Code of Chivalry
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the code, just my imagination!
Summary: "Our Code of Chivalry has harsh demands," Myles reassured her. Follow Alanna as she discovers that her 'precious Code of Chivalry' isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Authors Note: Everyone is OOC. Don't blame me!
The Code of Conduct for knights in the Eastern Lands is known as the Code of Chivalry. A Chivalrous knight is:
1.) Faithful to the church.
2.) The champion of justice.
3.) Prepared to help the weak and oppressed.
4.) Brave and courageous in battle.
5.) A Defender of a women's honor.
1.) A chivalrous Knight was faithful to the church.
Alanna walked through the palace corridors; she was on her way to the practice courts. It had been an interesting day. A drunken Raoul had announced his retirement as Captain of the King's Own, after only a year, to fulfill his life long dream of becoming Wardrobe Mistress –Err Master.
As Prime Minister, Gary – who was even more drunk than Raoul – had tried to pass a law stating that all men were to wear a pink veil in public or be hung. Yes, interesting was a good word to describe the day so far.
As Alanna walked down the corridors and laughed at the days events, she bumped into someone. "Master Si-Cham! What are you doing here?"
"Something terrible has happened at the temple of Mithros, you must come quickly," Master Si-Cham said hurriedly. With a blink of an eye the old man had grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room, towards the palace gates. "We must get to the palace at once!" he continually muttered.
Once at the temple Alanna noticed a large crown gathering around the corner of the temple which had the portraits of Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess. Everyone was there, Nobles street rats, merchants, thieves, commoners, even foreigners.
Alanna pushed through the crowd to get a glimpse at whatever it was that had caught so many people's attention. Alanna gasped, it was terrible! Someone had drawn a moustache on the Great Mother Goddess as well as redesigning her attire and also decided that Mithros needed to wear a pink veil.
Outside thunder boomed and the rain began to pour down, the gods were not happy. Too suddenly there was a flash of light and the most beautiful Lady in the entire Eastern Lands appeared alongside Mithros.
"Who did this?" Mithros bellowed.
All in the room stood silent, either in fear, shock or awe, mostly fear.
"Mithros has declared that all in this room will be punished to the Realms of Chaos if the devil that did this does not come forward," the Great Mother Goddess said, speaking for Mithros. The goddess's voice was calm, deep and musical yet at the same time was raging and the sound hurt ones ears.
"The Chivalrous citizen would come forward and admit to their crime," the goddess muttered.
Chivalry could get you into a pickle sometimes, Alanna thought. Alanna didn't want all these innocent people to suffer in the Realms of Chaos and no one was going to own up so it looked as if they would all be going to visit Chaos.
So Alanna boldly stepped forward, "It was I," she lied.
2.) A Chivalrous knight was the champion of justice.
"It's my apple," Thom exclaimed.
"It landed on my side of the garden," Alanna argued.
"Thom if the apple landed on your sister's side of the garden then technically it belongs to her," Myles said, as he was acting as the judge.
Thom stiffened, this wasn't fair! Justice would be served. "I paid for the apple tree, planted it, made it grow, watered it and most importantly sung to it!"
"Ye two look like ye don' 'ave much else t'do," Corum interrupted. He hated seeing the twins arguing, especially now that they were older.
"I paid for the seed and convinced father to allow us to plant the tree," argued Alanna.
"Now Thom, if she paid for the tree, then the apple is hers," Myles said as he tried to coax Thom into handing over the apple.
"But if it weren't for me the tree would have never grown," Thom objected.
Alanna's face was turning the same shade of copper as her hair.
"Then the apple belongs to Thom," decided Myles.
"But I'm hungry!" Alanna snapped.
Myles sighed. "Will you two ever agree on anything? You're both as stubborn as each other."
Corum shrugged. "Aye, they're Trebond," he said, as if it explained everything.
"Look, justice will be served!" declared Myles. "Which is why I must come to the conclusion that the apple belongs to me!" Myles grabbed the apple and ate it before either hot-heads could protest.
3.) A Chivalrous knight was prepared to help the weak and oppressed.
Duke Rodger of Conte was on his knees begging for help…literally. "Sir Alanna, you must help me!"
Alanna snorted. "Why would I help you?"
"Because I am weak and oppressed and you are the most chivalrous knight in all of Tortall. Please?" the Duke begged.
"I will not," snapped Alanna.
"But you must," Rodger said, "Your precious rules of Chivalry say so."
"These darn rules!" Alanna muttered. "What must I do?"
"I want my cousin dead!"
Alanna cursed. These rules of chivalry were not all they were cracked up to be.
4.) A Chivalrous knight was Brave and courageous in battle.
"I demand a rematch," Dain of Melor snarled.
"But I just beat you fair and square!" Alanna cried.
"And I want a rematch."
Alanna looked towards Duke Gareth, surely he wouldn't allow this. Duke Gareth nodded, "A rematch it is then."
They crossed blades and began the second match. After fencing for 10 minutes straight sweat was running down their faces to the point that neither of them could see clearly.
Alanna blocked Dain's strike and slid her blade straight towards Dain's heart. It was time to make the 'child's trick' work.
Dain fell over and his sword went flying to the other end of the fencing court. He began to cry, "Why is it that this runt has beaten me? Twice! Mithros help me."
Looking at his arm, Dain saw it was bleeding and fainted at the sight of his fresh blood.
5.) A Chivalrous knight was A Defender of a women's honor.
During the Ball of the presentation of Sir Alanna and Princess Thayet, Delia of Eldorne sat in a corner watching all the pretty ladies dancing with their knights in shining armor.
Why was she the only one not dancing? This time, five years ago, the knights – and squires even - would crowd around her. But now she was all alone.
She looked around the room and spotted Sir Alanna, who was also sitting and watching. Delia walked over to the knight. "Would you care to dance?"
"No," Alanna retorted. What's wrong with her?
"It's not honorable for all the ladies to be dancing but one," Delia said.
"It's not honorable for two women to Dance together-," Alanna began to say before being interrupted by Delia.
"But it is honorable for a lady to dance with a knight. Besides, Squire Alan would dance with me all the time."
"But Squire Alan had too," Alanna said through gritted teeth. "Or else Squire Alan would be told off by Knight Master Jon."
"And here I was thinking that you were the chivalrous one," Delia sighed.
"Fine," Alanna snapped, "I'll dance with you!"
Hey everyone!
This is my first Tortall fic,
what did you think of it? (I thought it was kinda weird)
So please Read and Review!
Happy Rading
Madame-S-Butterfly.