Chapter Six

Jocelyn pulled tight the laces of her coat as she walked from her chamber, almost colliding with Gwen in the doorway. She reached out a hand to steady the maid and smiled.

"Morning, Gwen," she greeted her cheerfully.

"Good morning, milady. Lady Morgana asked me to come and make sure you were ready to attend the opening of the tournament."

"Of course, I've been looking forward to it." Jocelyn replied, leading the way from her room.

An hour later she had reason to regret her enthusiasm. It appeared that the experience of the tournament suffered by the officially presented ward of King Uther of Camelot was very different to that enjoyed by a young girl who was easy to overlook.

All the years she had lived at Camelot, Jocelyn had loved attending the annual event and watching the knights battle one another. But in previous years she had been sat in a quiet corner and no one looked to her to do anything. Now she must sit with her sister near the King and applaud politely for whoever won.

After the - pointless in her opinion - presentation of the knights who would be competing, there was a reception in the Great Hall and she was called upon to greet all the combatants and offer them words of encouragement. So far she had managed to offend Sir Henry by a criticism of his technique and been frowned at terribly by Uther for the lack of formality in her dress. No one had told her she would be required to look presentable and next to Morgana's diaphanous gown her own severely cut, plain linen dress was particularly unimpressive.

Her wandering attention was caught as the knight standing before Morgana bent and kissed her hand. Surprisingly, Morgana looked rather pleased by this demonstration of attention. Jocelyn turned her gaze on the knight in question, taking in his height and calculating eyes as he moved to stand in front of her.

"Knight Valiant of the Western Isles," he declared himself bowing before her.

She inclined her head in response, but could find nothing to say. Jocelyn considered it hard enough to murmur platitudes to random strangers in normal circumstances, but the grim line of this man's mouth robbed her of any thoughts of what to answer. Valiant continued to stand in front of her for a moment before giving up and joining the other knights.

The other combatants passed and Jocelyn grew more and more bored, having no interest whatsoever in the boasts they saw fit to make. She would be impressed if they fought well in this tournament, not if they told her about fights they had been in.

"Jocelyn."

She brought her wandering gaze back to the line of knights and discovered Arthur standing in front of her.

"Are you bored, milady?" he asked her teasingly. She merely grimaced in response, shooting a look towards his father. "I thought you enjoyed the tournament," he added.

"The fighting is interesting," she told him. "The standing around talking to knights who have no power of conversation at all - is not."

He returned her smile, nodded to her and moved away. Seeing him depart, Morgana leaned towards her and Gwen to ask, "Could Arthur be anymore annoying?"

Jocelyn looked at her in surprise, raising an eyebrow.

"I so hope Knight Valiant wins." Morgana continued, refusing to answer Jocelyn's silent question.

Her sister rolled her eyes at Morgana's comment, not crediting it, but Gwen looked a little shocked.

"You don't really mean that," she told her mistress.

Morgana frowned at her. "Yes, I do."

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Over the next few days the fighting got underway in earnest. Arthur defeated each of his opponents, if not with ease at least with competency. The only knight that matched him in success was Valiant.

Despite his prowess, however, Jocelyn couldn't bring herself to look well upon him. His style was aggressive and ruthless, and now he had left Knight Ewan prostrate on the ground after a punishing blow. Valiant moved on to the next round, Ewan looked like there was a very slim chance he would be getting up again.

Jocelyn got to her feet to take a closer look as Gaius rushed forward to aid the fallen knight, but was brought back into her seat by Morgana. She scowled at her sister but Morgana spoke before she could demand an explanation.

"You need to stay in your seat, Jocelyn. Don't show favouritism."

Jocelyn opened her mouth to hotly argue the point; before she spoke though, she noticed that Uther's disapproving gaze was upon her and she held her peace. Silently she watched Gaius summon a couple of guards to bear Ewan's unconscious body away and she was still frowning after him when Arthur entered the ring to compete in the next fight.

His opponent soon caught her attention, however. Arthur was tall and broad chested, but the man he was to fight looked like a bear, standing head and shoulders above the prince. Jocelyn's frown deepened and beside her she heard Morgana draw in a sharp breath.

"He's strong, but I would stake anything he's slow." Jocelyn told her sister, not taking her eyes from the two circling knights. "And Arthur's fast, he'll be fine."

She nodded firmly and Morgana turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"Are you trying to reassure me, or yourself?" she asked.

Jocelyn looked at her and began to deny that she was worried when there was the sound of metal slicing through the air as Arthur whirled his sword and the combatants clashed together.

The bear-man swung down heavily with his sword, but Arthur brought up his shield and blocked the blow, already bringing his own weapon up to launch the next attack. It was met by the other's sword and they exchanged several blows. One came dangerously close to the prince's side but at the last moment he twisted out of range and used his momentum to deliver fast swings at his opponent.

With a well-timed thrust, Arthur suddenly had the upper hand. He blocked with his shield, attacked with his sword and then felled his opponent with a punishing blow to the head. The crowd erupted and the fight was over.

As had been widely predicted by all, Arthur had fought his way into the final. All that remained to be decided was who he was challenger was to be.

Valiant won his next fight easily and violently, his late adversary having to be removed by stretcher once again as he celebrated his victory in front of an admiring audience. The next day he and Arthur would fight for the title of champion.

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