The Tournament of Henpele - Chapter 2 - Annette's Tournament, Part 1

Chapter 2 - Annette's Tournament, Part 1

                Annette stared at the full listing of participants in the squires' melees. She had signed up an hour ago, and wandered off to do some warm-up excercise for the fights that afternoon. She recognised a couple of names (rumours of who was in town were not always accurate or thorough), but neither were of particular concern to her.
                She had been assigned to a team with three other squires - the count had organised a melee tournament of four vs. four battles. None of their names were familiar to her, and she left to wander until the time came for her first battle early that afternoon.

                Cramming the last of her pie into her mouth, Annette sat around a table with her team mates. Their fight would begin after the cleanup concluded (the previous fight had resulted in a couple of broken barriers, and bones).
                "So you're Roger's squire, then?" said Annette, in between licking her fingers.
                "Yes," said the youth. "I - I don't think I'm ready for this melee. I've only been a squire for three weeks, and I've barely learnt the basics."
                "Stay behind me and Todd with her," said one of the other squires, gesturing towards Annette.
                "Say that again and I'll brain you, arseface," said Annette angrily, gripping her maces.
                "Michael, not all women are weak, dainty things," said Todd. "Annette certainly isn't - Penny was telling me about your frequent wins the other day, actually. Very impressive. But, please don't brain our team mate."
                Todd was the squire of one of the few female knights (perhaps two out of every ten knights was a woman; and some men - such as Michael - thought this was the right way of things). The youth, Dominic, was only fifteen - at least two years younger than the vast majority of squires participating in the melee.
                "I've got four years of combat experience under my belt, mainly," said Annette. She was nineteen herself; only a couple of years away from being knighted. She continued with, "And I'll refrain as long as he refrains himself from saying something else that stupid."
                Michael grunted, and grabbed his drink. "Fine. Stay behind any of us three, then. But, girl, if you break half your bones in the fight don't come crying to me," he said. He skulled the rest of his drink, and slammed it on the table.
                Todd shook his head, and said to Dominic, "Stay behind us and you'll be fine."
                Conversation turned to tactics, and soon after, it was their turn to fight.

                The four of them stood at one side of the small field, blue sashes tied around their arms. Across from them stood their opponents, wearing red sashes.  Honestly this is a silly way of doing the competition, thought Annette, those who go 'out' are beaten out, so most teams are going to be missing a few members in all rounds except the first.
                An official read out the names - she recognised none of her opponents, although the list included a pair of twin girls - and a horn was blown to signal the start of the fight. Annette raised her mace above her head, and yelled, "For the east!"
                Similar cries ringing out (mostly regarding Norduchy, of course) around her, Annette ran straight at her opponents with her maces readied. Her unusual combat style - in melees, at least - allowed her to confuse and surprise her opponents, giving her an extra edge in combat. One of the other team, wielding a two handed sword, decided to engage her. She dodged his slash and closed in, thudding her right mace into his side lightly.
                He raised his sword and started to take a step back to regain some distance, and Annette saw an opportunity. She braced herself against the ground and rammed her shoulder into her opponent, causing him to overbalance and fall with a loud yelp. Annette slammed her right mace, then her left, into his helmet; crumpling the viewport.
                A panicked cry of "I yield!" came from her foe. Annette tore off his sash and tossed it to the ground, to ensure that the officials observed the yield.
                Looking around, she took quick stock of the melee field. She had downed her opponent rapidly; no others had yet fallen. Dominic was hiding behind Todd, who was facing one opponent; the other two (the twin girls) were attempting to take down Michael (who was swinging viciously to keep them at bay).
                Idiot's going to tire himself out like that, thought Annette, rushing over to aid him. She yelled "Face me!" at the pair, and one of them obliged. She was armed with a sword and shield, and held them in an expert stance. Behind her, her sister was taunting Michael into tiring himself using a long warhammer, with similar expertise. I suspect he deserves this, thought Annette.
                "Another girl! Do you know what this idiot said to us when we met in combat?" she said, advancing towards Annette.
                "I can guess, but he certainly kept you from taking on Dominic," replied Annette. She let her arms and her footwork relax for a moment as she responded.
                Her opponent took this as an opportunity to swift lunge forward and slash out, only for her sword to meet open air as Annette deftly side-steeped and rammed both her maces heavily into the girl's right knee. She groaned loudly, but shifted her footing and got her shield up in time to block Annette's next blow.
                "If you ever fight a monster, keep in mind that anything any of them ever say is just a distraction; the words mean nothing," said Annette, regaining some distance. "And don't place too much faith in what you reckon people can do from a position, unless you are an anatomist."
                "Weren't you told to keep your mouth shut when you fight?" came her opponent's reply. "Doesn't do to get d-"
                The girl fell forwards as Michael pushed her from behind, sending her tumbling into the mud. Annette started laughing as Michael put his sword against her back and said, "Yield." Behind him, the girl's sister was sitting on the ground after being outmatched by Michael. She had removed her helmet, and was shaking her head in shame.
                As the girl took off her arm sash, and Michael joined Annette's laughter, a call came from the other side of the field. "I yield too!" yelled their last opponent. Annette had been keeping an eye on the fight - it had looked like Todd would lose, especially as Dominic was proving to be somewhat of a distraction. As she continued laughing, she thought, It's good and lucky that none of us have taken injury.
                "Please stop laughing," said the girl on the ground, "Or at least offer to get me really drunk so I can forget that I was defeated by irony."

                Annette sat with Todd and Dominic in the competitors' eating area, sipping a local honeyed drink. Unlike Michael - who was across the room sharing beers with the two girls - the three of them had decided to avoid any drinking before their next fight.
                "That was a quick victory," said Todd, abandoning the remnants of his meal.
                "I got lucky against the two-hander," said Annette. "As Michael said, he's probably going to be knighted in a couple of months, so in a one on one fight he had quite the edge over that girl. And the other girl, haha, she seems to have been taught to avoid distractions several times and never quite got the lesson."
                "I'm surprised they're letting him drink with them," said Todd. "I heard what he said, and I heard their, um, replies."
                "What did he say, anyway?" asked Annette. "I think he may just have met too many courtly ladies who sport knighthoods for no good reason. There are just as many men who do the same, though, so hm."
                "He said 'I could take you both, you worthless wenches!'. Then he spat, and said, "I'll see to it that no feeble girls get knighthoods, starting with you useless bitches!'," replied Todd.
                "They swore at him and I hid behind Todd as the other guy engaged," said Dominic. "I think he might have said something else too but we put some distance between the two fights pretty quickly."
                "I'll hope he said that mostly to anger them," said Annette with a grimace. "Speaking of fighting, Dominic, try to distract our opponents rather than Todd next time!"
                "I was a distraction?" asked Dominic, looking at Todd worriedly.
                After a pause, Todd said, "Yes, you were. I had to keep glancing to make sure I wouldn't run into you, after I almost did a couple of times. In truth, after I've properly engaged an opponent you should either back off or make as if to flank them; and we were very lucky that Michael managed to gain the attention of two or else I would have been sorely outmatched."
                "Michael was having trouble dealing with the two girls, and he has about three years of experience over Todd," said Annette. "Speaking of Michael, here he comes."
                Michael was making his way across the area with the girls in tow, and a beer in hand. The trio shuffled around the table to make space. "Giselle and Bree," Michael said, indicating the two girls, "These are my team mates, Annette, Todd and Dominic."
                "How many drinks have you had?" asked Todd, concerned.
                "One, and only half of this," replied Michael. "Bree decided not to get drunk, seeing as they've another fight as well. The count wants more entertainment, so everyone's going to get a final rank, which seems pointless and depressing for whomever comes last."
                "Congratulations for beating us, by the way," said Giselle. "I have to ask, though, Dominic, why are you in the tournament? We could all see that you're young and mostly untrained."
                "Sir Roger pushed me into it. He said he learnt the most when he fought in the melees, far more than he ever did in practice," replied Dominic. "I, um, think he might have been thinking about after he mastered the basics, though."
                Giselle laughed, and turned to Annette. "You're very strong for a girl, you know. Victor - our team mate you knocked down - weighs at least one hundred and twenty kilograms in his armour," she said.
                "I caught him off balance," replied Annette, "More than anything else."
                "Hm, you're very lucky," said Giselle. "Strength, smarts, looks..." Giselle stopped speaking and stared at Annette, making her feel uncomfortable.
                "So," Todd said, stepping in to break the awkward silence, "Do you know who you're up against next? Anyone I might know?" Conversation quickly diverted to the other winning and losing groups, and who each group might fight next.

                An hour and a half later, Annette and her team mates stood in the melee field again, stretching as their opponents wandered onto the field. This time her team had red sashes around their arms.
                "These guys don't look terribly tough," said Michael, sizing up their opponents. This time all of their opponents were male. "If I had to guess, they're all about Todd's age, and courtly gentlemen. They probably signed up together, or else they would have someone older or tougher, so they might fight well as a group," Michael continued, finishing with a snigger.
                "I know you want to impress Bree, Michael," said Todd, "But don't underestimate our opponents. They are would-be court knights, but one of them is the dueling champion of the entire duchy despite being a squire. They're from Down County, which is north of here. Penny and I are from there too, although the southern border of it, which is why I know them."
                "So the one with the bastard sword is that sword-master chap then?" asked Michael.
                "Yes, he is," replied Todd, falling silent as the names of the combatants were read out.
                Just our luck, thought Annette. We're going to lose this one. The horn announcing the beginning of combat rang out, and the fight began.

                "Who is most skilled in arms amongst you?" called out the champion, "and who least skilled?"

                "I am most skilled here," replied Michael, stepping forward arrogantly.

                "What about Annette?" said Dominic quietly.

                "I don't care. I think he's trying to play fair duels in a brawl; we can use this," said Annette. Louder, she called out, "Dominic is the least skilled. Put your injured friend against him."

                "Very well!" came the duelist's reply. He said something to his companions, and they fanned out. Annette's team followed suit, Michael facing the champion and Dominic the squire who was injured, as Annette had managed to spot.

                As they reached the preferred duel starting distance, the man Annette faced said, "I am Mitchell, squire of Sir Virgil of Down County." He had a lot of pride in his voice as he spoke, and carried an iron shod staff.

                "Annette, squire to Sir Graeme," replied Annette; as softly and sweetly as she could. "A pleasure to meet you." Annette could, as Graeme put it, 'pour honey into her voice - if she took some diplomacy lessons she could probably charm her way to the throne'. Let's see if the smarmy bastard has trouble hurting women, hahaha, she thought.

                With surprising speed, Mitchell darted forward and swung the top half off his staff towards Annette's head. Annette blocked the blow with her left mace, and swung her right mace down - just in time to block the other end of the staff as Mitchell attempted to sweep her feet out from under her.

                Mitchell grinned beneath his helm, his eyes looking at the blocked blow, and took a step back. But a single step was not far enough for him to escape Annette's left hand, which - still holding her mace - slammed into his face.

                "Agh," groaned Mitchell, stepping back further, as Annette also pulled away. She used the time she had gained to check how the fights were going. Todd seemed to be doing well against his opponent; and Dominic seemed to be on even footing with the injured knight (who was more injured than Annette had thought - one of his arms, and possibly some ribs, seemed to be broken).

                Michael was having the most difficulty. As Annette watched, the Duchy's finest duelist used a careful slash from his sword to force Michael into an even worse position than he had already managed to get himself in.

                After briefly glancing at her opponent to ensure she had time, Annette hurled her right mace at the duelist. It struck him in the shoulder as he was doing a spin as part of his finishing attack against Michael. It was a piece of showmanship, but Michael's instinctive response to the spin was part of the move; due to the position he had wound up his attempt to counterattack would backfire. But the brief moment he was distracted gave Michael enough time to strike, preventing the attack.

                "What!" yelled Mitchell, "You have no honour!"

                "Melee's are brawls. Now come, I'm half-armed," replied Annette, beckoning him forward with her free hand.

                Mitchell charged at her, with a scream of "You'll regret this!"

                He came with his staff raised high, ready for a mighty swing down. Annette stepped aside as he attacked, and grabbed the staff with her empty hand. As Mitchell struggled to break her grip on the weapon she gave it a pull forwards - pulling him right where she needed him to ensure the swing she was making with her mace struck true. She had swung her mace down onto his head hard enough to dent his helmet, but not enough to brain him - she hoped. Mitchell dropped like a sack of bricks, thudding into the ground.

                Sparing only a moment of concern for her fallen opponent, Annette checked the rest of the battleground. Dominic and Todd had both been beaten; Todd had only just been defeated and was making his way off the field. Michael was fighting Dominic's former opponent - the champion apparently having been defeated.

                The fighter who had been against Todd started to make his way towards Annette, as she made her way to her fallen mace. Picking it up, she took stock of him. He was weary; breathing heavily enough for it to be noticeable through his armour, and almost staggering as he made his way towards Annette. He wielded a mace and a shield; and his armour included a full face helmet - preventing Annette from making a complete judgment on his tiredness.

                Her maces at the ready, Annette strode towards him. There's no way he's tired after only a couple of minutes, she thought to herself. Their battle began with Annette making a slow swing towards the man's head; he parried it easily and shoved his shield into her. Annette's legwork was prepare for this, and instead of ending up off balance she released her parried mace (allowing it to swing down on the loop that she had around her wrist) and grabbed the shield of her opponent.

                Her opponent only had a moment to find the move strange; Annette grabbed his armour with her other hand (it, too, being freed as she dropped her other mace) and tumbled him over her leg to the ground. He fell flat, and Annette - seizing her maces - leapt on top of him and slammed them both into his exposed back.

                He let out a muffled cry of pain, and then yelled, "I yield!" Annette tore off his sash, and turned to check the battleground. Michael was still fighting the injured combatant - Annette noted that the injured man seemed to be fighting better than he had against Dominic, as if he had been holding back even with his injury. As she began to run over, intending to join the battle, Michael managed to get the man off balance and knocked him to the ground. Annette reached them just in time to hear the injured knight yielding.

                After taking the man's sash and tossing it to the ground, Michael turned to Annette with a grin. "I beat that 'champion', hahaha," he said. "Serves him right for trying to beat me with such a flashy finish."

                "Are you going to thank me for saving your ass?" asked Annette.

                "Hm, well thank you," said Michael, bowing. With a sigh, Annette turned and walked from the field; another victory sealed.

                Annette sat in the Boisterous Crab - the inn she, Graeme and Sparrow had lodged at - and chuckled at another (admittedly fairly terrible) joke from Sparrow. The melee fights had finished up for the day; the next day she would compete in three more battles - potentially including the final. Although Michael had asked her to spend the evening drinking with him and 'the girls' (he had also asked the rest of the team - even convincing Dominic to come along, somehow), she had declined his offer.

                "He's a real bastard, though," said Annette of Michael. "He can fight - and fight well - but he does not care for women, or the weak, to fight. I suspect he only accepts Dominic's presence because Dominic may yet become a capable fighter; and because he likes the challenge. I may be giving him a new perspective on what women are capable of, but I doubt he'll see me as more than an exception."               

                "Karma, or something nastier, will catch up with him. Maybe some kind of monstrous temptress will eat him," Sparrow said, finishing with a grin.

                "You heard that Penny is in town?" asked Graeme.

                "Yeah, Todd - one of my other team mates - is her squire," replied Annette.

                Graeme sighed, and smiled wistfully. "We were together once, for a year or so. It ended because she doesn't want to have kids - it'd take her away from her duties for too long, being pregnant. She is a good knight and her previous squire became a good knight as well - though she is now sadly passed. Ah. But to other topics: Annette, how will you fare tomorrow?" said Graeme.

                "I'm not sure," replied Annette. "The only troublesome fellow - the dueling champion - is out of the running, so we might have a shot at victory. But there are rumours about one of the competitors - she wears a helmet that has only eye holes. She only takes it off when asked, as well. She was asked to after a severe pummeling from two enraged opponents had no effect on her - she ended up defeating both."

                "Strange," said Sparrow. "What of the rest?"

                "Well," said Annette, before launching into an appraisal of the teams who remained in the tournament. It was a mix of observation and information gained from questioning of other fighters, and recounting it - to the interested Graeme, and soon-bored Sparrow - took much of the evening.