"Elven Rogue - Chapter Three" by Kevin C. Morris

The blows came, one right after another, knocking Lion's head this way and that with each strike, and pain wracked his skull constantly. He soon crumpled to the floor, leaning his back against his desk. Squeezing his eyes shut forcefully to hide the buildup of tears within them, he wiped his hand across his mouth. He opened his eyes again to see the smear of blood over his palm, and his stomach turned slightly. Taking a deep breath brought him only more pain, and it was then that he realized the stabbing pain in his ribcage. Slowly, while trying to ignore the pain, he looked up at Dereln, but remained silent.

Dereln glowered down at his younger brother and cracked his knuckles. "You never learn, do you?"

Lion coughed, sending more stabs of pain through his chest. "Haven't you done enough damage already? Get out."

Dropping down to one knee so that he might look his brother in the eyes, Dereln shook his head. "You're pathetic," he scoffed, and backhanded Lion's face. The third prince sprawled onto the ground, and the second prince stood, kicked his brother in the side, and left the room.

Tsathalas stood straight from his leaning position on the wall as Dereln walked from Lion's room, and with a frown, he looked at his younger brother expectantly.

Dereln snorted. "The little weakling's all yours," he chided, and stalked to his own chambers.

Tsathalas sighed and stepped into Lion's room to find him struggling to sit up. Meandering over to Lion, he hefted him up by the waist, and helped him to sit down on his bed. "I could teach you to block his fists, you know," he said casually.

Lion wiped the remaining trickle of blood from his face with his already bloody hand and rolled his eyes. "I've said it before." He wheezed, drawing pain back into his chest. "I'm saying it now," he continued, slowly, "and I will undoubtedly say it again, knowing how bloody persistent you are. I have no interest in taking any lessons in swordplay."

Tsathalas smiled. "So, you see the truth of things. When shall we begin, since you understand that I will not relent until you have agreed?"

Lion glared back at his brother with a fierce intensity, and Tsathalas's smile faded. "If you have failed to notice, I am in no condition or mood to deal with your jovial attitude. I've lost blood, and I suspect that bastard might have cracked one of my ribs." He winced as the pain shot through his chest again, emphasizing his suspicion.

Tsathalas stood. "Very well. I'll send in a cleric. Get some rest, and, although I may not agree with Dereln's method of diplomacy, it would do you good to remember just why you received the punishment you did. That banquet was of grave importance, and your absence might cause the alliance between Viseria and Glavienne to fail. Humans are, after all, easily offended. They might take your disrespectful manner quite seriously." Tsathalas turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Lion groaned and slowly crawled the rest of the way onto his bed, and he did indeed remember the reason he had received the beating at the hands of his brother. He had missed the banquet on the previous night, but he cared little for that. He paid much more attention to the reasons he had missed the event, and a smile crept over his lips as he remembered that he would be meeting Kathlin again in the evening. With a contented sigh, he closed his eyes and slept, knowing the cleric's arrival would wake him, so that he would not miss his appointment with Kathlin.

***

Lion sat up and nodded to the cleric of Celes'cemmar in thanks. The divine healing magic had done its job quite well, and any pain or injury Lion had been dealing with was just a matter of the past now. He reached for a small pouch on his night stand and withdrew several platinum coins from it, placing them in the priest's hand. "A donation to the church, for your excellent services." He smiled.

The young cleric—he was around Lion's age—smiled and bowed his head respectively. Looking back up, he inquired, "Do you need anything else, my lord?"

Lion stood from the bed and stretched out his arms. "No, I do believe you've taken care of everything."

The cleric stood and took a low bow. "May He walk with you, my lord."

"And He with you," Lion returned. The cleric turned and stepped from the prince's room, leaving Lion to his thoughts.

***

A few hours later, Tsathalas shifted his weight as he sat in the branches of the tree and smirked. Somehow, he was not surprised to find out what his brother had been doing over the past few nights. It all made sense to the eldest prince. His youngest brother always had been somewhat of a hopeless romantic; stealing away from the castle each night to visit some beautiful lass seemed just like him. Though, looking at the girl from his vantagepoint in the tree, Tsathalas could not help but think he might have done the same thing for this girl. He frowned, though, remembering that Lion would likely get himself into more trouble than he was already in. The girl was a commoner and if Dereln or perhaps, their father heard of Lion courting the girl, the third prince would fall into a pit from which he could never climb.

Still, Tsathalas took note of the opportunity that lay before him. He would be willing to keep Lion's little secret from the rest of the family if it would get the third prince to indulge in some combat training. Tsathalas was certain that Lion would benefit not only physically from the training, but mentally as well—his youngest brother could use the discipline it granted, after all. Lion was stepping right into position to have little choice in the matter, and Tsathalas planned to act on it. While he would regret forcing his brother into the training, he knew Lion had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Tsathalas smiled at the couple—even if they were not one yet, they soon would be—and silently dropped from his tree. It felt best to let them have as much time alone for now as he could afford; the more attached Lion was to the girl, the less room he'd have to maneuver when Tsathalas finally pulled the ace from his sleeve. Satisfied with the way things were shaping up for him, the first prince departed from the commoners' gardens in decent spirits.

***

Three weeks passed, and the budding new couple were soon so engrossed in each other that there was rarely a moment they did not spend in the commoners' gardens together. Lion spent so much time away from the palace that he never heard a word about the state of the alliance between his home and the nation of Glavienne. Of course, the third prince did not express any concern for such matters, and so, he was able to enjoy every moment of his life that was being spent with Kathlin.

Tsathalas had spent these three weeks biding his time, waiting for the appropriate moment to confront Lion about the girl. As the third week came to a close, Tsathalas made the decision that it was time to throw his ace card onto the table. With that in mind, he left his own chambers in the evening and nonchalantly steered himself towards his youngest brother's room. He rapped his fist lightly on the door and waited patiently for his brother's invitation.

Lion frowned when he heard the knock at his door, primarily expecting it to be Dereln but knew better than to deny any of his family entry. He rose from his desk—he had been penning a bit of verse—and regretfully walked to the door, opening it. He was pleasantly surprised to find Tsathalas on the other side and smiled. "What brings you here? It's rather late in the evening for a friendly chat." he queried curiously.

Tsathalas shrugged and let himself inside, taking a seat in a chair near his brother's desk. "I haven't seen too much of you lately," he commented casually.

Lion nodded. "I have been out and about fairly often, I suppose." He returned to the chair at his desk and turned to face his brother, wondering just what the first prince was up to.

Tsathalas returned his brother's nod and began to drum his fingers on the armrest of the chair. "You probably didn't catch word of this, since you've been out so much as of late, but the alliance did indeed fall through. I doubt an elf will be welcome in the lands east of here for at least another century. Hopefully, that won't become an issue in the near future."

Lion blinked. "You mean to say it fell through and Dereln hasn't beaten me to a bloody pulp yet? I'm amazed."

His brother smiled. "I had a little bit to do with that. I had to remind him about what caused the termination of the original alliance. Once he remembered, he didn't have much of a good reason to blame you. The fault will go with the shaky tempers of the humans, I think."

Lion was unsure of the circumstances of which Tsathalas spoke, but he was grateful nonetheless. "You have my gratitude for that."

Tsathalas's cinnamon eyes sparkled. "Think nothing of it."

Lion took a few moments to eye his brother suspiciously, getting the idea that he had come for some other reason. He was certain Tsathalas knew that he could not care less about the condition of the alliance. Lion rarely could figure out what went on in his eldest brother's mind, and this instance proved to be no exception. "All right, enough of this little diversion. What's your real game, brother?"

Tsathalas chuckled. "Game? You should know by now that I don't play games," he replied, standing up from his chair and motioning Lion to do the same. "Come, let's go for a walk. Grab your cloak; the wind's biting rather harshly this evening."

Lion stood up slowly, confused. What could he want to take a walk for at his hour? Not that it mattered to think about it, he knew he would never guess what his eldest, ever-scheming brother had in mind. After a shrug, he swept his cloak from a hook on the wall and swung it around his shoulders. "Where to, especially at this hour? Most of the city's dormant by now."

Tsathalas simply smiled. "Now, if I told you that, I'd not have as much fun dragging you around in the middle of the night. Just follow me, it won't take long for us to get there." His smile grew as he left Lion's room by the exit to the third prince's portion of the royal gardens, sure that the expression of confusion on his brother's face was absolutely priceless. He deftly cleared the fence that separated the gardens from the deep forest beyond and turned back to face his brother expectantly.

Lion leapt over the fence about as easily as his brother and returned the expectant look. "What exactly do you have in mind? It's no secret that the forest isn't exactly the safest place to be once the sun's fallen."

Tsathalas nodded with a smirk. "Don't take me for a fool, Lion; I'm well prepared for anything we might run into tonight." He moved his left arm to the side, pushing the fold of his cloak away from his body, and smiled.

Lion's eyes fell down to his brother's waist, and he knew Tsathalas was not jesting with him. From his brother's belt hung a simple, leather sword sheathe adorned with a single lily, and inside that sheathe sat perhaps the most coveted blade in the entire elven kingdom. Lion had not even been aware his brother ever carried his trademark sword anymore, and he was quite awed to see him wearing it. The blade was rumored to be heavily enchanted with elven magic, though only Tsathalas knew the truth of the weapon's capabilities. "Forgive me for being slightly unhinged, but are you planning on running into anything particularly dangerous this evening?" he asked, with his tone somewhat worried.

Tsathalas let out a brief laugh and shook his head. "No, not really. The path to we're taking should be clear of anything troublesome. I just felt like putting this on for old time's sake. Anyway, I don't want to keep you out extremely late. Let's get moving. Stick close to me; I'd hate to have to track you down in this place." He started off down the barely visible path through the trees, and Lion hurried after, taking care to keep his brother in sight.

Within an hour's worth of walking, the path opened up into a rather large clearing, one that Lion had never known to exist. He looked about with his elven eyes, which were able to see clearly even in the darkest night—if only in shades of gray. He had never heard of this grove, though it was clear that it was something Tsathalas had been aware of for some time from the way he found it so directly. In the center of the clearing, the land was devoid of greenery, which left only the bare earth beneath it. That area alone took up a rather large portion of the grove, but it didn't tell Lion much about the purpose of this place. Turning to his brother, he queried, "Just where are we?"

"This," he began, waving his arm outward, "is what I like to call my sparring grounds. This is where I train all of my pupils."

Lion suppressed a laugh. "All right, so these are your sparring grounds. But what has that got to do with me? I know better to think that you just decided to walk out here."

Tsathalas nodded. "Why don't you indulge me for once? I'm curious about something. Yes, it does have to do with weaponry training, but I'm not going to force you to spar or anything."

Lion sighed. "If I do this, will you back off on the training thing after this evening?"

"Sure, if you'll do what I ask of you tonight, then I won't bother you to begin training anymore," his brother replied, shrugging.

"Fine. You've got a deal then, Tsathalas. What do you want of me?" he returned, rather pleased that he would finally not have to worry about his brother badgering him.

Tsathalas smiled. "Nothing too profound, I assure you. I'll be back in just a moment." Tsathalas walked to a small stone building near the far edge of the clearing and stepped inside. Lion waited patiently for a few moments before the first price appeared again, holding what looked to be two swords, one in each of his hands. He wandered back over to his youngest brother and tossed him the blade in his left hand; Lion quickly caught it, eyeing it questioningly.

Tsathalas looked at him, saying, "You should be able to tell me what that is."

Lion slid the blade from its scabbard and subjected it to his scrutiny. The blade held a very slight curve and was long, probably a good four feet in length alone. The handle of the weapon was large enough to be used with both hands, but it could probably be wielded in one with out too much effort. Lion soon recognized it as a katana, a favored weapon among elven warriors, both for its power and for fine quality. "It's a katana, I assume," he said with a shrug.

He received a nod in response from Tsathalas. "Now, sheathe it again, but hold it as if you were planning to use it, and preferably in one hand." Lion did not quite understand the reasoning behind this, but he quickly obeyed, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. Tsathalas gave his brother a devilish grin. "Catch!" he called, tossing the other, shorter weapon at his brother.

Tsathalas had thrown the blade in a manner that kept Lion from using his other hand without unnecessary effort, so Lion changed the situation for himself. Grinning, he dexterously tossed the katana into his other hand and swiped the handle of the other with his now open hand. Neither blade had become unsheathed, and Lion had caught each in a manner that he could have effectively swung them without any adjustment to position. Smirking, he commented, "Good enough for you?"

Tsathalas clapped softly. "Not bad, not bad at all, considering you've never held a blade before in your life. In fact, that was quite amazing. Tell me, does either weapon feel uncomfortable in your hands, as if you couldn't use them effectively as you hold them now?"

Lion shook his head. "No, they feel fine, but what does that matter?"

"I haven't had an ambidextrous student in a good century. It's a shame you're not interested; I always did enjoy teaching such pupils." He sighed.

Lion took a moment to examine the other blade, dropping the longer to the ground and unsheathing the shorter. He did not recognize this type, though. It was short, probably around two feet in length, with the blade and handle included, and obviously meant to be wielded in one hand. The blade itself was perfectly straight, but unlike similarly-sized weapons he had seen before, this one was crafted to be used primarily for slashing cuts, rather than thrusting with the weapon's point. "It's a shame for you, I suppose, but not really for me, since I don't care," he muttered. Looking back up at the weapons master, he added, "But, I've not seen one of this craft before."

Tsathalas nodded. "I didn't think you would have. That one's particularly exotic and most commonly called a ninja-to, since it tends to be the favored sword of the legendary clan of mercenaries most often referred to as the shade ninja. I thought it would compliment the katana well."

Lion nodded. Now that he had heard the name, the shade ninja did seem to ring a bell of remembrance, but he had never thought of the tales as more than just legend and myth. It was interesting to note, but in the end, he could not have cared less. It had to do with swordplay and training, so he did not want to bother with pondering it. "Is this all you brought me out here for?"

Tsathalas nodded once more. "Yes, that was all. I just had a hunch that you were an ambidextrous sort, from seeing you write with each of your hands on a few occasions. It is a pity though; someone with your agility could do well in protecting people with a pair of blades like those. Of course, I'm sure those people you care about enough to want to protect can handle that on their own."

Lion gave his brother an odd look, really beginning to wonder what he was up to. "Well, I suppose that wouldn't necessarily be the case," he murmured to himself.

His brother's brown eyes sparkled. "Why the odd look? Ah, yes, I had forgotten. There's that girl, isn't there? Her name's Kathlinarala, right?"

The color drained from Lion's face, and his mouth gaped slightly. How could he have known? He had been careful enough about when and where he saw her. Surely, no one had been around that had learned of their budding relationship. On the other hand, had there been? Had he been just so wrapped up in his time with her that he had not been paying his surroundings the proper attention? He quickly dismissed those questions. It did not matter how his brother knew; what was more important was that he knew, period. Lion knew his relationship with the girl was inappropriate for one of his royal station, and if Tsathalas saw fit, he could effectively keep Lion from ever seeing her again. That, of course, was extremely undesirable.

Tsathalas smiled wickedly. "All right, I admit it. I followed you once or twice, to see where you'd been spending all your time. Before you ask, no, I haven't told a soul about what you're up to, and I won't do so, if you don't give me reason to spread your secret."

Lion cleared his throat, and calmly returned, "What is it you want?" As he asked, he was quite sure he already knew the answer. This was blackmail, and he had no way out of it.

Tsathalas answered with certainty in his voice. "You'll begin your training in one week. Before you get hostile on me, I will let you know that I don't feel to great about this. I'd have rather you offered to train of your own accord, but since you didn't, and it's important that you're able to defend yourself, as well as Kathlin, I felt I had to take this course."

Lion tossed the blade in his hand to the ground, his fists starting to shake in anger. "Dammit, Tsathalas! Dammit, why in the void's name do you have to do this?"

"Calm down, Lion. Think. Is she worth it? The training won't kill you; it will only make you stronger. Which is greater, your love for her, or your hate for what I'm asking of you?" Tsathalas remained levelheaded in the onslaught of his brother's fury, confident he would come to see things his way.

"Of course she is!" Lion responded, without having to think about it. "I just...dammit, Tsathalas, you know I don't want to do this."

His sibling nodded. "I'm well aware of that, but you have my word, you'll not regret this training. In fact, if you're anything like me, which I have reason to believe you are, you will come to enjoy some aspects of it. You have two choices here. You can take the easy way, and agree to train, and I'll not say a word to anyone about the girl. Alternatively, you can take the hard way, refuse, and then never get to see her again. Think of what Dereln would do to you if he knew; think of how our parents would react."

Lion took several moments to think and regain control of his temper—which rarely spawned to begin with. He knew his brother was right about this, but it was not an easy thing to accept. Slowly, he nodded. "Fine, we'll start in one week. I hope you're satisfied."

Tsathalas nodded. "Go ahead back to the palace, I'm going to take care of some things here, on my own."

Lion turned and walked away from his brother, somberly. His feet carried him in a manner that reflected the defeat in his heart at that moment, even if that defeat would only last until he found himself in Kathlin's arms once more, solidifying the decision he had made.

Tsathalas watched his brother go, and sighed in amazement. The way he had caught those blades was simply incredible. Tsathalas could not even remember his nephew—his last ambidextrous student—being able to accomplish something like that, even after a good year under the first prince's tutelage. Lion was definitely going to be an interesting pupil, and with that in mind, he drew his own blade and spent several hours refining his skills with the many attack forms he had mastered in his years as a swordsman.