Usual disclaimers and such. I don't own the characters and I don't own the middle ages (but I wish I did).
I tried to give accurate information about hunting and such, but the dialogue is (rather obviously) completely modern. I altered family relationships among the characters a bit as well.
It was late in the afternoon, and Dick and his two closest friends, Roy and Wally, finally had a little time to themselves. They had spent all morning in the schoolroom, having academic lessons, and all afternoon outside having lessons in horsemanship and combat. Now, shortly before supper, they were lounging in the grass by the archery range.
Wally was just two years older than Dick and the prince's best friend. Wally was the nephew and heir of Barry Allen, Baron of Central City. Since Wally would someday be a great noble, the adults had thought it advisable that Dick and Wally grow up and be educated together. That way they would have an easier time governing the country when they were both adults.
It was much the same case with Roy. Roy was the son and heir of Sir Oliver, and he was four years older than Dick. He too was being educated with the prince so that he could better serve his future king.
Being younger, Dick and Wally were a bit spent from the afternoon's exertions. They were therefore quite content to just lay in the grass and waste time. Roy, on the other hand, had retrieved his bow and a quiver-full of arrows and was practicing at the archery butts.
Wally watched Roy make several perfect shots before he asked, "Why are you practicing archery? Knights use lances and swords, not arrows." It was a legitimate question; the bowmen tended to be men below the rank of noble. Bows and arrows were the weapon of choice for those who could not afford a horse and armor.
"I'm practicing for hunting," Roy replied. "Even knights use arrows to go hunting."
Dick sat up and looked at Roy, perplexed. "I thought we used hawks."
"Yeah, me, too!" Wally agreed.
Roy rolled his eyes at the two younger boys. "That's not real hunting, that's hawking. That's hunting for ladies and little kids."
"No, it's not!" Dick defended hotly. "My dad goes hawking!"
"Uncle Barry does, too!"
"Yes," Roy agreed, "but Queen Selina and Baroness Iris also go hawking. But you'd never see them hunting."
"But hawking is still hunting," Dick moped. He would know – he had been hawking before. It was so exciting! You took a hawk or a falcon from the bird house and rode out to marshy ground with it. Then you released the predator and let it catch a duck or a heron or some other water bird. The hawk got to eat a little snack, while you took the bird home for dinner. It was all very civilized; so civilized, in fact, that the ladies often came along and had hunting hawks of their own.
"Speaking of hawks," Wally said, pulling at Dick's sleeve, "Uncle Berry got a new peregrine falcon a few weeks ago."
"Wow," Dick breathed. Peregrines were the best. It was quite the status symbol to have one.
"I know!" Wally exclaimed. "And he let me name him!"
"What'd you name him?" Dick asked, leaning closer.
"Well, since he's so fast, I named him," Wally paused for dramatic effect, "Flash."
"Cooool," Dick said slowly, a little in awe of Wally.
Roy snorted. "Don't you babies want to hear about real hunting? It's what men do."
"Have you been, Roy?" Wally asked, irritated that Roy was trying to steal the thunder away from Flash falcon.
"Well, Dad let me tag along once, but I can't go for real until I'm older. You see, hunting is dangerous."
"Really?" Dick and Wally both seemed more interested now.
"Yes." Roy paused to shot yet another arrow, which, once again, landed right on the bull's-eye. "People can even die."
Dick and Wally's eyes were as big as shields, letting Roy know he should continue his story.
"When men go hunting, they take their bows and arrows, their hounds, and ride their horses out to the woods."
At the mention of dogs, Dick and Wally turned towards the pack of hounds that was always hanging about the courtyard. Sensing they had been mentioned, the dogs started to lazily lope towards the boys.
"When you get to the woods, you let the hounds go, and they sniff out the game. Men go hunting for either stags or wild boars, and the dogs track them down. When you hear the dogs barking and growling, it usually means they found something. You follow them, then you take your bow and arrow and kill the beast."
Dick and Wally just started at Roy in wonder. Roy grinned and let fly another perfectly-aimed arrow. "And if your aim isn't good, you might not kill the animal, just wound it. And wounded animals, especially boars, get really angry and are liable to hurt someone. In fact, one of my dad's hounds was gored to death by an enraged boar."
Dick reached out and gave Ace, one of the hounds, a pat on the head. He would hate for Ace to get gored by a boar. Ace was his favorite out of all the royal hounds. Next to him, Wally was patting Krypto, another royal hound (which seemed to greatly favor Duke Clark, much to Bruce's dismay).
"So, I want to have perfect aim so that when I'm old enough to go hunting, no one gets hurt." Roy hit the target yet again.
"But the deer will get hurt!" Wally protested.
"Yes, maybe you just shouldn't go hunting," Dick suggested. "Then no one will be injured."
Roy shook his head. Silly kids. "If we don't go hunting, you won't have any venison or boar to eat."
"Oh." Dick and Wally hadn't thought of that.
"Come here," Roy gestured, "and I'll show you how to shoot."
Wally hopped up and went over to Roy. The older boy handed Wally the bow and told him to pull back the string. Wally pulled as hard as he could, but the tension was too much for him.
"Let me help," Roy offered, putting his hands over Wally's and guiding the bow string back. Roy then placed an arrow on the notch.
"Let go on three, okay?"
"Okay," Wally nervously agreed.
"Alright. One… two… three!" The shot swiftly through the air and landed on the target. It wasn't quite a bull's-eye, but it was a decent shot.
"I did it!" Wally hooted enthusiastically, doing a little dance. He then ran over to Dick.
"Come on, Dick, you try," he urged, pulling his friend to his feet.
With a sigh, Dick went over to Roy. If Wally could barely pull the bow-string back, how was he going to manage? But Roy helped Dick, too, and the younger child had the satisfaction of seeing his arrow land even closer to the bull's-eye than Wally's had.
"No fair," Wally moped.
"You guys will make great hunters someday. You know, once you're as strong as me." Roy flexed his muscles, showing the boys what they should aspire to.
"Well I wanna hunt something on my own," Wally whined.
"But I don't wanna kill anything," Dick interposed. "The dogs might get hurt." He gave Ace an affectionate pat.
"I know!" Wally's face lit up. "Let's go catch some frogs. I have a net in my room that Uncle Barry gave me. And you never see girls going after frogs." Apparently, Wally was most concerned that his only hunting experiences involved hawking, or what Roy had derided as "girl hunting."
"What are we gonna do with them?" Dick asked. He made a disgusted face. "I don't wanna eat frogs."
"We'll keep 'em!" Wally shouted triumphantly, so enthused was he about his plan. "We'll catch them and keep them, and they'll be our friends."
"Really?" Dick perked up. He liked that idea. He was always ready to accumulate new friends.
"Yes, it will be the best thing ever! We'll catch the frogs and bring them back and we'll teach them to do tricks and it will be great and I'm going to capture a really fast frog and call him Flash," Wally finished in a rush.
"But you already named your falcon Flash," Dick said. Apparently, he had no trouble following Wally's conversation, although Roy had been left in the dust.
"That's Flash Falcon. This will be Flash Frog. It's totally different."
"Oh." Dick looked a bit confused. "If you say so."
"I say so."
The two boys began to whisper conspiratorially, making plans to go to the marsh after their combat lessons the next day. After a while they asked, nearly in perfect unison, "Roy, do you want to come?"
Roy was tempted to explain that he did not go on hunting trips that did not involve any actual hunting, but the boys seemed so eager to catch frogs that he decided to go easy on them. "No, guys, sorry. I can't."
"Aww, why not?"
"I, uhhh, I gotta help my dad."
"What do you have to do?" Wally asked, but Roy was saved from having to answer when Dick elbowed Wally in the gut and told him such questions were "rude."
Roy strung another arrow on his bow and casually released another perfect shot. "But be sure to show me your find tomorrow." An idea was forming in his head.
After a couple of hours out in the marsh, two wet and dirty boys came tromping back to the castle, each with a small box under his arm. Roy was waiting for them.
"Soo, what did you guys get?"
Dick and Wally looked at each other before answering. "Well," Dick replied slowly. "We didn't get as many as we wanted."
"Yeah, most of them were too fas – err, too big for us to catch," Wally supplied.
"You two needed a pro. I guess I'll just have to show you how it's done next time." Dick and Wally looked very pleased that Roy would go with them sometime. "But, still show me what you got."
Dick and Wally presented their boxes to Roy. Each one contained three small to medium sized frogs. Overall, the kids hadn't done too badly, but Roy knew he could catch some giant frogs.
"Nice job guys. These are pretty awesome looking."
"You think so?" Dick asked, brightening.
"Yeah, they're great!" They were going to be just perfect for what Roy had in mind.
"That's Flash Frog," Wally said, pointing to the biggest frog in either of the two boxes. "He's really fast."
"He's not that fast," Dick retorted. "We didn't catch any really fast ones."
"Well, he's the fastest one we caught, so he's Flash Frog."
"Where are you going to keep your little friends?" Roy asked, innocently enough.
"Our chambers," Dick said with a shrug. Wally just nodded. Where else would you keep a frog?
"I hope they don't keep you awake all night with their ribbeting," Roy warned, leading his two young friends inside.
The next morning Dick leaped out of bed and ran over to the small box he had left by his water pitcher and wash basin. He had spent all last night thinking of names for his new frog-friends, and he wanted them to begin the first day of their new lives with proper appellations. Lifting the lid from the box, Dick peered inside to greet his friends.
He gasped. The box was empty! "Where are my frogs?" he shrieked.
"Frogs, Master Richard?" Sir Alfred asked, entering the room.
"Yes! They were right here last night when I went to bed." Dick pointed at the now-empty box and looked ready to cry.
Although he was relieved the frogs had absented themselves, Alfred didn't want Richard's day to get off to a bad start. "There, there," he said, giving Dick a hug. "I'm sure they just went out to find some water."
"But I left them water right there." Dick pointed disconsolately at his basin.
Alfred inwardly shuddered at the thought that frogs might have been using his young master's morning face-washing water. Hiding his true feelings, Alfred diplomatically replied that frogs preferred dirty water and had no doubt hopped off to find some.
"Will they come back?"
"I'm sure they will. Now let's get dressed and ready for your lessons."
Once in the schoolroom, Dick was somewhat mollified to learn that Wally's frogs were also on the lam. Both boys brightened considerably when Roy offered to help them search after that day's lessons were finished.
But they wouldn't have to wait that long. Not long after their lessons had begun, the boys heard a piercing scream.
"That sounded like Dinah," Roy said. Dinah was Roy's stepmother (his own mother having died when he was a baby), and she was well-known for her ear-splitting screams. She was also one of Queen Selina's ladies-in-waiting.
"If the ladies are in trouble, we have to help them," Dick insisted chivalrously, scooting out of his chair. "Come on!"
Wally and Roy gladly followed. That was one benefit of being educated with a prince – if he insisted you do something, not even the tutor would stop you.
The boys ran through the halls until they arrived at the solar, a large airy room in which the queen's ladies worked on their embroidery and other things. Inside, though, the room was chaos. Women were shrieking and climbing onto furniture. One rather hapless woman, Lady Harlequin, had fainted and her dearest friend, Lady Ivy, was attempting to revive her.
"What's going on?" Dick asked the nearest women, who informed him that horrible, monstrous frogs were loose in the solar.
"Frogs!" Dick turned to Wally. "We found our frogs!"
"Well you better grab 'em quick," Roy suggested, "before they get injured." He had already seen Dinah stun one by smacking it with her shoe. His stepmother might have screamed loud enough to wake the dead, but she had recovered quickly.
"Help us, Roy. Please?" Wally pleaded and Dick seconded him by appealing to Roy with puppy-dog eyes.
"Alright, here's what we do."
Following Roy's plan of divide and conqueror, the three boys were able to round up all six frogs in a matter of minutes. They were just preparing to leave with their treasures when Queen Selina entered the room.
"What happened here?" she demanded. Her glance fell on the boys. "Why aren't you boys at lessons?"
Dinah calmly explained the situation to Selina who shook her head in mild exasperation at her ladies' inability to handle a few frogs. She then ushered the boys out of the solar, thanking them for their valiant behavior.
Once outside, though, she frowned and sternly asked, "Richard, why did you put frogs in the solar?"
"But, but, Mama, I d-d-didn't," he stammered, looking like he was about to cry.
"Yes, your grace, our pet frogs ran away," Wally offered.
"Pet frogs?" Selina looked skeptical, so Roy stepped in to explain the situation.
Although Selina listened with compassion, she was adamant that the boys had to get rid of the frogs. "No pet frogs in the castle."
Filled with sadness, Dick and Wally followed Roy out of the castle walls to the moat. Once there, they released their frogs.
"I know it's tough to see them go, but don't they look happy here in the moat?" Roy gestured to the fogs, happily hopping around.
Dick sniffed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess they do."
"Flash Frog looks happy," Wally agreed, albeit in a sad voice.
"Cheer up, guys. We got some time off from school."
"Yeah," Dick and Wally moped, staring after their frogs.
"Do you think they'll remember us?" Dick asked Wally.
"Of course!" Wally insisted. "Flash Frog must know that no one could have loved him more!"
Roy sighed and allowed the younger boys a few more minutes of ridiculous lamentations. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore.
"You know what guys?"
"What?"
"I know a pet even better than frogs."
"Nothing could be better than frogs!" Dick loyally insisted.
"What?" Wally asked cautiously but with interest.
"Squirrels." Roy let the word hang in the air a few seconds as he watched Dick and Wally's eyes widen. "And the queen can't make us get rid of them either. Ladies love squirrels."
"Will you help us catch some, Roy? Get me my own squirrel?" Dick looked pleadingly at Roy.
"Of course, Dick! One for you, one for Wally, and one for me!"
"I want mine to be the fastest squirrel we can find! And I will call him Flash Squirrel and he will eat nuts out of my hand and sleep on my pillow at night and play tricks on Uncle Barry and…." Wally kept talking a mile a minute but the others tuned him out.
"We'll go today after our jousting lessons," Roy told Dick, directing the younger two back towards the castle.
"Really, Roy? And you'll catch one just for me?" Dick was becoming excited. A soft, furry squirrel sounded like an even better pet than a slimy frog.
"Certainly," Roy replied, "And we'll train them to do all kinds of tricks." Roy was becoming rather excited as well. Squirrels could cause so much more trouble than frogs.
Medieval noblewomen often kept squirrels as pets.
Not my favorite, but I wrote it so I figured I would share it. Sorry for so much on archery, but I was trying to explain why Roy would be so good with a bow.