Chapter 96
"The wraiths respect you and see you as their leader," Arden said, answering the silence that had fallen on us while I grew annoyed and sad that it did have to deal with me. "I do not think that they will leave with you still inside the village."
"I hope that they do," I said and moved a hand through my hair and across my face before I rubbed the bridge of my nose, sighing tiredly. "I know that they want to get out, but with the way that everything is, they can't."
"They have a lot of respect for you, however, and will be at your beck and call," Jonah said. "I still don't like it, but I know that there is nothing that I can do to stop it."
"You never did," I said and shook my head before I cleared my throat. "Now that everything has been said and done, can we go ahead and start training?" I asked. "Also, is His Highness going to be starting training with me, or is that something that can not be discussed for whatever reason?"
"He is going to start training the way that you have been training," Arden said and slowly nodded. "He is not going to be trained in magic, for he does not have any magic, but he will be training now, too."
"Does that mean I have to find a way to exit the castle without being seen?" Caspian asked and looked between the two of us. "And when is training? Is it going to be every night or whenever I can get here because I am sure that the guards will start noticing if I keep disappearing."
"I would prefer it if you came every evening, but I understand if you are not able to," Arden said and bowed his head. "We do not want anyone to get too suspicious of you for sneaking out, and I am sure that someone would say something."
"Some of the guards might be able to help you escape," I said, "because you are going to need to start learning about other stuff too besides this, especially since it seems like you are tied to me."
"Does that mean you will start calling me by my name and not "Rupor," "Your Highness," or anything like that?" Caspian asked and cocked his head to the side while an easy going smile appeared on his lips. "Or are you still going to call me by my title?"
"I will keep calling you by your title until I need to stop, Your Highness," I said and bowed mockingly toward him, and Caspian rolled his eyes playfully while Arden cleared his throat to hide a chuckle. "It keeps you on your toes, and that is what I am striving to do."
Caspian held back an eye roll and pressed his lips into a thin line. "Do I know who to trust with the guards?" he asked. "Or should I not say anything to them about me having to train here?"
I looked at Lexus and raised an eyebrow in question, silently wondering if he would like to tell Caspian who to trust with the information that he was going outside of the castle and to the pub to train.
"I will be able to tell you who," Lexus said and smiled, bowing his head in respect. "I know who has been in contact with one of "us" or had been where Marini had been. There have been a few guards that had trained with Marini in her younger years that are guards now."
"Like who?" Caspian asked, and I could tell that piqued his interest. "Who knows her and the training that she has been through? What type of training did you go through when you were younger, Marini?"
"I have been through the same thing as what you will be going through," I said and shrugged. "Some of the guards have been with me during those training sessions. Those are the ones that you can trust, especially since they have learned about what to do on the outside too."
"Does that mean I can ask them how to live on the outside and they will be able to teach me?" Caspian asked, and I couldn't help but hesitate before I looked toward Jonah and Arden, wanting them to answer his question.
"I wouldn't suggest it," Arden said with a shake of his head. "You can ask Lexus about what life was like before the castle walls were built, but that is all that I can suggest for you to do."
"If you are with me and have questions, then I can answer them," I said and shrugged, "but we'd have to be in a place like this or where I had first taken you with the Old Man.
If the guards are with me or if they are here, because some of them will come on their "days off," then you will be able to ask them then. "
"But I would be careful as to who sees you talking to them," Jonah warned. "It could lead to danger for both you and them, especially since they aren't supposed to know what goes on behind the castle walls either."
Caspian slowly nodded and furrowed his brows. "Is there a way that I can learn stuff on the outskirts of the castle walls?" he asked. "Like can I go outside of them and explore what had been hidden from me since birth?"
"You can," Arden said and nodded. "Whenever Marini goes out, we can see if you can't be there as well, if that is alright with her, of course, because she has work that she needs to get done and little time to get it done."
"Like collecting berries from bushes with Fairies in them?" Caspian asked and cocked his head to the side while he looked at me with a teasing look on his face, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and scowl.
"We'll see if you can go outside of the castle walls to learn anything, and something like that," I said.
"I have herbs and stuff that I need to collect, rabbits, and anything else that Jonah or whoever else needs from them.
Speaking of which," I turned to look at Arden and Jonah, "I need to go out there in the next couple of days or so to pick up more greens for Maron and then anything else because someone decided to eat all of them.
" I looked at Shilan when I said that, raising both eyebrows in unison while I gave him a look.
Shilan shrugged and flicked his tail. "They should have let you come to me sooner so that we could fix the bond between us," he said, looking nonchalant as if he could care less about eating the herbs and what it would do to the business for Maron.
"Some of them were quite tasty, too."
"Yes, but you weren't supposed to eat them," I said and narrowed my eyes at him, and Shilan shrugged again. I looked at Jonah to see that he had an amused expression on his face. "Can I?"
"You may," he said and nodded. "However, it is only going to be for one night. I know that you have to start planning on finding a place for Shilan to live when he gets big enough, but that can happen later. I am sure that the Dwarves will help you with that."
"That is what I am thinking," I said and nodded. "For now, I do think that the best thing for me to do is start training and seeing where His Highness is compared to others that you have trained."
"Then we shall start," Arden said and nodded before he took a step back and gestured toward the arena. "If you want to go ahead and enter the arena, we can start working on what you need to work on before we deal with His Highness."
I nodded and started to make my way to the arena with Jonah and Shilan following me while Caspian stayed behind with Mathran, Lexus, and Arden.
"Please, call me Caspian," Caspian said. "I do not need any titles from you either, N?ran, for we are both at the same level in which both of us are royalty in the same sense but for different species."
"Then call me Arden," Arden said with a chuckle in his voice while he nodded, "and of course, Capsian. I shall call you that from now on while you call me by my name because you are right; we are the same rank, and I do not mind you calling me Arden at all."
You have my word...