Donner and Thalia: Satisfaction is Demanded (Episode 3)

Chapter 7

7.

Donner was in the armory with a few other squires. There was Finley Knob, squire to Sir Angus of the Bear's Mace, Myles Ritch squire to Sir Hughe the strong. There was also another boy with them that Donner didn't recognize, he saw that the boy was shining a breastplate with the insignia of a grey circle with two iron chains making an X across it.

"Hey, I think you have the wrong plate," Donner said, "Isn't that Sir Maelor's armor? Lance should be cleaning that one," he said as he pressed his scrubber across the green and yellow axe symbol on Sir Theodore's armor.

"Sir Lance has more important business to attend to then cleaning armor, I'm Roy Themled, hired help for his father Willor Duphrey, supreme commander of Galiean. I'm here to take care of some of the more unimportant duties involved in Sir Lance's role as a squire," he said.

"Really, he's too good to shine armor like the rest of us," Donner shook his head.

"Sir Lance is the first-born son of the Galiean nobility, he has much more important things to attend to then cleaning armor like a commoner's boy."

"Hey, who are you calling a commoner," Myles said, "My uncle is Lord Fibonche, one of the richest men in all of Kinleath, so stay your tongue,"

"Agreed, watch your tongue, you Galiean lackey, My Aunt is Lady Imyne, highest beauty of Delacroix," Finley said.

Lord Fibonche, Donner thought, Theodore had said that Fibonche offered quite an amount of coin to get his nephew into the Squire program. Myles was from a wealthy family, Finley was nephew to Sir Angus's Lady from the party, Lance from the nobility of Galiean, was Donner the only one who could say he earned a place here as opposed to just having good connections?

"What about you? Theodore's man," Myles asked, turning to Donner, "I've never asked what house you hail from," he said as he grabbed Sir Hughe's pauldron and started to work on it.

"House, well, I live in a house? What do you mean?" Donner asked.

"Your house, your family, their name, their accomplishments. Surely Sir Theodore's Squire must be a man born of the highest stature."

"Well, my name is McClure, and I live in a town called Hillshade, it's under the fiefdom of Sir Theodore," he said.

"Oh? your family owns this town, Hillshade, never heard of it, what are some of their exports?"

Donner rolled his eyes, "Crops mostly, some metalwork," he took a deep breath, he wasn't going to hide his life. He was Sir Theodore's squire, he didn't have anything to prove, "I'm actually a son of a Blacksmith," Donner said, putting on a proud grin.

"Oh, your father practices blacksmithing as a hobby when he's not running the town, that's so interesting," Myles said.

"Nope, not a blacksmith by hobby, one by trade," Donner puffed out his chest with pride, "By livelihood," He said, swallowing a nervous gulp in his throat.

"I don't understand, it costs thousands of gold to be Squired, how on earth did your father pay for that with, no offense, the wages of just a blacksmith?"

"Didn't have to pay, I was selected, by Sir Theodore himself," Donner said, grinning.

"Wait," Myles face contorted in confusion, "Sir Theodore is squiring you, for free? That doesn't make any sense."

"Why not? He thought I would be a good squire. Why does that not make sense?"

"Everyone knows that the Squiring is just another stream of revenue for the Knights, the only reason it even exists in modern society is for them to make more gold. It doesn't make sense why one would bother to do all that work for free," Myles said.

"Well," Donner smiled, "Sir Theodore is in the royal family, not one who needs gold. Guess he decided to pick a squire based on merit," Donner boasted.

"Wait a moment, you actually want to be a Knight, don't you?" Myles asked.

"You don't?" Donner was a bit confused, "Then why are you here?"

"Everyone in any family worth its salt wants to have a Knight to boast about, and it falls on firstborn sons like us to put up with the bureaucracy and menial labor trying to become a Knight entails. I can't imagine why anyone would actually want to be a Knight. I kept explaining to my mom that my Uncle Fibonche was never a Knight, never even squired, and he's one of the richest and most influential men in the kingdom. My learning years would be much better spent being taught by him of business and commerce than cleaning armor that's seldom used in the castle barracks. You don't understand, you're a commoner. The kingdom props the Knights up as these men of high regard, making sure that your ilk respects them and obeys the rule the royalty uses them to enforce. Being a Knight is a joke these days. Since the war with Diritan, Knights haven't been needed for years. They do nothing more than odd jobs and glorified mercenary work, and maybe quashing a rebellion once in a while," he said.

"I don't know if you know this, but I've worked some of those odd jobs you talk about. I'm not named or anything, but on paper, I'm actually already a registered Knight," Donner said, grinning, "Have you heard about some of my accomplishments?"

"Wait, are you that young Knight said to have slain the Rat God?" Finley asked.

"That I am," Donner said, he decided against going into another regaling, he would let his reputation speak for himself.

"Dang, Myles, we're in trouble," Finley said, looking to the other squire.

"Why's that?" Donner asked.

"Near the end of our training season, a tourney is held between all the squires. Duels to dropped weapon rules,"

Theodore hadn't told Donner of this tournament yet, "What does the winner get?" Donner asked.

"Nothing, well, you get honor. But in material nothing," Myles said.

Donner looked down, then back up, "You best be worried, both of you," Donner looked to Myles and Finley, then turned to Roy, "And you, you better let Lance know. I'm coming for him, I'm coming for all of you," Donner said, "I'm going to win that tournament. If you don't want honor, I sure as hell do," Donner grinned before going back to work on Theodore's breastplate.

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