Knight for the Prince

Chapter 5 - Queen Evelyn

Keera is still sparing with Sir Ralston when Marilyn's father comes to stand nearby. He folds his arms and taps his foot on the ground impatiently. Marilyn came standing next to him after catching up with him.

"Keera, tell me you have not sent that message yet!" He rudely tries to interrupt her sparing with Sir Ralston.

She is giving him no indication that she is hearing him as she sidesteps a sword thrust from Ralston. He makes a thrust to her midsection, but she parries it away with her huge sword. The sound of steel on steel reverberates through the training hall as their swords meet. Keera's movements are swift and graceful, even though she is holding a hand and a half sword as long as her arm and wearing full plate armor. She makes a thrusting motion towards Ralston's left and he parries it only to find thin air where the blades would have met. Keera has twisted her wrist at the last moment while sidestepping Ralston's expert defense that he has turned into a deadly thrust in her direction. The sudden change in direction gives Keera the upper hand and she gently taps the tip of her huge sword on the opposite side of her original thrust.

"Keera, you catch me with that same trick every time. You are supposed to be clumsy with that sword," says Ralston as he sheaths his sword.

"Only if I weren't a paladin, Ralston. Paladin magic augments my natural strength and gives me heightened control of this sword," She replies.

"Keera, stop ignoring me!" Aranorn scowls at Keera.

Keera spins around and Aranorn shoots her a venomous glare as he finds himself with her large sword resting against his chest plate and she is scowling at him with a nasty sneer. "Treat me like the knight I am and I will treat you with the proper respect due to your station. I do not like it when I am so rudely interrupted in the middle of a sparring session. I send your message to Eastcroft as you have asked, so what is your problem?!" She asks him with a menacing undertone.

"Because the message is a month too late! My wife is gone and my daughter is missing and by the king's order I am stuck here because of this scrawny new squire that the king assigned to the protection detail of the Crown Prince!" The next moment Marilyn watches as her father disarms Keera in the blink of an eye and rests her own sword on her collar bone. "Do not think to threaten me, Keera! I am your knight commander!" He retorts with an authoritative voice.

Marilyn's hair stands on end as a powerful and large golden cat appears into existence out of thin air right in front of her. The cat is larger than any she has ever heard of or seen before. Black stripes ran in horizontal lines across its entire back and its eyes hold the threat of a potent hunter. The ghostly golden cat growls angrily from deep in its throat. Crouches jump and grab Keera's sword in its jaws with a vicious roar. The cat turns around and holds the sword up for Keera. She takes the sword from the cat and it disappears into thin air. Keera sheaths the massive sword into its sheath that is strapped across her back.

"What the... What was that?!" Marilyn had her sword unsheathed faster than she realized and is pointing it at where the cat was just a moment ago.

"Sameth, how did you unsheath your sword so fast?" Ralston asks in complete surprise.

"What the hell is that?" Marilyn's handshakes lightly as adrenalin rush through her. "I have never seen a cat that big before. Its paws are as big as dinner plates."

"That is my tiger paladin guide and you must be the new squire the entire army is talking about. You are the smallest man that has ever beaten the gauntlet. How did you beat Ralston? A lot of knights and soldiers are finding it hard to believe," replies Keera.

"I tricked him. Can your tiger paladin guide kill someone?"

"Only if I will it. The gauntlet is not about overwhelming the enemy, but to test your intelligence, resourcefulness, patience, and of course your mettle. Word is spreading that you might be a paladin, is this true?" Keera asks.