“
What are you going to do about Raela?” Victoria looked at Grace, startled by the sudden conversation change, and shrugged. “I don’t understand why I have to do anything. I’m just trying to train, but for some reason, I feel like we’re about to get in some kind of showdown.” “I bet you are” Grace replied, with no trace of humor in her voice. “I hear Raela wanted this job, really bad. I bet she thinks that if she can best you, they’ll transfer the job over to her. Sorry for her, but that’s not how it works.”
Victoria debated with herself for a moment, unsure of whether to bring up her recent discovery about the task at hand. Grace was the only nun so far that she felt completely un-judged by. She took a deep breath, and went forward. “I didn’t know that he was innocent.” Grace stopped polishing her dagger for a moment, and looked thoughtfully at Victoria. “I wagered that you didn’t. I know you’re young, and this is all probably fun for you, but I didn’t peg you for a bad person when I first met you, and I still don’t. I bet you wouldn’t have volunteered if you had known. But I reckon it doesn’t make a difference.”
“
Why?” Victoria asked. “Well, because killing is killing. Killing a guilty man doesn’t make you not one, if you get my drift. Ah, but I think dinner time is over. Don’t let Raela kill you on your first practice.”
Victoria got up to leave, but Grace grabbed her hand, evidently remembering something. “Raela will fight dirty. Know this.” Victoria nodded, got up, and slowly made her way over to the grove where Sister Katherine, Raela, and some other nuns and monks were standing. Sister Katherine nodded as she approached. “You are ready, Victoria?” Victoria nodded, and turned to make her way back towards the forest to her newly found training spot. “No, we will stay here.” Sister Katherine’s voice stopped her, and she turned back around. “Wait, why?” “As this is not between you and your assassin partner” she tilted her head towards Roman, “And can be beneficial to every assassin here, it will be held here, in the audience of us all.”
Victoria was split between joy, and embarrassment. She was glad that Sister Katherine had taken the steps to prevent Raela from killing her in a dark corner of the forest, but she wasn’t happy to know that her impending beat down was going to be completely public. Victoria moved her shoulders around to release the tension in them that was already building, despite the fact that the fight hadn’t even begun.
You win some, you lose some, I suppose, she thought, and she unsheathed her dagger and stepped back into the center of the clearing. Raela followed, and predictably, in a show of intimidation, (Victoria couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t effective), she unsheathed her dagger slowly, letting it grate along her case. It sounded odd, unnatural, even. Her dagger didn’t rasp like her own did. Rather, it gave off what sounded like a dull roar.
“
Begin.” Sister Katherine’s voice sounded as if it was a million miles away, but Victoria had no time to reflect upon this because Raela’s dagger came slashing down at her. Victoria dived sideways, missing the tip of the dagger by mere inches. She rolled backwards and crouched down. Raela was approaching quickly, all stealth forgotten. Her eyes glittered with a rage that frightened Victoria. Not because it was particularly scary. It wasn’t. Her teeth made sure of that. But, what scared her was that she’d never noticed it before. She’d underestimated Raela, and she was about to pay the price for it.
Raela came swinging again, slashing her dagger in low, wide arc. This time, Victoria wasn’t quick enough. She felt a hot stinging as the tip of Raela’s dagger nicked her on the upper shoulder. She rolled away again, ducking as Raela thrusted vehemently. “You can’t run forever, Victoria. How’re you going to go through with this, if you can’t even land a blow?” Victoria swiped out in anger, but Raela was too quick. She parried the blow and laughed.
“
Tut, tut, Victoria. I thought you were better than that. Wait, no I didn’t.” Raela swung her arm around over her shoulder with speed than even Victoria could admit was impressive. She didn’t know how, but Victoria recognized it instantly. It was a killing blow, designed to complete behead her.
Victoria lifted her dagger, positioning it sideways in an effort to block the blow, but it was over, and she knew it. Raela’s blade was coming down at nearly the speed of light, and if her own dagger didn’t shatter on impact, Raela’s would just cut hers clean in half. She felt her eyes closing, as if even her body was accepting her fate, but she wouldn’t allow them. She couldn’t. If this is how it was all going to end, the very least she could do was face it head on.
Crack. Raela’s blade collided with her own, and an awful cracking sound echoed throughout the clearing. Tiny, hard granules sprinkled down onto Victoria. She cringed, expecting Raela’s blade to collide with her own face in a matter of seconds. When it didn’t, and no screams arose from the audience, she felt it safe to look. Instead of it being her own blade, it was in fact Raela’s blade that shattered on impact.
Raela stood dazed, arms still in striking position. The only thing missing was her dagger. All that was left of it was a fine black powder that now littered the forest floor. “Training over, as Raela has been incapacitated.” Came Sister Katherine’s steady voice. Victoria breathed a sigh of relief, but stepped as far back from Raela as possible, just to be sure. She looked over to Roman, and smiled. It was close, but she had survived.
“
Does this mean I won’t have to train with Raela anymore?” Victoria asked, hopefully, and her eyes shifted to Roman. She wouldn’t mind taking lessons from him. Not only did he really know his moves, but some more alone time wouldn’t hurt either.
“
You are correct. Grace was second in line to train with you, so she’ll help you train until Raela can find a replacement blade.”
This was the best news Victoria had heard all day. She couldn’t decide what she wanted to gloat about first. Roman’s shocking declaration, surviving her duel with Raela, or the fact that Grace would now be her sparring partner. Victoria didn’t know if things could get any better.
X.
The answer was no. They wouldn’t. “She might have destroyed my dagger, but the duel isn’t over. An assassin has to be quick on their feet, and know how to fight bare-handed. This duel was not declared ornamentum tantum, so it can continue.” Raela declared. Victoria stepped back, her mind spinning. She looked over to Grace, who quickly mouthed “Weapons only.."
“
Raela, you can’t train with me anymore. Grace is my partner now.” Victoria was quickly becoming more and more unnerved by Raela’s determination to fight her. If she had any doubt in her mind that Raela was indeed trying to kill her, it was now completely erased. Victoria looked, pleadingly to Sister Katherine, who was studying the both of them. She wouldn’t, she couldn’t allow this to continue, could she?
“
I suppose you are correct, Raela. The terms of this duel were not stated at the beginning, as they should be. But, I’m not sure it’s necessary to continue. Grace should have no problems taking over.”
“
Of course it’s necessary.” Raela tossed her hair around in frustration. “Victoria has to know how to fight barehanded, especially if she has been suddenly disarmed, like I was. I’m only doing her a favor.” Raela’s voice was light, but Victoria did not miss the dark glittering in her eyes.
Sister Katherine looked back and forth between the two girls, her face contorted, as if the decision was painful. At last, she exhaled loudly, and spoke. “The duel, I believe, can continue. Please ready yourselves.”
Victoria looked down at her hands, helplessly. She could brawl a bit, but she knew that the only way to stop Raela was to knock her clean out, and frankly, Victoria didn’t know if she could do that. She wasn’t angry enough, anymore. She was a bit scared, nervous, and uncomfortable, but not angry. She hadn’t been angry for a while. As she looked into Raela’s eyes, as Sister Katherine counted down the time in which the duel would begin, all she saw was fury. What in the world would cause Raela to be this angry?
Although Victoria hadn’t known that Raela had a family up until very recently, she too had grown up in the convent, for the most part. Sure, Victoria made fun of her front teeth, because by god, they were huge. And they made her look silly, very silly. But up until recently, her personality had accompanied that look. Raela had always been a little shallow, a little mean, but never a real threat. Until now.
Victoria wondered, briefly, what caused that change. She was far too eager, for this. As Victoria stared into her eyes, she realized that Roman was right. It wasn’t personal. It just was. If her name had been Lucia, Raela would still be staring at her, with the same amount of malice in her eyes.
“
Let the duel begin.” Raela lunged forward at her, colliding with Victoria with such an impact that she slid backwards and her teeth rattled inside her mouth. Victoria swung her leg in a wide sweep, kicking Raela’s own out from under her. The two fell to the ground, writhing and wrestling. Victoria rolled over, and pinned Raela to the forest floor with her full weight. With what seemed almost like a rabid snarl, she kicked Victoria away. Her kick landed squarely between Victoria’s ribs, and she clutched her stomach in pain.
Through her pain, Victoria saw Raela advance beside her, and she threw a feeble kick in her direction. It wasn’t very strong, or very well-aimed, but it caught her right in the jaw. She kicked again. Raela threw her head to the side to avoid another blow, and jumped onto Victoria, this time pinning her down.
Victoria saw a flash of silver, and before she knew what was happening, it was too late. It was if time slowed down. She saw Raela’s dagger (who knew she had another one?) emerge from behind her robes. It was short, and small, which was probably the reason no one had recognized it before. Victoria heard someone shout. Maybe it was Grace, or Roman, but she couldn’t tell.
The dagger met her skin with a fleshy thump, and Victoria watched wide-eyed as Raela cut a long, deep gash, down her torso. There was blood, so much blood, she couldn’t see straight. Someone, she didn’t know who, dragged Raela off of her, but for what seemed like the longest time, no one came. She bled, and bled, and bled. Victoria looked around her, still in such a state of shock that she couldn’t feel the pain. Surely, there had to be some, as the mossy forest floor was now soaked in her blood.
Victoria felt someone lift up her head, but she couldn’t see. Her vision was blurring, going in and out of focus. What were they saying? They were saying something. The voices sounded distorted, and far away. Suddenly, time seemed to speed up. Everyone was moving at the speed of light. Someone grabbed her arms, and another grabbed her legs, and she was being carried. Was blood still leaking from her sides? Instead of footprints leading to wherever she was being taken, would she leave drops of blood instead?
Whoever was carrying her, their pace quickened. She felt wind whipping at her open side, and groaned in pain. Someone should wrap my wound, she thought, in a moment of clear headedness. But her consciousness didn’t last, as she felt herself sinking again into that distorted world. Lots of voices, saying things. But what were they saying? At least she didn’t feel too much pain, although Victoria didn’t know how that was possible. She had been stabbed, hadn’t she? Or was it all a dream. Perhaps she had never gone to training, and instead fell asleep in her room. The previous night had been a long one, after all.
She felt herself being lain gently down on a soft surface. A bed. She liked beds. Instinctively, she rolled over, but a hand pulled her back. The voices. They were back, talking again. She tried to roll over again, but a hand stopped her. Why wouldn’t they let her roll over? She just wanted to curl up, and take a nice long nap. She tried a third time, and unfortunately, she succeeded. As Victoria rolled over onto her side, incidentally, the one that had been wounded, she felt rivets of pain shoot up her side.
Deciding that perhaps rolling over wasn’t the best idea after all, Victoria made to roll back onto her back, but she couldn’t, the pain was too much. She felt her vision growing even hazier, until a solid blackness enveloped her, and she welcomed it.
When Victoria awoke, she had no sense of time. It took her a moment to realize even where she was. The lights were dimmed, but she recognized the room as her own. Her side felt exceedingly stiff. She wondered why, until she looked down and saw that her entire torso was wrapped in a hard bandage. Victoria could see a small amount of blood that managed to soak through. What in the world had she been doing to get that?
Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to her room creaked open. Roman poked his head in. He was dressed in dark, near invisible robes, which made him look like he was just a floating head. “Come in” she said. Her voice was raspy, and sounded like it hadn’t been used for days.
Roman nodded and entered the room slowly. He made a wide berth around her bed, as if he was afraid to get too close. He stood awkwardly by her clothing dresser for a moment before deciding on the chair a few feet away from her bedside. “How are you?” he asked, quietly. He wasn’t looking directly at her, but rather, at her side. Victoria made to get up, but immediately thought better of it as pain flashed through her side. “I’m fine”, she grimaced. “What happened?”
“Raela happened.” He said, simply. “You don’t remember?” She didn’t. Victoria shook her head. “No. All I remember is I think I got stabbed—wait, yes I do remember”
She stopped, as the memories came flooding back to her. She didn’t know what to say, as the whole ordeal was bordering on bizarre. “How long have I been here?” Victoria asked, as she shifted her weight again to take the pressure off her side. Roman shook his head. “Not long, just a day. It was a rough day, though” he said, grimacing. “They…they thought the poison might kill you.” “Poison?” That explained why her side was aching as it did. He nodded his head, somberly. “Poison. It was making you hallucinate. None of the nuns had ever encountered that particular type before, but luckily, a monk from the Brotherhood knew the antidote for it. You’ll be alright now, just need to heal up.” His voice sounded a little uncertain, as if he was telling her this for his own benefit, as well as hers.