Walking with the Knights

Originally written on Feb. 21, 2012.

Quick AN, as it is the 21st of February as I type this, I just wanted to say happy (belated/bearly, depending on when I'm posting this) birthday Davie! For those of you who don't know, David is my bestest guy friend in the world! He's practically my brother.

For those of you who guessed correctly, NufIIdAAngAAn was Mushi and ZaNNdy was Sandy.

Words: 2,071 Yay! I made it past 2,000 words, I always have a goal of at least 2,000 words per chapter.

Now on with the story!

Wally swept into a graceful bow, still grinning. "However did you tame those ogres?" He asked, his voice still oddly loud.

"Well, I've become rather proficient at several languages and –" I was cut off.

"Pardon? Oh! Right, I forgot." Wally proceeded to pull something out from his ears.

"Beeswax!" I exclaimed, "So that's why the ogres' persuasion did not work on you."

"We always put it in as soon as we spot ogres; it's too dangerous otherwise. Our scout, Hoagie, spotted you just as we were about to ambush the tribe. He said that he saw a young lady about to be devoured by a band of ogres, but she talked them to sleep. How did you manage it?"

"It was quite simple, really," I replied, swishing my ebony locks behind my back, "I began to tell them about my lessons at deportment school. It wasn't long before their eyelids started to droop."

"Did you, truly?" For a moment, Wally looked as though he actually believed me, but then he laughed. I had to smile; he had such a lovely laugh and I certainly enjoyed producing it.

"No, really, how?" he asked after a moment.

"I'm fluent in Ogrese now, so I spoke to them in their own language. I imitated their silky, oily way of speaking. I wasn't sure at all if it would work; they had all already claimed which piece of me they were each going to eat."

Wally frowned and stepped closer to me. "How did they happen upon you?"

"I ran away from Gallagher's Academy. They managed to surprise me while I was sleeping the other morning. They ate the pony an elfin couple had lent me." I felt sick just thinking of the poor thing.

"Was deportment school so terrible, then, that you had to flee?" Wally looked at me with fascination.

I looked away, off into the distance. "Quite so. And you can see how it has changed me. I would do my mother proud; I am now the perfectly proper daughter she hopes to present to the civilized company at court. And I have ever so many achievements now, I assure you."

Wally looked quite appalled at my announcement. "And...are you quite pleased with these developments, then?"

"Certainly," I replied arrogantly, barely restraining my smile. "I'm sure you would like to hear of them."

Poor Wally shrugged awkwardly, his distaste for the topic very apparent. I carried on, prolonging his suffering; I knew he was far too polite to interrupt or make an abrupt change in conversation.

"I see," Wally said politely as I told him about my advances with Cooking Mistress, but I could tell he was very unimpressed at this point.

"To begin with, I could teach these boorish ogres how to eat properly." I seated myself on a large rock. "Observe."

I plucked an imaginary napkin out of the air, shook it twice, and placed it on my lap.

"Very ladylike," Wally said politely.

"I shake the napkin twice. That's important."

"Why?"

"Mice." I said.

Wally smiled. "There are no mice in our court napkins. You are thinking of spiders."

"The prince contradicts a lady!" I picked up an imaginary fork and began to saw at imaginary food. "Your meat is tough. You have a low regard for our cooks."

"Not at all. It should be tough. Don't you know why?"

"Tell me."

"It is mutton. Am I not using a mutton fork? Our Manners Mistress will believe you're an impostor if you don't recognize a mutton fork when..."

"When I don't see one." He was laughing.

"It could only be a mutton fork!"

"How so?" He asked me, an eyebrow raised.

"See how my fingers are bunched together at the top of the stem." I reached up and caught Wally's hand. It was square and large. I extended my index finger. "My finger is the fork. You grasp it so." I arranged his fingers around mine. His grip was firm. "That's the only correct way to hold a mutton fork. A trout fork is managed differently." I turned his hand over to demonstrate. But I stopped when I noticed the gash marks on his arm.

"Your arm! Did ZaNNdy cut you with his nails?" I asked, reaching my hands out to carefully grab his arm, examining it carefully.

He pulled his hands away. "It is but a scratch; I've had worse." He glanced at me and cupped my chin with his hand, turning my face to the side gently. "But these cuts on your face –"

"Only a flesh wound," I mimicked his casual air pointedly.

"Vincent is a healer; I'll have him look at both of us," he promised me, dropping his hand. I hoped my face did not betray my disappointment.

I nodded solemnly. "A wise decision, indeed."

I proceeded to more accurately describe my stay at Gallagher's. I had to omit many things, especially my encounters with Ace, so I told Wally mostly of my other teachers.

"Manners Mistress knew your father's opinion about everything. She said he would exile any subject who ate blancmange from a soup bowl. As a result of her instruction, I can never make such a mistake." I explained to him.

"Does my father have a special spoon for his raspberries and one for his blueberries?" He asked playfully. I decided to play along.

"Certainly." I responded with an austere expression.

"Why wasn't I informed?" he replied in mock hurt.

"You should hire Manners Mistress. She would die of delight to serve the prince."

"I may just have to go over to Gallagher's and hire your Manners Mistress." He said as we let out a chuckle.

"Language Mistress was the only one who taught anything worth knowing," I concluded, "although it is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper."

Wally started. "Clearly, I should be taking some lessons from your Manners Mistress, as I have clearly forgotten mine. I should have introduced my knights much earlier. Friends," he said, raising his voice to the other men, "Eric, Bruce, Hoagie, Vincent, David, Tommy, Ethan, may I introduce our ogre tamer: Kuki Sanban. She is the young maiden I told you about, the one who also speaks Gnomic."

Wally had told his knights about me! My heart leapt to my throat, but because of my training, I still managed a perfect curtsey.

"At last," Sir Hoagie said sternly with a playful smile on his rounded face, "we were wondering when you would remember to be polite, Wally."

Suddenly, ZaNNdy made a strangled noise and wiggled against his bonds. Wally and I walked over to him.

"Ogre," Wally said, his tone abruptly imperious. I had never heard him speak in such a manner before "The idea that we are planning to feed you infant giants is about as true as your allegiance to my father and myself. However, my knights and I will spare your lives, unless you force us to do otherwise."

ZaNNdy's eyes widened in understanding and he began to struggle furiously against his bonds. The other ogres soon followed suit, making useless grunting noises. They gradually stopped their movements, and ZaNNdy suddenly shot me a glare so full of seething hatred that I took a step backwards. Then I set my jaw and glared right back at him.

"I am not a thing, I am not your meal, and you are never going to eat me. How does it feel to be tricked into doing something against your will?" I added with a sneer. The exoneration felt amazing, and I beamed at Wally. For some reason, his cheeks coloured and he looked away.

Sir Vincent tended to everyone's wounds, and then we all sat down and had a lunch of raisin bread, cured ham, and dried fruit. I was ravenous, but tried to exercise some control so I would not embarrass myself in front of all of these noble men and Wally.

After lunch, we set out on the road, heading in the direction of the giant farms. Wally insisted I take his horse while he walked, despite my protests.

"You've been through quite the ordeal," Wally said, annoyingly reasonable, "and I'm sure you are exhausted."

He did not issue an order, but that velvety voice and those kind eyes were almost as persuasive as the ogres were. I grumbled a bit, making it clear that I was not some damsel who needed to be coddled but eventually heeded his request. All of the knights looked quite amused.

"The king should be quite pleased," Sir Hoagie said excitedly, "Ten ogres brought down by eight men, and with no injuries or deaths!"

"Eight men and a very talented maiden," Wally corrected him as smiled at me. "I am sure he will be interested to learn that humans can use their tricks against them. At least, Kuki can."

"If we manage to convey the brutes to King Xavier without trouble, which seems quite unlikely," Sir Bruce worried. "How can we possibly do it?"

"We will come up with something," Wally assured him, "it appears their bonds are strong enough. I suppose it might be a good idea to put the wax back in our ears once Kuki leaves us, in case a gag slips."

"What about feeding them?" Sir Bruce carried on in his intense way.

"You worry way too much, Brucey!" laughed Sir Hoagie. "This calls for a celebration!" he cried out. "We should sing!"

The men laughed, Sir Tommy cried out, "You couldn't sing even if you tried, brother." he taunted as Sir Hoagie went red and the men laughed some more.

"Well at least I'm better than you." Sir Hoagie smiled.

"I highly doubt that." Sir Tommy said, grinning.

"Hey, I was the one to get your daughter to sleep when she wouldn't for Molly by singing her that lullaby mom sang to us." Sir Hoagie retorted.

"Please," Sir Tommy countered, "Holly was on the verge of sleep, she had her teeth growing in. Your bad singing is probably what knocked her out." Sir Tommy declared with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Even Molly said I sang well." Sir Hoagie said to his brother.

"Please, you know how Molly is, she is always complimenting people." Sir Tommy said.

"If I had to choose between you two, I would have to go with my neighbors dying cat." Sir Ethan taunted, earning laughter from the men and myself whilst Sir Tommy and Sir Hoagie gave him a death glare before joining in the laughter.

"What about you, Kuki?" Vincent asked me, his horse behind mine, "Can you sing?" He asked.

"Quite well, in fact." I replied, flashing a grin over my shoulder.

"Will you join us?" Wally asked, "We usually do sing in celebration."

I suddenly felt very shy and shook my head. "I'm afraid I should rest my voice after all that Ogrese." I told him, which was partially true: my throat did feel quite raspy.

"Of course," Wally smiled and patted my knee before joining a few of him men in their song, adding his own rich tenor. I closed my eyes, savoring the joy and liveliness evident in their voices.

That's all she wrote, guys! Sorry about the sword references, I had a dream last night with that part... So yea...

Next chapter: Some stargazing and an appearance of an old fan favourite from the show, and what's this! Hoagie and Kuki bonding! And Wally is jealous! Kuki makes her way to the giants wedding. Hmm, I wonder if Henrietta will even be there.

Please review! I didn't get a lot of reviews last chapter and I was very upset. Don't forget that with a review comes a preview for the next chapter!

Review!

~LatinMagicWriter is on fire