The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 26

For the next couple of days Simon spent some of that time exploring more of the city, visiting different parts of the city and seeing what wonders they hold and how the people were different. The markets were of particular interest as different goods from all over the kingdom were brought to them and so Simon saw interesting items of clothing, food, animals and weapons, all of which could be bought at various prices. The people that were selling them also looked very different from the northern wool merchants with think beards to the southern spice merchants that had coloured skin and tattooed themselves. He had many an interesting conversation with these merchants and heard tales from all four corners of the kingdom and this greatly interested him as the scale of the land was amazing. He also spent some of his time in the taverns where he drank ales that were tasty whilst he spoke to travellers who had come to the city for the tournament and some of the local populous. They all were interesting characters and he learnt a lot from them about what it was like to live both in the city and in different parts of the realm, why they were excited for the tournament and who they fought would win and why they were betting on them. Thus he learned about some of the fighters he would be facing in the tournament and he got some information on them but ideally he would like to see them fight, so he knew how they fought.

            So once he was finished with exploring the city he ventured forth to the training field were guards and knights alike practiced their fighting. The field was quite full of people, all in armour and hacking at each other with practice swords and there was a loud clamour as they struck against other swords or shields. Simon walked around and looked upon each fight with an appreciative look, he quickly glanced over those that he recognised as guards and spent longer watching the knights battles including a couple of knights from the Lord’s household. All the knights fought as individuals, a few had similar styles of fighting and used the same weapons others had very different styles and didn’t use the traditional sword and shield combo but changed it up by using axes, spears, hammers, maces, ball and chain, a wide variety of swords from scimitars to bastard blades and some didn’t take a shield into battle but used two weapons. Simon learnt a lot from his observations and gained a few new moves for his arsenal but mainly he saw how other knights fought and knew their strengths and weaknesses which he could use against them. Once he made the rounds around the field he got into his own armour and took his own sword and shield and joined the fighting and practiced for a long time. He got to fight against both ordinary guards, the knights from the lord’s household and a few new knights and they all were very impressed with him but he didn’t go over the top and unleash all his cards in the practice fights. As more knights came into the city he saw and fought against more of them and got to know them and enjoyed their company. Some nights they would go to the tavern and enjoy a night of revelry and drinking and boasting that they would win the tournament. The singers in the taverns would strike up a song and everyone would join in with loud boisterous voices and a few danced with the tavern wenches. Then they would cup a feel and steel a kiss and maybe more once as sometimes they left with them.

            Simon also visited the library from time to time and would spend an afternoon reading the books there in the company of the monks. He learnt a lot from these books about the history of the kingdom and of great warriors of the age. The monks were mostly silent but when they did talk the conversations they had very interesting about a great many things and he learned from them. He enjoyed their company and it was sometimes nice to spend time in silence rather than the loud times he would have with the other knights upon the field of battle or in the taverns. Not that he didn’t enjoy those times it was just sometimes good to be in the quiet and he could think about the things that had happened and learn interesting facts from books or monks.

            After those few days the lord summoned once again to serve him as he had visitors come and see him and his daughters in his estate and they threw another feast. Some of the knights he had met upon the practice field came to this and he had a better time because of it and had a good talk with them. The lord also talked to him and he told him all that had happened in the last couple days and the lord was very impressed with his attitude and what he had been doing. He told Simon that he should make the most of his time before the tournament and he was glad that it seemed Simon had the wisdom to practice as well as looking over the competition. The next day the lord also needed him as more visitors came to call and it was interesting to see who came, more old lords who were friends with John and young ones come to court Annabella. There were also a few ladies in both parties that came and saw both Anabella and Selina and would have a short conversation with Robert. It was clear he liked the attention from the younger, prettier ladies and a marriage contract might be brokered for him in a few years but he wasn’t quite old enough yet for that. None of the ladies even paid attention to the unknown knight they did not know, a few greeted the other politely enough but wouldn’t spend a lot of time with them as that was not what they were here for. They were here for gossip and to talk to other ladies. Simon didn’t mind being ignored by them though as he enjoyed his conversations with the knights and a woman wouldn’t understand that as they don’t fight.