"You know we're going to get in trouble for this," Veronica said.

Horvath looked over his shoulder at her. She was a few steps behind them, her stride not as long as theirs and her skirt hindering her.

"If you don't want to come, you don't have to," Horvath said irritably.

"Oh?" asked Veronica, placing her hands on her hips, "And have Master come back and ask me why I let the two of you go by yourselves to get into all sorts of mischief? I'm in trouble either way, so I might as well try to control the damage."

Shaking his head Horvath nudged Balthazar.

"She turns fifteen and thinks she's sooooo mature."

"Much more than you were at this age."

"You know, I kinda miss when she couldn't talk," Balthazar said.

"Ah, for it to be four years ago."

"Couldn't and didn't are different," corrected Veronica impatiently, "And we're not supposed to be taking off like this."

"Again, so don't come," said Horvath, "And stop being such a goody-two shoes. You've broken rules before."

"Bent them," Veronica corrected again.

"Well, we're just bending them this time too," said Balthazar, "I want to see my brother in this tournament. I haven't seen him joust in two years and when he's having one not a mile away I can't get the afternoon off. What do you call that Maxim?"

"Unfair," Horvath said firmly.

"Exactly. So this counts as bending them."

Veronica rolled her eyes but realized that it was impossible to get them to see things her way. It wasn't as though they were paying much attention then anyway as they had just reached the tournament grounds. Balthazar smiled just before they hit the crowds and said to Veronica and Horvath;

"I'm gonna go find Letholdus."

Without another word he strode off into the crush of people. Veronica looked at her surroundings nervously. She hadn't been so far from Merlin's keep since she had first arrived and she certainly had never been around this many people. Chewing on her lip she looked around her nervously.

Horvath had a long stride to begin with and was difficult to keep up with. He turned around, probably to make an irritated remark about how long she took, and his eyes softened somewhat.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he said.

Veronica looked at him skeptically.

"Honestly it isn't," he said, "Just stay close, 'kay?"

She nodded as they moved into the crowds. Veronica soon gave up on trying to be polite, the crowds had obviously not read from the same book of etiquette she had. Finally they made their way into the stalls near the tiltyard. Horvath had simply to wave his ring and glare at a few people before they got up and made way for the two of them.

"Do you think that was right?" asked Veronica, sitting down.

Shrugging at her he pointed across to the seats of honor. A young woman with reddish-brown hair sat there in a green dress. She was listening intently to another woman beside her, her hands folded demurely in her hands. There was something in her stance that reminded Veronica of Queen Morgause, whom she still wrote to frequently. She had that same dignity, but came across as more complacent.

"Letholdus' fiancé," he explained to Veronica, "Lady Catherine."

"She's pretty," Veronica said simply.

"Pretty's an understatement," laughed Horvath, "The girl's the most beautiful in three counties. But she's coming with a pretty fantastic dowry."

Horvath laughed at his own joke.

"Not too bright from what I hear, but Letholdus did very good."

Veronica arched her eyebrows at Horvath's casual dismissal of the girl's intelligence. Still, she knew she shouldn't be too surprised. Her eyes flickered back to the girl and she saw a golden youth sitting a few seats behind her. He was looking at her oddly, although Catherine was doing her best to pretend like she hadn't noticed.

"Who's that?" asked Veronica, pointing.

Horvath looked in the direction of her finger and froze. Slowly he grimaced.

"That's Mordred, a Duke from Lothain," he said in disgust, "He's the Duchess Morgana's son. Have you met her?"

Briefly she remembered the haughty woman in the litter with the Queen.

"Yes," she said shortly.

"Nasty piece of work, isn't she?" asked Horvath, "I met her once at a court function. Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He just…he's just a jerk. He's become more unpleasant since Balthazar beat him to a pulp four years ago."

"That was him?"

"Yep," Horvath said, "Gets worse. Apparently his mother was undergoing negotiations to get him married to Lady Catherine. She's King Arthur's third cousin I think, and then there's the money. But Catherine asked her father to choose Letholdus over Mordred, even though Mordred's closer to her age. She was in love with him and her father can't refuse her anything. So just when it looked settled he changed his mind and now they're due to be wed fairly soon. Don't like the way he's looking at her though."

Veronica didn't like it either. However, a trumpet blast heralded the beginning of the games and distracted them from their thoughts. A squire scurried to the front and began speaking, although Veronica couldn't hear exactly what was being said.

"What's going on?" she asked.
"He's just announcing a few titles and stuff," Horvath replied, "Nothing important. I'll tell you when Letholdus comes out, but he's not until much later. The knights for this round should be riding out soon."

Just as he finished speaking she saw them appear at separate ends of the tiltyard. He leaned forward and the flags dropped. Veronica watched as the two knights rode towards each other at full speed. Their lances came down and it was only a minute before they collided. She winced at the sound of the splintering wood as both knights went down.

"Bad form," tsked Horvath, "They've got to settle it by swords now."

True enough both knights were getting to their feet and drawing their swords. Gripping the edge of her seat she leaned forwards as the two knights fell to swinging at each other, back and forth. Finally one stumbled backwards and fell. His opponent was quick to take the advantage and lowered the sword to the other's throat. There was a pause and then the blast of a trumpet.

"Now the winner's going on to the next round," Horvath explained, "Get it?"

"It's simple enough."

Indeed Horvath had to explain to her less and less as the day went on. She was actually starting to worry about Merlin getting back and noticing that all his apprentices had flown the coup. Veronica voiced her concerns to Horvath who, once checking the sun, reluctantly agreed.

"Let's go get Balthazar," he said.

As he got up there was another blast. He abruptly sat down again.

"I'll go right after this, but it's Letholdus now," he said, "I mean, his technique's flawless."

Uneasily Veronica remained where she was. Just one more match really couldn't hurt. Her eyes drifted over to the tiltyard again just in time to see Balthazar standing next to a man a good three heads taller than him. He looked quite like him and was making a comment. Balthazar laughed and handed him a helmet, which he duly put on.

With one great leap he sat atop his horse and picked up his lance. She looked down to the other side of the tiltyard where there was a knight in red armor. This wasn't too uncommon, since many knights preferred to have different colors of armor. Veronica redirected her attention to Letholdus as the flags once again dropped.

The two knights charged at each other and Letholdus' lance appeared to strike home. However, the other knight wasn't knocked off of his horse. He wasn't even jarred. She frowned and saw Horvath do the same. The two of them passed each other again, and the same thing happened.

There was an odd hush over the crowd now. Once more they passed each other, only this time the red knight reached out and grabbed Letholdus by the neck as they passed. They tumbled over the divider, horses and lances in a jumbled mess. From where she was Veronica could see Lady Catherine scream and faint into the arms of the woman she'd been talking to earlier. The crowd got to its feet, as did Horvath and Veronica.

Balthazar rushed onto the tiltyard as his brother crawled from the wreckage and got unsteadily to his feet. The red knight, appearing unharmed, grabbed him from behind. There was an odd metallic noise and three long scratches appeared on his chest armor, ripping it to shreds. In defense Letholdus lashed out with his arm and the red knight's helmet was knocked off.

Where a head should've been there was wrinkled, wizened skin. Two red eyes stared out and a long, scraggly beard flowed out. It cackled, revealing two rows of sharp fangs. Several spectators crossed themselves and murmured prayers. It cackled again and threw Letholdus to the ground, bringing its arm back for the killing blow.