A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is so late (well three days, anyways) Happy Leap Day! Please Review! =D
Sunlight lazily seeped in through the curtains, beautiful. Drifting between conscious and unconscious is such a peaceful thing. Suddenly the curtains were violently ripped open the curtains. The light burned my eyes as what I would imagine would happen to a vampire caught in the sunlight.
"Come on Lady Nicole! Wake up, it's a bright day and kingy has another day of activities for you." Daria said in her usual morning cheery voice.
"No, I want to stay asleep." I childishly said whilst turning over to shield my face from the offending sunlight.
"Kingy would be unhappy and I think you would like kingy's choice of outfit for you today." Daria retorted and pulled down the bed sheets, the familiar warmth of a night's sleep was replaced by the cool air.
Seeing as I was fighting a losing battle, I rose from my slumber and walked over to the bowl on my dressing table. Daria quickly picked up the water jug from the basin and poured the contents into the basin. She put down the jug to the side of the basin then promptly returned to work or sorting out my bed. The splash of water really woke me up from the remaining hold slumber had over me, now to see what his royal secretive-ness has set up for me.
I walked over to the chair where Daria passed me a long-sleeved off white poet's shirt and a pair of dark brown, almost black pair of tights. I took off my nightgown and placed it on the chair neatly. After being a drama student for so many years I must admit I don't feel uncomfortable getting changed around other women, simply because there isn't time between costume changes to find privacy.
"No corset first?" I asked after putting on underwear and tights.
The gobliness sat me down on the chair in front of the dressing table and finished buttoning up my poet's shirt. Daria picked up a dark brown leather corset and said "No, kingy wants corset on top, easier making it easier to move around in.
Hmmm, I need to move and considering I'm lacking a massive skirt I'm assuming I'm not dancing unless they modernized it to something from my world. Hunting? I hope not.
"I'm sorry I haven't really been awake this morning, the sky last night was so beautiful." Whilst putting on my make-up, Daria just finished with my shoes and started to work on my hair.
Daria looks surprised but happy; I guess apologizing to goblins isn't a common thing. Daria pulled by hair back and set it in a bun. After that I got up from my chair to have a look at my reflection. I must admit, the outfit was a good choice fashion wise by the goblin king. The off-white poet's shirt matched contrasted well with the dark brown leather corset and tights. The boots top off the outfit, the dark brown knee high lace up boots had a one inch wedge heel and were very comfortable, comfortable to run and do a whole bunch of physically demanding exercises, even a fight if the situation required it.
Fighting, hmm fighting, something I hadn't thought of. But why would a lady with my position need to know how to fight? I am not a leader of nation or of a people, just an advisor to the court about how to get the people to believe and our ways. Considering what I know about the various kingdoms of the Underground women do not really need to know how to fight, unless it is to defend themselves.
So through that thinking, I guess I will not be fighting, hunting is looking like the most likely option right now. I forewent breakfast due to my generous sleep in and put down the crystal to lead me in the right direction. Forward, left, right, down three flights of stairs, left, right. I reached a door which was guarded by two suits of armor, their weapons crossed over the door to prevent people from entering, it looked very intimidating. The crystal stopped dead in its tracks in front of the door. I picked it up and a fog began to appear inside. Words began to appear:
'To those with good intentions,
Speak your purpose,
But be wary, the figures can decipher truth from lies.'
"I come here today in order to attend a class with his royal highness, the Goblin King. I am unaware of the subject he intends to teach." I announced with a shaking voice.
I looked back to the crystal to see if any more words would appear to tell me if I had been granted entry. I heard the shifting of metal and looked up scared, what if I said something wrong was the only thing going through my mind. I saw the suits of armor lift their swords and the door creaked open. I exhaled the small breath that I held in fear. I walked with a quick pace inside hoping that this wasn't some sort of trick, things are not what they seem to be around here and the same can be said with a gesture (even from suits of armor). I did not plan to be stranded in a hallway with two armed suits of armor to wait for a goblin to grant me access, or worse for the smug Goblin King to arrive.
The room was filled with weapons of all kinds, some of which I could name, but a majority I couldn't. Knives, Swords, tritons, guns (of the 17-19th century era, although mostly looking similar to that one would see in a pirate movie), maces, clubs, cross bows, bolts, arrows and so many more weapons decorated the wall. The room was completely windowless and lit by a medieval style chandelier hanging from the ceiling, there were lit candles scattered around the room but were probably unnecessary as there was already plenty of light.
Jareth was standing at the wall opposite if the door, wiping down a long sword. I saw my reflection in the blade and he put down both the emerald green cloth and the sword. He turned around to face me.
"So how do you like my armory?"
"Your variety of weapons are impressive and definitely do reach its goals of intimidation on people. I would definitely not want to be on the other end of the blows caused by these weapons. So are we hunting or fighting?"
"Today I will be teaching you the art of defense through archery and swordsmanship, both very important skills to know whether they will ever be put to use is up to the situation, but still an important skill none the less. I think it might be best if we start off with archery."
Jareth turned back to the table and picked up a bow and a bag or arrows. He passed me and put down the bag of arrows about 15 meters from the wall. When I turned to look I saw a massive colourful bull's-eye on the wall to my left.
"This here." He said pointing to the bag "Is called a quiver, obviously used to hold arrows and can be slung over your back."
His royal fancy pants turned around and picked up two dark brown gloves from the table. He held up one and said "This one is the brace; this one is longer to prevent the bow string from hitting your forearm. The thumb part of the glove is the only part which is fully covered to prevent you from cutting your thumb from the arrow which will not be a problem for you other fingers." He put it on my arm, adjusting the size with the laces on the side.
"This glove is used to protect your pointer finger and your middle finger from possible harm, you put this one on the hand which you will use to pull back the bow string." He put that glove on too, then took off both gloves.
"Now you try and put them on." I managed to put on one of the gloves, but had a few problems with the other one. It took me two goes to get it on right, the laces confused me.
The archery lesson continued on as like 'monkey see, monkey do' exercise. After a few practices of pulling back the bow string and making sure I was in the right stance I was ready for my first arrow. I pulled an arrow from the quiver and put it up against the middle of the bow. I pulled back using my pointer and middle finger whilst using my thumb to keep it steady. I lined it up with my target and held my breath, which was only released as I released the arrow from my grip.
The arrow flew through the air at a rapid pace, unfortunately not hitting the red bull's eye but getting close. It was really quite fun. After I finished celebrating my good first shot, I had a few more goes until I ran out of arrows in my quiver. The consequences of skipping breakfast were beginning to take a toll on my stomach as it began to growl. About a minute or two later we stopped for lunch.
A young goblin walked in with two trays of food.
So allow me to explain as to why this chapter is late. I discovered Sherlock, the t.v series. Anyway, just to give you guys a heads up, half of chapter 16 has been written and half of chapter 17 has been written, why am I so behind? Because my teachers have decided to give us assessment tasks and I have joined the debating team and I wrote a poem for a competition. So yeah, when everything calms down a little more, more stuff should be posted and more often.
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