Royal Guard Book 1: The Servant

Chapter 5 - Rayna - Tournament Time!

So a wallet is made up of a bunch of pockets. It itself is a pocket. And you put your wallet in your pocket. A pocket in a pocket. But. Are pants then pockets for your legs? Pockets with pockets? But they have holes, so bottomless pockets? Wait—"Are socks just pockets for your feet?"

Hutch stared at me blankly. "...what?"

"Nifheilm! Hutchinson! Pay attention," Ser Hok'ee ordered and we both snapped back to him. Ser Hok'ee was the knighted Sergeant Major of the guards at Arce. He also for some reason agreed to be the school's coach. I don't think he's regretted it, but then again he lost one of his toes during a freak ax-cident. (Ha, pun). He made us all swear that it was an old war wound, and not from a middle schooler with poor grip strength. "I want each of you to give these Gravesell esquires a run for their money. Some day, they might be your guards. Let's make sure they can do a good job."

All of us heritors gave a big cheer at that.

"Now, archers are going first. Followed by duelers. And we'll close off with the riders. Then the Headmaster will announce which school scored the highest overall." He flipped through the schedule that was handed to him earlier. "Yada yada yada. Cannons. Victory lap. Buffett. Ya know the drill." He crumpled up the schedule and tossed it over his shoulder. "I say you all just get out there, kick some ass—" (Oh there were first graders here, he was definitely not allowed to say that.)"—and stuff your faces full of victory bacon."

"YEAAAAAHHH!"

"Um, actually I'm a vegetarian-"

"For ARCE!"

I pumped my first up in the air, "LETS GO SAPLINGS!"

I watched some of the light die in Ser Hok'ee's eyes as we all started chanting, "SAP-LINGS! SAP-LINGS!"

After a good few minutes of screaming our lungs out and completely embarrassing Ser Coach, the first round of archers got out onto the field and started the tournament. It was just the first through fourth graders so it was very adorable and very ineffective. (And very dangerous with all the arrows that went off course. So maybe, actually effective in a fight?)

Hutch and I watched from the equipment house where all of the other competitors were waiting. Gravesell esquires were mixed in with us and taking up most of the space. The Knight's Academy had nearly three hundred students. There were about twenty Arce kids who wielded. So to even it out a bit, only volunteers from Gravesell were here to compete while it was mandatory for the rest of us. Archery and horseback riding was also added so a few more heritors could participate. Cause you know not every parent wants their darling child to learn how to defend themselves with a wooden stick. But riding a thousand pound animal as it jumps a five foot bar? Yeah, sounds safe.

Hutch readjusted the tension on his crossbow for a third time as we waited. I squinted at the audience in the bleachers across the field, trying to figure out where my friends were.

"I can't believe they actually allow you to compete with that," my annoying little brother came up beside us, pointing the end of his spear at Hutch's crossbow.

"I can't believe they allow you to show your ugly face here," I countered without even looking at him.

"I can't believe they'd allow someone so stupid to have an actual sword," Brynjar retorted, causing me to stick my tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue out at me.

"Ooookay, guys we are not fighting each other," Hutch stepped in and held his hands between us.

"Why do you use a crossbow though?" I blurted out before thinking. I remembered a long time ago when we had our first tournament at Graves. Hutch wielded a sword, and he was pretty good at it. He won his first duel against an esquire much older than him. But I think his parents or the coaches pulled him from dueling after it. He'd been with archery ever since.