Chapter 8

FREYA       I run off in a different direction from where I came from, hearing Troy’s voice nearby. I need to hide now before the event starts. And then I need to escape before it finishes, otherwise who knows what this piece of a prince is going to do to me.    My legs bring me to the part of the tournament that looks more like a fair. There are different kinds of food being prepared everywhere and the smells are mouth-watering. I haven’t eaten anything today yet. And yesterday I had just porridge for breakfast and a few apples in the evening. To say that I am starving would be an understatement. I have never starved like this in my life! I don’t remember a lot of it, but I just know that I didn’t.   Annika gave me a few coins – all that was left from her wages after we bought the dress, shoes, and ribbon. I can buy something here… Or maybe I’d better save it all…   But then I see something more interesting. It’s a stall full of books! I greedily look at all of them. There aren’t many books at the Beaufort house. And the one they have I am not allowed to touch. My own collection is also small, consisting mostly of fairy tales for Rickie. And here are books on history, legends, and… magic! Oh, my god! There are actual books about magic! So many of them! I want them all!   “Excuse me, how much is this?” I ask the seller, showing him the book that is called “Magic for Beginners”.    “Five darins, my lady” the seller replies, bowing with respect.   Shoot! I only have three darins and a few latts left. Not enough.   “Um, sir,” I start smiling as sweet as I can, “Maybe you would sell it to me for three darins?”   The smile disappears from the seller's face and he grabs the book out of my hands, “It’s already discounted! If you have no money then…”   “Pretty please?” I make the cat-from-the-Shrek eyes, “This is all I’ve got!”   “Too bad for you then! Go away!”   “There is no need to be rude,” I hear an unfamiliar voice behind my back and see a very handsome man in his forties with grey-ish hair and piercing steel eyes. He is wearing extremely expensive clothes by the look of it and comes closer, stretching his hand to the seller.    “I am sorry, my lord,” the seller mumbles, “I’ve got children to feed and…”   “Ah, children,” the man chuckles, taking the book I just looked at, “Flowers of life! But isn’t it wonderful when those flowers strive for knowledge?”   “Of course, my lord,” the seller nods eagerly.   “And our main task is to help them, isn’t it?” he raises his brow and somehow the seller gets paler and paler by the minute. He doesn’t even reply anything, just starts to shake. And I feel that it’s time for me to go. I have enough of weird acquittances for a whole lifetime already.   “Wait a second, lady…”, the man stops me and I smile awkwardly at him.   “Winter,” I say, “Freya Winter.”   “I see,” he says and nods, but does not introduce himself, turning to the seller, “Pack me this one, and this, and this as well.”    He points to the books and the seller quickly grabs them and wraps them in paper, handing them to the silver-haired man, but he nods at me instead. I accept the books not knowing what to say really. Something tells me I shouldn’t accept gifts from unknown men…   “Oh, sir, thank you so much but I cannot accept it. I wouldn’t be able to repay you and…”   “Nonsense!” he interrupts me, “You will repay me by the fact that there is one brainless youth less in the world. Enjoy the books and use the knowledge well.”   He throws some coins at the seller and walks away without saying another word. I turn back, wanting to at least give him my coins, but he is already nowhere to be seen.   “How much was it altogether?” I turn to the seller and he looks at me as if I am some kind of annoyance.   “Sixteen darins,” he says and turns away.    Damn, that would be hard to return. But then again, maybe I shouldn’t. I don’t even know where to find this man…   The sound of fanfares brings me back to reality. This must be the beginning of the tournament itself. I come back to the arena and see that the spectators are already at their places and knights are riding in a circle, waving their hands and showing off.    I quickly find my aunt, Kai, and Eliza and see the empty seat next to them, probably mine. Not wasting any time, I get to them, disturbing a few people on the way and apologizing profoundly.    I land on my seat and Eliza rolls her eyes, “You are late! How embarrassing!”   “Sorry!” I mumble, looking at the arena. I can’t believe I am at a real knights’ tournament! How exciting!    I recognize Troy because of his golden shiny armour even though he is wearing a helmet. The first thing I notice though is that there are no ribbons on him.  Looking at the next knight, I see just one ribbon on his hand. And the same with the next three.   “Where did all the ribbons go?” I ask and Eliza hisses.   “Every knight leaves only one ribbon,” Kai says, “The ribbon that belongs to a lady to whom he would dedicate his victory.”   “But Troy has none,” I point out.   “That’s because he is not going to dedicate his victory to any lady,” Kai smirks, looking at his sister. So, I guess, Troy didn’t find her or any of the girls who gave him ribbons worthy of his victory. Yep, that must hurt…    “Would you two shut up?” Eliza grits through her teeth, “Anyway, who did you give your ribbon to, Freya?”   “I don’t know”, I admit, “I think it was some kind of poor beginner knight, no one was supporting him and I decided to…”   “i***t!” Kai summons up and Eliza grins.   That’s when I notice him, the knight in dark armour, almost black. He doesn’t wave his hand like everybody else but I notice that my pale blue ribbon is still on his wrist.   Aww, he could have thrown it away but decided not to! I even feel somehow grateful looking at how green Eliza gets every time she looks at Troy. That’s what you get when you choose a guy who has no respect for women.    The fighting starts soon. And this is so not what I expected to see. They use magic! All of them! They fight swords, make their horses jump through rings of fire and obstacles, they fight with spades… but along the way they all use magic! All sorts of it – water, fire, air, earth! My jaw is literally on the floor all the time.   Of course, I kind of already know that magic exists and all. And even use it myself. But I have never seen such a display of magical power.    I watch and watch, but after a few hours, I feel like it’s all kind of the same to me… It was exciting at first, but now I am already bored.   Every time Troy appears, the audience explodes. They all love him and he enjoys their attention always waving and bowing at them. Girls shout that they love him, guys shout that he must win. And all I can think of that this is a very unnecessary boost for his already large ego.   The Dark Knight is doing surprisingly well for a beginner. Up to now, he won every combat he took part in. No applause for him, though. To be honest, it’s freakingly quiet every time he wins. I wanted to clap at first, but Eliza grabbed my hand and forced me to stay still. I don’t even bother to ask why. I bet my guess was correct and he is the only poor knight out of them all.    But he is very talented since he is doing well. And to be honest I am happy that my ribbon went to him.   When another two knights I don’t know start fighting, I give up watching. My hands are itching for the books on my lap and I carefully unwrap the package that I have, getting the “Magic for Beginners” out.   It’s funny how I see that this is a different language but yet I can read it and understand it. And this is when it gets to me. We are not even speaking English here. What the… how… How can I do all this?   But when I calm down, I realize that it must be because I am in the real Freya’s body. Some of her knowledge is with me after all…   Back to reading, I find out a lot of interesting things. There are two kinds of magic in this world. One is the traditional – which is used for common things like moving objects, creating potions, etc. Almost anyone can use it, but what you can do depends on your magical reserve, which is individual for every person. Some can move mountains, and some are just empty. Well, actually most people are empty. Only about 20% of the population has magic.  And the other type of magic is elemental – it’s a pure force that cannot be compared to anything else. Elemental mages have bigger reserves than regular ones. And they are considered to be the strongest among them all…   All the knights today are using elemental magic… I guess that means that they are the best of the best…   I lift my head up and I am surprised to see that Troy is fighting my Dark Knight! Wow!  And if I am not mistaken, then Troy is sweating really hard there! The Dark’s Knights attacks seem so effortless… Yeah, Troy is not going to last long!   Back to my book. There are four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. And with the water element, there is one particularly interesting thing – only a few out of the water mages have the power to actually freeze it and turn it into ice! So… does that mean that I am pretty special even for this world?   Something lands on my lap and I almost scream in surprise when I see that it’s some kind of a … crown. A crown? What is this?   I lift up my head and see that the crown is on a spade. And the spade is being held by the Dark Knight on his horse!   What the…