"Marie~!" Constance called out.

"Urgh your so annoying, what do you want?" Marie rubbed her waking eyes. "Sir Adam left a couple of weeks ago and should have arrived at his home village by now so, shouldn't we get some practice in?"

"It's in three days isn't it?"

"It is."

The tourney. In other words, a jousting tournament. Both Marie and Constance had been accepted into the tournament with the recommendation from Adam.

Sadly, majority of the people dropped out of the tournament for unknown reasons. They both believe the reason to be something with the papers they found a week ago.

The names sounded familiar yet they couldn't quite put their tongue on it.

They both left the house, heading to their own separate barns.

Constance walked in and went before the stairs. Instead of going up the stairs, he went behind them, swiping off the hay, revealing a chest.

He opened the chest and saw his fancy pair of clothes on the left with his armor on the right side.

The rules of the jousting tournament begin that one must wear a suit of armor.

Thus, Constance and Marie have been practicing for the last two weeks, since that was when they got accepted.

**********

"Urgh…" John leisurely groaned, looking around to find where he laid. 'Just where am I?'

His groans echoed throughout the wooden halls, the sounds of creaky wood from outside his rooms door.

John attempted to sit up only to let out a whimper, holding his stomach. The squeaky door opened, revealing Alice and an unknown man to her right. "Alice, mind telling me what's going on?"

Grabbing a nearby chair, Alice sat next to John. "John, this is a physician. Funny enough, his name is also John."

"We must leave now. We don't have time for this." John painfully sat up and dangled his feet off the edge.

"Woah!" The physician put his hands out. "You shouldn't be doing that!"

"I'm fin-kgh!" The moment John landed his feet on the floor, an excruciating soreness hit the side of his stomach. John felt the need to cough, but in order to leave the area, he turned his head slightly away. "Do you have a horse I could borrow?"

Alice sighed, waving at John to follow her. It would appear that when John passed out, Alice found a local physician in the village. The man helped her get John into a wagon and then they went to his house where John had been resting at for three days.

Once outside, Alice showed two separate horses. "You know…I was just asking. I didn't think he'd actually give us horses. Doesn't he want pay for treating me or~?"

Alice shrugged in response. Though painful as it was, John got himself up on the horse.

Alice went inside, saying farewell to the physician whom helped them.

John now had time to think, which he did. 'Just what the hell was that?!' He thought, recalling what happened when he passed out. 'That girl…' John could remember her face like the back of his hand.

She reminded him of his mother, Isabella. 'Damn it! How could I forget…I have no time for foolish games when I need to save mother!'

Alice exited the house and jumped onto the horse next to John. The moment they left sight of the house, a sigh escaped from John. Followed up with a scratchy cough. 'Based off what Alice told me…we're still in Worcester. We need to hurry! I must get to Adam, for mothers sake!'

**********

"Toke!" One of the many Vikings called out. "The English man, Adam just woke up."

Toke nodded, leaving the house he currently stayed in, and headed for the one next door.

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The moment he got in, Toke looked back to the Viking at the door. "Get him some food."

The Viking ran off as Toke stood high above Adam who is currently sitting on the floor, his head on a bed frame. "Is…my mother better?"

"You were asleep for quite some time. More than I liked. Now…tell me where my son is."

"Is my mother okay?"

Pak!

Toke backhanded Adam on the cheeks. "Well…I told you to tell me."

"KYAAAA!" A loud yelp from the middle of the village. "What is…going on out there?" Adam pantingly asked.

"I'll show you." Toke smirked.

Grabbing Adam by the collar, the two of them left the house, which doesn't even have a door anymore. The sight left Adam speechless.

The villagers he grew up with were being crucified. The Vikings made their own crosses with the already cut wood that was nearby and it wasn't very hard to find nails.

As he looked from left to right, he noticed that a total of 8 people had all been crucified. One in particular stood out to him, John's friend, Matthew. "Do you see that?" Toke pointed at an un-used cross. "No…no!"

A Viking who Adam had yet to see emerged from one of the houses. He looked like the average Dane, but that wasn't what worried him. "Bjørne!" Toke called out. "Get her ready for the cross. Show her how much her God loves her."

"Mother!" Adam convened, gritting his teeth. "What's the point in that?!"

"Bjørne suggested it. He loves to show the hypocrisy of the Christian religion."

Adam had no response, but fortunately, a man arrived on the nearby shore, calling for Toke, making him sigh and hand Adam to another man.

Bjørne stood the cross up and tied Isabella's legs and arms to the cross. "This would all end if you simply said where Toke's son hides." Bjørne whispered to Isabella whilst he tied her up.

"I see you speak English…so, I'll tell you this once. I won't give my son up…"

"I wonder, if your son found you dead…would he want to avenge you." A twisted smirk appeared on his face.

"…yes. Even as we speak…he is probably lost, but he has Christ watching over him."

As Isabella and Bjørne carried on with their conversation, Toke grabbed the messenger by the neck, holding him up. "What…"

"I-I said kgh that the King wishes f-for you to return." The man uttered. "WHY!?" Toke demanded.

"France has d-declared war on us!" The man struggled to free himself.

Toke's face went stoic, un-handing him which resulted in a loud sigh of relief with many coughs. "Damn it…" Toke placed his hand over his left eye. "What is it this time brother?…"

************

The kingdom of France

CREAK

The enormous double doors opened. The reflective floor tainted by the footsteps of unwanted men. "Your majesty." The man knelt down.

The King of France, Touré, who overshadowed those before him, his crown, a symbol of his kingdom. The eye-catching designs followed up with the shining bloody and cerulean gems. His sturdy body, and his skin a golden, reddish-brown.

"Did word get out to Denmark?" He respectfully asked, the clanging noise of his aurulent rings making contact with his throne.

"Yes. Though, if I may…I have a question, your liege."

"Hmm…proceed."

"Why would we declare war on Denmark. Isn't it a good think that those barbarians could possibly eradicate England."

"You aren't worthy of this knowledge, but I'll tell you anyway…the Holy Roman Empire was going to strike Denmark for its land." The surrounding nobles all gasped either because of shock that The King revealed the information or because they did not know of it themself.

"W-what?!"

"They would have gained even more power. I simply made the move first."

"B-but your majesty…Denmark is quite a way from us."

"Do you truly believe that they would stop at Denmark? They have The Pope's backing and upon gaining Denmark would look our way. Even you should know the bad blood between our two lands."

"…"

Touré sent the man on his way. Once the doors closed behind him, Touré stood up, his vibrant robe showing off.

"I'll take them down first." He quietly swore.

*********

Three days after John and Alice left Worcester.

"Well…here we are." Alice stretched her arms.

John and Alice stood atop a hill, looking down at the city before them, Lunden. "Finally!" John let out.

They got back onto their horses and headed into the city. Alice looked for help while John walked around amazed. "There's so many people…and it's much bigger than I imagined."

Eventually coming to a stop, he noticed his buddy he'd always see passing through his village. "Godfrey!!" He cheerfully yelled.

Godfrey, walking with bread in his hand, wearing average clothes, turned around, and looked at John. It was hard for him to see John with his wavy blonde hair blocking his view.

"John!" He answered back. He set down his box of bread and gave John a hug. "How are you?…no better yet why are you in Lunden?!"

John was ready to ramble on about his time with the hay dummy, but his joyous face turned dark. "I want to tell you about my goal, but we must speak of something else…my village was attacked."

"Huh?! Are you okay?! And where is your mother?"

"I'm fine…what's important is that I'm looking for Adam."

"Adam?…well, he went to your village. To celebrate your birthday. Is he not here with you?"

John fell to the ground. "Adam…isn't here?" He scarily asked. "…he is not."

'What was all this for? I came all the way to Lunden for Adam for him to not be here?…' John emptily sat on the ground, Godfrey trying to speak to him.

"W-What did you say about sir Adam?" A kid from behind bugged in. "Kid I don't have time!" Godfrey shrugged him off.

The kid gripped Godfrey's shoulder. "What did you say…"

"It doesn't matter to you kid now get the hell off of me!"

"F-Forgive me…I'm a squire of Sir Adam. Please tell me what you were speaking of!"

'A squire of Adam's? Just who is this kid?' Godfrey thought. "So your a squire…are you the only squire of his?"

"No…there is one another. Her name is Marie."

"You shouldn't go around telling people about others names so easily."

"You asked!"

"It doesn't matter anymore. The names Godfrey…what's yours."

"Gulp..Constance…please call me Constance!"