Lancelot Part 4

The lads

"I am telling you again." Lancelot cautioned his sparing mate. "You need to raise your arm to make sure I do not hit you with this blade."

Lancelot swung his wooden blade used in training onto Bran' head. The later was slower in defending and the blade landed on his left ear.

"Aargh!" Bran dropped his wooden blade to hold his swollen left ear. "You are killing me."

"No, I did not." Lancelot defended his action. " If I was, then this wooden blade would be a real one and you would lose more than one ear. Your life would had been included."

"I have enough," Bran threw up his hands and walked to the water trough. He did not reached the trough before he got spanked by Smithy who was their trainer.

"Bran, you walked out one more time and I would dismissed you from this training." Smithy shout at the young lad who just turned eighteen of years. "You are fit to be a Squire only."

Smithy threw away his training stick and walked away. Bran stood there not moving seething with rage when he recount the words spoken by Smithy. He has been practicing the three years now since he met Lancelot, and with the permission of Nimue, he has moved here. All he does here is practice and spar with Lancelot under the supervision of Smithy. But in the last year, he find himself not able to improved on his skills. His strength and movement is not the issue but his skills are at their limit.

"Bran, cool down your rage." Lancelot assured his friend. "Let me teach you those moves again."

"No, Lancelot. I have enough." Bran shrugged off his friend's good intention, and walked off. He did not stop until he reached his own abode. He saw his mother crying at the doorway and in the last three years, she has aged much in looks. She is not as pretty as she was and more to it, her body is not as nubile as then. She is now not the love of any ranking officer but a lowly foot soldier.

Bran reached down to assist his mother to inside the abode where he placed her on the nearby seat. He went to fetch a cloth soaked with water, and used that to clean his mother of the dirt and grime. Then he assisted her to her bedding where he looked around for something to change her clothes. Then was he noticed the treasured box of his mother opened.

"Mother, what happened to your box?" Bran asked from his mother but she turned away from looking at him. Bran reached for the box which his mother always treasured. She never allowed him to touch the box before, and once he did looked into it. She caught him doing it and she gave him a lashing that left welts on his back for days.

"Woman, do you have any more of your trinkets?" The foot soldier who shared his mother's bedding staggered in, holding a bottle in one hand and the other holding the doorway for support. The soldier is obviously drunk and could not stand on his feet by himself.

"You!" The soldier shouted out at the young man sitting next to the woman he have just relieved of her treasured trinkets. It did not fetched much but it kept the goblets full for the most half the night.

"Do you have anything I can peddle off?" The soldier cried out in his drunker slurring speech. Bran on seeing the solider pointing at him, rushed at the drunk soldier. Bran pulled the man into the small area of their dinning table and slammed the drunken man against the wooden table top. He let the soldier slide to the ground before he picked up the wooden stool at the side of the table. Bran raised the stool high and brought it down on the drunken man. He hit the drunken man not once but several times with it.

Bran stopped when he realized the man is not moving anymore. He dropped the bloody stool and then he saw his mother looking at him. She is sitting on the bedding and holding her hands close to her heart. She is not screaming but just looking with wide eyes on the scene that just unfold before her eyes.

Bran walked over to his mother and embraced her tightly.

"Mother, it would be over soon."

"Lancelot, you have to helped me and my mother." Bran held out his hand to Lancelot as they stood by the lakeside. "I killed the bastard who stole from my mother."

Bran looked to his mother standing some distance behind. He then looked to Lancelot for the needed reply. His expression was desperate and Lancelot is in a fix as he knows he cannot just bring anyone into the lake. Not when he have not consulted his Guardians. Lancelot thought hard and then he nodded.

Bran was delighted and he hugged his friend.

"Lancelot, let me your friend and squire for life." Bran told him. " I cannot be more than that in my life."

"You are a crazy bastard." Smithy looked at the two lads. "You too."

Smithy looked to his back to see the woman now cleaning up his place. Damned! He is an Elf and now he has got a housekeeper to do his works. He is also sure that these lads did not tell the Ladies of their new guest. Smithy raised up his hand in a surrender gesture and walked off to the adjacent structure to rest. He hoped there he would find peace before the storm comes soon when the Guardian find out.

"Bringing Bran then was already an offence that I would had punished you if not my sister Vivian who stopped me." Nimue raised her voice against Lancelot. "Now you bring in the mother to the Lake."

Lancelot remember how he sneaked in Bran then and hid the lad in the garden until Vivian found out. By then, Bran was half dead with hunger but he was still smiling. Vivian took pity on the young lad and allowed him to recuperate at the palace. Soon he find himself staying there as Lancelot 's friend and on occasion servant in waiting.

"Bran, we heard your tale and now we would decide." The Guardians did but they also made a decision which would changed the events to come. Bran's mother was allowed to stay but the lads have reached their age of adulthood; requiring them to seek out their own destiny.

"Lancelot, you are of the age to leave us for the land outside of his lake." Vivian told the lads. "You would leave the Lake tomorrow at dawn."

Nimue stepped forth to seek her care for the last eighteen years.

"You learned much these years, but the best teacher is experience. From now, you would use your training to be better than what you are now. I cannot teach you anymore." Nimue told her care. She then signaled Smithy who walked up with a bundle in his arms. Smithy dropped the load in front of Lancelot. It also consist of a round shield with the crest of a flaming dragon with blue waves behind it on the front.

"Your armor, Lancelot. I made them myself. Lady Nimue told me to do it." Smithy spoke to Lancelot. He then looked to Bran. "Take care of it for him, Squire."

Vivian walked up to Lancelot.

"I have no gift for you but his advise. Be true to yourself and serve justice. Divert from it, and you would be like a fallen angel. Hold your faith to Holy Ones and do not be seduced by the Unholy Ones." Vivian walked way and then she pause in her steps. "Lancelot, not all the ladies out there are like us. They may be some who would corrupt your soul. Be cautious."

Just when Lancelot thought that all was over, Smithy walked over to Lancelot. He hands him a sword.

"It not the best but it would do. I named it Arondite. Its made from the metal at the base of this lake. Its a light metal but hard than most. More to it, the blood does not stain its surface and needs no sharpening. I made not one but a pair, the other set shorter like an extended dagger. That would be for Bran who may need it to skin the animal carcass. His sword is named Arum for short."

They all laughed at the remark made by Smithy.

It was late morning when Lancelot and Bran made their way out of the lake. They were dressed in a plain tunic and his armor was in a bundle carried by Bran.

"Lancelot, do you think we can get a pair of horses soon." Bran complained of the weight on his back.

"No, I doubt so." Lancelot smiled at his friend. "I can share your load if you think that is too heavy."

"No, its not." Bran does not want to admit on the weight as he is supposed to the squire to Lancelot. "Shall we go on?"

"Sure'" Lancelot confirmed with his friend. Its his first real visit to the outside land and he is eager to see what it has to offered. His left hand is at the scabbard of his sword, and he was tempted to draw it. Not now, he told himself. Soon it would be used.

And it did.

Just beyond the rise of the lakeside, the lads stumbled on a pair of calvary riders. The riders on seeing the two lads rode over to see them.

"So you finally came out, Bran. We have been waiting since morning, taking turns for the last three weeks." One of the riders spoke up to Bran. "You are needed to answer for the death of our senior legionnaire."

Lancelot on seeing the two oncoming riders, drew his sword out. He can feel the power that is surging from the sword into his arm. It feels great and he is raring to fight now. He swing out with the sword at the first rider and hit with the flat side of the sword on the rider in the chest. The rider fell off the horse on the impact while the horse went galloping off. The other rider rode wide of Lancelot and then dismounted. He ran over to assist his fallen colleague.

"So the young lad can fight," the recovering calvary spoke out as he drew on his sword. "Marcel, our work is move complete now. We shall killed them and hang their head over there on the rise."

Marcel who had earlier dismounted smiled and he also drew his sword. The two calvary men approached Lancelot. Marcel was the first to attack but his thrust was parry by Lancelot who returned with a swinging move from the right.

"Aha! The lad fights well, Pierre." Marcel remarked, but he did not see Bran stabbing him in the back. Bran did not stopped at there as he pulled out the short sword named Arum given to him by Smithy. Bran stabbed once more to the left waist from the side. Pierre on seeing his colleague stabbed, paused to look at Bran. Lancelot on seeing the opportunity thrust his sword at Pierre and killing him instantly as it pierced his heart.

Lancelot did pulled out his sword on seeing the man is dead but leave it there to watched the blood streaming out. It felt so different from sparing with Bran and this killing has a worthy sense to its action.

"Bran, we found our horses."

They rested in the late afternoon under a large canopied tree in a field when they saw the knight appearing over the nearby hill. He is carrying a long lance of over twenty feet like those used in the joust. The knight armor is a bright chrome like metal and he appear sitting upright on his saddle. His head cover is a top round piece with slits for his eyes.

"My name is Edward of Bright. I come to challenge you if you are a knight yourself."

"I am Lancelot of the Lake. Unfortunately, I lost my lance in the last ...joust." Lancelot feigned his way out. "Perhaps we can agreed to a duel with swords."

Lancelot drew on his Arondite to display to the knight.

"A fine weapon. I agreed to your terms. If I win, I would keep your sword." Edward laid his terms to Lancelot.

"And if you lose, I would keep your lance." Edward heard Lancelot' term and he smiled. In his mind, he knows that Lancelot does not have a lance at all. Edward does not fear Lancelot as his is ninth challenge and he have not lost any of it. Edward dismounted and laid down his lance on the ground. He then pulled out his sword and spoke to Lancelot.

"I shall await you putting on the armor. Do not haste as our fight would be short." Edward smiled at his own snide remarks.

Lancelot upon donning his armor stepped forth to face Edward. Smithy made a good fit and allowed him to grow into the armor. The top head cover he made for Lancelot represent a jumping fish with its tail end to the rear. The front of the top cover is a slit which Lancelot could see and it opens a narrow strip down the middle for the wearer to breathe and speak. On each side of the top cover near the side are thin narrow strips that acts as vent for the wearer. The armor worn on the body is not heavy or bulky but comfortable and allowed easy movement.

He swing his sword to feel the weight which there was hardly any, and then took his battle stance. Edward mocked the young impressionable knight to attack him but Lancelot just ignored him. Then without warning, Edward lunged at Lancelot aiming at his left chest but Lancelot had seen it coming. His defense was the same when attacked; move back and then tried to parry the thrust before attacking. Lancelot as trained but he he did not parry the thrust. Instead he move aside and swing the sword of his hard on the charging sword but the other has swung the flat side of his blade at Lancelot's chest.

"Aargh!" Lancelot keel over holding his chest.

"Anyone can see that move, young one." Edward gloat at Lancelot inexperiences. "Perhaps you need to declare defeat and you may still leave here intact."

Lancelot wanted to charged forward but Bran stopped him. Bran handed him the wooden sword they used in training.

"Use this one. You are familiar with it." Bran offered to Lancelot. Lancelot looked at his squire and then nodded. He handed back Arondite to the squire and took the wooden sword. He swing it for the familiar feel in his hand. He then faced the other knight.

Edward charged at Lancelot which the later casually stepped aside to bring the wooden sword on the wrist of the attacker. Edward swing in from the right with his sword and Lancelot ducked before thrusting his wooden sword at Edward' face cover. It pushed the round top over the top and exposed the head.

"Good move, Lancelot." Edward praised the young lad and he then rushed in again. This time Lancelot parry the sword and move his body in like a ram. He slammed into the knight to push him over. Lancelot followed through with his sword at the knight's open neck.

"Do you yield?"

Later in the day, Lancelot had acquired his first lance and also first victory over a knight.