Honour
Author's note: I figured it had been a while since I updated and that I have been writing not enough lately. Oo; The last post that had a story was from somewhere three months ago. Well, not that I have much time left. Oo; But I got this idea during a very boring and useless lesson, and I managed to write the first few paragraphs, so in the end the lesson was not as boring and useless as I thought it would be. ^^
Anyway, this is my original character, Laurian Trellan. She used to be a fan-character for Buffy, but I'm not such a Buffy-fan anymore, so I tore her away from that world and put her in a world of my own. Don't let the castles and swords mislead you! This is not some medieval/fantasy world, just the normal modern world we live in nowadays. XD; There are just a few things that still date from the medieval times, like fighting with swords and such. Oo; Maybe I even manage to write the real story once. =S I've tried it several times and given it up every time. Although that always focused on the Buffy-world, so maybe it will work now. ^^; We'll see.
Word count: 611 words
Warnings: Uhm... none? *shrugs* It's not all that violent, no sex, no offense language even. Oo;
Genre: General, maybe a bit fantasy.
Honour
One. Two. Three. Four. Kill it. Too slow. Try it again. One. Two. Three. Four. Too slow again. Her opponent could easily kill her this way. Another attempt, a trifle faster this time, but it didn’t do any good. She still wasn’t fast enough.
Laurian lowered her sword for a moment to catch her breath. This wasn’t good. How could she call herself a paladin and commander of hundreds of people if she couldn’t even beat the enemy herself? Despair filled her heart, but she quickly banned the disturbing emotion. Training, that was the answer to the question. Only through daily practise could she become the paramount fighter of the order. Only then it was possible to fullfil the order’s wish to lead the rest of the fighters.
She raised her sword again and resumed her training. She repeated the same combination of strokes over and over again, each time a little faster. Laurian even continued after the sun had set, ignoring the pain in her muscles, the exhaustion and hunger.
“Laurian.” The half-elven woman froze in her tracks before she turned around to face the intruder. “Laurian, you should stop. It has no use to continue training right now and you have to rest.”
“Peter.” She had finally recognised the man as one of her closest friends. “I’ll go back soon, Peter. You don’t have to worry about me.”
The blond man shook his head. “I know you, my girl. You won’t rest until you’ve done what you think is your duty. You shouldn’t push yourself so hard.”
Laurian turned her back to him. “Thank you for your concern, Pete, but I’m fine. Now leave me alone.” She didn’t wait to see if he listened to her command, but simply continued the training where she had stopped.
“Ah, Peter!” Laurian protested when suddenly two arms wrapped themselves around her waist. “Stop that, you idiot. I can’t continue my training like this.”
“That was the idea,” the older man told her. “You train too much and too hard. What use will you be when there’s an attack and you are needed, but you’re all exhausted because of these trainings?”
“What use will I be if I cannot fullfil the wishes of the order?” Laurian retorted bitterly. Ignoring the surprised look of her friend, she continued, “I am not the best fighter of the order. I cannot even defeat a demon on my own. I am not fast enough and I don’t have enough strength. How can I be the paladin, the leader in battles?”
She waited for a reply, a sharp comment or any other reaction from her friend. Peter, however, remained silent. “Training, that’s all I have,” she finally answered her own question. “I can’t be a paladin or leader until I have mastered my own faults. And the only way to do that is through training.”
“You’re wrong, you know,” the older man said softly. “You’re the paladin of the order, but not because they expect you to be the strongest, the best or the fastest.” Laurian lifted her head sharply up to protest, but he didn’t give her the chance. “You’re the paladin and the order expects you will fight with honour. That’s what is important, my girl. Honour.”
The half-elven woman stared astonished up at Peter, unable to think of anything to say. He smiled and gently removed the sword from her hands. “So let’s go inside, shall we? Because I think there is no fighter in the order who is more honourable than you.”
Laurian nodded mutely and followed her friend through the gardens that belonged to the castle. Honour… Would she be truly honourable enough?
The End