A few days passed. Nya spent most of them in a daze. Even though Gavin was gone, she still had lessons to learn from her governess. She still had meals she was required to attend with her family. She was still expected to go on about her duties as if nothing had happened, as if nothing had changed, as if her father hadn’t disappointed her something awful.
No matter how many days went by, the burning desire within her to get revenge for Gavin. While there was nothing she could do to get even with her father for manipulating the system and reading Gavin’s name when she was almost certain the paper had read something different, she would find a way to make sure that the dragon himself paid. After all, he was the one who’d claimed Gavin’s life. Her father had merely supplied the opportunity for the dragon to kill.
Less than a week after Gavin’s death, Nya was inside the castle, wandering the halls. Outside, thunderclouds raged and angry raindrops kept her from the forest and any sense of freedom she might’ve had. Escaping to the woods was the only chance Nya had to clear her mind from the reality that Gavin was gone, and even though it hurt to be out in the place they’d shared together, it was far better than being in the castle with the royal family.
Noises from the main hall caught her attention, and she realized some of the soldiers were training inside, to escape the rain. She’d seen it dozens of times, but this time, it caused her to pause and look in.
Xaver Cross was leading the soldiers through different drills. There were only about thirty of them, and from their uniforms, Nya could tell they were all new recruits. It wouldn’t have been difficult to tell from the way they held their swords, or from their stances, or the way they confronted one another either. All of them were tall, athletic men, with muscles and dexterity, but Xaver had to stop them often, walking amidst them, redirecting their movements, giving them suggestions for how to improve.
He was still working for the army--still working for the king. Nya’s mouth hung agape as she watched him. How could he do that? How could he continue to serve the kingdom that had failed him so dramatically? She didn’t understand. If it had been her only child taken from her and sacrificed as Gavin had been, the last thing in the world she’d want to do was continue to serve someone who’d treated his family so atrociously.
Nya watched from the doorway for several moments as the troops continued to train. She noticed how good Xaver was at going over to correct the troops that needed it. He was always kind but even the slightest miscue needed correcting, and he took care of it directly. Nothing at all seemed to slip past him. By the time he dismissed the troops, and they were dismissed through another door, Nya knew exactly what she needed to do.
She approached Gavin’s father cautiously, not sure whether or not he was angry at her. He was gathering up his own weapons and other tools. Nya stopped a few feet from him and waited for him to look at her.
When his eyes, a similar shade to Gavin’s, fell on her, they softened, and a sympathetic smile formed beneath his full mustache. “Princess Nya,” he said. “How have you been?”
“Awful,” Nya admitted. “I assume you’ve been the same.”
Xaver cleared his throat and stood, shoving a sword into the scabbard hanging at his waist, his hands still full of other weapons. “We are getting by,” he said but his voice betrayed that wasn’t the truth. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. He did his best to conceal them.
Deciding she needed to get to the point before he hurried off and she didn’t get another chance, Nya blurted out her purpose in approaching him. “I want you to train me.”
Xaver was still putting his weapons away but froze at her words, meeting her eyes. “You want me to… what?”
“Train me. To be a soldier,” Nya replied. She’d had some training, but it was basic, and it wasn’t nearly as thorough as the training Xaver provided the soldiers for her father’s army.
“But… why?” Xaver asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
“Because… I am going to kill the dragon.”
Xaver’s stare hardened as he contemplated what she was saying. It only took a few moments for him to shake his head. “No, Princess. I cannot allow you to do that. I won’t be the one to train you if you intend to go after the dragon. It is a foolish endeavor, and I won’t be a part of it.”
Nya’s eyebrows shot up. She wasn’t used to being told no, but then, she wasn’t shocked that Xaver didn’t want to help her. She was surprised he’d even spoken to her at all. She let out a sigh and said, “Please? I will go after the dragon whether you help me or not. Of course, it will be easier if you will train me, but your refusal to help me will not prevent me from going.”
Xaver’s mouth opened for a moment, as if he might argue with her, but then, he closed it and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I cannot be a part of an endeavor that will certainly end with you dead.”
“But--”
Nya’s objection fell on deaf ears. Xaver finished gathering his weapons and swiftly walked out of the hall. The princess watched him walk away, wanting to object but not knowing what to say. It wasn’t as if she had any other arguments to make that he hadn’t already heard.
With a large exhale, Nya turned, intending to walk away. She’d just have to find another way to train to be a soldier. But she wasn’t out of the doorway when she heard a familiar voice from the shadows speaking to her.
“You want to train to be a soldier, do you? To defeat the dragon?” She turned, her eyes cutting through the darkness. She knew who it was before he even stepped into the light, before she even saw his face. When he stepped into the beam of light coming in from the hallway, she locked eyes with him, and her head nodded up and down.
“I will train you,” he said.
She almost laughed, almost chuckled in his face. But then, she realized he meant it, and while she had always hated him, if anyone other than Xaver Cross could train her to kill the dragon, it was him.
Rok Phin.
Sweat stung her eyes as Nya swung the sword around, just in time to block Rok’s steel blade. The reverberation shook all the way up her arm, but she didn’t have time to let the ache distract her as Rok was bringing the sword around again, this time from the other direction. The tip of the blade almost caught her underneath the chin, but she managed to jump back, raising her arms and shoulders to make herself smaller in the middle. The blade flew up into the air, missing her, but it wasn’t headed away from her for long. Rok was relentless, swiveling around in a full circle and bringing his sword along, ready to cut her in the middle. She was wearing a metal chest plat
Nya’s shoes slid as she rocketed around the corner, in a hurry to get to the throne room where her family awaited her. She was supposed to be there ten minutes ago, but her training with Rok had kept her longer than usual, and by the time she’d gotten the message that the king and queen were waiting for her, she’d had to rush to put on presentable clothes and get her hair up as she was supposed to wear it in their presence.
The military barracks were a place most women wouldn’t dare go by themselves. Not that the soldiers of Frindom were particularly raunchy or dangerous, but a large group of men who were forced by their circumstances to spend most of their time with only other men without seeing many women were much more likely to participate in catcalling and other raucous behavior. As Nya walked into the large building behind the castle proper where the troops were housed, she didn’t give a second thought about being harassed. Not only was she the princess, someone they wouldn’t dare harass, she’d already kicked the asses of most of these soldiers. If she hadn’t trampled
“You will not be ready,” Rok said, dismissing Nya’s question the moment she posed it to him. They were sitting in his office, the attack in the hallway pushed out of her mind for the time being. She wanted to argue with him, to tell him that she would find a way to be ready, but he was shaking his head. “For that matter, I’m not certain you will ever be ready.”
Drum beats. There they were again--ricocheting off of her internal organs, rolling around in her mind as if each of them was a giant boulder, careening into her mind with every slam of stick onto skin. Nya stood on the daise with her family, her hands literally tied to her sides, her feet bound beneath her gown so that no one in the audience could tell that she had been forced to attend the ceremony against her will. Of course, the binding was also to prevent her from taking action against her father as he went through the motions of selecting the next person who would die at the hands of the angry dragon.
Nya didn’t want to walk into the room where Alsys and her family were saying goodbye, but she couldn’t tell the young girl no, either, not when she’d requested to see her. She truly hoped this didn’t get to be a tradition, that every time they chose a new sacrifice, she would have to meet with him or her before they were taken to The Point. But then… if she had her way, there would be no more sacrifices. Alsys would be the last.
The march to The Point was even more miserable than it had ever been before, except for when it was Gavin who was being led along by the soldiers. As Nya walked with her family, under close guard by a detail of soldiers, though she wasn’t bound as she had been during the ceremony, she dreaded every step she took. Her stomach was twisted in a knot so tight, she thought she might vomit at any moment, not that there were any contents in her stomach except for acid. She hadn’t eaten anything all day, she’d been so upset about the events of the ceremony
It was time. Six more months of training with a shield had given Nya the confidence she needed to finally put her plan into action. Even though Rok shook his head and told her she was going to get herself killed, she couldn’t wait any longer. Not only did every month that passed result in another death, from one kingdom or another, it brought her closer to becoming the ruler of her own kingdom. Once that happened, she’d be under such close scrutiny, there was no way she’d be able to sneak out of the castle and escape the sight of the guards in order to get to one of the neighboring kingdoms where she could hide in wait for that bastard dragon.