The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 30

Everything was set up for the tournament upon the tourney field, the stands were in place for the audience, the battlegrounds were set for the jousting and melees, the archery targets were set up and there were several tents around the field. These tents served different purposes, there were those that served as the knights tents where they could change and get ready for their fights, there was a medical tent for those that were injured in their fight and then there were the market tents that were serving people food and ale as well as the gambling tents where people could bet on the fighters they thought were going to win.

Simon saw all of this as he lugged his gear through the crowds of people and came to the tent he would be sharing with the other knights, it was a simple red and black tent on the edge of the field. The tent was fairly spacious and Simon knew he would have no trouble putting on his armour in here. He put his gear down and then carefully arranged it so that it would be quick and easy to put on when the time came. The other knights came in shortly after he did, they all were low knights who didn’t have squires to serve them and Simon had met a couple of them already upon the training field. The others were friendly enough and Simon was quite happy to be sharing a tent with all of them. Once they settled in they went to the main field where everyone was gathering, the crowd of people here was massive, and Simon hadn’t seen numbers like this since the war. There must have been several thousand people gathered here, some in the stands who were better off and could pay for that seating, others huddled around the field. The other knights and the archery contestants were stood in front of the royal stand so they went and joined them. The king and his royal court as well as the guest of honours were all seated in the royal stand which was the biggest stand and gave the best view of the field. Once everyone was gathered upon the field, a steward banged on a big drum and this quietened the noise of all the people gathered there.

“Ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to start of this tournament which is in honour of my son Edward being married to the good princess Elizabeth. This tournament will see your favourite knights fight against each other in a jousting completion first and then in one on one fights and then conclude with a grand melee. The knight who wins the joust will be crowed jousting champion and earn fifty thousand gold pieces. The knight who wins the one on one melee will be crowned champion and earn themselves fifty thousand gold pieces. The grand melee will be a team tournament and each knight on the winning team will get a small coin purse. There will also be an archery competition going on at the same time where the best archery will get twenty thousand gold pieces. I wish all our competitors luck and the fighting shall commence shortly so please go get ready and the rest of you enjoy this time” the king said and this was well received with lots of cheering and clapping. The schedule for the fights had been released yesterday to the knights and Simon knew he wasn’t fighting until that afternoon so he wished the knight who was fighting this morning luck and went around the field to look for his friends. He found most of them by a beer tent with mugs of ale in their hands.

“You not fighting this morning Simon?” the bear asked.

“No bear, my first match is this afternoon, how about you guys?” Simon asked.

“Same, I’m looking forward to it” the bear said.

“Mines tomorrow as I’m recognised as a good fighter I get to miss the first days proving” the prince said.

“Well lucky you, your highness” the bear replied.

“We’re not in the jousts not our thing” the twins said.

“Aye I’m not tall enough apparently” the dwarf said.

“Ginger’s fighting this morning in the third fight, we was going to get a drink and the go over and watch him” the prince said.

“What about the silent knight, I don’t see him among you?” Simon asked.

“He’s not one for drink with fighting, I saw him around though” the bear replied.

“Shall we get going then?” the prince asked.

“Aye I want to see some fights” the bear replied and so they left the tent and went back to the field. The first joust was still going on between two knights who were getting another lance from the marshals, once they did they got into position and charged against each other. The knight with a black raven on his shield got a good hit against the other knight who he fell of his horse and so he won the match. They left the field and the next pair came on, this match went a lot quicker as they only went through one set of lances before a knight won the match. Then it was ginger’s turn and he looked ready upon his horse, the knight he was facing was a similar size to him but wasn’t handling his horse as confidently. They cheered ginger on as he charged towards the other knight and lowered his lance just at the right time to hit the knight dead on his chest, this made the knight fly out of his saddle and hit the floor. They cheered even louder at this and were happy for ginger to win his match. The rest of the matches that morning were good, the knights who thought in them were of varying skills, some matches were quick like gingers, and others went on longer as both opponents were skilled at what they did. Simon clapped when he saw the knight he was sharing a tent with came onto the field but sadly he didn’t win his match against a much better knight who rode superbly. The crowd cheered at each match and made the appropriate response when knights won or missed. The fighting stopped for lunch and then the afternoon matches began.

Simon went to his tent and got ready for his and then went and saddled his horse and brought him other to the field and waited there. Other knights were waiting as well, some were drinking to steady their nerves, others were praying and some were talking amongst themselves. They left when they were called. Simon gentle stroked his horse whilst he waited to keep it calm. His name was called after an hour and he got on his horse and went to the jousting field, a marshal handed him a lance which he took. Across from him his opponent took his lance from his marshal, he looked like a good knight in decent armour on a big horse. Simon took a deep breath and then spurred his horse as the other knight did the same. The ground beneath him was eaten up quickly beneath his horse’s hooves and he was upon the other knight faster than he liked. He lowered his lance and got a good strike upon the knight’s shield whilst he deflected the other knight’s lance with his own shield. He turned around at the other end and dropped his broken lance and received a second one, he knew his opponent better know and he thought he might be able to win this if he timed this next one correctly. He charged the other knight again and waited a little longer to lower his lance and managed to hit the other knight in his chest rather than on his shield but the knight managed to stay on his horse. So Simon got a third lance and charge again and hit the other knight at a greater speed with it and this unhorsed him and Simon won his first match.

The other congratulated him when they all met that evening and discussed the tourney, bear also won his match and would be fighting again tomorrow. They all were appreciative of the day’s events and said who they thought would be going forwards in the completion tomorrow. Once they had a few drinks they all departed to get a good night’s rest.