Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ALINA
Istood by the mirror, admiring the sturdy stitching on my flying suit. It felt surreal to see myself wearing something I had only ever worn in my dreams. Frid mentioned that tailors were part seers, but I had no idea how powerful they were.
An insistent knock came from the door and I spun around.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Frid stood in the doorway. Her light blonde hair was carefully secured into two braids on either side of her head, and she wore her leather suit.
“Wait. What’s that?” She paused.
“My suit. Just came today,” I said, watching her eyes widening.
“But . . . how?”
“Tailor sent it to me.”
“What?”
“He made it for me before.” I watched her eyebrows furrow.
“But . . .”
“Actually, you bought it for me before.”
“Huh?”
I laughed, checking my belt. “I wish we could go out like this.” I sighed.
“I have so many questions.”
“Frid, I know this may be strange for you, but since we have some time, I was wondering if you could train me. And before you say no, I’ll just tell you that I could be useful during fights.
There may be nothing we can do right now to help the others, but if something happens, and I’m not a liability, it would be in everyone’s best interest . . . and —”
“Sure,” she interrupted me.
“Really?”
“Of course. Since they don’t allow women to be involved in the stupid meetings.” She growled.
“They’re wrong to do that.”
“I have one condition, though,” Frid added.
“What is it?”
“You need to tell me everything that happened in those dreams of yours.” She pursed her lips.
“Are you sure?” I hesitated, wondering if that would be a good idea, Tynan did not tell them the whole truth, he only filled them in on the most important bits.
“Sure, I’m sure. I can’t be the only one who knows nothing – just because I’m a woman!”
“Alright.”
“Then you’ve got yourself a deal. Try not to regret it later after I bust your ass.”
“We may need something like this.” I walked to the closet and picked up a heavy cloak that I was planning to use to conceal my flying suit.
“Good idea. I can’t force myself to put on a stupid dress.”
Together we walked to the dining hall and picked up some breakfast that consisted of hearty oatmeal with plenty of butter and salt. We polished it off with several cups of strong black coffee.
“I’m surprised that I actually missed the food here. I guess starvation does that to you,” Frid said.
I looked around, noticing that we were completely alone in the dining area. It was probably because all men were busy doing whatever they thought was necessary.
After breakfast, we managed to find Cara and convinced her to show us a place within the castle where we could train. In order to do that, I had to give her some details on what we were about. She looked at me with curiosity as we walked to the lower levels of the building.
“Some of these rooms are never used. When they were building it, black clan was much larger, but with all the wars, crawlers, and then the council . . . our numbers are not what they used to be. I’m just curious.
Do you know that women are not considered to be strong enough to fight? ” Cara continued.
“Don’t you have two legs?” Frid asked.
“Yes, but –”
“Two arms and a head between them?”
"I understand what you're saying, but if we all fight, who will look after the children? Who will tend to gardens and make meals? Who will care for the elderly and the wounded?"
I watched both of them with curiosity, enjoying the exchange.
“All those things are important, I suppose.”
“That’s what I think too.” Cara said.
“What do you think?” Frid turned to face me.
"I believe that all of us should contribute in every way we can. Men should help with children, or cooking, when they can, and women should be able to fight. If we know that the city may be in danger, why leave women defenceless against whatever is to come?”
“I never thought about it that way.” Cara responded.
“How’s that different from what I just said?” Frid exclaimed.
We kept talking as we descended to the room below, which turned out to be filled with empty crates. Cara brought two oil lamps, and we placed them in opposite corners to light up the room.
“It’s so dark in here.” Frid muttered.
“We could try going outside next time.” Cara suggested and it occurred to me that she had invited herself to be a part of the training.
Frid made us start with some simple exercises to build up our strength.
I was convinced that I was the weak link.
I struggled with everything. It did not help that I never exercised aside from going on walks or doing some horseback riding.
Unlike me, Cara physically worked most of the day, and Frid was a trained warrior.
“Tell me, when did you first come up with the idea to kill me?” I puffed, completing my second set of lunges.
“You think this is hard? This is nothing!” Frid was already on her next set.
“There’s nothing hard about it so far.” Cara was barely affected.
I pressed my lips tightly together, fighting my irritation. My feet, my ankles and hips burned as if they were on fire. I already knew that I would be hurting tomorrow and probably much longer than that.
When Cara left to fetch us some weapons, Frid waited for the door to close behind her, then turned toward me while I was still trying to finish the last set of squats.
“So . . . what is it about me and Victor?” she asked, trying to look unaffected, like it was no big deal.
“What?” I panted, nearly blacking out from the pain.
“From what I understand, there was something going on between us.”
“Oh, that . . .” I bit my lip, concentrating on my breathing as my legs shook under me.
“I’m listening.”
“Not sure I should be the one to tell you.” I dropped on the floor and rubbed my calves.
“There’s no way I’m asking Tynan, and Victor’s been acting so strange lately. Sol is . . . Sol. I don’t want to be the only one who knows nothing,” she blurted out.
“Well. There was a thing between you.” I wrinkled my nose.
“A thing? What kind of a thing?”
“You were . . . together.” I cleared my throat.
“Together? How?” She furrowed her eyebrows.
“You were close.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Intimate.” Her eyes went as wide as two saucer plates. "I don't know if I should be the one telling you this. I'm pretty sure it's between the two of you."
"There is no 'two of us'! I don't even consider him an object!" She raised her voice.
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“What exactly did you see? I’m sure you’ve made some kind of mistake.”
“I doubt it.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw the two of you kissing.”
“Oh, come on . . . It was a friendly kiss.”
“And . . . I don’t know how to put this. We’ve heard you doing it. A lot. Many, many times.”
“Enough! I get it. Let’s forget that we had this conversation.” Frid stood up and paced the room.
Tension was high when Cara opened the door, holding two swords still in their scabbards.