Free Legend of the Swords: War by Jason Derleth

dropping his shield as he reached. Ryan tensed his muscles, adding strength and weight into his swing, his sword snapped down, connecting with Kevin’s shoulder with alarming force. Kevin went down, a look of shock and pain on his face. On his knees, he dropped his sword, and reached up to grab his shoulder.
    “Now, Ryan—NO MERCY!” Armand shouted, steel in his voice. Ryan’s brow knitted for a moment as he tensed his muscles to strike another blow…but he paused a moment too long. Instead of an enemy, he suddenly saw a prostrate boy who was in pain.
    He dropped his sword and knelt in front of Kevin. “Are you all right? Did I break your shoulder?”
    Kevin winced. “I don’t think so.” He sucked in air between his teeth. “Why’d you hit me so hard?” The other squires crowded around, and Kevin’s knight, Gregory, pushed his way through. He was older, with some gray in his beard, but still a formidable warrior.
    “Kevin, what happened?” Sir Gregory exclaimed. “You had him where you wanted him! You should have won this battle.” He held out his hand, and Kevin grabbed it with his shield arm. The knight hoisted him to his feet.
    “I’m sorry, Sir. I don’t know what happened.” He looked at Ryan sullenly. “He got faster.”
    The cook rang a small bell announcing dinner, but Armand was at Ryan’s side and grabbed his arm. “Your enemies wish to kill you," he said, his features still as stone. “There is only one rule on the battlefield. No mercy. ” He shouldered Ryan as he walked over toward Kevin and Sir Gregory.
    Armand tapped Gregory on the shoulder, clearing his throat.
    “Yes, Armand?” Gregory said, with extreme patience and politeness.
    Armand put his arm around his colleague’s shoulder. “I believe there’s a little matter of the money you owe me.” He started leading the older man away from the center of attention. “Ryan won, fair and square…”
    The gray bearded knight spun around to look at Kevin. “We’ll settle your loss later, Kevin. I won’t forget.” He turned back to Armand. “Kevin did well, I’d say better than you expected, Armand, you dog…”
    When they were out of hearing distance, Brian started laughing out loud.
    “What?” Kevin said, with a hurt look on his face.
    “They bet on you guys!” he positively howled, bending over and thumping his knee. “They bet on you!”
    Understanding came to Kevin, who smiled a bit while rubbing his shoulder. The others chuckled. Brian couldn’t stop laughing until they were serving the knights their food.
     

The Gredarin
     
    It was several weeks later. It was clear, and spring was in the air. While it was still a little cold at night, the days were getting longer, and some of the trees had begun to bud, or even bloom.
    One day, when the weather was especially nice, the knights steered them off of the road that they had been following. A few hundred feet away, nestled in the crook of a hill near a small stream, lay a small abbey.
    “We need a few days’ rest,” Gregory called to them from the front of the line. “And we can buy a few extra horses for the squires.” He turned to Armand. “Hopefully the other knights have made it here already," he said, just loud enough for Ryan to hear.
    They soon found that the other knights had not arrived yet. The monks had not heard anything about soldiers of any sort.
    For most of the next week, the squires had been concentrating on riding skills rather than practicing swordplay. Occasionally they got to ride one of the knights’ horses. With only a few hours practice, none of them were smooth riders yet, certainly not stable enough for battle. But, Sir William had said while training them, knights were more mobile than infantry, and were sometimes moved strategically from one unit to another by the commanders, so all the squires needed horses.
    Ryan spent quite a lot of time brushing and feeding both his and Armand’s horses, over the next few days. He had never