I Will Be the Greatest Knight

"What?"

Rochelle stared at the knight with wide green eyes, mirroring the expression her daughter wore who was slowly approaching the door despite Kara's advice to stay back. 

At the beginning of their relationship, Rochelle was always hesitant to officially tie the knot despite how much she loved Arthur. There were multiple times in their courtship that he disappeared for days on end, unable to send even a sentence by messenger hawk. There was no doubt the job was dangerous, but she found the truth on their wedding night when she saw the man with his clothing off for the first time and became privy to the map of scars that littered his muscular frame. 

Despite all of that, he always promised to return. Nothing could defeat him. Nothing had so far.

Since Irene's mother couldn't seem to say much else, Irene pushed the door open.

"Where is he?" she demanded without hesitation.

Irene had such a firm voice despite how small she was. The knight, Sir Gunnar, couldn't help raising his eyebrows at the girl whom he had never seen before that moment. The way Sir Arthur described his children, the man was almost certain the knight had two sons.

"Up the hills at the base of the mountain," the knight explained. "Old mining area of Earl Auden. Cave system overtaken by goblins especially since it's getting cooler."

Rochelle found it in herself to speak again.

"That's enough," she spoke firmly and pushed her daughter away, not wanting her to get any silly ideas in her head. 

However, after the news came and the rain started, a sense of dread continued to get heavier and heavier in Irene's chest. She couldn't eat much less sleep. 

Even though she didn't hear the entire conversation between her mother and the old knight, it didn't sound good.

As she lay herself down to sleep, the girl stared at the slowly burning out candle until she couldn't take it any longer. 

Rather than bothering with the dresses she usually wore with pants underneath, she went for an entirely tactical outfit like when she was in the forest: a grey tunic over leather riding pants. Over that, she wore a belt around her waist where she would put her dagger and a cloak to go over everything. 

The girl even braided her hair so that she could hide it underneath the hood she was to pull over her head. 

The last piece was the dagger she kept just under the edge of her bed. It was in a dark brown leather sheath but the blade itself was a dark silver with a blue gem embedded at the end of the handle. While the more southern regions of the kingdom had conflicting opinions about magic, in the north they were a bit more open-minded. Because of that, her grandmother had a mana stone embedded in it with a protection spell over it. It made her feel even more impenetrable whenever she had the sword on her hip. 

Since she was short and only a child, a dagger was all she could carry because a regular knight's sword would practically drag on the ground. She hoped she grew a lot because it seemed that being tall was a knight's requirement.

It was never a question of if she could do anything to help—rather, she had to do something to at least say that she did. 

Luckily her grandmother had gone home for the night and the hallways were clear. However, Irene still managed to hide towards the shadows and escape out of a door that led to the gardens rather than the front. As always, there was certainly a knight near the property and looking out for the family at night. Her father couldn't sleep without a pair of eyes awake. 

For a while, the girl hid in the darkness of night against the stable where her family's horses were housed. She didn't want to wake the horses up knowing they might get excited, but the only way she would get far into the mountains was on horseback.

When she was certain the knight was on the other side of her family's home, she quickly made it to a door and shut herself inside, happy to escape the rain, but knowing if she went after her father, her comfort wouldn't matter any longer and she would have to face the storm. 

Her horse was a courser named Sorrel with a shiny brown body but his hind area was a cream color with brown spots. While he wasn't a large horse, to the 11-year-old he was monstrous. 

Having never missed a week of horse riding, she was attuned to the animal and knew how to control him. He was old enough to be calm for the girl yet experienced enough to avoid missteps and never have an accident so far. 

Knowing there was no other choice for her, Irene saddled up her steed and opened up the large door that led off the back of her family's property. Even though it was an alternate route to where she wanted to go, it was the only way to ensure she would avoid the guard. 

Walking through the stables with the horse's mouth over her shoulder so she could clamp it shut and he wouldn't give her away, they moved until she was able to shut the door as quietly as she could. 

With that, they were off. There was no choice but to go as fast as they could until they crossed the small bridge over the thin part of the river and got to the tree line that she would have to follow until she left their township. 

Once they were under the cover of trees, she paused behind a thick trunk and peered around it toward the home she had just left behind. No windows lit up as someone walked through with a candle. There was no calling her name and the knight guarding didn't catch wind of what she was up to.

Irene then lowered her eyebrows and let out a small sigh.

She needed to focus. It was time to find her father. 

Squeezing her knees, Sorrel started on a smooth gallop. Luckily the ground was full of a good amount of vegetation so there wasn't much mud to slip on as he ran at the base of the large trees. 

The rain was only a sprinkle at that point so, while she was getting wet and it was in the perfect direction for her face to get a fine misting if she didn't angle her head down, she wasn't cold or in discomfort the entire time. 

Luckily the clouds heavy with rain only covered half of the sky because she needed the moonlight to remain as it dimly lit her path ahead. She didn't think to bring supplies and there was no way to light up a light source at that moment.

Over and over again, the girl reminded herself that she was going to be a knight and the uncomfortableness was worth it. Saving people from bad was worth it.

As she rode on, Irene realized the hardest thing she would face was the exhaustion. Never had she stayed up all night the way she was. 

However, knowing her father was in a dangerous situation was enough for her to press on. Each time she felt weak, she would simply squeeze her knees harder so her horse would be spurred to go forward even faster. 

Even though she didn't know exactly where she was going, the mountains angled towards the valley she lived in and in the lee of the northernmost side was where the old mine was located. 

Completely exhausted, Irene only made it there when the sun began rising over the eastern edge of the mountains. She was in awe but it was quickly left behind. 

She found herself in an environment with shouting men working together to move away what looked like a rock slide.

Irene knew right away that was where her father was.