The Duchess and The Knight

The townspeople bustling around the town try to make a living modestly and are content with not being able to grow their stature. They are content with the Northern Autumn winds keeping the burglars and bad people away.

They are content with Duchess Zahra looking over the land and its people for she is wise, strong, and capable.

That is what this Knight is telling me as we ride through the capital to get to the Northern Lands.

“Her grace is also a very understanding and kind person.”

I cut off the older knight, “I mean no disrespect but if her grace is all that you say then why does she need another knight?”

The older Knight sighs, “Because of her curse, her position, and the Queen. I will tell you about her curse and why Duchess La’Torra hired you for her grace instead of for herself. The rest will have to wait until we get to the mansion.”

I nodded as the horse ward their way through the crowd.

“Her Grace has been cursed with forever always saying the opposite of what she means. The curse has been with her since she was 6 years of age. It’s not a problem so long as people know about the curse and thinks before they take offense to what she says. Over the years she has found ways to work around the curse and is content with not finding a way to break it.”

I nod again. “So, a noble got offended about what the duchess said?”

“Yes and no. Many people get offended by what her grace says because they don’t know whether she meant it or not. As I said she found ways to work around her curse, but she must be extremely sarcastic about what she says for it to come out the way she means. The only ones that can tell the difference are me, Monica, and Duchess La’Torra. Duchess La’Torra has been best friends with her grace since they were 7 and if they are together then she does all the talking for both of them. With that being said, the upcoming war between Longhorn and Shorthorn the queen is worried for the Nobility near that area.”

I imagine the map of the country in my head, “Neither of those lands is close to either of the duchesses.”

The old knight nods dodging the group of children, “Yes I will have to go more in detail about that later. What you need to know now is that Her grace didn’t want any more knights, but Duchess La’Torra and I were able to convince her to take at least one since I can’t be her knight any longer.”

We maneuver through the crowds some more before we reached a gate. The guards nodded to him, “Good Afternoon, Sir Hugo”

He acknowledges them before riding through the gates, they didn’t even bother to ask who I am.

Sir Hugo looks at me, “Don’t be surprised. I know that the security looks relaxed but that’s because we were given a profile on you, and they knew I would be getting you myself. So, no reason to stop and check who you were.”

“How did you get that information?”

“A year ago, you stepped into a political debate to defend a noble you were serving. You were able to correct the offending noble but got fired by your noble’s father because it brought dishonor to the family. Duchess La’torra was there and said that your level of charisma and elegance was better than most nobles. I had knights under me send me reports of the training and work you completed. Telling me that you could beat even some of the knights in the Royal guard. You are exactly what her grace needs and being her knight can benefit you as well.”

“They said that they would keep quiet about that if I did as well.”

Hugo barked out a laugh, “The nobles won’t tell the other nobles or the commoners, but they were not the only ones there. The nobles are not the only ones that can talk and spread rumors, remember that.”

Before anything else could be said we arrived at a big house with a woman waiting outside, “Good evening, Hugo”

“Good evening, Martha. I told you that you didn’t have to wait on us.”

The woman’s smile lights up the dying sky, “Old habits. How was the journey?”

Hugo gets off his horse and takes off his coat setting it on her shoulders, “Old habits my butt. You’ll catch a cold out here.”

Martha raises an eyebrow waiting with a smirk on her face.

Hugo sighs and waves to me, “It was uneventful. This is Sir Jay, Her grace’s new personal knight.”

I step off my white horse decorated by dark gray spots and gave a slight bow, “It’s nice to meet you, madam”

“Oh, dear you don’t have to do all that here. Honestly, if you did that to any other servant in this dukedom, they would feel awkward. But I do understand that your previous employer was a prick.”

“MARTHA”

She shrugged, laughing, “It’s fine go put your horse up and come eat.”

We take the horse to the barn near the side of the house. I make sure that Speedo has his food and water before following Hugo into the house.

“We’re about half a day’s ride from Her Grace’s home. Tonight, we will stay here since the winds will most likely freeze your face off.”

“If this place is not her Grace’s, then whose is it.”

“Oh, it’s mine, her grace gives all of her servants a house that is theirs to do what they will with it.”

Shocked stopped and looked around the elegant yet homey kitchen area and entryway.

Hugo laughs, “Don’t look too shocked you’ll probably get your home in about a year, in the meantime you will be staying in her mansion. Also, when you meet you will be assigned days off. She is very strict about people taking days off and not working.”

The rest of the evening went smoothly until Hugo shows me to my room, “There is something that we need to discuss before we leave in the morning.”

Letting him into the room I wait for him to start by the window watching the moon illuminate the rain blessing the earth.

Hugo sighed as if the years of his age has suddenly caught up with him, “I will be honest with you. Not only I but La’torra, Duchess of Summerfield believes that the Queen of Tokraine is the one behind the assassination attempts on Duchess Zahra but there is no proof so we can only try to prevent the attempts from happening for now.”

“That’s a bold assumption. What makes you think the Queen would do something like that?”

He whips out a flask and drinks, “The two duchesses did some dirty work for the queen when they were younger, which gave them the titles of Duchess. Nobody but those three know what was done. Hell, nobody knows about them doing things for the queen, but you need to know since you will have to be always by her side. I will also be there, but I will be a butler for the Duchess now instead of a knight due to my injuries.”

Arm crossed, “Why do you trust me this much?”

“I don’t but if you try to kill the duchess then we have proof enough to warrant investigating. Well, sleep well see you in the morn”

The night passed without any more events and the morning passed with us riding through the peaceful village housing what looks to be a mansion that could rival the royal’s castle.

The head maid greets us at the entrance and gives Hugo a butler uniform and leads me to a room.

“This will be your room for the time being. Please take a bath and change before meeting Her Grace.”

I did as the maid said and waited to be summoned by Her Grace.

Time passed until Hugo knocked announcing that she is ready to see me. I followed him walking stiffly and adjusting the suit he is wearing.

“Her Grace has been tasked with hosting a royal ball for the crown prince, so she won’t have much time for you. Just answer her questions and remember if you don’t understand then ask. I will be in the room as well.”

The grand door received a knock and then was soon opened, revealing a grand oak desk, a good size window behind it and a black chair holding a dark skin woman, a little lighter than me, with black and blue hair in a messy bun and glasses pushed up on her face.

Kneeling I say my oath to the Duchess before I hear her sigh, “Are you here to kill me, knight?”

“No, your grace”

She scuffs with sarcasm dripping from her lips, “We’ll see. Your room is across from mine so do try to sleep with me. You wake when I wake and will not eat with me either. That will not start tonight.”

Duchess Zahra waves her hand at me like a dismissal. I look towards Hugo before walking out of the office. Hugo steps outside the office, “Tell me what you understand, and ill fix it from there.”

“She doesn’t want me in her room to try to sleep with her. I will be awake and sleep when she does. And I am to eat with her grace starting tonight with every meal.”

Hugo nods, “Good here is her schedule and the places that she goes. She normally does the same thing every day, but it also depends on the guests. Do what you think needs to be done for Her Grace to be safe, your duties start when you arrive at dinner.”

The rest of the day I studied Her Grace’s schedule and make notes of everything around the land and its security.

Dinner time arrived and Her Grace did not eat in the dining hall but in her office. As soon as I arrived, I see a glint in the window behind her grace.

I rush to her side, drawing my sword.

The arrow breaks through the window just as I send a gust of wind knocking the trajectory of the arrow and holding the grace to chest away from the window.

The assaulter was trying to make a break for it, but I slice the sword through the air sending a sharp gust to cut him down where he stands.

“Are you alright, your grace?”

Her brown eyes stare at me until takes a step back, “No”

“I’m glad you are not harmed, your grace”

I see the other knights around the dead body and sheath the sword again, “We should have dinner in a better room, shall we?”

She nods and we walk to a room with couches and a small table next to a fireplace.

Walking to the table, “Please don’t have a seat.”

She waves to the seat opposite hers, “We don’t have much to discuss.”

The chair creaks as I sit before Hugo and Martha roll a tray of food into the room, setting the table. Martha winks at me before she and Hugo bow to her grace and leaves the room.

Her Grace’s voice drips with sarcasm but I don’t have to try to flip the words in my head while she does this, “Martha is our head chef. Every servant working in this mansion is loyal to me so before you go on a possible investigation on everyone in this building know that.”

“Your Grace, I don’t think you understand that if I was to come into the office a few seconds later you would be dead.”

She rolls her eyes, “And I Thank you, but I will also say that if it is my time to die then I will die.”

“Well, your grace you will not die on my watch while I work for you. I will even fight death to finish my assignment.”

She takes a sip of her wine before locking eyes with my dark brown ones, “Your job is to protect me and mine is to protect everyone on my land and that includes my servants. So, you can do what you need to but don’t harass the innocent.”

I acknowledge her request and we finished the food. Before we called it a night and went to our rooms, she told me that the ball she was hosting is for the crown prince and what I will need to be prepared for.

A month has passed, and the assassination attempts have gradually gotten more blatant.  

The ball is about to start, and the duchess asked me to be her escort. I believe that in the past month, we have become close enough to be friends.

I fix my jacket just as Her grace walks out of her room, stealing my breath for but a moment.

With her hair down and over one shoulder and the slightly sparkled dress, she looked beautiful.

“What?”

I shake my head and kiss her hand, “You look beautiful, your grace”

Turning away from me she walks in a huff, imagining her blushing I let out a chuckle before we walk into the decorated ballroom.

Everything goes smoothly as I did the talking for her grace as she asked, and we greeted the Crown prince.

Things started to go exactly the way Her Grace said they would once we started dancing together. The guest was being shown out the door one by one until it was just the crown prince and his guards surrounding us.

The prince draws his swords while I waltzed us to the table in the corner of the room. Letting her Grace sit before drawing my sword and the paper she gave to me earlier.

“I don’t want to marry you no matter what the queen says. But I can’t say no to mother so I will have to kill you, sorry.” The prince yelled across the room to her grace who nods to me.

Reading off the paper, “Her grace says ‘that she does not wish to marry you either so she will help your common girl earn herself a noble title. Do not ask how she knows about that just know that if we die here tonight so will she.”

The rest of the paper is blank. Does she want me to make something up now?

Before the prince can say anything, two of his guards tried to rush us. But a flick of my swords sent them through the windows and falling two stories.

The rest of the knights only took one step before the prince called out to Her Grace, “How long would it take you to make her a noble?”

Her grace sighs, “Two years”

The prince sheaths his sword, “This could have been avoided if you just sent a letter or spoke to me before.”

I answered, “Her highness would not let her grace speak to you.”

All the prince did was nod before walking away with his men following him as well.

I turn to Her Grace and see her pour two glasses of wine and motion me to sit with her.

Her voice is soft as she gives me a glass, “Thank you for your terrible job. You will not be released from your services now.”

“But what if I wished to stay by your side, your grace?”

The shocked look in her eyes earns a smirk on my face, “What?”

“I wish to stay as your knight, your grace.”

She just blinks at me, so I decided to tease her, “I wish to be your knight in shining armor and to also possibly be your prince charming when needed. Or did you and Martha phrase that differently?”

Stuttering she stands, “Do as you wish”

I hide my laugh as I watch Her Grace leaves the room.