Common (The Lora Fletcher Chronicles Book 1) Page 5

  That afternoon, Lora was given an atlatl and darts and told to think of the weapon as an extension of her arm as she hurled the darts toward a target. By the end of her lesson, she had started getting her darts close to the target. She considered this progress.

  She was quiet at dinner in spite of her new friends’ attempts to draw her out. She answered in one word, one syllable responses when she was able, and she barely touched her food. She only brightened when Peter mentioned he was going to study in the library.

  “Library?”

  Peter nodded. “Yes, it has a bunch of tables and chairs and stuff in it. Good places for studying when you’re trying to stay awake,” he told her.

  “Can I come with?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  Lora smiled. She had a vague recollection of seeing the library with Bobby, but with everything that had happened over the last few days, she had forgotten about it. If what Peter said was right, it would be easier to stay awake there and she might actually finish her assignments. The whole table decided it would be a good idea and they agreed to meet at the entrance once they had bathed and changed. Everyone was always too hungry to bother before dinner. It made for an interesting experience, but everyone was too famished to care.

  When they were dressed, Catty grabbed Lora’s arm and slung hers through it. “You haven’t been yourself since history,” she told her friend. “Forget about the debate.”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t know what they were talking about.”

  Catty winced. “So you’ve led a sheltered life. We just have to get you up to speed. Maybe talk about politics during meals. Something other than listening to Dain’s one-sided verbal dialog. Etiquette too.”

  “Did Peter talk to you?” Lora asked.

  “Yes, he said you felt bad for asking for help,” she admitted. “Don’t feel bad. You’re here. You have to learn this stuff. You’re a swordwielder, so there’s no way you’d be allowed to do anything but serve the crown. You might as well make it a little easier on yourself.”

  Lora ground her teeth. Service to the crown? It made sense the way everyone was going on, but it hadn’t really occurred to her. What she could do was rare and valuable, so of course the king and his advisors would want to use her however they could. “Sure,” she said, resigned. It would have helped if she’d wanted to serve the crown. All she wanted was to return to her village without destroying it, so anything extra was making her even more miserable than she already was.

  “Good,” Catty replied, giving Lora’s arm a squeeze. “There they are.”

  She allowed herself to be guided into the library and then into a small room set aside for group study. She placed her books on the table and asked where the history section was. Once she was pointed there, Lora went in search of books on Korlisse.

  Overwhelmed by the sheer number of books all in one place, Lora quickly became lost. Was it on the second floor or in the second aisle past the librarians’ work area? Cursing herself for wasting valuable time, she was not paying attention and ran into something—someone.

  “I’m sorry,” Lora said in dismay and the person’s papers spilled all over the floor around them.

  She was answered with laughter. “Don’t worry about it, my dear. Just help an old man pick them up. I can sort them out later.”

  “Lord Cedric.” Lora was mortified. Her favorite teacher!

  The theory of war teacher smiled. “You’re new. First sevenday here, I’d say, by the look of you. Like a startled deer, you are. You must be our new swordwielder then. What are you called?”

  “Lorana of Haven Dale. Lord Allistair is my cousin,” she said as she gathered up the papers. She felt as meek as a mouse.

  “Are you?” His eyebrow shot up in amusement, his attention taken from their task. “Are you closely related? Do you live in the keep? I’ve been there a number of times, and I can’t recall seeing you.”

  Lorana swallowed. “No, we are only distantly related. I grew up in the village.”

  Lord Cedric nodded thoughtfully. “I see,” he said. “What were you looking for, young Lorana of Haven Dale? You have helped me. Let me help you.”

  “The section on history,” she said with a wince. “I’m behind in my studies. I need some…” She paused, trying to think of the word Mistress Diane had used. “Realization? Especially on the war with Korlisse.”

  “I’m sure you do, if you grew up in the village,” Lord Cedric told her. “What specifically did you need to know?”

  Lora bit her lip. “Why we’ve fought with them. I… I was asked to sit down during class because I could not pick a side to debate. I don’t know anything about the war beyond the fact that I have uncles who died fighting in the last one.”

  “Have you looked at a map?” he asked. When Lora nodded hesitantly, he continued. “What do we have that they don’t? You can tell just by looking at the map. That will answer one of the confounded reasons for those wars.”

  She raised her fingers to her mouth, but found she had no nails left to chew on. Frowning, she clasped her hands behind her back. “I’ve only seen the map a couple of times. Twice, actually.”

  “The sea,” Lord Cedric supplied. “They do not have access to the sea. The mountains and our country divide them from it. They wish to have access to it for trade. They have a formidable navy though, in spite of this.”

  “So it is about money.”

  “Indirectly, yes. But there are other reasons for it too. King Gerald doesn’t get along with King Shane. They both like to insult each other in… indirect ways and wait and see how long it takes the other to understand the implications. There have also been some betrayals in the past.”

  Lora looked thoughtful. “Personal then. Kind of like why the butcher in our quarter won’t speak to the blacksmith.”

  Lord Cedric chuckled. “I’m sure of it. You see, you don’t need remediation, Miss Lorana. You just need a few extra details.”

  “My… friends are trying to help me.”

  “They sound like good sorts. Who have you fallen in with?”

  “Catty—Catherine, Peter, Genea, Dain, and Prince Regan.”

  “A fine bunch,” he told her. “I have been asked to call Catherine “Catty” as well. Her mother is called Catherine, and she likes to distinguish herself from her.”

  She hesitated a moment. “I’m called Lora.”

  “It’s been a pleasure, young Lora.” Lord Cedric smiled. “Come find me again when you have need for remediation.” He patted her on the head and walked away.

  Lora stared after him a moment and then walked back to the study room. She sat down at the table and opened her book of fairy tales. She had a charcoal pencil poised over a piece of parchment when Dain interrupted her thoughts.

  “Couldn’t you find the history section?” he asked, gesturing to the fact she was working on something other than history. “I knew I should’ve gone with you. The library can be confusing if you haven’t been in it before.”

  “I ran into Lord Cedric. He… He helped me.” Lora lifted her gaze and met Dain’s eyes.

  Regan nodded. “He does that. Helps out, I mean. Even if it’s not his class, if he knows someone is struggling, he’ll talk to them. Never even know he’s teaching, he makes it so simple. Did he tell you what you needed to know?”

  Lora nodded. “Even though I wasted time wandering around, I still saved time because I don’t have to sift through a bunch of books to find what I needed.” She paused. “He’s nice.”

  “One of the best,” Genea agreed.

  Mistress Diane did not call on Lora to speak in class the next day. It was Lord Cedric who did.

  “Miss Lorana. Lorana of Haven Dale,” Lord Cedric’s voice boomed. “Tell us what most would consider justification for going to war.”

  A few hundred faces turned to look at her and her face burned. “Money,” her voice wavered.

  “Can you be more specific?”

  Lora took a deep breat
h. “Trade?”

  “Is that a question or an answer?”

  “An answer.” She started counting in her head.

  Lord Cedric turned to the blackboard behind him. “Very good. And what else?”

  She was a little shocked he would ask her exactly what they had discussed the night before. He had to know that she knew the answers. She swallowed and said, “Personal. Insults and the like.”

  “Indeed,” he replied. Lord Cedric then smoothly transitioned into a lecture on his favorite topic, the Korlissean wars, specifically the debates on what started them.

  Catty lingered behind in theory of war once the rest of the group had moved on to diplomacy. She didn’t particularly care if she was late. Master Franklin wouldn’t notice anyway. She waited in the short line behind the students who had unanswered questions at the end of class. When it was her turn, he smiled indulgently at her.

  “That was a nice thing you did for Lora,” she told him.

  Lord Cedric’s lips twitched. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “She told us she ran into you last night,” Catty explained. “You notice everything. You knew she just needed a little nudge. Something to let her know that she could do this.”

  “Lora seems a sweet girl. Her upbringing…” Lord Cedric searched his mind for a good way to say his next sentence. “Her upbringing was different than most others here. Her family’s wealth is likely infinitesimal compared to really almost anyone else’s here. She isn’t stupid. Her schooling probably ended a couple of years ago, if I’m correct in assuming she just went to the village schoolhouse with the common children. The lessons in those schools are only one or two mornings a sevenday and they cover basic reading and arithmetic. History is not taught. Literature is not taught. She is a… very distant relation to Lord Allistair she said, so it’s very unlikely she had any exposure to other nobles in the area.” He paused for a breath. “She told me who her friends were. She could not have fallen in with a better group to help her along.”

  Catty beamed. “I like her, for all we’ve known each other a few days,” she replied. “Her manners are coarse and she isn’t well read at all. But she’s sweet and she fits in with our group. Of course we’d help her. We help each other enough!”

  “Make sure you let her see that the others in the group need help too,” Lord Cedric told her. “She has a harder road ahead of her than most, especially considering her being a swordwielder. That seems like a good joke the gods are playing on her.” He cleared his throat. “Now get along with you. Master Franklin will notice your tardiness if you delay any longer.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The next couple of days went by in a blur. Lora was anticipating and dreading her one-on-one swordwielding class. Well, maybe not one-on-one. Dain would be there. But she was frightened all the same. She hoped the teacher was nice and not like Lord Jeremy, whom she despised.

  Dain held his arm out to her after dinner the day their class was held. “You ready for this?” he asked. “It’s the best of both worlds. It’ll get you excited about being here if nothing else.”

  Lora smiled and took his arm. She tried not to be jealous of everyone rushing past on their way to study. While she wanted to learn more about her abilities, she also lamented the two hours of lost study time when she was so far behind in her classes.

  She was led to a small classroom with a half dozen desks in it. In spite of the small amount of seating, it was a large room. Lora figured this was because of its dual purpose of wielding and swordsplay. They’d need to learn theory as well as practice their skills. She quickly realized they were in the stone building, which was fortuitous, considering she was strong in firewielding.

  “Master Dain, Miss Lorana,” a short, burly man half grunted at them when they entered.

  “This is Lord Robert,” Dain told her. “Lord Michael should be along soon.”

  Lora blinked. “Lord Michael is a swordwielder?”

  Dain frowned. “I didn’t tell you? I could’ve sworn I did. But yes, he is.”

  Lord Michael entered just then and gestured for them all to sit. “The next sevenday or so will be review for Master Dain here and new to Miss Lorana. You’re called Lora, am I correct? Lord Cedric said something about you liking to be called something other than your given name.”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “I go by Lora.”

  The two teachers looked at each other and clapped. The room was then filled with rain, thunder, and lightning. One of the desks sprouted roots and began growing through the floor. The men clapped again and all was silent. The floors were dry. The desk was no longer rooted to the floor. They then stood and drew their swords. Michael’s burst into flame and he lunged toward Robert. Robert never moved. The flaming sword struck an unseen barrier and bounced off. The two men smiled and the flames in the sword died.

  “Those are the basics of what we do,” Lord Robert explained. “We take the best of both worlds and use it to suit our strengths. We both prefer the sword as a weapon—“

  “But like you two, we can use any,” Lord Michael interrupted.

  Lord Robert rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes. But you will have a favorite weapon, Lora. Dain here favors the axe. So that is what we practice with him the most.”

  “We use applied theory of war to understand how our presence can impact a battle, both positively and negatively,” Lord Michael continued. “Nothing you learn in your other classes is left unused here.”

  “Even etiquette?” Lora asked.

  Lord Michael laughed. “Especially etiquette. You will see how later. Now. Lord Jeremy has apprised us of your testing. Have you practiced any of the wieldings other than air and fire?”

  When she shook her head, Lord Robert hmmph’ed. “I suppose it’s fine considering it was only your second class yesterday. And your swordsplay classes. I know you haven’t done much there either, but do you think you might favor one weapon over another?”

  “The bow,” Lorana blurted out. “We haven’t tried it yet here, but it was popular in my village.”

  Lord Robert stroked his goatee. “A never ending stream of flaming arrows that don’t gutter out.”

  “Eruptions of earth and rock wherever your arrows strike,” Lord Michael added. “Arrows able to fly swift and true through hurricane force winds.” He smiled. “Are you beginning to understand?”

  Lora smiled. “I think I am.”

  “Of course, we’re a long ways from that with you,” Lord Michael said. “For the next while, we’ll only be talking theory. Then we’ll move up to very basic combinations. You have to have very firm foundations before you can move on.”

  “How long will that take?” she asked.

  Lord Robert laughed. “You want to answer that, Dain?”

  “Well…” Dain began. He bit his lip and furrowed his brow. “I don’t think you let me try anything for about three years.” When Lora’s eye widened in dismay, he continued, “Of course, I was slower to learn than most.”

  “Possibly,” Lord Robert said as he rolled his eyes. “But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone begin practicum before two and a half years of theory.”

  “Then I will be the first.” Lora hoped she sounded more bold and confident than she felt.

  The three men laughed. “I love to be proven wrong,” Robert said with a grin. “Now, we will use Dain as an example for most things. It’s good for him to reinforce what he has already learned practically. Hopefully it will wake up things he has forgotten in his fervor to perfect his axe skills. And it will be nice to focus on some of his weaker wielding skills.”

  “I knew having another swordwielder here was too good to be true,” Dain lamented.

  “You forget Louis, Dain,” Lord Michael admonished. “He may only be able to make small shields of air for very short periods of time, but he is still a member of our small group. I’m hoping to get him to push himself so he might try some illusion with his gift.” He turned to Lora. “He attends wielder theory classes and
drops in here from time to time. He would prefer not to, but he is what he is, and it can’t be ignored.”

  Lora let those words sink in. She clung to them and committed them to memory. If anything would get her through this, it would be that. She could not ignore what she was, common or swordwielder, so she would have to face how those things affected her. She needed to learn to use her talents. She could not blame her shortcomings on her upbringing and social status. She would have to find a way to embrace it.

  CHAPTER 10

  The autumn flew past. Lora’s days began to blend together, and she developed a routine. Her literature was still dismal. She could not yet read anything beyond her book of fairy tales, but was able to read it cover to cover without stumbling. Her interpretations of the text were still rudimentary, but she felt good about her progress.

  In mathematics, she was above average. Master Charles complimented her on her strong fundamentals. Lora was sad that she could not give credit to her account keeping for her father, but she took any praise and treasured it close. Mathematics became a kind of morning sanctuary for her.

  She struggled in history and diplomacy and would have been failing both had she not continued to run into Lord Cedric on a regular basis. After the fifth or sixth time, she asked him to tutor her outright. Lora was a little mortified at her presumption, but Lord Cedric just laughed and told her he had wondered when she would get up the gumption to ask.

  Lora knew her friends were helping her wherever they could, but nowhere was it more evident than with etiquette. When on the first day back after her first restday, Dain announced that his mother had set down an ultimatum for him. His table manners had become so atrocious that she was having staff spy on him, and she would have them report to her if he was not adhering to the rules. She had threatened his pocket money, so he must comply, he said. The others took his lead, which made Lora roll her eyes, but they soon set a very fine and proper table.

  In addition to table manners, other aspects of proper behavior were reinforced. None of the girls in their group went anywhere without being on the arm of one of the boys. Proper bows and curtsies were required and enforced, as were proper titles. Lora was mortified to be bowed and curtsied to and called “miss” by her friends. She had no right to even that humble title, and no noble ever bent knee to a commoner. She hated lying to her friends, especially when they went to such lengths to help her. All she could hope for was to get the hang of everything soon so they could go back to eating and acting as they had in the beginning.