Chapter 14
He looked at me only for a moment, only the length of a blink, and then, with his leather boot struck the side of the horse and turned it the other way.
I fell back into my chair and placed my hand over my still-open mouth.
“What just happened?” Sando asked what I myself was thinking. I turned my face toward him and on his I saw pure fascination and shock. Exactly that. What happened?
I lifted my gaze toward the others and they all had almost the same reaction, but theirs lasted only briefly. The next blink and they returned to quiet encouragement and nodding. After all, we were royal, and royals did not shout or scream. Those emotions were for common people.
I turned back toward the arena, and my gaze swept across the sand. I couldn’t help but gasp at the amount of blood I saw before me.
The sand was now stained with red, and the bodies of two horses lay motionless while beneath them their riders tried to pull themselves free.
From here I could see that one knight’s entire lower body was broken, and he, in shock, only stayed silent and tried to move.
The other, however, managed it and stood on one good leg, throwing his helmet off his head.
In that shock, with some strange look in his eyes, with hair soaked in blood and sweat dripping down his entire face, he turned around himself and looked at the crowd.
Some clapped and cheered him on while others spat at him.
Only now did I realize that after public executions had been removed for most who were given that sentence, this was the only time people could release such emotions. Such rage and bloodthirst.
I wondered if that was why they rejoiced when we were born—princesses. Maybe this was the only reason they celebrated our existence, knowing that one day our title would lead to this unnecessary bloodshed.
I looked across the people who screamed in happiness as another knight was struck down, and then I was sure.
Yes, because of the promise of blood, they celebrated our births.
Something cold passed over my skin and slipped deep into my veins as I returned my gaze to the black knight. The weight of the antlers pressed against my head, and now the white fabric stuck to my forehead. At the same time, both heat and cold suffocated me as if two snakes wrapped around my throat.
The black knight held his sword in his right hand, while with the other he held the reins and pushed his horse along the side of the arena.
His shoulder almost touched the wall as he galloped, watching everything around him.
Now only fifteen remained, and most were either in duels or in fights of three, while only one or two, like him, circled and avoided the fight.
I noticed that only his sword, older and quite unimpressive compared to most, was the only one still clean of blood. Although he had knocked down my knight, he was the only one who had not attacked anyone else again.
Either he was playing dirty and waiting to find a weaker target, or he had a completely different plan. Still, on this day, there were almost no rules, and the only thing that mattered was that a knight won… and that he remained with both legs and, if needed, both arms.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose when I saw one of the free knights rushing at the black one from behind.
“Royal knight Rumo,” I heard Sando say from the side to another brother.
I clenched my teeth and my hands in my lap.
I leaned slightly forward and, without blinking, followed what would happen.
There was no royalty nor honor in his move.
He struck his horse with his metal boot and forced it to go even faster.
He lowered himself closer to the horse’s back and placed his sword along the left side of the horse’s body.
“He won’t strike the knight,” Sando’s voice pulled me for a moment, and I turned my face toward him.
Shock was written across his face, but his eyes spoke something else.
In them, there was a sadness that said he knew what would follow.
And I knew it too. I had been surrounded by shameless and dishonorable men long enough to know what was coming
. Slowly I turned my head back toward them, and exactly that happened.
The blade drove into the side of the horse and, with the cries of the crowd, tore through the skin and went deep into the poor animal’s body.
The shouting and curses of thousands of people swallowed its screams.
Killing the horse beneath a knight was one of the most dishonorable things someone could do, especially from behind. Maybe there were no rules here, but some unwritten ones had been respected for hundreds of years.
I felt nausea in my stomach as I saw the horse trying to stay on its feet while its insides dragged across the sand.
The black knight, for a moment, did not understand what was happening, but he soon did and jumped off his horse.
As he threw his sword into the sand and turned toward the animal, it collapsed and with several heartbreaking cries that forced tears into my eyes and sickness into my throat, the horse finally stopped moving.
Only then did mayhem begin.
Around me all the princes and princesses jumped to their feet, and most of the sisters were taken inside the building.
In a moment, as if a glass of water had been spilled, everything turned into madness. Sando moved closer to me and one of the guards pressed against my other side. I had to stay here and see this until the end. It was my duty. Or perhaps my punishment for all my sins. “Lower your gaze,” Sando said.
“No, I have to see it until the end,” I answered coldly, even though I was fighting not to throw up. I clenched my teeth and continued to watch the madness before me.
The knights no longer had any control at all, as if they had become rabid animals.
They crashed into each other and fell from their horses. Blows and breaking bones and the screams of animals and men alike echoed through the arena while almost all the spectators either watched with difficulty or tried to leave. Even for them this was too much.
The last thing I saw was how one knight received a sword directly across the face, and the half of his head simply slipped of his shoulders. .
It was no longer clear what was happening or who was actually winning. The smell of blood grew stronger and my urge to vomit became harder to control. I grabbed Sando’s forearm and pressed closer to him.
I needed my brother to protect me, to keep me safe. “It will be over soon,” was all he could say.
The blows quieted, and the sound of hooves completely disappeared.
Now they no longer carried away bodies nor the wounded, but all the standing knights fought over them.
Two more fell, surely dead from the force of the blows, and only eight remained.
Bloody and out of their minds, they stood in some strange formation holding their swords in front of them.
Only then did I see that the black knight was still there and that he was kneeling beside his dead horse.
His hand was on its muzzle and he was gently stroking it.
It was strange to see such a display of tenderness in all of this.
He lowered the tip of his helmet toward the horse’s head and lightly touched it.
Even though I could not see his face, I could feel his pain and sorrow.
Finally, tears fell down my cheeks.
The black knight stood up from the sand and picked up the sword that lay a few steps from him, and now, with the stance of a man who had lost a friend, he turned toward the eight others.
Before all of this, in one way he had seemed like he did not belong here, like he was too good for this or like someone who did not know what he had entered—but now there were nine of them.
Nine bloodthirsty and deadly men holding each other’s lives in their hands.
When they charged at one another, dust and sand rose into the air and formed a cloud through which almost nothing could be seen. Only flashes of metal or splashes of blood and gut.
Slowly, the sounds of metal striking began to fade, and with each one came a dull thud of a body hitting the ground and an occasional scream. First six swords clashed, then five, then four, three, two—and finally silence.
The last time, there was no sound of a body hitting the sand; only silence fell upon the Azolleoum.
As if nothing had ever happened.
The dust still lingered in the air and we could not see what was happening. Thousands of impatient eyes on the now half-empty stands shifted, trying to see who had won.
And finally, when the dust settled, several gasps cut through the silence.
The black knight was the last one standing, holding the tip of his sword toward a knight I had not even noticed before. He knelt before him, holding his hands over his head, turning around and looking at the massacre around him.
“I surrender, I don’t want to die, I surrender,” he begged. His voice broke as if he were a boy pleading. Perhaps in the face of such brutal death, he was one.
The black knight lowered his sword toward the sand, and his head dropped downward.
I could hear my heart beating in my chest, but for a moment, no one said or did anything.
“We have a winner,” was the first thing I heard.
Someone shouted those words, but after that there was nothing else. No applause, no cheers. Only silence.
“You must go down now,” Sando whispered in my ear, but there was no happiness or satisfaction in his voice.
I swallowed and turned toward the stairs. He walked behind me as we descended the narrow corridor toward the arena, the crown of antlers scraping along both walls.
Finally, the sun touched my face and I stepped onto the sand.
Here the smell was far worse.
Blood and waste mixed into something revolting as the sun burned over my covered skin.
I took steps toward my victor. As I passed the bodies, from the corner of my eye I saw one knight dragging himself across the sand, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
It was the one who had killed the horse.
Someone had driven a sword into the gap in his armor where his leg met his body.
“Please… please…” he looked at me. I just kept walking.
Now my knight stood alone and had thrown his sword before himself. I took a deep breath. The wind blew and I felt my white dress, its hem stained with blood, lift from the ground.
The knight knelt before me.
Around us, others now approached to witness this act.
The announcer stepped close and loudly commanded: “Lay your sword before the princess and remove your helmet, knight… and my princess, lift upon your veil.”
The knight placed the sword before him, removed his helmet from his wet head, and took the sword into his hands.
I removed the antlers from my head and dropped them into the sand.
He raised the sword toward me and began:
“Princess, I ask that you accep—”
His voice.
It was familiar.
Too familiar.
Finally, he lifted his eyes to mine, and my heart stopped. It felt as if someone had knocked all the air out of me. Even though his eyes widened as well, he continued to recite the entire speech.
But I heard nothing else.
Because in front of me were two warm brown eyes that I knew far too well.