Original Stories Fan Fiction / Fables/Fairytales Fan Fiction ❯ Sword of the King ❯ Flags of Color ( Chapter 3 )

~ Chapter 3 ~

Flags of Colors

 

“Hold!” yelled Andrew as he sat upon a stump watching Mary struggle to hold the sword at ready, “You will not drop that sword! You will keep that point in the air! Do you hear me?!” Andrew could see that Mary was visibly shaking from the strain of the sword. But he knew no other way to get the girl into shape. It had been several months since Skilf had stabbed her and her wound had healed enough for him and Peter to take her into the woods to start to train her.

“Come over here and rest.” said Andrew as he watched a horse and rider come out of the trees surrounding the clearing. Andrew took the sword from Mary as she collapsed on the ground at his feet.

“Must you push me so hard?” asked Mary as she lay on the ground panting.

“Do you want the other squires and knights to know that you are a girl?” asked Andrew as the rider came closer. He watched as the rider dismounted and waved a hand in their direction. “Here comes Peter, do you want him to see you spread eagle on the ground? Or do you-“Andrew's speech was cut off by a dirt clog hitting him in the chest.

“I see that her aim has improved.” jested Peter as he set his over stuffed saddle bag on the ground and sat down by Andrew.

“Really?” asked Mary as she slowly sat up to lean her back on the log and pulled out her dagger and fingered it. “Do you really want to find out how much it has improved?”

All Peter could do was hold up his hands in defeat and laugh as Andrew started to pull food out of the bag. “No my lady, you can already out throw me! And I'm a ten-and-five older than you!”

“Ok children,” laughed Andrew as he handed Mary a mug of watered ale. “Stop you're bickering or I will have to put you both over my knee.”

“Any word from my brother, Peter?” asked Mary as she nibbled on a piece of dried meat.

“Mary.” hissed Andrew as he looked at her.

“Sorry,” whispered Mary, “Sir. Peter, have you heard anything about my brother?”

“Peter grabbed an apple as he looked at Andrew, “Ah, Andrew she can call me Peter without the Sir. any day of the year.” Peter fell off the log laughing as Andrew threw an apple core at him. “MISSED ME! And no, there has been no word that I have heard about your brother. Sorry girl.”

Mary looked at the ground and nodded as the two men watched her. After a few minutes she got up and started to walk towards the stream, but stopped at the sound of a male cough. Mary slowly turned around and looked at Andrew.

“And where do you think you are going?” Andrew asked watching her every move.

Mary sighed and quickly proclaimed, “Can't a person even walk to the steam and have a moment with their thoughts without everyone telling them what to do?”

At Andrew's nod she turned and ran to the stream and quickly striped down to the green jerkin and dove into the cool water. Mary sighed as she let her hair out of the braid and slowly started to work the hurt out of her arms. It wasn't easy with the water being as cold as it was, but it was better than nothing. Mary swam to the bottom of the stream and was able to find some rocks that could be worked into arrow heads. As Mary surfaced the water she looked up to find a page from the castle looking down at her. Before Mary could react the boy dropped the bucket he was holding and ran through the woods towards who knows where. Mary cursed and quickly swam to where her clothes were and dressed.

Mary broke through the woods into the clearing and almost ran into Peter's sword. Mary was able to side step the weapon before it did any damage. “Congratulations, oh quiet one! You just failed you stealth test!”cried Peter as Mary ran to Andrew.

“Sir. Andrew we need to get back to the castle now please!” Mary panted

“Why?” asked Peter as he walked towards her.

“Because a boy from the castle saw me!” hissed Mary as she stared towards the horses.

Andrew groaned “You were swimming weren't you?”

Mary turned towards him and answered his question by throwing him his horse's rains. As Mary mounted her horse she could hear Peter cursing under his breath. “Let's go,” barked Andrew as he glared at Mary. “Now do you know why I told you not to go swimming in that stream?”

Mary was not even allowed the liberty of answering before a look from Andrew made her shut her mouth. Mary's heart sunk as the three of them headed towards the castle.

~*~*~

As the small party rode into the courtyard they were meet with men, women, and children running around like crazy. As Andrew dismounted one of the King's Elites walked towards them. Mary griped the rains of her horse but quickly relaxed as the man turned to talk to Andrew.

Mary dismounted but tried to keep her back to the Elite as she waited for the man to finish talking to Andrew. She was scared the Elite, no; she was terrified of the Elite. Mostly for the fact that they were the meanest and ruthless fighters in the land: and they were all looking for her.

Mary was able to breathe a little better when the Elite walked off and Andrew turned towards them. “I have good news.” said Andrew as he laid a hand on Mary's shoulder. “There is to be a Tournament here with in a week.” Mary could not help but smile as Peter let lose a yell of joy, but the smile was quickly removed at look that was quickly sent by Andrew. “Deke, take the horses to the stable.”

Mary barely got the saddle off Andrew's horse when Skilf jumped in the stall. “Did you hear? There is to be a Tournament!” shouted Skilf as he jumped around the stall.

“You are way to happy.” jested Mary as she started to brush the horse with strong strokes.

“Come on Deke,” whined Skilf, “you could show a little more excitement you know. This is the only time that squires are able to go against each other and not be punished for it. Plus it is also the only time that you can win stuff.”

Mary turned around a looked at Skilf, “What kind of stuff?”

“Nothing big like land,” said Skilf as he leaned on the stall playing with a piece of straw. “just gold, servant time, or any other piece of property that we own. We aren't allowed to use anything that belongs to knights or to our lords.”

“I think that has to be the best explanation of the squire tournament that I have ever heard.” said a voice from the door. Both Skilf and Mary turned around to find Andrew leaning on the door of the stall, “Go tend to the gear Skilf.”

Once Mary was sure that Skilf was out ear shot she whispered, “I don't have to compete do I?”

“You will if you are challenged. I can't protect you from this. You are caught up with Skilf now, so you will rejoin the group training in the mornings. Peter even says that you may win something if you are challenged.” smiled Andrew as he walked into the stall. “But to compete you have to own something.”

With that Andrew lead Mary to the very back of the stable were the war horses were kept. Mary could hear one horse banging on one of the stalls, and prayed that it would stop. Mary was more shocked when Andrew stopped out side of the loud horse's stall. Mary turned and looked at Andrew, “You have to be kidding!”

Andrew smiled, “No I'm not. This horse belonged to my last squire…” Andrew stopped to let the words sink in to Mary's brain, and was happy to hear her gasp and fly to the door and unbolt it.

Mary swung the door open only to come face to face with the big black stud inside. Both the horse and Mary froze, “Zuce.” whispered Mary as she reached out her hand to pet the animal.

“I remembered how David uses to tell me about when his sister would take this horse out and ride him at night without a saddle.” said Andrew as he watched the two. “I just thought that you may want him.” Andrew laughed when Zuce closed his eyes and sighed as Mary scratched his ears. “Come on, you can ride him latter, if you can get him saddled and ride him out of the court yard at a walk.” whispered Andrew as he closed the door behind Mary only to her Zuce bang on the door. Andrew watched Mary roll her eyes and kicked the door, and was amazed when Zuce quit his banging.

~*~*~

“Sir. Andrew did what?!” exclaimed Skilf as Mary lead him to Zuce's stall after everyone had go to bed.

“Sir. Andrew gave me Zuce, so that I could participate in the tournament if I wanted to.” said Mary as she reached for the lock, only to be stopped by Skilf.

“You're crazy if you're going in there. That horse is crazy! It will kill you.” He hissed.

“No he won't. Don't you see-“ said Mary as she tried to loosen Skilf's grim on her wrist.

“That horse has never let anyone near it since David died. He wouldn't even let Sir. Andrew near him, and he liked Sir. Andrew! Some say that the horse will never be able to be ridden agine. That horse died with David.” Skilf said as he let go of Mary's wrist and turned her towards him.

“Honestly Skilf, how do you know that?” asked Mary as she backed away from Skilf.

“I saw him when they lead him out of the forest; he had no life in him. There was no more will to live. Sir. Andrew told the stable master to put him in his stall, but after several days of not eating her turned mean. No one in their right mind would ever go near him. If you were to listen to me I would say that the first chance would I get, I would get reed of him.” With that Skilf turned to walk out of the stable. Mary stood watching him walk away trying not to let the tears show in the light of the lantern.

~*~*~

For the next week the capital was like a bee hive. Everyone was trying to get everything in its proper place before the first set of Knights came threw the gates. Mary and the other squires helped clean the barracks, the stables, and any other thing that needed to be cleaned.

Finally, one day after dinner the first flag was seen cresting the hill to the north of the castle. Mary, Skilf, Sir. Andrew, Sir. Peter, page Edward, and the King; waited on the steps of the castle to welcome the first knight.

Mary's eye's widened as the knight and his two squires stormed into the court yard and jumped down from their war horses. Mary glanced at Skilf to see that all the blood had drained from his face.

As the knight walked up the stairs, one of the squires took off one of his gloves. Mary watched the squire smirk as he came to stand in front of her and Skilf and droped the glove onto the ground between them.

“Well, I see that Squire Edward has already put up the first challenge of the tournament.” laughed the knight.

“So Squire Edward, who do you challenge and in what?” asked the King as he turned toward the boy.

“I challenge Squire Skilf and Squire….” Edward said as he turned his gaze to Mary.

“Deke, Squire Deke.” said Mary as she glanced at Andrew.

“Squire Deke,” said the boy as he smiled. “And I challenge them in dagger throwing contest.”

At that the new knight smiled, bowed to the king and walked into the keep followed by the two squires.

Mary looked over at Andrew and Sir. Peter, and was shocked to see them straining not to laugh. Mary then looked at Skilf to see that he was looking at his feet in defeat.

“Skilf, Deke, you may leave.” Said Andrew as a page came up to whisper to Sir. Peter.

As Skilf and Mary walked away, Mary finally asked the question that had been bothering her. “Skilf, what's the matter with you?”

Skilf stopped and turned to face her. “What's wrong with me? Edward is what is wrong. Every time there is a tournament he has to challenge me in daggers!!!”

“So?” asked Mary as she walked to the stables.

“So…SO!!” yelled Skilf as he caught up with her outside of Zuce's stall. “You're kidding me right?” At Mary's look he continued. “He beats me every time!! I have nothing to put on the table this time.”

Mary raised an eyebrow, “Have you ever asked anyone to help you learn how to throw better?” Mary smiled when Skilf became interested with a speck of dirt on the stall door. “Skilf, I could help you throw. All you have to do is ask.”

Skilf looked up. “You would help me?”

“Yes.” said Mary as she took out a dagger out of her boot and handed it to Skilf. “We'll start right now.”

~*~*~

King Peter smiled as he watched Skilf get yelled at by Deke. Peter could not hear what was being said, but he could tell that the words were hurting poor Skilf's pride. “Andrew, poor Skilf is getting another tongue lashing by Deke.”

“Well the boy did except the boy's help.” said Andrew as he stood by Peter at the two boys below. “But Skilf's aim has improved greatly.”

“So he will be ready to face Squire Edward tomorrow?” asked Peter.

“Skilf is a little ready, but Deke can already out throw Sir. Peter. So we will see who comes out on top.” said Andrew as he smiled when Deke threw his hands in the air.

“Well, my money is on Deke.” laughed Peter as he walked away from the window.

~*~*~

That night as Mary walked back from the stables she was stopped by two boys stepping out of the shadows. Mary barley moved her hand so her dagger lay in her hand as she came to a stop several feet from them. “What do you want?” she asked.

“We just want to know who you are. And why you are so closely watched by the Elite.” asked one boy as he stepped into the light. Mary recognized the speaker as Squire Edward.

“Why are you worried about that?” asked Mary as she watched the other boy reach his hand behind his back. She wished that she was watched by the Elite right now, she didn't know what to do.

“Why do you have to ask? What are you are you trying to hide?” asked the other boy as he pulled out a knife and held it by his side.

Mary raised her eyebrows at the boy remark. “What makes you I'm hiding anything? And if I am, then what?” she said as she slowly backed up. Mary was not surprised when the boy's followed her.

“Well, nothing huge…” said Edward as he stepped up to Mary. “Just that you could be Mary Ferbenan of Claysworth.”

Mary's mouth fell open on its own accord. She turned to run but found herself facing the wall of the armory. Mary quickly turned but towards the two boys and said. “What makes you think that?”

“Well first of all, the way that you just acted.” said Edward. “Mary, I have information that you may want to know.”

“Why should I trust you?” Mary whispered as she watched Edward's eyes.

“Because David was like a brother to me.” Edward said as he returned Mary's gaze. “And I want to help you.”

Mary breathed a little easier when she saw the smaller boy put his knife away. “We can't talk here.” She whispered. “There are too many eyes and ears.” At Edward's nod she continued. “Meet me in the church grave yard tomorrow night, you know the grave.” With that Mary quickly walked pass the two boys and headed once more towards the garrison.

~*~*~

Marley turned towards Edward once the girl was out of ear shot. “I don't feel right brother.”

Edward smiled and placed his hand on Marley's head. “When you become a squire you will understand.” At Marley's look he continued. “Marley, you know that you not tell anyone about this meeting or the one for tomorrow right?”

“I know that everyone is looking for her and that if she is found out she will be killed.” Marley whispered as he hugged Edward. “Don't worry I won't say a word.”

~*~*~

Melvin watched the two boys walk away. He could not believe that the girl that they ad been looking for had been under their nose the entire time. True, he and the entire Elite had been keeping an eye on the child, but that was only because they felt sorry for what all the kid had gone threw.

Melvin closed his eyes; he knew what he had to do. But first he had wanted to talk to Andrew. He had noticed the way he watched the boy. Maybe, just maybe, Andrew knew the answers to the riddles. But there was only one way to find out.