Her name was Holly. She was as wild and free as the tough red flowers that flourished in the woods. But like the flower, she became bitter when plucked from her home and chewed. And that was precisely what happened on that chilly autumn evening.

David and I had gone out to the woods for sword practice, as we often did in the evenings. I was still not entirely confident about my fighting skills and preferred to practice in privacy, where the other knights couldn't mock me.

"Don't put your foot there," David instructed, demonstrating its consequences as he thrust the point of the foil, the blunt practice weapon we used, into my chest and made me loose my footing, "See? You lost your balance." I rubbed my bruised chest, wondering how many hits he'd made just in the last hour. A hundred? Two hundred? This was hopeless. I was a scholar, not a fighter. Not a knight. I'd never make it.

I straightened and returned to en garde position to start again, not out of willingness or determination, but because I didn't have the option not to. It was too late to turn back now. I'd taken the invitation to the palace, and lost the chance to return to my old life forever. As much as I regretted to admit the fact, there was only one path for me now: to become a true knight.

I wondered if I'd ever learn. I usually learned things easily, but the way I learned involved stacks of yellow-leaved books, and did not involve thwacks and hits with a long thin pointy metal thing.

Distracted by my rambling thoughts, I sloppily lunged to attack, but David parried the blow by bringing the thick end of his foil to the thin end of mine, pushing the blade away. Undefended, I couldn't block his quick attack, and he jabbed the blunt tip of his weapon into my ribs.

I'd learned quite a lot since moving to the castle, the most prominent being: blunt does not mean soft, all those mythical dragons I'd read the legends of were very, painfully real, and to never ever under any condition allow Sir Quellin access to rotten tomatoes. I learned all of that the hard way. Unfortunately, none of what I'd learned so far had enabled me to win a fight against David.

I wiped my brow with the back of my hand, glancing up at the darkening sky. The already chilly air was quickly cooling. I was grateful David when decided, "It's getting late. We should head back." I just nodded, too tired to speak. David grinned and caught my hand. Shaking it good-naturedly, he commented, "Good practice today, Bert."

The guys all called me Bert or Bertteis, a nickname inspired by the famous ancient Mondecen philsopher Rexon Bertteis . I didn't mind it. I'd always admired Rexon Bertteis. And anyway, I doubted any of them knew he had once beaten the famous ancient fighter Sir Drexel in a joust, which made me pretty okay with the nickname.

Just then, something caught my eye in a tree behind David, and I studied it, cocking my head.
"What?" David frowned and turned around to find what I was looking at, his alert grey eyes scouring the foliage of the woods.
"Tree," I muttered under my breath, low enough that only David could hear. Belting out "There's a person in that tree" didn't feel exactly like the thing to do, but I was unsure how to communicate this information to David otherwise. Fortunately, he understood.

In his bold captain-of-the-royal-guard voice, David declared, "In the name of the king, I order you to descend from the tree at once," and drew his practice weapon. The foil itself did not seem very threatening, but David had this way of doing things that made you forget he couldn't actually hurt you. And besides which, David could still do some pretty nasty damage even with a blunt foil.

The shape in the tree shifted, but did not respond or obey.
"In the name of the king, come down at once! Or I will have to force you!" David ordered, the swell of his elegantly accented but powerful voice filling the woods.
Again the dark shape moved, making the plump green leaves quiver, but did not come down.
In a quieter voice, David ordered, "Artemus, over there," and pointed to the tree trunk. Not knowing what he was doing, I obeyed without question.
David called up into the tree warningly, "I'll give you one last chance. Come down NOW."
We waited, but this time the shape didn't move at all. I looked up from the trunk, trying to get a better look at the person, but the sun had nearly slipped below the horizon, so all I could see was a dark mass hunched on a large middle branch.
"Very well," David said like he regretted it, and launched his weapon up into the tree. It traveled so fast it looked more like a streak of lighting than a thrown object. This was why David was the Captain.

A high shriek pierced the cold air, and the shape crashed messily through the branches of the tree toward the ground. Understanding then that I was meant to catch it, I rushed forward and threw my arms under the shape just barely in time. It was surprisingly light, though I almost slipped as the weight fell on me. That's when I realized it was a girl, around my age or perhaps a little younger. She'd been struck unconscious, and there was a nasty bruise swelling on her forehead. David's foil shot through the tree and came out on the other side, hissing as it sliced the air apart, then impaled itself in the ground behind the tree.
I wondered aloud, "Do you think she's a spy?"
David gave me a darkly confirming look, but only commanded, "Take her back to the palace quickly and see that she receives medical aid."
"Yes, sir."

I nodded a hesitant bow and stumbled toward the castle with the girl, as David went to retrieve his foil. I wondered vaguely as I ran whether David's mercy had more to do with his gentlemanliness or good sportsmanship. There was nothing that said that someone should be granted mercy just because they weren't yet condemned: people were guilty until proven innocent— especially people suspected of espionage. And espionage was generally punishable by death. Yet here was David ordering that the girl be taken to receive care.

I rushed her up multiple flights of stairs to the chambers of the royal physician, and after a little arguing with the stubborn old man, and repeating, "Those were my only orders, sir" multiple times, she was finally taken away by two palace nurses to be cared for.

That done, I went to find food.

What else would be the appropriate course of action after discovering a possible spy and breaking the most basic implied code of international relations than to get food?
So I headed down the southeast spiral staircase to join the other knights and knights-in-training in the Lesser Hall for dinner. As I was moving through the East Corridor, I passed a group of men arguing in low, earnest voices. Among them was David. None of them acknowledged me, so I figured I didn't need to bow, and kept on walking until I reached the Lesser Hall which was at the end of the corridor.
I found a spot near the middle of the third table to sit down.

"Evening, Art!" Max greeted with a cordial grin from across the table.
I nodded and returned, "Evening." Max was the only one who used my real name or at least something like it, which was Artemus.
"What took you so long?" demanded Landon with a mouth full of food, "We were getting ready to send out a search party." Dinner had only just started. However, I had a reputation for always being the first one through the doors. Tonight I was the last.
Trevor, sitting on my right, elbowed me in the ribs, and teased, "Find a nice girl did you?"
"What?" I was surprised. How had they found out about the girl already?
"Well when you hadn't shown up," Landon explained between bites, "we figured you'd either been killed or seduced—"
"About the same thing, really," Hentin muttered from my left.
"—because the only things that could keep a true man from his food are death and beautiful women."
I grimaced at Landon's and Trevor's unseemly guffawing.
"Don't mind them," Max said good-naturedly, "Anyway, what really kept you?"
I shrugged, helping myself to a generous portion of meat. "Practice ran late with David." Not entirely a lie.

I wasn't sure what David was planning to do with the girl, but I figured it wasn't such a good idea to start blabbing the news of a potential spy to everyone.
"Oh yeah! How's that practice going?" Trevor asked, sneering, "Can you lift the sword yet?" Trevor and Landon laughed.
I shot Trevor a glare but decided the pork of my plate was worthier of my attention than Trevor at the moment. I could always punch him later. I couldn't always eat steaming roasted pork later.

"What's tomorrow?" Sylvester asked from a little further down the table, "Archery? Or horseback riding?" Sylvester asked that question every day. He was nice, and unbelievably strong, but he had the worst memory of anyone I'd ever met.
"Jousting," Max corrected, taking a big gulp of water, "And more sword practice."
Landon hit Max's arm with the back of his hand, and demanded, "Did you see Nicoli's new Escallbir 500 blade today? That thing is massive!"
Landon, Trevor, and Max fell into an eager discussion about the latest sword models, so I took the opportunity to scarf down my pork and head off to find David.

The East Corridor was empty by the time I'd left the Lesser Hall, so I decided to try the armory to see if he was there. He often hung out in the armory in the evenings, sharpening his blade himself, and refusing to let the servants do it for him.
One of the greatest things about moving to the castle was how much room I now had. After years of living in a tiny shack, squeezed together with seven siblings, the infinity of space in the palace was paradise. On the other hand, it got to be annoying at times because you could never find anybody when you needed them. I checked the armory, the stables, the kitchens, the library, David's chambers, and even the physician's chambers, but couldn't manage to find him. Exhausted, I finally headed to the West Tower, where all the knights resided, and crashed, determined to talk to David about the girl the next day.