บท 70: Chapter XVII: The Knight Lord and the Jester [1]

THE THUMPING OF wood against wood resonated across the training yard inside the bailey of a castle, littered with target dummies, soldiers, and wooden and blunted weapons. Several dozens of men were huddled together sat upon the grass on the ground, gazing upon the two combatants before them. As the wind howled bringing comfort to the soldiers, the verdict of the match was decided. It was a young man in a man-at-arms' garb– the usual mail and gambeson commonly seen in Estveine– bearing his wooden imitation of a halberd, pitted against a man almost in his forties, dressed in no more than a letter jerkin and armed only with a wooden sword, and the result of the duel was in favor of the latter. The young man tried to stand and thank his opponent, but before he could do so, he was once again on the receiving end of a barrage of blows, to which all he could so was protect his head and rely upon his armor to accept the strikes.