7th Day of Winter, 513 AV
Windmount Track and Field
8th Bell
Windmount Track and Field
8th Bell
Hooves thundered beneath the squire as he raced across the field, his powerful steed propelling them forward as quickly as he could manage. Cool winter air wisped past his their faces as they neared their finish line. Orion leaned forward in his saddle, his body bouncing with each powerful gallop. Blue eyes remained fixed on the end of the run, knowing full well that another one waited soon after.
He was finally starting to feel more at home on the back of a horse, but it wasn’t there yet. He was still convinced that the creature would take his life someday, but with each pass moment, with each bell of training, he felt that he could stave off death a little bit better.
”Get ready to strike, Orion!” Dinah’s voice rang out as she watched her squire charge his target. He was new to the weapon she had given him this day, but the more experience he got fighting from horseback the better.
Orion didn’t exactly agree.
Gods it was an awkward tool, the lance. He’d trained a little bit with Weaponmaster Miriam Antinous in the use of the spear, but that was in the training grounds and on his own two feet. While the lance and the spear had similarities, they were not the same weapon by any means.
His eyes fixed on the quintain which sat at the end of the run. It was an odd structure, one end weighted with a sack of sand and the other had a shield which to strike. The idea was to not only strike the shield well, but to move swiftly and with agility to avoid a blow to the back from the rapidly moving bag. It would pivot in its place when struck and attempt to give the rider a solid whack for their efforts.
Lowering the lance, Orion prepared himself for impact. His weapon was unstable, bouncing wildly with each step the horse took. He could barely keep the tip of the weapon on target, the lance head wagging up and down as he neared the moment of reckoning.
A ting rang out as the weapon scored a glancing blow on the shield, though Orion had been forced to pull back on his reins a bit and be slowed as he neared to ensure he could actually hit the target. A moments satisfaction was quickly lost as he felt the bludgeoning impact of the other part of the quintain crash into the side of the blue eyed man’s armor. He must have been sitting in the saddle wrong, or unbalanced due to the lance, but Orion didn’t have to worry about maintaining his position atop his horse much longer. He slipped quite nicely off the side of the mount, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop a few feet later.
The laughter of Dinah and those of a knight unfamiliar to Orion rang out at his failure; it was a common thing for those learning the lance to get a solid hit from the sandbag, but to be dismounted took someone special.
”Would it kill you two to show a little concern!” Orion yelled from where he lay, a sheepish grin on his face. He was far from a valiant knight; he wondered if the other squire would put on a better show. He almost hoped they would see it fit to join him on the grass; misery loved company and he'd be happy to share in the humiliation.