Henry at the tournament.

[Rhalius]

(sorry for the delay, things where a bit busy yesterday.)

Deciding to make the first move, Heinrich lunged at Henry with his intimidating axe.

Henry stepped back and swinged his flail around the axe and pulled. While heinrich is stronger, he was forced to released since he had to defend against Silvermane who used the opportunity to charge at Heinrich in this moment of weakness.

And so a fierce battle had begun. Heinrich stepped back and was fending off Silvermane with his lance while Henry sweeped his feet, causing Silvermane to fall to the ground. Henry drew his sword and tried to disarm Silvermane's spear while Heinrich picked up the sword that his squire tossed towards him.


The battle went on while everyone looked in awe at these three knights, following their every move. Soon enough Henry found himself in a tricky situation when the other two knights decided to gang up on him, doing his best to defend against their attacks while laying on the floor.


It was only a temporary partnership however, Heinrich used the opportunity to jump at Silvermane with his sword and mace in hand, seeing him as the greater threat.

Lord Silvermane wasn't born yesterday though, and as he tumbled onto his back from the weight of Heinrich, he used his feet to toss the dark knight right over him, causing Heinrich to fall flat on his back.

Taking full advantage of the situation, Lord Silvermane quickly stood up and grabbed Heinrich's sword and forced Heinrich to surrender while Henry got back up.

[Rhalius]

Heinrich got back up after being defeated, and could only watch as the remaining two knights fought for the hand of lady Mary, who cheered them on from the balcony.


Henry fought hard, but Silvermane managed to push him down to the ground with his two swords. His helmet rolled off, and his shield fell from his grasp.

Using all his strenght, Henry desperatly tried to fend off the sadistic knight's sword. It seems that Lord Silvermane was not even trying to get Henry to surrender, it seems he was truly trying to kill him!
While pushing with one sword against Henry's sword, he grasped his other sword backwards and tried to stab Henry while trying to keep him down!

Henry managed to roll to the side just in time to avoid the blade.

because of the roll, Silvermane's sword slipped away from Henry's, and Henry saw his chance to stab Silvermane's shoulder!
Wounded, Silvermane moved back and dropped his swords from his hands as he fell back on the ground.

Quickly Henry got up, and pointed his sword towards the unarmed Silvermane.

Reluctantly, Lord Silvermane's raspy voice was heard for the first time during the tournament: "This battle is yours today, but I will be back."
With a smile, Henry waved at his friends, and before the cheering crowd as he was standing there as the winner of this battle.

((thats all for today, but there is more! Will Henry find happiness with Princess Mary? will any of the other knights find love? All of this and more will be revealed later this week.  ))

[Pynedor]

Great! I am glad that you'll be showing what happens after the tournament also!

[Rhalius]

No story is finished without a proper conclusion.    I am guessing the conclusion might come as a surprise in some ways. 

[Rhalius]

(as promised, heres the ending, enjoy.  )

Proudly, Henry walked to his friends. Everyone was cheering for him, and they congratulated him on winning his first tournament! Roderick and Frederick never managed to win a tournament yet so far.
Cedric's tournament victories have become hard to count though, but still Cedric was proud of his younger brother.


While Henry prepared to meet the king and lady Mary, Lord Silvermane quickly left the city while the crowd yelled: "Boo!" at him.
 

Appearing before the Falcon King with his friends near, Henry finally got to see lady Mary up close. She surely was beautifull, and had a lovely smile. "
The king adressed Henry: "Sir Henry the Swan Knight, you fought bravely in my tournament and entertained my people with your performance.
I hereby grant you permission to marry my niece Mary. Go take a little walk with her, tomorrow we will arrange the marriage."


While the king occupied himself with the other nobles, Henry moved towards the stairs with Mary to take a little walk with her. He took a good look at the beautifull lady.. and then she took a critical glance at him and she opened her mouth: "Is this what you usually wear? from now on you need to wear red, to match my dresses! red is my favorite color, I wear it all the time! And you need to shave that mustache, I don't like it. Your armor doesnt look like much either, from now on you are going to wear a helmet with a big red plume on it! so that everyone can recognize you from afar. And I dont want you seeing those friends of yours either, they are a bad influence on you no doubt! We are going to live in MY castle, that my uncle build for me. No more fighting in tournaments for you,  you could get injured. Or worse, some other woman might take a liking to you! From now on you will stay at home, with me all the time every day!"
Henry sighed as she just kept talking and talking, and looked over his shoulder at his brother when he walked past him.

Cedric just gave him a knowing smile in return.
Now he realised why his brother withdrew from the tournament, he knew what kind of person was behind that pretty smile. (and it also occured to him this might be the reason why  she is given away as a prize in a tournament.)

"... And of course my ten dogs will stay with me all the time, they hate men but I am sure you will get used to them.. my two twin sisters will also be staying with us on occasion. Can't you believe it? I am a triplet! although I am the nice one though, the others tend to be rather bossy.. hey, where are you going?!"

Seeing a rather bleak and unpleasant future ahead of him, Henry decided to make a break for it while he still could and started running, as fast as he could!

"You come back here right now!" Lady Mary ran after him, shaking her fist.
Henry whistled for his horse to come get him, he didnt wait for the horse to stop, he just grabbed his horse and quickly climbed on his back.

"Run Hector! run like you have never ran before!" He told his horse with fear in his voice, and quickly fled the city.

[Rhalius]

Lady Mary turned to Siegfried Rodich, who just happened to walk by. "Can you believe that? he just ran out on me.."
 
Siegfried looked at Mary. "Why would he run away from a beautifull lady such as yourself?"

Mary glanced at Siegfried a moment with approval. "Nevermind him, you also fought in the tournament, and you seem to have much better taste in clothes and armor than him! You should marry me!" She grabbed Siegfried and hugged him tightly, while he still wondered about what just happened. 

"You are not going to get away from me, we will be together forever! Maybe your cousins can marry my twin sisters!"

While Siegfried was quietly pondering whatever he had done to deserve this, Cedric, Frederick and Roderick where preparing themselves for the journey back home.

Roderick couldnt help but speak up to Cedric about the turn of events though: "You knew what lady Mary was like all along? why didnt you tell Henry about this?"
Cedric smiled as he looked at the two friends of his younger brother: "I wanted him to learn that not all dangers come from the battlefield. Let this be a lesson to you two as well. Don't go after ladies just because of their looks. Their beauty will fade, but their personality remains.. for better or worse."
Cedric glanced a moment at Mary, causing a shiver to run across his spine as he mounted his horse.

Shortly after they had left the city, Lady Mary managed to convince her uncle, The king, to declare Siegfried Rodich the winner of the tournament. And right after that, the upcoming marriage between Siegfried and Mary was publically announced.

The people rejoiced at the upcoming wedding.
But standing not far away from their cousin, Heinrich and Wolfgang seemed to be having a hushed discussion with the Lion Prince. Could they be intimidating him? surely such a fine prince wouldnt mingle with such dark knights. And who is that large red bearded knight with them?

Quite a few mysteries to be solved.. but that would be a story for another time.

The End. (of this story.  Hopefully everyone enjoyed it.)

[Pynedor]

Haha! I definitely enjoyed it and look forward to more, Rhalius! Well done. The ending was great. Too bad for Henry though...

[conniefrere]

Great, totally love this story. 

[DrDalek6]

I've been watching this whole story and waiting till it was finished to make a comment it's great, got some good humour in it and I love the older style Klickies very nice  poor Henry     

[Markassius]

Great story and a nice twist in the end.
I wonder about that bearded knight...