The Lady Knight

Chapter XV: Impossibilities and Insanities

The Lady Knight

"You should not lean so far right, Sire," Captain Everard advised, "you are a very tall man, and you can lose your balance very easily."

"I will be perfectly fine, Captain Everard," the Prince answered breathlessly, "come again."

I glanced up from my book again, more interested in watching them than doing my work.

As the Prince had excused himself from the ball a few days ago under the pretext of a passing illness, Lady Olivia had declared this morning that he needed some fresh air for a speedy recovery.

She had suggested a picnic in the fields of Tessensohn for his well-being, but I suspected that she had initially planned it such that the Prince and she could spend some time together in private - in the presence of a chaperone, of course.

Unfortunately for her, the Prince had insisted that the Captains and I were to accompany them both, so here we were.

In the beginning, the Prince had no choice but to converse with Lady Olivia, as she plunged into a long and weary recount of the ball. As entertaining as his misery had been, I had brought my own work with me to keep my mind busy, while the Captains had been practising their steed fighting in the fields.

Steed fighting was an aspect of duelling, where parties parried with their swords while seated bareback on their stallions. It was very difficult to master.

It had not taken long for the Prince to notice them training. Curious about this form of warfare, and desperate to escape from Lady Olivia's company, he had demanded for some lessons from them at once.

I was not surprised that he had not learnt it during his own military training in Osterlund. The King had forbidden all the Prince's duelling masters from teaching him that particular skill, as he had lost his brother during a tournament in the past.

However, here, miles away from the King, nothing was preventing the Prince from learning what he wanted to. Captain Everard had willingly agreed to coach him, and the rest of the Captains were also giving him advice and tips to improve.

It was thus that they had all left me alone with a fuming, listless Lady Olivia, who had nothing else to do but munch on a few slices of buttered bread, stroll around the area, and sit down beside me again. She was constantly grumbling under her breath, arranging her hair once in a while.

The whole lot of menfolk were so distracting, and the urge to leave Lady Olivia and fight alongside them was so tempting, that I had to truly slam my back against the tree trunk which I was seated under to force myself to concentrate on my work instead.

"When will they finish playing?" Lady Olivia muttered beside me.

I flipped a page of my book. "They will finish when they want to."

"All right, when will they want to finish playing?" she shot back at me, growing increasingly irritated.

Still, I did not look up from my book. "Well, you can ask them that. Do I look like I can read their minds, Lady Olivia?"

"Well, command them to stop playing!" she burst out, hissing, "are you not their Head General, or something of that sort? You can order them about, yes? Force them to cease this foolishness, and ask His Royal Highness to come here."

"I am their Commander General, not their Head General," I answered with some exasperation, "and they are fighting, not playing. Which aspect of their swords look like playthings to you?"

"I do not give a damn about whoever you are, and whatever they are doing," she snarled, "I suggest you hold your tongue, my Lady, and do as I say."

I was fast losing my patience. Why would she not let me read in peace?