Chapter 2
Jake felt as if he had barely closed his eyes when he heard Terry yell: "Rise and Shine everyone! He groaned, it could not dawn already. Charles was already out of bed and pulling on his trousers. "You better hurry up." he warned Jake. "otherwise you'll miss breakfast." He climbed out of bed and went to his pack, Charles shook his head. "Your training livery is in the trunk at the end of you bed." He informed him. Jake gave a grunt of thanks and opened the trunk and pulled out a pair of plain trousers, tunic and jerkin, he put them on and followed Charles and the others out of the room.
After eating a hasty breakfast of porridge, they all lined up in the practice yards waiting for Sir Holt. Jake felt some trepidation, his first encounter with his new master had not gone well at all he could only hope that Holt would give him another chance.
Holt Marched out onto the practice yard with Squire Jeffords and a girl who Jake recognised behind him. His heart leapt with joy. Gina! What was she doing here? Jake wondered as he fought off the urge to run up to his old friend and Hug her, an act he knew Holt would consider one of gross indecency so instead he gave he a friendly smile which she returned.
Attention!" Holt yelled, and the five pages stood strait. Holt walked down the line inspecting each of them in turn. When he reached Jake, he paused for longer then he had the others, he felt his unease grow, those stony eyes gave nothing away. When he finally he moved onto Charles he felt body loosen.
When he finished his inspection, Holt spoke to his pages. "Now you are all present your training can finally begin. Your pageship will consist of martial training, which you will do each morning regardless of the season. Your afternoon's, however, will be more varied. From Springfest till the Harvest festival you will have training in horsemanship, hunting and hawking in the afternoons. After the harvest festival you will begin your instruction in courtly etiquette as well as academic studies."
Jake groaned. He hated studying. Letters always jumped about when he tried to read them, and he despised been forced to sit still while a tutor droned on about some boring subject.
"You've got a problem with that Peralta?" Said Holt sharply "No sir." He replied hastily. "Good." The old knight responded. "You are aspiring knights not common foot soldiers, there is far more too being a knight than military prowess."
He then stood in front of Jake and glowered down at him, Jake felt a lump of apprehension form at the back of his throat. "Now Peralta." Holt said. "Squire Jeffords tells me that you have already received some training in swordplay correct?" "Yes sir." Jake replied eagerly. "I have had training from my uncle's Captain of Guard. he said that I was one of the most talented swordsmen he'd seen."
"well then." Said Holt. "I'm sure you would like to demonstrate your impressive skills. Go to the weapons shed and get two wooden staves, you will be sparring against me today." As he spoke, he pointed at a shed on the other side of the yard. Jake raced to the shed, he was so full of excitement at the opportunity too show off his skills too his master and fellows pages he neglected to notice the apprehensive look on his old friend's face.
Jake threw one of the staves at Holt, he could not help but be impressed when the old knight caught it deftly in one hand. "Now Peralta I'll come at you and you try to fend me off you understand that." Jake nodded and got into the defensive position.
Holt lunged at him, he parried the blow easily. Holt lunged at him again, this time he hit Jake in the abdomen knocking him into the mud. "Dead." said Holt dispassionately. "No." Jake gasped as he struggled to his feet. Holt knocked him back down again as soon as he got up. Its not fair Jake thought he's not even giving me a chance. Holt seemed to read his thoughts. "An opponent on the battlefield will never go easy on you Peralta. I expected better of you than this." Jake heard the disappointment and distain in his master's voice and an anger born of humiliation spread though him. He got back onto his feet his rage giving him energy he had not previously had and when Holt lunged at him, he was able to fend him off. They sparred for Jake did not know how long, occasionally Jake was able to parry Holt's attacks but most times Holt bypassed his defences with ease.
Jake almost cried with relief when Holt yelled; "Enough!" He let his stave fall to ground, his body was dripping with sweat and he was panting like his uncle's dog on a hot day. Gina came over to him and offered him a waterskin, he took it gratefully and drank eagerly. When he had drunk his fill, he turned his gaze to Holt, who much to Jake's chagrin didn't appear to have even broken a sweat.
The old knight addressed the four other pages: "Have any of you got any comments on Peralta's performance?" There was a tense silence, then Rosa spoke. "His technique was erratic, and his footwork was occasionally sloppy. It's apparent that he's not without skill, I don't this any of us could have done better."
"That was very well put Diaz." Said Holt. "Now you lot, pair get yourselves a stave and squire Jeffords will take you through some basic moves." He then turned to Jake. "I hope you learned your lesson Peralta. You are good I grant you, but you still have a great deal to learn. You are excused from this training exercise however I would advise you to stay and observe your fellows."
Jake sat down a bench with Gina, watching the others, he had never felt so humiliated in his life. Why oh why had he bragged about his previous training, he should have known that he was no match for a master knight like Holt and now his fellow pages thought he was an arrogant moron. He bit his lip in frustration.
"Your going to have some lovely bruises in the morning." Gina commented. He glared at her. She smiled back at him. "Oh, come on its not that bad you did really well. Holts been a knight for thirty years and fought in as many battles and all you've was a little training from a guardsman who was about since before man first bashed rocks together and hasn't fought in a real fight since then. Anyway, that's not important. Aren't you going to ask me how I've been doing since your uncle kicked me out?"
Jake laughed he'd missed her more than he had realised.
She continued. "After Nana died my mother and I came to court to find a new lady for her to serve. She eventually found employment with Lady Gildenhorn you remember her, she and her daughter Jenny came to visit Nanna once. unfortunately, most ladies aren't as kind to their servant's children as Nana was, so I earned my keep by running errands for whoever would give me a few pennies. Luckily, I had special skills very few of my fellows had..."
"What were they?" Jake asked. Gina rolled her eyes at him. "I could read and write stupid. Most servants can't, I also have many other talents that few are blessed with. Anyway, my prodigious skillset soon made me the most sought-after errand runner in the castle. After a few months Holt employed me as an assistant."
Jake smiled to himself Gina was still Gina. They continued to chat for the next hour while the rest of the pages ran through basic moves, he occasionally glanced at them. Rosa was by far the best. Charles wasn't too bad it was obvious he was working harder than the rest of them combined. Hitchcock and Scully were just plain hopeless, how they managed to get this far was a mystery to Jake, they were probably connected to someone very influential.
When the hour was up Holt called them all together. "As well training, you are also expected to perform various duties for myself and squire Jeffords as well as tasks related to your training. Peralta after your afternoon session with stablemaster Burren you are to tidy up the weapons shed. Good day to you all you are dismissed.
Jake's life very quickly fell into a routine of rigorous training, Drills and chores. A few weeks after his eventful arrival he was cleaning out the weapons shed, a task he was given an awful lot as it was Holt's favourite punishment for cheek, when he noticed one of the practice swords was missing. He went back outside into the practice yard to investigate the missing weapons whereabouts. Much to his surprise it was a girl about the same age him swinging the sword at a practice dummy. it was apparent to Jake that she had never spared with a real opponent. He went back into the shed to grab a practice blade and quietly approached the girl from behind. "That swords wrong for you." He said.
Author's note: This is my first story ever so please be kind and make all criticism constructive.
Thank you
