Reunion Royalty Take 25

(Within the Castle)

Carlos dons his armor, checking himself over and thinks to himself, "I am only doing this to honor my leader. NOT because I want to win the hand of…" He pauses as a mental image of Annie flashes before his eyes with her face so close… so eager and happy.

He shakes his head to remove the image from his mind and squeezes his hands tightly as he thinks, "No! I love Ali and that is that! There can be no other girls for her but me!" As soon as he says that, Annie's smile and Ali's disapproving frown flashes through his mind.

After sighing he says aloud, "Besides she has her heart set on Conner. There is no way she'd ever be interested in me. Something would have to happen to the young King first and there is no way I'd ever wish harm on anyone she loved."

Carlos steps out of the castle and looks at the large yard where they had set up the impromptu jousting tournament. What surprised him was just how many people there were. It appeared that the word had spread fast through the castle staff and so many of them who could get away were there to watch what hadn't been seen in more than a lifetime.

Carlos sighs and steps forward, really hating crowds that he couldn't swing a weapon at to drive them away because they made him very nervous and when he got nervous… things happened.

Carlos walks out to where Conner and Golden Knight were sitting in some chairs with the large group of people that Conner had had with him when he met the young King in chairs not too far from him. He turns his eyes without turning his helmet to see Ali and her father sitting together with a few honor guards surrounding them.

Alicia sees Carlos and just stares at him for a few moments, wondering if he really did want that girl on some level or not. She couldn't help but be a little upset as she had always thought he'd be there for her as her friend but she was afraid that if he got married then she wouldn't be able to see him ever again and lose him as a dear friend.

She sighs aloud as she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to stay upset at her friend but she didn't also want to lose him to someone he didn't even love just because of his duties as a Knight of Rodigan.

So before either Alicia or Carlos knew it, so wrapped up in their thoughts that the tournament had named all the knights for both sides and was about to begin!

(Jousting Begins!)

Carlos was the third one from the Knights of Rodigan to go up and he couldn't help but notice that Alicia, who had waved and/or cheered for the knights to succeed, was barely managing a wave to him. He thinks, "Well I will just have to prove to her that I am as good as any knight out here. That will show her that I am worthy of her, not Conner."

He furrows his brow in concentration and grips the handle tightly before the signal is given and he kicks the horse, urging it to give him all the speed that it can. At the halfway point he raises his pole up towards the sweet spot for knocking a man off a horse and readies himself for the blow he was sure to receive at the same time.

Alicia grips her seat tightly and bites her lower lip nervously as she waits to see how Carlos will do. She wonders if he will be seriously hurt because she knew from her studies that jousting had led to its more than fair shares of injuries and even death for the riders.

Meanwhile at the same time, Annie was anything but nervous as she was very excited! She couldn't remember ever being so excited about anything in her whole life! Including past dates with cute boys! She cheers loudly, "GO CARLOS!" as he was the first single knight that she had gotten to meet.

Alicia shoots angry glare at Annie for cheering for her friend and then stands up and shouts, "GO CARLOS! Knock that knight off his saddle!"

Annie was not discouraged by Alicia's words. Rather, they had an opposite effect and she shouts, "Knock each other off! Go for the sword fight! YEAH!"

Alicia's blood goes cold, as she had forgotten about that little rule if they were both knocked off at the same time.

Fortunately for Alicia, Carlos manages to stay on his horse (though barely) while knocking off his opponent and sending him to the ground with part of his foot still caught in the strap, causing him to get dragged along the ground until the horse came to a stop.

Carlos groans as comes to a stop on his horse and his attendants' rush up to him to see how he is doing. He knew it the other had come so very close to knocking him off. It had been a bit of luck and no small miracle that he'd even stayed on. He guesses that using his arm to 'punch' the other had been gave him the edge over the other knight.

He hears someone shouting his name and looks up from his attendants to see Annie whistling and waving excitedly but what stopped him was the look on Alicia's face.

Alicia looks at Carlos and wonders if he knew how much he'd scared her when Annie had brought up the possibility of the swordfight and how much she'd jumped when he was hit so very hard by the other knight. She felt as if she had been the one hit by that other knight.

Carlos couldn't believe his eyes, she looked like she was shaking a little. He wonders if she had actually been that worried about him until he sees her hand shaking like a leaf. He softly says, "Alicia…"

He trots past his attendants who had managed to get some of his damaged armor off by that point over to where the Golden Knight is.

The Golden Knight smiles as he waves to him and says, "Good show! You knocked that knight of King Conner's right off his horse!"

Carlos nods and says, "Thank you, but I wonder if I may leave this tournament."

The smile disappears fast and Golden Knight says, "Why? Are you that badly injured?"

Carlos shakes his head and says, "No, it is just that…"

The Golden Knight says, "Then you can't leave. If it is a personal reason, then just buck up and deal with it afterwards on your own time. Until then, you are to continue kicking the butts of King Conner's knights."

Carlos sighs as he knew he couldn't disobey the orders and it didn't appear that he would be changing his mind so he trots over to where Alicia is and says, "Hi Ali… did you see how I defeated him?"

Alicia freezes her face in an upset way so as not to show Carlos how upset it had made her to see her best friend like that get hit so hard and hurt like that.

The face didn't fool Carlos as he could see how she really felt by both her eyes and the memory of how she had looked earlier was still fresh in his mind.

Carlos says gently, "Hello Alicia… I just thought you'd like to know that I tried to ask your father to let me out of the tournament."

Alicia's body freezes for a second as she realizes what it must have taken for Carlios to ask her father that.

Carlos sighs for a moment before he continues to say, "Unfortunately your father would not hear of it and told me to stay in. I am sorry. I never wanted to hurt…" He is cut off just as Annie comes running up and says excitedly, "You did a great job out there! I bet you could beat everyone out there! I can not wait until you are my shining knight!"

Carlos says, "Now wait a second, I…" he is again caught off-guard by Annie giving him a big hug out of nowhere. He can't breathe and says, "I need air… please!"

Annie lets go and says, "Sorry about that, got a little excited future knight of mine…" She flashes a big smile at him before turning around and walks away.

Alicia's voice was just a notch above sub-zero as she says, "It is no concern of mine who you are the knight of… Go ahead and win her hand in marriage if that's what you really want." She then turns and walks away even as Carlos says, "Wait! It isn't… like… that… Ali."

Carlos trails off and lets out a heavy sigh before he says, "Wonderful… just wonderful." He turns his head, looking at Annie as she walks away, wondering if she knows just what kind of chaos she has thrown into his life and his friendship with her.

Sheila watches the little soap opera with some mild amusement and thinks, "Better Monique's daughter than mine." She knew on some level that Monique would not allow Annie to keep her 'knight' even if she did manage to win one.

Sheila looks over at Kim and Ron, wondering if Kim has even bothered to call Monique and tell her that her daughter has arranged for two warring people to help her in her quest for Knight for a boyfriend? She thinks about it and then goes, "Nah… Kimmie would get an earful and so would Annie. Since Annie is super happy, she didn't make the call."

Kim could feel the eyes of Sheila and could guess at what was behind the stare as she felt just awful at not calling Monique but until she could come up with a better idea. This seemed liked the best way to deal with the warring factions peacefully.

At least this way, both Conner and the Golden Knight seemed to have put aside their issues on who ruled what throne for the time being. She just hoped that Monique would forgive her when it was all over.

Kim moves over to Conner and whispers, "Conner, I know this isn't my place to say anything but…"

Conner doesn't take his eyes off the knights jousting before him as he says, "How does this help us? The way I see it, we're working together on a goal, even if it is a competitive one. Hopefully after all this, he'll be more open-minded to settling on a compromise or give up on taking over my throne."

The Golden Knight says, "I can hear you both you know with the sound enhancers in my helmet. After all, it wouldn't be good if an enemy tried to take advantage of the helmet blocking sound would it?"

Kim flinches as she does a low "Eep!" while Conner jerks a little in shock before they both turn their heads to where the Golden Knight was and he turns to face them with a grin on his face that was visible with his faceplate up.

The Golden Knight chuckles and says, "Don't worry, I am not upset." He continues once he sees that the two of them have relaxed a little by saying, "Believe it or not, the whole goal of the Royal Knights of Rodigan isn't about taking over Rodigan but to have the best ruler for Rodigan in charge and the more that I learn about you young King, the more I see that you just might be what is best for Rodigan."

Conner is surprised and his face shows as he says, "I… I… am truly honored but I don't know how you can say that. You are aware of who my mother was and what her plans were."

The Golden Knight lifts a hand up and says, "Listen, the agreement with your mother Queen Bonnie was our way of ensuring that she would try to train a good King. We didn't need another spoiled brat who only thought of himself and not the people running things."

Kim adds in her thoughts, "I don't see how he could be anything but the way he is, he came from a pretty awesome stock…" Her eyes move over to where her husband was sitting, and was not surprised to see Ron cheering on the knights with him totally oblivious to what was going on around him. She does a small smile as she even sees how her children join in with him.

Her thoughts are interrupted as the Golden Knight says, "We've had you under observation for a very long time young King. So when my daughter expressed an interest in becoming your wife, I knew that it was destiny for our two factions to finally end this feud that we've had for generations."

Conner says, "I would like that, although why do I sense a 'but' coming my way?"

The Golden Knight grins at him and says, "The fact remains that we still have an agreement between our two groups. Now, there are a few ways to get out of it but if you'll forgive me. I don't think I'll share with you that information just yet. Not until I see more just what kind of person you are for myself."

Conner nods softly and says, "Understandable and if I were in your shoes, I probably would be doing the same thing."

The Golden Knight is about to say something when suddenly there is a loud, roaring cheer that directs their attention to the jousting scene before them! Both Knights had been knocked down off their horses at the same time!

Alicia gasps as both of the knights struggle to get to their feet with the armor on both men dented in enough so that you knew that the both of them had really felt it. She brings her hands up to her mouth, covering it as she sees how the men both get swords and a shield handed to them their attendants and within moments a most intense sword fight begins!

Both Conner's knight and Golden's knight swing hard enough that the sword clangs could be heard for quite some distance. Both seemed to be equally skilled, with every blow parried. Their wooden shields getting chopped up bit by bit with each blow upon it.

Kim looks at her family, seeing that most of them were in silent awe. Just watching as the two knights dueled each other with all their might and skill. She knew that eventually one of them would tire first or slip up somehow and they would lose.

Fifteen minutes later, one of them slips up and a few moments later the knight loses his sword and it isn't long before he is knocked down onto his back with the other's sword pointing at his throat.

The knight stares down at the knight on the ground and in a strong voice he says, "Do you yield?"

The knight on the ground sighs and says, "Yes I do."

Conner grins and says, "Well done Reggie!"

The Golden Knight says, "Reggie? Why he has the same name as I do!"

Conner looks over at the Golden Knight and says, "Yours is Reggie?"

The Golden Knight nods and says, "Of course, did you think I always had this suit of golden armor?"

The Golden Knight says, "In fact, I was one of the two knights that first encountered Kim and Ron when they were teenagers. I was foolish enough to be the first one taken down by them."

Conner does a slow turn to where Kim is and says, "Is this true?"

Kim thinks for a minute and says, "I do kind of remember…" Suddenly she remembers in a flashback and her eyes go wide as she says, "I do remember!" She gasps and says, "You're him?"

The Golden Knight just grins and says, "Small world huh?"

AN: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I wonder if anyone will remember Reggie from that episode? Points to you if you can remember the episode and the place where his name was said. You only hear the name once after all. Now what do you think of the sitch that Carlos has gotten himself into? He sure doesn't seem to be doing himself any favors does he? What do you think of how Alicia might be feeling? Is she angry or jealous? Or perhaps feeling something else? What do you think of the conversation between Conner and the Golden Knight? Was it funny to get busted by helmet technology like that? How do you think Monique will react once she finds out about all this?

As usual all reviews, votes for my stories, mp3 player suggestions that are not ipods, tips for getting over a cold, and more are always welcome.