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Chapter 24 - Joust
🕑 Added 2025-06-21 21:33:18 +0000 UTCStorm’s End
8 BAC
“Let the joust begin!” Argilac shouted over the crowd gathered at the tourney grounds. He was sitting together with his new wife and queen, Selena, and his daughter, Argella, who looked bored out of her mind, watching the proceedings blankly.
Argilac decided to let her be, thinking she wasn’t interested in the event.
—
Ei was going to participate in the tournament.
Under the guise of Carn, due to the issues that would no doubt arise if she, a twelve-year-old girl, defeats knights.
The only reason she even joined the tournament was due to boredom.
It was either join the tourney or watch it from the sidelines, bored out of her mind. Kage had taken her place at the royal section of the stands, and Carn was set to ride first, against a hedge knight, Ser Adryn.
Hedge knights were similar to ronin, knights who did not serve a noble and sought gainful employment all over the kingdom.
She had bought a strong-looking mare for the joust and bought weapons and armor and hired a young boy to act as a squire.
A start was given, and the horses spurred forward. Ei raised her lance and shield, as did her opponent. Jousting was more than just the physics involved; it required technique and timing to succeed.
Ei might not have jousted before, but she had thousands of years of experience, and when Ser Adryn’s lance scraped her shield and missed, Ei lowered her lance at the last possible second and struck right below the shield, unhorsing the knight.
Adryn landed on the ground with a thud, shaken but alive, and slowly got up, nodding to the victor in line with chivalric codes of honor.
“Winner, Carn of Weeping Town." The judge announced her victory, and Ei turned her horse around, preparing to leave the arena for the next challengers.
Lucan Penrose strolled into the waiting area, followed by his son Robert, “You rode well, Carn.” He complimented, internally wondering just what his granddaughter was doing.
Carn took off his helmet. “Thank you, my lord.” Ei nodded, playing along in her guise.
“What brings you to this tourney?” Lucan actually wanted to ask, “What are you doing and why?”
“I thought participating might be insightful.” Ei replied, which boiled down to “I was bored.”
“I see. May we speak in private?” He had one question in mind. If Carn, who wasn’t supposed to be real, was here, then who was the one sitting at the royal booth?
“Very well.” Argella nodded, and Lucan turned to his son, “Robert, go and make sure we aren’t watched.” Robert looked confused but did as he was told.
Lucan took the small tent given to the Master of Games after evicting the man by pressing some silver coins in his hand.
“I thought Carn wasn’t supposed to be real.” Lucan was confused since he didn’t think Argella would lie to him.
Carn’s visage slowly morphed into that of Argella. “Right, I did not inform you. The one at the booth is Kage, a puppet I created to take my place if I ever needed it.”
“A puppet?” The only kind of puppet he knew were the ones made to amuse people, not whatever Argella was talking about.
“Yes, by all counts, she is a living being, albeit without blood and flesh, that I created.”
Realization dawned on Lucan: “All those times when your personality flipped, I thought it was just the wiles of a little girl. It makes so much sense now.” He remembered all the times she would become cold and distant and wouldn’t speak unless prompted.
Learning Argella’s nature had put that thought under doubt, but once again, the truth she presented was not something Lucan expected.
—
Robert followed his father along as he left the tent. “Isn’t he the one who runs Argella’s paper business?” He asked, and his father wordlessly nodded, “Were you trying to convince him to join us?” Which his father shook his head at.
“Really, why not?” The man had jousted well, and while the paper business might be small compared to Iron Works, it still brought good coin to Weeping Town.
“It’s too much trouble.”
—
An hour later, she was riding against a knight of House Dondarrion, Ser Rykar. The knight was holding a larger shield to give himself more coverage, and the only unguarded place left was his head.
As the horses charged, Ei readied herself to attempt a maneuver that was unconventional in jousts.
She was going to thrust her spear from the side just as they passed each other. This wasn’t done because of the speed of the horses and the weight of the knights; thrusting the lance would leave an opening and most likely would shatter the arm.
None of which was a problem for her.
Rykar’s lance splintered on Ei’s shield, and she thrust hers in return, striking the left side of his ribcage and sending the knight flying off his horse.
This drew exclamations from the crowd at seeing one of the favorites get unhorsed so easily.
“Winner, Carn of Weeping Town.” The judge announced, and this time there was more applause as the spectators enjoyed the round.
—
Royal Booth
Argialc laughed, enjoying the sight of Rykar getting unhorsed so easily. “So he can joust well too. Perhaps I should offer him a position in Storm’s End.” Since Carn was working for Argella, perhaps he could be her sworn sword.
Lucan glanced at Kage, who was ignoring everything around her, and shook his head, still in awe at the fact there was a living puppet sitting right next to the king. As you wish.
—
Robert Penrose was riding against Martyn Mertyns, lord of Mistwood and the tourney’s most likely winner, a man in his forties by her estimate, but he still was spry and energetic.
The first pass saw both riders break their lances and get ready for the second pass. Robert's lance slipped off, while Martyn's lance shattered against the shield. The impact nearly unhorsed her uncle, but he managed to maintain his grip on his steed.
On the third pass, Martyn Mertyns did unhorse Robert Penrose, his lance striking her uncle’s shoulder and throwing her off.
Lord of Mistwood raised his broken lance to the cheering crowd.
—
Royal Booth
“Princess, what do you think about the tourney?” Jocelyn noticed how bored the princess looked, and
“It is fine, just slow.” And it was. Compared to how the spars with her creator went, humans below might not be moving at all.
She began to think of ways to distract the princess to alleviate her boredom. “Princess, did you hear the news? Apparently, Lord Massey refused to attend, claiming bandits in his territory, but everyone thinks it's because he isn’t loyal to the king.”
“Is that so? I will be sure to keep him in mind.” At least, her creator would say, “Well done. Keep me informed of any news you might hear.” Kage praised the young girl, as Ei taught her to do, and the human preened, a smile creeping on her face.
—
Her last match for the day was against Ser Tarmon, a towering knight in service of House Estermont of Greenstone.
Who decided to play dirty and killed her horse, though Ei still managed to unhorse him even as she flew off, flipped in the air, and landed on her feet, watching as the poor animal thrashed on the ground with the lance stuck deep in her chest.
She put the animal out of her misery, as healing was not something she was capable of.
Turning to the knight responsible for it, Ei walked at a sedated pace without even drawing her sword, though Ser Tarmon did not wait, pulling his sword and charging at her.
Ei ducked, drew her sword, and swung it hard enough to break through chain mail, severing the man’s head from his neck, the cheap sword crushing it and sending fragments of bone and flesh flying through the air.
The crowd was stunned into silence, with more than a few feeling queasy at the sight.
—
The tourney was finished for the day after the death of Ser Tarmon to give the smallfolk time to forget what had happened.
Members of House Estermont weren’t happy to see one of their knights slain and went to complain to the king.
“Your Grace, what Tarmon had done might be out of the bounds of honor and rules of joust, but it was no reason for him to be slain.” Lord Cormack Estermont complained. He was dressed in green trousers and a green and white tunic, had black hair and green eyes, and was approaching his forties.
Argilac held back a sigh, mulling it over. On one hand, Carn was employed by his daughter; on the other hand, slaying the knight of a noble house was no small matter when the other side didn’t enjoy the protection of a lordly house, but it was his good-father who answered, “Perhaps Tarmon’s actions did not deserve death, but he is dead now, and while the duels during jousts usually end when one gives, there are deaths as well. This should be no different.”
Lucan leaned over to Argilac to whisper in his ear, “Argella won’t like it if you punish that man.” He warned the king, as the princess’ fury was unlike any other.
“There will be no punishment, but seeing as Tarmon is dead, Carn will not receive any compensation either.” Argilac declared, dismissing the disgruntled lord.
Nobody could find Carn, so the man in question wasn’t here.
“Tell me why, good father.” The way Carn beheaded Tarmon was unnatural, which led him to believe Argella had something to do with it, perhaps giving the man a sword like Victory or some other thing.
Lucan shook his head. “Only he can tell you.” He didn’t want to be the one to spill Argella’s secret.
Argilac sighed, waving the man away.
—
A handsome knight in shining armor approached, perhaps not even twenty years old, and knelt before her. “Princess, I would be honored if you would bestow your favor on me.” He said, bowing his head.
Ei blinked twice at the unexpected request. “No.” She refused, walking by the kneeling knight with Jocelyn quickly following.
The said knight looked crushed, though he had expected it, as his friends joked at this misfortune.
She knew the tradition, of course, where young ladies gave their “favor” to show their support for someone, whether family, friend, or someone they were romantically interested in, but Ei had no intention of showing anyone favoritism and giving people something to talk about.
“Princess, did you have anyone in mind to bestow your favor?” Jocelyn asked as she hurried to catch up to her cousin, who didn’t even stop as she answered, “I would have given it to my father; alas, he is not participating, and there is no one worthy of it.”
People she would grant a token of her favoritism were few and far between. Aether was one, Kujou Sara another, the Kamisato siblings, and dear Yae. Anyone else worthy of it had already perished.
Jocelyn merely nodded.
—
Round Hall
Carn was invited to dine with the royals, and men-at-arms were dispatched to find and relay the news to him.
But he was nowhere to be found, so the dinner proceeded without him.
Argilac, who had finished his lamb chops, put his hands under his chin. “Daughter, where is that servant of yours, Carn? I invited him to dinner, but he didn’t even reply.”
Ei had just finished her steak and was busy with the desserts. I am sure he is around.”
“Really? Then he must be busy with something far more important than dining with his king.” He truly wanted to meet and get a measure of the man, but as if the ground had swallowed him, Carn had disappeared.
Lucan sighed, tired because of all the deception. “Just tell him, would you?” He asked Argella, who raised an eyebrow at him.
“Tell him what?” Queen Selena was just willing to watch without saying anything to not get between father and daughter, but if there was a secret to be revealed, she did not want to be left out.
Argella just hummed, considering whether to do it or not.
