Section: Winter
Chapter 12: Joust
A/N: Ha Ha! I'm back! Did ya miss me? Huh? Huh? Probably not. Oh well. To you know who, who's been threatening to lynch me: You are weird, in a good sense, and hysterical. Hah! Hah! Hah! Oh well, it was interesting. Well, what happened to me? Um…I was abducted by aliens? Heh heh heh…Okay! I was a lazy idiot…bad me! Bad me!!! Oh well. Anyways. I'm back now, okay? So, I watched "A Knight's Tale" This weekend…It was SO good! I liked it a lot better than any other chick flick I've seen. So, try to find the hidden phrase in here, and you get a new 2001 ferrari…not really. I guess I could give you the next chapter early…whatever. These quotes will appear a LOT. So, on to the story…
Oh, the joy, Kel thought. I get to joust with Lord Wyldon. I just hope that I won't get pummeled so hard that I can't move.
On
the day of the jousting tournaments, Kel's heart felt as heavy as a piece of
lead. Even eating was hard for her. It didn't help that Neal and Cleon were
both trying to make her eat.
"Oh,
come on Kel." Neal said, jamming bread against her closed mouth. "Remember what
you told us every time we wouldn't eat?"
"Yeah,"
Cleon said, and then quoted, "don't be such a dolt, you'll need the energy, or
a Spidren will eat you."
Kel
closed her eyes and counted to ten. I am a lake, I am calm, and I will not
scream. I couldn't scream anyway, Kel thought, if I did, I might toss out what
little supper I had yesterday.
In
the end though, Neal finally succeeded in jamming some bread down her throat.
Although the bread had the taste and consistency of cardboard, she managed to
keep it down—and was thankful for it later.
Kel
watched the first few rounds of the jousting in a daze, catching pieces of the
conversation that was going on between her friends.
"Ow,
Owen, you little idiot." Neal groaned, somehow, he ended up competing with Owen
in every single event. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"
"What
did he do?" Cleon asked, he had missed the first joust.
"I
knocked him to the ground," Owen replied, face red and mouth in a wide grin.
"You should have seen him fall. Rolled over like a log, he did."
"Pain.
Lots of pain." Khari added, in mock solemnity. Neal glared at both of them,
then turned his attention toward his wounds.
Next
up were Faleron and Cleon. Faleron glanced at Khari and turned a bright red,
while Cleon and Kaliana exchanged looks™.
As
the two squires took their places, Khari suddenly leaned forward for a closer
look.
"What's
wrong?" Merric asked.
"Where
did Faleron get that scarf?" Khari asked, pointing to the pale blue scarf
peeking from beneath the squire's armor.
"I
don't know," Seaver said thoughtfully, "I've never seen it before."
"Strange,"
Khari mused, "I have one exactly like it." Stranger still, it had been missing
for a week already. She thought to herself.
Faleron
won his joust, and he and Cleon joined their friends.
"Kel," Cleon said. " Raoul told you that you had better not get hurt."
"Mmmm."
Kel replied, and got up.
It
was her turn.
Lord Wyldon looked huge, and his
lance looked large enough to skewer Numair. Damn, she thought, I know I'm going to die. Peachblossom seemed to sense
his mistress's unusual nervousness, for he whinnied nervously.
The banner lifted, signaling the
charge. Kel urged Peachblossom into a charge, and lifted her lance. Lord Wyldon
charged toward the squire with amazing speed, and before Kel knew what was
happening, his lance shattered on her armor. Stunned, Kel didn't realize what
happened next.
Too late, kel remembered that
Peachblossom had been sick the week the squires had jousted against each
other. Peachblossom, although brave
when he went against the Quintain, had never charged against a real person
before. He had never felt the lance shatter and toss splinters onto him.
Frightened, the horse reared had
before Kels' lance had a chance to hit Lord Wyldon.
Kel had lost.
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