The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 33

The next morning Simon went to his tent and suited up and then went out and onto the tourney field. All the other knights that are taking part of the one on one melee fighting were also there. There was a lot of them, even more than there was for the jousting and Simon guessed this was because it was easier to fight on the ground with your chosen weapon than it was to joust on horseback. There must have been over two hundred knights on the tourney field. He managed to spot his friends in the large crowd of armoured knights and he made his way over to them and talked to them for a bit whilst they waited. They were all excited for the fighting to start so they could prove themselves the best fighter of their group. Soon enough the king came out onto the royal stand.

            “Knights it is a happy sight to see some many here wanting to take part in this competition, I shall not keep you long, I hope you will fight with honour and valour. Unlike the jousting where we only had one match on at a time we have the room to have more than one, the best shall be fought in front on my stand and when there are less fighters it shall all be moved here but other shall fight in the sight of this fine audience. Over the next couple of days many of you will fall but one shall rise as champion and win some gold.  I wish you luck and shall see the victor at the end of this.” The king said and with that they were split up. The more well-known fighters amongst them who had done well at previous tournaments would be fighting in front of the kings stands for the first day or so while their numbers were reduced. The others would fight in the other three rings on the tourney field in front of other stands that were crowded with people. Simon and his friends would be fighting in the third ring which was filled with just the ordinary people but the silent knight and the prince was going to be fighting in the second ring to more distinguished lords both of the city and from other parts of the kingdom. The others complained at this saying they were just as famous as the knight and had fought in just as many tournaments and should be fighting in that ring as well but they could do nothing about it. They went to their ring and the organisers quickly paired up all the knights there into fights and time tabled them all for that day. Simon would be fighting Sir Mathew Rodger in his first bout scheduled just after lunch time so he sat down and watched the other matches first.

            There were several fights that went on that morning between many different knights who favoured different kind of weapons and worse differing amounts of armour depending on their style of fighting. Each of these matches lasted between five and twenty minutes depending on the skills of the fighters who were in it. The crowds enjoyed the longer matches best as they got a lot of action from them. Most of the knights in this ring were fairly good fighters who had good skills and fought with bravery and honour. It seemed to Simon that the last ring was dedicated to the newly made knights and occasionally seasoned squires who weren’t quite as skilled in fighting as this lot. He enjoyed seeing the fights as there were many different styles on show, there were some energetic young knights that were very rash to the older more experienced knights who knew how to balance themselves. Some of them were more show boaters and became favourites of the crowd while others just got on with the task at hand and didn’t run their mouths. There were many surprises as most of the time the better fighters won the battles but some underdogs proved to be lucky and won their fights if their opponents became to overconfident and toyed with them. But for the most part he felt those that won deserved their wins as they fought with the most skill and were very honourable.

            The dwarf was the first one of their group to be fighting and when he came out onto the field a few people laughed and shouted nasty names but he paid no mind to them as he squared off against his opponent. The knight he was against was a lot taller than him but wasn’t quite as muscular and wielder a hand and a half sword without a shield. When the match began he was the first to swing and he moved a lot quicker than dwarf did but dwarf managed to defend himself from all the knights’ attacks. Then he went on the counter attack with great big swings from his battle axe which court the other knight off guard. He soon released he couldn’t block such strikes as he didn’t have the strength to repel the dwarf and he turned to moving away from them. The match lasted several minutes and they went back and forth between attacking and defending. In the end the dwarf used a smart tactic and tripped his opponent up using the handle of his battle axe and then he forced the other knight to yield and so he won the match. After a couple more matches it was time for lunch and Simon went with his friends and ate a hearty meal, he congratulated dwarf on his win as well. Once they finished eating and drinking they went back to their ring.

            Simon’s match was the second one right after lunch, so he got his weapons and shield and was ready to fight and waited at the edge of the ring whilst he gazed over the ongoing match. It was soon over and he entered the ring, his opponent did the same on the opposite side. Simon looked over him, Sir Mathew was a little smaller than him and was in full armour as well, he was equipped with a small round shield and a short sword. They met in the middle of the ring and wished each other luck. Mathew was the first to strike out with his sword but Simon easily saw it coming and blocked it with his shield. He followed this up with several ore strikes at Simon which Simon managed to block or dodge with his own equipment. Simon the returned the favour and struck out against Mathew with a few swings, Mathew managed to defend himself pretty well against these and then went on the attack again. They went back and forth like this a couple times, Simon was more testing Mathew defences to see where he was weak than trying to win which was what his opponent was doing. He soon had a good measure of Mathew and knew how to beat him and so went on the counter attack right after Mathew attacked him and soon he had disarmed his opponent and had won the match. He shuck his opponents hand and then left the field and striped out of his armour when he reached his tent as it was very hot in it.

            He then returned to the field and watch all the other matches that afternoon. He saw that all his friends fighting in the same ring as him were victorious in their fights, the bears was the quickest win and the twins the slowest as they were separated. But all of them performed well and went out to dinner that night but didn’t celebrate their victories too hard as tomorrow they would have to fight again. They found out at dinner that both the silent knight and the prince had won their matches in the second ring and would be fighting again tomorrow as well. Simon went to sleep happy that night and looking forward to the next day.