Chapter Eleven

My head was pounding with pain and pulsing to every beat of my heart, I could feel the blood pumping to my brain. A single beam of light shined on my face and was harsh on my eyes as they slowly flickered open and shut before opening completely. The sun was preventing me from seeing any of my surroundings. My hand slowly swung up to my forehead, as I sat up and forced my eyes to open wider. My eyes searched the room with blurred vision, but I could see the pattern and color of the walls consisting of wooden logs, possibly from pine trees. A window built up of four small squares of glass connected by a wooden frame. The floor was smooth and shiny as I slid my feet across it; my shoes had been left on the foot of the bed. My vision slowly came back, and I was able to piece together elements of the room. There was a small wooden nightstand between the window and the bed. I counted two doors in total, one on the left wall by the foot of the bed, and the other door was in the opposite corner of the room. Other than the potted plant on the nightstand, the room was empty. Standing up, I stumbled back, but I was able to steady myself and put my shoes back on. I walked over to the first door by the foot of the bed, opening it to find a small bathroom with a small shower, toilet, and a sink with a mirror above the tap. I stumbled over to the mirror, grabbing the corner of the sink before falling over. I peered up and the mirror, seeing myself for the first time in days. The injury on my cheek had been cared for. My head was pounding with a headache. I know I wasn't caught by the hunter guards if, so I would be dead. Where am I?

"Kristy?" Simon said while walking through the other door.

"Simon? I'm in here," I said.

"I was getting worried... I would come and check up on you every thirty-minute," He said.

"What happened? and where are we?" I asked.

"After we escaped from the hunter guards, we ran into the patrols from the Hopes Village I told you about, they knew who I was, but they considered you to be a threat, so they made sure that you couldn't turn on them as a... just in case situation," he said.

"Where are we right now?" I asked.

"At the Hopes Village, it took me a very long time to convince them that you were not a threat... they all recognized you as royalty," He said.

"Why do they call it the Hopes Village?" I asked.

"Because this is where survivors from destroyed kingdoms go when they need a home," He said.

Standing up straight, I slowly walked over to him, placing my arm on his shoulder, and we walked out of the room. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the sun. I was surrounded by beautiful pine and oak buildings. It was like a breath of fresh air. Some of which were built in the trees above the ones on the ground. The training arena was off to the left of me. The main building was off to the right of me at the end of the row of cottages. I was able to walk on my own after my legs got used to standing. Simon led me to the main building of the village. There was a constant feeling of eyes watching us from every direction.

"Simon, is this the friend you spoke of?" An older female voice said.

"No... no, this is my granddaughter, Kristina," He replied.

"The daughter of a queen and a farmer. The granddaughter of the woman who I have trained and loved as if she was my child. I never thought I would see the day that I would stand before this woman in person," The old woman said.

"Does everyone around here know who I am?" I asked.

"They know your name, and they know the rumors they do not know who you are," She said.

"So, they know my name, and yet they still cracked my head open," I said.

"Yes, I apologize for that things should not have escalated like that, but my scouts must think of the safety of their people, and you were a potential danger to everyone here," She said.

"I'm not a danger to anyone here... I'm just trying not to get killed," I said.

"My scouts found the bodies of the king's hunter guards shortly after you and Simon were in custody. Simon did explain what happened out there, how you were injured, and all that. But I would like to hear your side of the events. I would very much like to know why the daughter of the king is being hunted," She said.

"The events of what happened that night are a blur to me. Everything happened so fast, all I remember is that I killed them all and on the matter of why I am being hunted is because I left the kingdom and ran from the king... which as you probably know for members of the royal family, is treason to the king," I said.

"Follow me," She said.

She walked toward the front door as Simon and I followed her out the door; Over to the area. She stopped at the edge of the arena, it looked as if everyone in the village was watching the young children beginning their first day of training.

"We are all trained from a young age here... the king likes to send soldiers to kill or capture as many of us at random times; they need to learn to defend themselves in case they get caught in the middle of a fight," She said.

"I heard rumors that he was planning to send soldiers into the woods, he has kept his plans tight-lipped, " I said.

"Not anymore... you held my daughter's blades when you fought those hunters, now you get to learn to use them effectively," she said.

"Where are those anyway?" I asked.

"I have stored them somewhere safe; I have a trainer that will be able to teach you some tricks, he is one of our best fighters, he also takes some getting used to, so don't write him off right away... your first training season starts in one hour," she said.

"Thank you, chieftess," Simon said.

The women walked away, my head was still pounding on and off, at least it wasn't bleeding any more. We watched the youngsters go through different stances with different weapons and choose which weapon they would like to continue to train for the first weeks of their training. We sat on the benches, not saying a word until we were the only ones left in the area.

"Do you need the same time before starting your training?" he asked.

"No, it was going to happen someday, why not today?" I said.

It wasn't long after the grounds were empty that a man walked up behind us. He was around 5 feet 11 inches tall, short dark brown hair that swayed in the wind, muscley arms, and he looked like he might have had a six-pack under his leather armor. He was holding two pairs of wooden sticks around the same size as the twin blades.

"Are you Kristina?" he said in an annoyed voice.

"It's Kristy, not Kristina," I said in a tired voice.

He tossed one of the pairs of sticks onto the ground in front of me and stared at me until I picked them up and followed him into the center of the area. I held one stick in either hand and looked at them in confusion, He didn't hesitate to start swinging his sticks at me as if they were swords. Unprepared for a fight, I dodged his first attack, he took a few steps back. Moving one leg behind the other, he bent his knees and held one stick above his head and the other in front of his body above the knee with the tip facing out. The tips of my sticks were buried in the sand by my feet. The wind was strong enough to blow my hair into my face. He ran straight for me, his wooden blades in the air, I spun around in a circle motion, kicking up the dust and sand with my blades until it was impossible to see. I could see the man's dark pants through the sand. Swinging one of my sticks, I hit the man in the back of the knee, he fell to one knee as he swung his stick around, hitting my leg right above the ankle. I fell onto my side and rolled out of the way as the figure of two sticks was briefly visible above me. The dust started to clear and our battle became even more intense the more competitive we got. One after the other we took turns attacking, blocking, and dodging. After a while, we got too tired to continue but neither one of us wanted to stop. He blindsided me and swung his blade at my feet, sending me onto my back. He placed the tip of one of his sticks under my chin, I was too tired to get up or keep fighting. I looked up at his face before staring at the sky, he didn't even break a sweat. He picked up the sticks that I dropped and walked over to the benches. He sat down, as I rolled over and forced myself up, hunched over and holding my side, I sat down beside him.

"I was told you had no experience with duo blades or any blade for that matter," He said, sounding tired.

"I don't, I used to watch the soldiers train and I read a book or two on technique," I said while trying to catch my breath.

"Your brother is the leader of the king's army now, right?" he asked.

"He's the leader now?" I asked.

"Yeah, he is and you need to work on your form and your blocks, meet me right here tomorrow at eight A.M... We'll work on it," he said.

He walked away, leaving the sticks against the bench, I stayed seated, staring at my feet as Simon walking up beside me with his new cane. He sat down and looked over at me, pinching the bandage around my forehead, he unhooked it and unraveled it until my hair was hanging loose again.

"You two were at it for hours, almost looking as if you were trying to kill each other without killing each other," He said.

I was too busy trying to breathe rather than win. He grabbed my arm and helped me up. He walked me back over to the cottage that I woke up in.

"This is your home for as long as you are staying in the village... get some rest, you look like you need it," he said while dropping me off at the front door.

I walked inside, closing the door and locking it behind me, wobbling over to the bed I plopped down and listened to the singing crickets outside the window as the sun slowly went down.