• Chapter Two


    Years passed by, each season making the stubborn, proud young girl older and wiser. She learnt that by keeping her mouth shut she heard more. Others, who had known her since she was a mere child, said in knowing tones, "The girl has just settled. She knows her place in the world now. She won't worry her pretty head about troublesome things such as peasants nowadays."
    But they were wrong. They were all wrong. The rebellion was still there, buried under skirts and lace and makeup. Inside the beautiful young woman, the spirit of the little girl battled on.

    "Lia," One of the ladies of the court, which Lia was now officially part of, thanks to her mother, said one day, "You should really take a litter next time you go about the city. How can you bear being so close to those dirty peasants?" She shuddered delicately.
    Lia's hands, which had been sewing, stilled. There was a long, uncomfortable silence as every girl, even those who had no right to listen, waited to hear what the girl would come out with. She had been notorious for insulting 'ignorant' nobles in her younger days.
    Finally, Lia looked up. "I must answer your question with a question of my own, I'm afraid, Patricia." She waited for the other woman to nod, then continued. "How can you bear being surrounded by servants and slaves alike all day?"
    "Well, they do chores." Patricia said, uncertain of her point. "They don't mean anything. I don't even notice them, half the time."
    "Have you ever had a conversation that doesn't involve them doing something for you?" Lia asked, gazing at her levelly.
    "No." The other girl was getting flustered, though she wasn't quite sure why. Lia's eyes were rather unnerving. They were such a bright green that other greens paled beside the colour.
    Lia nodded as if this confirmed something. "Well, I have. I know the names of the servants, and the slaves, and I know where each of them comes from. I know that one has three children, and another has five. I don't just snub them because I am born into nobility; being truly noble is something you earn. We are all people, and as such I have no issue walking amongst fellow people."
    Another young Lady laughed. "Surely you cannot be saying that they are proper people, like us?"
    Lia turned her unnerving gaze on the new speaker, who wished she had kept her mouth shut. "If they are not people, Eden, what are they? Fish?"
    Eden blushed. "I did not mean it that way."
    "Yes, you did." Lia informed her. That said, the young woman returned to her sewing as if nothing had happened. She even struck up a conversation with her neighbour about the chilly weather of late.
    The other women all exchanged glances. This was not normal. No noble in their right mind considered slaves worthy of real conversation. Most were under the impression that slaves were too stupid. This unsettled them; they came dangerously close to feeling guilty about the way they treated their servants.
    But that night, each and every one, excepting Lia, of course, ordered her slaves around as usual. After all, that's what they were for, they told themselves.

    Everyone knew that Lia was a tiny bit strange. For one, she didn't participate in the flirting and discarding of the men of court, and she preferred the library to the sitting room. But the one odd thing they held above all others was her love for weapons and training with them. Most ladies would turn up their dainty noses and shudder their pretty way through compulsory practices, but not Lia. She got up earlier than the others, then snuck out and practised for an hour, and then she did the same at night, if there were no social events she had to attend. Her piercing green eyes would sparkle, and her movements were pure poetry. She had the knack for it, and no mistake. As her training master had once said; "Agh, Milady, if only you was a man, you could reach your full potential."
    Alas, this was not the case. Her mother, although horrified that her daughter would be exceptional at such a "brutish, unladylike sport", could do nothing to stop Lia from mastering the sword, bow, spear and various types of knives. The knives were a secret, though. No one apart from Lia and the man who taught her the skills knew. The man, Jek, had grown up in a less-than-honourable household and knew all the knife tricks there were. He taught her how to throw them, where the vulnerable points were, and he even got hold of a set for her to own.
    But all of this was for nothing. Lia couldn't carry even one knife in the tight bodice that all young ladies were strapped into; nor could she carry a sword or sling a bow and quiver over her shoulder.
    And so began her search for a weapon which could be hidden in plain sight.