Chapter 11

The days began to flash by as Catherine settled into her new life. She’d proven herself a tomboy, one who loved riding and could hold her own in the practice yard. When she wasn’t otherwise engaged, she would often watch the Rangers’ training exercises.

As spring gave way to summer and summer faded into a crisp fall, the princess was frequently visited by one of the two ducal heirs who remained in Inglewood. She occasionally wondered if King Edward was pushing her toward his grandnephew Henry; after all, the King sent Candor to be fostered in Manito, so she didn’t see him. And while Jacob was still around, the King had assigned Thomas to be her personal guard. Did the King think that he might influence her toward his brother?

Well, it was all up to Catherine, and everyone would have to wait and see what, if anything, developed with the ducal heirs as time moved on.

Thomas, meanwhile, was amazed at the transformation he’d seen in the princess. When Catherine first arrived, it had been clear she’d led a sheltered life growing up as daddy’s little girl—especially since daddy was a king.

Jason, Griffin, and Randel had both shocked and appalled her on numerous occasions. Catherine had no idea how hard life could be outside the bubble in which she’d lived. It had never occurred to her that a child might go to bed hungry or what people were willing to do to prevent that.

The boys seemed to relish educating her on the facts of life. Thomas had to step in more than once to prevent her from marching headfirst into fixing the wrongs she discovered. A good example was the day she’d decided that all the women working at the inn had to be saved. When she’d said her own brother’s favorite pastimes were wine and women, she’d never imagined that he might be paying for the women’s company.

In return, her influence on the boys had also been good, in Thomas’s estimation. She’d slowly transformed them from ‘barbarians’ into just being ‘rough around the edges.’ Thomas was incredibly grateful that she’d reinforced Thomas’s edict that the boys bathe regularly and have their clothes washed. If nothing else, their barracks didn’t reek like the Royal Guard’s did.

That had become even more important because, after the Samhain festival, where boys and girls became adults, Cullen had arrived with a new crop of potential Rangers. Word of Lord Wolf had attracted sixteen new applicants to swell their ranks. Thomas had put the three older boys and Alek in charge of squads of four.

Alek wasn’t officially a Ranger, but that didn’t stop Thomas from utilizing him. Alek had been in charge of training Thomas and the original Rangers, so Thomas left him in command of the training. Griffin was Thomas’s second, while Randel and Jason were next in line.

One morning, they were in the practice yard, learning to handle a sword. Thomas had brought Princess Catherine so that he could do two things at once: be her protector and be in charge of his men.

“Look who decided to join us,” Griffin teased.

“Perhaps Lord Wolf could demonstrate to this worthless bunch what we are trying to teach them,” Jason added.

“I know!” Randel said as if he had an idea. “Perhaps he can defeat a girl.”

Even the new Rangers chuckled at that. Catherine had bested them all when she’d joined their sword practices. They had yet to see her go up against Thomas.

“I think he’s afraid to test his skills against me,” Catherine said to torment him more.

To this point, Thomas had refused under the guise that it was his job to protect her. The truth was, he didn’t think he could hit a girl. But he’d been listening to this line for almost a year. Frost whined when Thomas decided to go ahead and teach Catherine a lesson.

“It’s just practice swords. She can’t get hurt,” Thomas promised his direwolf.

Frost growled at him to let him know that she would still bite him if need be.

“Yes!” Griffin bellowed when he realized this was finally happening.

“Don’t worry, Frost. I won’t hurt him ... much,” Catherine taunted.

The Rangers formed a circle so they could all see the action. Alek handed each of the contestants a practice sword.

Catherine flew at him without warning. Her two-handed chop flowed into a one-handed swing and then thrust. Thomas blocked and parried, the wooden sword vibrating in his hand.

He mentally chastised himself because Catherine had as much sword training as he’d had growing up, if not more. She was also small and quick. Thomas knew that she hoped to score an early win before he overpowered her. He let the rhythm of the bout wash over him as he played defense.

Thomas laughed, and his gray eyes glittered with joy. He hadn’t faced anyone as technically skilled as Catherine since he’d gone up against his former teacher and mentor, Sword Master Nathan.

As they fought, he felt something shift inside him. His crystal warmed as he lost himself in the rhythm of their battle. It stilled his mind, and through the stillness came certainty. He hadn’t nearly reached his potential as a sword fighter.

A shadow crossed Catherine’s face. It was as if she could tell that Thomas was playing with her. Thomas saw a touch of fear in her eyes.

He actually felt his heart rate begin to slow, and the pounding in his chest lessen. Yes, she was masterful, but Catherine’s attack had played out, and she had been unable to come close to landing a single hit. Thomas waggled his eyebrows at her and then launched his own attack.

“A sword is divided into two halves,” Thomas taught his men as he chased Catherine around the yard. “The strong half is from the middle of the blade to the hilt, and the weak is the tip. It all comes down to leverage. And we want as much leverage as we can get.”

“One should avoid using a reverse grip,” Thomas said as he switched to it to demonstrate.

“It looks flashy,” he said as he made a few showy moves, “but you lose the ability to protect above, and your reach suffers. Both are important if you want to stay alive.”

Thomas switched back to a regular grip and came at Catherine with a purpose. He made several lightning-fast swings at Catherine’s head, forcing her to take her own sword into both hands to protect herself from his thunderous blows.

“Notice how I move to keep her in front of me, and I don’t make any massive swings where I draw back for greater power. If I were to, I would expect Catherine to simply stab me. That is why you want to keep your blade out in front, preferably with the pointy end aimed at your opponent’s chest.”

Thomas smiled when he saw her feet shift slightly as he swung high again, giving her an opening to demonstrate what he had just told them.

Catherine raised her sword in a feint as she ducked and stabbed at his stomach. If he hadn’t been centered, Thomas was sure she would have run him through. To be honest, he didn’t think many would have been able to avoid it. Thomas simply shifted his feet and was suddenly at her side. He used the flat of his blade to smack her butt as he casually walked past her.

“First blood is mine,” Thomas announced to the chuckles of his Rangers.

Catherine rubbed her bottom and glared at him.

“First doesn’t matter, Lord Wolf. What matters is that by the end of today, you will have to give me your wolf cape. I will take your title and be known as Princess Wolf.”

As she strutted around the ring, receiving her accolades from his Rangers for her excellent retort, Thomas rushed her. He sent a thrust that, had it landed, would have disemboweled his opponent. He grinned like a madman when she was able to sidestep his attack and deflect his blade at the last moment. Thomas twisted his sword and thrust at her front leg. Catherine used her off hand to push his arm away to avoid being stabbed.

“Sword fighting should be done up close and personal. You can’t kill your opponent while standing back. You also need to use whatever is available. In that case, she used her off hand to push my sword aside. If she were stronger, I would suggest that she grab my wrist and hold on. If I can’t swing my blade while hers is free...” Thomas trailed off to let them figure it out.

Catherine had had enough of Thomas’s teaching moments. What followed was an almost blurred exchange of attacks and counterattacks as the two of them began a dance of death. Both of them showed their skill as they fought on instinct. It was as if they were trading blows without a thought.

Finally, their swords came together, with splinters flying. Catherine shoved hard to try to move him, but Thomas held his ground. They both were covered in perspiration, and Thomas could see that Catherine was breathing heavily. He knew she couldn’t go on much longer.

“I think we call it a draw,” Thomas offered.

“Afraid a girl will beat you?” Catherine fired back.

Thomas could have kissed her at that moment. He liked that she never backed down.

“I’m just afraid of scaring the children.”

Catherine blinked, and he could see that she’d forgotten that they had an audience.

“A draw is as good as a win. At least you get to go home alive,” Alek suggested.

“You’re right. I can’t have it known that Thomas was bested by a mere girl in front of his troops.”

“We couldn’t have that,” Thomas said to give the princess her moment.

Frost whined.

“Looks like another girl says it’s time to eat. Everyone, get cleaned up, and we’ll have lunch. This afternoon we practice with the horse bows,” Thomas announced to give his men the schedule for the day.

The new recruits all groaned. They were all proud of their skills with a bow. Riding a horse and hitting a target was much harder than standing and shooting. Thomas hadn’t relented in their training because something told him that they would need those skills at some point.

Jemma was in the barracks cooking while Boris entertained himself with a carrot. When he saw his Uncle Thomas, he raised his hands to be picked up.

“How’s my little man today?” Thomas asked.

Thomas found it amusing that Frost wanted nothing to do with the little attention-sucker. She nudged Thomas with her nose so he didn’t forget his favorite direwolf.

“All right. I’ll make you a bowl of food,” Thomas promised as he handed Boris to his mother.

Everyone sat down to eat. Catherine usually joined the Rangers in the morning and would go back to the castle for afternoon studies. Thomas had assigned Griffin to guard her during her classes because he felt the young man would someday make a fine commander. Griffin took part in Catherine’s studies to bolster his education.

When they were done eating and about to go to the stables, there was a knock at the barracks door. It was Ava, the bow maker. She was busy making enough horse bows for all the new Rangers. The process of making one took much longer than a standard bow.

“I have five more today and will have the rest next week,” Ava said as she handed them over to Thomas.

He, in turn, gave them to Alek, who looked them over.

“I’ve been meaning to ask how you make these. It doesn’t look like the horse bows are made from a single piece of wood like a normal bow,” Alek said.

“I ended up having to take apart the bow Thomas gave me to model them after. The bows are layers of horn, wood, and sinew, with the wood providing the basic structure. The horn is in compression on the curves’ insides and the sinew in tension on the outside of the curves. That is what makes them so powerful despite their small size,” Ava explained.