Chapter 8: The Jubilee part 1

The pain was unbearable. Within moments his world had ended, his home was being destroyed and everyone he had ever loved was dying around him. Suddenly a group of men roughly dragged him away from the scene. He did not try to fight, friend or foe he could barely move, the strain was becoming too much as his father's halls were being viciously ripped apart by his own doing. "We gotta get him out of here! The floor's gonna collapse!" One of the men shouted, his voice barely audible over the ensuing destruction. There was one last hope, summoning the last of his energy he desperately fought to see into his parent's minds. It was his last hope, his last prayer that they were still alive. Expending the last of his energy he breached his mother's consciousness.

"Stay with me Alexander, stay with me."

"Sigmeyer the floor is collapsing!"

With a final push he peered through his mother's eyes. Over twenty guards had now swarmed the throne room, they cried out in terror and pain has his father conjured a massive firestorm, incinerating any oncoming attackers. As the flames danced around the room masterfully striking down enemy guards with expert precision another wave of cannon blasts erupted through the room. Alexander watched in horror as the blast violently threw his father backwards, allowing one of the nearby soldiers to close the distance between them. He could do nothing but watch as the man thrust his sword into his father's chest. As my mother turned to flee a crossbow bolt stuck her square in her chest knocking her flat to the ground. In his mother's dying moments he saw his father's corpse seeping blood onto the great marble floors right before she was struck by another bolt. That was when his connection had severed.

"IT'S COMING DOWN!" The guards cried as the palace floor collapsed around them, right before the world went black.

Alexander awoke once again drenched in sweat in room fifteen. After ten years of living with his failure, the destruction of his family, the nightmares had still not subsided. Lately they were growing more and more frequent, for some reason he was being forced to relive the horrors that had took place that day. He was growing uneasy about the reoccurrences of his dreams, slowly he was becoming increasingly wary that there was a reason behind them.

He was startled to realize that he had slept well into the morning, quickly examining his pocket watch his heart skipped a beat when he realized it was eleven thirty in the morning. Not wasting any time he hastily threw on a pair of pants and a shirt before making a mad dash out of the inn, past a grumpy looking Helga carrying a mop and bucket. He sprinted as fast as possible through the city streets towards the stadium.

Elsa had done marvellously preparing for the Jubilee, the town was filled with royal banners and floating balloons made of ice. Townsfolk and visitors alike had gathered in the city to examine new vendors that had come from distant lands. Merchants had arrived this morning selling exotic silks, fabrics, artwork, and pottery from their home lands. The citizens of Arendelle took great delight in the new cultures that had set up shop in the city. However he had no time to inspect any of them, the tournament was starting in less than half an hour and he needed to reach the stadium.

Heaving mightily he finally entered the barracks, in the corner he had set up a small station to store his weapons and armor. Patrick who had eagerly agreed to squire for him was already there, placing the brown leather armor and boots he had previously purchased on a mannequin. "This is very light armor sir." He said apprehensively. "I like to move around." He replied with confidence. "Are you sure you don't want to wear a helmet sir?" Alexander shook his head as he stepped forward to inspect his armor, it was simple enough, finely stitched buffalo leather that covered his collar bone to his knees. The set was light enough he could move freely but would offer little protection against any heavy attacks. Fortunately all the weapons used were dulled to tourney regulations so the fighters were less likely to mortally wound each other. Overall the lad had done a fine job of setting up and polishing his armor and boots.

"Did you bring my weapons to the blacksmith?"

"Yes sir!" Replied Patrick hurrying towards him carrying three wooden spears each equipped with a seven inch long steel blade on end of the shaft. "Here they are sir, dulled to safety regulations." He said gingerly placing each spear on the weapon rack. Alexander nodded his head in approval, the spear shafts were made of strong solid oak, however in case one were to break he wanted to have reserves. Patrick turned to face him, a look of apprehension firmly etched into his face. "Are you sure about this sir? I owe you and the Queen my life, I would hate to see you perish." The younger man asked nervously.

"Never have I been so sure in all my life." He replied confidently.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Queen Elsa had spent the entire morning holding audience with foreign dignitaries. Thus far the day had gone remarkably well. Prince Akash of India had agreed to lower the prices on spice imports, Cardinals from the Vatican offered the crown an enormous sum of gold if she granted them permission to erect a church within the city. But what pleased her most of all was a band of five rugged bearded minors had arrived on invitation from her spymaster Quintus. The head foreman, a grizzled old man named Thorin claimed they were in charge of the mining colony from the ruins of Illios. They spent an entire hour explaining to the queen how they had discovered and reopened the royal mines and were now excavating a wealth of iron, silver, tin, and coal. The men were just as desperate for clients as Arendelle was for suppliers. They immediately signed a contract with the kingdom allowing them to import their goods at a reasonable price to the crown. The Queen was overjoyed, this was the best news Arendelle had gotten in nearly a year. She felt as though her kingdom was finally beginning to recover.

"Your majesty, the tournament begins in thirty minutes." Said her head servant Kai.

She had nearly forgotten, she wished she didn't have to attend the barbaric tourney but her presence was necessary. Unfortunately being queen meant she had to keep up with appearances, and formally congratulate the champions. Four guards escorted her from the castle grounds towards the barracks and the stadium. Along the way Elsa marveled at just how beautiful her decorations had turned out, the queen felt a sense of pride and happiness seeing small children playing with and admiring the balloons she had created from ice.

Once at the stadium Elsa took her seat in the royal booth along with Kristoff, Anna, Captain Maximus, and the council members. Regrettably the royal booth was stationed right in the front row, close enough to smell the blood Elsa thought bitterly. The tourney began innocently enough with archery, at least there was no chance of anyone getting hurt there. Anna looked down at her feet in disappointment, Elsa had expressly forbade her sister to participate in archery. She told her that it would be embarrassing to the crown as well as the other contestants, as women were traditionally not allowed to participate. The first rounds of archery were extremely dull, the list of contestants slowly narrowed down as only those who came within close proximity to the bulls-eye were allowed to advance. Finally a young archer named Darwin won by successfully shooting five arrows directly into the tiny red dot. Despite the general lack of appeal the crowd cheered in excitement, Elsa had to admit she was pretty impressed.

Jousting proved to be far livelier than archery. The targets were replaced by a white picket fence running through the middle of the stadium. Large knights clad in steel armor mounted their horses preparing to charge one another, shield and lance raised ready to strike to other off his steed. The royal family all watched in fascination as pairs of men repeatedly charged each other from across the dusty stadium. During some passes their lances would miss completely or rebound off their shield or armor, temporarily staggering their opponent but not knocking him from his horse. Anna and most of the crowd cheered madly as the first knight was struck square in his breastplate and knocked violently off his horse. The crowed continued to cheer as one contestant after another was thrown from their stallion into the dirt.

A massive knight known as Sir Bartholomew of the Frozen Shores had advanced into the final round along with one of her own personal knights Sir Cadagen, a master jouster. The man had a reputation for being undefeated in battle and the Queen could see why. Sir Bartholomew stood a towering seven feet tall, his arms were enormous and his torso was as thick as a tree trunk. He was clad in heavy gilded steel armor and rode a gigantic black stallion. Elsa watched in terror as the massive knight smashed huge his lance into Sir Cadagan's abdomen, sending him flying from his horse. As Sir Bartholomew circled back on his monstrous steed medics immediately rushed to her fallen knight. Elsa breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw that he was still alive and breathing. The entire crowd broke into a thunderous applause to congratulate the jousting champion who gave a cold bow to the royal booth, removing his helmet to reveal his menacing dark bearded face.

The stadium was now cleared for the duelling competition. This was the one Elsa feared the worse as it was the most common for injury, it was not unheard of that men died in tourneys. She watched in silence as pairs of men circled each other, one finally thrusting his blunted sword towards his opponent, the other man parrying clashing steel together. As the hour passed men duelled ferociously with swords, clubs, and axes for the honor of being champion. Much to the Queen's displeasure Sir Bartholomew had entered the fighting ring as well. The massive knight wielded a large great sword in one hand, with incredible strength and surprising speed he quickly knocked down every warrior foolish enough to face him. Even the strongest armor had difficulty holding up to the ferocity of his attacks, many knight surrendered while others were violently knocked to the ground with massive dents in their steel armor. The final match came down to Sir Bartholomew and a Coronian knight wearing thick chain armor and wielding an iron shield and mace. Despite the Coronian's quicker speed and reflexes he accomplished little more than placing small dents in Sir Bartholomew's armor. His great sword nicked his chainmail several times but was unable to off-balance his opponent. Suddenly the massive knight did something dirty. As Sir Cadagen side-stepped to avoid a thrust Sir Bartholomew swung his great sword at the knight's unprotected left calf. The bone snapped inside Sir Cadagan's leather boot causing him to collapse to the ground howling in pain.

Once again the medics rushed to claim another victim of Sir Bartholomew. The massive knight removed his helmet standing proudly triumphant, however no one cheered. It was a foul and dishonorable move and everyone knew it, regrettably it was not illegal, it appeared that the brute would be champion nonetheless. The Captain of the guard stood up to address the knight and the crowd. "We congratulate you sir on your skill and prowess. However before you are declared champion sir, are there any other contestants?" Maximus boomed. The crowd remained silent, surely no one would be mad enough to face him. Suddenly Elsa went white with fear as Alex stepped into the stadium donning a set of leather armor.

"I challenge you sir!" He called proudly, stepping towards the monstrous knight.

You could hear a pin drop from within the stadium. The spectators stared at him in awe, shocked that any man could be insane enough to test his fate in such a manner. Elsa looked at her friend in horror, he wasn't even wearing a helmet, and that armor will never stand up to his great sword. However she knew there was nothing she could do. If she stopped the fight she would shame the fighters and anger everyone else. With a heavy heart the Queen could only watch, silently praying for his safety.

"Very well then." Said an astonished Maximus. "You're name sir?"

"Sir Alex… of nowhere in particular."

Some in the crowd chuckled nervously at his apparent jape, however Elsa was not amused. Anna shook her roughly asking her sister what's he doing. She could not answer, she was dead to the world, she was fixated only on what was happening right now in the fighting ring.

"Very well. Sir Alex, Sir Bartholomew, prepare yourselves!" The captain boomed.

The behemoth knight flexed his massive arms and reequipped his heavy steel helmet. Alex signaled to Patrick who tossed him one of his wooden spears. The crowd watched in amazement as he spun the spear in great arches with blinding speed, the spear disappeared into a blur as he turned it around his body and above his head before stopping it abruptly with master precision. Everyone was amazed at the performance, Kristoff however looked at him in suspicion, wondering if it was the same man he had seen before.

Sir Bartholomew charged his opponent with alarming speed. His sword missed by feet as Alex quickly darted away from the thrust. Quickly gaining his bearings he swiftly jabbed at the knight's breastplate twice, leaving no more than small dents in the metal. Sir Bartholomew mightily swung his great sword at Alex's torso but missed again, this time coming within inches of his target. He quickly struck his opponent underneath the arm where his armor was weaker. Grunting with pain the large knight swung weakly enabling Alex to parry his attack and slam the butt of his spear into Sir Bartholomew's visor, knocking his helmet off. Enraged he swung his great sword madly at Alex who easily evaded every strike, jabbing at the weak points in Sir Bartholomew's armor every time the knight was recovering from his attack.

Alex recklessly attempted to parry his attack as his opponent swung his sword down in a great arc, snapping his spear in half. Temporally stunned Sir Bartholomew seized the opportunity and kicked him square in the chest, knocking him into the dirt. Elsa was clenching her chair so tightly her knuckles had turned white. The Queen watched in horror as Sir Bartholomew swung his great sword downward at her friend. Thankfully Alex quickly rolled away from his attacker and jumped back to his feet, the huge knight swung his sword at his legs but he leaped over the blade with remarkable agility. Distancing himself from his opponent Alex signaled to Patrick who immediately tossed him a new spear.

Twirling his new spear with inhuman speed he suddenly thrust the blade towards the knight's unprotected pace, however it was all a ploy. As Sir Bartholomew quickly backed to avoid the false attack Alex averted his spear and slammed the spear head into his hamstrings and underarms with ferocious speed and accuracy. The massive knight buckled from the pain, his face had grown beet red from exhaustion and rage. Swinging like a madman he tried desperately to hack Alex apart with his great sword, the smaller man evaded every strike with ease enraging Sir Bartholomew further. Finally having exhausted all his stamina he could no longer swing the heavy sword. Turning his spear around Alex smashed the blunt end into the niche in between the knight's breastplate, knocking the wind out of him. Barely able to stand Sir Bartholomew fell to one knee dropping his great sword beside him. With the agility of a panther Alex leapt on top of him pushing his opponent flat on his back with a grunt, aiming his spear head directly at his exposed throat. Sir Bartholomew did not even try to move, the previously undefeated knight had finally met his match.

The crowd was in pandemonium. Everyone exploded into excitement as Maximus announced Sir Alex as champion, all cheered except Kristoff who was still eyeing the victor with distrust.

"Isn't that Elsa's tutor?" Kristoff inquired to his wife.

"Yesss!" She squealed excitedly.

Alex planted his spear next to his fallen opponent and turned to face the adoring crowd. Elsa allowed herself a faint smile despite herself, he looked very gallant standing there in his shining leather armor. Stupid perhaps, but gallant. That was when he surprised her again that day. Walking up to the royal booth he handed the Queen a vibrant red rose. The cowed oohed and awed as she graciously accepted his favor, blushing madly the entire time.