The next day I woke to a boot rolling me out of my bed and I grunted trying to raise myself from the dust. Who would wake me this way? Had some of the tribe stolen into our hut again to mess with the useless Raksheesh?
"Are you going to lay there admiring my boots all day Raksheesh or are you going to get up?"
I raised my eyes to see Demni, one of the Royal Guard that was assigned to the prince. What was he doing here at this hour? I was confused, but I rose from the dirt. Perhaps the royal guard wasn't even above picking on a lowly Raksheesh. I picked myself off the ground and dusted off my clothes.
"Training begins in ten minutes by the oasis. Don't be late."
Training? Training for what? Then I remembered how the king had asked me if I would become a guard in two years. I would begin learning the basics now about weapons and combat so that when I entered the barracks in two years, they could quickly see my skills and put me in as tracker, guard, pike man, archer, or with the rarest and bravest- the Scortha who were the first wave against enemies that were on horseback with heavy swords and axes cutting down the enemy.
With a turn of his heel, Demni left my tent as silently as he had come. My family had not stirred for he had been quiet and so had I in the shock of it all. To be trained by Demni was an honor even if he did think of the Raksheesh with scorn and as a bad omen for society.
I quickly dressed, pulling my hair back and cutting it with my knife so it didn't harass me the whole time of training, before tugging on my boots and running as quickly as my quivering legs would allow me.
When I got to the oasis, I saw Neo's other guard, Ishtar, standing beside Demni. Ishtar was the last Raksheesh to go into training to be a guard and that had been about ten years ago. He gave me an encouraging smile and I straightened up.
Ishtar was a short, slim Raksheesh with the lighter tint of dark skin that all of my kind had, with hair that was as white as the halo around the sun during the day and long, braided back loosely to fall around his waist and the pointed ears of the fairies of the northern ice ring of Denkur. He had the sharp, high cheek boned face of the entire fairy race. He was a rare blend of light and dark--one of the few where the demon essence hadn't tore him apart and he aged slower than us. His eyes were the dark midnight black of all our eyes with sunset purple flecks. The only thing different was his eyes were wider than most due to his fairy blood. He looked more like a predator than anything, but there was still softness to his features. He was heavily scarred, but still was very good looking and wore the clothes of all the King's Guard – black, baggy trousers, black, curled, pointed boots with two curved swords on either side with golden bands on either bicep with no shirt or vest. On his back he bore the three symbols of any royal guard - honor, strength, and swiftness written in old, demonic text.
Demni was a tall lesser demon with hair as dark as raven feathers and cast blue or a dark purple in the sunlight that he kept shaved on the sides and grown long and pulled into a short pony tail at back. His face was chiseled with a strong set jaw. His lips were slim and his eyes were the color of midnight with flecks the color of the midday sky. He was dressed in the same clothes as Ishtar, but instead of two swords he wielded a long broad sword and a dagger.
Neo stood with a smile on his face and I went to join him. Neo was a head taller than me, even though he was the same age basically- he was only a half a summer older than I. His facial features were beginning to change from the softness of a child, to the features he would have as an adult, but they were stuck- morphing the two together. His hair was jet black and had never been cut- it was tradition that he would not cut his hair until his coronation as the prince and when he received the six marks of the royal males on his eighteenth birthday. His eyes were the midnight black of our entire race with silver flecks. He had broad shoulders and a stalky build to him. This particular morning, he was dressed in loose, black breeches, and pointed boots with no shirt or vest and had a knife strapped to his side.
"So what will we learn today, Ishtar?" asked the prince excitedly.
"How to properly hold a sword," he replied.
"Do either of you know how to hold a sword?" asked Demni.
I watched nervously as the prince shook his head. Should I be truthful and tell Demni that I did? My father had shown me because it was the proper way to test if the sword is weighted properly. I gulped, silently cursing my bad luck.
"I do," I whispered, lowering my gaze.
"What was that, Raksheesh?" asked Demni.
"Aye," I said. "Aye, I know how to hold a sword."
Demni looked at me doubtfully, but unsheathed his blade and offered it to me. It was a long broad sword and it would probably be heavy so I mentally readied myself for that as I took it from him and held it as it should be in the stance my father showed me. The weighting was off for me and, with a brief, surprised nod from Demni and Ishtar, I handed the sword back to Demni and bowed.
"Pathetic when this Raksheesh has outdone you, Prince Neo," said Demni.
I looked over at Neo to see him try his hardest to hold back the redness of shame from his cheeks. Why hadn't I kept my mouth shut? I knew Neo was my friend, but it still stung his pride to be humiliated by a Raksheesh.
The rest of the hour practice I learned how to hold a sword and get used to its weight in my hands. Demni constantly called me Raksheesh and it bothered me, but I didn't let it show. After we had been dismissed and I was walking back, I felt Ishtar clasp my shoulder.
"A word, Jaspen?" he asked gently.
"Aye?" I asked, stopping.
Ishtar moved so he stood in front of me, a hand still on my shoulder.
"I could tell you were doing your best not to let Demni bother you with his pointing out your blood."
"Aye," I said, looking away. "It's not like I'm not used to it."
"He is only doing it to prepare you for what's awaiting you in the barracks. Until you graduate, Jaspen, people will still be allowed to point it out for you have no authority to have them flogged yet. He's only doing it to help you get over that anger. You probably won't believe me, but Demni and I were friends in the barracks. He was the only one I had and I was soft and easily wounded by people pointing out I was a lowly Raksheesh. It took me years to build up endurance to it. He is only trying to help you."
I nodded surprised that Demni and Ishtar were actually friends and that Demni wasn't a Raksheesh hater as I had thought first thought him to be.