The Princess Knight by: Tauriel Rogers

Chapter 39

Queen Rosalind and Prince Rorick watched as Princess Alice continued her sparring match. Alice ducked as a sword was thrown her way, spinning as she came back, and put all of her strength into her shield, pushing Thomas and causing him to fall over on his back. Thomas got up, clutching his elbow as he went to stand next to Hue. Alice blocked Jacob's sword with her shield and sent a slash towards Larry, who blocked it with his own sword. Sam tried to punch Alice's stomach, but she caught his hand before it could even come down far enough, and twisted it in a non painful way, slamming him into the watching crowd. She let out a panted "war" cry and turned around just in time to block Sam's sword and used her shield to ward off Derek's punch.

 He groaned in pain, but quickly recovered. The princess used this distraction to come up behind the Captain and kick Sam in the stomach, sending him sliding to the outskirts of the onlookers. The men watching helped the winded Sam to his feet. "Finally," Alice breathed with a delighted, challenging smile when she saw it was only Jacob and Derek. She sent a sword slash towards Derek and a shield swipe toward Jacob. Derek blocked and Jacob used her distraction as an opportunity to grab her shield and yank her towards him. Alice cried out in pain at the harsh tug and gave Derek a desperate kick to keep him away. Jacob still had a mighty fine grip on the princess's shield, but wasn't expecting her to twist his arm around, slide her arm from the shield sling, jump up onto the shield, and take him down.

"She's good!" Prince Rorick exclaimed surprised.

"Yes, yes she is, but, can she take out the strongest of them all?" Queen Rosalind asked with a raised eye brow. Prince Rorick glancd at the Queen with a questioning look and then back to the battle, concerned for Alice's safety. The princess got back to her feet, only armed with her sword, and began fighting with that. Derek kept blocking Alice's blows with his shield, making Alice irritated he had an advantage she didn't. So, she quickly overpowered him with numerous swords slashes to tire his sword arm. Her plan worked and when he glanced away, she seized the opportunity to wrap his sword hand around his back, reaching from behind for his shield, which she easily got off of his arm.

"Now it's an even match," she said in his ear.

"Oh really? Then how about this!" the Captain said, spinning around to get out of her hold. The two circled around each other in the space that was cleared for the sparring match and Captain Riley came after Alice with his sword raised. Alice brought her sword in front of her to meet with his.

"She is smart to," Prince Rorick observed. The Captain and the Princess sparred for what seemed like forever until Alice finally found a weak, lazy form of his big arms, which were tiring, and she slashed his bracers, surprising him. Derek dropped his sword unintentionally and seeing his improper footing form, Alice kicked his legs out from under him. Derek fell to the ground, hard, and rolled onto his back, breathing hard. Princess Alice came to stand over him and pointed her sword to his just under his chin.

"Looks like I win," she smiled victoriously. Derek nodded and waved his hand to say that he wasn't going to try to continue. Alice sheathed her sword and held her hand out. Derek grabbed her bracer and she pulled him up. The two didn't let go of their hold on each other, instead standing face to face, panting as they tried to slow their breathing. Everyone started cheering and clapping them on the back as they went back to their own sparring matches with a new found energy.

"Some fight," he commented.

"I learned from the best," Alice complimented. Derek smiled and pulled her in for a hug. Alice smiled as she laid her head on his armored chest, closing her eyes to focus on getting her breath back.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" everyone stopped in their tracks and Alice broke away from Captain Riley's hug, but still kept a tired arm around his back.