Read a snippet from Tw’Elf Knight, out August 16th!
Setting: The Knights of Elbion (Olivia, Elias, Fabian, and Ursula) are gathered in the stables, armoring up for the first round of the day’s jousting tournament.
“Elias, you look like you didn’t get a wink of sleep,” I said.
He cleared his throat and seemed to realize I was next to him for the first time that morning. “Ah, yes, felt a bit restless.”
“Excuse me for charging in headlong with this, but I am a knight. What did the elves want with you in the tavern? Have you been implicated in a crime? Do we need to come to your defense?”
“Oh, no, no…” He waved that off. “Nothing major. You know how elves are. Always taking ourselves too seriously. It’s why I prefer the company of knights instead.”
“I’ve never seen them in Wilde’s Abbey before,” I said. “Couldn’t have been something minor.”
“Just tell us this,” Ursula said, teaming up with me, “are you in trouble?”
Elias opened his mouth to answer then paused. After a sigh, he said, “I don’t think so.”
I tuned in, waited for my Judgment to tingle, but as far as I could tell with the little of my power I was working with, he was telling the truth. Then again, my gift was still so limited.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll believe you, but just know that we’re all absolutely dying to hear the details, if you ever get the itch to tell them. And what you tell us can stay between us.”
Elias scoffed. “Not so long as Sir Ursula Bavardage is among our number.”
I felt a tap on my knee and looked down to find Caroline, my squire, staring up at me with my helmet in her hands. “Almost time, Sir Olivia.”
I tuned in and heard Yorick’s loud voice warming up the crowd in the arena. He was the jester of Elbion first and foremost, and was the only one allowed to ridicule the king and queen without fear of punishment. King Symon loved him more than anyone else in this Purgatorio. Yorick’s deep desire to hold the spotlight couldn’t be sated by a single royal pair, though, so during the daylight hours, while Queen Collette (may she die before her time) slept off her hangover and the king got up to whatever mischievous diversion held his attention, Yorick was allowed to be our warm-up act.
The crowd loved him, and I loved him for getting the crowd on my side. Every time I rode into the ring atop Mysterium, I was greeted by cheers from my section. Those people had no loyalty to me before entering the stands, and they simply grabbed the first seat they could find based on where they entered from. But once they were seated and fell under the jester’s witty and cunning spell, those in the seats bearing the colors of Autumn were eager to support me by the first tilt.
As I acknowledged Caroline and reached for my helmet, a sudden desperate yell from inside the stables stopped me short.
“Help! Sir Knights!”
Bartholomew, the horsemaster was wide eyed as he dug his heels into the hay-covered floorboards, coming to a quick stop. He spread his arms wide in a desperate appeal to our group of knights and attendants. “Come quick! Over in one of the vacant stalls. I don’t know when she got there! I just found her!”
Fabian dismounted first in his usual elegant manner, his armor clanking with each step toward the young man. “Slow down. What is this about? What has you spooked? Speak plainly.”
Only once the Spring Knight clapped a hand on Bartholomew’s shoulder was the horsemaster able to speak with any coherence.
“There’s a woman,” he proclaimed, “lying facedown in one of the stalls. I think… I think she’s dead.”