Rise (The Order of the Krigers #1)(32)

His forehead creased. “Didn’t you say you worked as a laundress?” I nodded. “You’re eager to return to that?”

“I miss my home,” I said, turning away as embarrassment consumed me. There was nothing for me to go back to except Papa; yet, it was all I knew and was familiar with. Perhaps once we defeated Morlet, things would change, and I’d have an opportunity to do something else—something better and more exciting with my life than wash people’s clothes.

***

Standing on the forest floor beneath the towering pines, I could hear birds singing all around me. In the capital, I never heard birds chirping or wind tossing the leaves of trees. Instead, the sound of soldats beating citizens, children screaming, and people crying in pain echoed everywhere.

Anders and Vidar stood off to the side, speaking in hushed whispers. While I waited for them to finish, warring thoughts about the king entered my mind. Growing up, I’d always been told Morlet ruled the kingdom with his vicious army. He tortured citizens and kept us all in poverty. Now that I’d met him, there was more to it than that. Yes, he was evil, but there was also good in him—I was certain of it.

Vidar laughed, recapturing my attention. He wrapped an arm around Anders’s shoulders, and they walked over to me. I removed the medallion and handed it to him.

“Anders is going to teach you some basic fighting techniques, and I’ll show you how to wield your power while using your weapon.” He put the necklace on.

A buzzing sensation radiated through my body. “My bo staff?” I eagerly asked.

They exchanged confused looks.

“How do you know that’s your weapon?” Anders questioned me.

“When I saw a picture of one in Morlet’s bedchamber, it called to me.” Even now, my hands tingled, wanting to hold it.

“You were in his bedchamber?” Anders’s face remained expressionless, but his voice was laced with a lethal fury that made my skin prickle.

“Yes,” I answered.

His foot kicked a rock, sending it flying. “I can’t believe he had you in such an intimate place. Why not his sitting room? Why his bedchamber?”

Vidar let out an odd noise—something between a laugh and a sound of disgust. “You don’t know him like I do,” he said, shaking his head. “Morlet always gets what he wants. And if he’s trying to lure Kaia to him, he’ll use whatever means necessary to do so.”

“You know you can’t trust him, don’t you?” Anders asked me, his hands on his hips.

I looked between them. “Honestly? I don’t know what to believe. Neither of you has told me about yourself nor how you’re involved in all of this. You’ve both been vague when I ask you questions. Right now, Morlet is at least talking to me.”

Vidar’s face turned red. “He lies to get what he wants,” he fumed. “And he wants you.” His hands shook as anger overwhelmed him. “When I get my hands on him, I’ll kill him.” Vidar stormed away.

I watched him leave, wondering why he was so mad. He knew the king had been visiting me and that he’d tried more than once to lure me to the castle.

“So,” Anders mused, “you have questions. I’ll make you a deal. How about you train with me for a few hours, then I’ll answer anything you want.”

“Why can’t we talk now?”

“Because we have a lot of work to do.” Swinging his arms, loosening them up, he continued, “Most Krigers don’t come into their power until they’re eighteen. Since you’re different, Vidar is worried you won’t pass your trials. Now that Morlet knows who you are, he’ll be hunting you. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Trials?” No one had mentioned anything about any sort of trials.

“In order to enter the cavern where your bo staff is, you must pass a series of challenges.” He slid a dagger out from his sleeve, laying it on top of a nearby boulder.

“Who gives them? And what sort of trials are they?”

Anders reached down and removed two knives from beneath his trousers, laying them on the boulder next to the dagger. “Grei Heks put a spell on the cavern to make sure only those who truly are Krigers, and worthy of the title, enter to retrieve their weapons. Neither Vidar nor I will be able to assist you. I don’t know how you’ll be challenged because everyone faces something different.” Reaching behind him, he removed a short sword from under his shirt and placed it on the boulder next to the other weapons.

“Have the others passed?”

“Over the years, a few have failed. They were forced to return years later to try again. No one has failed a second time, though.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’m always there, waiting in the cave outside the cavern whenever a Kriger faces the trials.” Anders removed several pocketknives hidden within the folds of his clothing, tossing them onto the boulder alongside the others.

“How is that possible? You’re only eighteen.”

He bitterly laughed, shaking his head. “You keep asking how I’m tied to all of this. Well, I’m frozen in the body of an eighteen-year-old,” he revealed. “I’m cursed. I assumed you knew. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to touch the medallion.”

I couldn’t believe what he just revealed. The forest went still, all life hidden within vanished, and all that existed were Anders and I, standing there, facing one another.