A Dance with Destiny
Chapter Three: Squires
My name is Griff, Prince Cosmos thought to himself as he dismounted his horse. I was born in Squalor's Hook to a harlot named Myranda. We were venturing to the capital to visit a family friend when we were attacked by a monster. My mother was killed. I'm alone now. A stable boy took the reins and led the stallion away to the stables. The knights dismounted and handed their mounts to the squires, who rushed to collect all of their knights' things and deliver the horses to the stables.
Griff looked around, looking for the king. In the awe and excitement of seeing the castle for the first time, he lost track of where King River could have gone. Griff him walking into the castle, accompanied by two or three of his knights.
Making haste, Griff caught up to him just as they crossed the threshold of the castle's entrance. The interior was even more impressive than the exterior, thought Griff, marveling the high ceilings and extravagant paintings that lined the walls and hung from the ceilings.
The doors opened to a massive Great Hall, where two thrones sat atop a dais raised on stairs. Marble pillars held up the ceiling, and a great carpet led toward the dais. A great chandelier hung from the ceiling, and stained-glass windows let bright sunlight into the throne room.
"Wow," Griff breathed, awed. All his life, he had never seen such beauty, and Dooria's stories didn't do the castle justice.
King River laughed. "I know how you feel. The first time I came here, I was just as surprised as you."
"It is…wonderful, Your Grace." Griff swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump that had formed in his throat. This is my home, he thought. I was born here. He suppressed the urge to scowl. I should have lived here too.
"Your Grace," one of the guards said, "perhaps you should change; your clothes are not suitable for your kingly duties."
King River looked down. "Hm. Perhaps you are right; you know how the queen gets when I drag mud through the house." He laughed loudly, then said, "Come along, Griff. I'll show you around the castle."
"Of course, sire," Griff said.
The king led Griff up several flights of stairs, through nearly three dozen corridors, over a small ravine (who has a ravine in a castle?) and down an escalator, showing him the barracks, stables, eating hall, servants' quarters, and the shopping center.
"Ah! Here we are!" the king said, waving his arm in front of a set of double doors. "These are my quarters; wait out here while I go change."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Griff said.
The door closed, and Griff could hear the sound of loud crashes and slamming coming from within. What on Mewni is going on in there? Griff wondered, but then realized that he didn't want to know and turned around, putting his back to the entrance.
After a while Griff zoned out, and was only roused when a voice directly in front of him said, "Excuse me?"
Griff looked up. A tall woman was standing in front of him, with striking white-blue hair pulled up into a heart-shaped bun on her head, and pink lipstick. She was wearing a dress with blue skirt that looked like a heart and a blue and white dress with long blue gloves. She wore a gold crown with a purple diamond in the center. Purple diamonds were on her cheeks. Griff recognized her easily: the queen.
Mother…
"Who are you, and what are you doing outside my bedroom?"
Griff stuttered for a moment before finding the right words: "I beg your pardon, my lady, but King River requested me to wait out here while he dressed himself."
The queen raised an eyebrow. "And who are you?"
I'm the son you ordered be left in the middle of nowhere. "My name is Griff, My Queen. Your husband appointed me his royal cupbearer."
The queen's lips thinned. "I see. Where are you from, Griff?"
"Squalor's Hook, Your Majesty."
"And what are you doing here?"
"Well, like I said, your husband made me—"
"—his royal cupbearer, I know, but what is a boy from Squalor's Hook doing in Mewni's capital?"
"My mother was killed by a monster outside your walls, my lady, and King River happened upon me. Pity, most likely. That's likely why he took me in."
Something in the queen's eyes seemed to soften. "Oh. I see." She drew herself up higher, puffing out her chest. "Please excuse me; I must speak with my husband."
"Of course, milady," Griff said, bowing and moving to the right. Queen Moon walked passed him and into her royal apartment. A moment later the king appeared, sticking his head out of the slight gap in the doorway.
"Griff," he said, glancing behind him, "I'm afraid I'll be tied up for the rest of the afternoon. Why don't you go down to the training yard and see if some of the other squires will let you practice with them?"
"Okay," Griff said. The door slammed shut a second later, and Griff began to walk down the hall when he heard the sounds of the bed shaking and the king laughing. Are they…grossgrossgrossgrossgross! He basically sprinted down several more flights of stairs, blocking his ears with his hands. He kept walking until he had a most alarming thought:
Wait a second…where's the training yard, again?
-o-
After a half an hour of searching (and several wrong turns), Griff managed to find the training yard, where several of the knights were either sparring with each other or slashing away at straw dummies. Griff cautiously walked over to one of the knights practicing with a dummy and asked, "Excuse me?"
The knight stopped what he was doing and turned to face Griff. The knight was a head taller than Griff, with steel plate armor and a blue surcoat with a yellow star on the center. "Eh? Oh. What do you want, whelp?"
For you to get a breath mint. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but can you tell me where I can find the squires?"
The knight grunted. "Over there." He pointed to a trio of people watching a few of the knights spar. Griff thanked the knight and walked over to them, skirting around the men practicing. Now that he was closer, he could make out some of the lesser details about the squires.
One of them was a girl with short orange hair and green eyes. She wore a blue tunic with a red belt and red spiked shoulder pads. The largest one was a fat boy with a green and brown tunic and a spiked metal cap. The final one was an old man with a hunched back and a long grey beard that ran down to his waist. When they saw him come closer they stopped watching and eyed him curiously.
"Can we help you?" the girl with orange hair asked.
Griff raised an arm. "Hi. My name is Griff, and I'm—"
"—the king's new cupbearer, we know."
"Oh." There was a pause. "Uh, the king said you guys could help me learn how to fight."
"Oh." The girl's face brightened. "Of course we can help you with that!" She stuck her arm out. "I'm Higgs. This"—she gestured to the fat boy—"is Baby Man, and the old guy"—she nodded to the old guy—"is Old Guy."
"I'm old!" said Old Guy.
Griff laughed. "Nice to meet you all."
Higgs waved her arm. "Come on, I'll show you how to put armor on."
They spent the next few hours practicing with swords and shields. Griff had a few bruises along his arms and legs, and he was pretty sure Baby Man gave him a black eye, but he didn't care, he was having too much fun.
"Ha!" Griff said triumphantly as he knocked Higgs's sword out of her hands with his own. "Disarmed again! That's, what, six times now?"
Higgs scoffed playfully and punched his arm. "Don't get cocky; that was just a lucky shot."
Griff wiggled his eyebrows. "Then what do you call the other five?"
Higgs looked like she was going to say something, but just then a loud horn blew, and the knights began to sprint toward the castle. "What's going on?" Griff asked, dropping his sword. "Are we under attack?"
"Worse," said Baby Man, "it's dinner time."
-o-
Supper in Castle Butterfly was anything but orderly. The knights were wrestling, playing rock-paper-scissors with swords, axes and hammers, and food was flying everywhere. Thankfully Griff stayed out of the chaos by remaining with the king at the head table, where the queen and steward were also eating. Griff tried to eat his own food, but the king would swallow a goblet of wine every time he tried.
How has this man not died from alcohol poisoning? Griff wondered when the king downed his eleventh drink. The queen, however, was the definition of orderly; she ate her food quietly, cutting it into little squares before delicately chewing it, taking sips of water every once in a while.
After a while, she turned to him and said, "Griff, why don't you sit down and eat? I'm sure the king won't mind pouring his own wine for a little while."
"That's quite alright, ma'am, but I'm not—" The sound of his rumbling stomach silenced him. He smiled sheepishly and said, "A thousand thank yous, Your Grace." She nodded and turned back to her husband, who looked about to climb onto the table.
Griff sat down and dug into his meal; hot mutton, a circle of cheese, a steamed potaote and a small loaf of bread were what his plate consisted of. He dug in quickly, wanting to return to his duty as quickly as possible. He waved at Higgs when he saw her, and she smiled back quickly before rushing to serve another knight his flagon of mead.
You know, Griff thought, this isn't too bad.
-o-
It wasn't until well past midnight that Griff was allowed to retire to his chamber, which, as it turned out, was a small broom closet that had been emptied save for a small mattress with a few blankets and a coatrack for his clothes. Sighing, he shrugged out of his doublet and draped it over one of the hooks for the Knight of the Wash to collect. Then he snuggled into his new bed and pulled the covers up to his chin.
He tossed and turned for what felt like hours before me managed to find the right sleep spot (on his stomach with the pillow nestled firmly in his arms) and drifted off to slumber, filled with one hopeful thought:
One day, I'll be a knight, he declared silently. They'll call me Sir Cosmos the Butterfly Knight, and I'll be the greatest fighter this kingdom has ever seen.
A/N: Okay, people, that's another entry into the Dance with Destiny archive checked off! Also, I just want to point out that Prince Cosmos and Griff are two very different people. Cosmos is very talkative, sarcastic, and easygoing, while Griff is meek, respectful, and cautious. Because of this, I'll start each chapter with something like "My name is…" to establish who's POV is being followed.
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