Knight for the Prince

Chapter 17 - Wheel of fate

The thundering of hooves fills the air as horses run on a racecourse at the King's Council in the kingdom of Shaundra.

Marilyn's heart is pounding in excitement as Grendelow surges forward powerfully beneath her and easily leaves the competition in the dust. Never in her entire life has she had this much fun. Laughter bubbles over her lips, while the thunder of hooves drowns out her laughter.

Grendelow seems to enjoy it just as much as he seems to challenge the horses to try and beat him. Since the jockeys are all armored soldiers it means her lightweight gives Grendelow a huge advantage. When he crosses the finish line he prances proudly as if to say. No one can beat me. I am simply the best.

King Arnoldus meets her at the finish line with a huge smile. He takes the winnings from the match official and winks at her as he walks away. With a finger, he beckons her to follow him.

Finally, they enter an area with less noise. "Congratulations Sameth. That horse of yours is the champion of this year's races. Here is your share of the winnings. A princess must have her share of the gold to make sure she can look beautiful." Arwin hands her the entire sack of two hundred gold pieces.

"Thank you, your majesty," Marilyn replies completely flustered. He just gave her the entire winnings of the race. Just like that. What the heck is she going to do with all this gold? There is no way she can ever spend all of it at once. She watches as he walks away whistling.

She decides on putting a fair share of it in a safe place. She takes only three pieces of gold and tucks the rest into a hard-to-reach space in her armor. Designed specifically to carry coins.

Grendelow follows her of his own accord. She decides to get him some fresh apples as a treat. The last two weeks at the King's Council have flown by very fast. Her mornings are filled with training with her father and her afternoons with watching the games the soldiers play. The biggest attraction is the sword championship. She sees Sir Ralston fighting even royalty for the crown of becoming the swordsman champion.

Other attractions also included a wizards championship, hunting expeditions, jousting, wrestling, archery, and more. Paladins are not allowed to enter because of their unfair advantage. The only game paladins are allowed to take part in is free-range fighting. In this championship, fighters can test their skill against any kind of fighter. According to her father, the paladins always dominate this tournament. There is not a King's council that goes by that a paladin is not crowned champion of the free-range tournament.

The free-range championships didn't go that well. She ended up losing in the quarter-finals to Bonecrusher. He was very careful not to cause Sameth unnecessary harm. His paladin guide caught her from behind in a bear hug and he didn't let her go until she yielded. Bonecrusher told her she is too valuable to hurt badly in a fight. He, in turn, lost to Eguardo in the final. Much to the crowd's entertainment, they let their paladin guides dish it out in the finals. This drew the attention of a lot of people. The Ibex hard skull turned out too much for the cyclops.

She continues to walk towards the market with her horse following behind her. She did not even have to pull his reigns. She feels very anxious as the closing ceremonial ball of the King's Council approaches. So far there has been no sight of Drachna throughout the King's Council.

Yet she still can not shake the feeling that this day is far from over. She is on duty tonight and is hoping the evening will go without incident.

These troublesome thoughts plague her as she buys apples for her horse as well as some fresh bread from the bakery. At four copper pennies, this baker is anything but cheap with his bread.