Secrets at the Keep (Kingdom of Denall Book 2) by Eric Buffington

think you’d let that just drop.”
    “Not a chance,” he said with a grin. “You know, it doesn’t hurt to tell people they’re doing a good job.”
    “Some people need their confidence boosted. Others, however, need to be brought down a couple of notches,” she said, pointing at Mylot. “You are strong, and I’ve seen you at the tournaments, but there’s so much more to this job than fighting.” She rode on quietly for a time, then after what seemed like a short internal debate, she added, “You might think I’m being harsh, or mean, or that I’m singling you out, and I am in a way. I’ve seen many soldiers come into the King’s Guard, and I’ve had to bury many of my friends who have had great combat skills,” she said with a somber tone. “I am going to push you as hard as I can in every direction until you have what it takes to survive. I’d much rather see you give up and go home, than watch you die because you’re not prepared.”
    Mylot thought for a long time about what she had said. He thought the punishment of cleaning out the stalls had been retribution for their first meeting when he asked her to clean his horse, but perhaps it was something more. His disobedience had almost led to his death. She wanted to humiliate him so he would never disobey her orders again. All her drilling and training was to help him. While he knew on some level the training was for his own good, he had never seen Captain Conrad in this light before. “So you’re saying that you care about me?” he asked with a confident smile.
    “Don’t let that go to your head,” she replied quickly. “I care about everyone in Denall, and I also care about worms that do their job to make the soil rich for farmers,” she added as she pressed her horse for more speed.
    They continued east on the road for several hours, eating from their saddlebags. Before the sun set, Bethany dismounted and walked for a time, without giving any warning or direction to Mylot. She directed her horse off the road several yards into an open field. Mylot followed silently, suppressing the questions he had.
    “We will camp here for the night.” Bethany declared, pointing to a small, open patch. Mylot nodded lamely, not knowing the first thing about setting up a campsite. “Please tell me you know how to start a fire.” He shook his head. “Set up a snare?” A blank look, “Well I certainly hope you know how to use that sharp pointy thing hanging from your belt.”
    Smiling confidently Mylot drew his sword. “I think you’ll find that is one thing I do very well.”
    “I think you’ll find that you are grossly outmatched. Put that away and I’ll show you how to start a fire.” She spun around and walked to a small bush.
    “I thought you were supposed to train me,” Mylot objected, sword still in his hand.
    “Your sword is not much good if you starve or freeze to death.” She lifted the green branches of the bush up and began breaking off some dried dead wood from the underside. “This is dry wood; it will help us start the fire. Go over to that bush and get some more. And for goodness sakes, put that sword away.” When she had gathered a handful of twigs, she walked to a pile of dried leaves and began gathering more tinder.
    Mylot came back with his hands filled with some branches, some more green than others. “This training is not going so well,” she said when she filtered through the wood he brought. “We really need to work on following directions, first with the seekers, and now with bringing me wood I can’t use to start a fire.”
    Because of his previous punishment he hadn’t been able to ask much about the seekers, so he latched on to this opportunity. “Why exactly is the King’s Guard so concerned with stone seekers? I didn’t really think they existed before the incident a few weeks back,”
    Bethany led Mylot to a bush and again demonstrated where to find the dry wood on the bottom layers before she began