The Royal Hunting Lodge

Sophie Reese

My sleep was, mercifully, dreamless. I woke up at sunset to an empty bedroom. Then, a soft knocking at the door and Nico entered carrying a black thermos flask. I grabbed my bedsheets and pulled them up to my neck as I was still naked from the night before.

Nico threw the flask on the bed and said, "Breakfast."

I raised my eyebrows at his monosyllabic greeting and replied, "What are you doing here?"

Nico initially ignored my question and scanned my room, noting the clothes strewn across the floor.

"It appears you and Casper did not talk about what happened yesterday night," he drawled.

I noted disappointment in Nico's voice. Perhaps he had hoped Casper would punish me for leaving the estate last night.

I flashed him a smile and said, "Oh no, we were too busy doing 'other' things."

I could see the muscle in Nico's jaw clenching as his eyes narrowed on me. "Well, I hope you had some rest during the day, as we start training in an hour."

"Training?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes. Casper asked we start self-defence training this evening," he explained.

"Self defence? I thought we agreed that I needed to learn how to fight," I said.

Nico arched an eyebrow and replied, "I'll teach you how to defend yourself. Casper will teach you how to harness and weaponise your powers to fight. Remember, you cannot have a good offence without a good defence."

I wondered if that was true. So far, I'd killed two demons relying on brute strength alone. The first demon I'd killed by punching a hole through its chest and ripping out its heart. The second was destroyed by cracking its head open. Although I had managed to kill two demons, I didn't feel like a demon slayer. None of my kills had been particularly elegant or required any skill.

"How's Jacques?" I asked, changing the subject.

"He's awake," Nico replied vaguely. "I saw him this morning, talking with Casper."

There was something off in Nico's voice. A hint of something that was out of keeping with Nico's ice-cold demeanour. His eyes avoided mine, and he glanced at his watch and said, "Please excuse me. I have several urgent matters that need my attention before our training session. There are fresh clothes for you in the drawers."

"Nico, wait, "I called out after him as he hurried towards the bedroom door.

He paused briefly with his hand on the bedroom door handle and looked back at me.

"What's wrong with Jacques?" I asked.

There was a prolonged pause as Nico thought about his reply. Eventually, he sighed, "Last night had consequences."

"Is Jacques injured?" I replied worriedly.

Nico shook his head and pulled open the bedroom door. "Physically, he's fine. Just don't worry about it."

"That's only going to make me worry even more about him," I said.

"Jacques can take care of himself. You need to focus on saving Mia. Luc's sanity is holding on by a thread. He could lose it at any moment."

"I'll try to stay focused, but if Jacques is in trouble, please promise me that you will help him," I said.

"I'll do what I can - within reason," he stipulated.

I flashed him a grateful smile. "Thanks."

He left me to finish my flask of blood and got dressed. I couldn't help wondering what had happened with Jacques. Casper must've been furious with Jacques for taking me to the Spit. But Jacques was his best friend, so surely Casper would forgive Jacques. I don't think he would go crazy and throw Jacques into the dungeon.

I headed out of my bedroom and went downstairs to meet Nico in the foyer. When I got downstairs, I found Nico standing beside the fireplace in sweatpants and a cotton t-shirt. He was busily talking about placing additional guards around the lodge on his cell phone.

When he saw me, he finished his call and waved me over.

"Are you ready for your first training session?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I could tell he thought this was a bad idea. Unfortunately, Nico was still stuck in the seventeenth century, where women needed to stay home and let the men folk do the fighting.

"I sure am," I replied.

"Follow me," he said, walking across the foyer and through a pair of doors, "I've had my security team turn the ballroom into the training area. Unfortunately, the ballroom wasn't built to withstand combat training, so please keep your strength in check. I can't risk you taking out one of the columns and bringing the ceiling down."

"I will be careful not to break the house," I said.

We arrived outside the ballroom, and Nico pulled open one of the grand double doors for me. I stepped through into a large cavernous room that was completely empty. I took a few steps into the room and stopped. I had expected at least a crash mat on the floor, but it was completely bare.

"Are you ready to start?" Nico asked behind me.

"Sure," I replied and turned to face him, just in time to see the silvery flash of a metal blade pass in front of my face. I stumbled backwards, watching Nico staggering towards me with a sword.

He twirled the sword playfully in his hand and said, "It's simple, Sophie. All you need to do for this exercise is avoid getting hit by the sword."

He then swung the sword over his head and brought it down in a swift, slashing motion towards me. I dove sideways to avoid getting cleaved in half. But, instead, I tripped over my feet and hit the floor with an almighty thud.

"This is no time for a lie-down, Sophie," Nico tutted with a sly smile.

The bastard was enjoying this.

"I thought you were going to train me," I snapped at him from the floor.

"This is training," he replied, twirling the sword in his hand. "You are learning how to evade an attack."

I eyed him and his sword wearily. "This doesn't feel like training."

He shrugged his shoulders, "So quit."

I needed to put some distance between this madman and me. So I pushed my heels into the floor and quickly pushed myself backwards along the polished floor.

A ghost of a smile crept across Nico's face, and he sighed mockingly, "You are running from me like a snail, Sophie. Stop messing about and get up off the floor."

I pulled myself onto my feet and stepped backwards.

"Now, watch how I move. Learn to anticipate where I'm going to strike next," Nico said, lowering the sword to his side.

He lunged forward, and this time I managed to side-step the attack.

"That's better," Nico murmured approvingly, "Let's try again. But this time, try using speed to dodge the attack."

He ran furiously and wildly, swinging the sword at me like he was about to hack me into tiny pieces. I stumbled backwards, unable to concentrate on anything but the sword hacking the air in front of me. With each blade blow, I was backed into the corner of the ballroom.

"Oh dear," Nico sighed, lowering his sword. "You've allowed yourself to get backed into a corner. How are you going to get out of this?"

I looked around for an opening to escape and saw a gap to the right of Nico. I ran for the hole at full speed, but Nico grabbed me by the waist and threw me back into the corner.

"Try harder," he growled.

I tried to think of something quick, but Nico was already preparing for his next attack. Holding the sword with both hands, he pressed the hilt into his side. Nico then straightened the sword so that the blade was aimed at my stomach. He thrust forward, and I jumped just as the edge was about to impale me.

I don't know what compelled me to jump, but when I jumped, I flew fifteen feet up into the air, leaping over Nico and his sword. I managed to land on both feet with nothing but a slight wobble. Then, gasping in excitement, I turned to Nico and yelled, "Did you see that?"

"Congratulations," Nico sighed. "You've gone from a slithering snail to a jumping flea."

"What the hell? I dodged your attack!" I yelled.

"You failed to follow my instructions. You did not plan and dodge. Instead, you panicked and dodged," Nico said disapprovingly.

"Fine. Let's go again," I snapped.

Nico chased me around the ballroom for the next hour with his stupid sword. I practised jumping, diving, side-stepping and sliding out of the way of the blade. As a teacher, he was sparse on praise. Every effort to dodge his sword was met with some kind of criticism. Our training session ended when Casper walked into the ballroom just as Nico was about to cut off my arm.

He looked particularly sharp this evening, wearing a dark suit and tie. He looked at Nico, holding the sword over my head and said, "I think that's enough self-defence training for one evening."

Nico glared at Casper, threw down his sword, and replied, "Fine, but we will continue our training tomorrow evening. Sophie has much to learn."

He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Casper flashed a grin and said, "Did you enjoy being chased around the room with a sword."

I stared back at him and asked, "Did you know he was going to do that?"

"It's how he taught my brothers and me to fight. He would chase us around the palace with a sword, or a mace, or even an axe," he explained.

I shook my head in disbelief at the thought of a young Casper running through the palace halls as Nico chased him with an axe.

"Didn't your parents object?" I asked.

Casper shrugged his shoulders as he crossed the ballroom towards me. "No. They were from a different where that kind of traumatic experience was considered good character building."

"So, are you planning on chasing me around the lodge with an axe?" I asked.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he replied, "The thought did cross my mind when I found out that you had left the estate. But I'm over that thought now. Right now, I want to focus on teaching you to harness your power."

Casper reached and took my hand in his. He brushed a kiss over my knuckles and led me over to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the ballroom. Then he pointed out the window and whispered in my ear, "Try to make it snow."

"I've tried doing this before, and it didn't work," I sighed, recalling the time Casper had tried to teach me how to call lightning down from the sky.

"Please, my Queen. Try for me," he said, gently placing his hands on my shoulders. "Project your energy outwards and command the sky to bend to your will."

The way Casper said it made commanding the weather sound easy. I stared into the frozen night sky and silently wished for snow. Then, when no snow appeared, I pictured: big fluffy flakes, penguins, Santa, igloos, polar bears, Christmas cards, and anything that reminded me of snow.

Still, nothing happened.

Casper squeezed my shoulders as he sensed my disappointment and said, "Don't worry, my love. I suspect your powers are not like mine, which is why this fails to work."

"So, what do we do now?" I ask.

"I'm afraid we will have to ask my brother Luc to train you," he replied.

The next update with be Friday 24th November...