Red is the Color of Blood chapter 3
by Catgirl 67

A/N: This chapter might not be as good because I have nothing else to
do, so I'm forcing the creative spark. Kind of a boring
explains-things-and-starts-up-the-storyline chapter. Please bear with
me and wait. In the next few chapters, things will get interesting, not
to mention violent (there's a reason for the title)and the romance will
start. By the way, Dilandau won as the person she should fall in love
with, so she's fifteen. I also made up a description of the training
grounds, since I didn't know what they looked like, so don't expect it
to be anywhere near accurate.


Rashka took a deep breath and straightened her Zaibach uniform. She
thanked the gods that she had allowed her brother to show her several
sword fighting techniques, against her parents wishes. She was still
unsure about the training though. Most anxiety came from what she
had heard Dilandau doing to the Dragon Slayers last night. She was
also worried about how the other soldiers would react to having a girl
there. A bunch of guys who hadn't seen a girl in years and herself?
She could do the math. A knock sounded on her door.

"Come in," she called out. Folken entered the room.

"Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded meekly.

	She followed Folken through the maze of hallways, once again
wondering how anyone could not consistently get lost in this place.
Finally, they entered a large, indoor arena. The ceiling was high and
there were many doorways leading into the grounds. The floor was
black, and many soldiers were sparring or resting on the benches. The
room nearly fell silent as she and Folken entered. Folken simply
introduced her as if she was any old soldier, turned her over to a
trainer, and left.

	The amount of people staring at her was completely
unnerving, and she wanted to scream, "What are you looking at!?" in
their faces. Eventually, the trainers dragged their soldiers back to
work and Rashka felt less self-conscious. The trainer Folken had left
her with looked a little confused, wondering if he was supposed to
treat her like everyone else.

"Well, uh, okay, let's see how good you are."

He paired her up with one of the guys and told them to spar. Rashka
noticed that almost everyone was looking over their shoulders to see
how good she was. Rashka struck first. Metal crashed against metal as
her partner was caught off guard, thinking that she probably didn't
even know how to hold a sword.

The rest of the day moved on like that as she sparred and trained for
several hours. Most seemed surprised that she was so good, and that
pissed Rashka off slightly, as she thought that that was a very sexist
attitude. She had noticed several men staring at her, and while that
was flattering, the intensity of their gazes frightened her a bit.

It was impossible not to stare at her though, because she was
drop-dead gorgeous. Her flaming red hair with natural silver
highlights hung past the middle of her back in gentle waves. Her skin
was fairly pale, but she had bright pink lips. She was aware of her
own beauty and she was more than a little afraid that one of the men
might approach her, and not just to say hello. She left the arena as
soon as possible only to literally run into a soldier.


"Are you Rashka?" he asked her.

"Yes," she replied slowly, wondering what he wanted.

"Lord Dilandau wishes to see you immediately in his room."

Does Dilandau just want to welcome her to Zaibach? Yeah right! The
next chapter will tell what happens, but don't worry, it's not going to
be NC-17 or anything. Maybe there won't be any romance at all, we'll
just have to see! Muahahahaha! I love making you wait!