Cursed mage

"Have you ever cleaned the horse stalls, before?" Jessica asks me when I finally walk into the place.

"On my own, no, but I assume I'd manage a decent score here." I move into a stall. It had a horse in it earlier. Several of the stalls have horses in them. Are we to work around it? Pick our horse? What's the expectations?

Jessica leans into me working. She watches for a moment. "Alright, you pass well enough. We're to check and review every stall that's empty. Then pick a horse to use for the next task. Pick wisely."

I step out of my stall to look at the horses. We have several to pick from. "Are you good at picking calm horses?" Not that I need a calm horse.

"When you get close to a horse, you'll notice if it likes you or not." Jessica shrugs. "Do your part. This is a group work assignment. Which I'd prefer honestly. I'll call for your help if I need it." She moves into the stall where Ryan looks flustered. "Get to work."

"I don't know what I'm doing." Ryan must not have spent time learning these skills.

But I made sure I wasn't lost. I knew it would be required. Everyone beside the royals must have full understanding how a horse stall is handled. They must manage all horse requirements. Because there won't always be someone to help. Minus a royal. I think of how often I manage to gain freedom from others.

Maybe I need to pass as the rest do. Shaking off the idea, I get to work. I'm not clueless. It just takes time and effort.

Jessica moves into my stall as I step out of it. "Not bad. Clearly you knew about the requirement."

"Yeah. Asked around." I look at the horses again, but Ryan's squeal has both of us looking into his stall. I hiss seeing him a disaster. "Ryan... You have dealt with horses before, right?"

"I have." He squeaks out standing up. He taps off his clothes and whimpers seeing the dirt on it. There was no way we were getting out of this trial without getting dirty.

"Wash up." Jessica thumbs behind her. "Let's do this, Thomas. We'll handle the horse part next." Ryan focuses on cleaning a little of himself while we finish up his stall.

Doubtful we would've all failed if only one of the stalls wasn't finished properly. Working together though is something a noble would need to prove more than the rest of the ones here. Jessica gives me a nod as we move to our next part. We clearly learned enough to handle horse care.

"Always had a squire?" Jessica scans Ryan. Ryan whimpers again. He doesn't look as bad now. "Have you saddled up a horse before?" Ryan fiddles looking away. "Seriously." She moves up to the horses. "Pick. They look used to knight work. Should be fine for us."

Ryan steps up to one. He doesn't look completely clueless this time. He's handled saddling a horse before, but looks to have never done it himself. I ignore it to handle my own. I've been properly handling this part of horse riding for years now. Ever since I was able to ride a little by myself. I always went further than I should've.

Jessica eyes me when I sit on the horse. "Skilled here too, huh? Just Thomas is clearly not telling us things." I roll my eyes. "I'll double check your work, Ryan." Ryan steps back as Jessica resets how the bridle is sitting on the horse. A few quick tweaks and Jessica holds the horse so Ryan has an easier time getting on. She's last sitting high. She looks like an knight. I probably do as well. "Let's go."

Hydrangea smirks at us looking at her paper. "Excellent. Someone will review your work." She motions to the courtyard. "Prove your riding skills."

We look between us. Ryan starts a walk about the place. Jessica shrugs copying. It's not a fancy place to wander. We're just being forced we know what we're doing. Stay on the horse, guide it to path, etc. Simple stuff for us. Assuming here. Many of the students would struggle with it. But the tests depend on the trainer.

Hydrangea nods to a person who came out of the stables. She calls us over. Once we're on horseback before her she smirks. "Accept the weapon."

A bow is handled to each of us. I didn't realize that was possible. My arrows have red feathers. I notice Ryan has orange and Jessica has blue. To be certain our skills are noticed. I set the quiver in the little hook the saddle had. Jessica does the same. Noticing our actions, Ryan copies.

"Good." Hydrangea moves her horse out of our path. A small red ball is hanging above us. That may be a hard shot for my skill level. Do we need to reach it? "Let's see if anyone can hit it."

"Either hit it or go through all our arrows?" Jessica asks readying herself. She clearly has bow knowledge. Not shocking after learning her history a little.

"Go through all your arrows." Hydrangea states. "Hit or not, I want you aiming for all of your arrows."

I watch as Jessica shoots an arrow. It reaches the distance needed, but was off by a bit. Was she not used to the new weapon or is there a wind issue? I doubt there would be wind issue. We're trapped in a courtyard for training. "You give us six arrows to pull off a seemingly impossible task. Most need at least a hundred attempts to fully grasp a new weapon."

Hydrangea grins at me. "Try, kid."

I scoff at her. I know how to use a bow. That's all I can prove here. I pull back feeling the weight in it. Were we given the same bow? Can't question things. I need to shoot off six arrows in the right general direction. If I can get as close as Jessica did the first time, I should be called a pass. It probably comes down to literally shooting six arrows.

I manage something, but nothing like what Jessica pulls off. Every single arrow got close. One even bounced off. Her angle must've been wrong. Ryan got the arrows away from him, although I doubt anyone would suggest it was a quality attempt.

"Excellent." Hydrangea turns her horse away from the ball. "Let's go."

"Leave the bow?" Jessica holds up her weapon. Someone comes by to take it before we can follow Hydrangea. "Your Knightship..."

"Hydrangea really does suit. It is expected for you to pass this. The tests are more to see if you can handle the strength of will." She offers me a smirk. I turn from her notice.

Jessica looks to Ryan and me. "Meaning?"

"Can you follow the orders as long as they are within your means."

"Within our means...?" Jessica eyes the gate we're going to. "The Swornyx!"

"That is beyond you." Hydrangea nods to the gatekeeper. "Please stable your horses."

I hop off my horse and tie it up. Once I was certain it couldn't run off, I help Ryan get off. He isn't skilled unless the horse is steady enough. He'll get used to it. Once the three of us have the horses trapped to the side, I turn back to Hydrangea. Noise has me glance at the horses again. They're being taken. Others will be tested with them probably. Not our problem. We're following Hydrangea.

Hydrangea motions someone to bring us scabbards. I check the sword: dull. Fighting with such a weapon would be difficult. I could use it as a club more than a sword. I shrug and hook it to my belt. Jessica looks overly confident with the new weapon. I'll guess she's trained with this one too. "Stay here." She moves her horse into the stables.