Sindara Ch. 02

"What kind of training?" she asked.

"Mind-breaking," I said, "We were forced to run in full armor across Cadionia's most hostile forests and deserts in both summer and winter. Another time, twelve of us pulled a small fishing vessel over land for twenty miles. The last test of our character and ability was to climb a mountain with no food and wait up their for three days. Anyone the gods found worthy was allowed to come back down. But I'll let you in on a little secret though, by that point, everyone is found worthy. I never knew a paladin who didn't pass that last trial."

"Well I like the man all that training made you," Ilnara said giving my body another appraisal, "So Lila, you met her when you were a thief. What about more recently, someone you still sleep with?"

"There's a woman who lives in the same small town where I grew up. Her name is Cameer," I said, "We were childhood sweethearts, so we like to let each other know that we haven't forgotten."

"And what's her occupation?" Ilnara asked.

"Would you believe it if I told you she's a temple nun?" I asked.

"A nun and a paladin," Ilnara purred, "Two lovers breaking a mutual vow, that's illicit."

"That's not actually in our code anywhere," I said, "At least it's not written. We do still need to be discrete when we meet though. When I'm about to visit I send a letter under a particular pseudonym, and she tells the mothers she's leaving to worship at a private chapel. But then we actually meet at a fishing cottage my brother owns but rarely visits."

"Are there other women?" she asked, "Tell me more."

"There's one more," I said, "Paladin Sharonna."

"You and another paladin," Ilnara said, "You really like breaking those rules don't you?"

"I said it's not a rule!"

"Since you mentioned Sharonna last, she must be special," Ilnara said.

"You have no idea," I said.

"Tell me about her," Ilnara begged.

"We're not going to wait here all day are we?" I asked.

"Maybe..." she said, "Come on tell me."

"Well, we first met when I literally ran into her on the street," I explained, "I forget what I had just stolen, but I was running away from the royal guards when I collided with her in an alley. She slowed me down enough that the guards were about to catch me, so I grabbed her so she wouldn't talk, then jumped over a garden wall. What I didn't know was that the wall was too high to jump back over from the other side, so the two of us were stuck there for the entire night."

"Did something saucy happen?" Ilnara asked.

"Eventually," I said, "Naturally she was furious with me at first. She said she needed to get home and only lived across the street. I did the math and figured out she was the daughter of the noble who lived in that house, so I had a stupid idea to try and extort her for some money. Like I said earlier, I was not a noble thief."

"But she knew a couple of dangerous spells, so I couldn't touch her. Since neither of us had anything better to do, we decided to at least be civil with each other. To cut to the chase, she eventually told me that she had never kissed a boy before, and we were both teenagers who thought the other was attractive. So she let me take her virginity under the full moon that night. The owner of the garden finally let us out the next morning, but I didn't see her again until we became paladins.

"How did that meeting go?" Ilnara asked.

"I actually tried to avoid her at first," I said.

"Why?"

"My own shame I guess," I said, "When we first met I was a criminal and I was trying to forget that chapter of my life. Then one day she cornered me in the basement of the fort. How do I put this... do half-dragons have, uh, possessive tendencies for building hoards?"

"Some do," Ilnara said, "Not parthens though, just winged half-dragons."

"Well dragon blooded humans do," I said, "Not as strongly as true dragons, but I guess her inner dragon decided I was the only man for her now. Anyway, I had been worried she would be furious with me for, I don't know, tainting her nobility or something, her father was a baron after all. Actually she was furious that she never saw me again after that night. So she dragged me into a closet, locked the door behind us, and we made up for lost time."

"Are you going to tell me how you fucked her?" Ilnara asked excitedly.

"We really will be here all day if I do that," I said, "We were in there all day and night; we did everything. I'm pretty sure we even invented some new things. The other paladins searched the fort top-to-bottom for us three times until an old maid heard us fucking in the basement and then she fainted when she saw me taking Sharonna's ass."

"Wow," Ilnara said. Either she didn't notice her hand sliding between her thighs, or she just didn't care, "What happened next?"

"After that the High Paladin threatened to excommunicate us," I said, "But fortunately my master and hers intervened on our behalf. They were still mad at us, but we got off with latrine duty for three months and then we weren't allowed to see each other again for a year."

"Did the two of you learn your lesson," she asked.

"Of course not," I smirked, "We just got better at not getting caught."

"What's she like?" she asked.

"She's aggressive," I said bluntly, "She's terrifying in a fight and even in bed sometimes. Mostly I think it's because of her dragonblood, but part of it might be because she's a war priestess."

"A what?" she asked.

"She worships the god of war," I explained, "His holy text is the Art of War, while armories and training grounds are his temples."

"I know of a few different gods of war on Sindara," Ilnara said, "There's Herdeus who demands honor above all else, and Tauzua who demands glory and lives for the fight."

"Sharonna's not too keen on either of those things," you said, "She says honor can an obstacle to victory and fighting is too brutal to enjoy."

"So why does she worship a god of war?" Ilnara asked.

"I asked her that too," I said, "She says her god wants a world where war is a thing of a past, but his followers realize the world isn't there yet. You have to fight for peace or something I guess."

"That seems strange to me but, what do I know?" she shrugged.

"Your turn now," I said, "What drew you to open road?"

"Well I wasn't really drawn to it, I was forced," she said, "It was an argument with my mother. Back then I was so angry at her because I thought she had failed our family. I thought she hadn't even tried to lift us out of the muck. She was angry with me because I was taking my anger out on the whole family. We both said very hurtful things to each other, and I had enough of it. I left and almost died my first week, but I was too stubborn to run back home."

"Did you ever?" I asked, "Go home I mean?"

"Yes, eventually," she said.

"What changed your mind?" I asked.

"I learned during my travels that my mother was a cunning warrior and a talented artisan back in the day," she said, "She was trying to uplift our family the whole time. I just never realized how difficult it was, especially for my family, since everyone thinks we're cursed. I went back home a few years ago and apologized to her directly, then to the rest of my family."

"So what happened your first week that nearly got you killed?" I asked.

"Oh dear that's quite a story," she said.

"We have time," I said.

"Alright," she began, "but you better not laugh."

"Okay..."

"That was when I first met my... uh... my nemesis," she said.

"Your nemesis?" I smirked, "You have a nemesis?"

"You said you wouldn't laugh!" she cried.

"I'm sorry," I said, "Tell me about your 'nemesis' then."

"It's a wyvern," she said, "Big, ugly, predatory reptile."

"I thought they were just wild beasts," I said.

"Wild yes," she said, "But not unintelligent, dear gods is this one cunning. They're smart enough to pretend that they aren't intelligent so that you underestimate them."

"What happened?" I asked.

"It was only my fourth day on the open road after running away," she said, "I was trying to get to Nelanthas, but I barely knew where I was going. The weather had taken a turn for the worst, there was a thunderstorm, and I got hopelessly lost."

"I found an old abandoned barn and took shelter inside with a flock of sheep. When the weather cleared the sheep started to file out of the barn one at a time, but I stayed inside to mend my clothes because they were damaged on the road. Not even a minute later, the sheep started screaming in a blind panic and two of them almost ran me over when they stampeded back into the barn."

"Next, a sheep's head fell through a hole in the roof and landed right next to me. It scared me half to death and then I heard something eating outside. I barely got the barn door closed before it tried to shove its way inside to get at me and the sheep."

"It circled the barn all day trying to find a way inside, and when it finally went quiet, I remembered the hole in the roof. I climbed thirty feet on bare scaffolding to get up there then poked my head out. I should have known it would be waiting for me on the roof, and it snapped at me, clipping one of my horns, and I fell down."

"The wyvern tore its way through the roof into the barn and I don't know how long I spent dodging it. Finally, it had me cornered and pinned me down with its talons. Then I looked to my left and saw a rusty pitchfork. I grabbed it and jabbed it through its eye allowing me to escape with the sheep."

"I take it that wasn't your last meeting," I said.

"Not at all," Ilnara said, "We've run into each other many times and it remembers me specifically and hates me for taking its eye. The pitchfork is still there too."

"Oh, sort of like our friend yesterday," I said, "the uh..."

"A crystal wyrm," Ilnara said, "Those are just dumb beasts though; it's probably already forgotten about us. But my nemesis is still out there, it might even be in these very mountains. Relax, I'm just teasing you. Still keep an eye out though."

"Right..." I said nervously.

"It's getting late isn't it." she said, "Every time I come to this cave I don't want to leave, though. There's just so much to see!"

"But we should probably be going, shouldn't we?" I said, but when I tried to stand up, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back down.