Skout's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Skout stood at the testing ground gate. Her father, Sir Gareth, planted himself in the opening. He wore his guard's armor, gray in his dark beard. He had raised her when he could, though duty kept him away. He loved her. Right now his love blocked her path. "Take it off," he said. He nodded at the marked sword. "Leave it home. Test with a plain blade or don't test at all." "There is no plain blade for me," she said. "They gave swords to the men. This is the only steel I have." Recruits filed past them. A guard near the tables called out. "Last names," he shouted. "Gate closes at full light." Gareth glanced at the sky. The sun cleared the rooftops. He gripped her arm the way he had in the square. "The master-at-arms knows those markings. He will ask where you got it. He will ask about our blood. I can't protect you from that." "Then don't," Skout said. "Protect me by letting me in." His jaw worked. She saw the fear behind his sternness. He had spent his life inside the law. She was asking him to stand aside while she broke it. She pulled the sword and held it flat across both palms. "Look at it. You've never once looked." Gareth looked. His eyes moved along the coiled dragon marks. Something shifted in his face. His hand rose, almost touched the steel, then stopped. "My grandmother carried a blade," he said quietly. "Before the law. My father never spoke of it." He met her eyes. "You found her sword." "Grandfather gave it to me." The gate guard shouted again. "Names now, or go home." Gareth stared at his daughter. Then he did something she never expected. He drew his own guard's dagger and held it out, hilt first. "Carry this instead at the tables," he said. "Test with mine. Plain steel, no marks. I'll keep the dragon blade until you pass." He lowered his voice. "They can't ask questions about a blade they never see." Skout's chest tightened. He was not stopping her. He was hiding her secret with her. She traded blades. The dragon sword left her hands. It felt wrong to give it up. But she wrapped his dagger tight and stepped through the gate. "Skout," she told the guard. "Recruit." The guard frowned at the name. He looked at Gareth. Gareth stared back until the guard wrote it down. She walked onto the field. She had her place in the test. But she had traded the blade that fit her hand for a stranger's dagger. The dragon sword sat wrapped at her father's side, in plain view of every knight in the yard. She had hidden the danger inside the one man sworn to serve the law. If anyone recognized what he carried now, they would both fall.