Noblesse Oblige

Chapitre vingt-quatre

Author stuff: I think a tournament in a Robin Hood AU is pretty standard, but my mind wasn't focused on Robin Hood when I wrote this. I was thinking about the Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda.

I need to reread all those books.

Archery parts of tournaments weren't carried out like we see in modern media. The main goal was to shoot a little stuffed bird inside a ring. Depending on what division you were in and what round it was depended on how far away the ring was. I kind of go into more detail in the story. But this is one thing I didn't really go over.

Chapitre vingt-quatre

The Tournament, Part II: The Scarlet Coccinelle

Adrien wasn't anywhere.

She searched high and low for a blond of his height and build, but she had no such luck. She wondered if he, too, was in disguise. It was entirely possible.

She hadn't heard of him doing such things before, but she had never really paid him much attention before her father was arrested. He hadn't played an important part of her life or in her parents' lives – that she was aware of. Until the day before, she wasn't entirely sure her parents had even talked to him.

It seemed that she was wrong in her assumptions.

Perhaps he really wasn't there. He was carrying out an elaborate escape plan for her father at that very moment with the duke and Papillion distracted. But would he really take that chance? She wasn't quite sure. She wasn't sure of a lot of things.

Sighing, she sat down and watched as people passed by. Most of them were fellow archers. They joked and laughed, barely preparing themselves for the tourney ahead of them. They were mostly waiting for the archery part of the tournament to start, bored and drinking.

She curled her lip at the thought. It didn't seem safe, drinking before shooting. She wondered how well they would do, how far some of them would make it.

She was jostled from her thoughts by a person landing on top of her. They were both sent to the ground, the other man landing on top of her. He quickly scrambled off her with butchered apologies through a rough brogue. Around them, the other archers hooted and howled.

"Sorry, sorry," the man said. "Didn't mean, shoved and all. You alright? No bruises or anything?"

She glared at him. He was tall and lanky, clothes worn and old. A mop of stringy black hair hung well past his ears. He... wasn't exactly the most pleasant person to look at. Or smell for that matter.

She backed away. He looked rather ashamed of himself. He muttered another apology and left her there to watch his retreating back.

Tempted as she was to go after him and apologise herself, she was called for the first division. She and several others headed for the range and awaited orders. She had to pretend like she knew what to expect, so she hid her surprise when she saw the fairly large rings about twenty paces away. Little straw, stuffed birds hung from twine tied to the rings.

The rules – as they were explained loudly to the competitors and the audience by the marquis – were quite simple. They simply had to pierce the bird with an arrow. There would be four rounds, eliminating people as the rings were moved back five paces each time. Each competitor had three tries. The winners of this particular division would be able to shoot against the winners of the other divisions, mostly to show off their skill. There was a good prize at the end, but she hardly paid it much attention as she strung her bow.

The first division went first. It was the largest group, mostly made up of people who were just starting out – really, the division she should be in. She felt her confidence wane slightly as she watched. Quite a few of them were better than she was.