Page 16 of Keeper of the Flame: Orrick

“But you’re not a knight.”

That made Orrick stop in his tracks and turn around. “Noah, you need to keep your voice down,” he said lowly, scanning the crowd of onlookers already settling in the lists to use the knights’ practice as their form of daily entertainment. “You need to pretend. Can you do that for me?”

“Oh, I like games,” squealed the boy, clapping his hands together. “If you’re going to play knight, can I pretend I’m your squire?”

“Sure, I don’t care. Pretend you are whatever you want to be.” He turned back around and headed through the gates, catching the attention of all the knights, squires and pages.

“Who is he?” asked one of the knights, polishing his sword with a rag.

“I’ve never seen him before,” said another.

“He looks familiar, but I just cannot put my finger on who he might be,” said a squire.

“Sir Rick,” Corbett thankfully called out, hurrying over to meet him.

“Lord Corbett,” said Orrick, nervously surveying the other men. These were skilled warriors who could probably take off his head with one swipe of their sword. Good thing this was just practice and they’d be using blunted blades.

“What are you doing here and dressed like that?” Corbett’s eyes scanned down Orrick’s body.

“I made the mistake of saying to the women that I needed to get to the practice yard. Before I knew it, they said they would be here watching me.”

“Over here, Sir Rick!”

He looked over to the lists to see Ladies Hope and Grace sitting right in the front row. He groaned and ran a weary hand through his hair.

“This isn’t good,” said Corbett knowingly.

“It’s worse than you think,” Orrick told him. “The girls tricked me. They distracted me and stole a key to my tower room as well as the book explaining all about the Eternal Flame.”

“What are you going to do about it?” asked Corbett.

“I’m not too worried,” said Orrick. “I can always enchant my door not to open. As for the book – it has a spell on it. It is in code and no one can read it. Or I should say no human without magic can break the code. However, one with magic only has to read the title on the cover out loud and it breaks the spell and then anyone can read the words.”

“Then it’s a good thing Lady Hope doesn’t have magic.”

“Aye, you are right. But like I said, I don’t have to worry about that. She’ll see the gibberish and get discouraged and put the book down.”

Corbett eyed Orrick’s appearance since he was no longer dressed like a sorcerer but, instead, like a knight. “You’re really going to fight today?” asked Corbett in surprise.

“I don’t have a choice. I told the ladies that is what I am doing and I don’t want them to think I’m a liar. Just let me spar with a man or two with a blunted edge and then I’ll leave. I’ll do it just long enough to satisfy the ladies.”

“You don’t understand, Orrick,” said Corbett, leaning in to speak in a mere whisper. “This isn’t a practice with blunted blades today.”

“It’s not?” This surprised Orrick to hear this.

“Nay. It’s an actual competition. There are knights here from several surrounding castles to compete. Sir Irwin and his men are entered to fight as well. These aren’t blunted swords, they’re sharp and dangerous. The weapons are real and it is more than likely that men will get hurt today. I’ve ordered them all not to kill each other, but each man is a worthy opponent.”

“I see. All right, I’ll fight with my sword even though it’s not nearly as sharp as it used to be.”

“Nay,” said Corbett. “You haven’t fought in too long. You are forgetting that this is dangerous. Like I said . . . men will be hurt today.”

“Nay, you are the one who is forgetting that I cannot be hurt, Lord Corbett. Or at least, not physically anyway. Neither can I be killed. I assure you, there is nothing to worry about.”

“But I’ve never even seen you fight, Orrick.” Corbett narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “Are you any good?”

Just that question sparked something inside Orrick and now he wanted to prove just how good he used to be. “Bring on my opponent and you’ll see how well I fight.”

“Mayhap you’d better watch for a while first,” suggested Corbett.