This is a work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story are fictional and representative of anyone living or dead. Copyright 2010 by robertx5sf@yahoo.com, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form without the author's consent, with exception of license granted to Nifty.org per Nifty's terms of use.
Author's Note: All constructive comments are appreciated by please if no flames. Thank you, Robert - robertx5sf@yahoo.com
Squires of Telisan Keep - 2
RYNIL
It was The Dream again. The one where Rynil was standing guard over a body of someone that was either dead or unconscious. Looking down on his own body, he could see he must be older since he was taller and bigger. He was wearing the armor of a Knight and held a glowing sword in two hands. He did know what happened to his shield or if he had ever had one. The glow of the sword cut through a few feet of the darkness that surrounded them. Things were moving in the darkness around them. Occasionally the darkness would seem to materialize into the shape of a wolf like creature that would leap at him or try to reach the body he was standing over. Rynil would swipe at it with his sword and the instant it made contact the creature would vanish. This went on for what felt like forever but each time the creature would rush out of the darkness Rynil's stroke would be a bit slower as the sword felt heavier in his tiring arms.
Just when he thought he could not last any longer and the next time the creature would surely reach the body he saw the darkness lifting as the coming dawn finally started to lighten the sky. But his provided no comfort to Rynil as he knew how the dream would end, for it was always ended the same way. As the sun rose and the darkness finally lifted a man came forward. He was tall and muscular, with the head of demon, dressed in flowing black robes. The eyes glowed and Rynil heard its laughter ringing in his mind before it spoke without speaking, "You have fought bravely young one, but your struggle has been wasted. Your love will be mine!" Then it raised its hands and flames shot out towards Rynil.
Rynil woke drenched in sweat, momentarily disoriented. It had been several weeks since he last had The Dream. He got up from his small cot and went to the window wondering if like usual the morning sun would just be starting to break the horizon. He opened the shutters and looked out the tower window to discover that this time was no different. Sir Alred's room had an eastern facing window so that it would be quickly warmed in the morning during winter. Since this was the morning of Mid Summer's Day, the chill would not be a concern for the elderly Knight or his Page Rynil.
After opening the shutters Rynil took a look around the room where he had spent most of the last four years caring for Sir Alred. Only the small cot and a chest for his belongings were his, the rest were devoted to the care and comfort of 'his' Knight. Sir Alred seemed dwarfed by the bed as the frail, crippled Knight slept. Sir Alred had been knocked off his horse during a battle against bandits and broken his back. He had been expected to die since there had been no priest nearby, but as his friends, most of who had since passed, used to say, 'Sir Alred was the toughest bastard there was'. True to their word, not even losing the use of his legs was enough to stop him. He had continued to serve as a military advisor for many years after his injury, and his insight and keen mind had served well in battle even when his body could not. Eventually though age had taken started to take its toll. The last few years he had been bed ridden and his health continued to decline.
A soft voice spoke from under the covers of the bed, "You have that dream again Rynil?"
"Yes, Sir. I hope I didn't cry out and disturb your sleep Sir," replied Rynil as he went over and fetched the wash basin and a rag, bringing them with him to the bedside.
Sir Alred turned his head towards the sound of the boy's approach, "Nonsense Rynil, you never cry out during your dream. I felt the breeze when you opened the shutters. You always open the shutters first thing after you have the dream. And you didn't wake me, I've been up for at least an hour."
"My apologies Sir. You should have woken me," replied Rynil as he started to wash Sir Alred, shifting the spoiled bed linens as did so. Sir Alred struggled to focus his diminishing eyesight on the boy. Rynil had blond hair and green eyes. He had high cheekbones and a long nose, indicating some blood of the northerners. He was a couple inches taller than average for a twelve year old and was already starting to put on muscle having lost most of his baby fat over the last year. Of the various Pages that had cared for him over the years Rynil had been his favorite. Besides being intelligent, strong, and pretty to look at, the Page never once complained, or sighed, or gave any indication at all that he resented the tasks required of him in caring for the disabled Knight.
Of them all, Rynil was the one that did almost all the work, leaving little of it to the various servants that were just a shout away. The only time Rynil did not personally care for Sir Alred was when his attendance was required for the training that was required for a Page in order to be prepared to be a Squire, and eventual a Knight. Sir Alred reached up with his left arm and stroked the boy's cheek as Rynil leaned over him to wash his right side, "I will miss your company Rynil, I hope Satchen is half the Page you have been."
"Do not fear Sir, I'll visit you, I enjoy your company and learn a lot from your stories of battles, tactics and strategy. When I visit I will make sure Satch is treating you right."
"Nonsense boy. You will be a Squire and have a new Knight to take care of, new lessons to learn, new duties to perform, and please spend some time with others your own age. Enjoy your youth while you still have it. In fact, I hereby order you to take the day off and go watch the Squire Games and prepare yourself for your Tournament tomorrow."
"Sir, I don't mind caring for you today. Please it is an honor."
"NO! This is a direct order; you must obey. Send in whichever servant is assigned to me today. After four years your service is ended. Go, enjoy the day," commanded Sir Alred dismissing his Page.
Rynil obeyed his Knight's order as honor, duty, and loyalty demanded. He fetched the servant, instructed him of Sir Alred's needs for the day, then changed out of his Page's tunic and hose into a plain shirt and trousers. He grabbed some breakfast from the castle's kitchen and made his way down to the fairgrounds in order to enjoy the celebration and watch the Games.
There were almost a hundred boys between the ages of seven and thirteen milling about waiting for the Games to begin. They were divided up into two groups by age, with the older boys to compete for a spot in the Squire's Tournament and the younger boys to compete for a spot in the Page's Tournament.
The Page Games were to be in the morning with the Squire Games taking place in the afternoon. There were about forty boys competing to have a chance at becoming a Page. The first game was particularly grueling for the boys but fun for all the noble boys that had been Pages to watch. The younger boys were made to stand at attention, unmoving. The guardsmen then would walk in circles around the line of boys watching for the slightest movement. Any boy that moved was eliminated.
Rynil joined several of his other soon to be Squires that had been given the day off. They sat on a fence near the contestants and called out to the boys trying to get them react. One of the noble boys, Mekrin, threw a couple rocks at the contestants before a guardsman came over and stood in front of him to hinder the noble boys harassment of the peasant boys. The noble boys also hooted and hollered whenever one of the peasant boys moved. This game lasted about an hour until half the contestants had been eliminated.
The next contest was to relay spoken messages from one guardsman to another that was across the fairgrounds. The boys were tested on both the time it took them to deliver the message and the accuracy with which they remembered the message. This game was not as fun to watch for the noble boys, so instead they wandered around the fairgrounds enjoying the various entertainers and other games. Lunch consisted of roast pork and beer from one of the makeshift taverns. Then in the afternoon they made their way to where the Squire Games were to be held to see which one of the peasant boys would be competing with them tomorrow in the Squire's Tournament.
There were fifty-eight boys that had entered the Squire Games. The youngest was probably just under eleven and the oldest just under fourteen. A couple of the Lord's guardsmen were in charge of the games. They explained to the boy's how it would work. The boys would compete in a series of different contests. The first several contests would be races of various types. The last ten boys in each race would be out of the games. When there were just eight boys left, they would have a three round dueling tournament with the winner earning the right to compete with the noble boys in the Squire's Tournament on King's Day.
As Rynil looked over the boys, one in particular caught his eye. He was a boy of about twelve, maybe a little older. He was slightly smaller than the others of the same age. He had black hair and blue eyes. He seemed vaguely familiar to Rynil as if they had met before but he didn't remember ever meeting the boy. He realized he was starting to stare so he quickly turned away and started talking with the other noble boys.
The first race was a sprint across a field. Generally the youngest boys were the first ones out. The next race was a test of endurance. The peasant boys had to run to the Castle and back. The Castle was about a mile away and up a hill. The boys were exhausted as they returned. Some had tried going to fast early and burned themselves out and were barely able to finish. Rynil saw that the black haired boy finished fourth. Several of the larger boys had trouble keeping up with the lighter ones and were out.
The contestants were given a short rest before the next race, which was an obstacle course of sorts. They had to climb over fences, run through columns of archery targets, while archers were using them, and then through a large pool of mud, all while carrying a heavy backpack. The black haired boy was one of the first ones over the fences. Through the archery targets he seemed to just trusted his fate to the Gambler and ran through without giving any indication he was watching or hesitating because of the arrows in flight. In the mud puddle the weight of the backpack and mud started getting to him. A bunch of the other boys rushed past him, but after the mud he sprinted to the finish and was twenty-fifth out of thirty-eight.
The next event was a horse race. It was obvious many of the boys had never ridden a horse before. Several of the boys probably grew up working in stables or came from merchant families that had horses and were excellent riders. Rynil kept his eye on the black haired boy and it appeared that while not a great rider he had ridden a horse before, most likely a plow horse, as he finished fifth. It was down to eighteen boys. One more race to get into the final tournament.
The final race was identical to the message race from the Page Games. Each message was worth one point for every word relayed correctly. The eight boys with the most points after fifteen minutes would make it into the dueling tournament. The black haired boy finished first as he was able to get every word of every message right. There were just eight boys left.
The crowd watching the games had been slowly growing all afternoon, but now that the dueling was going to take place it seemed to double. Also a couple Knights were now in the crowd to watch the duels. The boys were given suits of quilted armor, wooden shields, and wooden swords. The guardsman in charge explained the simple rules; "you can win by breaking one of your opponent's arms or legs, knocking him unconscious or senseless, or by forcing him to yield". There were four pairs of matched length straws that the boys drew from to determine the parings.
The black haired boy who was one of the smaller boys left matched straws with a red haired boy. The black haired boy got the jump on the red haired boy and swung as quickly as he could. He was able to force him backwards. He kept hammering away trying to slip his sword past the other boy's shield. The red hair boy blocked once with his sword and the impact sent it flying. The black haired boy didn't let up, he swung wide avoiding the boy's shield and quickly and hit the swordless boy several times in the sides and shoulder. The red haired boy yielded. Rynil frowned and several people in the audience grumbled that it hadn't been very honorable to attack after the boy dropped his sword.
Next up were the two of the strongest looking boys left that had drawn each other. Rynil looked over at the black haired boy and saw that he was watching the two boys fight, studying their every move since he would have to fight the winner in the next round. One was slightly older, probably nearing his fourteenth birthday. He used his strength and longer reach to keep the quicker one from getting close enough to score any blows. Eventually he was able to knock the quicker boy's shield aside with one blow, then on the backhand he caught his sword arm between the elbow and the wrist breaking it.
The other two matches were quick with one ending after a blow to the head knocked a boy unconscious. The other ended with the smaller of the two contestants yielding after a blow to his sword arm caused him to lose feeling in his hand.
The second round matches begun with a duel between the black haired boy and the strong brown haired boy nearing his fourteenth birthday. Every time the black haired boy tried to get close the larger boy would either jab his sword at the smaller boys head or deliver a stinging strike to his shield as he stepped back. For several minutes he kept the smaller boy off balance and unable to deliver any good hits. The black haired boy seemed to be getting a bit tired and Rynil could see a look of desperation in his eyes. He made a half swing high with his sword then dived into a roll. The larger brown haired boy misjudged his intent and stepped forward as he swung at the black haired boy's head, missing by just an inch. The boy came out of his roll about a foot to the side of where the larger boy now stood. He swung as hard and as quickly as he could. His blow smashed into the back of his opponent's knee. The larger stronger boy crumpled to the ground and the crowd screamed in outrage. "Coward!" and "He fights like a bandit!" were several of the shouts that stood out to Rynil. The black haired boy looked shocked and dismayed over the crowd's reaction. He walked out of the dueling circle and throw himself on the ground, burying his head between his knees.
The winner of the other match was a light brown haired boy of about thirteen. As the black haired boy entered the circle to face the other finalist, many in the crowd were shouting at him to yield, to forfeit, because no one would want such a dishonorable coward for a Squire. Rynil watched as despite having tears welling in his eyes, the black haired boy ignored the crowd and steeled himself for battle.
The boys were evenly matched. They were about equal in strength and quickness. Rynil watched the black haired boy closely as he dueled. The tears had dried up and the boy seemed to be able to block out the jeers from the crowd. Rynil noticed that he started to test the other boys defenses. After just a few exchanges the trained fighter in Rynil saw that the brown haired boy was lowering his shield a couple inches every time he readied his sword for a strike. After the two traded attacks and blocks a couple more times Rynil noticed the black haired boy give a little smile after the other boy attacked, had he discovered the other boys weakness as well?
With lightening quickness the black haired boy swung a little bit higher right as the blonde boy went to attack. As he turned away the other boy's attack with his shield, his own sword slipped over the lowered shield and struck the boy in the shoulder. Rynil recognized immediately that the shoulder was dislocated. The injured boy stepped back, looking down at his arm as he obviously struggled to try to raise his shield. The black haired boy leapt forward immediately and struck the boy in head, knocking him out.
The crowd had been cheering for the brown haired boy and when he fell the cheers turned to boos. The guardsman in charge of the games came and lead the black haired boy away.
Rynil went back to the castle with the other Pages and Squires, all of whom were talking about how dishonorable the winner of the Squire Games was. The few Pages who were of age to compete in the Squire Tournament started boasting about how badly they were going to beat him if they got matched against him, the loudest of which was Mekrin. After a night of youthful revelry, Rynil retired to Sir Alred's room. He checked on his Knight and found him sleeping peacefully. Rynil lay down on his cot and drifted off to sleep, troubled that he could not get the image of the black haired boy out of his mind.
Early the next morning, The Dream came again. But this time when Rynil looked down at the body at his feet, it was no longer featureless. He clearly saw the black hair and blue eyes which appeared lifeless. His clothes were tattered but Rynil could recognize the faded and worn tunic marked with the coat of arms of Lord Valerik, the uniform of a Squire. He was a few years older but there was no mistaking, it was the body of the boy that had just won the Squire Games.