November did not begin as the citizens of Camelot had thought it might have. The attack
by The House of Dreams did not materialize leaving some to speculate that perhaps
Lady Ahmi had not yet harnessed the power of Bran’s Cauldron. There had after all been
that report of a flash of light, a woman’s shriek and smoke sighted from within The Wyld
that might indicate a failure, but there were no other signs. Camelot was grateful for the
reprieve but would remain vigilant for when Ahmi did make her move.
Meanwhile, there was a Tournament and a Ball to be held and the city and castle
bustled with excitement and preparations. In the midst of this Mace Daniels surprised
Nobly with a beautiful new gown so that the assistant librarian could attend the Ball
in grand style and Quincy was pleased to learn that she and Kildrummy would compete
against each other in the arena.
The Tournament
The Fall Tournament began as Blackthorn yelled “HIT SOMETHING!” while watching
Bayla and Palmer compete with quarterstaves. It was a phrase that would be heard
often throughout the competitions. Not that extra encouragement was often needed
as this Fall’s Tourney was marked by either swift brutal victories or long brutal epic
battles.
The speculation over the identity of Tyralor’s Champion’s identity continued until the
day of the first match the Champion had with Bayla Vin in the swords category and
it was revealed to be an animated sparring dummy. Or was it? Whatever it was, it
was no match for Bayla and lost.
The Squires of Camelot showcased their weapons skills in their matches. Squire
Kylan defeated the Summer Tourney champion Sir Elhand the Green Knight in a
rematch of their swords category final. Lyrick surpassed her mentor Blackthorn
with the quarterstaves and Squire Cian won out in jousting over Sir Elasol.
Kildrummy the Highlander made quite a debut in his first tournament defeating
crowd favorite Sgt. Quincy Randall in swords. The match was as notable for
Kildrummy’s jibes and his use of his clan’s traditional war cry “DROOP THA’
SHEEP!” .The Scotsman moved up in the standings in both sword and staves
although it was in the latter category that he enjoyed the most success.
Among the more lopsided victories were Corwin’s over Mirari in swords, Bayla
over Lyrick in archery, Lucent over Kalaris in maces, Quincy over Bayla in
staves and Cian over Blackthorn in staves. In fact the Guardian soon cheerfully
found himself eliminated from all the competitions except jousting.
And then there were the epic battles, such as Veryl besting Kalaris in maces
17-16 and Squire Lucent over Mirari 14-11.
The mystery of Tyralor’s champion was solved during a match with Veryl when it
was revealed that the fighter was in fact a fighting rooster. Lord Corwin ruled the
rooster disqualified from the competition and Veryl the victor. But this was not the
end of the fowl play in the arena.
Aralina had been visiting Camelot of late and displayed animosity towards Tyralor
and Amaris which was perhaps fueled by suspicions over the fate of her sister
CrowWing. A confrontation in the library led to challenges being thrown about
(as Nobly the assistant librarian sought shelter in a closet.) In the end Aralina
challenged Quincy Randall but agreed to first face Tyralor’s Champion, unaware
that she would be facing a fighting cock. Amazingly the fowl was the victor on
points thus infuriating Aralina even more. She charged into the stands after
McDougal.
The unarmed Quincy moved to block the attack while Blackthorn rushed to fetch
weapon and shield for the guard. The fight moved back to the arena floor where
the two women went toe to toe. It was a bitter match and while Quincy eventually
won 16-13 she suffered several serious wounds and only intervention by the
onlookers stopped Aralina from continuing her attempt on Quincy’s life. Blackthorn
expressed his displeasure with her conduct and the woman left, still vowing to
settle affairs with McDougal and his friends at a future time.
When the dust settled and the uproar died down the rest of the combatants
resumed the tourney. There were a slew of well fought matches that were laced with
many inventive battle cries and taunts involving various animals such as sheep,
wombats, cats and were--squirrels. More close matches were the order of the day,
such as Elasol’s defeat of Squire Kylan in jousting, but then Kylan rebounded to
defeat Suiechi at swords. Mace Daniels won out over Squire Lyrick in swords and
Captain Rohan of DragonKeep advanced in the same category. As the end of the
tournament neared, the fighting became even more intense and several matches
resulted in classic confrontations Squires Lyrick and Lucent met with staves
and Lucent barely eked out a win, 15-14. Mace Daniels scored two savage hits
to take the match over Elasol 10-6 in maces. And in the finals match for staves,
Kildrummy and Lucent battled until the squire finally triumphed, 21-20 and won
the staves title.
Squire Cian defeated Blackthorn for the jousting title, Captain Rohan took the
honors in maces by defeating the aptly named Mace Daniels, and then added
archery as well by winning over Bayla Vin. In the finals for swords Lord Corwin
won not only the competition but the title of tournament champion as well.
The Tournament concluded with the Harvest Ball where Blackthorn announced
the winners and awarded them their prizes. All agreed it had been a memorable
and enjoyable event.
**************************************************
But there were other dramas occurring in Camelot besides those on the arena
sands.
A letter was delivered to Squire Lucent from his uncle Edmund Zeagram demanding
he return home to work at the family business. Since he’d been cut loose from the
family two years earlier to make his own way in the world, Lucent felt no desire to
return home and sent a reply stating he was now a Squire and would remain at
Camelot.
Mistakenly believing that she’d badly injured Lucent in their tourney meeting,
Lyrick left Camelot but eventually returned with Dame Kyrie.
An enraged Uncle Edmond traveled to Camelot with the intention of forcing
Lucent to return home. The two relatives met in the garden where Lucent was
shoveling snow off the garden path, and when he once more refused to leave
Camelot a furious Edmund grabbed the shovel and beat the Squire senseless.
Only the arrival and intervention of Tyralor prevented a tragic outcome. By the
time Ian Blackthorn and his guards arrived Zeagram was writhing on the ground
in pain while Lucent lay bloodied and unconscious in the snow. Zeagram was
thrown In the dungeon while Lucent was rushed to the infirmary to be treated
by Palmer.
The incident unleashed a tide of emotion among various citizens, Kyrie was
rightly angered by the attack on her squire. Blackthorn was concerned that an
incident like this might encourage other fools to emulate Edmund’s actions
within the walls of Camelot. Teglo was upset and worried over her young friend.
There was also a heated debate as to how to deal out punishment for the
crime as at first Lucent was reluctant to press charges against his uncle.
Eventually he was swayed by the reasons he should not let Edmund avoid
answering for his deeds and a trial was scheduled
Blackthorn struck a bargain with Delroy. The young noble would work a
month as a page and if he conducted himself well, he would be taken on as
a squire by a knight of Camelot. Delroy later wrote a letter home to his
former tutor about his new life at Camelot.
Sa’Gruund watched in horror as Hand dispatched two dwarves who’d
discovered the Traveling Chamber.
Quincy had a somewhat surprising reaction to her first encounter with Elki
the pillywiggen.
A seafarer named Captain Morgan arrived in Camelot.
The usually sharp-tongued Cecily seemed subdued by some sort of illness
and being Cecily denied that she was sick.
Palmer began the process of healing Sorcha and found himself busy with
all the injuries that occurred during the Tournament as well. Among the
more extended stays was Kildrummy who while being helped to the infirmary
by Quincy after a beating from Lucent, planted a kiss on the guard’s cheek.
Kalaris found herself suddenly married by decree of the ruler of her native land
and asked Bayla to handle the negotiations to obtain the divorce from her
unwanted husband.
Camelot had survived Samhain and now made ready to celebrate the MidWinter
holidays, but what new dangers might lay in store ?
© 01/2007 B.West
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