“Start” (Sara)

The moment the signal was given, Philip moved quickly and shortened the distance between them. Once he got close enough he swung his sword straight down upon Henry. The kind older brother was gone, in his place stood a ferocious warrior.

Luckily for Henry, he was used to fighting taller opponents. He deflected the sword and, with a single step forward found himself in the perfect position. He quickly placed his sword on Philip’s neck. The match was over in a moment.

Sara was stunned, but quickly announced the winner, “Winner, brother Henry!”

“You got me there Henry.” Philip returned to his usual demeanor as if the fight never happened.

“You are not bad, once more?” Henry felt the weight of his strike but learned a lot about deflecting and defending so he had little worries in the first duel.

“Of course, I’m just getting warmed up!” Philip was now fully motivated.

Sara once more took her position and, after taking a big breath, shouted, “START!”

This time Philip did not rush in, instead he slowly moved while looking at his opponent. Henry followed suit and waited for an opening he could exploit.

With a yell Philip once more swung his blade, this time diagonally. Henry managed to evade this strike but several more vicious swings followed suit. He managed to block or parry most but the final one scratched his sword hand.

Henry did not like pain, but scratches were not a new thing for him, so he quickly recovered and started his counter attack. The sound of wooden swords clashing echoed throughout the yard.

Henry's footwork was superior, his form great, but he lacked height and weight behind his strikes. Philip was taller but more importantly older than Henry. He managed to defend himself from the onslaught and even counter a few times. This caught the eyes of the grown ups while the children grew ecstatic. The final strike in the onslaught caused both swords to bounce off of each other from the impact.

“Ready to give up?” Philip managed to lock swords with Henry. In his eyes his strength gave him great confidence but what followed surprised him.

“Not yet!” Henry used Philip's strength and rolled backwards, following that with a charge in which he used quick attacks with his sword. The swords danced before the dazzled onlookers eyes.

“Good!” Philip was enjoying this fight so he put his all into his attacks. The fight continued for a few more minutes, the combatants swung their swords skillfully and then quickly used them to perform a piercing attack whenever they saw an opening.

As time went on Philip's superior strength brought him victory as Henry flew off together with his sword.

“Winner, brother Philip!” Sara announced the end of the duel and the two boys shook hands, smiling.

“Good job you two.” Alfred approached and tousled both boys' hair.

“My lord, I went a bit overboard, I am sorry.” Philip came back to his senses once he remembered who Henry was, compared to him.

Alfred smiled to reassure the child. “Relax, my boy asked for it, and you gave us quite the show.”

“Daddy, can we have Philip train with our knights. He will be great one day.” Henry chimed in.

Alfred turned towards Philip while saying, “Only if he wants to. Talent without conviction to use it is no good.”

All eyes were on Philip. The children were looking at him with sparkling eyes. He spoke slowly and with a hint of regret “Can I really become a knight? Isn’t that for nobles?”

“Normally that would be true. You might not know this but when someone makes a name for themselves they can become a knight no matter their status.” (Alfred)

Philip turned towards Henry and asked him, “I will, can I train to become one of your knights lord Henry?”

“Well, you would be my father’s knight.” Henry said and turned to his father with hopeful eyes, “Can he join us?”

“Of course, we will make the arrangements, make sure to work hard.” (Alfred)

“But remember to study for your lessons too, a knight must have a sharp mind with a lot of knowledge.” (Eleonora)

“I will, my lady!” Philip exclaimed.

After leaving the children alone, for a bit, Alfred talked with Thomas.

“He has potential, Henry is quite keen on recruiting him as well. What can you tell me about the boy?”

“Unknown parents, left at our doorsteps like many before and after him. He has a lot of talent for the sword, average across the board when it comes to most subjects, but he has potential as an officer. He leads the kids, so I would like to ask you to let him stay for as long as possible with us.”

“Of course, I am not evil enough to take away your prized pupil without your permission. I will send someone over to teach him about swordsmanship, if the others want they can join in as well.” (Alfred)

“Thank you, my lord.” Thomas let out a sigh of relief as he would keep his star pupil.

“You had your sights set on him, huh?” (Alfred)

Thomas spoke in a gentle voice as he looked at Philip and the children, “Yes, I wanted him to inherit my position and run this place in the future. He has a big heart and loves taking care of people”

“Perhaps you are having second thoughts about this arrangement, you know I will do what you see best for your children.” Alfred did his best to reassure Thomas.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“No, this is where he belongs for now, but what the future holds, no one knows. He has a lot of potential and might be a great knight one day, I will wait for him to come home and take over this place once he is ready. (Thomas)

“You have a lot of faith in him, I hope he matches your hopes.” (Alfred)

“I know he will.” Thomas said with a big smile on his face.

As their talks were coming to a close a new person joined in.

“You two, it is getting late now and we should leave before dark. The streets are not that safe after nightfall.” (Eleonora)

“You worry while having me as an escort, my lady?” Alfred said with a grin.

“I worry for the poor souls that will have their homes wrecked in a rampage we will inflict upon anyone who dares to interrupt our little family.” Eleonora matched his grin.

“You two, don’t show your unsightly side before people. They will think you are savages.” (Anna)

“Don’t worry my lady Anna, I know their hearts, anyone these two wreck should be wrecked.” Thomas said in a voice full of confidence.

Soon they left, and in the carriage Alfred had a few questions for Henry.

“Henry, you did splendidly in the first match, but why did you not go all out in the second one?” Alfred asked with a puzzled expression.

“It was a friendly duel, I did not want to go too far, did I do wrong?” Henry answered with a worried expression.

“No, no, but try to avoid doing that in the future, Philip is a good child but you never know who is on the other side and a friend is more likely to forgive you for using everything you have in a fight.” (Alfred)

“What your father wants to say is that friendly fights are a good place to try new tactics and then be ready to use them when you need them. You fought like a noble, but remember in a fight there is no honor, only survival.” Eleonora did her best to impart this piece of advice to her son.

“Yes! I will remember that.” Henry looked at his parents, no anger was present on their faces, a hint of worry for their son but also a lot of love, this made him vow not to lose and make them worry ever again, no matter what.

***

Henry was together with two knights and was happily trotting around the garden. He was a big fan of the fountain and loved to walk on its railing. The sun was approaching the highest point in the sky and Henry loved to spend his time after training here, basking in the sunlight.

A voice called out to him, “Hey there little boy.” An old man with silver hair and beard that reminded Henry of Santa Claus stood in front of the gate.

The knights exchanged glances and one ran off to the mansion to inform his lord.

“Hello sir.” Henry replied, and after getting the nod from the knight, approached a bit closer to the fence.

“My boy, you are a splendid child indeed, do you perhaps know me? I am marquess Karloman Lothar, I am your grandfather and have come to visit you."

“Grandfather?” Henry was stunned, ‘That man had the balls to show up before me.’

“Yes, yes my boy, I am your grandfather.” Karloman had his hopes up as he thought the boy would be happy to know about him.

“Sorry to inform you, my lord, but I have only one grandfather, duke Sigurdson, but he sadly fell in battle. I do not know what kind of scum my mothers father was, but you, such a noble figure could never be that piece of trash.” Henry said the second part with a bright smile on his face.

“You, you little shit! Do you have any manners? To speak to your own grandfather like this?" Karloman’s face was turning red as he said those words.

“I have no living grandparents. You must be a thief trying to get money out of my family. We give plenty to beggars like yourself so move along and return when we give charity.” (Henry)

A vein popped out on the man’s forehead. His hope of swinging this boy to his side was not looking that strong anymore.

Karloman returned to his kind grandfather voice, once more, and started talking. “Child I am your grandfather, your parents don’t like me now, but we will work it out you know, I will give you many presents and love you a lot.”

“Sir, I must ask you to spot bothering lord Henry.” A knight stood in front of Henry and the guards at the gate took a step closer to the man.

“I am only talking to my grandson…” Karloman’s gaze was fierce, but his tone was soft.

The knight interrupted the man in a polite, but firm voice, “If the lord refuses than I will have to ask you to stop.”

“It is all right John, I will take care of this” Henry showed a bright smile to the knight, who in turn froze. Only one thought was in his mind right now, ‘Like father like son, this will end up with a civil war in the end.’

Henry then turned towards the guest and spoke in a bright voice, “If this trashy person is my grandfather then he must be an undead, are you perhaps Alaster Sigurdson?”

“What nonsense…” Karloman was stunned but Henry did not allow him to finish his sentence.

“As I said, I have only one grandfather, a hero of the kingdom who gave his life for the people and the king. I did hear about a trashy man who betrayed my mother, such scum is way too smart to show up before the home of a Sigurdson and insult my mother with his presence.”

“Boy you must…” Karloman was now lost, this child was too vicious.

His expression only gave Henry more courage, as he saw his tactics were working, “Still if an idiot like that was still alive he would have little shame and might even be stupid, or callus enough to show himself here.” Henry put his index finger on his chin and made humming sounds, pretending to be thinking about something, this way he bought some time to calm himself down. Henry was getting worked up now, he was not as experienced with teasing as his father.

“Look, I even brought you many presents”, a bunch of people carrying many boxes were lining up behind the man “Even your uncle is here, he is quite busy you know, he is an important man in the kingdom and he made time for you, won't you show us courtesy” (Karloman)

The presents were quite high in number but Henry was not really that concerned with them, as he only needed to point at whatever he needed and he would get it.

“If he is THAT important then he would not have time to waste on pointless visits. People who pretend to be important always say that, you should not lie about being a member of the royal court, after all I think they will take your head for such lies.” (Henry)

Henry then continued to talk as the eyes of the people were on him, “I said I have no grandfather among the living. Since my father was an only child he had no brothers, unless you insult my family name by saying…”

“Child you should watch your tongue, we came here in good faith to shower you with presents and love and you return our kindness with such words, have you no shame?” (Karloman)

“Shame? You pretend to be my dead grandpa,” Henry pointed towards Karloman, then to the man claiming to be his uncle, “You pretend to be a court official and you talk to me about shame? I wonder where the town watch is when you need them.”

“I thought this was a part of town where nobles lived, but I guess the slums of UL have better security when such trashy people can just walk up to my home and start insulting my family.” (Henry)

Karloman now lost his temper fully and so did his son. They struck the fence and started shouting unintelligible words. Just as Henry started to wonder where his people were, a voice filled with rage interrupted this scene.

“Silence!” Steps were heard and a contingent of knights and mages showed up behind Henry.

“You have a lot of guts to yell at my son.”