by S E Zbasnik
Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
OTHER BOOKS
ILLUSTRATION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
ABOUT AUTHOR
Squire Hayseed
SE Zbasnik
Copyright © 2019 by SE Zbasnik
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2019
ASIN: B07P6TDVFS
Cover design © 2019 by Canstockphoto
Illustration © 2019 by Kristi Taylor-Livdahl
Endless thanks to my husband for cheering me on, my beta readers, Kristi for being awesome, and Andrea for any tattoo questions I have.
Other Books By SE Zbasnik
The King’s Blood
Power
Dwarves in Space Series
Tempus Interruptus
Dwarves in Space
Family Matters
Free Radical
If you want to get in early on information about my new books and deals, please join my newsletter to receive a free book.
ILLUSTRATION
Gavin & Hayley
CHAPTER ONE
She was dead. The thought rattled about in her head as she stared from one armored slat where eyes should be, to another. It banged especially loud when the portcullis slammed shut right behind the cart that brought them all to her doom.
Hayley wrung her hands tighter around the holding part of the sword, her eyes narrowing to slits. Around her, a dozen bangs and grunts reverberated off of empty wooden benches and dirt-splattered walls. She whipped her head to the metal helmet still sitting perfectly propped up on a pike, the rest of the dummies wooden internal organs remaining intact.
When the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, she didn’t glance over at the face that’d been watching her since she hopped off the welcome wagon. That would give it all away. Grunting like the rest of those around her, she hefted up the far too heavy sword. An unladylike sweat poured off her brow, her armpits, and down the back of a pair of itchy breeches. No one said a word about her attire; either they didn’t recognize it, or they were used to her kind being tossed into this den.
Regardless, she best make a show of it. Tipping her head back and launching a feral roar, Hayley ran full bore at the dummy. With a great heft of her wobbling arms, she jammed the sword into its side. What should have felled a grown man, foolishly jammed into the dummy’s termite-riddled side. And Hayley’s feet forgot to stop. The smart thing would have been to let go, to leave the damn sword bits trapped in the wood for someone else to solve. Too bad she was stubborn and knew a thing or two about not letting go.
Fingers refusing to give up on the sword, Hayley’s scrabbling body reached the end of the tether and she launched into the air. Crap! Her ass pounded deep into the flighty dirt, a puff of sand momentarily disguising the girl that shattered the ground. Pain radiated up her tailbone, but her foolish palms were still wrapped around that blade.
Hayley dipped her head back to check the damn thing was still wedged when she noticed that all the other people in the group froze. Weapons of every make hung suspended in the air, eyes scrutinizing her mad dash to the dirt. The only noise was the wooden dummies squeaking back and forth on their springs.
“Uh,” Hayley tried to bite down the blush burning on her cheeks. “Oops?”
“Recruit,” the Knight-Captain’s voice rang out, her southern drawl aimed right at the most unqualified recruit who just took a dirt nap. Abandoning her hold, Hayley spun on her ass and looked right up into the woman’s steely glare. She expected knights to always be in that full-on suit of metal, but Knight Erin wore only boiled leathers. A bland tunic was tugged over the front. The seal of the city graced her strapped-down chest instead of any of the order sigils dangling off pennants above their heads.
Erin drew a finger up to her brown cheek. She gave a quick toss off the apple of it as if trying to remove something that wasn’t there. Hayley blinked up in confusion, uncertain if this was another stupid test, when she felt it. With the back of her hand, she scrubbed at her own cheek, no doubt smearing the filth around more than removing it.
Sighing, Knight Erin stepped back from the useless girl. Her knotted black hair was coiffed high, a band of gold cinching it up in place. Hayley was quick to notice not only the glint but the fact that it was real. Dangerous to be wearing in this dirt choked arena; it could so easily go missing. The knight’s beady brown eyes burned into the girl scrabbling to her feet.
“Do not try it,” they warned and Hayley smiled wide as innocent as a sunrise.
“Resume your stance,” Knight Erin ordered.
Batting at the dust on her burlap trousers, Hayley moved to grab onto her sword when the knight threw up a hand. “Hold recruits!” she shouted, a dozen teenagers lowering their weapons.
All the eyes swerved towards the sound of boots clipping against the stones that led into the arena. Above them circled the stands where both the high and not-as high born would sit to watch people knock each other around for a few hours. But they sat empty today, leaving Hayley to wonder what the point of all this was. If she only had to impress Knight Erin, she’d already failed and might as well leave.
Stepping out of the entrance into the arena appeared six people, four men and two women to be precise. They all wore the same green and silver livery, chests held high as if they were about to break out into song or dance. Knight-Captain Erin turned back to the assembled group, “Your knights are here. Compose yourself as I speak to them before the real challenge begins.”
Erin hustled off to the group, rapidly complaining about the teenagers she had to suffer for an hour as if they were a group of misbehaving puppies in need of a swat to the nose. Without thought, Hayley wiped at the side of her face with her forearm, more of the mud smearing up her sunburnt cheek and towards her hairline. All around her, the group was dismantling their weapons and heading off to the racks. Was that what she was supposed to do as well?
She reached for the sword, an object she’d never picked up until that day, and wrapped both hands around it. Pulling with all her might, Hayley managed to un-wedge it an
inch. Too bad another three inches remained impaled inside the dummy. Hayley moved to spit on her hands and give it another go when a giant palm landed on her shoulder. The thing was so massive the fingers scooped near her collarbone while the heel rested on her shoulder blade.
One of the boys, if someone that tall could be considered a boy still, gently tugged her back. With one hand, he took a hold of her sword and ripped it free. Placing it into Hayley’s awestruck fingers, the giant’s pinprick eyes the color of a vengeful sky drifted towards hers. “Thanks?” she threw out, uncertain what to say.
He shrugged and wandered towards the rack along with the other boys who showed up for this. The group sundered down the gender lines, most of the boys hopping back and forth on a leg while lightly shoving into each other. They couldn’t cease fidgeting as if stopping would invite death. The girls were a different matter entirely. They remained rock solid while circling like a moat around a single person in the middle of their gathering.
It was towards them Hayley sidled, uncertain where she belonged now. “Is that…?” one of the girls began, and the ringleader answered before the question was even finished.
“The Seven Serpents, the most decorated order of knights in the realm.”
Hayley had next to no people skills but even she fell in awe at the girl who moved with the grace of a grown woman. She bore that kind of skin people compared to the stuff that came out of cows, even purer than whatever cream Hayley had managed to scam over the years.
Owning a sweetheart face, the chin was practically a point which she kept massaging a hand under as if to disguise it. But what really made her stand out was the red hair, the color of fire for how it burned even by the fading sunlight above them. Every other girl there picked at their range of brunettes and browns, frowning while looking at this girl. Hayley stuffed her straw-colored mop tighter under the hat and said nothing.
“God’s nails,” a second girl pipped up, “weren’t they the ones who…?”
“Defended the citadel from an attack by the Prestions. Every single man and woman was awarded a golden falcon after that,” the leader kept on, her jade eyes burning brighter as she sized them up.
“Wow,” another girl, one of the shorter and stockier ones whispered to herself before turning to the redhead. “This is…a lot more pressure than I expected. But, they’re sure to pick you, Larissa.”
The girls all chimed in, extolling each of Larissa’s virtues including her looks and grace. Hayley crossed her arms and stared across the way to the group of knights who were all speaking in braying tones with Erin. She didn’t see anything that special in them. They were people, adults, slow and lumbering like most cattle that’d straddle a river barge while being shipped to the butcher’s house.
“Sweet Lord!” Her jaw cracked open to plummet to the earth as one of the knights stepped away from the group towards them. Built like the statutes of the five virtues that circled the city, the man’s shoulders tugged upon the straining green and silver livery. Barely able to handle the display, a giddy burn began in Hayley’s gut at the thought of the muscles ripping his shirt. The light glanced across his sienna skin, the dewy flesh shining bright to match a smile that was framed by the most pillowy lips Hayley’d ever seen on man or woman. His cheekbones looked like they could cut through a brick wall and the jawline would join in the destruction.
Something of a noise rolled in her mouth, Hayley saying “mop mop mop” endlessly because her mind leapt off a cliff. By the mercy of the Lord, the man turned towards the dummies to inspect them, and Hayley was able to take in a breath.
“Merciful God,” Larissa prayed to herself. “That is Ser Gavin.”
Hayley whipped back to see a rosy blush rising upon the girl’s cheeks. She patted at it, looking even more perfect for the discoloration while Hayley was often sneered at for her burn. “Who?” she asked, her eyes drifting over from the side of the wall to the man and back.
“Only the youngest man to ever be knighted. He was but 19 when the King gave him the sword. They say he is destined to become one of the greatest Knights ever. There is even talk he would join the council itself. To be chosen by him would be…”
Larissa paused in her praising to fan herself, the other girls joining in. Their insistence that Larissa would be picked seemed to have died quickly as each was eyeing up the mind-numbingly attractive knight. A few shifted in place, trying to adjust the least flattering padded outfits to emphasize various curves.
“Why’s everyone keep talking about being chosen?” Hayley asked, her eyes twisting away from the man to the wall. It was a good ten feet high and brick, but that annoyingly smooth kind so it’d be impossible to climb.
“Whatever do you mean…?” Larissa asked, her hand waving in the air.
It took a moment before she caught on that she was fishing for her name. “Hayley.”
“Hayseed,” the girl said with a twist of her lips.
“Hayley, not Hayseed.”
“That’s what I said, Hayseed.” Larissa smiled like a shark, the power in the pointed teeth while her eyes went dead. She was going all in to win her knight, competition be damned. Joke’s on her; all Hayley wanted was to get this over with and give them the slip.
Folding her arms across her flattened chest, Hayley twisted her head. “Gonna answer me or…?”
Larissa snorted, “I thought you were acting the fool, I didn’t think you were one.”
“Oh yeah, well, it…it can take one to-to, just tell me what the hell is going on!” Hayley cried, already exhausted. It’d been a long day for her, far longer than the other would-be squires she was certain.
The stocky brunette, Alice she mentioned, spoke up, “Each knight chooses his or her squire from the lot of us.”
“Okay,” Hayley nodded her head, her tongue rolling against her teeth. She whipped her head over at the knights and took a quick count. Six. Then she turned back in the future squires — eleven. Shit. “What…what happens if you’re not chosen?”
“Recruits!” Knight-Captain Erin’s voice rang out through the arena, pinging off the various pillars propping up the open roof. “Before me.”
Everyone began to run towards her, but Larissa snatched onto Hayley’s arm and held her in place. Her pink peach lips nearly slobbered down Hayley’s ear as she whispered, “You will be sent back to whatever lickspittle hole you crawled out of. No doubt to continue nourishing your lice collection.”
“Ha!” She wanted to laugh loudly at her, maybe add in some braying for good measure, but the lead knight lady was tapping her steel tipped boot hard into the dirt. It was a joke, but not on Larissa. Not on any of them. Somehow this humorous tale was going to lash out and strike only Hayley flat on the ass. Shit.
She scrabbled over, doing her damnedest to avoid the primping Larissa while her heart tried to leap out of her throat. The odds were so far out of her favor even cheating was pointless. And if she didn’t pull this off…?
The tall, silent boy stopped beside her, his steely gaze burning a hole through the Knight-Captain. If she noticed it she gave no hint, her hands wrapped around a scroll that looked rather important. Golden seals usually meant royalty got involved at some point.
“Your purpose here today is to prove yourself,” Erin began. “Not only to be chosen as a squire but to be worth the time and effort of one day achieving a knighthood of your own.”
Hayley tried to not snort at the lofty goal. All she wanted to do was live to see the next sunrise. Her chattering jaw froze at Erin’s piercing glare and she swallowed hard. The other kids beside her didn’t even glance over at the noise. They looked like those warrior statues propped outside the cliffs overlooking the castle’s drop to the sea. Unmoving, dedicated to duty, never flinching even if a seagull shat in their eye.
She was beyond dead. Was there such a thing as double dead?
“You will pair up in armed combat,” the Knight-Captain ordered, her chin raising high while the other knights who came shopping
for a servant huddled behind her. That disturbingly handsome one, Gavin, hovered a bit near her shoulder while his eyes cut across the lines. This close, Hayley couldn’t stop staring at the striking color — an amber shine more reminiscent of honey than a strong tea. Which was when they stopped right upon her and didn’t move to the next.
Absently, her fingers wandered up to touch her cheeks, but she didn’t back down from the look. Too many years taught her to never look away lest you miss something important, like a hand reaching for a dagger. Which was when an elbow nudged into her.
“Sorry,” the giant of a boy mumbled, his words barely reaching Hayley’s ears. They were swaddled in a mess of her straw-colored hair, which she tried to swipe back while gazing up at him.
“No problem,” she muttered back. “Just…try to not step on me.”
“Okay,” he responded as if it were a serious fear, his feet shuffling him a few inches away.
The Knight-Captain jabbed a quill at the boy Hayley was talking to. “Marco!” Her voice could shatter walnuts, the gentle giant responding to it by thudding his fist tight to his barrel chest.
“Yes, Ser!”
“You shall square off against…” Her finger traveled down the line. When it wafted to Larissa the girl hefted her chin up and swung her leg out. She seemed all but certain she’d be picked, but the Knight-Captain went on to select, “Abed. Choose your weapons and meet in the first ring.”
Larissa snarled at the slight, falling back as the Knight-Captain thinned their ranks by another four teens. All of them dashed to the racks, sizing up weapons to get a feel before leaping into the metal rings. “I can’t believe she didn’t choose me,” the redhead kept muttering even as the last five teens all huddled beside the wall.
“You want to fight that?” Hayley couldn’t stop her mouth if she tried. Marco, despite seeming the type terrified to tread upon a cricket, hurled a blunted axe so hard towards his opponent’s chest the Knight-Captain had to remind him it wasn’t to the death. The damn thing cracked apart the very iron ring, embedding deep and sending a ringing throughout the arena.