-Chapter Ten-
A Dragon’s Pride and a Special Invitation
The morning after her talk with Jaax, Jahrra woke up to find Dervit standing patiently beside her bed. Jahrra, still somewhat dazed from sleep, arched a confused brow at him.
“Is something wrong?” she yawned.
Dervit plucked at the hat in his hand, then cleared his throat and said, “I want to come along with you this morning.”
When Jahrra’s brows lifted even further, he pressed on, “I promised Jaax I’d watch out for you.”
Jahrra only smiled and shook her head as she climbed out of bed. “That’s kind, Dervit, but you don’t have to feel obligated to follow me everywhere. I know all these elves make you nervous. I’m sure I’ll be fine with Keiron.”
After Jaax’s chastisement, she was ready to tread more cautiously around the young Resai elf. She just had to keep her guard up and not let him talk her into doing anything foolish.
“I’d like to see you practice,” Dervit admitted. “And, and I wouldn’t mind learning a thing or two myself. Do you think they’d teach me defense?”
He glanced up with eager, brown eyes, his scattering of freckles only making him appear more innocent.
“Dervit! Why did you never say you wanted to learn how to fight?” Jahrra cried.
The limbit shrugged, his expression sheepish. “I didn’t know I did until just recently.”
Jahrra bent down, her hands resting against her knees.
“I’m sure we can find someone willing to teach you,” she assured him, ruffling his hair a bit. “Now, do you mind stepping outside for a while? I need to change into my practice clothes.”
Keiron met them outside a half an hour later, his usual, disarming smile in tow. When he noticed the limbit, however, his easy confidence lost a bit of its flare.
“Dervit wants to learn how to fight as well. Isn’t that wonderful?” Jahrra asked, pulling her small friend against her hip in a half-hearted hug.
Dervit only blinked up at her, and Keiron had no choice but to declare the idea perfect, even though the tightness to his smile suggested otherwise.
The walk to the practice field was much more interesting that morning, what with Dervit finally shaking off some of his anxiety and conversing freely. He kept them all entertained while he listed off more of his people’s superstitions as they passed busy shops and crowded lanes.
“Oh, that’s not good,” he’d say, pointing to a sign with a broken board. “Means the business will change owners within two years.”
Keiron gave Jahrra a skeptical look, and she only shrugged, biting her lip as she tried not to smile.
“Very well, young limbit,” Keiron said, his gaze searching the wide lane before them, looking for anything that might be considered superstitious.
Eventually, his gaze fell upon a young boy holding the leashes of two eager hounds. Clearly, the dogs were in control, for he was being dragged along behind them.
“How about that boy? Headed for certain doom, I presume?”
Keiron had meant to call Dervit out on his paranoia, and Jahrra, although believing the limbit might be reading too much into things at times, cast her Resai companion a disapproving glance. He didn’t have to poke fun at her friend.
Either Dervit caught onto Keiron’s game or he just happened, by chance, to pick something the limbit didn’t consider worthy of concern. One way or another, Dervit’s response put an end to the discussion regarding superstitions.
“That boy with those dogs? No, he has two large hounds to protect him from trouble, not bring him to it.”
The trio reached the practice fields five minutes later, and Jahrra introduced Dervit to Pendric. The captain of the guard was as animated as ever, welcoming the limbit without so much as giving a single glance to his tail or ears.
“I know exactly who to team you up with!” he barked. “Erron! Come over here!”
A young boy, no older than seven, came jogging up, his leather armor far too big for him.
“Erron, meet Dervit. Dervit, this is Erron, my son. He is a beginner as well.”
Erron’s eyes grew wide at the sight of Dervit, but he politely shook his hand and offered him a wooden waster before leading him off to the children’s area.
Pendric crossed his arms over his chest and smiled, his eyes shining with pride.
“He has a kind and open heart, that boy of mine. Takes after his mother,” Pendric crowed.
Jahrra gave him a sidelong gaze and felt her mouth quirk into a smile of her own. “I don’t know. I’d say he’s a lot like his father, too.”
Jahrra had known Pendric not even a full two days, and she could already tell he was made of something far more superior than most people in this corrupt and dangerous world of theirs. He had true honor in his heart.
“Oh, enough young lady, or you will make me blush! Now, shall I try pairing you up with someone a little more intimidating than the young lad here who is doing his utmost to impress you?”
Jahrra felt her face flush, and Keiron said something crass to his friend, but Pendric chuckled and remarked, “In all seriousness, I think Jahrra could use a little bit of a challenge.”
And so, for the next few days, Jahrra rotated between fighting Keiron and the other talented soldiers of Morivan’s guard. Some practices she lost, others she won. A few times, she and her challenger called a truce, neither one of them able to get past the other’s guard. Every day, Jahrra felt herself growing stronger, swifter, better. She learned a few new handy moves and taught her opponents some of her own tricks. And each day Dervit came with her, eager to train with Erron and his friends. It turned out that the young boy and his companions were fascinated by Dervit and gladly welcomed him in.
“I’ll never be a fierce warrior like you, Jahrra,” he said on the walk home one day. “But, at least, I’ll know something if we ever find ourselves up against an enemy.”
Jahrra nodded. He was right. But she disagreed with him about the whole fierce warrior part. Who could tell what the future held? He might one day prove to be the fiercest of them all. Just because he was small, did not mean he couldn’t fight with more heart than anyone else.
During the nights, Jahrra and Dervit took up the ritual of playing Astral cards with Ellyesce. The elf was healing swiftly from his arrow wound, and although he had his own cabin across the lane, he always joined them around supper time.
“It’s too lonely over there,” he’d claim.
Jaax often watched their games through the door of Jahrra’s cabin, unless he was off attending to some business she wasn’t privy to. Jahrra wasn’t certain how he spent his days, but she figured they involved visits to Morivan’s fortress and keeping up appearances. Jaax had told her to be careful what she said around the regent, and now she was wondering if he was making an extra effort to flatter the obnoxious man in order to earn them more time in the safety of Cahrdyarein, as well as keep his curious questions away from Jahrra. Either way, she appreciated the sacrifice. It meant she could spend more time training with Keiron and Pendric.
On the fifth day of their stay in Cahrdyarein, Jahrra, Dervit and Keiron made their usual hike up to the practice area after stopping in for a quick visit with Phrym and the other horses. Once on the training field, Jahrra went through her usual warm up (a quick sparring match that focused on repeated drills) with Keiron. When they were done, one of the soldiers who had tried every day, and failed, to get past Jahrra’s guard, approached her.