"Ye're fallin' behind," her current partner, a rough but kind man named Jock, pointed out with a laugh. "I've knocked ye on yer behind thrice."
"Aye, and I keep gettin' up," she replied, then pounced toward him again, her sword drawn.
Jock laughed and met her sword with his.
Each of the others teased her as the sparring continued, but after some time, the teases gave way to genuine camaraderie and maybe even respect. By the time she faced Darren again, the other man simply said, "Ye're doin' a damned better job than anyone expected."
"Good," she panted. It was all she had the energy for.
After a while, they stopped the sparring, but the day's training wasn't done yet. Cailean ordered them all to run laps around the training field, taking the lead himself. Maeve could not believe the effortlessness with which he seemed to be able to run after all this time training, and her body screamed with the effort, but she gamely threw herself into the run along with everyone else.
This was when it became clear that she was well behind her peers. Her muscles screamed at her and soon her run became a jog, then not long after, a stumbling walk as she struggled to keep up. Cailean eventually indicated that she should stop, but though her aching body longed to agree, she stubbornly kept walking, determined to finish just as many laps as everyone else even if it meant she had to crawl the final circle. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, though when she made it back to the middle of the field, she collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily.
"I did it," she said to nobody in particular. "Naebody can say I didnae."
"Tae Mary the determined!" Darren called out, and someone else cheered.
"We're done for the day," Cailean announced after a while. "At least for the mornin' session. Everybody should go rest and get themselves something tae eat, and we'll resume after lunch."
Maeve's body cried out in agony at the idea of doing even more, but instead of showing it, she burst into laughter. Some others around her began to laugh too, and Maeve began to realize the real kind of warmth and camaraderie which was truly surrounding her.
Sitting back, Maeve rubbed her aching hands together, feeling their stiffness as she laid her sword to the side. Others who had taken part in the training were also sitting down on the field and gathering their energy, so Maeve did not feel ashamed for just sitting around, though she did catch more than one of them looking at her with concern.
Was this it, then? Was this what life was to be? Maeve remembered herself as a young girl, lost in the world, without anyone to help her, and wondered how that little girl would feel if she could see her now. Would she have even believed what she was seeing before her? Probably not. Young Maeve had never believed that she would account for anything.
But looking around her now, she wondered if all that she had been missing for her whole life was her place. Could this really be it?
"Room for me?" someone asked. She looked up and saw Cailean standing over her again, his broad shoulders blocking the sun and casting a shadow over her. "I'd like tae talk tae ye, if ye're willin'."
Maeve looked up at him and smiled. "I suppose I'd be wrong if I told me own teacher tae go away," she said with a chuckle. "But I hope ye dinnae expect a full conversation. I'm knackered."
"Och, ye've energy in ye yet," Cailean told her, his mouth quirking into a half-smile. He held out a hand like he had earlier. "On second thought, though, let's not sit and talk here. I want tae go for a walk. Will ye come with me?"
Maeve wanted nothing more than continue to sprawl on the ground, but she knew that if she did, her muscles would justache even more when she finally moved. So, even though it hurt, she took his hand and allowed him to haul her to her feet once more. She dropped his hand quickly, and the two of them began to walk side by side from the training grounds and along a small pathway.
"Is this part of me trainin'?" she asked as they walked, winding past the huts of the rebel camp and along the nearby riverbank. "Are ye gonnae attack me with a hidden knife or somethin'?"
Cailean laughed. "Nae knife," he promised. She noticed he was walking slowly, allowing her to keep up without making too big a deal of it.
They kept walking along the river until eventually, they reached a small body of still water not too far from the village where this tributary of the river seemed to come to an end. It was bigger than a pond, but nowhere near big enough to be considered a loch. Maeve wasn't sure what to call it, but as she spied the ducks gliding across the surface and the sun reflecting on the waves, she knew that it was lovely.
Cailean led her over to a log on the bank and sat down, beckoning for her to sit next to him. She did, and said, "Are ye sure this isnae part of me trainin'?"
He laughed. "Well, I may have lied. Itispart of yer trainin' after all, but maybe not in the way ye think."
9
CHAPTER NINE
Maeve's anticipation grew as she and Cailean sat in silence for a few moments following his declaration. It was clear that he was trying to work out exactly what he wanted to say, and after her training, she was tired and sore enough to be content with just waiting for him to be ready. Besides, the sights around her were more than worth sitting here for as long as it took. The glistening water sparkled in the new morning sun, and the little ducks that swam around made Maeve smile. In the distance, she could see the heather-clad hills that stretched up so high that they were close to mountains, and nearer, there was the farmland of the village, which boasted only a few scraggly sheep and a spindly cow. Even this sight was welcome, though it did make her more than aware of the stark reality in which her people were living.
"Nae fat sheep or cows here, eh?" she asked.
Cailean shook his head grimly. "Broken Windmill hasnae seen a good farm season in many a year," he explained. "If ye look at the crops, ye'll see that they're lackin' as well. We'reborrowin' a lot from these people, but they're givin' us everythin' they have."
Maeve took this in for a moment. Her eyes travelled a little further along the river until she found it; there stood the broken windmill from which the village took its name. It had obviously once been magnificent, towering over the landscape, but now it was half rubble, yet still strangely beautiful in its own way. Kind of like the village itself, Maeve supposed.
"Well, they must believe in the cause," Maeve said in response to Cailean's words after a long moment. "As do I. We each must do what we can tae overthrow the False King."
