Without a word the king turned and left, and immediately afterwards a vision unlike anything I had ever seen in my life. While I admit that I may have been biased, knowing that she was a formidable warrior may have coloured my perception of her. In any case, the beauty that entered my cell, or rather guest chamber, left me breathless.

Long brown hair that drifted just below her shoulders and curled loosely into ringlets on the way down. Beautiful green eyes that put emeralds to shame. Her skin was soft and freckled, creamy and pale, the skin of a noble woman that doesn’t spend much time in the sunlight. She was very tall for a woman in the same manner that I was taller than most men. Still shorter than I, but taller than most. Standing side by side the top of her head would end at my bottom lip. Yet with her height came a grace that was very apparent in her walk. Though she took just a few steps into my room, I could tell she was a woman born with the blade in her hands. Her posture and balance was perfect, better than my own I must admit. Her body was not slender like most noblewomen, or large like a few, but toned and tight with muscle. Her flesh had very little softness to it, but what little there was only served to make her more attractive.

I have seen and served with women soldiers before, most of them are barely different than the men they serve with. They are, almost without exception, indistinguishable from the male soldiers. They are broad shouldered, thick limbed and most cut their hair very close to the scalp. It is very hard to fit a helmet over long hair, though it does make for nice padding. She was as close to looking like an ordinary soldier as I was to looking like a dog. They may share the same gender, but they were not the same species.

She worse a loose brown dress, with a small gold necklace around her throat. There was a pendant hanging from the necklace, resting gently atop rather small breasts.

I noticed all of this before she spoke a single word. Everything about her I noticed within the first second of seeing her, and in the second moment I noticed her expression. It was that of barely restrained rage.

Upon her entry I knelt to the ground with the same reverence as I had shown to the king, and she closed the door behind her.

Immediately upon closing she spoke, her voice tight and very angry. “You cheated.”

She took a step forward and pointed a finger at my head. “You deceitful, cheating bastard. I beat you, I’m better than you but you ended up cheating and you won. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Even with her voice brimming with anger it was still beautiful. Lyrical in its own way and full of strength, but there was a softness in it as well. Any husk in her voice I attributed to her emotions.

“You are better than me, but I did not cheat. You were overconfident, you fell for a trick and that’s all.”

Her finger curled into her hand, and she opened and closer her fist a few more times. Then she lowered it and seemed drained of all energy. I raised my head to look at her, and she moved faster than I thought possible, and slapped me right in the face.

I was expecting it, and I certainly wasn’t ready for it. The slap did not hurt very much, but my face went red anyway. I was rocked backwards and fell to the ground, my armor clinking against the hard surface.

My mouth opened in surprise, and I clasped my cheek in my left hand. She looked at me, a small twinge of regret flashing across her face, quickly replaced by resignation.

“I apologize Ser Knight. That was rather ill tempered of me.” She ran a hand through her hand shook it out, sending he long curling hair cascading across her face and away. She held out her hand and invited me to take it. I hesitated for a moment but eventually grasped it. He grip was quite strong, as to be expected from a swordswoman, but there was a surprising lack of calloused skin. I wondered if perhaps she scraped away dry skin and callouses in order to maintain her feminine look.

I let her try to haul me to my feet, but I did most of the work all on my own. I may not weight fifteen stone, but I was still wearing most of my full plate armour and it did still add quite a bit of weight and as strong as she was, she would not be able to lift me.

She motioned for me to sit down, and so I did as best as I could.

“I am not angry at you Ser Knight.”

I interjected, telling her to call me Francis instead. She glared at me, angry once again with the interruption but continued.

“Francis I am not angry at you, I was angry with myself. My uncle refuses to let me serve as a knight, I hoped that if I were to win his tournament, that he would change his mind and allow me to serve as I have always dreamed of.”

I laughed, and he face blushed to a deep crimson. She was even more beautiful while blushing. “Why would you want to be a knight? I’ve been one my entire life and the only reason I remain one is for one reason and only that reason. It’s the only thing I am good at. I would rather be a merchant, a captain or even a bloody peasant, but this is my lot in life. Why are you so unhappy being who you are?”

“I am not considered a woman, or even a capable soldier. I am a piece of meat. My uncle is in charge of arranging a marriage for me, but he has decided that I am to wed one of his dukes. Not just any duke, the Duke of the Red Tower.”

I was no stranger to the Duke of the Red Tower. He was an old man, older than most if not the oldest citizen of the kingdom. No one knows how old he is, for everyone can simply remember him being at his current age. It is said that the only reason the King won his kingdom was with the support and financing of the duke. He is not an evil or cruel man, he is simply old and I could see how she would not wish to marry him.

She continued to speak, a look of frustration on her face. “I thought that if I proved to my uncle that I was of more use to him as a knight than as a brood mare, he would consent to my joining one of the knightly orders.”

“Princess.” Now it was her turn to interrupt me. “If I must call you Francis, then you must call me Sofia.”

“Princess Sofia.” She smiled. “Close enough for now Francis.”

“Princess Sofia, the Storm Guard never turn anyone away, if you truly wish to be a knight, why not simply join them? It would not be an easy life, not by any means, but it would allow you to follow your dream.”

“The Storm Guard? Who are they? I’ve never heard of them before.”

I couldn’t believe that Sofia had never heard of the Storm Guard before, but as we spoke over the next few hours I learned much more than that. I found out that she had never left the kingdom in her life; that with the death of her parents at the hands of a rebellious faction, the king had taken her under his wing in order to protect her and keep her safe from all harm. She had never once been allowed to leave the castle even to walk the streets of the city without sneaking out. I had heard of sheltered lives before, but never any as bad as this. Even as she spoke she still defended the king. She was too young to remember her parents, but the king had lost his best friend and closest confidant as well as his only sister in the same day. Sofia was all that was left of their legacy and he was simply doing all he could to protect her. Sofia understood this, but she still resented it.

I spoke to Sofia of the Stormlands and of the brave knights that patrol the rift. I told her of their code of honour and how they accept all willing soldiers into their ranks. The look on her face brightened as I told her about the brave men and women who gave their lives to protect this realm.

I realized what I was doing just too late, and once I started speaking of their valour and honour, I could not stop. I knew that the King would not approve of the message I was giving his niece, but I could not resist. The look on her face when I told of that place gave her hope, and it filled my heart with joy.

“It’s not all glory in the storm lands however. More times than I can count I have seen the bodies of a slaughtered family. The Storm Guard do the best that they can, but from time to time, the demons still slip by us, and they find families. Usually the defenses are strong enough to hold off the beasts, even the unarmed peasants are still well armed enough to fight off most of the beasts, but from time to time, a demon strong enough to force their way past the defenses, or clever enough to trick the peasants into opening their doors make their way to warm flesh, and the results are never pretty.  The smell of roasted flesh is something that you can never forget. It stays in your nose for days, and colours every meal you have. The worst part is that the demons do not kill for food, they kill for pleasure. More than once I had come across a demon in the act of ravishing a peasant woman in front of her children. Even if they manage, by some miracle, to survive the encounter they are never whole. Something breaks in their minds, either by the violence of the acts they have seen, or by the close encounter with the beasts themselves, and most survivors end taking their own lives. It is a heartbreaking thing to see a five year old child walk off into the sunset in order to end everything. Princess Sofia, the Storm Guard perform a valuable service, and they should be given much more honours than they currently do, but even if you manage to survive, even if you leave unscathed, you will never be the same again.”

The princess was undeterred, prodding me with more information about the region and how to get there, I could not make myself give her the directions, no matter what she promised me.

“Princess, I cannot tell you something that would most likely lead to your death, not only because of your uncle, but because I could not bear to see a life such as yours extinguished by the rift. It has taken too many close friends and family to want to see anyone else brought there.”

“But you’ll be bringing my cousin won’t you? I overheard my uncle speaking to you, if he agrees to it then Liam will be brought there with you.”

I opened my mouth to protest, to inform the princess that she had heard wrong, but could not make myself lie to her. “Yes, I will be bringing the Heir, but from what the King has told me, your cousin is not at all the same person that you are. He is vain, cowardly and narcissistic. You are strong, courageous, beautiful and everything that he is not. You do not need to be forged in the crucible of the rift, he does.”

Sofia paused, crossing her arms and looking away deep in thought. I could stare into those eyes for years and never get tired of them.

“Francis. I can see that this does mean a lot to you, and I promise you that I will no longer ask you for any aid to making my way there. I will not press you any further.”

She looked at the candle burning beside my bed and saw how low the wick had burnt.

“I should be going now, we have been talking for much longer than I was aware of.”

Sofia opened the door and turned to leave. The sight of her back was no less glorious than her front, every part of her was perfect and I knew that I was in love. A woman that could defeat me on a field of honour and could still melt my heart with a smile was a woman I had no right to. I did not deserve her, and I was very aware of this, so I told myself that I would push those feelings to the side.

“Princess?”

She stopped just shy of the threshold and turned once more.

“If you would do me the honour, I would love to see your skill with a blade upon the morrow.”

Sofia smiled, and I knew that ignoring my feelings would be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life.

“I would love to Ser Francis. I will see you on the morrow.”

That was the last exciting event that happened to me for quite a few days. I made myself comfortable in my room, and informed the guard of the supplies I required, as well as asked them when I would be able to take possession of my possessions. My retinue would remain in the tent for as long as possible, but if it was clear that I would not return, they would take everything I had and sell it to whoever would pay. I am not a rich knight, but what money I have earned has gone into the maintenance, purchase and renewal of my equipment. My suit of plate I had with me, but I have two horses, one mare for travelling, and my warhorse for battle. I also have a long sword, and a metal kite shield, both family heirlooms and both who had served me well in the rift. Beyond that however, I also had awards, medals of my service in the Storm Guard, and proofs of my status, as well as an assortment of other weapons, books and scrolls. Most nobles travel with a train of courtiers and friends, but I simply travelled with my possessions. I held no estates and no manor to call home, so anything I did own I needed to bring with me.

The guard told me he would see what he could do, and left to get me everything else I had requested. Once he returned with the supplies, I set to removing my armour and maintaining it. I polished it, cleaned it and fixed any small dents and scrapes. With that done, I lay down on the bed again and went to sleep.

When I woke the next day and made my way to the training hall I was allowed to use, the princess was not there. Nor was she there for the remainder of the day. Hoping however, I remained there sparring and training for the rest of the day, and eventually I was joined by members of the guard, and even a few low ranking nobles of his court.

They had all come to train at the side of The Dragon Knight, and I never say no when there is a chance of demonstrating my skills. I fought them all one on one, discovering their skills and what they needed to work on. Once that was accomplished, I sorted them into teams, and fought them all two on two, to find out exactly how skilled they were when hampered by another warrior. As I expected, most were worse than useless when paired up. Nobles fight one on one, cutting their way through hordes of barely armoured peasants in order to make their way to another warriors of nobility. Most nobles do not fight for their king, they fight for the chance to humiliate another knight in combat, and take them hostage in order to ransom them for weapons, gold or even servants. The royal guard were better than the nobles, but not by much. They were at least experienced in marching side by side, but armed with long pikes that are effective against peasants and holding them at bay, they are still not very experience at actual combat.

I did my best to teach them what I could, and a few did indeed seem to grasp what I was teaching them, but most thought that what I was telling them was aimed at making them worse in combat. The few that did try what I was showing them could not grasp it, and blamed me for teaching them poorly or even trying to wound them.

I did not want to teach them, but I was waiting and did not want to leave. After a few hours I knew that Sofia would not come but I had nothing else to do so I kept on trying to teach the nobles and the guards.

The next day I returned to the arena once more, hoping again that she would show up, but knowing that there was nothing else for me to do if she did not. Those nobles that had appeared yesterday did not return, but in their place a few others had shown up. It seems that though they did not appreciate my teaching methods, they spoke of my skills, and of course they all wanted to duel me to prove themselves better than I.

I knew that I should have let them believe they were close in skill to my own, that they might be able to defeat me if only they devoted themselves to training, but that is not the kind of person I was. I did not care about their feelings, and for the most part the nobles were useless with a blade. I knew that the green lands did not need to fight for their very survival, but I couldn’t help but feel that if ever the rift closed and stopped spewing forth the monstrous beings that kill most of the warriors, the Stormlands would be able to take conquer the rest of the kingdom with no issues.

Even knowing that they had no dedicated army and no official training, they were abysmal. I did not doubt that with sufficient time and knowledge, I could singlehandedly take the entire castle by force. The nobles were by and large, cowards, and the guard were experienced only in herding peasants and criminals.

It was disheartening, especially given the heritage of the kingdom. Thirty years earlier the king had raised a group of nobles to his banner, and united the twelve tribes under a single king. The Stormlands, the Greenlands, the South and West ranges, the Northern Desert, the Frozen Isles, the Barrow hills and the seven City-states. King Alfons unified them under his banner, and led them in a rebellion against the Imperium of the Undying God. After five years of fierce fighting, King Alfons led the army in a last ditch attempt to take control of the Imperium’s capital city and forced the Emperor to sign a truce giving the kingdom independence.

King Alfons the first founded Alameric dynasty and named his kingdom Alamer. Not many people lived through that war, and many of the nobles who fought in the war left behind a brood of weak children. They all were raised during a time of peace and stability, won with the blood and sweat of their parents. The Prince was not the only one of his kind, they were more common than I really wanted to acknowledge. Of the twelve tribes, only one remembered its heritage and I was proud to be born to that land.

The next few days of voluntary captivity were the same as the last two. I trained and fought with the nobles, always hoping that Sofia would show up, and being disappointed. Other than that, I ate, I cleaned and I slept. Eventually the guards brought the rest of my possessions and told me that my horses had been stabled for me. A week passed without anything else happening, until one day the prince appeared.

He came with his entourage, five noble sons roughly his age, and he came armed. On that day I was demonstrating how an unarmed man could disarm and defeat an armed opponent.

The prince himself was not a weak looking man, arrogant yes, but not weak. He was tall, almost as tall as I was, and almost as well built. For a man that took his training for granted, he did look to be in excellent shape. He was well muscled and toned, broad shouldered and held himself like a true swordsman. The only problem was that he was soft. For all his muscle and tone, he had no callouses, his hands were soft and untouched by hard work. His friends were much the same, arrogant and soft.

I knelt to the ground, as is only proper when faced with royalty, and the Prince snorted in my face. The rest of the guards and nobles who had joined me on that day vanished, and I was left alone.

“So you’re the one poisoning my father against me. You miserable sack of shit, who do you think you are. Bors, Niels, grab him.”

Two of his cronies moved forward to grab my arms, but I moved backwards, stepping quickly out of their reach.

“Come on Francis, don’t make this any harder than it needs to be. We’re just going to have a little chat you and I, and I’ll convince you to leave it alone, and you’ll convince my father in return. Do we have an understanding?”

I laughed and watched his friends closely. “Now I see what your father meant when he called you a coward. You don’t even want to fight me man to man do you? You’re a sad excuse for a son.”

The Prince’s face purpled, and I thought that if it were possible, steam would start shooting out of his ears. He yelled out and his friends moved forward again. As a rule I make it a point not to antagonize the noble elite with a few exceptions, but I do defend myself against aggression.

The smaller of his two friends lunged forward to grab me, and regretted his decision immediately. I ducked under his arms, twisted quickly and threw an elbow directly at his throat. He crumpled to the ground almost immediately and wrapped his hands around his throat, trying valiantly to force air though his wind pipe.

The second friend tried to do the same while I was distracted, grabbing me around my shoulders while my back was turned. I twisted my hips sideways and slammed a foot down on his own. I felt the crunch of bones shatter beneath my foot, and threw an elbow into his side. He bent over from the impact and I raised both hands, bringing them down on the back of his neck with all the force I could muster. The man fell to the ground in a dead heap, and while I hoped he was still alive, I didn’t much care if he wasn’t.

“Is that all? That’s the best you brought with you? I am the Dragon Knight your highness. I eat little shits like you for breakfast. I’ve fought beasts from the rift single-handedly, I’ve defeated Ivan the Black in combat and dined at his hall.”

To his credit, the prince did not flinch away from my challenge. After all, there were still four of them and only one of me. In most circumstances, four armed men are too much to handle for me, against these nobles however, I was confident in my odds.

All four of them pulled out thin little rapiers and stood in passable duelling stances. Once more, to his credit, the prince stood at the forefront of his small group, facing me directly, while the other three manoeuvered to surround me.

I matched them step for step, letting them herd me into position and putting my back against a wall. I could see that they hoped placing me against a wall would put me at their mercy, and their long range would give them the advantage they needed.

I might not have been wearing plate that day, but I was wearing hardened leather. Rapier are very good duelling weapons, designed for nobles who still want to fight, but don’t want to see much blood or wear armour. Their points are pretty much the only dangerous place on the blade. The actual length of the blade is sharp, but the edge is so shallow that it can’t do much more than slice the skin. I’ve seen men grab the blade of a rapier with one ungloved hand without getting cut, I was quite confident that I would be more than able to defend against it. Hardened leather usually goes underneath the plate armour, the plate itself may stop the blade from cutting flesh, but the leather is the one that prevents the hit from breaking bones and crushing muscles.

With each step I took towards the wall, I studied my opponents. The prince was the best target, the easiest one to take out, but I wanted him to be last. I wanted him to see what a true warrior could do, and I wanted him to fear me. I didn’t want to bring him to the Stormlands before but his attitude towards a knight infuriated me and I wanted to see that smug smirk wiped off his face.

The moment the heel of my left foot made contact with the wall, I started to move. I wanted to show the prince that I was able to take them out armed and in pairs, and so I went after the two to my right.

One of the two nobles was completely surprised by my sudden movement, but the other was not caught unaware, he would have made a fine warrior if he actually trained, and hopefully my demonstration would help convince him to try.

He made a lunge with the rapier, catching me directly over the heart with the tip of his blade. I kept moving forward, knowing that my hardened leather would protect me from harm, and slammed a closed hand on top of the blade as hard as possible. The blade bent, continued bending, and eventually broke. All of that happened before his friends could reach.

With the blade broken and the other man disarmed, I slammed a hand underneath his chin, forcing his head upwards, and placed a leg behind his foot, pushing him forward and tripping him. I followed him to the group, sending an elbow to his forehead, and slamming his head against the ground. It hit with a solid thud, and I rolled, avoiding the clumsy thrust from his partner. The other nobles were finally starting to reach and ran forwards to attack me.

My roll ended directly beside the other noble I was targeting, and I swept my feet into his, kicking them out from beneath him and sending him to the ground. He flailed at me with his rapier, but I caught his hand with my arms and wrapped my legs around his chest and pulled. His elbow overextended and snapped with very little effort, and I moved quickly to regain my feet.

I managed to stand up just before the other two made it to me, and I was forced to jump backwards to avoid a hastily aimed swipe at my face.

Two down, two more to go. You can do this Francis. I thought to myself. I was actually quite surprised that it had gone as well as it did. Most rapier are made to bend and not break, but the noble’s blade broke fairly easily. He must have bought a decorative weapon, one not meant for actual use and he must not have known that, or maybe he did know but didn’t think it would make that much of a difference.

All that was left was the prince and his crony, and the prince needed to be last. They were both very apprehensive now, they had come in with six men, and now four of them were on the ground unconscious, twitching in pain, or gasping for breath. I could see that the prince wanted to turn and run, but didn’t dare do so while his friend was still standing. I would need to take him out quickly, and then deal with the prince before he could run.

I waited for a minute, and then two, standing easily on my feet and waiting for them to make a move. I could see that neither of them were willing to make the first move, which was quite intelligent of them, against most opponents you want to let them move first, so that you can react to what they are doing, and counter attack. When you are untrained and barely able to keep a sword in a guard position without the tip wavering back and forth, letting your enemy have the advantage of first movement is a very bad idea.

Most people take a few fractions of a second to see and react to movements, but a swordsman has trained to act and react faster.  Without the benefit of training, allowing your opponent to make the first move only slows your own reactions. Eventually, I got tired of waiting and decided to just end it.

I walked towards them slowly, not rushing and not trying to walk around them. I simply walked right up to them. The prince took a step back, but his friend seemed frozen in place. I grabbed the frozen blade of his rapier in my left hand, and looked directly at the prince. “I might not be able to harm you, but the next time you come at me without having the honour and courage to challenge me personally, I won’t go nearly as easy on you. You may think that these men are your friends, but how long do you think they’ll back you up when they have no working limbs?”

I moved the blade aside and stared at the frozen noble. “I have no hard feelings against you. You helped your friend, and that shows courage and honour. You stuck by him even though you could have run, that shows integrity. But you raised a blade against me in order to make a pathetic, arrogant, little shit feel better, and that is something I cannot allow.”

With that, I slammed an open hand into his nose, breaking it cleanly and sending him to the ground, blood pouring from it. The noble let go of his sword as he fell, and I threw it aside.

The prince, to his credit for the third time that day, stood his ground and didn’t run. “Before this I didn’t want to bring you there, I was sure you would die and I did not want to be responsible for the death of a Prince. That was, however, before you made the worst decision of your life. You are the worst combination of arrogant, proud and skilled. You believe you don’t need training because you have never needed it, and you believe your station will protect you against anything that threatens you. I will bring you there now, and you will learn or you will die.”

I took a step closer to the Prince, and he swallowed as I approached. “I will turn you into the man you should be in order to make your father proud, or I will see you dead.”

I took another step, and the Prince’s blade dropped to the ground. I took another step, and one more, until I was mere inches from his face. “I will make a man out of you, and that is what I will tell your father. Now if you want to make it easier on yourself, you will tell him the same. If you want to earn any of my respect, you’re going to volunteer to go, because I can promise you this, on the road you will have no protection and no friends. What you eat, where you sleep, and how often you ride a horse will depend solely upon me. Enjoy your last remaining days in luxury, because once we leave here you are all mine.”

I spat at his feet, turned and left, leaving him standing there shaking in his own boots.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4