Knight for the Prince

Chapter 9 - Paladin guide

Marilyn returns to her usual training schedule. For some reason, she feels more strained today than before. She has been feeling on edge ever since she had that confrontation with Sabrina. That girl is dangerous. She has not yet given up to become married to the Crown Prince. What is worse is that she has a feeling it is not out of love, but for the power. One thing is certain. She will have to watch that woman like a hawk.

She finished her training with Eguardo and had to run several errands for her father, before their training session. She is feeling more tired than usual when she came face to face with her father for their brutal training session. If it were not for his warning that their training sessions would be brutal, she would have complained until they retired for the day. She feels slightly faint and lightheaded. Her shoulders sags and her feet shuffles from fatigue.

Marilyn unsheathes her sword, feeling the fatigue dragging at her feet. Her father initiates any attacks on her when she is tired. He just stands back and lets her initiate every attack. Then they would continue to train until she falls asleep from fatigue on the cold and unyielding stone floor. He has taught her everything she knows. The only training he is giving her now is only to hone her experience as a swordswoman. He has set up sword duels for her with Eguardo, Ralston, and Keera and several other knights to give her a much wider range of experience.

After just two rounds Marilyn finds herself heaving for breath and sweat trickling down her back. She looks at her father where he stands like a very impressive looking knight statue in front of her holding his sword knee-high from the ground. She could see that he is also tired, but he would never admit it to anyone how tired he really is. His hands loosely interlace over the golden sword hilt in front of his chest. His black cloak making him seem almost invisible in the semidarkness of the training hall except for his face with his fierce hawklike golden eyes that seem to challenge her to do better and his sword that reflects the firelight from the torches on the wall.

"Do you need an invitation, Marilyn?" Her father asks with a harsh sarcastic tone in his voice. "Or are you so weak that you can't even defend yourself or are you so infatuated with the prince that you are blind." Marilyn feels anger boiling through her and fueling her adrenaline. She charges directly at her father. There is no room in her life for love. Her father is being ridiculous. But why am I so angry at him for just mentioning it?

He defends and turns her attack against her, but her fatigued mind is unable to register the turn of events, and the next moment she feels the rap of a flat blade across her chest. Her fatigue causes her rage-induced adrenaline to vaporize almost immediately. A wave of dizziness made her falter and stumble. She grabs her father's shoulder to stabilize her wobbly self. She steps back, her sword hanging loosely by her side. It's weight almost dragging her back to the floor.

"Again!" She attacks again and was able to put up some defense, but after three strikes she stumbles and falls. The edges of her consciousness waver dangerously. Threatening to drag her down into the dark abyss of sleep. She growls at herself as she fails to get unto her feet again.

Giving up she closes her eyes to welcome the dark abyss, but her sleep is wavering from her grasp as she realizes she still has a little bit of energy in her. She strains to dig into her waining strength, but the energy is so limited that it disappears from her grasp as soon as she touches it.

A familiar voice talking to her father sounds agitated and angry. Why isn't her consciousness completely dragged down into the abyss of sleep? Something is keeping her conscious. She starts digging for energy vigorously. If she is still semi-conscious it means that she still has some energy remaining somewhere.

"Aranorn, that is enough. You will train your own daughter to death," came the King's aggravated voice.

"She is pushing herself like this, your majesty. She is even more tired this evening than yesterday. She is so close. All she needs to do is dig within herself and she will find it. I can sense her power just beneath the surface. She..." Aranorn spins towards her at the same time as she hit something in her consciousness really hard and the next moment she drops. It feels as if her soul is literally falling. She sees golden water suddenly rush towards her or is she hurtling towards the water, she wasn't sure. She breaks the surface of the golden water with a splash. She breathes in the water and the next moment her eyes open wide with surprise as powerful energy suddenly floods through her veins.