Dragon Queens: A Lesbian Romance Novel by Kathleen de Plume

Author:Kathleen de Plume [de Plume, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine – The Tournament

The morning of the tourney had arrived.

Gwen was nervous. She’d gone down to the armoury well ahead of her first fight, and then paced up and down beside her suit of plate for ages in front of an amused armourer. Wouldn’t do to tire herself out by carrying the weight all morning.

She knew she was the official reason for the tourney. Well, the return of Princess Ava, but Gwen was all over that story, so she still felt the pressure. She didn’t want to see the grand speeches and ceremony ahead of the events, nor did she particularly want to watch the joust. Forquitte was taking part in the joust; part of her wanted him to come off his horse, which would be worth seeing, but she suspected he’d win his early rounds handily, and she did not want to watch that.

When the knights and squires came in, she started putting her plate on. The other knights. It was hard to think in those terms, but she should. Maybe she should get herself a squire, too. But then, she was about to become Consort instead, so maybe she shouldn’t. She wouldn’t know how to train anyone properly, anyway.

You’re babbling, Gwen. Stop it. They’ll smell your fear.

Calming herself down, she roped one of the younger squires into helping her with her plate. The older squires would be competing alongside the knights, but the younger lads were just here to help. One younger lass, too, as it turned out.

She began warming up. She knew only the very basics about the sport – it’s for nobles only – but the rules were straightforward enough. The swords were provided by the Castle and were so blunt as to be basically clubs. Rounds would be five minutes long unless a combatant was knocked off their feet. If you’re off your feet you’re deemed defeated. From what she’d heard they almost never went the full five minutes; the ones that did tended to end with whoever was judged the victor going on to lose the next round due to exhaustion. It’s single elimination – first loss and you’re out.

“Sir Gwendoline? You’re up next.” It was the same small girl as yesterday.

Gwen raised her visor and smiled. “On my way.”

The crowd roared when she was announced. Most people come for the joust, but everyone wanted to see her fight. She tried not to think about that. She had enough to be worried about already.

Her opponent was an older knight named Sir Osbert. They met in a cheery fashion, visors up, saluting with swords raised. Osbert had come in with Duke Holyoake, and his greying moustaches rose in a smile. She knew little about him, but he seemed far friendlier than any of the knights she had met who travelled with the Earl of Lubrey.

The adjudicator signalled for the bout to begin. Gwen circled to her right, sword raised. Osbert came in with a slash, and Gwen was too slow with the parry. She

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