Chapter 5

"What happened?" They all demand, their mouths wide. I furrow my eyebrows, looking at each of their fearful faces, the wide eyes, blue and green staring at me in concern.

"What?" I ask. Amalia points to my cheek.

"OH!" I state, looking into the silver plate as a mirror, "I took a whip to the cheek last night." I tell them nonchalantly, taking a breakfast roll, cutting it in half and putting jam on it.

"You took a whip. to the. cheek." Laden says slowly, trying to understand how I got myself into the predicament.

"I was reading in my bed, when there was a bang on the door." I start telling them suspenseful-ly. The twins look at me in interest. "Yes?" they both ask. I look at Laden and Amalia, seeing they were interested too. "So I of course, went over to open my door, there was a crying maid I had met earlier this week, she had some to me because something had happened to her brother."

"Why did she come and get you?" Laden asks, piercing a yellow fruit square.

"That's what I was asking myself, I still have no idea why." I answer him, eating my roll, looking at each of them.

"So, back to the story. I, of course, wanted to know what happened to her brother, so I asked her to take me to him, we ran all the way down through the exit, past the gardens, past the stables, until we reached the servants village. We ran all the way into the square of the small village, and I saw a little boy chained to a whipping post, activity being whipped by Mr. Bogarhd." I pause dramatically, leaving them on the edges of their seats. "And?!" They all ask. I laugh.

"I charged at the man, tackling him to ground, where I got this mark." I say, pointing to my cheek. "We fought for a few seconds before I won-"

"Of course-" The twins state. I chuckle at them.

"And now he's being detained for child abuse and injuring a guest visiting the palace."

"Is there anything else?" Laden asks. I open my mouth, about to tell them about the rest of the night, but the grand doors open, a very huge being entering. "Brother!" the kids yell, getting out of their chairs and running to hug him. King Xavier picks up the twins, spinning them around twice before setting them down and then hugging his other siblings. I stand up, watching the scene with a smile on my face. Once the kids calm down and head back to their seats, The King heads back to his. I sit down when Xavier does. "Why are you joining us today?" Amalia asks. "I thought you didn't eat with the maidens." She whispers to him, but I heard. I laugh. They all look at me with curious eyes.

"So that's why you two were testing me my first dinner here." I point at the older children, a smile on my face.

"You knew?" Laden demands.

"Of course I knew, I'm not an imbecile." I joke, hitting the table with my palm, sending my point across.

"They tested you?" Jacob asks, looking at me innocently.

"I think they've tested every maiden who has tried to break your brothers curse." I tell him, pointing at the King sitting at the head of the table, listening but not talking.

The kids look back and forth from him to me, Now probably wondering why I'm not making such a big deal about his physical features. After a silent moment, the twins ask me to continue the story of last night. "Alright." I tell them, calming them down.

"After I took Mr. Bogarhd to the ground, I went over to help the boy originally being whipped. Three people had unchained him and his sister was comforting him at this time. I asked them why they hadn't taken them into a house with medical supplies, and they said there wasn't a house with medical supplies!" I say in a non-believing voice.

"So what did you do?" Amalia asks.

"I asked one of the men who unchained him if either one could carry him. They both couldn't."

"Well why not?" Laden asks.

"They both had whip wounds also. As did almost all of the servants. So, I picked him up and carried him to the hospital wing, bringing in an army of servants who could still walk but needed medical attention also, so I spent the whole night there, helping the nurses to treat the wounded servants. Most of them are fine now, but some of them, their infections were so bad that if you touched their back, a sticky white substance called puss, would shoot at you."

"Eww." The twins say disgusted. I smile at them.

"That story's not true." Amalia states, shaking her head.

"Well why not?" I ask her. putting my fist under my chin, staring intently at her.

"If you were there all night then you would look tired, and there's no way you could carry a boy all the way from the servants village to the medical wing." She states, folding her arms.

"Miss Valakia's story is true." The King states, eating a yellow egg.

"How would you know?" Laden demands.

"I watched her treat all of the servants, well, until she caught me watching." He says lightly, piercing another egg.

"You caught him? He's usually so good at not being seen." Jacques says, a layer of chocolate pudding around his mouth. I toss him a cloth.

"It also doesn't help that I was trained to listen to my gut and look around. Most girls are unobservant to their surroundings anyway, so it's not hard to hide from them."

"Hey!" Amalia yells indignantly. I laugh.

"I said most, not all, that does not include you."

"Oh yes it does, she can walk into the library, her quill can be right next to her, but then she yells for who took her quill." Laden states.

"That was one time!" She yells at him, folding her arms.

"One time my left cheek!" Laden yells back.

"What was one other time?" She asks, folding her arms. "Name one." She demands.

"I could name ten. But here's one, you couldn't find your horse who was eating in the next stall over, so you thought he ran away!" Laden says immediately. I laugh, the apple juice I was drinking spilling over my plate. I swallow quickly and then cough, laughing.

"That's pure humor." I tell them once we all calm down. Even King Xavier cracked a grin, showing off his saber-like teeth.

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It was a different scene this time. My parents weren't behind the shield. It was Amalie, Laden, Jacob and Jacques. I see the figure walk behind them, but now it wasn't invisible, it had a purple cloak on. The same one every Valakia has. The same one I have.

The kids were playing, jumping up and down, the twins using Laden as a jungle gym. I smile sadly at them, knowing what's coming. The cloaked figure looks up, it's then when I see its face.

It was me.

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I was currently exploring the huge castle, too bored to do anything else. I counted twenty crystal chandeliers, I lost count after 234 windows, and there was 129 servant doors. Those are the only ones I had counted so far. I was walking down a new hallway, not knowing where I was really, when all of the sudden two small bodies ran into my sides, hugging my cloak. "Hey guys!" I greet the twins.

"Hi Lady Isla!" They say in unison.

"What do you need?" I ask, smiling down at them.

"Islaaaaaaa." Jacob draws out innocently, ready to ask a question.

"Yes?" I ask, just as drawn out.

"Will you teach us how to fight?" They ask together. I smile.

"Fighting with your fists-" I poke their stomachs and they giggling, collapsing inward. "Or with weapons?" I stand up, engirding an invisible sword. They jump up and down. "Both!" They scream, bouncing up and down, their little feet making noises on the marble floor. I pull my purple cloak aside and show them my double swords, "Then let's go down to the courtyard!" I tell them.

They look at each other and giggle. "Follow us!" They tell me. The twins run over to a pair French doors to my left, opening them and heading to the balcony. Jacob helps Jaques up and over the stone railing, Jaques grabs the vine formation inking up the side of the house. Jacob follows, carefully climbing, moving there feet down, and then their hands, reaching the rocky ground. I shake my head, jumping over the railing, grabbing a vine, and sliding down, landing gracefully on the white gravel reflecting in the moonlight.

"WOAH!" The boys say, mouths wide. I take a dramatic bow, walking over to them, closing their unhinged jaws. "You'll catch flies boys!" I taunt, walking into the huge courtyard, the yard was a softer ground, not like the gravel that was under the balconies. I find the fencing area. noticing a tree nearby, and scope out the sword-like branches. I walk around to the trunk, grabbing a thick branch, hoisting myself up onto the next branch. I maneuver my way up until I see a long branch that I could easily break off. I kick it hard, and then rip it off the tree. "Sword!" I yell down, throwing it by the twins' feet. I find another branch and kick it, the stick breaking off easily, I throw it down also, seeing the twins fighting over the other stick. I jump off the tree, grabbing the branch I threw down, knocking the stick out of the hands of the fighting twins.

"Now that that's settled, lets get started." I tell them, walking over to the flat ground. They hurry and follow beside me.

"Now, we will start with a warm up." I tell them, unclipping my cloak, throwing it on a nearby statues arm. "Stand sideways, and shuffle up and back." I tell them, shuffling my feet. After about ten seconds, I say to switch leading foot. "Now pick up your sword." I tell them, they run over to get their stick, I laugh. Now, I want you to shuffle forward with your left foot and thrust with your left," I show them how to, a fluid motion of shuffling and thrusting. "On one," I tell them. "3,2,1," I say, step forward and thrust. "3,2,1." After eight repetitions, I say to switch legs and hands. They were both clearly right handed. "Okay, now that I know you both are right sword handed, I want you to stand sideways, facing that statue-" I point to a nude one at the end of the courtyard. "your right leg facing it, but your torso turning almost away from it, leaving a small area where your competitor can actually hit you." I tell them, fixing their stance with the flat of my real sword. "Now, shuffle and thrust." They do and it looks amazing. "Eight more!" I call, doing it with them.

"Now, shake your body out." I tell them, jumping and shaking my head, my lips hitting my cheeks. They giggle and do the same, making sounds with it. "Now, get in your stance again."

"Now, remember the shuffle back?" I ask them, they show me. "Good, I want you to parry with it, so, shuffle back, parry." I show them, having my sword block an invisible target. "When you guys get more advanced you be able to do it like that." I snap my fingers.

"Now, 3,2,1," I say, shuffling back and parrying, watching them do the same. "Very good, eight more."

After the repetitions, I have them face each other. "Now, with the techniques you just learnt, I want you to do the same thing but on each other, so, one of you with shuffle and thrust, while the other shuffles back and parries. Understand?" They nod. "Good, positions." I tell them, standing beside Jacob, and getting in my stance, "Jacob, you'll be thrusting first, Jaques, you'll be parrying." I tell them. "Ready, 3,2,1." I say, Jacob shuffle forward and thrusts, Jaques blocks it, and then shuffle forward, thrusting and then Jacob parries. I stand straight and watch them. "Hands in the air." In yell, they immediately comply. "Three more."

Once they stop, I have them stand in a line again. "Now, what if you thrust and get blocked? I want you to swivel your sword in a clockwise pattern, and then thrust." I show them. "Ready?"

Once they do ten repetitions, I have them do the opposite defending part of the circle and thrust. "Now, after you have parried the first attack, they are doing to circle motion right? In this, I want you to step back and parry again." I show them my parry, and then shuffle back parrying the lower sword. "Understand?" They nod and get into the dueling stance again. I stand beside Jaques now. Jacob, you'll be parrying first, Jaques, you'll be thrusting." I tell him. "Ready, 3,2,1.

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