The Second Duel Edward arrived at the stadium just in time. He grabbed a wooden sword, put his armor on right before the king’s assistant called out his name. “Introducing the soldier who beat Sir Nicholas, Edward of Canterbury!” There was a great roar of applause from the crowd as Edward entered the stadium. Edward swung his sword around a couple of times and got ready to face his opponent. “And his challenger, Sir Richard of Lewes!” Edward was thinking, “That’s the fighter I saw with the red cross on his shield. I wished I could beat him them, and I am sure of it now.” “Ready? Fight!” said the king’s assistant Edward charged at Richard. Richard got ready to face Edward’s charge by brandishing his sword menacingly to try and throw his momentum off. Edward suddenly dove forward to the ground, dodging Richard’s surprise attack. The knight leaped to the side in order not to be stabbed, and then slashed where Edward’s head should have been, but the younger contestant had rolled to the right at the last second and then leapt up with a diagonal thrust. Richard easily blocked the assault, and their swords became locked. Both Englishmen pushed with their sword with all their might, but Edward was not as strong as Richard, so the young warrior found himself being driven to his knees. He pushed up with all his might, and then leapt to the side, and twisted his body to the right to still face his opponent. While still airborne, Edward had to parry two quick slashes by Richard, intended to catch him off guard. But Edward parried them, landed, and pushed off the ground to attack his foe. Richard blocked the first top right slice linked into a left slash with his sword, and then ducked and let a head bound slash sail right over him. He then blocked the next attack with his shield and then responded with a fake backhand hack turned into a forward thrust. Edward blocked that with his shield, and then for a moment, the two combatants did not attack, but stood there, panting. Edward and Richard moved in a circle, each waiting for the other to attack. The older knight’s red cross shield came sweeping left, blocking Edward’s sword, while his sword came slicing from the right. He pushed the cross shield with his forearm and blocked the blade with his shield. “I understand how you defeated my brother. But you will not defeat me!” exclaimed Richard. “Let me see you battle me without your shield. I don’t think you can beat me without a shield, as you did my brother.” “Fine! It is time to decide who is better with a sword only,” said Edward, still thinking about Richard being brothers with Nicholas. As both combatants put their shields down, the crowd became silent, hoping that it wasn’t over, but then loader than ever when Richard charged at Edward. He swung his sword two-handed, adding tremendous power to his attack. Edward smacked the other weapon with his own blade, thrusting Richard’s sword to go sideways. This is what Edward needed, so he stabbed straight at the red cross on his opponents breastplate. But the attack did not hit the armor. Rather, it hit Richard’s sword, which he had spun downwards for the block. Edward was astonished by the block, but knew that Richard was wearing down, along with himself. He swung his blade left, reversed it, twirled it over his head back to his right side, and ended in a backhanded slash. Unfortunately, the elder knight followed every move and parried the attack. Edward reversed the sword, attacked right, and then flicked the sword to his left hand. He caught it and then stabbed Richard, all in one fluid motion. “And the winner is… Edward of Canterbury!” said the king’s assistant. The crowd applauded for Edward. Richard got up from off of the ground, and went over to Edward. “Excellent show! I now know how you beat my brother. You are a very talented fighter. It has been a long time since my brother and the same person in a tournament has defeated us. Just wait to the next tournament after the Crusade. I will beat you!” said Richard. King Richard walked up to Edward and said, “That was some excellent swords play. Richard is also going on the Crusade. Have you thought about it any more?” “I have decided to go. I will go with you to the very end. When will the Crusade start?” asked Edward “Whenever we are ready. It will probably be after the tournament, but no one knows what event will transpire to change that though,” answered the king. Edward left the stadium, and went to his uncle’s house, where he was staying for the remainder of the tournament. He walked in and told his uncle about the battle that had just happened. His uncle wasn’t too surprised at the outcome. Edward went to bed to get energized for the next duel. Edward woke up the next morning and got dressed. He grabbed his armor, and left his uncle’s house to get to the stadium early to watch some of the earlier duels. When he got there, there was a duel that just started. The two contestants were each around thirty years of age. The battle was quite boring compared to Edward’s battles. Finally one of the contestants attacked with great fury, slashing left, reversing right, faking that, and then stabbing the other one in the thigh, followed by a slash to the chest. The crowd applauded, but not loudly, for the winner. Edward went down to the lower deck and put on his armor, and grabbed a wooden sword. “It’s a good thing that we’re not using real swords, or else we would’ve lost a lot of good knights by now.” said Edward as he grabbed a sword. He did his battle meditation and warm-ups to ready him for the battle. He finished and entered the arena. “Now introducing… Edward of Canterbury!” The crowd cheered very loudly for Edward. Edward took his sword and saluted to the crowd and to King Richard. “Introducing his challenger…. Gregory of Southampton!” The crowd cheered for Gregory. “Fight!!!” The Third Duel Edward waited for Gregory to do something. Gregory charged with great speed and strength, but not enough to stop Edward. Edward ran out to meet him and parried all the attacks, and answered with some of his own. Gregory parried all of those attacks. Gregory took his shield and attempted to ram Edward. But Edward was too quick for him. Edward ducked and pushed up with all of his might on the bottom of the shield. Gregory’s shield flew out of his hands, and went far away in the stadium. The crowd cheered for Edward’s brilliant move, but he wasn’t done yet. Gregory watched his shield in amazement for a couple of seconds, and that was all Edward needed. He took his opportunity to strike, and attacked to the left side, but then stopped it and attacked up. Gregory barely blocked the second attack and was struck by a stab in the side. Gregory fell to the ground, defeated. “The winner is…. Edward of Canterbury!” The crowd cheered for Edward as he helped Gregory off of the ground. As Gregory walked out of the arena, King Richard came over to Edward and said, “Nice fight! That was a very short duel! You are now in the semifinal round of the tournament. Congratulations!” Edward went out of the arena and headed to his uncle’s house. When he got there, his uncle wasn’t there. Edward searched around the house, but couldn’t find him. He finally found him at the lake feeding the ducks. “Uncle, what are you doing feeding the ducks?” His uncle didn’t respond. He asked again, “Uncle Henry! What are you doing feeding the ducks?” His uncle still didn’t answer. Edward walked over to his uncle. His uncle didn’t really notice him. Edward grabbed a piece of bread, and threw it at the water. The ducks swam over and ate it. “I’m not feeling that well,” said his uncle. “Do you need a doctor? What’s wrong?” His uncle just collapsed into the water. “Uncle!!!!” said Edward as he dove into the water to try and save him. Edward swam around, searched for his uncle, found him, and grabbed him. He swam up to the surface, gasping for breath. He pulled his uncle up to the shore, and asked if he was okay. His uncle didn’t respond. He took his uncle to the nearest monastery, and asked if the healers there if they knew what disease he had. They didn’t know right away what disease he had, but they said that they would try to figure out what it was and cure it. Edward thanked them and left the monestary. Edward went back to the arena for his next duel, in the semifinal round. He got there, and put his armor on. He then grabbed a wooden sword, and practiced with it. “Now the contestants for the next duel. First, Edward of Canterbury!!!!!” said the king’s assistant. “His challenger is Isaac of Norwich!!!!” The crowd cheered deafeningly for the two contestants. “Ready…. Fight!!!” I reposted the first part becuase it had weird symbols that were very distracting! Hope you all like it!