Kingmaker

Dedicated #1

Silently, Ava sat upon her mount, Crispin. The stallion had recovered well from his injury, and had since been brought back into work. Ava quietly trotted the stallion around the small dirt arena, gripping a sword as she did so. She held the sword in her right hand, the one that had previously caused pain to shoot through her shoulder. In the recent weeks, she had trained in what she thought was secret, against the words of doctors, Sir Richard and Sir George. But they all knew she'd been training. It wasn't very often her horses and her tack were missing. So there was only one real explanation.
As she rode, she pushed her sword back into the sheath at her waist, before urging the stallion into a canter. The movement would hurt her a lot with her ribs still healing, but she pushed on through it. She maintained the 'If you fall, you have to get back up' mindset. She saw York's attack as the 'fall', and this was her 'getting back up' after less than 3 weeks rest after the injury. It was hard to keep her down, but there would be times where staying down was the best option. People often wondered where her mindset came from. Why she acted the way she did, and talked the way she did. She seemed to have knowledge beyond her years, and spoke well of matters that shouldn't even be her concern. On the political side of things, she knew the upsides and downsides of York, and of Lancaster. Of each King and his followers. Though she chose not to speak of them. She could easily request to speak to King Henry and his advisors. But again, she chose not to. Some things were best left unsaid. And when they were coming from a nineteen year old, who would listen and believe her anyway?
With a dull ache in her ribs, Ava slowed her horse to a trot once more. Looking to several of her soldiers that stood to the side with their own horses. "It may not be wise of me to do this, but could one of you join me with a lance. We'll be jousting. It will help balance, and even aiming. Also hand me a chestplate and a helmet. I don't want to be impaled through the chest" Her soldiers did as they were asked without any questions, two of them riding over with the requested armour, whilst two others collected lances. The pair helped her into the chestplate and helmet, before a lance was handed to her. This was also in good fun, and would be a welcome break from York conflict. She motioned for her soldier to head to the end of the list. "As you approach the hit zone. Lower your lance on me. Do not lower too late and chase me. You will open yourself up to being unhorsed if you do that" called Ava as she flipped the front of her helmet down to cover her face. The lances, a 10 foot breakaway piece of wood that weighed well over 5Ibs. Maybe 10Ibs would be crashing into her chest-or more her shoulder at high speed. Being unhorsed was highly likely if she didn't focus. It was all just an excuse for her to joust really, even if it was just a one-off.
Right as they were about to begin, Sir Richard and Sir George walked from the castle, their eyes instantly going to her and her soldiers. Before either of the group could say anything, Sir Richard called to dismiss the men. "Dismissed, men. Allow me to speak with Ava. You may joust later on"
The soldiers left silently, glancing back at Ava who had directed her gaze downwards for a moment as though she'd been yelled at by a parent or something. Sir Richard looked to her, his gaze softening. "Surprised you can hold the lance, Ava" he said softly, watching as she pulled the helmet off to sigh quietly. "It's much easier to hold the sword. But I wanted to joust. It's been so long since I've been able to" Sir Richard sighed at her words. "Yet you choose to go up against men who aren't knowledgeable in jousting" He wanted to say to go up against himself. Or Sir George. But even then. The chances of either of them being seriously injured was very high. There were 3 possible outcomes. One of them could be unhorsed. Broken lances. Or just a strong hit where both of them remain in the saddle. No matter what the outcome, injury could always happen.
"They wield a sword in the saddle. It's almost the same thing. Except with a lance. You don't aim to kill the person you're riding towards" sighed Ava quietly. "You think I should give it some more time before I try and joust with broken ribs?" she asked, looking to the knights. "Ideally, you should give it more time. The impact from the lance could further injure you. And the impact on your body if you're unhorsed... Give it some more time, Ava. For the sake of your health. You seem to be able to ride perfectly fine. And wield a sword. But jousting... It's a bit too quick. We need you, and your soldiers need you to be able to ride and fight effectively from now on. The threat from York has since increased. Their King Edward seems to have more soldiers flocking to his aid, and we're soon to be left in the shadow of them. Your army needs you to fight, Ava. And you can't figtht if you've been wounded whilst jousting with an already existing injury"
Ava simply nodded, dropping down from her horse and taking the reins in her hand. She handed the helmet to Sir George whilst Sir Richard took the chestplate. "What do we do about York? Have we spoken to King Henry at all about it?" "No, not yet. The King has yet to wake, and we'll need to talk to him later on when he wakes. For now, we're just working with the soldiers and running them through their training again. All of these men need to remain in peak condition. That includes your army aswell"
Again, she simply nodded. "Then lets not keep them waiting. May we train together?" she asked, inclining her head slightly to Sir Richard as she gripped his hand with her free one.
"We may" he smiled softly in return. Both of their armies would benefit from training together. They had trained together in the past, but they would definitely continue to benefit from it. It also gave Sir Richard and Ava a chance to train together aswell. And Sir George of course.

[Authors Note: I'm extremely tired. I probably shouldn't have stayed awake to watch the EU Referendum results]