Chapter 7

As they approached the castle they were struck by how "clean" it was.

Most castles Dusty had come to notice were really dusty, dirty, old buildings. Since everyone who lived or worked at some of the various castle didn't have private bathrooms or running water to their rooms, an idea Dusty was still wrapping his head around, they often threw things they didn't want into the moat surrounding the castle.

They did this for "convenience" instead of heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night or to where their trash was supposed to be stored.

It wasn't uncommon to find waste of all types in the moat as well as unwanted items like clothing and food. Moats around some castles were Petri dishes of death just waiting to kill anyone who fell in it.

But this castle was different.

As they approached it Dusty was sure that the water was almost so crystal clear that he pictured that he could almost see the bottom. As they rode over the moat, using the bridge, he realized that they had placed stones along the sides and bottoms that kept it from getting muddy.

Dusty figured that they had some form of filtration system, either mechanical or magical, but he couldn't see it from where he was.

The walls were as clean as could be expected of an older building, and as they approached the gates there were a combination of dual thick iron lattice worked gates that swung to the outside of the walls, a single gate that slid straight up, and dual wooden gates that swung inside the wall, that obviously had a bar for them to use to protect it.

It wasn't a gate that would be easily breached by anyone using regular martial siege weapons. Dusty looked and he could see the faint magical aura and knew that they were protected from magical attacks as well.

Even the Castle they just left Marie at wasn't this fortified or orderly. The Queen really was intent on doing what she felt was best and it was obvious in her day to day life and that the people respected her for it.

As they approached the gate the Men at arms stopped them.

"Ho. What business do you have with the castle?" asked the Man to the right as he stepped forward and slammed his pike on the ground.

"We would like an audience with the Queen," said Dusty.

"The Queen, our monarch, is very busy. She can't meet with just anyone who strolls up to the castle asking for her," said the man with a slight sneer.

"It is important. We are trying to find out whom is attacking both your Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Trestenall," said Dusty.

At the mention of the other Kingdom both men slightly stiffened, and Dusty's party could see their eyes narrow and they took a better grip on their weapons.

"Are you in league with those cowardly dogs?" asked the man again.

"No we are not. We were traveling and came upon a massacre in Trestenall, in the small town of Tolenburg and we helped them. We met with their King and he asked us to speak with the Queen to see if we could come to some resolution," said Dusty.

"Wait here," said the first guard.

While they wanted the noticed the second guard still didn't stop looking like he was going to attack them at any moment. After about fifteen minutes the first guard was back.

"Follow me," said the guard and turned without looking back.

The five of them followed the man further into the castle, but once inside he turned and entered a building close to the walls that they entered. It was obviously the guard house and no where near the main area of the castle.

Inside, there were five seats in a semi circle facing a plain wooden desk. Seated at the desk was a man in very nice clothing. It was flowing robes and he was wearing a dagger tied to his side. The man looked to be in his late fifties, had a full head of hear that was white on the sides and light brown on the top.

Next to him stood a burly blonde haired man with a buzz style hair cut. The man whole presence reeked of authority. Dusty could see his thick arms and calloused hands as soon as he entered the room.

The guard from the gate gestured at the chairs and turned and left.

Since the man seated did not rise when Lori and Suzan entered, it was obvious that they were considered either spies, or to be interrogated for what they knew. Either way they weren't being seen as guest and common civility would not be offered to them.

Once they were seated the man cleared his throat and spoke.

"I was told you wanted to meet with the Queen. That will be impossible for she is far to busy at present. But I am her secretary. I am the Marquis Allen Kreutzer. I need to ask you why you are here," said the Marquis

"Well it is exactly what we told the guard. We were traveling and got pulled into this because we helped the Captain of the King's army out by saving lives after they were attacked. Afterwards we met with the King. He seemed intent that it was your Kingdom that was attacking them, but it didn't make sense.

"There were no demands and no one seemed to know how it was done or who did it. Whoever did it left like a thief in the night. All they wanted to do was harm people. Several people died and many more were harmed.

"The King implied that it was your Kingdom doing it, and were trying to shift blame by saying that it was happening to you as well. But as we traveled here we could see that you have had your share of attacks as well.

"All were trying to do is get to the bottom of this and stop the attacks," said Dusty

"What do you get out of this?" asked the Marquis.

"To be honest our guild was contacted by a concerned party and they were concerned that a war between you two could damage trade and they asked we help out by figuring who stood to gain from your Kingdoms fighting and put a stop to it," said Dusty with a smile.

"And you client is..." said the Marquis.

"I'm sorry we can't give that out. It's for no other reason than because they want to help and not have you concentrate on why they want to help. If we figure out what is going on we are to share it with both Kingdoms and find a way to prevent this from happening again. The King of Trestenall has already agreed to allow us to help," said Dusty.

"Hmm, while this is something we should discuss it will take about two months for us to be in a position for the Queen to consider this," said the Marquis as he leaned back.

Dusty became alarmed.

Everything they heard about the Queen said she was quick to action. If this was true, then he was playing with them and had no intention of letting them meet with her before she declared war on Trestenall.

"Is it true that anyone is able to enter in the festival of the Queen's Champion?" asked Rachel as she seemed to be changing the subject.

Everyone, including her friends, looked at her strangely at her question.

"Yes young lady it is," answered the Marquis as he looked at her strangely.

"Would the Queen be willing to listen to our request if one of us won?" asked Rachel.

Smiling at what he thought was a private joke the Marquis said "If one of you is able to win that is true. But the current Champion is 10 seasons undefeated. He first won when he was but seventeen seasons and looks to take it again this season."

"Ok it's settled then. If we can manage to win that's all it will take for us to earn a meeting correct?" asked Rachel making sure.

The Marquis just nodded smiling.

"Unless you need more from us we should go prepare. I hear it starts at the beginning of the week," said Rachel as she rose from her seat.

The rest did and nodded goodbye as they left. Once outside they noticed that the same Man at arms was waiting in the hallway to escort them outside.

Once outside they headed back to the Inn to talk about what was the plan and who was entering.

After they left, the Marquis turned to the man who stood behind him to speak with him for a moment.

"Captain, Jon, what was your assessment?" asked the Marquis.

"Allen I believe they aren't here to harm us, but my spies in Trestenall said that they did have an audience with the King and all he wanted was for them to find a way to end the fighting. I gave you that report days ago, so why did the Queen want them turned away?" asked Jon.

"She wanted to see if they have what it takes. The spy wasn't sure how they convinced the King to give them a chance, so she wanted to see if they have the power and skill to actually do something helpful and warrant her trust, regardless if the king of Trestenall gave his. The festival would be a good gauge she felt. I was to suggest it if they didn't," smiled Allen.

"Well if anything it should be new blood for the festival," smiled Jon as he left the office.

After they were situated at the Inn everyone turned to look at Rachel, but she seemed to be lost in thought as she mock chewed at her thumb.

"Ok Rachel out with it. What was that?" asked Lori.

"What was what?" asked Rachel.

"You know what. Why are we competing in the festival? We're here to stop a war not enjoy ourselves," said Lori.

"You heard him he wasn't going to let us meet with the Queen before our deadline was past. We need to meet with her as soon as possible. So I suggested what I could to make it happen," said Rachel.

"But who's going to fight?" Mark asked

"From what I gathered it's a straight martial arts fight, so Lori is out and Dusty can't use magic, but I'm thinking it will be myself, Dusty, Mark and Suzan," said Rachel as she looked at them all intently.

Something about Rachel right then seemed to make them feel that she desperately wanted to compete. That struck everyone as strange because Rachel hardly ever wanted to compete against anyone for any reason. She was content in the knowledge of her own skills.

"Well, I was planning on keeping Lori company and possibly talking with various people at the festival. I bet I can get more information that way as well, but I think I might want to test myself as well," smiled Suzan.

"Well count me out. I'm not quite as good as the rest of you and certainly not good enough to be here yet," said Mark as he looked around at them.

"No this may be just what you need. You need experience and the best way to get it is to fight everyone you can. You can learn far more in a tournament like this than anywhere else," said Dusty with a smile.

Mark seemed thoughtful for a moment. As he was thinking Lori slid around him and ended up in his lap and kissed him.

As he smiled at her she said "You know, I would like to watch my man as he fights. No matter how it turns out, I'll be there to congratulate you no matter if you win or lose," said Lori with a smile.

While only looking at Lori Mark said "Forget what I said, count me in!"

Everyone laughed before they called it a night.

The rest of the week was busy and before they realized, it was the start of the following week and they would need to get ready for the festival.

They knew that Marie was still waiting to hear when they were heading out to tour the Counts lands, but she was gushing about spending her time with Seth and how much she enjoyed it. These weeks she had been spending together with him was drawing them closer.

Everyone could hear in her voice her excitement and they were happy for her. They were sure it wouldn't be long before she made him hers. They told her about their plans to compete and she wished them the best before her crystal died.

It would be another week before they talked to her again.

As the festival started everyone headed to the parade ground to register the three fighters. There was a table setup near the large open door way that had several people seated behind it.

There were many different types of competitions from archery, and javelin's, to ring tosses for the children. It was billed as something to bring the children too.

There was also jousting for Knights only, but the main event was the fighting that was open to all that could possibly cause a change in social stature for someone. As the four of them registered they each got a ribbon that signified they were fighting in the challenge.

Suzan as well as Rachel signed up to fight in the challenge on the men's side. The promoters did mention that while there was a women's division, they were the only two to sign up to fight men. They said it to discourage the women, but neither one would back down and happily took their ribbons and left.

As the group entered the grounds the sounds from what everyone was doing assaulted them all at once. They could see all the people already enjoying themselves.

Dusty estimated it was about three football fields in length and about two wide to accommodate everything. At the far end was an area that was surrounded by a wooden platform that the queen sat on, and the rest of the area was surrounded by many rows wooden bleachers.

The whole area was setup in a circle with a raised platform that was a in a circle as well with a wooden wall that had an open area on the ground that separated the fighters from the spectators.

Everyone split up to look around and watch the different events as Dusty and Suzan and Mark and Lori went off as a separate pair and Rachel left on her own to explore for a bit before they were to meet backup for a noon meal.

Rachel was trying to get a good view of all the contestants for the challenge later in the afternoon, but she was trying unsuccessfully to convince herself she wasn't looking for Daniel.

As she walked around trying to casually look at everyone, Jolene caught sight of her in the distance. She could see the ribbon on her arm that signified she was a contestant. The fact it was blue and not red said she was fighting with the men.

She nodded to herself and smiled as she herself intermingled with the crowds. The young lady took her advice and entered on the right side. This might turn out better than she planned, thought Jolene as she moved away.

The events of the day went on and the various events had their winners and losers, but right after the lunch gong sounded to signify the ending of the noon meal, everyone headed to the far side of the grounds to take their seats to watch the main event.

They found out that the event was split into two days.

There were forty contestants including the current champion. He would fight at the bottom of the primary bracket. If there had been an odd number that had signed up he could have been inserted on the second day, but he wanted to fight from the ground up.

The way it was explained to them was of the forty there would be twenty matches that would reduce the contestants to twenty people. Then during the second round of matches that would further reduce those contestants down to ten people. This would all take place on the first day.

During the second day there would start off ten fighters and whittle down to the Grand Champion of the Queen's Champion of the festival.

If the winner was already Nobility they would be able to ask the Queen for something if it was in the Queen's power to give it would be awarded to them. If the winner wasn't nobility then they would be knighted on the spot.

After getting their numbers, they found that Rachel was fighting in the first match against a man who was a spear user. Suzan was fighting in the seventh match against a staff user, Mark was in the twelfth match against a fellow sword user and Dusty was registered as the only unarmed fighter in the last match of the first round against a dual sword user.

All weapons were dulled and while someone could still kill someone with a weapon it was discourage because it wouldn't show the Queen your true skill if you had that little control.

The rules were simple. If you forced your opponent out of the ring, knocked them out, or they said "I yield" then you won.

Everyone was able to sit together because the contestants could bring one person with them as either their second or as their significant other. Since everyone was fighting except Lori she was able to sit with Mark and watch from the ground area.

For Rachel's first match she won easily.

The man she was fighting clearly under estimated her because he was almost a head taller, had more muscle, and thought because he was a man that he could get a quick win off of her.

Once the match was called to start, he started by thrusting the business end of his spear at her legs and then reversing the butt end of the spear at her head. His plan was to force her quickly out of the ring by scaring her.

But as he did, he swung the spear at her feet and she did as he expected and jumped back, but he was so intent on completing his move, he was in the middle of turning his back to swing it at her face and he missed seeing that while she leaped backwards she didn't stay that way for long.

While still in motion as she leaped forward she lowered her shoulder and hit him full on the back. This was enough to cause him to lose his balance and stumble close to the edge but not to fall out of the ring completely.

Yet even as swiftly as the man regained his balance to turn around, he still never saw Rachel because she had already leapt into the air, and was already turning her body as if it was a windmill, with one leg rising as the other was coming down, while appearing to be doing the splits in mid air, as she spun and turned.

Just before the kick landed, she folded her back leg under her so that she could get her entire weight behind the one that was straight out in front of her as she came down, so that it would cause maximum damage.

She landed her kick easily and caught her opponent just below the throat at the top of his chest, and the man shot out of the ring to land on his head and shoulders and was knocked unconscious from the impact with the ground.

Rachel, barely breaking a sweat, turned and beamed at her friends as she slowly waved to the roar of the crowd. They didn't expect the small woman to win so easily against a larger opponent.

As she turned she caught sight of Daniel not that far away on the other side of the ring where the other contestants were seated since they were split into two groups. He seemed to also be smiling and cheering for her as well. Blushing, she quickly lowered her arm and stepped out of the ring.

Jolene from the stands saw what happened and she just smiled and nodded. She knew she was right about that girl as she watched Daniel sit up a little straighter and pay more attention to her fight.

As Rachel sat down she was still blushing heavily as she had her back slapped and patted by all the spectators that could reach her as they continued to cheer all the way up until the next match.