The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 32

Simon was in the stands early so that he had a good spot to see the days jousting matches, he saved a couple spots for his friends and waited. He had made a small bet the night before on the silent knight as he was confident that the knight would be victorious that day and would ride in the final tomorrow. The first match was announced at it was Prince Edward who had ridden extremely well in the tournament so far against the knight Sir Percival Rhodes who was from the western side of the kingdom and has proven that  he has good skills with the lance. The crowd went wild when this match was announced as they loved to see royalty ride in matches. This match proved to be a good one as both opponents had skill and neither could get the upper hand on the other. They were on the fifth lance before the Prince got a meaningful hit upon his opponent but Sir Percival kept his seat and got his sixth lance. With it he got a good hit on the Prince and nearly knocked him off his horse but somehow the Prince kept his seat. The crowd loved this match and were cheering at every charge and ooohed at when the Prince nearly lost. It was the seventh lance that won the match, the Prince got his balance back from the hit he received and was very eager and once he was set up with his lance let out a bellow and charged his opponent. He timed it perfectly and got a brilliant hit against Sir Percival’s chest and this made the knight fall of his horse and so the Prince was declared the victor and would go onto the final four that afternoon.

            By this time Simon friends had shown up, a little worse for wear, as they had done some heavy drinking last night and he told them about the first match that they had missed, they grunted at this and complained about all the noise the crowd were making. The second fight was announced and it was between the silent knight and Fa’hir a rider from the southern realms, who was the last rider from there so he was a pretty good rider.  They picked up their first lance and squared off against each other and then charged, both lances hit the shields of the opponents. This went the same way for the next three lances even though each time they timed it differently in hopes of hitting their opponent. It was on the fifth lance that the silent knight managed to hit Fa’hir on the chest rather than the shield but he managed to stay on his horse for another charge. But the silent knight had him then and got another hit on him and this time he fell from his horse. Simon cheered at this along with the rest of the crowd, his friends were also happy at the knight performance and they too let a shout out. The other two matches that morning saw Sir Charles Draken go up against Sir Balister of Tervinta and win in four lances to the grand applause of the crowd. The last match was Sir Andrew Talon against Sir Darius the mysterious knight from the east, Sir Andrew was victorious once again but Sir Darius held his own and made the match last a full eleven lances which made it the longest match of the tourney so far and used the most lances. The crowd didn’t like seeing him go but cheered greatly for the way he left and most of them liked Sir Andrew too and they cheered him on.

            The tournament stopped for lunch then and Simon and his friends went by a cooking tent and got some fresh bread, cheese and ham and a few mugs if ale to wash it down with. Once they had finished their meal they went back to the stands and their places to watch the afternoon matches.  It seemed that Prince Edward would be facing Sir Andrew Talon first and then the silent knight would go against Sir Charles Draken. The prince and Andrew came out first to great applause, they each got a lance and then charged at each other, they only hit each other’s shield that first run. They faired the same way for the next couple lances as they proved to be equally matched in terms of skill. Lance after lance they broke against each other without one of them getting a decent hit that would make the other fell off, each time they charged the audience cheered loudly and groaned when there was no victor. It was when they got to the eighth lance that the Prince finally got a great hot against Andrew and he fell from his horse, the crowd were greatly surprised by this and it took them a few seconds to react but when they did it was the loudest cheer that day for the prince had won and would be in the final.

            The next match was declared about twenty minutes from the end of the last one and saw the silent knight and Sir Charles ride out onto the field to the cheering crowds. They got their lances and then they charged at each other, once again they proved to be greatly skilled as both them hit each other’s shield and didn’t make their opponent fall off. They ran through a few more lances, each one they broke against the others shield. It wasn’t until the sixth last that saw Sir Charles time his lance right and hit the silent knight square on the chest and the knight fell from his horse. Simon was disappointed at this but he knew that Sir Charles was a mighty opponent and the knight performed well in the tournament and had gotten further than the rest of them. Though it did mean he lost his bet and so he paid up to the bear but he didn’t mind as it was only a small amount. That night they celebrated the knight and drinks were flowing freely, though they felt it the next morning.

            The final joust happened around mid-morning and it gave them chance to recover a bit from the previous night’s celebrations. So Simon slowly made his way to the tourney field and took his place in the crowd to watch the final match, there were already a lot of people here for it. After a while Prince Edward and Sir Charles came out onto the field riding their horses and the crowd gave a great cheer at the sight of them. They took their lances and got into position and then the match began. They went through several lances with just hit each other’s shield but on the ninth one Sir Charles got a good hit on the Prince’s chest and made him fall from his horse. The crowd both cheered and booed at this victory as a lot of them had wanted the Prince to win but quite a few supported Sir Charles and he was very well known as a master rider and fighter being the king’s champion. The king himself crowned Sir Charles as the champion of the jousting tournament and congratulated him on the win. The rest of that day was dedicated to the archery competition that was still going on as the one on one fights would start tomorrow. Simon watched Longshot shoot and was very impressed by him as he was doing very well in the competition and he may even win it. He then left once it finished and had a quiet dinner and went to bed early to be ready for the fighting tomorrow.