Chapter 7

For the next several days, life at the training complex was repetitive. Jorgarn was awakened before sunrise for his morning meal that consisted of oatmeal and bread with warm mead. Shortly after he arose he found himself on the practice field participating in stretching and strengthening exercises.

A lengthy endurance run followed the calisthenics. After a quick dip in a stream, the trainees would be allowed time for a brief snack or nap, as the case may be before the lessons would begin in earnest.

It followed the same routine that Jorgarn had completed on his own at the behest of Melodart and Gorin for the past two years.

Many of the trainees expected to see Jorgarn fall out early from the run. The ability to run for an extended period of time is not a skill a swordsman uses often. To most, Jorgarn was simply a swordsman a mightily skilled swordsman, but nothing more than a swordsman. Some of the upper-level trainees were hoping the endurance run would display a chink in the newcomer's armor.

The terrain at the training compound was flatter than the region Jorgarn usually covered so it was not much of a strain. The distance crossed was also about a half mile shorter than his usual route. Jorgarn kept a steady pace beside Fieth and Renoit and they completed the run with the first group. For Fieth and Renoit, it was the first time they had found themselves doing more than struggling to complete the exercise.

Symington was always content to lag behind and finish near the back. He had no need to impress the trainers. The Queen was his sponsor. He would gain promotion regardless of his skill.

But Symington was finding life difficult in Emertland Guard barracks. The commoners would not bow nor scrape to the newest member of their ranks. Symington's promotion was conditional. Sir Torbert made sure than Symington knew it and he made sure Symington's new comrades knew it.

As was tradition with the Emertland Guards, the cleaning duties were distributed by rank. As the newest member, Symington was given the task of keeping the bathing facilities clean. The senior soldier, called the Sergeant of the Guard, was a harsh taskmaster. He expected Symington to complete his tasks even after Symington was punished for his dustup with Jorgarn.

Symington expected to be able to take the rest of the day off. The punishment 10 lashes was not considered excessive given the infraction. The members of the Emertland Guard knew they would have been punished far more severely than Symington if they had been foolhardy enough to attack an unarmed man with the Captain of the Guard watching.

So they took it upon themselves to ensure a more fitting rebuke was delivered. Symington spent the remainder of his penalty day not lounging in his cot or receiving treatment for his back but by repeatedly cleaning the bathing facility until it met the company standards.

He had expected his promotion to mean less work and more free time but he found the Emertland Guard had a variety of duties that exceeded those of the Noble Guard. The Emertland Guard was responsible for policing the capital and ensuring the safety of its citizenry. Symington was appalled to learn he was expected to take a shift that spanned from the darkest of the night until morning meal in one of the city's dirtiest areas.

He immediately wrote to his benefactor the Queen to seek to ameliorate his situation. Although the Queen did respond to him two days later she regretted to inform him that the situation was out of her hands. She would still host him for dinners with the Royal Family but she could only offer the invitation if his schedule permitted.

The King had put his foot down and, although Queen Lorida disliked it, there was nothing she could do about it. The King had said, firmly, that no interference in the training or duties of the guard staff would be permitted by the Queen or by Princess Denae.

Sir Torbert had been informed of the behavior towards the young female attendants and had warned them about 'placing of hands upon female personages.' The punishment for an uninvited grope was 10 lashes for the first offense and dismissal from the training program for the second.

Jorgarn had listened to the announcement impassively. He was raised in a society where females, particularly common-born females, were given less worth then a fine stud horse. A woman's main job was to provide labor for the farms or the looms or the shops that the family owned. She could produce one child a year. A stud horse could produce two dozen beasts of burden from various mares per year. The horses matured faster and were less costly to raise. It was simple economics.

But Jorgarn had watched how Pietro had behaved toward women. He viewed them as property, as less than human. Without Eslada's entrance into his life during his formative years, Jorgarn might have grown up the same way.

He had known Eslada came from a society where women were viewed as almost equal. They could own property and hold high office. They were given an equal say in monetary matters and family decisions.

He had seen the respect offered to Eslada by Gorin and Melodart two men he had grown to respect himself and he had seen that Eslada was capable of much more than men gave her credit for. As a boy nearing manhood, it had given Jorgarn much to think about.

He pulled Fieth and Renoit aside after Sir Torbert's announcement.

"Get the word out, please," he said to the men who were becoming his companions if not his dearest friends, "if I hear of this, there will be no tribunal. I will find a way to either kill them or to maim them. There are enough willing girls that no one should force his attention on one who is unwilling. Let them know that if they plan to do something like that again, it would be best for Sir Torbert to find out before I did. Because they will enjoy my method of dealing with it far less than his."

Jorgarn knew from the look on his companions' faces that they had been guilty of the charge in the past. He also understood from the fear in their eyes that it was something they would not do in the future.

"I warned you about going to Jorgarn with your threat," Rayna told Princess Denae a day later. "But you convinced him, so I guess it worked out."

"Convinced him of what?" Denae asked.

"To be the sword at the end of your arm if one of the trainees steps across the line again," Rayna said. She was worried that Denae was putting too much faith in this young man. "Pernice asked me last night if any of the nobles had bothered me. I told him it had happened to some of the others."

"But not you," Denae said.

Rayna shook her head.

"I will not put Pernice into the position of defending my honor against a noble," Rayna said. "Regardless of the reason, it will be harmful to him. But it seems that I won't have to since you spoke to Jorgarn about the situation."

"I haven't spoken to him since that first dinner," Denae protested. "He sent a nice note to thank me for my politeness at dinner but that was all. What did he say?"

"He said he would kill or injure anyone he suspected of doing that," Rayna said. "He passed the word that if the trainees were intent upon doing such things, he couldn't stop them. But he would kill them afterward."

Denae watched her friend carefully. There was a look on Rayna's face that she couldn't comprehend.

"What else?" Denae asked.

"Nothing else," Rayna replied. "Just kill or maim them. Do you think there should be more?"

Denae nodded. Actually, she did think there should be more punishment for molesting a woman perhaps slow torture leading to death or maiming.

"Then why do you look that way?" Denae insisted. "Are you unhappy about what either Sir Torbert or Jorgarn has threatened? Do you think that the women deserve to be treated that way? Did it somehow make you happy that you were?"

"Of course not!" Rayna said with a shake of her head. "I can see the wheels turning in your mind. We've been best friends since we were 11 years old. I know how you think. He did what you wanted him to do without you having to ask him to do it. He is strong and funny and polite and charming and rich."

"Don't forget handsome," Denae said to needle her friend a little. Jorgarn was not a man who would make women stop in their tracks to stare at him. He was, at best, average looking. "And he's not rich. But I am so that doesn't matter. What is your point?"

"My point is that I've seen men who have all the attributes of your Jorgarn," Rayna said sadly. "But those attributes were only on the surface. Those men seemed too good to be true because they were. Inside these men were not pleasant. You know very little about Jorgarn only what he's told you. He is subtler in his attempts to attract your attention but he has attracted it just the same. Just make sure you figure out what his game is before you do something you can't take back."

Rayna saw Denae's ears getting red and she knew her royal friend was angry.

"I know what Jorgarn has told me and what my cousin my father and uncle's favorite niece has written about him," Denae said angrily. "I wrote to Lady Eslada the very next morning to tell her that Jorgarn had been accepted into the program but that it was her duty as a member of the Emertland Royal Household to inform us if there was anything she had left out of her letters, good or bad. We had accepted him on her word. I am waiting for her reply. Incidentally, my father also wrote to Eslada. I understand he was less abrupt that I was, but his questions were the same. As for his subtlety, if you had seen him when Lorida offended him, you would know there is nothing subtle about him at times.

"When you visit with my father and stepmother or with any noble, what is the one emotion you never show?"

Rayna thought for a minute.

"Anger," she admitted.

"Exactly," Denae continued. "Well, Jorgarn got angry and he didn't care if she was the Queen or some gutter whore. Everyone in the room knew how he felt about her accusations. Does he know about you and Pernice?"

"What?" Rayna wondered. She had no idea where Denae was going with this conversation. "Maybe, no. I doubt it. He might know my name but Pernice is always careful about revealing too much about me. Some would use him to try to curry favor with you."

Denae nodded.

"So, he doesn't know about you or that we are friends," Denae answered. "Would you say that is correct?"

"Likely he doesn't," Rayna said tightly. She felt like she was in front of magistrate. She had been interrogated like this when she was younger and her brother had been caught with a gang of thieves. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"This is what I mean," Denae said with a proud look on her face. "Jorgarn had no idea that Sir Torbert's proclamation came from me. He had no idea that his promise would get back to me. He knows there will be repercussions from my uncle if he learns of Jorgarn's promise. Or, at least he will shortly understand if my uncle finds out. He made his vow because he doesn't like what was happening to the people of this town. He doesn't like the fact that nobles believe they are above everyone else. I saw that from his discussions of his father and brother. I could tell he views nobility very dimly.

"He wasn't excited at the prospect of dining with us. He was embarrassed. In his letter which thanked me, he wrote that he belatedly realized what a 'rare honor' it was to be invited into the family's private residence and he promised to keep that a secret so it wouldn't appear that he was favored. He chalked it up to the fact he is Eslada's stepson. Father invited him there to make him feel at ease. The exact reason he uses the formal dining area with others so they are ill at ease."

Denae put her hand on her friend's.

"Rayna, at some point soon I will name a Knight," she said sadly. "It is a fact that can't be denied. My relationship with my other friends might change because of that. I don't know. The friendship we have might change because of that. I know I don't want our friendship to change and I know I will do everything in my power to keep it the same or to make it better. But it is a fact that I will need to develop a strong relationship with my Knight even if it is at the expense of my other relationships. Please do not be troubled by that. My father managed to keep his closest friends beside him. You are my closest friend."

Denae patted Rayna's hand.

"Besides, once you and Pernice are wed, our relationship will change further," she continued. "But I do respect your judgment. Jorgarn is coming to the palace every evening for the rest of the week. He is giving me lessons about Longview and I am going to help him with the intricacies of Emertland's language. He tends to speak very formally and he sometimes misses subtle inflections that change the meaning of sentences. I would like for you to act as chaperone for his visits."

Denae glanced around to make sure they were alone and to ensure the Queen hadn't snuck up on them.

"My father and Sir Torbert left us alone in father's study," Denae confided.

Rayna gasped. Under most circumstances, that was tantamount to an invitation of marriage.

"I think father knew I wanted to discuss some things privately," Denae said. "But Jorgarn kept glancing at the door. As soon as father left, he shifted to the other side of the chair not closer to me but farther away. I asked repeatedly for him to call me Denae. He always refused. My father asked Jorgarn to call him King Landor. Jorgarn always refused. I promise that I will not name a Knight Protector until after I turn 15.

"I promise I will not name a Knight Protector even then if I have reservations about him. I will wait until Traymer completes his training if need be. Him, at least, I know I can trust. Meet Jorgarn for yourself this evening. Pernice thinks highly of him. My uncle thinks highly of him. I think highly of him. So far, only you and Lorida have expressed serious reservations about Jorgarn's character. Do you really want to be on the side of Queen Lorida on any matter?"

The Princess' retinue greeted Jorgarn upon his arrival at the castle. He was thankful that Sir Torbert had managed to trade some of his Longview currency to outgoing sailors and for Renoit and Fieth's assistance in accumulating attire appropriate for a casual evening at the castle.