Daggerthorn Marshes
Betrayal
Chapter Two
First Bonar was called, then after a five minute wait, Trin was next. Ryn slowly watched as the crowd around them began to thin out. Then she heard Donal’s name and she turned and gave him an encouraging smile as he moved to go.
“Hey, sword and board. Don’t forget,” he said.
“I won’t. It’s you and I to the Death Donal. Just don’t get lost.”
“Just remember those directions I gave you.”
Ryn just nodded and pushed him forward and she watched as Donal made his way to Corporal Linn and was directed into the Proving Ground.
“What directions was he talking about?”
Ryn nearly jumped when she heard Ashe’s voice in her ear. She had forgotten that he was standing behind her.
“Donal grew up here. He gave me directions to a place where we can meet each other and make sure we do our proving together.”
“Ryn-“
“Don’t say it, Ashe. Just don’t. Donal and I have got it worked out.”
Ashe raised an eyebrow at her tone. “I wasn’t going to say anything to stop you Ryn. I was just going to tell you to be careful. I overheard one of the mages talking last night after dinner that they were going to set a few confusion spells over sections of the proving ground to make sure people do not meet up unless by chance.”
“Really? They are doing that?”
“Apparently. They said that it will show how we cadets cope in a ‘real’ battleground. Personally, I think they are doing it just to muck with us, hoping that we fall into some bog and get covered in filth.”
Ryn had to stop herself from laughing as she imagined Ashe and then Bonar rising from a bog covered in slime.
“Gotta go, I’ve just been called. Good luck.” And with that Ashe trotted up to the Corporal and after a moment was ushered into the Proving Ground.
Ryn watched him go and then started to feel her stomach churn as the crowd of cadets slowly whittled down. And when there was only three of them left, she began to wonder if they had even put her name into the bag at all. Maybe it had dropped out when they were filling the bag… Ryn was suddenly snatched out of her thoughts by her name being called. And then called again.
“Kathryn Weaver, get your arse up here now!”
Knight Sergeant Kimba did not sound happy. Judging from the cloud of insects buzzing around her, she probably can’t wait to get under cover somewhere. Ryn hoped that there were no bitey ones in that cloud otherwise tonight will not be a good one for the cadets.
“Yes, Knight Sergeant Kimba.”
Ryn unslung her shield from her back as she made her way forward and slipped her arm into its harness. Her left hand gripped on the reassuring stability of its thick leather straps and Ryn used its weight to help center her nerves. As soon as she felt the weigh on her arm, Ryn suddenly became focused on the task at hand. Three years of hard training had led her to this moment and she was not going to allow her traitorous stomach to let her down.
“Weaver, get your arse in there.”
“Yes, Knight Sergeant.”
Ryn took a deep breath and then strode purposefully past Kimba, through the open gate and on her next step immediately sunk down to her booted ankles in wet, rank swamp mire.
“By the One, what happened to the path?” Her words did not seem to carry far and when Ryn turned back to glare at the Knight Sergeant, all she could see was mist, reeds and water. “I was caught that quickly? Ashe wasn’t joking about the confusion spells then.”
A solid path lead away to her left and was only a foot away from her. She drew her sword and used it to prod at the path and was satisfied when the point hit solid earth and stone. She tried to pull her feet from the muck but found them stuck, every move seemed to drag her down more. “Shit, buggar, bum, poo.” The words slipped from her tongue in her frustration. Ryn slung her shield over her back finding it now more a hindrance than a help and began to use her sword as a makeshift shovel to dig the mud away from her feet. After a good fifteen minutes, she got first her left foot and then finally her right foot freed and quickly made her way onto the solid path before she could get stuck again.
“Now my boots are covered in filth. They are going to take forever to get clean tonight.” She wiped her blade against her pant leg and sent the sword home in its scabbard. She then took a good look around at her surroundings.
“I don’t recognize anything here from Donal’s descriptions… He’s going to kill me. Or turn me into a slug.”
The only thing she could do was walk the path and hope to the One that she would accidently run into Donal.
Ryn trudged down the path. It was thin and winding but at least it was solid. On either side of the track, the still water glittered like jewels when the breeze rippled the water enough to catch the sunlight. Small drifts of fog clung around the reed beds and wizened trees, but were slowly being burnt away by the morning sun. The further in she went, the more stagnant the smell became. Donal had warned her, but she had thought he was over exaggerating it. Now, she knew he had not emphasized it enough. By the One, she could even taste the stench – yuck.
She kept her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready for anything that might spring out at her. But she could hear nothing except the song of insects and the occasional chirp of a bird. It was as if the fog that clung stubbornly to the shoreline muffled the sound of everything around her.
Ryn kept walking.
And walking.
And walking.
The path kept winding its merry way through the swamp. It did not branch off anywhere and it did not widen more that it was. Ryn was beginning to wonder whether the mages had forgotten to enchant this section of the Proving Grounds. She should have run into something by now, if not some Blackwatch enemies than at least another cadet.
Ryn kept walking, though now the stillness and quiet was making her uneasy. She drew her sword, the sound of the scrapping metal rang loud and garish against the cotton wool dampness of the swamp. The weight of the blade in her right hand was comforting, it also gave her a much needed confidence boost that maybe, maybe, this lack of activity might be part of the test.
Or she was just lost.
She continued following the path and was rewarded when it finally began to widen as it met the shoreline of a either the swamp edge or a rather large island. Either way, Ryn was happier about being surrounded by dirt and not dank, smelly water. Now that there was room enough to fight, something might happen. She now stood in the center of the small clearing and waited.
And waited.
And she saw no one.
It then occurred to her that there was one extra warrior in the cadet pool, and if she had not yet met another cadet, another mage then….
“Shit, buggar, bum, poo.” The phrase spat out from her mouth and was automatically followed by a loud screech of frustration. “I CANNOT be the last. I cannot. Knight Sergeant Kuma is going to kill me.” She let the tip of her sword drop to the ground as she felt the shame of defeat claim her.
And that was when it started.
Movement erupted around Ryn and she barely had time to yank the cord to release her shield from her back before they were on her. The shield dropped to the ground, leaning against the back of her legs, and as she bought her sword up to fend off the first blow she spun around in a movement she had practiced to death with Ashe, reaching back and scooping the shield straps into her left arm so that she could use it for quick defense.
She got the shield ready just in time as something metal slammed into it so hard Ryn felt the vibrations run up the bone in her arm, causing her to scream out in shock. In response, she threw some weight into the shield and pushed back against the attack coming from that side while using her blade to furiously parry the first attack.
It was then that she got a good look at her attackers.
Ah Shit. That’s all I need.
Murgots.
A lot of Murgots.
Ryn parried and then did a riposte that scored a satisfying bloom of red along her opponent’s upper arm. The Murgot screeched in pain and then gnashed its teeth and doubled down on its effort to remove her head from her neck. A few more parries and the Murgot backed away. She angled her shield back behind her, trying to protect her rear from those behind. Ryn took this moment to assess her situation. A quick head count showed that there were five ringing her, which meant that there were probably another five hiding in the underbrush or on their way. If this was part of her test, then it wasn’t a fair one – she had not met her mage as yet.
“A little help would be nice,” Ryn called out as loud as she dared. Murgots could be unpredictable and that was what made them dangerous. “Five against one is not fair odds! By the One, I hope this is part of my testing….” The last was under her breath as the Murgots circled in for a new attack.