Ugly Giant’s startled expression remained as his head rolled across the dirt towards me.
This is what Torgrin meant when he warned he would deal with anyone who did not fight honourably.
He stopped to wipe his sword clean on the headless corpse’s tunic before sheathing it.
‘You killed him,’ I whispered in surprise.
‘He was dead the moment he threatened to come into your room with his sword,’ he growled.
My body shivered uncontrollably as we walked side by side out of the arena.
The walk back to the barracks courtyard was hazy.Torgrin took off his cloak as we passed through the door, and with the crowd now behind us, he wrapped its warmth around me.I let him pull me close, and then he began barking commands.Soon I had something pressed to my lips, and I drank.I sputtered and choked as the fiery liquid ran down my throat, burning a hole in my gut.
‘Drink more,’ he commanded, pressing more of the horrible liquid to my mouth.I took another swallow; the taste made my eyes water.I pushed it away again, which he allowed this time.
The curly-haired healer came up and pressed a cloth to my bleeding cheek.My head was feeling much clearer already, and my trembling had stopped.
I kept taking furtive glances at Torgrin’s face.He had just admitted that he would have killed his soldier for threatening me.Does he remember the girl he pushed in the river?
Atlas appeared in front of us.‘They’re waiting for her.’
‘She needs more time,’ Torgrin said, pulling me tighter into his side.
His behaviour was something I would usually dislike, and yet I didn’t push him away.
‘So glad you didn’t die out there.’Atlas’s friendly smile added to the warmth of the spirits in my belly.‘Now you can teach me that move you did when you flipped Boric and broke his arm!’
‘Ugly Giant’s name is Boric?Orwas, I suppose.’I wanted to laugh, but I hiccupped instead.
The healer returned with water and a clean cloth.I felt like a helpless child standing there while she wiped my face clean.She put a soothing cream on my grazed cheek, then gestured for Torgrin to let me go so she could do something with my hair.I shivered at the loss of Torgrin’s warmth against my side.
She tsked when she found she couldn’t get the comb through my tangled locks.She pulled some hairpins from her pocket, but I was too tall for her to put up my hair, so I tried to accommodate her by crouching down.I gasped at the sudden stab of pain in my side.
Torgrin gestured for her to give him the pins she was holding.‘Turn around,’ he ordered me.
He pulled my hair away from my face and gathered and twisted the strands, pinning them to the back of my head.His hands were gentle but efficient.I turned back around, and Atlas and Torgrin assessed my condition.
‘Well, I think that is all we can do for now.’Atlas shrugged.
I raised a brow at him, and he gave me a boyish grin.
‘You won.’Torgrin sounded proud.
‘You saved me.’Again.
He looked as though he was going to reach for me, but then seemed to think better of it.
They left me to stand unaccompanied, still wearing Torgrin’s red cape.I could never have imagined a scenario in which I would willingly wear a captain’s cape.Yet, here I was.
When the door to the arena opened, I walked through with my head raised high despite my fatigue.Lord Warwick stood in the middle of the arena, with Torgrin now on his right and Atlas on his left.
The crowd chanted, ‘Swordmaker!Swordmaker!Swordmaker!’The lords and ladies on the balconies were picking the blue flowers and tossing them down to me.They clung to my hair and gathered at my feet.I focused on putting one foot in front of the other until I was standing directly before Lord Warwick.
Up close, I could see the true finery of his clothing.He had dark hair with some grey at the temples and a few grey hairs in his clipped beard.His face was smooth apart from the lines around his eyes, which suggested he smiled frequently.There was sadness behind his eyes too.
He was holding the sword I had made for him at his side.I could tell that Torgrin and Atlas weren’t just there for the ceremony – they were on alert protecting their lord, eyes scanning the crowd.
‘What is your name, Swordmaker?’
