━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter forty! 040. arthur's spectacular plan
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
CAMELOT WAS STILLrecovering from Cornelius Sigan's attack weeks later. None of them were sure how the sorcerer fell and his statues were destroyed▬most concluded it would have to have been the bravery of the Camelot Knights, and Prince Arthur's final stand in the early hours of the following morning. But Odette knew the truth. She knew of the legendary warlock whose power exceeded even whom they believed to be the greatest sorcerer of all time. Merlin defeated Sigan and saved Camelot from its ultimate destruction▬as was the usual story, and received not one breath of credit. Aside from the smiles and congratulations▬the relieved hugs Odette and Gaius gave him, which, in truth, was all Merlin really needed.
The citadel believed they would fall behind in their usual festivities during the year▬but the King refused to miss one of their favourite tournaments for this season▬if not all of them: The annual Jousting Tournament. The arena was fashioned with sand at the feet, flags from front end and stands were lifted up over the field were knights galloped towards the other▬prepared to knock each other from their saddles; sometimes in the most vicious of ways. It was exhilarating to watch for most and horrifying for others. The fields just outside the stands were colourful in many striped canvas tents. Odette gazed down from the battlements, biting back a grin on her face as she counted each and every one. They were colours of gold and scarlet, canary yellow and blue, deep burgundy and white▬a small village outside the citadel walls. It was a maze of brilliant colour where knights passed by to and thro, cheered each other with drinks in their hands and showed off their geldings. Squires and servants followed at their heels, darted in and out of tents and around standing nobles. Court members sat behind tables as they wrote down a census of competitors▬as the days passed, more and more signed up to take place in the tournament. And as they did, more and more tents rose, more flags dangled down from the Camelot stands and more shields were positioned above in ranking. Bets were made in the taverns and within the castle hallways, flags could be bought in the markets and children were already trying to knock one another off their wooden play horses made from sticks in the streets.
Much like always when a tournament was on within the week, Camelot was lit up with excitement. The annual Jousting Tournament was usually held during the last few days of the Summer Season, welcoming the dive into where they spent their days gathering provisions for Winter; where the leaves began to fall and crunch underneath Odette's boots (and when the weather was always dreary and raining). They spent their last remaining days of more sunlight than usual in celebrations that were bright, happy and exciting (and quite daring, as was the rage for sports in the present time).
Odette watched the knights practice within the arena. Eyes wide and peering through the gaps in the battlements to stare at one in particular. The Prince was easy to spot with his tunic of scarlet red underneath polished armour and chainmail. He rode a gelding of a shining chestnut coat and eased his way to winning each practice round▬failing not once. She smiled slightly to herself, silently cheering on each victory. She was sure he was going to win yet again this year, as he always does whenever he competed▬a reigning champion in everything the citadel had to offer in sword-craft, mace-work and jousting.
