Dark Blade

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Meikah walked faster, wanting to leave her sister and her comments behind. Reaching the front door, her steps again slowed. Behind her was Ena, ahead three strangers. Neither option sounded good.

“Are you having second thoughts?”

Her hand curled into a fist and she had to force her fingers to straighten. “No.” She swung the door open and stepped inside the entrance hall. She froze when she saw her grandmother.

Ena pushed past her. “Is something wrong, Grandmother Isha?”

“You’ll never be too old that I can’t send you to your room for impertinence.” After a sharp look for Ena, Isha turned to Meikah. “They’re waiting for you in the parlour.” She came forward and took Meikah’s hands. “Your grandfather will be so proud when he hears what you did, saving that man’s life.”

“I don’t want to be a necromancer.” She looked at the familiar face of her grandmother, deep lines carved into the leathery skin of her face, her long hair completely white and braided to hang down her back.

“Do you plan to raise the dead?”

“No.”

“Then you have nothing to fear.” Isha tightened her grip a moment before letting go. “They’re waiting for you. Hold you head high and look them in the eye. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Yet,” Ena muttered, stepping back when Isha turned to glare at her.

Meikah was tempted to say it didn’t feel like it. If it wasn’t seeing spirits and having magic then it was failing her exam. Her father’s family consisted of generations of templars. She didn’t want to be the one to end that tradition. She glanced at her sister before she slowly walked towards the parlour. Ena certainly wouldn’t be the one who did that.

Reaching the closed door, she knocked softly, half hoping no one would hear her.

“Enter.”

At the sound of Harlen’s voice, she took a step backwards. Her grandfather was here? Things were worse than she feared. They often saw Maksim, when he was between assignments, but Harlen tended to only visit when there was a problem.

The door swung open. Harlen remained in the doorway, his permanent frown seeming deeper than usual, his black and silver hair neatly styled, his clothes of the finest fabric. “Did you not hear me?”

Meikah nodded.

“Then why are you standing there?”

She could think of nothing to say. Harlen wouldn’t accept fear as a suitable answer. Taking a step forward, she waited for her grandfather to move out of the way.

He remained in place. “You will not shame our family.” His voice was low.

Meikah nodded, trying to swallow past the lump that had formed in her throat. Had her trainer told him about the exam? Again she saw herself drop the sword, the clatter loud in the silent room.

Harlen stepped back, waiting until Meikah was in the room before he closed the door.

She could feel him at her back, a formidable presence preventing retreat. Glancing around the room, she saw both her parents, her grandmother Sirena, a trainer from the Templar Academy, another man and a woman. From past experience, she guessed Isha had disagreed with what was to come and had been asked to leave the room. It never made a difference. Isha always followed her own path.

Raising her chin, she met the many stares, refusing to let them send her running. Not that she could run anyway. Harlen was in the way. “You wanted to see me?” If Isha could face their combined forces, then she could too. Didn’t her mother often say she was like her grandmother? Although it was never in a complimentary way.

“We’ve arranged for you to attend the Dark Blade Academy.” Heron gestured towards the woman that stood to one side.

It took a few seconds for her father’s words to sink in. “I failed?” She looked towards the templar trainer.

“Your exam results don’t matter. Your skills will be more suited to the Dark Blade Academy,” Heron said.

“But I don’t want to be an assassin,” Meikah blurted out.

“We will not have you become a necromancer.”

She stepped to the side at her grandfather’s words so she could see him. The protest she started to make died when she saw her grandfather’s expression. She faced her father. “Why can’t I be a templar?”

“You belong in our academy,” the woman said.

The man took half a step forward. “With her talents she’d do better at the Spell Sword Academy.”

When an argument broke out, Meikah glanced towards the door. Harlen remained in the way, his voice the loudest in the room. She looked towards the window, the view showing the cobblestone street that passed the front of their two-storey house. There was no escape out that way. Her mother was in the way, shaking her head when the templar trainer suggested familiar surroundings without magic was the best option.

Meikah retreated to the side of the room, wanting to fade into the dark timber panelling of the wall. Her hand brushed across her pocket and she remembered the parchment she’d pushed in there, dreading the moment she had to hand it over to her parents. A glance towards them showed no one was paying her any attention. She drew out the parchment, her gaze fixed on the seal stamped in the drop of red wax. The seal of the Templar Academy. The place where her parents had trained. The place her grandfather and his mother before him had trained. Even Maksim had eventually been allowed to become a templar, having first been trained by Harlen.

“Are you going to open it?”

Meikah looked from the woman to the spot she’d stood in. “How long have you been there?”

The woman smiled fleetingly, nodding towards the parchment. “It won’t make a difference, but curiosity is always a healthy thing. Knowledge is power.”

“If you’re an assassin.”

“No matter who you are.”

Meikah’s gaze returned to the parchment, staring at it a moment longer before she slid her fingers under the drop of wax. She unfolded the parchment, staring at the sprawled writing of the director of the Templar Academy. It took a few seconds for the results to sink in. She’d passed. Barely, but it was still a pass.

“We will expect better of you than that,” the woman said.

“I don’t want to be an assassin.”

“Would you rather be a necromancer?”

“No.” She spoke in a rush. “Of course I don’t.”

“Then you’ll become an assassin. Being able to see the dead is an asset for those trained to go places where others try to keep you from entering.”

“And my magic?”

“You’ll forget about it and learn to rely on the skill of your blades. Or the bow if you’re that way inclined.”

She almost told the woman she couldn’t use a bow. But that would have meant explaining why she was certain she couldn’t use one. She doubted she’d be able to tell the woman beside her that she’d accidentally shot her trainer in the arm and he’d refused to return. “I prefer a sword.”

“You’ll learn to prefer a dagger.” The woman smiled slightly. “It’s settled. I’ll see you at the academy tomorrow morning. We have a lot of work to cover. When you enter the building go straight ahead, turning at the first corridor on the left. It’s the third classroom on the right.” She strode towards the door. “There’s nothing more to argue about. I’ve settled it with the girl. She’ll be at the academy in the morning.” She faced Harlen. “Is there a reason you continue to bar the door?”

Meikah was surprised to see her grandfather look flustered. In minutes the room was empty of all but her parents, her grandfather having warned her once more not to shame the family before he and her grandmother left.