to let them become anything. Savarine readied herself to attack again but her brother beat her to it, swinging from an angle coming down from the right, then up from the left and there they danced in a true fury of clangs and clinks of blunt steel knight swords.

Eric was better suited to longswords, which were longer and heavier than a knight sword. He had purposely chosen the same sword as her to make things fair- the poor fool. He may have been five years her senior but she had not been practicing doing nothing all this time.

"Should have chosen yourself a proper sword if you wanted to win," She taunted him, bringing a good down angle from the left, which he countered with an angle coming up from the right. His blows were strong and almost knocked her sword out of her hands a few times over- but she held tight, knowing that if she allowed herself to drop it, he would call this fight to an end.

She kept herself from working on things too dirtily, trying her best to stick to using the sword only. She practiced using everything at her disposal so limiting herself to just the sword was tedious and limited many of her options. Savarine was finally able to parry him, striking him hard in one of his hands. He grunted, a smirk on his face as he moved to put the hand behind his back.

"Keep your hand out," She instructed him. "I don't see it falling off, what are you? A Chivalrous Knight?"

Eric rolled his eyes. "But the challenge-"

"The challenge has no rules, does it brother? Or would you like to stop and lay them out clearly?" She asked him with a provoking tilt of her head.

Eric looked to the young prince now. "What do you think, my prince?"

Wayner blushed at the sudden attention directed at him but quickly recovered. "No rules, continue as you have- it is more interesting this way."

Savarine raised her brows at her brother now. "No rules..." She said as the two started to circle each other once more. They were both breathing fairly hard by now- one of them was soon to tire and come across an error in judgement and slip up soon. But who would it be?

"I see that smirk." Eric said with his own grin. "You fight like a wild animal without any rules- just like father."

"And you fight like an honorable knight!" She said with a laugh.

"Perhaps in an informal setting, the words of honor are humorous, but here in court honor is highly valued, dear sister."

"So you have become a courtly man then?" She questioned him as she came in quick, but faked him out, spinning to the left in order to kick him in the shin so that he fell to his knees.

"I become what is required of me," He answered as he pulled her feet out from under her, sending her to her back on the ground. He moved to hit her with his sword but she rolled to the left, away from him, moving to get up. She caught sight of him trying to stand and kicked his sword from his hand, flinging herself to her knees first, and then lunching at him and pushing him back onto his back.

Eric let out a short surprised yell and did his best to push her off but she already had her sword positioned at his neck. He froze, looking up at her at the sudden thing.

Savarine looked up at the prince through her messy wave of shoulder length black hair, something akin to an animal. "Have I won, your grace?" She asked him.

"Prince," He corrected with wide eyes. Eric had been training him for as long as the Ward family had gotten here, and not once had he seen the man defeated- and by a girl no less. "This looks like a victory to me," He said shortly after, with a nod.

A delighted smile spread across Savarine's face and she helped her brother up. Eric took his losses with grace, but he was hardly defeated and when he was, she could tell that he would beat himself up over it for days afterward- often practicing too hard.

Savarine wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand and let out a breathy chuckle. "I would not have won if I had played by honor rules," She purposefully admitted to her brother. "You have me beat in sword skill"

He smiled at her, "But not delinquent skills,"

She laughed at that. "No, not that one," She agreed with him.

"Are you really a girl?" A voice piped up, and her smile fell from her face.

"Pardon?" She asked, looking at the prince.

"Are you truly a girl? I have never seen a girl fight before- I did not think they could do any of those things." Wayner asked her.

Savarines blood boiled at the question. She knew the prince meant her no harm in the question but she still found offence in it. Had he been anyone else outside the royal house and she would have lost her cool. Insted, she reigned in any and all anger.

"Yes, my prince, I am a woman." She said with the most sincere smile she could muster up.

"Wayner, that is no question to ask a lady. How rude can you be?" A new voice spoke now, and Savarine's eyes had widened, looking to the entryway of the training room to see the elder prince. Devrish was giving his little brother a withering glare.

Wayner scowled. "I meant no offense. I was only asking. Women don't fight! She beat Eric too! Didn't you see it? I have not seen a man beat Eric before!" He defended himself.

"That is a childish thought, apologize to her. You should never insinuate a lady is a man," Devrish told Wayner, but the boy shook his head, his face growing red.

"She is not a lady! She is not even a true member of court!" Savarine felt a pinch in her chest, she had not expected words from a boy of only ten years to sting a little.

"All women are ladies, you would be wise to remember that. And as such, you should always apologize to a lady!"

    "I have done nothing wrong! I will not!" Wayner yelled at his brother now, storming to the door.

Devrish scowled and blocked his path. "You have not even practiced yet, I can tell. I will tell father if you leave."

"Go on and tell him then! Tell him you are being unfair too!"

"Unfair?"

"You only care what I say to that peasant girl because you think she is pretty!"

"Aye she is pretty but that is not why-"

    "Are you daft?" The boy said incredulously. "You have fancied her all week!" He pushed Devrish and stormed out of the room.

Savarine and the elder prince's eyes met for a long moment, Eric looking between them, confused. He leaned towards his sister now.

"Please tell me you two do not have something going on, Savarine." He whispered to her pleadingly.

Savarine turned to glare at her brother. "Of course not!"

He gave her a look and she scoffed at him. "I am only worried for you," He tried to reason as Devrish walked up to them.

"I do apologize for Wayner's behavior on his behalf. He will look back on this when he is older and feel like a fool."

Savarine sighed and shrugged. "He is a child, it is fine. I bet you were the same way at that age."

Eric looked like his eyes were going to fall out of his head from the way she had so casually talked to the prince. "Savarine, have you no manners at all?" He asked her now.

Devrish's eyes widened, "Oh no it is quite alright, in fact, I prefer she speak to me this way. Eric is it? You may speak to me more casually as well if you like. I do not care for all the formalities."

Savarine could see her brother visibly relax, but not completely. "I could not-"

    "Could you if I were to command it?" Devrish interrupted him.

"Well I suppose, but it-"

    "Then it it so. We can all be friends now," He said with a smile.

Eric looked at Savarine, completely confused, and very baffled. Savarine gave him a reassuring smile and threw an arm over his shoulder. "Devrish is strange but he means no harm."

"Strange is a strong word," He said with a pout.

Savarine shrugged, her brother looking halfway mortified at the casualness of this.