WAR, BLOOD AND DRAGONS

Chapter 7: The attack

The crowd booed Oscar, but Greynor clapped as if he were impressed, but he wasn't and neither was the king. Jakar was relieved, whilst Matar seemed as impressed as Leah was.

"That was such an impressive performance, hound. I was very entertained, and I'm sure you wouldn't mind a second opponent, would you?" Greynor said aloud.

"I'm not here for anybody's entertainment, my Prince" Oscar replied as well.

"Then it would be a shame to find nobody defending your lady's honor" Greynor laughed.

"Go fetch Abgan" he said to one of the king's guards behind the king.

"I think we've seen enough, boy." The king dismissed

"Father, that green bastard fell Joben, a hulk even our knights wouldn't face, that sends a message"

"Green? That boy has seen more wars than you, who has never set foot in a battlefield, and any message that has been sent here today is of your hand...some king you're growing up to be" King Greymon scoffed.

"There is no shame in defending our honour, Father; our house must be feared, and that bastard must learn. Bring Abgan Sir mallow" Greynor said, and Sir Mallow obliged.

"Lady Hearst is about to become your sister-in-law; that makes her family" Greyson repudiated trying earnestly to cloak his profound displeasure.

"That bastard sure isn't my family, and I want him dead" Greynor growled.

Abgan was brought to the field not long after, he was huge as well but dressed in rags. He was a filthy prisoner jailed for his crimes of banditry and sexual assault. He is famous for his brutish nature, so evident it took more than 5 city watchmen to bring him down. Abgan was more fat than muscular with a round, dull face and although they put a sword in his hand and sent him off to face Oscar, his poor hygiene seemed more of a bigger threat.

They promised to shorten his years of sentence if he could defeat Oscar but that didn't seem likely because he was slower than Joben and wore no body armor as his fat belly wouldn't tolerate one, his swings allowed for more opening when deflected and this came as no surprise, Abgan was a brute but he had no military training nor experience, Oscar, in evading three of Abgan's big swings encouraged the big man to move forward and when he did so did Oscar, putting his left foot against Abgan's left and then using his right to kick Abgan behind the knee, this sent the big man kneeling over, providing the opening Oscar required to bury his spear's end into his back, Abgan cried in pain as his sword fell, Oscar took out the bloody spear and threw it away, then he picked up Abgan's sword and the big man could only manage to crawl away in fear, but Oscar walked right up to him, lifted the sword in the air and chopped off his head, blood splattered across and the crowd cheered but when Oscar picked up the severed head, dripping with blood, walked over to the eastern end of the field where the king and his family sat above and lifted the head for them to see, they went mute.

The king was shocked, and so was Greyson. Marilyn was impressed, but Greynor was boiling with fury.

"The arrogance," Lord Yadrick Dover gleamed in disgust.

"I want 5 men on him" Greynor ordered.

"Enough of this nonsense, I'll have none of it" the king barked at his son.

"Father, their impunity must be..."

"I said no, and I am the king!" Greymon declared

"It's an insult to us, and if you won't challenge it, I will" Greynor insisted, pulling out his sword and rising in readiness to face Oscar.

"Put your sword away you reckless fool, he'll gut you like a fish" the king squawked at him.

"Surely 5 of our best would end this charade, your Majesty, the crowd is watching after all" Dover suggested. Greymon, although reluctantly, gave consideration to Dover's words and gave the signal to Sir Mallow, who left at once to find worthy opponents.

"Strength is never attained by desperate acts of self-glorification; that's called pride. Strength is earned, and your ignorance of this brings our house shame and shows how unprepared you are to become king" Greymon said to his son, utterly disappointed, but Greynor simply took his seat and paid him no mind.

5 men were selected from amongst the city watch to face Oscar. The boy grinned and proceeded to select two short swords for the bout. The men had half-plate armours on as usual for the city watch with vambraces, helms and shields. They formed a wall, placing their shield forward and their swords atop pointing outwards. Then they marched slowly in unison towards him, Leah was fully invested, hoping Oscar would emerge victorious.

He stood before the one in the middle who had his sword at the ready to strike and he kicked the man's shield sending him backwards thus breaking the wall, he defended against the two closest to him who swung at him and when the fellow that was kicked ran forward to join in, Oscar grabbed his shield and rolled backwards like a wheel, sending the man to the ground where he struck lethally at the neck, the remaining four came swinging but he eluded them by ducking down and dashing through two of them with both his swords slicing through their thighs, they kept at him still, attacking in disarray and giving him as little room as possible, Oscar held his own but sustained a cut on his left leg however he did manage to kill another with a lethal jab at the upper arm causing severe blood loss, he then found an opening when he faced one of them without a shield who was also limping, he blocked his strike, lifted the man and threw him at another leaving only one standing and Oscar pounced on him like a man possessed, strike after strike, he fought back as well but was no match for Oscar's pace, he got a sword to the throat and in that spirit he hurtled forth at the other 2 whom were without their helms or shield, his two swords gave him the advantage of landing quick strikes and deflecting all at the same time, they both suffered at least 3 flesh cuts in the bout before Oscar slashed one on his face and sent him crawling away in pain, Oscar at this point was covered in blood, most of which weren't his and the last man standing was overcome with fright so he picked up a shield from the ground to salvage the situation, Oscar became more relaxed clashing swords with him, using more of his legs and elbows but eventually he caught the man's sword in-between his and forced it off his hands.

"I yield, I yield!!" The man fell to his knees in surrender, but Oscar slashed his throat anyway to send a clear message, and the crowd grumbled in protest. Oscar walked yet again to the eastern end, both his swords bright red with blood.

"Are you entertained?" he voiced out, looking straight up at the Royal family.

"I will have his head for that" Greynor stormed off to the steps carrying his sheathed sword.

"Greynor!" The king called out, but the boy was stubborn, he rushed down the steps as four men of the king's guard chased after him and pulled out his sword the moment he walked into the field.

"Stay back!" He yelled at the king's guards, but they were loyal to the king, not him, and were sworn to keeping the king's family safe. They stopped him before he could get to Oscar, but he struggled still and Greymon, Greyson, Dover, and Larr all left their seats, agitated by the prince's dishonourable behaviour.

Leah fought hard in an effort to keep at bay, the bubbling rapture she elicited from seeing Greynor so humiliated. Of all the members of the royal family, it was him she hated the most, her jollyness, however was cut short when Marilyn brought out from under her dress, a fine bronze dagger adorned with gold markings and the dragon symbol of House Caine etched into it. The dagger was sheathed, but Leah was scared all the same.

"Remember what I said, find Zarr Caster and escape, now leave me be, that's an order" Marilyn said.

"Princess?" Leah responded in confusion.

"Go!" Marilyn yelled, and albeit she didn't understand what had come over the princess, she obliged.

Now the king watched alongside his lastborn son, Lord Dover, Evan Larr and Jet as the king's guards pulled Greynor away and up the steps, but as nobody stood in any strategic arrangement to protect the king, he was vulnerable, so Marilyn leaped onto the upper row where they stood, she unsheathed the dagger and hid it as she called from behind.

"Greymon"

"What?" The king turned to her, puzzled, as his daughter had never called him by name before.

"Usurper!" She hissed, and then she jammed the dagger into his stomach.