Practice makes perfect.

[Rhalius]

Roderick, Henry and Frederick have returned to the castle along with their helpers.
They felt rather mixed about the alliance they just signed with Prince Edward the Lion, they suspect he might be part of the plot Roderick overheard to kill Henry's brother Cedric. Sadly the cousins Heinrich Drachenfell, Siegfried Rodich and Wolfgang of Ravenstein managed to get away, but they know of their plans now.
 
As they enter the castle, they can hear the sounds of clashing swords, shields, spears and axes as well as the booming voices of Cedric and the guard captain.

It was hard to imagine that anyone would be capable of killing Cedric. Here he was sparring with two soldiers at once while casually discussing the training plans with the guard captain.

In the meanwhile, the stable boy took the horses to the stables.


Henry: "Brother, we need to speak with you! it's important!"
Cedric smiled and looked at the three of them. "Ah you are back, right in time for training!" He said as he took down both soldiers.

While the soldiers groaned and continued to spar with each other, trying to copy the moves Cedric just showed them, the knights talked.

Cedric: "Alright, so what is it you need to speak with me about?" He glanced curiously at the three friends.

Henry: "Roderick overheard a conversation at a tavern.. a plot to murder you! go ahead and tell him Roderick."
Roderick: "It's true.. Heinrich Drachenfell, Wolfgang of Ravenstein and Siegfried Rodich where plotting something.. I heard another voice but couldnt see who it was.. and Prince Edward the Lion might also be involved!"
Cedric gave this some thought, but didnt seem to feel very threatened by this as he spoke: "Those three cousins are welcome to try, I have seen them fight. They will need a whole lot more practice to defeat me." He chuckled with a smile before he continued on a serious tone. "Prince Edward being involved with it seems unlikely though.. we always where on good terms with his father. Besides, if he had meant to do us harm he would not have saved queen Dominique from the Dread Baron."

[Rhalius]

Frederick: "So what do we do now then? We can't do nothing.. and we signed an alliance with Prince Edward. The towns we visited all belonged to Prince Edward too."
Roderick: "He seems to be gathering an army, he said it is to free their captured king and protect the villages they now controll. Noble goals, but what if he indeed does want to come after our kingdom?"
Cedric: "I will discuss it with King Phillip and Baron Blacktower. Speaking of which, you should inform them right away. Henry, you will stay here for training."

He handed Henry an axe, while Harold the herald stepped forward to hand Roderick the signed treaty. That way he could hand it over to the king personally.
Cedric: "I expect the two of you to join us once you have talked about this with your lords."

While Roderick and Frederick walked up the stairs, they looked down at the courtyard and watched Henry do his best to keep up with his older brother.

Little did they know however, that they where about to walk in on an entirely different battle going on upstairs, where Lady Blacktower seems to be yelling at Lady Elena.

((to be continued soon.))

[Tiermann]

Nice to see the story continued.

Why these knights are so tough the very courtyard of their castle is covered in the red of blood... 

[Rhalius]

Maybe they are just so extravagantly wealthy that they can afford to have red carpeting in their entire courtyard? 

I do plan to get something of a grass underground at some point, the plan is to have that and other such things to improve the background once the first story arc is completed.
In a way this story arc is very much a learning experience for me, this is the first story where all pictures are sharp. 

[DrDalek6]

Ah a pleasurable story to read and great action packed photos as always mate look forward to seeing how it will develop 

[Rhalius]

Lady Blacktower seems very upset, waving her arms in the air towards Elena as she yells at her: "Are you completely mad?! how dare you say such outrageous things about me!"
Elena just stood there, unsure about what she said wrong. "I merely said a blue gown might look nice on you."

This only caused lady Blacktower to throw her arms even higher up in the air: "Do you not see the madness in those words!"
Queen Dominique just shook her head, she already knew there would be no reasoning with lady Blacktower when she got upset.
Both the queen and Elena seemed quite happy to see Roderick and Frederick return back to the castle, if only to provide a distraction.

Unfortunately for Frederick at this particular moment, he serves the Blacktower family. In lady Blacktower's opinion that means he has to agree with her all the time. 

Lady Blacktower: "Knight Frederick! did you hear what that..that... woman.. had the nerve to say to me?!"
Frederick sighed and played along as usual, and with his usual sarcastic tone: "No my lady, whatever did the dastardly woman say to you?"
In the meanwhile Roderick gently took Elena's hand while he told her he had missed her, before presenting himself to the queen.

And thus lady Blacktower started her rant: "She said I'd look nice in a blue gown! blue! blue!!! I can't even begin to describe how much is wrong with saying such a horrible thing to me!" She waved her arms around wildly as she started to describe it bit by bit anyways: "First off all, blue is a very bland color, it doesnt stand out! How dare she call me bland?! And I look never just nice, my servants spend two hours every morning to ensure I look nothing short of divine! And how dare she tell me what I should wear?!"

Frederick just stood there and nodded politely as he performed his least pleasant duty: Listening to the rants of the very spoiled lady Blacktower.
In the meanwhile Roderick presented himself officially to Queen dominque with a polite bow as he showed her the treaty.
"Your royal highness, I hereby offer you the treaty Prince Edward the Lion signed to form an alliance with us."
Queen Dominique smiled as she spoke to him: "You did well Roderick, the kingdom will surely become safer through this."
Roderick"But there is more my queen, After the treaty was signed I have come to suspect prince Edward might be involved with the very knights who tried to capture your castle not too long ago."
Queen Dominique thought about this a moment: "That is quite an accusation Roderick, it is best you discuss this with king Phillip and Baron Blacktower. They said they where having a highly important discussion inside the castle and where not to be disturbed, but this seems to be important news."
Roderick bowed again.

Meanwhile, inside the castle:

King Phillip: "Isn't this nice? such peace and quiet in here..."
Baron Blacktower: "Sure is nice to get away from it all yes.. just sit back and enjoy a nice glas of wine and listen to the silence.."

((to be continued soon.))

[Rhalius]

As Roderick moved past Frederick on his way to the king, he considered himself very fortunate to be serving the royal family and not the blacktower family. Seeing how Frederick was still occupied listening to lady Blacktower's rant, he figured it best to deliver the news to the king and the baron on his own.


Roderick bowed before the king and nodded politely to baron Blacktower. "Your royal highness, Baron Blacktower. I bring urgent news."

King Phillip: "It is good to see you return safely Roderick, what news do you bring us?"
Roderick: "The villages we visited already signed on to become a part of the Lion Kingdom, I ran into Prince Edward the Lion and signed an Alliance with him since he Always seemed friendly."
King Phillip: "Yes, he has been most helpfull with saving my queen from the dread baron. A nice young lad, noble like his father, hopefully not as stubborn. May I see that treaty?"

Roderick: "Of course my lord, but there is more. After I signed the treaty, I noticed something suspicious and investigated, it turns out that he had spoken with Lord Heinrich Drachenfell, Lord Siegfried Rodich and Lord Wolfgang of Ravenstein. I overheard them plotting to murder Sir Cedric."
King Phillip and Lord Blacktower gave this some serious thought as they looked over the treaty.
Baron Blacktower: "Hm that sounds pretty bad.. but you are not certain that Prince Edward is involved? It does seem rather unlikely."
Roderick: "I am affraid not, Lord. I saw him walking out of that room, so he must have spoken with them. What he spoke with them about I dont know."

As the three of them where pondering on what to do with this information, Frederick stepped into the room, and their attentions shifted to him.

Frederick: "My lord Blacktower, Your lady wishes to inform you that she wants new dresses to expand her wardrobe."
Baron Blacktower smiled: "Ah, there is an open market in the city tomorrow. Frederick, you have the honour of escorting my lady as she goes shopping. Take my son Gilbert along as well, and my herald Pierre. He seems to have an eye for fasion."
Frederick turned pale at the thought of having to spend that much time with Lady Blacktower. "Perhaps you would like to go to the city together with Lady Blacktower my Lord? The villagers say you two make such a beautifull couple."
Baron Blacktower: "Oh no I am quite busy here with.. reorganising the guards! yes, that requires my full attention!"
King Phillip: "Let's focus on our new Alliance with Prince Edward the Lion first... there has to be a way we can find out about his intentions without throwing accusations around.."
Roderick: "He seems to be gathering quite an army, not any force I'd want to be fighting against my liege."

King Phillip considered these words: "A fight.. A fight?" He suddenly jumped up from his chair: "That's it! we should fight them!"

Roderick and Frederick looked confused at the enthusiastic king: "Sire? you wish to start a war with them?"

King Phillip: "No no, not a war.. a tournament! We will organise a tournament to celibrate our new found Alliance! We know little of his Knights, and he knows quite a bit about ours. Through this tournament we will get to see what his strenghts are, I will get the chance to speak with the Prince personally, and there will be no need to spy on him, accuse him or use any other dishonourable tactics."
Baron Blacktower: "A briljant plan! All Knights should train hard to do their best at the tournament! the winner will get to challenge Cedric, the rulling champion!"
Frederick: "Alas, lady Blacktower depends on me to keep her safe tomorrow, I'd have less
Baron Blacktower: "Very well Frederick, I will ask the captain of the guard to escort her. You need to get training to defend the Blacktower honour in the tournament!"
Frederick smiled, while training with Cedric was tough, it was much prefered to shopping with Lady Blacktower.
King Phillip: "Roderick, go tell the queen of this news, and tell Pierre as well so he can start writing the invitations."
Roderick: "At once sire!" he felt much better, and looked forward to the tournament.
Frederick and Roderick bowed politely, before making their way to the queen.

((to be continued soon.))

[PlaymoMan]

Fantastic story, looking forward to seeing how the tournament will end!

[Rhalius]

At the balcony, things seem to have calmed down.
Roderick: "Your royal highness, the king is planning a tournament in honour of the new found alliance with Prince Edward."

Queen Dominique smiled: "A good plan, it might take away the tension and help seal the alliance. Pierre, start with writing invitations to the usual participants. We may inform you later of additional invitations. I shall write the invitation to prince Edward personally."
Pierre smiled wildly and waved his arms in exitement. "A tournament? how marvelous! I can't wait to see what all the guests will be wearing, and of course the noble participants!"

Having delivered their message, Frederick urged Roderick to quickly move on before lady Blacktower would target him again with her complaints.
Making their way down the stairs, everyone is still busy training and Elena is cheering on her brothers. Despite his best efforts, Henry does not come close to defeating his brother.

Cedric: "Ah there you two are! I was wondering when you two would return, it seems Henry will need your help." He smiled, seemingly not tired at all.

Frederick: "It seems we will all need all the training we can get! the king plans to host a tournament!"
Elena: "A tournament? I'd love to see that! though I wouldnt know who to cheer for when you are all fighting each other!"
Roderick smiled. "Just cheer for us all, we'd fight twice as hard knowing you are watching us."
Henry coughed not too subtly, wishing to interrupt Roderick sweet talking his sister.
Cedric: "Ah yes, back to training! let's see if the three of you can take me down this day! after that, I'll know what I can help each of you improve on."

And so the three friends drew their swords and charged at Cedric together, who deflected their attacks with ease.

The King, Queen and Baron where  all looking down at the courtyard quite proudly at the knights their enthusiasm.
All of them wanted to win that tournament, and the soldiers where training quite fanaticly as well. One even asked Elena for advice on how to use a flail like she did when she took out the Dread Baron.

As the battle against Cedric continued, everyone stopped their own training to watch Cedric take on the three knights at once. It was quite a sight.

The three friends tried fighting him from all angles and using a variety of weapons, but Cedric managed to counter them at all sides and disarming them while at it! without breaking a sweat and still smiling gently.

[DrDalek6]

Great story so far a very interesting idea of the King's to hold a tournament no doubt that'll be very exciting and indeed interesting to watch, the training scenes are very impressive it looks like they've got their hands full trying to defeat an old master like Cedric