As a fading light splashed the hills, Jane waited at the midpoint of a wide pedestrian bridge. At the far end, stood Isaac with his arms crossed, ready to begin.

  “Good.” He said. “You got here in time,”

  Jane flapped her arms.

  ~Now what?~ She signed.

  “Now? The first lesson will always be: Never let your guard down.”

  The flagstones twisted away, sending Jane into the rushing waters below. Swept up by the current, she bobbed helplessly around, half-above and half-drowning, barely keeping afloat. Luckily, any further progress was halted by a fallen tree. Exhausted, she managed to haul her body onto the trunk. Not bothering to check if she was alright, Puffles left her to recover and returned to the riverbank. Pushing out a heavy sigh, Jane shook off her hands and quickly followed.

  ***

  The pair tracked through a tunnel, leading to a spiral pathway above an underground forest. They followed a path around the body of a gigantic tree, wide as a skyscraper and hundreds of feet tall. It was one of many, making up a small clump of closely bunched trees, lit in small measure by sparse moonlight creeping in through the top of the Volcano. Jane felt tremendous unease throughout the journey, yet Puffles and Isaac remained silent. At the base of the Oak - in a somewhat fugue state - was a cream-coloured Dragon, barely keeping itself awake. Jane kept back, while Puffles showed no fear or hostility toward the beast.

  “There he is,” Isaac said. “Sleeping on the job as always.”

  The Dragon raised an eyelid halfway and snorted indignantly.

  “Firstly, it’s not a job; therefore, I have nothing to feel guilty about. Also, you are the one who let himself in, with not so much as an invitation.”

  “Ehhhh?” Puffles said. “Is that a complaint I hear? Pretty cheeky for a young pup. May I remind you, I’m the reason you’re not chopped up and stored in some old war Druid’s stash cupboard?”

  “You may not, since I already know.”

  Glancing back, Isaac saw Jane shiver with fear.

  “Come now,” He said. “There’s no need to be afraid. I’d like you to meet Prince Ryu, he’s completely harmless. If anything, he’s the world’s most bone-idle Dragon.”

  “It’s not a three-moon Solstice yet, what am I supposed to do in that time?”

  “You can look after your kids, ya deadbeat!” Puffles said, shaking his sheathed sword.

  Ryu gave a little shrug. “I taught them how to survive, how to forage and how to fend for themselves. Everything else would be interference. I remind them to keep training every day and manage in moderation.”

  “Well, you’re in luck because we have a recruit.”

  Intrigued, the Dragon made an effort to open both eyes.

  “Huh?” Ryu said. “Was she sacrificed also?”

  Panic-stricken, Jane turned to Puffles for an explanation.

  “Don’t use the word ‘sacrifice’ when speaking as a Dragon! You’ll scare her off!”

  “Then I suggest you explain it quickly, before she does a runner.”

  Puffles sighed and turned to Jane, while Isaac translated.

  “Alright, listen up, because you’ll be here for some time, so it’s best to explain.” He sat and made himself comfortable. “Long ago, I rescued a tiny Dragon and kept him safe inside this dried-out Volcano. As the years passed, he grew into five storeys of armoured annoyance, whose rumoured existence attracted the attention of nearby royals. As you’d expect, they sent a team of Renardine Knights to vanquish the demon beast.”

  “Pfft!” Ryu snorted. “’ Demon’. I ask you.”

  “Don’t interrupt!” Puffles said. “Needless to see, every effort was in vain, resulting in a mass loss of life, The Royals quickly realised they were running low on champions, so to appease the beast, they sacrificed their eldest daughters, all of whom were none too thrilled at the prospect of being shoved into an abyss.”

  Jane shot the Dragon a nervous look.

  “I don’t know what gave them that idea,” Ryu said. Humans are not filling at all. It would be like you lot eating Wishbones for dinner. Disgusting.”

  “Anyway,” Puffles continued. “This Dragon rescued each Princess who fell. Of course, he couldn’t just have all these girls hanging around with no purpose, so he used his expertise and taught them the art of theft, stealth, assassination, and living off the land. They can never return home, being a Princess means they will always be recognised. Also, the risk of being burnt as a Witch for surviving the Dragon’s so-called ‘wrath’.”

  “Yes, I’m all about the wrath,” Ryu said, yawning. “Sleep mad, I guess.”

  Slightly less apprehensive, Jane looked confused.

  ~So what happened to all the daughters?~

  Isaac smiled and gestured to the trees. “See for yourself.”

  Jane turned around and was shocked to see at least thirty women in Kitsune masks, dressed in hooded woollen cloaks.

  They’re like Ninjas. She thought.

  “The ‘Sisters of Sacrifice.’” Isaac said. “Each one a discarded Princess, reborn among the trees.”

  “This is where you come in,” Puffles said, returning to the Dragon. “Our little friend here needs training.. It will have to be intense, maybe for something tougher than a thief?”

  Ryu tilted his head upward in consideration. “Then let me introduce her to the Assassination class.”

  ***

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Puffles led Jane to a small forest, brightly lit by the beam of three moons. Handing the girl an axe, he gestured a cutting motion with the flat of his hand, alternating between up and down, before walking off. Still fatigued by the journey to the surface, Jane hefted the axe up and struck the tree. It did nothing. Any strength she had was lost in the river. She gripped the handle tightly, blinked her eyes and tried again. This was the ‘Lesson of the Sword’.

  A week later, she was taken to another area, deep within a coal mine and handed a metal bar with a sharp point at both ends. Through Isaac, Puffles instructed her to dig and fill three mine carts. This was the ‘Lesson of the Spear.’ Over a year, Jane lost all sense of time and was gifted strikes in the form of penalties. The worse she performed, the more penalties she would receive. Weeks passed into months with the routine unchanged:

  To test her stamina, Jane was woken up at three in the morning and made to jog a four-mile circuit through treacherous mountain trails. The penalty for failure was that her left arm was turned into Jelly.

  She was taken to a log course to test her coordination, where logs swung back and forth on a frame. The object was to run between the logs, while holding up a dustbin lid to deflect the rocks thrown at her. The penalty: Constant dizzy spells. All day, every day.

  Losing balance failed and meant standing under a waterfall for an hour, only shielded by the dustbin lid.

  “Again!” Ryu would cry.

  She was made to stand on two of ten blocks of wood to test her balance. One wood would be kicked out, forcing her to step on another at speed. Falling off meant being hit with a branch. Penalty: The unending sensation of wriggling, writhing maggots crawling on her body.

  “Again!”

  On the first day of every month, she was tasked with chasing a chicken through a sewer, where jets of fire would shoot out at random intervals. Failure was an inevitable burning; a suitable punishment that needed no extra.

  “Again!”

  Many times, Jane felt like she would break. The days she spent exhausted, she questioned what she was doing there and why. Would she ever improve? Is it easier just to quit and accept her limitations? Is that something she could live with in her quieter moments?

  “Again!”

  “Again!”

  . “Again!”

  That word became a splinter in her brain, a curse of all ages, and an instrument of misery. She began to doubt herself intensely, wondering if she would ever succeed. These doubts came when she least expected it; either halfway through a course, or in mid-meal and every time she would find a reason to keep going. Her body was sore because it craved comfort and idleness. Her mind was full of doubt because it had not been challenged.

  “Self-doubt is the barrier to providence,” Ryu said, after another bad workout. “Every day, the shadows will come for you. They will tell you that you are not good enough and should give up and stay down. They will call you a failure and weak. But you know something they don’t. They are shadows for a reason. They are shadows…because they are nothing. They have already given themselves to weakness; already consumed by envy and sloth. All they see in you is the person they could have become, if they hadn’t given UP.”

  By the eighteenth month, Jane was improving with every passing day. Despite the communication gap, she managed to find some friends among the Sisters of Sacrifice who knew sign language. When not training, they would hang out, share chores and tell stories about the places they came from. In one case, a group known as ‘The Projectors’ would speculate about the cryptic meanings of one Princess’s past loves. This level of intrusion aggravated the Princess to the point where she used an invisibility spell on herself, until all they could see was an outline. Jane learnt the last thing the Princess told her family before being thrown off the edge was: “You’re gonna miss this smile.” The girl gestured to the Princess if she needed help. The only response was a disconsolate: “Maybe, Maybe, Maybe...I’ll be okay.”

  ***

  It was Jane’s world that the Sisters were most fascinated with. The concept of computers and aeroplanes confused the former Princesses; to a degree, they were convinced it was advanced sorcery. The idea that an actual ‘Sky Train’ could fly passengers to other countries and cross oceans seemed unfathomable. Luckily, Jane found the training courses easier to discern than explaining the science behind air travel. Any obstacle was tackled easily as she began to dodge, weave, duck and roll out of instinct. She was cutting more trees, bringing more coal and flying through the lake course. At one point, she made a mockery of the event by running across the top of the logs themselves, much to the amusement of Isaac.

  Intrigued, Puffles decided to ramp up the difficulty to ensure it was not a fluke. This propelled Jane even further, to the point where speed and accuracy were second nature, and she practically danced through every obstacle. Isaac watched the girl perform acrobatics in front of a duelling tree armed with three spinning Katana’s, before the dummy was dismantled with a flourish.

  “She’s certainly enjoying herself.” He said, between bites of a sandwich. Puffles could only grunt and march off.

  Later that night, the old trainer handed Jane a bowl of rice topped with a salmon steak. Relieved to be free from penalties, Jane nodded in thanks.

  “We still have more to teach you.” He said. “But that’ll do for now.”

  Isaac shook her hand. “You worked hard for your dream and achieved it, good job, Squire.”

  What is that?

  “It’s more of an honorary title, but it still stands. You’re one of us now. Don’t let it go to your head or you’ll end up like Rufus.”

  He laughed and went out to patrol the forest.

  After finishing the meal, Jane placed her bowl down and glanced at Puffles. He was kneeling in the corner, flat against the wall, with the unsheathed sword in front.

  Jane couldn’t tell if he was meditating or asleep, but she was done with the awkward silence.

  ~I know you can understand me.~

  Puffles was caught unawares. His first reaction was to deny it, but he decided she earned the right to know the truth.

  *How long have you known?* He signed back.

  ~That day, you gave me something for my headache. I didn’t ask for anything, because I didn’t want you to think I was weak.~

  *Maybe I’m just observant?* He replied.

  ~Or you can read minds.~

  The old man gave a little chuckle and slowly removed the basket dome.

  He looked older than Jane had imagined; clean-shaven with shock-white hair cut short to the base of his skull. The edges of his face were soft like melted cheese, and his jowls gave him a slight Bulldog appearance. In place of the eyes were polished jewels staring blankly into nothing. He removed the sword and balanced the snow-coloured blade on outstretched palms.

  “If you’re wondering why I keep Isaac around, it’s safer for everyone. He thinks he can hide the truth from me, so I let him.”

  ~Is he dangerous?~

  “No,” Puffles said. “For now, it’s merely a distraction. One day, I will not need his services.” The old man then turned to her. “Time is fleeting, and sacrificing it for trivial distractions will only damage your future. Truthfully, you have yet to face the final test.”

  ~But I have done everything you have asked of me.~

  “Oh, the final test is not for me to decide. It will come for you eventually. Only then will you know the true challenge it presents, and you will have to fight…to the death!”

  ***

  The three rode back to Craven Keep before stopping at the small Iron door.

  “You got lucky,” Puffles said, throwing a sack of provisions. “Things could have gotten heated back there, in more ways than one.”

  Jane nodded and signed off.

  “Thanks for everything.” Isaac translated. “I couldn’t have survived without you.”

  “Damn right. Don’t slack off.” Puffles gestured to the Blackbirds in the trees. “Remember, I see everything.”

  With a cluck of the tongue, he turned around and trotted back up the castle road. Isaac helped Jane off the horse.

  “I take it you’re not going to run off again?” He asked. The girl shook her head. “Good. I have a surprise for you.”