12 Chapter 12: Too good of a resource

Davina was washing her face with the water in the basin a maid had left for her. The cool droplets fell down her neck, disappearing into the fabric of her new dress. The last one had been discarded as it had been torn apart.

She combed her hair with her fingers, running them through the dark tresses while closing her eyes.

After the Duke had left, life had been much easier. Boring, but easier. The bruises all over her body had slowly started to fade, and her wounds began scabbing, giving her much more mobility than before.

A soft knock on the window called her attention.

"Come in, Neera."

"Good morning."

The girl jumped inside the room like a cat, landing softly on the balls of her feet.

"Should we start? I want to make sure you understand the first sequence before leaving for lunch."

"Yes."

"Perfect. Then, did you practice the stance like I told you yesterday?"

"For two hours."

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes, but it was manageable."

Davina wanted to laugh.

Ever since the day Neera had asked for her help, Davina had been teaching her the basics of Ronna martial arts for women. It was a tough discipline, pushing the female body to the limits, taking advantage of their agility and smaller stature to subdue larger enemies.

These techniques were the reason the Ronna women were up to par with their male comrades, but they were extremely taxing on the body as they literally required destroying it entirely to build it back again. It was not unusual for Ronna practitioners to break their bones by accident from the extreme strain, and the process was usually lengthy, since resting days were required to wait out the pain.

But with Neera the progress was terrifying. She was an extremely quick learner. She only needed to see an exercise once in order to memorize it, and her body didn't seem to understand the concept of pain. She had once asked the girl whether it was ever too painful, and she only answered:

'Compared to before, this is nothing.'

The memory of her eyes as she said that made shivers run down her spine.

Clearing her thoughts, Davina beckoned Neera to her side.

"Alright, show me how far you've come."

With a nod, Neera proceeded to recreate the position she had been taught. Her legs and arms burned and she felt like they would break, but she knew they wouldn't, and held on.

"Good. Your core is coming along nicely. Your legs are also showing a significant growth in musculature, they don't tremble nearly as much as before. Your arms still need a bit more work though. Today we'll do the same as always. I will do the sequence and you mirror it as best as you can, okay?"

"Yes."

Davina then began to move from stance to stance, her limbs changing positions like leaves in the wind. The movements were so soft and fluid that it was hard to grasp the change in postures, they all seemed to be part of one continuous dance.

Neera's eyes shone as she watched her. She had seen it many times by now, but she still felt mesmerized at the beauty in the way of the Ronna. Davina, with her dark eyes and tan skin in the pale morning light appeared as a goddess, as her movements startled the dust in the air that glittered in the light from the window. It twirled around her as if she had willed it to do so, swaying with her to the same tune.

Her reverie didn't last long though, and she soon began mimicking her movements. They weren't as smooth as Davina's flowing gestures, but she still managed to recreate a semblance of the Ronna techniques. Unlike her teacher, Neera was sweating profusely, her breathing was labored and her face had been contorted in a grimace, but she gritted her teeth and kept going. Her body contorted painfully, straining every tendon to the maximum before relaxing and building up the pressure someplace else.

Davina noticed her struggle, but kept going. The girl had to be driven to the breaking point, only then would she be able to reach further the next time. She would have never used this brutal method if it weren't for the fact that Neera had specifically asked her to teach her how to fight as soon as possible. Nor would she have taught her anything if she hadn't been told the girl's plan.

Once she noticed her body was healthy enough to move, Davina had just thought of escaping straight away. She could take on quite a number of guards by herself, and she was sure that if she could reach the stables and get a horse she could break out of the castle without major problems. But the girl, as if reading her mind, had told her otherwise.

"I know you are thinking of leaving as soon as possible, but you shouldn't be so naive to believe that a ducal lord would let an hostile tribe's warrior surrounded by low level guards. The two men that stand guard outside your door are members of the core of the dukedom's knights, and there is a team of archers with poisoned arrows watching your window. You are the best guarded person in this castle after the Duke himself."

"Then they..."

"Yes, they know I am here."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"No one is weary of me in this place. They only see me as a helpless girl."

Davina had thought to answer that in fact she was just a girl, but her eyes... Her eyes were those of a beast. If the guards were truly not doing anything because they underestimated her, then that would be their biggest mistake.

The way she continued to follow her lead despite the beads of sweat on her forehead and the loss of color on her lips only proved her thoughts.

'This girl is a genius.'

Initially, she agreed to Neera's idea because it seemed safer than just barging out of the castle, specially taking into consideration her current predicament. Before jumping into the fire, she had to be sure that she...

Davina frowned and stopped thinking about it, focusing on the girl in front of her.

Neera was about to faint from exhaustion and her limbs began to fail her, but her eyes remained steady. Eventually, her legs gave out from under her, and she went tumbling into the floor.

"Alright. That's enough."

Panting, Neera answered:

"No. Davina, I can continue."

Yes, this was the other reason for her to stay here. This child intrigued her, and she decided to accompany her for a little longer.

"No. We will stop here for now. You can't even lift a finger anymore. What could I ever teach you in that state?"

The girl laid on her back, looking as the ceiling swirled like crashing waves due to de dizziness. Her chest heaved up and down, and locks of hair stuck to the skin on her face, but she still smiled. She had lasted longer today.

"That was very good progress, Neera. Your growth rate is extraordinary. It said in the scriptures that the technique would be more effective the closer to the breaking point the practitioner reached, but I never thought it would be this significant."

Neera's smile turned bitter.

"I guess we can thank the Duke for that," she murmured.

It took half an hour for her to be able to stand again. She deeply thanked Davina, who left her with instructions for her nighttime training, then staggered out the window and walked to her own room for lunch. She wiped her sweat off with a damp towel in the basin and laid in bed with sore muscles.

After the maid that brought her lunch had left, Neera struggled to get back on her feet once more. She had to go meet that boy.

----

Elron had been pacing inside his study for more than ten minutes now. His impatience reflected on the scowl on his face.

"Hello, Young Master."

Neera's head popped up from the window.

"You little rat! Do you know for how long you have made me wait? Those clowns in the office are probably laughing by now at how I'm escaping from my responsibilities! You know how delicate the balance is at the moment! I can't show any weaknesses!"

"I apologize, Young Master-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it. Did you find anything?"

"Yes. All the information is compiled in this list. Most of the figures are estimates, but they should suffice. I also circled the relevant transactions in the copied ledgers. I wrote everything in your handwriting."

She gave him the stack of papers she had been carrying under her arm. Elron quickly sat in his desk. His eyes danced on the pages, while his expression darkened subtly with every line he read.

"All these people have stolen from the duchy?"

"According to the estimates, yes."

"Then there is no way father didn't know about this. He just turned away."

Neera didn't say anything, but she had reached the same conclusion. This was probably the Duke's way of keeping the court under control in such a pressing situation.

"With all this lack of relief funding it is no surprise there is a riot happening in the city, and I doubt it is only contained within the capital. This issue expands across the whole duchy and its related fiefs."

The girl's eyes widened for a second as they zoned into Elron's focused face. This was the first time she had heard anyone of noble birth speaking about the social uproar in an understanding manner. He turned back to her with fierce eyes.

"This should be enough. You have done well."

"Thank you, Young Master."

Elron stored all the papers into a locked drawer and waved at her to leave. His forehead creased as he was deep in thought.

Hearing Neera exit from the room, he pondered about what he had just learned. The embezzlement wasn't a surprise to him, he just hadn't expected the amount to be so large and across so many houses, but what truly preoccupied him now was how to tie that girl to his side.

'She's too good of a resource.'