The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 625: Just In Time For The Speech

Dominic arrived at the arena just ahead of the Royal Procession.

All six Kings were travelling in a convoy, surrounded by Royal Guards, soldiers, and a handful of trolls, who were working to clear the road so that the trucks weren’t boxed in.

It was human nature to want to get a better view, but getting up close and personal with a Royal transport was just begging to meet the business end of a Royal Guard’s blade.

They did not react well when people rushed the vehicles.

Especially not in an age of artillery and high explosives.

Most of the town had come out to see them pass by, a rare sight for the average person, and even more so for someone who lived in an area as rural as Wistover.

By all common sense, this was likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, where the Kings had all come together to hammer out a deal after the end of a major war, and now they were celebrating with a joust, inviting Knights from all over the region.

It was the sort of memory that would be passed down to their children through stories.

So, Dominic waited patiently as the vehicles crawled through the city, taking a wandering route that was either designed to give everyone a chance to see them, or to remain on the wider main roads the entire trip.

None of the streets in Wistover were too narrow for the trucks that the Royals were using, a rarity among major cities, which normally had many narrow alleys you could hardly fit two people down in opposite directions.

But with the security detail, it was still better that they had as much space as possible.

Finally, the procession made it to the stadium, where the bleachers were already packed to capacity, a standing room only crowd.

And not much standing room, either. Just attempting to get to the restrooms or for the food vendors to move up the stairs was going to be difficult. Dominic knew that the place was far beyond the designed capacity, but he wasn’t going to stop them, not for the opening day of the Joust.

Once the novelty died down, the attendance would likely drop a little. People could afford to take a day or two off work on short notice, but right now, the whole city was essentially shut down.

Everyone was here.

Once the Royals were seated, Dominic moved to the centre of the arena floor to greet the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Honoured Guests, Sovereign Leaders, welcome to the opening of the Inaugural Wistover Joust.

Today, we have the preliminary round of the event, qualifying all of the brave Knights who have come to compete today. The rules are simple. Those who have won a tournament in the previous two years get a pass into the first main round, all others will compete.

Each preliminary round course will consist of three passes.

Every Knight who scores a single point in the preliminary rounds will be considered a capable horseman, qualified to continue into the main event. For fairness, all lances have been provided by the woodsmen of Wistover, made of our local white cedar, with locally produced metal coronal point.

The Knights have been left free to paint their lances as they see fit.

Striking below the waist or striking the horse directly is prohibited. Both will result in penalties. Striking to barricade with the side of the lance is also a penalty.

One point will be given for a clean strike on the far arm. Two points are awarded for hitting the chest or stomach. Three points are awarded for striking the shield or helmet.

Five points are awarded for breaking the lance on the opponent’s body or shield.

And finally, ten points and an automatic win of the course will be awarded for unhorsing your opponent with a legal strike.

Failure to present will forfeit your course. In the case of injury, thirty minutes will be allowed before the Knight is required to present. During the early rounds, the next course will begin if a Knight is not present for the call, and the timer will start.

Now, the matches for the preliminary round have been chosen, and I am honoured to present to you our first course of the tournament.

Sir Lars of Mitfield will face Sir Martin of Wistover."

Sir Lars was announced first, so he rode in first, to thunderous applause from the crowd. He rode down the lane, then stopped and saluted the Royals before coming to give the same vertically raised lance salute to Dominic.

Sir Martin followed, and the reception shook the stadium. Stomping feet, shouting, whistling.

The Knight rode down the lane, waving to the crowd, then saluted the Kings before moving to salute Dominic. Then, he rode to his position on the far side of the arena, and their flag bearer took his position in the middle of the arena on a raised podium above the scoring flags.

Each scoring flag was a narrow strip of cloth, Blue for one Knight, yellow for the other.

Gold had been deemed too tacky for a scoring flag, so they had gone with the colours that were in lower demand. No need to waste the green, black or red cloth on flags when it sold well for everything else.

The two Knights took their places. Then the mage from the Duskblade Sect, who was serving as their flag bearer and scoring judge, raised the Wistover flag over his head.

The Knights shifted, and the flag swung down.

Horses thundered forward, and the lances were lowered. First straight forward, then moved across to target their opponent without passing in front of the horse’s face.

Both rode mechanical steeds, as did everyone else in the tournament. However, the tradition remained from a time when a horse might balk or spook at a lance swung towards its face, leading to an unsportsmanlike penalty, or worse, a horse strike and disqualification.

Sir Martin was riding a steed provided by the Duchy, one of the refurbished mounts that the farrier’s team had been working so hard with the Techno Wizards to complete in time.

Cloth barding fluttered in the wind as the Knights met, and two cedar lances met with a resounding crash and flying wood.

The white cedar didn’t splinter the way that a pine lance would. But they didn’t have many suitable pine trees in the region to make the lances. However, the cedar was soft, and both lances had struck directly on the decorative targe that guarded the left elbow of the Knights.

The two Knights rocked back in their saddles, pulling at the reins to turn their horses just enough to avoid being pushed off the far side.

The horses rode to the end of the lane, then came back and saluted each other with their broken lances as five flags were unfurled on either side of the scoreboard.

The preliminary round didn’t eliminate anyone, but it still had three rounds, even if both sides had qualified. Dominic hadn’t thought to include a rule to shorten the match if both sides scored.

Whatever, it was more fun to watch this way.

The two Knights took fresh lances and shook off the aftereffects of the last impact.

Lars had a clear advantage on that front. He was a Paladin, and a short bit of healing magic would prevent the injury from bruising, as well as limiting the tenderness. He wouldn’t use much, as he didn’t want to tire himself before the end of the match.

But a little could go a long way.