The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 36

Simon was up bright and early the next day and he ate a good breakfast before setting off to the tourney grounds. Once he got there he went to his tent and put on his armour, which now had a few dents in it from all the fighting he had been doing these last couple days. Once he had it on and had buckled his sword belt on and picked up his shield and helm he went to the central ring beneath the royal stands and waited there. Other knights soon joined him, some from his ring he recognised and chatted too and others who were in much finer armour which he guessed were the knights from the upper rings. A couple he recognised from the jousting competition and he knew they would be tough opponents. He also saw the prince and silent knight in that crowd and he wondered over to them and greeted them. The organisers came shortly after this and gathered them round and then split them up for the fights that morning, Simon would be facing off against Sir Percival Rhodes in the third match of that morning. Simon remembered the man as he had been defeated by prince Edward in the jousting event but had performed very well there and so Simon knew that this guy should prove to be a worthy opponent, especially as he had gotten this far in the tournament. The prince would be fighting in the fifth match against Sir Aragon and the silent knight in the fight right after that against Sir Darius. Simon waited at the side of the ring whilst the first two fights went on. The first one was fought by Fa’hir against a fellow country man called Malik Al-Sayf who had come up with Simon from the lower rings. Both of them favoured the curved swords from their kingdom but Fa’hir used a bigger one called a scimitar and a shield whereas Malik favoured the duel wield Khopesh. They were both skilled at using such weapons and the fight lasted quite a while and involved a lot of movement from both of them. In the end it was Fa’hir who triumphed and went onto the next round. The next fight also had a familiar face in it as Sir Balister go against Sir Robert Langley, they were both fairly tall knights who used the sword and shield combo and they were skilled at using it. The fight lasted several minutes but it was Sir Balister who was the better fight and so he won the match.

            Now it was Simon’s turn in the ring and he got up and entered it, the crowd cheered for both him and his opponent who had entered in on the opposite side of the ring. They met in the middle and Simon wished Sir Percival good luck before he got into his battle stance. Sir Percival was the first to strike with his sword, which was a hand and a half one and Simon easily blocked the strike with his shield and the swung his own sword which was turned aside by Sir Percival’s shield. Over the next few minutes they clashed against each other with their swords trying to find a way through each other’s defences. Simon could tell he was facing a good opponent who was really skilled with his chosen weapons and didn’t make too many mistakes. But whenever he did Simon used them to strike his opponents armour and slowly weaken him. As Simon learnt more about his opponent he soon released that his current tactic wouldn’t give him the victory for a long while and he might not last that long so he changed up his fighting style as the silent knight had taught him and came at his opponent in different ways. His opponent couldn’t handle this switch up of styles and soon enough was defeated by them but he was very gracious in defeat and congratulated Simon on his win. Once the match was over Simon went back to his tent and changed as quickly as he could as he didn’t want to miss his friends fighting. When he got back to the ring the forth match was still ongoing between two knights but then one managed to be crafty and trip the other up and so made him yield and won the match for himself.

            The prince then came out onto the field and so did his opponent, they were equally matched in skills with their chosen weapons, the prince with his sword and shield and Aragon with his double handed sword. Their fight lasted quite a while as neither could get the upper hand on the other but with Aragon having the greater reach he managed a couple of times to get around the princes defences and this eventually won him the match as he injured the prince greatly enough. The crowd cheered at this and Aragon bowed to them but then helped the prince back to his feet and had him lean on him as they went off towards the medical tent. The silent knight came out next and squared off against Sir Darius who was a fairly big bloke and used a war hammer. The knight had to work very hard and spent over ten minutes fighting against this guy but even though Darius was very strong and got a few good hits against the knight it was the knights’ superior tactics that won the match and so the silent knight would be joining Simon in the next round. There were several more fights after theirs and there were a few good ones like when Sir Charles Draken took to the field and easily bested his opponent in a few minutes. Other notable fights were those of Sir Andrew and Sir Jamie against lessor knights as they both won their fights with great skill to get to the next round.

            The guys met Simon for lunch at a food tent and they talked about all the matches that morning and said how sad it was that the prince had been defeated in this round but they said he had performed very well. They discussed the other fights and what they rated Simon’s and the knight’s chances were as there was now only sixteen fighters left in the completion. Once they had finished lunch, Simon went back to his tent and suited up in his armour and then returned to the ring and waited for the organisers to sort them again. This didn’t take long at all and Simon would be going up against Fa’hir in the first match off that afternoon. The silent knight on the other hand would be taking on Sir Aragon.

            Simon entered the ring and the crowd cheered for him louder than they had this morning, Fa’hir also got a good amount of applause from the southern spectators. They met in the middle and Simon wished him luck and then took his fighting stance. They heard the go shout from the announcer and Simon struck out first with his sword which was then blocked by Fa’hirs’ shield. He then sliced at Simon with his own sword but Simon blocked this. They went at it for a few minutes and moved around each other as they did so, Fa’hir was very skilled with his blade and moved very gracefully around the ring. Fa’hir was also lightly armoured and seemed not to tire very much at all by the exertion he was doing and Simon knew he was at a disadvantage here, although he had great stamina, he knew he would tire quicker with the weight of his armour on him. So he kept up his attacks and was judging Fa’hir to see if he could find a weakness he could exploit. It took a few more minutes of them fighting but Simon had made a plan for him to win the fight and he enacted it out. He pretended to fall on his knees in exhaustion but when Fa’hir made to strike him with his sword he used this opening to hit Fa’hirs’ leg from under him and then Simon put his sword to Fa’hirs’ neck and made him yield and so Simon won the match. Simon then went back to his tent and changed to normal clothes and then returned to the ring to watch the other fights.

            He cheered greatly when the silent knight came out onto the field and faced off against Sir Aragon. Their match lasted almost twenty minutes as both of them were greatly skilled warriors who couldn’t find a way through each other’s defences but it was the knight who won in the end because of the way the knight changed the style of fighting throughout the match and this kept catching Aragon of guard. So both the knight and Simon had made it to the final eight warriors and they would fight tomorrow to see who would be crowned champion. The others would be joining them were Sir Andrew, Charles, Jamie and Balister as well as lord Fairheaven and Gyles Demou. Simon went to the tavern with his friends and had a great dinner with them but made sure he didn’t drink too much as he wanted his senses in the morning to finish the fight.