The Knight's Taboo Ch. 01

Queen Merry brushed a hand against her mouth, laughing.

"Then, you are not tired?" She asked him, her eyes glancing towards him.

"Your Majesty, I have been trained by King Harminus to endure and resist the clutches of fatigue and sleep! I have gone a straight five days not with only two hours of sleep. And I assure you, that

I feel quite fine! I can still think coherently and I am still very functional."

Her eyes dwelled on him as they walked, but they soon pulled away as they came to another hallway.

"You do so much for me and King Harminus," she stated gingerly. "But I do worry sometimes that you and Chandler are pushing yourselves just a little bit too hard. Perhaps, it is not my place to say such things, because, after all, I know that as knights it is your sworn duty to serve us. And you both do so, so diligently and with such unyielding pride. But...Still, do be careful."

The sound of footsteps decreased. Parsee had stopped walking and had turned himself fully to gaze upon Queen Merry with his eyebrows sliding into a soft narrow, his eyes taking upon a quizzical glint as they looked into hers. "Is something bothering you, Your Majesty? You seem a bit pensive tonight.."

Queen Merry stilled in place; looking as if she had been apprehended. But she soon relaxed and shifted her weight so that her body was facing him and they were eye-to-eye once more.

"I've merely been thinking is all," she softly returned. "About all the things that our knights do in their service unto us. Were it not for you all, I believe we would have lost our lives years ago. You always put yourselves on the front lines no matter what it is that you do, and I just feel a great deal of gratitude for the things that you do for us, and sometimes I feel as if that gratitude goes unproperly unappreciated at times."

"As long as I know that what I am doing is pleasing unto both you and His Majesty!" Parsee brought his legs together and squeezed them against one another, arm lifting into the air and his hand coming to press against his forehead in a salute to the Queen.

"It doesn't go unnoticed," she remarked. "Now...I should probably return to my chambers."

"Your Majesty, wait," Parsee took a couple of swift steps towards her as she started to wander. "Please allow me the privilege and honor of escorting you back to your headquarters."

"I appreciate your kindness, Parsee," she reached out to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But, I will be fine. You know that I am well accustomed to the many corridors of this castle and getting lost is most unlikely to happen. But I do appreciate the thoughtfulness of your offer."

Parsee nodded his head silently and withdrew his hand from his forehead.

Queen Merry reeled her hand away from his shoulder and started to walk away from him. But she didn't so much as make it four steps away from him before she stopped herself in her tracks and turned around to look at him, having changed her mind. Once more, she gestured for his approach with her hand.

"Actually, Parsee," she started, "I would be appreciative if you would."

"It would be my utmost pleasure, Your Majesty." And Parsee stood beside her. Then they walked.

The walk back to the throne-room was a fairly lengthy walk due to the amount of steps that they had traversed and the many different halls that they had wandered on their mid-night stroll together. And when they had arrived back to the throne-room and Queen Merry stood at the doorway of her bedroom quarters, she produced another long yawn that she attempted to silence with her hand.

"Well," Parsee looked at her. "I suppose this is goodnight, Your Majesty. I hope you have the sweetest of dreams and do rest well."

"Wait," Queen Merry called to him as he turned to walk away.

Parsee stopped and turned to look at her.

"Goodnight, Parsee," she said tiredly. "Be sure that you sleep."

He nodded his head and once again got into saluting position, and held it until she had walked towards the door and pulled it open and walked into her room. Then he let his hand fall back down to his side and he began on his way to make his way to the knights' lodge area. Although he wasn't confident that he was worn enough to fall asleep, Parsee was eager to try to get a few winks in so that he could resume his duties when the dawn came.

The lodge which the knights would spend their knights in, and the moments that were not under commands from the King, was located to the farthest West tower of the castle. This tower was originally the sleeping quarters of Araqus' mid-age child, who was his seventh off-spring and after Araqus' death, it was re-arranged while keeping a few key elements leftover from the previous ruler, present. When King Harminus took reign and replaced his father as heir to the throne, he had once again begun re-construction on the room and went to great pains to transform it from a simple bedroom for a prince, to a large dwelling quarter for his knights. It was thus turned into a lodge for the knights.

Parsee amassed plenty of steps while he wandered the halls, but he soon saw the secondary banner that hung overhead that had been King Araqus' original coat of arms. This marked that he was nearing the tower where the lodge resided.

When he arrived at the lodge, Parsee pulled the door open and closed it behind him when he walked in.

The lodge was fairly spacious, although it still didn't compare to the personal quarters of the King and Queen. It looked almost entirely different than it was when Araqus had it constructed. It still had the gray-stone walls, but additional lighting from added candles helped to brighten the room and give it a strong amber glow that was relaxing, and the floor, originally just the same plain stone of the walls, was covered by a ponderous red rug with a pattern of gold diamonds.

Overhead at the corners of the ceiling hung bronze statues the phoenix, and a suit of chain mail wearing a hooded purple tunic rested near the scattered windows.

Parsee reached a hand down to his feet and removed his boots one by one before placing them in front of the knight's suit of armor display and pulled the tunic over his shoulders before neatly folding it and resting it on the nightstand by his bed's short headboard. Clad in nothing but his faded white braies, he pushed the neatly folded blankets on his bed back and climbed into the bed. He smiled once he was under the warm quilted blanket that rested beneath the wool blanket above and shut his eyes, falling asleep instantly.

********

The morning had come and Parsee was the only one who had overslept: The other knights had risen from their beds fairly early before the sun had ever started to ascend.

Chandler had given his best efforts to awake the other so he wouldn't be late for their daily routine, but no matter his attempts, he was unable to rouse Parsee from his peaceful sleep and eventually gave up and went with the other knights to the dining room, having already smelled the scent of food being prepared for them all.

The sun was completely set by the time that Parsee had woken up; the sunny glares hitting him right in the face and filling him with a sense of dread when he was finally stirred awake and realized that he had greatly overslept.

Briskly he threw the blankets right off of him and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, lowering them onto the floor. He bent over and reached for his tunic and dressed himself in it and then grabbed his boots from the pedestal that the knight armor rested on and hopped on one foot while he put the other one, then tugged the other boot onto his other foot. And then he made haste towards the door and ran down the halls of the castle at such a pace that he didn't catch sight of Princess Abelia, who he collided with.

Princess Abelia was a doppelganger of her mother in her youth years, although her breasts, still on a bit of the larger side, were a good size smaller. She was a mere eighteen years old and dressed in a gown that stopped just above the ankles, with a color scheme of violet and sky blue with seams holding it together at the chest. Her hair, braided into a single line that fell down the mid of her back.

Princess Abelia uttered an 'oohhff!' as she fell to the ground, Parsee landing on top of her lap. But when he realized his blunder, he quickly rose up and gazed upon her horrified, but nevertheless reaching a hand down to help up the princess to her knees.

"If I didn't know any better," Princess Abelia pulled herself up by tugging on his hand, "I would assume that you had just seen a ghost!"

"No ghost, Your Highness! But I do beg for your forgiveness for knocking you down, I'm terribly sorry! I woke up early and the others have already left for breakfast...Or is breakfast already over? Bah. A thousand pardons, Princess, please forgive me; I'm so very sorry."

Princess Abelia smiled but shook her head. "There is no need to apologize at all! But...You are indeed quite late, I fear. So you'd best hurry, I think mass may have already ended. If you're lucky, maybe there's still something left in the pot for you."

Parsee did a courteous bow to her and then once again took off running.

When Parsee arrived at the chapel area of the castle, he groaned: The chapel was empty save for the priest. He had missed mass.

"Oh, welcome, my son. It seems you had a late start this morning, haven't you?" Asked the kindly priest who carefully closed his bible and tucked it between his armpit and his side while he walked towards the frustrated Parsee.

"I didn't realize how long I had slept!" Said Parsee tersely.

"Do not let your anger consume you, Parsee," spoke the priest with that same mild voice. "The Lord is merciful and He is forgiving, He does not bear hatred for you for missing mass. But, my son, please do well to remember that being on time for mass is a most crucial part of any knight's life; for the Lord shall bestow upon His great fortune in return."

Father James looked at the candles that were lit around them, then turned to look at him again. "Now, even though all your fellow knights are gone, I offer you the chance to pray."

Standing before Father James, he got down on his hands and knees and lowered his chin, his arms reaching up and his hands come to press the palms together as they hovered a few inches from his face. As Father James lowered a hand onto his shoulder, he and Father James began to pray together in unison: "O Lord, Grant me the gift of Divine Grace to protect and conquer my five senses, that I may carry out the seven works of mercy, believe in the twelve articles of our Faith, practice the Ten Commandments of the Law and, finally, be delivered from the seven capital sins to the last day of my life. Amen."

Parsee rose from his knelt position and rose up to his feet.

"I pray that you have a fulfilling day and the Lord watches over you. And always remember Parsee: It's very easy to get caught up in the morning lunch...But gluttony will forever be frowned upon by Him. Eat what you must to satisfy yourself, but never over-do your indulgence."

"I have never questioned you on this before," Parsee said to him. "But how does one eat without becoming a 'glutton'?"

"An honest answer, to be sure," Father James laughed softly. "In the simplest terms that I can put it: When you feel that your belly is becoming heavy and cramped of space, that is the sign of gluttony and you should stop right there, and consume no more food."

"Many thanks, Father James. But now I must head to the dining room."

"Have a blessed day," Father James waved a hand to him as he went off.

When Parsee had arrived in the dining room, he was exasperated to see that he had missed out on breakfast time. With a hand reaching up to slap a hand against his forehead, Parsee sighed heavily and just sank down onto the bench of the wooden table. He threw his arms onto the table and then placed his head between them silently punishing himself for his oversleeping.

"Drat! I missed morning mass and breakfast! I can't believe this, this has never happened before. Oh, why..."

When his eyes opened back up, Parsee was about to get up and leave. But then as he lifted his head, he saw Chandler walking towards him with a large wooden bowl.

"I was requested to give this to you," Chandler stated with a grin.

Parsee was surprised. He was certain that he had missed out on the first meal of the day, but here Chandler had brought him a bowl filled with three large pieces of fresh-baked bread and two pieces of yellow cheese.

"Don't just gawk at me, you!" Chandler said in a pseudo angry tone. "Eat your meal, enjoy it, and then once you have had your fill, you are to come and join me outside. As I seem to recall...You were very interested in me showing you a few tricks with the bow and arrow."

Parsee nodded and then grabbed one of the pieces of bread and brought it to his mouth to take a bite out of.

Chandler walked away and left the dining room area.

Despite the day being off to a bad start with his oversleeping, Parsee was already seeing things become a little better. The bread and cheese that he given were proof enough of that. And while he did remember to be mindful of the amount of food he consumed, Father James' words always in the back of his head.

When the bowl was empty, Parsee lifted himself up from the bench connected to the wooden table and he headed to the practice grounds, located near the back of the castle.

When he arrived, there was Chandler and the other knights. Chandler already had gathered his bow and arrow for his daily target practice and was readying himself to pull back and launch an arrow. Parsee had got close enough just to see, and he watched the arrow speed through the air so fast, that, had he blinked, he would have missed it, and hit the center of the target board precisely.

"Well, boys," Chandler laughed in triumph and a very teasing manner. "How much did you owe me again?"

"Gambling again, Chandler?" Parsee inquired as he walked up towards the other.

Chandler turned to look at him. "Ah, Parsee! I see you finally made it out here to join us! Honestly, I wasn't expecting you. Surprised Joffer's pet turtle didn't beat you here."

"Ha-ha," Parsee retorted.

"So as you can see," Chandler pointed an index finger at all the other knights. "We all did a bit of betting here and I won, not that anyone would expect anything less. But these fools were brave enough to bet against me and now that I have proven why I'm considered among the best archers in this kingdom, it is time for them to either pay up, or shut up."

Parsee watched as at least three of the other knights came to Chandler, grumbling and arguing amongst themselves. They reached into small little pouches that were tied around their belts and loosened the strings that kept the top of the small bags closed tight and dumped a few coins into their hands before handing the coins to Chandler and then returning back to the spot that had been standing at.

"What about you?" Chandler shifted his gaze towards Parsee. "In a betting mood?"

"I know better than to bet against you," Parsee rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Good answer," Chandler lifted his eyebrows and his lips shaped into a smug look.

"Now, Chandler! You're still going to help me with my archery, right?"

"Of course! Did you bring your bow and quiver?"

Parsee groaned as he realized that, in his moment of haste to get out of bed, make it to mass and then to breakfast, that he had completely forgotten to grab his bow and quiver. And he turned his back to older knight, eyes hitting the ground.

"Don't fret," Chandler said. "BOYS! One of you let Parsee borrow your bow and quiver."

One of the knights approached the two and handed Parsee his bow and his quiver.

"First and foremost," Chandler lifted his eyes up to the sky and slid a finger into his lips. He then brought the finger from his mouth and stuck it up in the air. "Always see which way the wind is coming."

"Maybe I should have paid more attention in archery lessons," Parsee mumbled.

"Now, you know the basics of a bow and arrow, right, Parsee? You know the bow and its strings, the arrow, and that in order to fire a bow and arrow you must place the arrow in the center of the bow so that it has widened the string. Now, once you've done that, Parsee, you grasp the tail and you place your other hand directly below the arrow's head at the bow's grip. You hold the tail of the arrow and pull it back against the string, widening the bow."

"What comes next?"

"You very slowly release the arrow, and let it fly!" Answered Chandler loudly. And then he launched the arrow and it went speeding towards the target, the arrow landing right in the red center.

"It's so simple!" Parsee punched his knuckles into his open palm.

"It is a very simple thing. But getting the arrow to go exactly where you want? I'll tell you, it's not something that you can achieve on your first try. But it's better to perfect your archery, because, there will be a day that you can't rely on your sword alone. Now," Chandler backed up and handed him the bow and arrow. "Why don't you show me what you've learned?"

Parsee swallowed and took the bow and arrow; he imitated Chandler and then fired.

But the arrow didn't land in the center like Chandler's, and his arrow hit the bottom target, much to his own dismay and humiliation.

"Hmm...Now I see why you came to me," Chandler whispered to himself.

"See?!" Parsee stomped his foot. "I'm not good at this. Imagine if my mother came out here and saw how poorly I shoot."

"Just calm down, now. I think I may understand the source of your problems."

"What?" Parsee blinked at his words.

"I've noticed that when you fire, your feet are close-knit. But in order to fire a bow and its arrow, you must stand with your feet shoulder-width. And I also noticed that your shoulders are too stiff! You need to loosen your shoulders a bit, relax...And then fire your bow. But remember: You want the wind to guide its travel."

Parsee pulled back, and he let the arrow fly ahead towards the target once more.

The arrow landed. It still didn't hit the perfect orange center like Chandler's did, but his arrow had reached landed in the red ring just above the blue ring.

A feeling of great pride washed over him when he saw that his arrow had, at last, landed on a somewhat admirable spot on the target, and Parsee dropped the bow to the ground and tossed his arms up into the air ecstatic about his accomplishment.

Even Chandler joined in for some cheering, slapping a hand onto Parsee's back and breaking out into heartful laughter with the other while making gestures with his hand, imitating the arrow and the target and the arrow landing on the target.

"This is remarkable! Do you see how much you improved just by widening your standing stance a bit, and adjusting your shoulders? Keep practicing like that, and you will be an archery master overnight! But there is one more thing I wish to say."

"Which is?" Parsee eyed him.

"Every morning after mass, after breakfast, I want you to meet me here: Archery shall be your focus. But even then, do not neglect your swordsmanship either."

"Understood!" Parsee nodded.

They continued archery practice for another thirty or so minutes, and then it was time to move on to ranged weapons training. So they moved on to swordsmanship training and then training with the lance. When the knights had concluded their training regime, they returned back to the castle where King Harminus greeted them....Although the look in his eyes told them that he was greatly troubled by something that must have occurred while they were training behind the castle.

"Your Majesty, has misfortune fallen?" Inquired a concerned Chandler.