Keeping The Faith (John Fisher Chronicles Book 2)

by William Lehman

  I located Bird, and Mary was there, along with Traveria, Ian & Yvette, Miguel, Karl, Balina, Thorbjorn (not the same one) & Talith, and Isa-Rey. So, while House Graymoor didn't quite have a quorum, it would do. Bird and Sheri had put Mary in a Mongol rig, turquoise and orange, with peacocks and paisleys, complete with the pointy hat and multiple loops of gold chain dangling off it. I must say it isn't much of a reach from Cheyenne to Mongol, either in facial feature or mind set; Mary would have passed on any Hollywood movie set (until some no talent hack whined about them not using a "real Mongol"). Andy and Sheri showed up and it was time to process. The finals always involve pomp and circumstance, with your house, and banner, your supporters, and a Herald to announce you and your inspiration, your talents and history; then some of your high ranking friends speak on your behalf...very medieval, well duh...

  As we were headed towards Saewynn (if I didn't use her as my herald, she would have probably beat me with her cane) I muttered to Mary "Quick, come up with a name, preferably Mongol."

  Mary nudged me in the ribs, and said "Don't worry, we girls have this covered, Saewynn already knows to announce me as Mandughai Seshikahn."

  "Oh, OK then, ugh, me fighter, go kill." I said with a grin. Mary elbowed me in the ribs, which was less than effective with me in armor, and we walked into the Eric. They had opened up the Eric by joining all the smaller ones that we had fought in before, into one LARGE field, about forty yards by twenty yards. We entered on one side, Saewynn in the lead, then Andy carrying my banner, and Ian carrying the house banner, then Mary and me, then the rest of the house carrying my helm and weapons. Reynard's group entered from the other side, a LARGE group, most of whom I didn't recognize, though I did see Duke Davin and Duchess Groa in the train. In the center was the Kingdom Earl Marshall (the head of the guys that run fighting), the kingdom Black Lion Herald (the guy that is in charge of all the Heralds), and the King.

  The Black Lion Herald had a canned speech that he had to give, asking who comes here blah, blah, blah, and then our heralds each announced us, giving our lineage, awards, associations, etc. Andy came up and said some nice words about me, Groa came up and said some nice words about Reynard, and the king called us forth, and to approach him. Once we got about two feet away from the king everyone else stepped out of hearing range, and he asked us to come close that he might have private words with us. "Knights!" he said "You have come here now to fight for the championship of the Tournament, and the Barony of Aquaterra, but beyond that to represent all that is good and right about this our society. I expect and demand to see a fair and honest fight. Though you be armored as you will, remember that by the rules of the list, you will take and give blows to penetrate the armor conventions, which include an open face helm. Remember that each of you should take blows as if you were normal humans."

  At this I saw Reynard's eyes widen. The King looked over at him "Yes, I know, and the knight's council knows that you're a 'Thrope. That's not illegal by the laws of our society, until now it's never come up. I expect that if it becomes a problem it will come up in the near future at a Board of Directors meeting. What your capabilities to take damage are is as irrelevant to the rules as what you're actually wearing for armor. You must take blows as if you were in the standard conventions. Don't make me stop a fight. Do you both understand?"

  "Yes your majesty."

  "Yes your majesty."

  With that, the king raised his voice so that it could be heard throughout the crowd, and said "Excellent. Gentlemen, this shall be a best of three format, double kills will be refought, the first fight shall be fighter's choice, the second fight will be sword and shield, and the third fight if needed will be matched great swords with no thrusting tips. Any questions?"

  When it was obvious that there were none, the king looked over at the Earl Marshall and said "Your field." The K.E.M. nodded and ordered us to arm and stand ready, and we each went back to our parties. After that it was Mary giving me a kiss for luck, several of my house patting me on the back, and helping me into my gear, Andy putting my helm on my head (which was a little funny, he almost has to reach down from the shoulder to get to my head, the guy's a freaking monster); Sheri handed me my spear, and Mary my sword, and it was time to go face the music. This was probably going to be the hardest fight I ever saw that didn't involve someone actually dying.

  Once we were both in gear, everyone except the knights and two Marshall's exited the Eric, and the knights went to the edges and sat, knelt, or squatted, as they chose. The K.E.M. and another senior Marshall stood in between us with staffs spiraled yellow and black. These marshaling staffs were usually used to catch a sword that was drawn back in a way that could hurt a bystander, or held in front of a fighter to stop him or her if they didn't hear a command...

  I did see one used offensively once, a fighter in a war had gotten carried away, and kept fighting after a hold was called. The Marshall put his staff in front of the guy and the guy turned and cocked back to swing at the Marshall...and promptly found himself on his ass, with a stick in his face point first! He was invited to leave for the day, but that's rather the point of the sticks, these guys are inside the Eric with two or more guys in full armor swinging big freaking clubs at each other trying to hit hard enough to get past a defense and through the armor to score a "kill" and the adrenaline and testosterone flows.

  The Marshall doesn't have any armor, unless it's a war scenario where archery is involved, so the staff is the only thing to protect his butt.

  They looked at each of us, and asked if we were ready, tapped their staffs together and shouted "Lay on!" while backing away quickly.

  Reynard had that glaive, as I expected he would, and I had my sword and spear. We each looked at the other and nodded, and I saw him grin. Well, this was going to be interesting. He took one step to the left as I took one to my right, it looked like we were both going to try to circle to the off-side (which means someone told him I was left handed, or he had been paying attention), then he charged me. He was using every bit of his 'Thrope speed, and tried to get in fast enough to get a thrust to my face, and end the first fight quick. Trouble is, I was just as fast, and didn't have to move as far to block as he did to attack. I caught the point of the thrust on the hand guard of my spear, and shoved it aside, only to watch him turn it instantly to an attempted chop at my strong side. DAMN that blade was fast. I couldn't get my spear over as fast as he could move the glaive (strictly a matter of leverage) but fortunately I didn't have to. I caught the blow on my sword, forcing it down and out as I spun in to face the weapon, putting my spear side toward him and facing sideways to him. A quick jab to the grill with the spear and it was done.

  I thought.

  Trouble is when my spear got to his face, it wasn't there anymore, he rocked his head back, and I missed...well shit. It's a funny thing, adrenaline and fear cause something called time dilation, your field of view narrows, and everything seems to slow down; you can see what's happening almost in slow motion, but your limbs are in slow motion too, so just because you can see it, doesn't mean you can do anything about it.

  My spear point was past his head, and spears can't be used to slash, even if I had the leverage to do that. My sword was up against his glaive, and he had forward momentum so he wasn't going to be able to back up for a beat or two. He was left foot forward, with his body facing the same way mine was, and still coming forward.

  I dropped the back of my spear (the end near me) down to contact with his weapon and shoved, while spinning on my right foot, disengaging my sword and swinging it around with the thought of hitting him mid body when I completed the swing. Normally I don't advocate turning your back on an opponent even of the millisecond it takes to do a spin swing, but desperate times...

  When I got around, he wasn't there anymore! The guy had seen what I was going to do, practically as fast as I did, and dived in a forward roll to get out of the way. I don't normally recommend forward rolls in a fight either, but in this case, it
worked. We wound up about fifteen feet away from each other, with him facing away from me, but before I could kick it into gear and run up to hit him; he kicked it in gear and ran away far enough to disengage, then turned around. By now we both had a serious respect for each other's abilities, and the serious fight started. Fights like this are less fun to watch than that first initial flurry was. It's all circling and shoulder feints, looking for the other guy to make a mistake and commit. Neither of us was liable to get tired any time soon, though both of us were sweating our asses off, so eventually that was going to be a factor.

  He stumbled a little, like he'd stepped on a rock that slipped under his feet, and I charged him.

  It was a feint.

  I saw the thrust coming soon enough to block it, but not soon enough to stop. We wound up about a foot apart with my sword and spear on his glaive holding it at bay, and him trying desperately to free it long enough to clock me with it, while I was trying to get my sword into play and whack him...then I saw it...

  My spear has a thrusting tip on both ends, like a medieval ship's pike, and a hand guard about two thirds of the way up. I almost never use the top thrusting tip, but it's on there for times like this. The bottom of his jaw was about eight inches from the top of my spear. I just angled the spear a little and shoved as hard as I could. You don't get a lot of leverage in that position, but I am a 'Thrope and frankly you don't need a lot of leverage when you're pushing something into the bottom of someone's helmet. His head popped back like a PEZ dispenser, I shoved off, and cocked back in case he didn't take it...I needn't have worried. Whether it was the King's talk, or if that was even needed, he took it fair, and dropped to the ground. The Marshall's came in and called the fight, round one to me. I offered him my hand to get up, and somewhat to my surprise, he took it, popped to his feet, and patted me on the back, saying "Damn. GOOD fight." Then we both got some water.

  The second fight was supposed to be sword and shield. I don't fight with a shield much, but I have one that I really like, it's a style called a Norman kite shield (looks like one of those shields in the Bayeux tapestry) and a shorter sword that goes with it. With sword and shield work I find that I have a different comfort range than with the other weapons, and from talking to other fighters this is not uncommon. Sword and shield I like to get up close, about 3-4 feet, every other weapons style I like to stay out at 4-5 feet. Now I know that doesn't sound much different, but trust me, it is. So Andy grabbed my shield, and handed it to me, Mary handed me my other sword, and I started back out on the field. Reynard was coming out as well, he had a heater and a REALLY cool sword, leather instead of duct tape with runes painted on it, it looked like this was not going to be his weak form.

  We squared up, the marshall's whacked their staffs together and said "Lay on!" and it began. If the first fight was an amazing case of power and flow, this fight was pure brutal slugfest. We both closed; he's right handed, I'm left handed, which puts our shields on the same side, and our swords on the same side. Shield hooks are difficult when you're fighting a mirror, so that wasn't going to help, and neither of us was going to risk opening up to try for one. Eventually I got a shot in that I thought got his kidneys, he called it a leg, and dropped to his knees, swinging as he dropped, taking my leg. Felt like a car hitting me, if I hadn't been a 'Thrope I would have probably been out of the fight, and might have a broken leg. Now he had the advantage, because while my shield is great if you're standing up, it's not so good when you're on your knees. Soon enough, I felt a whack to the back of the head that I had never seen coming, and did a face plant.

  Round two to Reynard.

  The king called us both to the center as I stood up (with help from Reynard). In his hands he had a pair of matched great swords, identical so far as I could tell in all respects save one: one was black on silver, the other silver on black, pretty work too. As I was peeling off my helm to get some air and water, he said "Knights, you have both fought honorably and well, the score is one each, with the third fight to decide. These swords were made just for this combat, and you may each keep the sword that you choose. Reynard, as the senior by precedence, and coming into the finals untouched, please choose."

  Reynard chose the silver on black, I grabbed the other one, we both bowed to the king, and got some water from the water bearers. I noticed that where he had hit me on the back of the helm he'd left a Hel of a dent, maybe half inch deep and three inches long, that's going to be a bitch to pound out, and way more than was needed. Then we pulled our helms back on, someone collected the extra gear, and it was time to fight.

  A normal great sword (like the Highland great sword of William Wallace) has a sharp tip, two edges, a small cross guard in front of the ricasso (an unsharpened spot forward of the quillions to grab for leverage), a large quillion or cross guard, then a grip and pommel. These, however, were designed like the "judicial swords" used for judicial duels (where the accused went out to "let gods determine the right of it", against the Crown's fighter) and had no thrusting tip. These were 6 feet long, and weighed 4 lbs. (historical note, the real swords these duplicate do weigh between 3 and 5 lbs, it's a modern myth that they were super heavy) The nice thing about this is that since neither of us had ever handled these before, we started on an equal basis.

  We lined up across from each other, and I shifted to a right hand grip to keep from fighting a mirror. To me, with a two handed weapon it doesn't really matter which side I lead with. Some folks are thrown off by that, I'm betting Reynard wasn't one. The Marshall's did their bit, we bowed to each other, and it was on. I was comfortable with this sort of weapon, both from SCA fighting and from some of the training we did in the teams. I put the sword laterally across my body in a modified horse stance, and noticed that Reynard went to a thrusting stance for a beat before remembering he didn't have a thrusting point on this, then went to a stance much like mine. That could matter later (I hoped). We started circling each other, with several small feints, none of which worked on either side. I tried desperately to remember if Reynard had ever done any rapier fighting; I don't think he has, and there's a trick...I stood up out of the horse stance, and held the blade out toward him at about a forty-five degree angle, with my arms nearly fully outstretched, and started to circle. As I went around the circle I was slowly decreasing range to him, while drawing my sword in at the same rate. In rapier, this is called a "Spanish Circle". Most folks watch the weapon, and gauge range off that, they never notice that the body behind the weapon is getting closer.

  I don't know if he was watching my body range, or if I had a tell that I was going to throw, but just as I decided I was in range to take the shot, he went for a body blow to my right side. I blocked it with a bind, and was planning for riposte, but his sword hit so hard all I could do was stop it. Bouncing off and going for a shot was out of the question. Damn, the man was swinging hard. OK, well two can play at that game. I shifted my left hand up to the ricasso, while holding his sword off, amazed that he was still trying to power through, then pivoted my hips and drove my bottom hand out, while pulling my top hand in. His sword became the pivot point, and the back of my blade hit his head full on the ear, rocking his head over. I kept pulling the sword back, while pivoting my hip and body away, then came forward again and hit him with the front of the blade in an overhand shot to the head. I put everything I had behind that shot, short of going Baresark.

  Was it excessive? Well, he hadn't started to fall, or called good with the first hit, and there's this thing called "An Tir insurance". If you hit the guy and don't hear a call, you ought to be already in motion to hit again, because if it wasn't good, bet that there's a shot coming in. Then there's the fact that he had been hitting way harder than needed, and the fact that the king wanted a point made. It may have been overboard, but I'm prepared to live with it.

  Reynard went down, slowly, to his knees, then forward to his face. I drew back the sword to salute him, and saw that it was hanging a little funny--I broke the damn thing...OOP
S. I went forward to help Reynard up but didn't get there, he suddenly put his hands to either side of his body and did a push up that continued to a smooth flow to his feet, with a big grin on his face, screaming "That was AWESOME! NICE SHOT!" Well Hel, what can ya do, but embrace the guy?

  Before I knew what was going on, I was suddenly up on the shoulders of some knight with another knight holding my feet, and Andy keeping me from falling off backwards as they paraded me around the field, landing me in front of the King, Queen, and Mary. Andy helped pull my helm off, the King said some nice things, and handed me the grand prize, which was a beautiful helm. Then the Baron and Baroness came up and gave me the protector's sword for the year, and a really nice hand painted and calligraphied scroll with the kingdom and baronial seals (to go with the others that are sitting in a drawer somewhere until I get around to getting them framed). Several knights made comments sotto voce about May Crown, while the rest of the awards were handed out, and court was over. As I was walking over to get out of my armor, Reynard walked up to shake my hand and congratulate me again, saying "It's nice to finally find someone that can throw a shot."

  I just looked at him for a second "Dude!" I said "Do you realize I broke that brand new sword over your head?"

  He looked at me for a minute, and I could see the wheels turn. "Are you saying you hit harder than normal?"

  I looked at him again, and all the pieces fell into place. "How long ago were you infected?"

  "About eighteen months, it's why I left Alaska; they're uptight about it up there, why?"

  "Dude, you need to work with a good knight down here, and re-do all your calibrations. You mean no one's explained this to you?" I asked incredulously.