The Robber Knight's Protege

48 - The Best Way to Cheat

Xander hated jousting. He was good at it, yes, but it made him think of the worthless man who had raised him. On days when the man was sober, Xander didn't get to eat until he delivered a perfect performance on the practice field. On days when the man wasn't sober... well, Xander still had scars from those days.

Despite that, though, Xander was almost grateful to that man now because Xander was among the tournament's top five competitors, and jousting was the only event left. If Reuben's stamina gave out—which, at this point, didn't seem likely to happen—Xander still had a solid chance of saving Luntberg and making Duke Augustus von SkyMeadow rue the moment he had decided to make Fye his enemy.

Xander's horse shifted under him as they waited for the flag to drop. Lord Arken, on the other end of the field, truly looked like a man who was ready to charge into battle. But Xander would win—mainly because he wanted to show Lord Arken what happened to men who made indecent propositions to Fye. Especially men who made indecent propositions whom Fye liked.

The flag dropped.

The hooves of Xander's horse thundered against the ground, combining with the cacophony from the crowd to create a crescendo of noise that blurred out the rest of the universe. The world had been reduced to Xander, his horse, his lance, and his target.

Xander was going to win. He was as certain of it as he was of the sunrise.

But maybe sometimes the sun didn't rise.

Xander's saddle began to slip.

No. Not happening. The duke had done this. He had seen Xander as a threat, and he had used the same tactic on Xander as he had on Reuben all those years ago.

Lord Arken's lance slammed into Xander's breastplate with the force of lion's bite. In the milliseconds that followed, Xander tried to right himself—if he didn't fall, they would go for another lance and Xander still had a chance to win—but he failed.

Xander tumbled off the horse, landing in a clatter of armor and humiliation.

He sat up as he collected his breath, stunned. And angry.

Xander had been unhorsed by a snobby lord who was after his wife—and Fye might even decide to have an affair with him now the whole world knew how utterly Xander had been defeated. No one would believe that Xander had been unhorsed because of a cheat.

And now Xander had no chance of winning the tournament.

Arken trotted over on his steed and dismounted so he could offer Xander a hand. Because he was wearing his helmet, Xander couldn't see his face, but he imagined that Arken was wearing the smuggest smirk in the history of smirks. Xander wanted to knock all his teeth out.

Instead of accepting Arken's hand, Xander lay down on his back and then flipped to his feet in a swift motion. In full armor, it was no easy feat—and the crowd knew it, too. Their cheers rose anew—and the cheers were for him this time.

Xander tugged off his helmet and gave the crowd a slight bow. He had lost, but that didn't mean he couldn't do his best to steal some of Arken's glory.

"Well-fought, young Xander," Arken said as he took off his own helmet. They walked back toward the knights' queue together. "You did very well throughout the entire tournament."

"Not so well at the end." I'm disqualified now. Instead of moving on to face Reuben or the duke in the finals, all I can do now is sit and hope that Reuben doesn't hand Luntberg to the duke on a silver platter. He was about to mention the loosened saddle girth—and Arken's utter failure to ensure that the duke did not cheat—when he caught sight of Reuben.