[originally published January 3, 2013]
Torvaagh warily marked the rider entering the edge of the tourney encampment. For a moment, the pennon on the knight's lance caught in the chill spring breeze, displaying the arriving knight's crest- lone bloodstone on a crimson field. Every child born in the Grommon'Kash knew this standard, and the half-orc ranger scowled darkly at the rider's presence here. He pulled the hood of his cloak low over his eyes and melted back into the bustling throng. His mistress would wish to know of this one's arrival.
* * *
Callista noted her kinsman's entrance as he slipped quietly inside
through the rear of her pavilion. She
did not look up from where she sat on her favorite bench, sharpening the edge
of her enchanted battle axe, Stonesplitter. "Tell me Torvaagh," she muttered,
"who have you seen among the tents?
Who is my competition?"
"The tournament is well attended, cousin. I have seen a great number of the bannermen
of both Vaasa and Damara, though I do not know all their arms. Among these many knights is Rikkard the Fair,
whom I am told has been here a fortnight already, drinking and singing" he
began. "The Tuigan has come." Callista snorted at that. "Rulayne Ogreslayer. Brunthar Elventree . . . and the Red
Knight."
Callista paused briefly, then resumed her task.
"Baronesss Varisia." She frowned, much as her kinsman had done before her. "I have not known the Red Knight of Damara to sully herself with tourney fighting. I had always thought she considered it beneath her."
"Perhaps she is looking for a new challenge," Torvaagh replied sarcastically.
"Perhaps," she echoed, "or perhaps she seeks yet another Armageddon to put to the sword, if the opportunity should arise. Accidents do happen . . ."
Callista gently ran her thumb over Stonesplitter's newly ground edge, drawing both blood and a contemptuous smile. "And perhaps it's time to give her ladyship the beating she so richly deserves."
* * *
The two knights closed on each other, shields and weapons at the ready,
each looking for the slightest advantage, the smallest opening to score a
telling blow. "Tell me
Callista," the red-clad knight offered in taunt. "How does a lordless hedge knight find
herself in a list such as this? Was it
merely luck, or did you have to pay a special 'entry fee' to the master of the
tourney?"
The half-orc stepped into her scarlet opponent, locking shield to
shield, pivoted expertly, and launched her full weight forward into her
foe. The red knight went sprawling
ignominously down into the dust.
"Today you will become the White Knight of Damara, Varisia,"
Dame Callista Armageddon answered grimly.
"Once I've spilt all the Red out of you." The knight raised Stonesplitter over her
head.
"Now shut up and bleed."