And so, I had learned. Not just the art of swordsmanship, but also the importance of discipline, of perseverance, of believing in myself even when the odds were stacked against me.
And perhaps, just perhaps, I had even learned a bit about patience.
Which was a good thing, considering my current predicament...
"It's my fault," I muttered, pacing back and forth in my small, rented room, Vykekard's helmet bobbing along beside me.
"Lady Ophelia insisted I oversee the retrieval personally. 'Be there at all costs,' she said. 'Those mages are incompetent fools,' she said."
And look who's the fool now...
"I should have listened to her. I should have been there."
The memory of that fateful conversation, the one that had led to the theft of the shipments, still made me cringe.
Lady Ophelia had been adamant that I personally oversee the transport of the valuable artifacts from Elandria to Aurean. But I, in my arrogance, had dismissed her concerns.
