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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 12, 2009 16:37:56 GMT -5
(* private: For Katrina and Ector and possibly Gwen)
(OOC: I set this back in time about 5 years ago from the current time line. Katrina is 17 and only been a knight for a month. So Ector would be 19. If this is a problem, let me know and I will modify it. The feast is a welcome feast for those new knights and fighters arriving from Redmont and is delayed because they were delayed on the road. I am assuming Sir Ector was in that delegation.)
Katrina sighed with boredom and leaned back in her low-backed chair to survey her comrades as they laughed and prepared to stuff themselves on the delayed welcome feast. She had managed to weasel out of sitting at high table with her mentor, Sir Kenyon, much to his chagrin. He had been hoping she would keep him company, but instead he was stuck listening to the Baroness of Norgate drone on and on about the latest court gossip. She quickly hid a smirk as he rolled his eyes at her across the crowded room. Of course it wasn’t quick enough, he saw and shot her a look that promised a good beating on the practice yard on the morrow for her insolence.
She picked an imaginary piece of fuzz off of her black brocade dress in an effort to convey to Sir Kenyon that she wasn’t concerned about his promised punishment. The firelight of the candles on the table glinted off the brooch of a standing unicorn pinned to the front of her low-cut bodice at the point of her cleavage and from the silver trim lining the dress’s neckline and tippets. She was wearing her auburn hair twisted up in a silver snood, white knight’s belt, the elegant silver chain of her status as a Knight around her neck and her riding boots with her knight’s spurs under the long skirts. The last was mostly because she knew it would irritate her mother to see her daughter dancing in boots and spurs, and it helped her to stand out from the other ladies as a peer of the realm. Since she was so knew to this, she enjoyed flaunting her new status in the faces of the silly court ladies that never seemed to stop gossiping about her.
She had been knighted only a month ago and though most of her physical scars had healed up, she was still having nightmares and finding it very hard to trust anyone other than Kenyon and her parents from the emotional scars left from killing her one-time lover. The cut in her thigh had been particularly troublesome, but far worse was the terrible scar across her abdomen. It was a constant reminder of her pain and shame. A shame only one other living person knew about. She twirled her finger around on the table top, staring into her goblet of wine, but seeing the carnage around her on that mountain top at the Scotti border.
Several of the other knights tried to engage her in conversation and she politely joked with them, but her heart wasn’t in it. She wished the new delegation from Redmont would arrive so they could eat and she could get out of here, back to the solace of her room, or the stables, or better yet, the practice yard. She had a lot of work to do to get back into shape after 4 weeks of lying around recovering from her wounds. Kenyon still wouldn’t let her go all out in practice. He was afraid she would open up a wound, she supposed, or perhaps that she would loose control again and accidentally kill someone. Though the knights now counted her among them, they all seemed to fear her a bit. She wished she could remember exactly why, but that whole battle was one big bloody blur of rage and hate. She couldn’t remember the details, only the bodies and faces of those she had killed. They haunted her sleep.
She took a long drink of her wine and noticed someone standing in front of her across the table at the empty space left between two senior knights. She lowered the cup as she looked up at his fine nobleman’s clothing and then into his clear, bright blue eyes and up to his sandy blond hair. He had obviously just asked her something, but she couldn’t for the life of her recall what, since she had been so deep in her melancholy mood.
She glanced quickly at the other knights around her and they all seemed to be waiting for a response from her. Quickly assessing the situation, she assumed that he had asked to sit down and so she gestured to the seat in front of her.
“Help yourself. They should be serving the feast soon, I hope.” She tried to cover up her discomfort and held out her hand daintily as a Lady is supposed to do when meeting a young nobleman, “Sir Katrina de Montgomery, the latest member of the Chivalry of Norgate.” She hoped he wasn’t another courtier that her mother had sent over. She never ceased in trying to marry Kat off to some old bore with land and titles. “And you are?” she asked him politely.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Nov 13, 2009 10:53:22 GMT -5
OOC: Ector's originally from a castle in Norgate, so he'd probably already be there. I need to change Gwen's age... I just realized that I want Ector and her to maybe be more than friends, but she's eight years younger than him. I guess it could wait awhile, when they're both old enough for the age gap to not be an issue...
Ector de Pendragon, son of Robert de Pendragon, glanced around at the lords and ladies surrounding him. After several years of being among the soldiers, he was a bit rusty on his etiquette. He could imagine his aunt's expression if he made a mistake. His father was talking with the lord of Norgate about the amount of soldiers he was required to send if there was an attack (They'd probably go to Castle Macindaw; there'd been some problems with the Scotti recently), and everyone seemed very, very dreary. Women were glancing at him and giggling shyly; he was handsome and dressed in the black and scarlet of the Pendragon house, which was a particularly remarkable house.
Finally, he came across someone who seemed somewhat interesting. A woman who was wearing the accessories of being a knight, as he was. She seemed to be staring off into space, and had the crest of a unicorn. He smirked. A unicorn. If there was a less terrifying mystical creature, he didn't know what it was. The Pendragon crest was a (wonder of wonders) dragon.
He wanted to walk over and tell her that dragon often eat unicorns and use their horns to pick the meat out of their teeth, but that would probably be a bit insulting. So instead, at a loss for anything else to do, he walked over and smiled.
"Hello, I'm Sir Ector de Pendragon. May I sit here?"
The woman seemed a bit startled and, glancing around at the other knights, gestured to the seat in front of her.
"Help yourself. They should be serving the feat soon, I hope." She held out her hand and Ector bowed politely over it and sat. "Sir Katrina de Montgomery, the latest member of the Chivalry of Norgate. And you are?" Ector smiled.
"I think I just told you," he said through the grin, just wanting to see the reaction before reintroducing himself.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 14, 2009 21:40:37 GMT -5
(OOC: Oh, sorry. I must have misunderstood your character bio. thought he grew up elsewhere and then was stationed at Norgate Castle when he was knighted. But that is ok. We can still work with this...)
Katrina flushed just a bit when he said, "I think I just told you," and grinned at him sheepishly.
"Sorry about that. I was... remembering -" she broke off and a troubled look crossed her face. After a slight hesitation she continued, "well, things I would prefer not to remember actually."
She shook off her depression and decided it was time to forget wool gathering and engage her brain. She looked him over, noting the black and scarlet colors and the dragon emblem. "Pendragon." She said abruptly. "and obviously not the elder, so you must be the son." She tapped her fingers on her chin and studied him, trying to recall what she had heard about his family. Then it came to her.
"Sir Hector, isn't it?" She pointed a finger at him and emphasized the "H", knowing it was wrong, but wanting to take a slight jab at him. She had heard he was rather pompous, but a well-respected knight.
From what she had heard about him, he actually embodied just about every quality that her mother found highly desirable in a mate for her and that Katrina despised - with the exception of him being a knight rather than a higher ranking official like a Baron, Count or Duke. She glanced at her mother and father who were seated across the room with the other Counts and Dukes and such that weren't at the high table.
Sure enough her mother was whispering to a neighbor and nodding in Katrina's direction, no doubt trying to find out who the handsome young man was that was talking to her. At this point her mother didn't care whom Katrina married as long as she didn't end up a spinster. If only her mother knew how close she had come to getting married. ..but that led her back down paths she didn't want to tread. She steered her thoughts back to Ector. At least it didn't appear as if her mother had set him on her.
"Strange that we have never met before when we both grew up in the same fief and entered Battleschool. I have been in Macindaw most of my life though." Katrina probably answered her own question. It was a big fief afterall and Sir Kenyon had kept her pretty sheltered from most of the young battleschool trainees as best he could. "Not to mention that for the last few years I have been out patrolling the borders with Sir Kenyon for the better part of that time."
She did wonder, however, how he had managed to not hear about her battle last month. It seemed to her that everyone knew about it. Maybe he had been out on the borders farther east or something.
She took another sip of her wine, wishing once again that the festivities would start so she could get out of there.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Nov 16, 2009 12:07:54 GMT -5
"Sir Hector, isn't it?", she asked. Ector, a pained look coming on his face, realized that she was probably just ribbing him. He didn't like it, but she was a girl, and not only that, she was a knight, and he was, unfortunately, probably obligated to take it like a man.
"It's... Ector, actually," he muttered. "Yes, I've been here in Norgate for most of my life as an apprentice and knight. And I grew up in a castle East of here." He sighed, and leaned his head against his hand, drumming his fingers on the table. "Sorry if I'm a bit impatient, but I just wish they'd get on with it. I mean, it can't be too difficult. It's just snow." In Norgate. In spring, when most of it's probably closer to sleet, turning mud into ice and warm clothes into sodden lumps. He felt an evil grin touch his lips when he realized that his old Battleschool mentor, Alistair, was probably braving through the weather. He sipped his water through a smirk.
Too bad for him.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 18, 2009 1:27:35 GMT -5
Katrina held back a grin at his reaction to her pronouncing his name wrong, but agreed with him wholeheartedly about the weather. "True, but I suppose there are some little delicate flowers travelling with them by cart, slowing them down." She looked up as the big doors at the end of the hall opened and a herald announced the late arrivals. "Thank God!" she muttered. "Now I'll be able to get out of here before midnight."
The dignitaries passed up to the head table as everyone stood up and bowed and then they all sat back down and the food began to be served. Katrina went back to studying her dinner companion and wondering what he was really like beneath his rather smug exterior. Could he fight? She hadn't heard.
"So, what is your weapon of choice?" She asked casually, fishing for information.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Nov 18, 2009 9:14:23 GMT -5
"So, what is your weapon of choice?" An interesting question.
"I'm a bit of a traditionalist," Ector said cheerfully. "Sword and shield. Great fun." The last part was spoken through a laugh, because the travelers had just come in. Most where bedraggled and miserable-looking, but the man Ector was staring at was by far the most miserable. Tall and slim, with blond hair and once shiny armor, the poor man looked extremely wet, cold, and irritable. Glaring at his young friend as Ector dissolved into laughter, he said angrily, "I hate you; you're a bad person." And stomped off.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 20, 2009 13:27:54 GMT -5
Katrina managed to keep a properly simpathetic look on her face while Ector's friend was admonishing him, but as soon as he walked away, she couldn't help but snicker. The travellers really did look pathetic, especially the women. They also looked like the last thing they wanted right now was a feast in their honor. Again Katrina questioned the Baroness's wisdom in holding the feast tonight. She should have held it tomorrow night. Of course knowing her, there would probably be another one. Katrina wondered what assignment she could snag that would get her out of it.
She looked up at Sir Kenyon who was now being ignored by the Baroness and saw that he offered up his seat to one of the ladies that had just arrived.
"Uh oh." Katrina said softly. "I am in for it now." She nodded her head to where Ken was trying to make his way around the room to her table. "I think there is.... um.... some armor that needs repairing over in the training room..." She stood up and winked at Ector. "or maybe someone needs to practice..." She suddenly got an inspiration, "Say Sir Ector, you wouldn't happen to want to skip this feast and go spar for a bit would you?"
She really was curious as to how good he was and who knew when their paths might cross again. Besides, she really wasn't hungry at all, having eaten only two hours earlier when she'd gotten in from a patrol. She glanced at Kenyon's progress and knew she had to hurry before he caught up to her.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Nov 30, 2009 13:38:19 GMT -5
Ector stared at her, a bit startled, then followed her gaze. A man was walking towards them, and he got the impression that she'd just done some very quick thinking.
"Sure," he said, standing up. "Ready when you are."
OC: So short. I apologize. If you want more, I'll be glad to edit.
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 1, 2009 13:13:34 GMT -5
(OOC: That is ok. It is enough.)
Katrina led the way out of the crowded hall, ignoring Sir Kenyon calling her name and the laughter of the other knights that had witnessed her hasty departure and were now teasing her mentor as he plumped down at the table in her recently vacated spot.
As they exited the hall, Katrina sighed in relief at the immediate reduction of noise when the doors closed behind them. "Whew!" She wiped her forehead. "I really hate crowds and these state dinners." She said to Ector. "How about you?" She paused long enough to let him answer, then plunged on, a bit nervously for some odd reason. She didn't know why, but he seemed to manage to get her flustered without even trying.
"I am sorry for tearing you away from you meal, but I really needed to get out of there before Sir Kenyon caught up to me. He and my mother are conspiring to get me married." She scowled at her feet for a moment as she glided down the hall at a moderate pace. Then she glanced at Ector and slowed down a moment. "In fact when I first saw you I thought my mother had put you up to talking to me - right up until I saw her asking everyone near her who you are." she laughed wryly at her mother's predictable behavior.
"I am afraid I owe you an appology for using you like this." She smiled sheepishly at him, "and we just met too. You must think something awful of me. Please forgive me and my rash impulses."
She felt the need to explain her rather abrupt actions, "It's just that Sir Kenyon was heading over toward me and he would have had me dancing with every elglilble bachelor of any rank in that hall. Not to mention he was a bit bent out of shape at getting tagged to sit at high table right next to the Baroness." A big grin spread over Katrina's face, "I am sure he is going to find me tomorrow and make me pay for laughing at him up there, but I just couldn't help it. He looked so bored and forlorn and irritated with me that I arrived too late to save him from such a terrible fate." She laughed.
"Ah well, he will make me pay for it tomorrow on the practice field I am sure. He's my mentor, you know - well former mentor I should say. I am still not used to being a knight." That train of thought led her back to the reason she was knighted early and the haunted look came back into her eyes, along with the guilt. She grew quiet and drew back into her shell.
She walked on in silence for a minute or so and then realized she wasn't exactly dressed for sword fighting. Ah well, one should be prepared to do battle whenever the need required it, as Kenyon was always saying, so she probably could use the practice fighting in a court dress. If nothing else it should prove to be entertaining. Of course that was assuming Sir Ector really did want to spar with her.
"So, is it true that you are one of the top swordsmen in your class?" She'd heard that tidbit mentioned once a while back, but wasn't sure if the source was trustworthy.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Dec 4, 2009 13:21:43 GMT -5
Ector laughed. "I wonder where you heard that," he said. "No, I have a friend who beats me every time. You should probably being sparring her right now, but alas, you'll have to settle with me." He smiled. "Alistair, the one who came by earlier, is my former mentor too, though I don't think the age difference is as big between us." He glanced at her dress. "Are you sure you're going to be able to spar in that? You may trip or rip it."
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 9, 2009 19:36:01 GMT -5
"I wonder where you heard that," he said. "No, I have a friend who beats me every time. You should probably being sparring her right now, but alas, you'll have to settle with me."
Katrina laughed, "I will try not to damage you too badly." she snorted. "But you should know that I haven't really sparred in a month. Been on the injured list. In fact this is strictly against doctor's orders." Her eyes sparkled in anticipation.
"Yeah, there is a bit of age difference between Kenyon and me. He is just about old enough to be my Father. But he is a great guy and a wonderful teacher. Years of experience." She smiled fondly.
He glanced at her dress. "Are you sure you're going to be able to spar in that? You may trip or rip it."
Katrina looked down, "probably. But it is just a dress. It can be repaired." She swirled the skirt a bit. "Besides, Ken always said to be prepared to fight at any moment, no matter where you are. This should give me some practice in case some young, handsome man assaults me on the dance floor!" She grinned at him and led them into the practice room used by the knights.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Dec 26, 2009 10:00:38 GMT -5
"That's always a possiblity," Ector said with a nod, following her into the practice room. "Particularly with Alistair in the room. He can't dance. Bad things happen when he does." He smiled reminiscently. "I believe the last girl he danced with was never seen again. Died of shame, I believe. Or was it a cracked skull? We were never sure."
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 26, 2009 10:55:31 GMT -5
Katrina laughed. This Sir Ector was beginning to grow on her. She enjoyed his twisted sense of humor.
She picked out a sword and sheild and took an easy stance in the center of the room.
"Ready when you are." She smiled at him, her sword at her side and her sheild hanging down as if she wasn't expecting an attack at all.
She was going to let him make the first attack to see what he was made of.
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Gorim
Ward
Swooping is bad
Posts: 48
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Post by Gorim on Dec 26, 2009 11:42:59 GMT -5
Ector grinned and got into a position that favored his shield, his sword angled slightly behind it. He began circling slowly watching her closely. Abruptly, he surged forward, thrusting the wooden sword at her stomach.
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 26, 2009 12:33:14 GMT -5
Katrina circled with him, lazily moving her sword to distract him as she moved her sheild up into place. She preferred to fight with a two-handed sword or florentine style with two swords because her sheild arm tired fairly rapidly with the heavy shield hanging on it.
Although she had been expecting him to attack, the speed and his angle of attack caught her off-guard. She jumped back, twisting her sword point downward and knocked his blade away, protecting her still healing stomach. He was certainly fast and she was rusty from a month of light duty and mostly bed rest.
She swung her wooden sword around at a faint to his head on the right side deliberately slowly so he would move to block it and in mid swing she dropped her forearm, changing the aim from his head to the back of his right leg, hoping to get under his shield.
Suddenly the double doors to the practice room burst open and several knights rushed in and went straight to the armory.
Katrina checked her blow at the same time as calling out "hold!" to Sir Ector and stepped back away from him, just as Sir Kenyon approached. "What's going on, Kenyon?" It still felt strange to call him by his first name as he requested instead of 'master' or 'sir' as she had while she was his student.
Kenyon glanced at Sir Ector and then his eyes settled on his former student. "Had you stuck around, you would know that a village has been burned over in the north east corner of the fief. A rider came in and said that the survivors have been shackled and are being marched back toward the Scotti border."
Katrina's face darkened. The Scotti again. She turned to Sir Ector, "Well, I guess we will have to resume this some other time. Duty calls."
Kenyon reached out a hand and laid it on her arm, detaining her, "just where do you think you are going?"
Katrina looked at him in confusion. She always rode out when he did. "With you of course!"
Ken shook his head. "You are still under medical restrictions. The physcians were very adamant that you spend at least 3 more weeks on the light duty list."
Katrina scowled, stupid doctors. Of course she realized they were right... she wasn't in any shape to fight right now, but she wasn't going to be left behind. "Suppose I just come along as your man-at-arms? Stay in the background, keep your weapons up, take care of camp - strictly no fighting. Please?" She looked up at him with a hopeful gleam in her green eyes. "I am going stir crazy around here!"
The other knights had gathered up their travelling gear and were rushing out of the room to go tack up their riding and war horses. Ken hesitated, but he felt for the girl, having been left behind once himself when on the injured list. It was hard to take, expecially when your friends didn't come back alive. He finally nodded. "As long as" he pointed a finger at her, "your father gives his approval. You better find him quick and I want to hear it from his mouth."
Katrina beamed. "You bet!." she turned to run out of the room, and then remembered Ector, "I hope you are coming along, Sir Ector. I would like to get to know you better. I have to run right now though, before my father leaves the great hall."
Katrina only gave him a minute to answer before she pushed her way out of the room to go find her father to get permission to go with them. She couldn't bare the thought of another three weeks around the castle knowing Ken and all the others were out fighting the Scotti.
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