The Council Chapter Two

The next morning, in the darkness before dawn, the three were bustling about in the chilly air, trying to get the horses ready while throwing their stuff together.

“At this rate we will not be ready to go at dawn,” Joseph sighed.

“Just how we planned it,” Jason said.

“It’s too early to be up,” Catherine complained.

“The later we leave, the longer we are going to ride into the night,” Joseph stated. “Now hurry up. You two should have had everything packed and ready to go yesterday.”

“Correction: I had my stuff ready to go. It’s that thing,” Catherine gestured at Jason, “That didn’t pack.”

“I really don’t care. I want both of you to stop getting distracted and get ready.” With that, both Catherine and Jason ran into the house to gather up their stuff.

“We haven’t even left, and you have already managed to annoy Joseph,” Catherine chirped.

“No. We all know that you are the annoying one,” he replied.

“Untrue.”

“It is very true.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Of?”

“Me.”

“Right.”

“Now stop being jealous and go get your stuff,” Catherine disappeared into her room to grab what she needed.

Jason rolled his eyes, entered his room, and grabbed his pre-packed – he had packed his stuff last night – bag from the bed.

“Hurry up, little kitten!” He yelled as he went down the stairs.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Catherine shouted back. She proceeded to grumble to herself about how annoying Jason was as she snatched up her bag, bow, quiver of arrows, knives, and sword. Satisfied, she looked around the room one last time.

She really did not want to leave this place, for it was here that she had spent the past five years of her life. In that time, she had learned so much, changed so much, and grown so much.

Closing her eyes tightly, she let out a sigh before spinning on her heel and briskly walking out of the room and down the stairs.

As she walked through the house, it seemed like everywhere she looked, she saw another memory. Yet she shut them out and marched on. She would not dwell on leaving – she couldn’t. Thinking would just make this much harder than it had to be.

She never thought that such a short walk could be so long.

Finally, she was out of the house, and she saw that the four horses were ready to go.

“This,” Joseph said, taking her bag from her, “Will go with Rain. Keep your weapons close.”

Catherine nodded, watching him secure the bags onto Rain’s back.

“Damn. Now we are going to leave by dawn,” Jason complained.

“Stop whining.” Catherine snapped at him.

“No bickering. Mount up and we will be going.” Joseph swung up onto Malish.

Jason quickly followed suit and climbed up onto Cavalier’s back, but Catherine turned away from them, and said, “You two go ahead. I’ll catch up in a few minutes.”

“Don’t take too long,” Joseph said, nudging Malish forwards. Rain – who was tied to Malish with a lead line – followed closely.

“Wait. Why does she get to st–“ Jason started.

“Stop talking and follow me.” Joseph was already growing tired of the teenagers.

Jason reluctantly followed.

When they were out of sight, Catherine sunk down onto her knees, looking around the clearing. She would give herself five minutes, and then she would go catch up with the men.

She wanted nothing more than to not dwell on leaving, but now that it was upon her, she felt less and less like she could go back to her old life. She would miss the long, grueling days that she used to dread so much.  When she left, she would never again get to spend the day riding and training, debate everything from history to the best village with her uncle in the evenings, or arguing with Jason.

As soon as she left, it would be back to dresses and dances. There would be no room for her horse and her knifes. All the hours she spent working so hard would be for naught. All she would be is a pretty face. She would never have to work; she would never have to do anything. There would always be someone doing everything for her.

All the freedoms she had here would disappear.

It’s ironic, really. I dreaded coming here, and now I dread leaving. She thought. But I will come back one day, and I will show them all what that helpless little girl I once was is really capable of.

 She stood and strode over to where Nettie had been standing patiently and swung up onto her back. "Time to go, love," she murmured, urging the horse forwards.

The horse took off after the men at a gallop; Catherine did not look back. This was just one more chapter of her life, and now it was time to start anew.

The horse’s mane and tail streamed out with the girl’s long locks as they flew along: the sounds of the forest mingled with the pounding of the horse's hooves. She melted into the movement of the horse below her. It was the comforting, familiar, rolling motion that she loved so dearly.

The sounds, the smells, the feelings: they were her world. Nothing else mattered; nothing else existed. To her, paradise was this – nothing more than a solitary moment on horseback, letting the peaceful world overwhelm her and take her away.

The horse and rider rounded a curve in the trail they were following, and they caught sight of the men. She waited until the last second to slow Nettie down to match the men's pace.

"You are going to kill the horse if you keep riding like that," Joseph said, barely glancing at Catherine.

"Don't tell Cat what to do. It irritates her," Jason informed Joseph.

"That's what I always tell you," Joseph retorted.

Catherine laughed. "And so the roles reverse."

Jason smiled. "I guess that means I'm in charge now."

"Do not get any ideas. You are not going to ever be in charge. End of discussion." Joseph nudged Malish ahead of the other two horses.

"See what you do?" Catherine looked at Jason.

"That is your doing." He replied.

"Denying it won't change anything."

"I am not denying it. It is all your fault. I have nothing to do with it."

"Denial right there."

"Oh just be quiet."

"And if I don't want to?"

"I'll make you."

"How so?"

Jason considered it, but never got the chance to answer.

“Hmph.” Catherine interrupted his thoughts.

“What?”

“I’m debating how to make your lessons as painfully boring as possible.”

Jason made an irritated noise.

“Lesson one: do not make that noise.”

“Anything else, master?”

“Lesson two: do not address your betters in such a disrespectful manner.”

“And how are you my better?”

“You do not have a title, nor do you have money, nor do you have land. You are the low of the low. You grew up a street rat, and a street rat you will always be.”

“What’s wrong with being a street rat? At least I am street smart.”

“Being street smart doesn’t matter in the world you are about to enter. Who your friends are, who your family is, and how much money you have is all that matters. No one cares if you know how to fight when you have people who fight for you. No one cares if you know how to cook and clean when you have people who do it for you. People only care if you are a good leader or not. Court is the realm of the leaders, while everywhere else is the realm of the workers.”

“You make it seem like it is a completely different world.”

“It is.”

“People are still people either way.”

Catherine mulled it over. “There are differences in how things work and how people act, but yes, when you get down to the roots of everything, people are just people.”

“I was right.” Jason gloated.

“Be quiet while I figure out what else to talk about,” Catherine replied coolly, eyes closed as she racked her brain. “Gaah. It’s been too long since I have had to think about this stuff.”

“Maybe if you acted more like a proper woman, you wouldn’t have forgotten.”

“Be quiet. I have a fun book I had to memorize things from once. You get to read that every single night we are traveling for,” she smirked, “Three hundred pages of manners and etiquette: I promise you, it is much worse than it sounds.”

“Demon child.”

“More like demon book.”

“Pick the knives back up, Catherine.” Joseph was standing above the girl, whom he had just disarmed and knocked over.

“No.” She was perfectly content to stay sprawled on the forest floor. They had ridden all day with almost no breaks until they finally came to this clearing away from the little road they were on. The little road – more of a trail really – snaked its way through the forest from a little village that was close to where they lived until it reached one of the big roads that crisscrossed the land.

When they had arrived, Catherine had thought that she would finally be able to rest, but her uncle had other ideas. Now she was exhausted, sweaty, and covered in scrapes and bruises.

“Catherine.” He didn’t want to deal with her nonsense.

“We have been doing this for a solid hour.”

“I have seen you go for much longer.”

“Not after riding for an entire day.”

“I’ve seen you do it after you have been working all day.”

“But – “

“Get up. Now.”

She gave in and grabbed her knives. The two knives were her favorite weapons. They were both just under a foot long, with slightly curved blades that suited her fighting style of avoidance and slipping into the gaps of a person’s guard.

Joseph raised his sword and came at her again. It played out like a game of cat and mouse as she tried her hardest to avoid all of his attacks. She tried to stay out of reach as much as possible, and when she couldn’t avoid the blade, she would cross her own blades and deflect the sword with them.

They kept going, but Catherine was slipping and making more and more mistakes. Eventually, Joseph bested her and managed to knock her knees out from under her with the side of his sword.

A gasp of pain escaped her lips as she fell sprawled on the ground like she had been just over five minutes ago. Her knives flew from her hands and landed out of reach. Joseph pointed the tip of his sword to her throat. “In a real fight, you would be dead.”

“In a real fight, the person I was against wouldn’t be nearly as good as you.”

“They could be much better. You let your guard slip as always. If anything, I have seen absolutely no improvement in you over the past few months.”

“Maybe, just maybe, that could be because you don’t give me the chance to improve!” Her voice gradually rose to a shout as she spoke.

“You aren’t trying enough. “ His voice was still level as he looked at her.

“I am trying! How am I supposed to be able to fight well when I am about to collapse from exhaustion?”

“You have never actually fought in a battle, but in one, there is no time to relax or rest. They can stretch out for days, and you will spend the majority of it fighting. Maybe you will be able to get a few hours of sleep, and maybe you will have some time to eat, but for the most part, it will be none stop fighting.”

“This is ridiculous. When am I ever going to be fighting in the front lines of a major battle?”

“You never know, and the only way to be ready is to train.”

“I know. ‘A warrior is not born. A warrior is made through sweat and blood and tears.’ You say that all the time.” She stood and picked her knifes up.

“Very well then. We can be done for today.” Joseph sat down at the edge of the clearing, leaned against a tree, and began to clean his sword – not that it was at all dirty.

Jason looked up at her from where he was sitting on the other side of the clearing. The book she had given him was opened in his lap. She walked over to him and stretched out on her back beside him.

“Having fun?” She asked.

“This is worse than having to deal with a training session with Joseph.”

The corners of her lips lifted into a small smile. “I doubt it.”

“It’s true.”

She laughed.

“You know,” he dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned towards her so that Joseph would be unable to hear, “He really isn’t that bad.”

“Easy for you to say,” she whispered back. “He is much easier on you than he is on me.”

“That’s only because he loves you. He wants to be sure that you can take care of yourself and defend yourself when you have to.”

“I know, but he takes it too far sometimes.”

He shook his head. “He always stops when he knows that you can’t take anymore. He never pushes you further than you can go.”

She groaned. “Riding tomorrow is going to be very painful.”

He chuckled. “Go to sleep, Cat.”

“Mm. Good night.” She rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball.

“Good night,” Jason said, turning his attention back to the book. No matter how boring is was, he wanted to know all he could about the world Catherine was from.