Free Tournament Trouble: Sword Girl Book 3 by Frances Watts

CHAPTER 1

    â€˜F LAMANT FOR VICTORY !’
    The battle cry was so loud it carried through the thick stone walls of the armoury and all the way to the sword chamber where Tommy was working.
    â€˜Flamant for victory!’
    The cry was echoed by dozens of voices, followed by the thunder of horses’ hooves across the great courtyard of Flamant Castle. The castle’s squires were practising their jousting skills in preparation for the tournament that was only five days away.
    Tommy held up the sword she was polishing and saw the blade gleam in the flickering light of the candle on the wall. With a sigh, she replaced it in the rack then picked up another sword from the pile on the floor beside her and dipped her rag into the pot of clove-scented oil.
    The squires, who were training to be knights, would be jousting with lances on horseback, but the knights themselves would be competing in sword fights. The knights had been practising every day, and Tommy had been polishing and sharpening their swords from morning till night. In all the months she had been Keeper of the Blades, she had never been so busy.
    The cries of the squires were drowned out by a clatter as Reynard, the Keeper of the Bows, burst into the armoury and dropped an armful of shields on the smith’s wooden table.
    â€˜You’ve been gone a while,’ the smith observed with a grunt. ‘Busy in town, is it?’
    â€˜You should see it, Smith,’ Reynard replied. ‘All the houses have banners on them in the colours of Flamant Castle, and the town is full of merchants who’ve come from all over for the fair in Jonglers Field.’
    Tommy, who had lifted her head from her work to listen, ducked it again when she saw Reynard glance in her direction. Reynard had hated Tommy ever since she had been made the Keeper of the Blades instead of him.

    But Reynard must have seen that Tommy was listening for he raised his voice to say, ‘There are going to be dancers and musicians – I even saw some acrobats practising their tumbling. I feel sorry for anyone who’s missing all the fun.’
    Reynard didn’t sound very sorry at all, Tommy thought, as she scrubbed furiously at a smudge of dirt on the blade of a sword. She had been so excited when Sir Walter the Bald announced that Flamant Castle would be holding a tournament, and all the knights and squires of neighbouring Roses Castle had been invited. There was to be a grand procession followed by three days of competitions, with a big feast held every night. And on top of that, there was to be a fair in Jonglers Field, with stalls and games and entertainment. Tommy longed to see the preparations, but whenever Smith needed an errand run to the blacksmith in town, he sent Reynard instead of her. ‘I’m sorry, Sword Girl,’ he would say, ‘but you’re needed here.’
    Tommy sighed again.

    Â 
    â€˜What’s the matter, dearie?’
    The voice came from a sabre behind her. It was Nursie, one of the Old Wrecks. When Tommy had first become Keeper of the Blades, responsible for looking after all the bladed weapons of Flamant Castle, the Old Wrecks had been neglected for years. But Tommy soon discovered that the swords in the small rack in the darkest corner of the sword chamber were inhabited by the spirits of their previous owners.
    â€˜I’m just thinking about the tournament,’ Tommy told her.
    â€˜Ooh, the tournament,’ said Nursie. ‘What an exciting time. Why, I remember when my little darling fought in his first tournament. He won, of course.’ Nursie’s ‘little darling’, Tommy knew, was Sir Walter himself; Nursie had been his nursemaid.
    A long-handled dagger with a deep voice chimed in, ‘And don’t forget the fair. All those stalls … There’ll be leather goods and delicious pies and spices and candles and – oh, anything you can imagine. It’s a fine time to be a merchant. Will