Prologue
Disclaimer:All the characters and Tortall belongs to Tamora Pierce. I'm just a lune who plays around in her world.
Duke Gareth of Naxen looked at Lord Nicholas with a puzzled expression on his face, which was very unlike him.
"I'm not sure I follow you – you want to take Alan out of the program…?"
"Yes. Like I just told you, he was never meant to come here in the first place. Thom is the oldest and he was supposed to become a knight, not Alan. It was only due to their father's lax supervision that they were able to pull such a scam off," was the Lord's answer.
"Yes, I understand that, but don't you think it would be a waist to throw away six years of training – after all it is too late for Thom to become a knight in his stead." Lord Nicholas was about to object, but Duke Gareth continued, determined to fight for the squire; "It is less than a year to his ordeal. And I am convinced he will be a great knight. One your family can be proud of. He is already one of the best fencers at the court, and the prince's squire, as you must know."
"I am well aware of the hard work you put into training the boy, and I am sorry to have wasted your time as such. But the boys need to learn that there are consequences to such actions! I will not tolerate their games and Alan should not be granted the pleasure of being knighted considering his lies. We will be leaving this afternoon," he said with a stern look on his face.
Duke Gareth sighed, knowing that there was nothing further he could do; the man in front of him had obviously made up his mind. Internally, Gareth hoped that perhaps a royal order from Prince Jonathan could keep squire Alan in Corus.