Chapter 6: Chapter 4
By the time we get to the actual training grounds, I am already sweating. The men begin to line up so I do the same. The prince begins by making sure that everyone is there. This takes a very long time. After today, my face will probably be burned. At home, I at least had someplace to work where there was shade.
Once we've finished, the prince starts talking. "Today, we will be working on our swords skills." When I hear this, my heart begins to beat in excitement. This is a skill that I'm fairly good at.
"You will pair up with someone and wait for my instructions," he continues."Now go and pair up."
Everyone immediately pairs up with their friends until I'm the only one left. I hold back tears as I hear people snickering and whispering about me.
"I guess Iris will train with me," the prince all of a sudden says.
Immediately everyone is quiet. I'm equally as, if not more, shocked. Why would the prince want to train with ? He hates me. Suddenly, I burn with anger as a thought comes to mind. He must be pitying me. I don't want pity. I want to be treated equally.
"But no one ever trains with you," one of the Knights says.
"Well some individuals need more help than others," the prince says with a smirk.
Everyone starts laughing and I feel my face turn red. It wasn't pity. He just wanted a chance to get rid of me. The prince proceeds to explain what everyone is going to do. It's a simple defensive maneuver that he demonstrates for us. I follow him and grab the sword he hands to me. The move is easy and my mind wanders as we practice.
Suddenly, the prince who catches me distracted, does a different move. My body responds instinctively and I block his move and strike back. The prince responds to this move, too. We start battling each other with our practice swords. It's a pretty even match. He's a lot better than I anticipated. People start to make a circle around us and observe, but I don't even notice. My body and head is into the fighting. His one weakness is that his next moves are fairly easy to guess. Using this to my advantage, I throw him off guard and disarm him. Breathing heavily, we both stare at each other. I recover first and throw down his sword and take a few steps back. The prince recovers quickly and his face turns slightly red.
"What are you all staring at?" He begins. "I never told you to stop!"
The others around us quickly get back to their practicing. I can't meet the prince's eyes as he steps toward me. I bow my head, ready to receive any punishment he wishes to give me. Instead, he just punches my arm and says, "Good job. I'm impressed." Then he walks passed me to get a drink.
I just stare at him in shock. I can't believe what just happened. Zander walks over to me and closes my jaw which was hanging open.
"So what just happened?" He asks.
"I have no idea," I reply with a shake of my head.
"At least he's warming up to you."
"Yeah right."
Zander chuckles and walks back over to his friend. I watch all of the other men here. Some of them look like they've never even seen a sword before. Many of them have taken off their shirts and I see that most of them have large muscles. They make me feel weak even though I know that I could take most of them down with my agility.
The prince walks back to me and I notice that he too has taken off his shirt. Perhaps I should ask for some shirts without sleeves to keep me cooler. I realize that I'm staring and quickly look away as I feel heat rising in my cheeks. The prince smirks at me when he catches me looking.
"Ready to continue?" He asks.
"Yes, your highness," I reply, still too embarrassed to look at him.
"Ashton."
"What?"
"In the castle it's your highness. While training, everybody calls me Ashton."
"Ok your- I mean Ashton."
Ashton demonstrates a couple of new moves to everybody and we get back to work. Because I'm more advanced than everybody but the prince, he works with me separately.
Eventually, it's time for a late lunch. We all pile into the dining hall and the servants pass out sandwiches. Zander comes over and sits by me.
"So how was working with the prince?" He asks.
I notice a slight jealous tone in his voice so I answer carefully.
"He was alright. He's still in denial that a girl can be a knight."
We eat the rest of our meal in silence. After everyone is finished, we go back outside. The prince stands in front of everyone to give instructions.
"While learning to fight is a large part of being a knight, we also have to be in good physical condition. Everyone will do fifty push-ups and sit-ups," he says.
A few people groan, but most just get to work. I, on the other hand, am terrified. The sit-ups will be easy, but the push-ups are a different story. Once I finish the sit-ups, I can do about five push-ups. Noticing my struggles, the prince walks over to me.
"What's taking so long?" He asks. "You should be done by now."
"I can't do fifty push-ups," I say sheepishly.
"Meet me here later after dinner."
He walks away to some other boys who are also struggling and tells them the same thing. After more strengthening exercises, most of which I can't do, we head back to the dining room for dinner. I'm famished. In front of servants place bowls of stew. I slurp mine down.
"Hungry?" I hear a voice behind me ask. Turning I look into the face of the prince. Embarrassed about eating like a pig in front of him, my face turns red as I nod.
"Well right now you're to skinny to be a knight of mine. So if you want any chance of staying, put on a few more pounds," he says with his usual smirk.
Now I'm thoroughly confused. I thought that the prince hated me, but now I'm not so sure. To me it looked like he was just teasing me. At least I'm no longer his enemy. Then I remember that I have to meet him after dinner. I groan inside at the thought. Now I can't go to sleep early and get washed up.
"Those who I talked to earlier come and follow me," the prince says interrupting my thoughts.
A few of the smaller boys go too as I get up and follow him. None of us look excited. In fact, many of the boys look like they're completely dreading this. Dismayed, I continue, thinking about what the rest of this evening will hold.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone