Reverse Chronicles

Knights of the Siane

    Knights grunted, panted, and shouted as they practiced their sword swinging in one part of the fortress. Sweat filled their foreheads, fatigue encompassed their grunts, and pain danced in their eyes. "Monsters will not show you any mercy in the battlefield. They will crush your skulls and break your bones," a knight dressed differently in front of all of them shouted as the rest incessantly continued.

    "Stay here," Franz bade us tying Mikah's reins to a pole just behind us. He left without any bush-beating and climbed up the stairs right across us. Some young soldiers with leather armor stopped as they encountered him, standing erect with their chests out, stomachs in, and backs straight. Until Franz entered the door nearest to him, they were in that position not even blinking.

    I swung to Keith for company but he was occupied reading his tome, which he splat his entire face into. I called him, but there was no response. I tapped his shoulder but he was solely focused on his tome.  "Keith," I shouted in his ear. He is so focused on reading that it is annoying. Ugh. Now I remember why I think he was weird in the first place.

    Forgetting about ever snapping Keith out of his trance, I moved to have space. Perhaps, I could practice sword swinging just like what the soldiers are doing. This blade that I got from Marcus, Whisperer, is not as long and large as the soldiers', but it was enough for practice. I imitated the soldiers' stance, opening up my feet and keeping a subtle crouch while straightening my back."Hyah!" I finally started swinging. I began slowly trying to keep up with the crowd of grunts from the corner across. It's tiring than I thought, and considering that my sword is smaller than theirs, I could not even begin to fathom the amount of fatigue each grunt has.

    "Stop!" the knight captain suddenly shouted and all the soldiers stopped swords. He gave a quick glance at me throwing a smirk as he did. "Laeken, Hainse," two soldiers stepped forward. They threw their steel swords and grabbed three dull rusty sparring swords. "Show me the results of your training," the knight captain said as he grabbed one of the sparring swords and faced the other two. The other soldiers distanced to give them space for their bouts. It was two against one, but there was no advantage over numbers. The knight captain easily parries the opponents  attacks. When he struck back, he kicked Laeken to the ground. Again, he glanced at me and smirked.

    Is he trying to impress me? Does he think that I fall for men? Unfortunately for him, I don't really care. He continued the spar. As he was busy with Hainse, Laeken regained his stance and tried to launch a surprise assault. However, the knight captain was able to fend it off, hauling Laeken towards Hainse crashing them to the ground. Now this is getting annoying. There are two of them, can they not erase that dirty smug off of his ugly face?

    As I saw the other two soldiers being humiliated in front of the others, I could no longer stand it. I unsheathed Whisperer and solely focused on this annoying man. I started Intense Accuracy and approached him with the intention of teaching him a thing or two.

    "What do you think you're doing?" a familiar voice suddenly halted me in my tracks. It was Franz. He had to come back now when I'm about to wipe this guy's annoying smirk. "Keith," he called to him while descending down the flight of stairs. "I know where he is. I also got permission from my captain to leave for our journey."

    "You know her, Vaillant?" the annoying guy approached, with eyebrows raised. Franz grabbed my arm and pulled me away. "Is she finally the one for you in bed?" the annoying guy laughed.

    Franz suddenly let go and punched the annoying guy in the gut. However, the smirking soldier retaliated with a punch. "Why don't we settle this by the way of the sword?" He said handing Franz one of the sparring swords. The two started their bout. Their sword techniques are similar and repetitive but Franz was faster. The other soldiers were in awe watching him parry and attack. "So this is how the squire of the knight commander fights? So cool!"

    The praises and remarks that the soldiers gave made the knight angry. Losing his temper, he swung his sword more forcefully grunting with every s***h. A mistake came when he swung so hard he almost lost his balance. Franz took advantage of the misstep confiscating the sparring sword and punching him to the ground. "You still have so much to learn, Pence," Franz remarked as he pointed the sparring sword at his defeated foe.

    He gave the sparring swords to the soldiers and approached me. I walked towards him, then passed him, going straight for Pence, the annoyingly disrespectful knight, who was about to stand up. Before he could totally regain his balance, I gave him a powerful right hook. That should teach him a lesson. The other soldiers laughed.

    "Are you all done with your party?" Keith finally decided to mouth in. "That was a great punch, by the way. I really felt the impact."

    "Thanks. It hurt, but it was totally worth it."

    "So, how did things go, mister Franz Vaillant, squire of the knight commander?" Keith gave a shallow bow and extended his right hand making fun of Franz.

    "I know where Daniel is. He just signed up two days ago." Franz led us the way. I felt someone tapping my right shoulder. It was Laeken, who was smiling with confidence. He was with Hainse.

    "Thank you, miss," Laeken said to me. "We respect the chain-of-command, but he is a terrible captain."

    "That punch was so powerful," Hainse smiled.

    "No need to mention it. If anyone is terribly disrespectful and misogynistic here, just call me and I can punch them every day." I followed Franz and Keith who were waiting in front of a large double door. The door was strikingly similar to the doors that I usually see in castles in the movies. They were semi-circular and had some kind of mechanism where wood is put to lock it.

    We continued in a wide street with knights training in the side. Some of the soldiers were just observing, some were doing some chores, but most of my attention was gathered at the knights who were exchanging blows. Their great swordsmanship and astute technique were obvious with the way they move and how fast they were. Their swords incessantly clanked and spanked, as the metal sparked with friction and flame.

    One of the fights was just finished. The winning knight kindly reached out a hand to her defeated opponent, helping him get up. I suppose not all knights have bad attitudes after all. This winning knight, however, I feel she is different from the rest. She gathers to much attention and there is an air of strength that surrounds her.

    "Commander," Franz suddenly turned to the victor female knight.

    Commander? So she is the commander of the knights? I suddenly had goose bumps and I could not stop but feel inspired and awed with someone as strong and kind as her.

    "Squire," she replied "where have you been these past few days? I seem to recall telling you to return immediately as soon as you deliver what I told you to do."

    "There were some complications, commander."

    "Aren't there always complications?" she spoke in such a refined manner that shows nobility.

    "Commander, you must also forgive me," Franz knelt on the ground and removed the scabbard with his sword. "I must leave for a journey."

    "Why must you leave?"

    "I must do something for someone. And for me to do it, I must go on this journey."

    "Give me your sword," Franz handed his sword. "As knight commander of the Jyrian headquarters of the Knights of the Siane, I, Vanessa von Karma, knight you." She removed the sword from its scabbard and placed its tip on Franz's left shoulder. "Do you swear with the sword of justice protect the people of Siane, guard the crown from its enemies, and keep the peace and order, until the day of your demise?"

    Franz seemed surprised with what she did. "I swear with the sword of justice that I will protect the people of Siane, guard the crown from its enemies, and keep the peace and order, until the day of my demise."

    "Rise, knight. From this day until the end of time, history will no longer address you as a squire, but as a proud knight of Siane." She tapped his right shoulder and sheathed the sword. Franz stood up. Something has seemed to change in Franz. His face seemed more strong and zealous. "Do you take this sword of justice and use it only for the good of the people of Siane?"

    "I take this sword of justice and I swear that I shall only use it for the good of the people of Siane," Franz took the sword from Vanessa. Suddenly, from the hilt of the sword, golden translucent balls of light appeared. They gradually became larger moving towards Franz. Eventually, they encircled him. In an instant, they adsorbed into Franz, who shone after the process.

    "This is my parting gift. You have been an excellent squire. Do what you must do. Go to where you must go." Vanessa said. Every soldier and knight in the area applauded the sight.