After that first test, training felt a lot more like training. Exercises meant to enhance her strength, speed, and agility without overworking her muscles took up her mornings, and she had more training sessions with her favorite pawn in the afternoon. She had still yet to catch sight of its true form.

  After days of seemingly fruitless training where nothing seemed to improve or succeed, Ruena finally confronted Bastion. "Is this truly the correct training, or are you just trying to prevent me from succeeding?" she demanded.

  "It is not me who is trying to prevent you," Bastion replied, "We both know who hates the idea of you becoming the Weaponsmaster the most."

  "Velcorna Alodan," Ruena sighed, "What does that have to do with this training?"

  "In the past, the test to become the Weaponsmaster involved putting your life on the line to battle an opponent far stronger than yourself," Bastion explained, "The Duchess will look for the hardest possible version of the test for you to face, and there is no test more difficult than this. The reason this way of testing was dismissed was because of the difficulty in finding opponents of appropriate strength. Some of the Weaponsmasters of the past were unmatched in strength and skill. Your father was one of them."

  There was a sense of pride at his words, but also a feeling of concern. If her father had been so powerful that he was considered unmatched, then how had he died that day? She didn't ask because she knew Bastion would not have the answer. He hadn't been there any more than she had. The only person who might know the answer to that question was Velcorna Alodan.

  "It will be over for me the moment my opponent uses magic," Ruena told him instead, "Doesn't that make passing such a test impossible?"

  "No," Bastion told her, and he did not seem to have a shred of doubt in his words, "You bested one of my golems on the very first day you attempted. You have what it takes to win against a magical opponent despite having no magic of your own. Surely you have noticed that even Soral is not without weakness in battle."

  "There is a difference between seeing a weakness and being able to take advantage of it," Ruena pointed out.

  "And that is exactly why you are training now," Bastion confirmed, "I wouldn't have started helping you with this if I believed it was impossible for you. I stand by what I told your partner before. The reason you have not inherited my magic is because you do not need it."

  More flattery, but Bastion had no need to flatter her. That meant that what he was saying was true. With no more objections, Ruena threw herself fully back into the training. Bastion believed in her. The first Duke of Alodan and Weaponsmaster said she had what it took. With these words running through her head like a mantra she relentlessly pushed forward. Just like he had told her, as she continued to press on, things steadily became easier.

  It was incredible how much everything changed once she understood the goal of the test. She was never meant to be an equal. Her opponent would have overwhelming strength no matter what, and her life might even be on the line. Rather than being afraid when she realized the full intention behind the test, Ruena had a newfound determination.

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  Since she couldn’t waste time uselessly becoming stronger, Ruena focused on strategy. The stronger she became, the stronger her enemy would be as well. First, she needed to hide some of her strength. She made sure to practice while no one was watching. Ruena could not count on having access to any of her tools and weapons so she left them behind. Strength, speed, and agility were all good to have, but she needed to assume that her opponent would best her on all fronts. They may even wield magic, something she did not have access to.

  What she needed to hone was instinct and experience. Soral changed what was in the arena every day, and Ruena negotiated a new goal with the white pawn every day. If she had even a shred of energy leftover, she pushed herself to her limit by sparring with Soral. Fighting seriously, Soral was even more of an impossible opponent than the pawn was.

  Even with all of this, she was barely managing to escape. What did it mean to defeat an opponent of incomparable strength? Killing them was not an option. Ruena refused to let Velcorna force her to such extremes for a test. Rendering her opponent unable to fight was one method, and getting them to surrender was another. The problem was, how?

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much Ruena could do to plan without knowing more about what kind of opponent she would be facing. It was all she could do to attempt both methods of defeat against the white pawn. Soral was useless since he would surrender the moment she got frustrated.

  It didn’t take long for Ruena to cast away all sense of pride and resort to whatever dirty methods she could think of. Psychological attacks, constantly jabbing at weaknesses, even concealing weapons on her person so well that they weren’t detected and confiscated when she entered. She could feel the training not only affected her fighting style but her more personal life as well. Her awareness of every movement in her surroundings made it impossible to relax.

  Then one day it finally happened. Ruena caught the white pawn in its true form. The thing was massive, towering over her with impossibly large hands that could easily gather three people each. Each finger ended in a sharp point like a claw, and the only feature on its head was the gaping maw filled with very long pointed teeth. The only similarity between this slender giant and the white pawn was the fact that they were both composed of pure white stone.

  The creature panicked and clattered to the ground as an innocent chess piece once more, but it was far too late. No wonder it had hurt so much to be tossed around by that thing. Were all of the chess pieces on Xandus’s board such monstrous creatures?

  “That’s enough,” Bastion announced, stepping into the arena, “You are ready. It will take some time after you announce your intent to take the test for it to be arranged, so what little you have left to polish can be taken care of then.”

  Ruena relaxed her stance, feeling the aches build up in her muscles that she had previously been ignoring. “How exactly do I go about setting up this test? Who do I even ask?”

  “Given the current state of Althaedor and your personal connections, you should ask the Queen,” he recommended, “However, the majority of her orders are delivered through Densooth. It may even seem like this decision was his own.”

  “Which will make Velcorna even more annoying,” Ruena realized, “Any other options?”

  “As the current Duchess of Alodan, Velcorna has the authority to host this test. You could take this directly to the source,” Bastion offered.

  That was a difficult decision. Ruena found herself left to choose between the lesser of two evils. No matter who she picked, the outcome might end up the same. In that case, she had to consider the long term. If she truly succeeded in taking down Velcorna, her status as Weaponsmaster might be brought to question.

  The obvious choice was to go to the Queen, and to Densooth. However, wouldn’t it be so incredibly satisfying to make Velcorna give her that title herself before using it against her?