The Knight of Chivalry

Chapter 41

The feast for celebrating the end of the tournament was going to be that night and Simon being the champion of the melee would have a place of honour alongside Sir Charles. He was greatly looking forward to it as it was being hosted in the palace and the food was sure to be the best. He decided to go in his best doublet that he had brought with him and he would save the one he bought yesterday for the wedding feast. But he had all day to waste before he had to get ready for the feast and he decided to spend that morning in the library to do some research and to talk to the monks once more. He made his way across the inner ring of the city and was greeted very warmly by the citizens he met along the way as they all knew him now from the tournament. It was a very strange thing to him to be recognised by so many strangers just because he was a skilled fighter who had won a tournament and he tried to be very humble about all the attention he was now receiving. Because he was stopped several times it took him a bit longer to reach the library than he liked but he eventually got there and was greeted warmly by the monks.  Though they did not watch the fight themselves they had heard all about it and congratulated him on his win. He told them of the kings’ offer as well and asked if there were over knights who had received such an offer in the past and what did they do. The monks told him that there had been a couple times that this had happened before and directed him to a book which recorded such events. He went and found that book and read the accounts about the knights. They all were very interesting characters and had received the offers in different circumstances, a few like him had won a tournament that had been hosted and organised by the king and were unknown knights before then. Others had fought in wars for the king and had proven themselves to be great warriors that had ever given the king a decisive victory or saved his life. All but one of them accepted the offer, the one who didn’t had a great tale of his own, and a knight that fought for justice and honour. With his research done he thanked the monks for their time and help and left the library and ventured down into the lower town to the tavern.

            Here he met his friends for lunch and talked to them more about what was going to happen in the next couple of days and what they planned to do after the wedding and the feats had taken place. Most of them wanted to go home, especially ginger as he missed his misses and wanted to hold her again. Simon could understand that and accepted what they told him saying they should make the most of the time they had left together as it might be months before they found to be in each other’s company again. They teased him for being so soppy but got in another round and spent the rest of that afternoon joking and talking but not drinking too much as they wanted to save themselves for the feast that evening. When the afternoon grew late they left the tavern and went their spate ways to get ready for the feast.

Simon got to the lord’s estate after about an hour of walking the streets as he was stopped a couple more times by people. Once he got there he had a quick wash and the stripped out of his normal clothes and put on the doublet and pants that he would be wearing to the feast. He left his room and joined the lord in his hall as they waited for the other people in his household to come out so that they could walk together to the feast. The lord was looking very smart in his clothes as were the other knights who were standing around the room. His son came out next in a new doublet in the lord’s colours and he nodded to Simon before standing next to one of the knights and engaging him in conversation. Lastly the ladies made their appearance in very fine dresses indeed and the lord complemented them and took his ladies wife arm and led the way out of the hall. When they got outside they made their way to the palace and saw others doing the same. There were quite of few people going into the palace and it took some time to get in there. Once they were in they were blown away as the hall had be decorated to mark this occasion and it was really well done with banners and such. The lord and his retinue would be seated on one table near the top but Simon being a guest of honour was taken to the high table were royalty sat and shown to his chair. Sir Charles was already there and Simon spoke to him for a short while whilst drinking a mug of ale. He had quite a few interesting things to say and didn’t hate Simon at all for beating him. Soon enough all the guests were seated in the hall and the king came out with his wife and children and the visiting king and his family as well and they took their seats on the high table.

“Ladies and gentlemen welcome, this feast is to honour our champions of the tournament, Sir Charles, Sir Simon and Talion the archer, I congratulate them again for winning their respected fields and raise a glass to them” the king said and raised his wine goblet and drank from it, the other guests in the room also did this. “But I’m sure you are all hungry, I know I am so let the feast begin” the king said and then sat down, servants came into the hall carrying trays off food which they first served to the high table. Simon smiled at the female servant who put a bowl of soup in front of him and he tucked in straight away, the soup was hot and tasty. Between eating he talked to the people sat next to him, on one side he had Cardinal Henry the leader of the church and one the other Duke Duncan the general of the armies. They were both very interesting characters and served on the kings’ council, they both liked a joke though the duke had a very hearty laugh to the Cardinals mellow one. The duke also drank quite a bit more than the Cardinal and Simon was in the middle of them in terms of that. The next course came out and it was stuffed pheasant that was very tasty and correctly seasoned, Simon enjoyed eating that but tried to measure himself as he knew there were several more courses to go. In the background he could hear the sound of the other guests talking amongst themselves and some light music coming from the minstrels on the balcony. He drank some more and then another course came which he ate and all the while talked to his companions. The food kept coming in a steady stream and it all was very tasty and filling and he liked the fact it was piping hot and he had to be careful to blow it otherwise it would burn his mouth. After several courses the food finally stopped coming and Simon was glad of this because he was stuffed and he was glad to settle the food in his stomach. He sipped on his umpteenth mug of ale and talked more with his companions. He was looking around the hall whilst doing this and saw the king rise from his seat.

“I believe we have all eaten our fill of excellent food but this doesn’t mark the end of the fest, now is the time for dancing, servants clear some of the tables away and make room, musicians strike up a beat and make it loud” the king said and his words were followed and soon enough some of the guests were dancing. Simon sat back for a bit as he didn’t fancy straining himself to much at that moment and just watched the others dance and clapped along to the music. The king himself took to the floor at one point with his wife followed by the other royal guests, everyone let them have the floor and clapped along to the music. Once the song had finished they sat down again and others took up the dance. A beautiful lady that Simon recognised was dancing with the prince and he politely excused himself from the high table and went down and joined his over friends as they watched the prince dance. His friends greeted him warmly and said it wasn’t a surprise that such a pretty maid was dancing with prince charming and he agreed and asked them why they weren’t dancing too and they replied that they didn’t have a partner and he laughed at that. The song came to an end and he went over to the prince.

“May I have this dance fair maiden?” he asked to the woman.

“You may sir” she replied.

 “Hey Simon, thanks I do need to catch my breath” the prince said with a grin. So Simon danced with the maiden.

“You look very nice all dressed up Amber” he said.

“You don’t scrub up to badly yourself” She replied.

“Having fun?” he asked.

“I am indeed, it’s good to let my hair down” she replied.

“I’m sure it is” he said and they carried on dancing for the rest of that song and then the prince came back and took over. The rest of the night was fun watching the others dance and talking with his friends and drinking even more. When it came past midnight the royals left and said that the musicians will stop in about an hour and that’s when they should leave. Simon returned to the lord’s estate very drunk that night and slept in late the next day.