This new one piece wallet I got off amazon could've been better. It was a pretty disappointing purchase.

Chapter 22 – Courtyard Sparing

"So Mr. Snuggles has been trying to get with Ms. Meow Meow!" said Derek

"That's nice Derek…"

"But Ms. Meow Meow is playing hard to get!" said Derek

"Oh really?"

"But Mr. Suggles is not going to take no for an answer!" said Derek as he held his stuffed teddy bear into the air.

"That's very interesting Derek…"

Derek was a short chubby 14-year-old boy with light blue skin and long black hair. His hair was tied in a long ponytail at the back of his head and the hair in front of his face covered his left eye and his forehead. Derek was laid on Tavish's couch in his room as he plays with his stuffed animals. Tavish's room was almost built like a library. On the left side of his room were at least eight bookshelves filled with different types of literature. In the middle of the room were two couches, and in the center between the two couches was a mini table that had a pot of flowers on it, and on the right was his King size bed. Tavish's desk that he was sitting at was located in the front of his window. On the left of his desk was a rack filled with his knife collection. Derek had continued with his rambling about what his stuffed animals were doing. Tavish had always tuned out Derek and replied only when he caught certain things he was saying.

"Do you have any love advice for Mr. Snuggles big brother?" Derek asked. Tavish would reply "Love is only a distraction and a burden for an individual Derek. My advice for Mr. Snuggles is to avoid it." He replied in a blunt tone. Derek turns over and looks over at Tavish while laying flat on his stomach on the couch. "Wow, that's depressing brother. Is that why you've been single for so long?" Tavish would groan and roll his eyes "Yes Derek I have no reason to be romantic with any woman." He said bluntly once more.

"You can give Ms. Meow meow a shot! I heard her telling me that you're a handsome man!"

"Oh my god…" Tavish whispered and rubs his forehead.

Then there was a knock on the door. Tavish didn't turn around to look at the door but he did say "State yourself!" Tavish demanded.

"It is I, Odval Prince Tavish," He replied.

"Enter," said Tavish

Odval would open the door and enter Tavish's room while holding a few letters in his hand. "Greeting Prince Tavish, I have a few letters here that have arrived from The Kingdom of Riverwood, Nightgale Kingdom, and surprisingly you still have connections with the King and Queen of bentwood." He looked through a few more letters "Also the Queen of the White rose Kingdom would like to have an audience with you." Tavish would get up from his desk and take the letters. He tossed away bentwood's letter and read through Riverwoods. "Perfect," said Tavish "Trading with them will be good Dreamland, and having an alliance with Nightgale's kingdom is excellent since they have strong and vigilant knights."

"And the Queen from the White Rose Kingdom?" asked Odval

"Write a reply saying that my father has grown ill and I won't be able to attend," Tavish replied

"Aww, Big brother I think she has a crush on you!" Derek smirked.

"Silence Derek," Tavish shot back quickly.

As Tavish was about to continue the conversation a group of castle maids had rushed by Tavish's door giggling and laughing loudly. Odval turns towards the door with an annoyed expression and hurried to the door and stepped out of Tavish's room. "Stop right there!" He ordered them "What is the meaning of all of this? You all should be preparing the dining room for dinner!"

The girls turned to face Odval "Uhh we're on break!" said The blond maid. The tanned maid with burnet hair turned to him as well "And besides we all got something to attend to!" The rest of the maids all giggled "Come on! We're going to miss Koga! He's doing that sword training thing!" The girls all hurried off down the hall.

"H-Hey wait! Break time isn't for another 6 minutes!" Odval said as he held out his hand to them.

"I see that our new knight has garnered some fans…" said Tavish, standing next to Odval.

"Indeed Prince Tavish. All the maids do is talk about him constantly since he arrived,"

"Hmm…" Tavish began walking down the halls following the maids.

"Prince Tavish it's almost time for-"

"It can wait Odval. I'll be with you in a moment," said Tavish as he went around the corner.

Outside in the courtyard Bean, Elfo and Luci were all chatting away while watching Koga do his sword exercises. Pendergast was watching Koga closely while rubbing his chin. "Huh…" said Pendergast. "Interesting…I've never seen anyone do exercises like this before…" He said in awe. Luci says to Bean "I bet you he won't make it to 100," Bean looks down at Luci "I'm not falling for that you know he's going to." She replied. Pendergast would continue "I do fail to see the point of this. Doesn't this just strain his arm? It doesn't seem healthy at all." He pondered. Pendergast looks over at the entrance of the castle seeing the maids all eyeing Koga.

"Well don't look now Koga it seems as though your fan club is here to admire you once more!" said Pendergast.

The girls would begin to giggle and whisper as they all stare at Koga. Koga stabs down his sword into the ground and sighs and says "My god…can a guy do a simple workout without a bunch of mouths going off every second?" He complained.

Bean grins and giggles "What? Don't you enjoy your fan club looking at you?" She asked as he crossed her legs.

"Fan club my ass they sound like a bunch of birds who chirp too early in the morning," Koga said as he shoots a glare at them. The girls would gasp "Oh my god he's looking at us!" they all began squealing and jumping up and down. Koga begins cursing under his breath and rubbing his head.

"Oh come on Koga everyone dreams of having people admire them! Especially the ladies," said Elfo as he looks over at Maidens all love struck.

Pendergast would clear his throat "The Elf is right Koga! Having people who admire you is a good thing! It keeps the morale of a knight strong and sturdy!" He said proudly.

"Oh yeah? Where's your fan club, Pendergast?" Luci asked as bats his eyes at him.

"Uh well…" Pendergast rubs the back of his head "I'm sure they come out here to see me too…"

"Yeah in your dreams," Bean said as she gets up from where she was sitting and does a couple of stretches. "Come on boys time to hit the bar!"

Koga would kneel and pick up his clothing but pause suddenly drops them and then looks over at where the girls were standing. The girls would gasp again and begin giggling. "HEY!" He called out to them. The girls would reply "HI KOGA!" Koga frowned "NOT YOU ALL! I'm talking about the guy standing around the corner."

The girls all looked at each other confused and turns around. One of the girls peaks around the corner. The maid gasped "Oh Prince Tavish!" Tavish would appear out from the crowd of girls. Bean would then bear a displeasure look on her face when Tavish walked up to the group.

"Prince Tavish!" Pendergast said in surprise "It's a pleasure to see you out on a fine day like this!" He takes a knee bowing to Tavish.

"Excuse me what?" said Koga as he looks between Tavish and Bean. "Uh…is this your twin? You never told me you had another brother who looks like you!" He said to Bean with a smile of amusement on his face.

Tavish looks over at Bean "It's not surprising honestly. She hardly wants to talk about me. Which I don't mind at all considering it's embarrassing being related to her." He said in a bitter tone. Bean looks over at her brother. "It's not surprising that you don't have your lips glued to some nobles ass like you usually do." She shoots back. The two sibling's exchanged glares for a moment. Koga was looking between the two and he lets out a loud laugh. "Yup! That's sibling's for ya!" He looks back at Tavish and examines him closely.

Tavish would stare back into Koga's bright green eyes and then say "Well…it's a pleasure to see the man that crashed my sister's wedding. You sure made a great first impression didn't you?" He looks over at Koga's colossal sword that he stuck in the ground. "I've never seen a sword this large before. It's impressive you can wield something so-"

"FRECKLES NUMBER 2!" Koga suddenly said.

Tavish slowly turns from the sword and looks at Koga "Excuse me?"

Koga points over at Bean "Freckles number 1," He then points at Tavish "Freckles number 2!" This caused Luci and Elfo to bust out into a fit of laughter. Tavish shoots an angry look at Koga "Don't call me Freckles…" He said in a low threatening tone. Koga grins at Tavish "Or what?" He looks down at Tavish.

Pendergast would then step in "Koga! May I remind you that you're talking to PRINCE Tavish of Dreamland? AND the son of King Zog?" He whispered to him. Koga chuckles "Yeah sure Pen," He gently shoves him aside and gets closer to Tavish, and towers over him. "What's wrong? Are you going to go cry to daddy?"

Tavish had felt a strong surge of rage go up and down his body. He clenches his fist as he stared into Koga's eyes. Koga saw this and he grins "So how good are you with a sword? I'm sure you've had some training right? Wanna spar?"

"What?" said Bean looking at Koga in shock.

Pendergast would gasp "Koga! This is the Prince Of Dreamland you just can't challenge the Prince to a-"

"Silence Pendergast," said Tavish as he grabs Pendergast's sword from his holder and he walks to the open space "Come…" He said to Koga.

Koga was about to walk forward till Bean grabs his arm. Bean would ask "Why are you all of a sudden wanting to fight my brother?" She whispered to him. Koga would reply "What? I just want to see if your brother has some skill." He said with his usual cheerful expression on his face. Bean sighs "Well you two are using real swords so please don't try and kill him with your monster strength ok?" Bean pleaded. Koga grins at her "Aww is baby sister worried about her older brother?" He teased.

"Hurry up will you?" Tavish said glaring at Koga "I have work to attend to and my sister wants to get drunk and embarrass herself for the millionth time."

Bean narrows her eyes at her brother. She would then whisper to Koga "Ok maybe beat him up a little bit but not too much ok?" She says as she lets go of his arm.

Koga would grab a random short sword and walks over to the open space and stands a few feet away from Tavish. Tavish frowns "No, use the other sword." He demanded. Koga scoffs "Uh no I'm not using that. We're just sparing," An expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his face "I want you to use the large sword you used to cut that man in half." He demanded once more. Koga just laughed "Ok Princy let's make a deal. Show me what you can do in this little sparring match and the next time we meet I'll use the big sword. Deal?" Tavish points his sword at Koga "Fine." He said still sounding bitter. Koga smiles happily "Good!" He grips his shortsword with two hands. "Now show me what you-" Tavish would sprint towards Koga with impressive speed and thrust his sword at Koga. Koga would lean back dodging Tavish's attack as he lost a few strands of hair in the process. Tavish would continue with his onslaught of thrust attacks and Koga had managed to avoid them. His attack pattern was swift. Some of them had almost caught Koga in his shoulder and neck. Koga would then begin to push back. Tavish would block and parry Koga's incoming attacks but felt the push back of his strength. Tavish however, didn't back down and would continue to stand his ground taking on Koga's heavy attacks. As much as Tavish was able to hang on with Koga he couldn't keep it up for long.

Tavish swung his sword one last time and Koga swiftly swings his knocking Tavish's sword out of his hand. The sword flings into the air and lands on the ground. This was followed by a loud gasp from the maids. Tavish and Koga locked eyes as Koga points his sword at him. Koga smiled and says "Not bad Prince." He complimented. "But…you could've done better."

"What is the meaning of this?!" said Odval as he pushes past the maids and rushed into the open space of the courtyard. "Koga! how dare you point your sword at royalty! Have you lost your mind?! I'll see that King Zog has your head for thi-"

"Shut up Odval!" Tavish snapped. Odval had stopped talking instantly but looked at Tavish confused. Tavish would go over to pick up the sword and return it to Pendergast. Once he turned back around to head to the gate and he looks over at Koga once more "You're an excellent warrior. My father made the right decision to recruit you. You're a fine warrior." Tavish would walk past the maids and head back into the castle.

Odval would cast a stern look over at Koga "I advise you to watch yourself. Your carefree attitude will be your end." And with that, Odval returned to the castle. Once that was over the maids returned to the castle since their break was over. Bean, Elfo, and Luci walked over to Koga as he was getting his clothes and sword.

"Well…that was entertaining," said Bean with an amused smile.

"So why did you want to sword fight Bean's brother?" Elfo asked

"As I said, I just wanted to see what the prince was made of. You can learn a lot about someone if you cross blades with them," Koga explained as his torso clothes on.

"Is that right?" said Bean intrigued "What did you learn about me when we had a sword fight?"

"That your footing is off along with your stance," said Koga smirking as he placed his colossal sword on his back.

"Real nice Koga," Bean said as she rolled her eyes, and Bean, along with Elfo, Luci and Koga left the courtyard and headed into town.

Koga chuckled "In all seriousness…you and your brother have a similar vibe. Different…but kind of similar. Lots of misplaced anger and frustration."

Bean looked at Koga and her eyes met the ground as they all walked. Koga looked over at Bean "You ever talk to your brother much?" He asked. Bean shakes her head.

"Not like we used to…" Bean replied softly.