Bant and coll walked into the house. Most members of the hidden swords kept to themselves, not the barons they were assigned to. That way they could keep their independence and not be subject to the silly rules of the court and castle that, in bants and many other members opinions, were just silly garbage.
Bant looked around. The house was composed of a kitchen that opened on a dining/sitting room with two bedrooms leading off that. For the moment Bant ignored the girl sitting at the table drinking a cup of black coffee.
“Am I worth saying hi to?” Asked the girl as she put down her cup. “Or are you just ignoring me?”
“Neither,” said bant. “I was looking around and figured you were part of the decor.”
Behind him coll snorted with suppressed laughter. The girl just scowled at him.
“I’m bant,” said bant at last as coll brought his laughter under control. “You’re the barons daughter,....?”
“Lisa,” said the girl. “My friends call me lis.”
“Well, Lisa,” said bant. “I hope you have no delusions about this being easy.”
“I expect it to be hard,” said Lisa evenly. “If I wanted a life of Luxury I would have stayed at my fathers court as a lady.”
Bant nodded. “Well you’ll get no easy life here. Early to rise, late to bed, and a long hard day in between.”
“The greater the struggle the greater the reward,” said Lisa. “Usually.”
“The reward is great,” said bant. “But the life is hard. And all to often it ends in tragedy because someone made a mistake.”
“That won’t happen to me,” said Lisa stubbornly. “I’ll die when I’m ready.”
For a second bant was dumbstruck. His first apprentice had said much the same thing. Then he’d died in battle. A pointless death. He had been one of the brightest bant had seen in his 20 years. And he had seen a lot of the world after stealing armour, weapons, money, and a horse from his fathers castle in niclo and running away at ten. At fifteen he had run into a member of the hidden swords and accepted as an apprentice. At eighteen he was a member and assigned to a baron and given a second year apprentice to finish training.
Bant shook off his thoughts and eyed Lisa keenly. “First things first. Let’s see if you can cook.”
Bant had had many an experience with sub par cooks during his travels. To the point where he almost always cooked his own meals. Lisa could cook, barely.
Bant chewed the roast pork slowly. It was rubbery and the vegetables were over cooked. The potatoes, however, were delicious.
Coll set down his knife and fork and looked at Lisa. “I know bant is too polite to say it. But everything except the potatoes was cooked wrong.”
Lisa’s face reddened. “I know, potatoes seem to be the only thing I can cook well.”
“Well they were good,” said bant. “But the meat was a bit chewy.”
Lisa hung her head and bant saw coll grinning at him.
“But you’ll get better in time,” he said. “There’s nothing like practice to perfect something.”
“That’s what they said when I started using a sword,” said Lisa. “When they weren’t busy telling me I shouldn’t do that cause I was a lady.”
“I’ve known some lady warriors I highly respected,” said coll. “Just because you’re female doesn’t mean you can’t fight or do anything a man can.”
Bant nodded. “Gender is meaningless. If you can do it you have every right to do everything a man can do.”
Lisa nodded. “In that case you can do what a women usually does. You’re cooking the next meal.”
“Fine by me,” grinned bant. “Coll, you shot a rabbit on the way here, correct?”
“I did indeed,” said coll. “I put it in the game bag.”
“Perfect,” said bant. “I assume you’ll prep the carcass as usual?”
“Skin gut and deboned,” said coll as he spun a knife between his fingers. “You know I like doing that.”
“Yes, you do,” said bant. Deciding not to reveal why coll enjoyed it so immensely to Lisa. She didn’t need to know that yet.
Coll grinned and left to sharpen his knife. He only ever used one particular knife to skin something. The knife that had been used to skin his family alive in front of him. Bant had rescued him in time but had been unable to save his family from the bandits he was hunting. Bants and colls pursuit and killing of the bandits had shown bant just how far humanity could sink in depression and revenge.
Bant shook off his musings and sized the girl up. She was tall and well muscled. Wearing a simple tunic, leggings and sword belt with a cavalry sword sheathed at her side. She had blue eyes and brown hair and looked like she would rather beat the boys up than sit at home and keep the house.
"So, you're to be apprenticed to me," he said. It wasn't a question.
"Yes," said Lisa as she jutted her jaw out. as if daring Bant to say no.
"We'll see if you're up to the task," said Bant. "For now, get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a hard day."270Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNB7TxVYVcI
