Miles let out a contented sigh as he shut the door to his new bed chambers behind him…His body feeling heavy, yet warm and content…It had been a long day, but a merry one…For he now had a belly full of food that didn't make him feel violently ill, new shimmering fur the colour of midday sunlight and snow on a December morning…That hot bath had done wonders for him…Especially having his numerous minor injuries treated and wrapped up in bandages…But now, the sun had set and the blue skies of the day had succeeded to the inky black of mother night…The shimmering gaze of the moon and jewel like glistening f the distant stars making the night sky resemble a beautiful painting.

It was a beautiful night to fall asleep too…And now, since he had a busy day tomorrow…He was ready to fall asleep on an actual bed and not on a pile of old hay or on icy cold stone cobbles…He looked around his new room gleefully…It was rather large for a bedroom…Larger than anything he had ever seen…With a beautifully polished floor constructed from fine oak wood, a nice crimson coloured carpet laying down in the centre…

There were towering bookshelves too…Each individual shelf packed tightly with the greatest novels, encyclopaedias, histories, autobiographies, religious texts and even recorded letters dating back centuries ago…Just looking at the books gave an itching feeling to the boy that he just needed to scratch…However, he wasn't done analysing his new bedroom just yet…Looking around he could see two large arch windows that gave a pleasant view of the glowing lanterns of the city below…

There was also a small, carved desk…With a small ink pot, quill and even some parchment to write on, a wardrobe that contained some basic clothes for the boy to wear…And then finally there was the boy's bed…A luxurious almost king-sized bed with lion carved legs, a burgundy coloured duvet and two silky white pillows…Just looking at the bed made him want to grab a book, leap on and read until he collapsed from exhaustion…

However…He then suddenly saw something peculiar poking up from the other side of his bed…Miles squinted his tired eyes and locked his vision onto them…They looked like…Ears? They were ears! Fluffy and cream coloured? The fox snuck closer and as he did so…He heard childish humming and the sound of a duster at work…He peered over the bed to get a look at the person who was in his room…

It was a rabbit, around his age if not a little bit younger…Maybe 6 or 7 years old…She was dressed in a brown and white dress that seemed moth eaten with sown on patches, her fur was cream coloured, and her ears stood up merrily as she dusted the floor. Humming a merry tune to herself…

Hoping to get her attention, Miles cleared his throat politely…The two fuzzy ear flickered slightly and the girl's humming stopped, she turned around and her chestnut eyes went wide with terror as she flung herself backwards onto the floor with a startled scream…

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry Miss! Are you alright?" The fox asked frantically, moving to help the girl up and onto her feet…However curiously…The girl fell to her knees and clasped her hands together…Her eyes squeezed shut and her face plastered with regret and fear.

"I am so sorry sir! Forgive me! I was just in here to clean your chambers, please don't report this to my mother or Mr Shaye! I don't want to get punished again!" She whimpered out, her voice squeaky and high pitched.

Th small fox was taken aback by her fear and terror…And for a moment he stood there as still as a statue…Processing the sudden and unexpected information…And when he did speak again, he did so in an awkward yet kindly manner, wanting the girl to feel as safe as possible,

"Oh ummmm…It's alright, I just wasn't expecting to find anyone in the room, I'm not planning on reporting you to anyone!"

The girl looked up with puffy reddened eyes…Their expression fearful, yet with a small glimmer of hope behind them,

"A-a-are you…Are you s-sure sir?" She said timidly, desperately hoping that the boy's suggestion would be the case…She couldn't deal with getting punished for getting distracted…Not again.

Miles nodded his head and helped her to her feet, dusting off her clothing in the process to make the girl look a little tidier and smarter,

"I wouldn't think of it. Besides, don't call me sir, my name's Miles. I'm one of the new squires here, what about you?"

"I-I-I'm Cream…Cream Wilkins…I'm a scullery maid and I w-work in the castle and so does my mummy…She works in the kitchens as a b-baker."

Miles gave her a kind smile, in response. Hoping to ease the rabbit's anxiety,

"Well, I can certainly say your mum makes brilliant stuff. The bread at the banquet table was to die for, what do you do then?"

"I-I just go around c-c-cleaning, King N-Nigel often h-has guests around, so the place has to be s-s-spotless, for both the g-guests and t-the residents…If it isn't then I get p-punished."

"How? You've done a great job making sure the room is tidy, from what I've seen so far, you're a great worker!"

The girl winced in pain, and she looked around the room…Making sure that nobody was there to hear them talking…Thankfully all she could hear was the faint sound of the nighttime breeze outside…It was safe to show the fox…And so, ever so gingerly…She began to roll up the sleeves of her dress…

Miles was horrified at what he saw, all over the girl's arms there lay a series of nasty looking bruises and even a few nasty burns…A couple of which looked rather fresh…The girl even winced when exposing the nasty wounds, as if even mere contact with the cool air of the bedroom was causing pain to her…

"Oh! I'm…I'm so sorry Cream, want me to take you to the physicians at all?"

Cream waved the offer away with one hand weakly,

"No, no! I'm fine…They stop hurting after a while…"

"But who would do this to you?! What sort of sick maniac beats a defenceless child?!"

Cream's voice dropped to almost below a whisper in volume as she murmured the name of the person who had caused her such harm,

"S-S-Sir Graham D-Douglas…He's a member of the r-royal guard…Likes to make sure that we keep everything running as efficiently as p-possible…If we don't well…"

"He hurts you…I understand Cream…Would you like me to report this to the king tomorrow?"

"NO! He's very two faced…He can just lie to the king and say he hasn't done anything wrong…And if he finds out, he'll go after you too! L-Look I really must be g-going…I have to report back to the maid quarters before 11 otherwise I'll be in big trouble!"

The rabbit stood up and tried to hurry over to the door, however Miles grabbed onto her arm, his face twisted in show of worry and sympathy for the girl,

"But I can't just let you go on like this! Something has to be done!"

"There's nothing you can do! Now please let me go!"

The girl wrestled free and rushed over to the door, slamming it behind her before Miles heard only her rapid footfalls growing fainter and fainter…He cursed under his breath…How could he let such a vulnerable person get away?! She very clearly needed help and that Graham Douglas fellow? What sort of sorry excuse for a Knight would attack an unarmed girl? Knights were supposed to be brave and noble warriors who could do no wrong, clearly not if someone of that status could do that…

He walked over to the large bookcase, running one finger along the spines of the different tomes…Setting on one especially hefty and dust covered tome, on the front of the novel it read the following (Despite the literacy rates of a medieval society like Acorn being rather low, with generally only the nobility or Knights being able to do so…Miles had been able to teach himself how to read via posters, signs and old parchments he found in rubbish piles)

"A Comprehensive History of Warfare Concerning The Kingdom of Acorn and All Of It's Knights and Warriors…By one Vitalis Orderic."

Miles allowed himself to smile once again as his gaze fell down upon the sizeable tone that was bigger than his entire torso…He heaved as he pulled it from the bookcase, carrying it with two hands across the room before slamming it down on his bed with a loud thud…And so…His urge for knowledge brought him to turning the page…The thought of helping poor Cream never leaving his mind

Sir Sonic stretched his arms back and yawned tiredly as he stood in the armoury of the castle barracks…The place where you Miles's training to becoming a Knight would begin…It wasn't a relatively large place…Which was surprising considering just how many guards, soldiers and knights there were patrolling the place…However generally, they either kept their weapons on them at all times…Or they kept them in the other storage facilities and blacksmith shops within the castle proper…

The armoury was still well stocked however, the walls covered in a menagerie's worth of different arms and armour, so that in the case of an emergency every man, woman and even child had a means to defend themselves…So what better place was there to begin to teach the boy how to fight and choose his first weapon?

He heard the heavy, iron framed door creak open and in came the small fox…Eagerness burning within his eyes and a small skip in his step…The boy seemed happy, yet there was some kind of…look in his eyes, almost as if he was worried about something…Ahhhh…Must have been first day butterflies, everyone had them when they first became squires…

"Ah, Miles! Good, you've arrived early…Welcome to the royal barracks, this is (along with the courtyard) the place where we will conduct all of your training in the field of combat and teach you how to become a formidable warrior in your own right…Today we'll do something rather simple and fun at the same time…Tell me young Miles, have you ever wielded a weapon before?"

The fox shook his head in response…However Sonic could tell from the fox's now excited expression he knew what was coming up next,

"Well, good news kid! Today I will allow you to choose your very first weapon from the armoury…Make sure you like your choice because once you pick it up, there's no going back on it…Kinda a dumb rule I know but that's the way it is…Now go on kid…Make your choice…" The Hedgehog said happily, standing aside ad showing off the large collection to the fox…

Miles was utterly stumped looking at such a fine collection of weaponry…There seemed to be every possible kind of weapon to face any kind of opponent…There were shimmering spears, pikes, billhooks, guisarmes, halberds and bardiches…All of which were to be used en masse in position…So as cool and effective as they were as weapons…They wouldn't do…

Then there were the heavier, two-handed weapons…Mighty and fearsome looking armaments such as poleaxes, warhammers, bec de corbin's and greatswords…Each one of them likely strong enough to kill in a single blow…Each one large enough to utterly crush him if they were to fall off of their stands…They certainly wouldn't do either…

His eyes then fell on the one-handed weapons, each one of them seemed to be more his speed…Especially if he paired one with a shield…But which one should he choose? There were just so many to choose from! At first, he thought the maces would be cool, they were known to be effective at armour piercing…And that would be very useful if ever he had to face an armoured opponent…However they looked very heavy, and he knew for a fact that he would need some serious muscle to wield one effectively…

The next weapon he eyed up was a one-handed broadsword…Hmmmm…It seemed to be a relatively good weapon for someone of his stature to use on the field of battle…However there was still problems with the weapon…They weren't very good for taking on armour…And in a world where warfare was dominated by massive formations of men in shining plate armour…That just wouldn't do…

However, in between the heavy axes and powerful looking warhammers…There lay a curious looking weapon…It was…Miles didn't necessarily know exactly what it was…It seemed to resemble some kind of sword, yet there was something different about the weapon…It had a broader blade and a less pointed, yet still sharp point…Almost as if the weapon had been designed to be used for slashing…However, the blade had been dulled…Most likely to ensure that it was to only be used for training…Or something along those lines

Gingerly he took it off of it's stand…It was lighter than it looked, it had a nice grip to it too…And when he swung it, he could feel the power behind the blow…Oh he liked this weapon…He liked it a lot…

"Ahhhh, taking a liking to the falchion, eh? It's a good weapon that one, lesser known but it's definitely effective for dealing with a lot of foes…pair that with a shield and then you've got a very good combination that'll be the bane of all kinds of n'er do wells…"

Falchion…Hmmmm…Miles even liked the name; it had weight behind it…A tat meant that it had to be some good at the very least…He then happily took it ad grabbed a medium sized shield from the wall…Its form made from wood that had been layered with steel above it…Yeah, this would do very nicely…

"I'd like to choose these Mr Sonic!"

The hedgehog smiled, the boy's enthusiasm was utterly adorable…It made him feel bad for what was going to come next…However…He needed to learn…One way or another…And so, he walked over to the other side of the room…And pulled out a blunted longsword from a rack…He didn't need to tell the fox to do the same…He knew he wouldn't be able to hurt him on his first day…

"Good lad…Now that you've chosen…I think it's time that I start teaching you how to fight…It's one of the most important parts of being the knight and when you are inevitably called up to serve our king or local lord for a period of time…It's important that you are ready for the job…No, stand opposite me…"

Sonic could see the excited look on the boy's face evaporate within a split second…Like a drop of water on a boiling hot pan…And he couldn't pretend that he didn't know why…It was one thing: picking up a blunt weapon and giving it a couple of swings to see how it felt in your hands…But then having to learn how to use it by sparring with arguably the greatest duelling knight the realm had ever seen?! That would strike fear even into the most hardened of battlefield veterans…Let alone an eight-year-old boy who had never even held a sword in his life…

"It's alright Miles, the weapons are blunted. The worst you'll get are some bruises…I'm sure that you know that the shield is used to block strikes. Now…Show me what you've got…" The knight said in a manner intended to soothe the boy…And it did seem to work, at least a little bit…

Miles stood opposite his mentor, holding the shield and falchion tightly in his hands…A bead of sweat running down his brow at the reality of having to even practice fencing with an experienced knight…He gulped and raised his falchion and lunged forward…Hoping to score a hit…However in the process, the hedgehog merely stepped to the side…Making him completely miss and lose his balance…

Miles panicked as he fell down…He tried to scramble to his feet…However, he was interrupted by Sonic's boot pressing down on his back and the blunt tip of his longsword tickling the hairs on the back of his neck…

"Dead. Moves like that can get you killed, never rely on blows like that unless your foe is immobile or stunned…Not when they're on guard…Now, get up kid and try again." Sonic said sternly…Letting go of his ward and letting him get to his feet…This time taking a sword stance known in fencing rings as the "Plough stance" His blade was pointing directly at the boy…The guard looking particularly difficult to break…As he could pretty effectively block from quite a few angles…

Wanting to test the waters slightly…The fox swiped his falchion in an outwards arc…Hoping to knock the sword aside…However the knight stepped back and responded with a rapid thrust towards the boy's chest which by some sheer miracle…Bounced harmlessly off of the boy's shield with a thud…

However, Miles advanced forward…oping to close the gap and get in an upward slash…However the blow was batted aside with the flat of Sonic's sword and instead, all he got was the sharp pain of the sword's pommel being lightly bashed into his nose causing him to reel back in pain…All before he felt the blade pressing against his chest…

"Dead…What did I tell you? Don't go for everything or nothing manoeuvres! You stepped up by using your shield, but your attacks with the falchion are atrocious…Be more conservative! Now up, we'll go again!"

Miles grumbled in response…Walking back to his starting position…It was going to be a VERY long training process…In combat at least…All that he hoped…Was that there would be some form of improvement in his performance soon…After all, the kingdom was a dangerous place…And what kind of stupid knight would make such stupid mistakes as he?