P. Power - Knight of the Realm

Since they were playing the part of ruffians, the King and the Count didn't bother saluting or letting him actually get out onto the floor. Torrance had to suppress the urge to simply run away, that being what he'd really been trained to do at school and dove for the floor instead, rolling with blades held out carefully, directly towards the King. With his right hand blade, the longer saber, only about two and a half feet, he “sliced” the counts leg off at just below the knee and then stabbed him several times in the stomach as fast as he could, then came to his feet running fast before the King could use the giant blade in his hand.

Laughing, Tor ducked and spun in place just past Tovey, hitting first the back of his left leg then making a “X” pattern over his lower back and placing a slightly awkward sword point into his heart from behind. Sabers didn't stab well he knew, so he repeated the motion several times, trying to keep the large Count between the even larger King and him. Then Tor jumped to the side and threw his practice dagger at the King, since he was the only opponent left, Tovey having been “killed” at least twice in that last exchange. The hilt of the dagger hit the King’s leg, of course. If the point had hit Tor would have passed out, most likely. His ability to throw a knife was virtually non-existent after all. That didn't matter. King Richard and his reactions were what counted. He danced back first, a natural reflex to a knife being thrown at you, even a practice one, and then tried to capitalize on it having missed by plunging forward fast. As expected.

Tor threw himself flat to the floor and cut the giant monarchs left foot off as he stepped onto it. At least it would have done that if he had a real sword and a strong enough arm. On the backstroke he rose up and stabbed the King in the groin, indicating it without contact, then the stomach twice before having to roll out of the way of the massive blade that tried to bi-sect him.

Dancing to his feet, Tor ran around the giant monarch, making a point of staying out of range the whole time. At the end of the first one and a quarter circles, just as the large man tried to shift his feet again, Tor moved in and hit him in the legs twice more. If they had armor on it wouldn't have counted most likely, so Tor reset, ran away some more for a while and tried again. Then again. The King was so freaking tall that he had to finally jump through the air to score a solid blow to the side of the neck with the longer blade he had left. Hardly fair really, but nature was what it was.

No one said anything for a few moments.

Finally Rolph cleared his throat, “My champion two, noble ner'do-wells, zero.” His voice was slightly smug, considering the two giants had obviously just let Tor win. It had to be that, didn't it? After all, they were so huge and very good. Well, Tor decided it was kind of them not to humble him overly. They'd have to work harder with him though, so that he didn't get all soft.

That led to him having to work against everyone else in turn, with the Queen and Princess Veronica being the hardest for him. The Queen because she was so good. Wickedly so, and faster than she'd shown working against her daughter and the Countess, apparently not feeling a need to hold back against the likes of him. Tor won, but just barely. Again he wondered if she'd let him win, taking mercy on him? She was always very kind to him, and may have just not wanted to hurt his feelings, not that Tor would be bothered by something like that. A lot of girls had beaten him up in combat practice. He was kind of used to it by now.

Varley was hard because he couldn't bring himself to hit her. She was… Well, bad would have been unkind to say, but certainly the youngest Princess could use some more practice. She did manage to beat him though, by pretending to cry, kissing him when he came to make sure she wasn't hurt. Then stabbing him with a dagger she had hidden in the folds of her green canvas exercise outfit.

“Argh! Taken in by a pretty face and guile, our hero and champion goes down…” Rolph roared with good humor. Tor chuckled too. It was a fair move, so it counted as a clean kill. No one said you had to use only physical skill in a fight. If that were the case he'd have lost almost all of them he'd ever been in, instead of simply… managing them, like he had.

Ger sat, his eyes wide the whole time. Finally the King and Queen came over and, smiling, asked if the boy was his new Squire. The tone was serious even, so Tor shook his head first, then gave them a half nod as if the idea wasn't too farfetched. It wasn’t really, was it?

“Nope. First he needs some training and practice, and then, if no one objects, I think he should go to Lairdgren if possible. The school there's still open right?” The King nodded, his face suddenly pensive. Tor glanced at the boy and nodded.

“He has a sister too, so we need to make arrangements for her as well. I'll cover that and any training they need until then, school and lessons and all that…” Tor winced hard and blushed, looking at Ger, realizing what he'd just done. He'd just let the words pop out without considering them.

“Sorry Ger! I don't even know if you or your sister have other plans or anything and I was talking about you like you weren't right here. I apologize. Um, do you have any other plans?” It occurred to Tor that he was not just being pushy, but didn't even know the sisters name. What kind of person did that? He blushed at his own heavy handedness.

Ger raised his head proudly.

“We don't have positions yet sir, but we can work, we don't need charity.” The young man’s voice held more dignity than Tor thought he could muster himself, so he nodded.

“Right. I knew that. I've seen you do it, so that isn’t in question at all. I guess what I'm saying is that I have some positions available at my house. There's a lot of training needed, so, you know, it's more like an apprenticeship than a job to start with, and you'd both need schooling to do the whole thing. Even if you become squires you'll want that education. You do get paid a little, as well as room, board and tuition. We need to talk to your sister too, maybe…” Tor looked at the Queen. “Connie, I know you're busy, but would you help me with that? I don't want anyone to think… that I'm taking advantage of these two.” Tor remembered how Count Morris had looked at Ger as if the kid was something other than his assistant. The girl was even the right gender for him, if too young. Cute too, so people could take his interest the wrong way really easily.

Connie nodded regally and Rich smiled hugely at Tor, clapping him on the shoulder suddenly.

“Just let me know when the Squireship papers need to be signed and I'll start working up the signatures. That can take some time you know. Counts get all prickly about it, as if it was real work to sign their names.”

From behind Tor laughter came as Rolph told them all how Ger had defended his new bosses honor by knocking Count Morris on his behind with a force lance. The boy ducked his head in shame but had to fight to keep a smile off his face at the same time.

“Humph.” Holly said, her eyes noticing that the kid was there finally. “Well if Tor tells me you'll do, when the time comes you've got my imprint. Morris is a stick in the mud at the best of times. Still, he does hold a key position strategically, so outfitting him isn't a horrible plan, and he's loyal, I'll say that for the man.” Her words were considering, but her tone stayed sad and dark the whole time. She still missed her husband, Tor could tell. It may have been an arranged marriage, but she took it seriously enough to make Tor both a little envious and scared. In the end, he suspected that Holly Printer would destroy the world to kill the Wards, if that's what it took. Tor couldn't belittle the feeling, but also couldn't forget that he lived in the world himself, along with everyone he cared for.