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Today was looking to be a good day. At least for Sir Alfred, anyway. Sometimes it felt like he was the only knight who actually liked the training sessions early in the morning. Aside from actually fighting enemies, the trainings were the best way to keep his swordsmanship in check. Also, he usually got the opportunity to show off his strength in some way, which only helped to keep his pride.
And the morning sessions allowed him to freely admire Prince Arthur from afar when he was focused on another knight, but that was beside the point.
Alfred glanced at the fellow knights standing by him. Some of them looked like they just rolled out of bed. Others were chatting amongst themselves. The conversation being had was probably not about training at all, based on the laughter coming from one of the knights involved.
The sound of clanking armor announced the presence of Prince Arthur. It only took his mere presence to get the other knights standing upright and focused. Meanwhile, Alfred had long been ready for the prince’s arrival.
“I hope you have already done your warm-up stretching by now, like you were supposed to. You’ll need it for the exercise I have planned for today.” Arthur’s voice boomed over the training field.
Alfred could hear quiet groaning from a few other knights. It was understandable, as Arthur indirectly indicated that today’s session will be long and intense. It was also possible that they may be on the field for a bit longer. But Alfred only grinned at the news. The long, intense, training sessions were Alfred’s favorite. Some could say Alfred was a masochist for training.
“Today will be all about training your endurance.” Arthur looked over the heads of the knights while he spoke. “One person will stand on one side of the dueling ring.” He pointed over to the spot in question. “And everyone else will form a line at the other end of the ring.”
Alfred knew by now which exercise they would be doing today. And yup, it could very well take the training long into the afternoon.
“The person by themselves will be dueling the person at the front of the line.” Arthur continued. “Should that person win, they will then duel the next person in line. This pattern continues until the solo person loses. When a person who was in line wins the duel, they will take the place of the solo person and fight the person who is next in line. For now, we will keep this going until every knight has fought in at least one duel. Are there any questions?”
The overall atmosphere amongst the crowd of knights was dread. Most of them hated this exercise, but it was super effective when it came to the practice of building up endurance. Endurance was important in the battlefield, after all. A few seconds of silence elapsed while the knights stared at the prince.
“Then we’ll get started.” Arthur held a hand towards the dueling ring. “Are there any volunteers to be the first person fighting the ones in line?”
Alfred rose his hand eagerly, while resisting the urge to jump around like a child. He was silently screaming, pick me!
“Anyone that is not Sir Alfred.” Arthur knew how much Alfred thrived in the exercise. Alfred could hog the solo spot for a while, and set the standards too high for the other knights.
A little whine came out of Alfred as he slowly lowered his hand.
“No one?” Arthur rose an eyebrow. “I will have to pick someone myself then.”
The unlucky knight picked to start solo was Sir Howard. He was one of the newer men who recently got knighted. Sir Howard was placed in the solo spot while the other knights got in line.
Of course, Alfred was forced to wait towards the back of the line. But he tried to be optimistic in that at least he was not dead last.
~~~
It was late morning by the time Alfred was able to duel a fellow knight. He had gotten quite antsy from waiting in line for what felt like hours. The duel would be perfect for letting out the chaotic energy.
Since the knight in the solo position had won the past two duels, Alfred had a crucial advantage over him. The duel only lasted a few seconds as the other knight’s fatigue got to him, allowing Alfred his first victory of the day. Alfred took the spot of his former opponent. The knight that had been behind Alfred in line stepped into the dueling ring.
The second duel did not last much longer than the first. It was a massive skill issue on the other knight’s part. Alfred was simply more fluid in his movements. He watched with a smug grin as the lesser skilled knight got replaced with the next one in line. Arthur pulled the lesser skilled knight aside to give his critiques on the performance.
Alfred’s third duel of the day was the first real challenge. This opponent was closer to his skill level, so it required more effort out of Alfred. Nevertheless, Alfred won the duel again. He started to get applause from the other knights as he matched the record for the most duels won that day.
During the fourth duel, Alfred began to sweat heavily under his armor. He ignored the feeling, focused on winning against his opponent. He did end up winning the match, basking in the praise received from the other knights.
“And we have a new record for the day.” Arthur did not seem surprised at this turn of events. “How much further can the streak be extended, hm? I’ll give a small reward to the knight who can beat Sir Alfred.”
Alfred detected a challenge towards him in Arthur’s voice. For his ego’s sake, he was going to win. He felt the need to impress everyone who was watching in that moment.
It unexpectedly got hotter outside during the fifth duel. Alfred felt his skin become slick with sweat. He got a muscle cramp in his side, which caused him to almost lose the match. But Alfred got a lucky strike in when his opponent left an opening after his own attack. Before the next match, Alfred took a small water break to rehydrate. The cramp faded enough for Alfred to continue dueling.
The nausea came in during the sixth duel. Alfred swallowed back down the vomit that threatened to come up before taking a swing at his opponent. He could not give up now; think of his pride! The rest of the duel was a blur, because Alfred went from fiercely attacking his opponent in one moment to holding his sword above the knight’s neck in the next. Alfred soaked in the applause and crowd cheering like a sponge.
Between matches, Alfred stepped outside the dueling ring to rest. He stuck his sword into the ground to lean against it, as he got ambushed from a sudden feeling of dizziness. He felt like he couldn’t keep his balance. But on the plus side, he stopped sweating.
“Are you alright? You don’t look good.” Sir Howard approached Alfred.
Alfred measly held up a hand. “I’m okay.” His speech was slurred. “I just need some water and another break.”
But Alfred never got the water he wanted. A few moments after answering Sir Howard, everything went dark for Alfred.
~~~
The first thing that Alfred noticed upon waking up was that he felt something cold on his bare back. Then he realized just how heavy and sore his body felt. Even if he wanted to, he probably couldn’t move from where he was at. In fact, he wanted to fall back into the peaceful abyss of nothing. But alas, it was time to wake up. Alfred groaned in pain.
“Easy now.” A calming voice said to him. “Your body is still under a lot of stress.”
“Grayson.” Alfred recognized the voice of the Court Physician. He could hear medicine brewing in the background. That meant someone carried him to Grayson’s quarters.
“Oh good, you’re awake.” Said a different voice that sounded both irritated and relieved.
“Arthur?” Alfred opened his eyes at last. What the hell was the prince doing here? Sure enough, Arthur was sitting on a chair next to the bed that Alfred was laying on.
“I’ll need you to sit up for me so we can get some liquids in you.” Grayson helped Alfred settle into a sitting position. Then he offered him some water, which Alfred gulped down greedily.
“What happened?” Alfred’s voice was still a little hoarse.
“You passed out from the heat.” Grayson explained as he continued to brew medicine. “When you arrived here, your skin was incredibly red and hot to the touch, but there was no sweat to be found on you.” A small amount of the medicine that had been brewing was transferred to a vial. “You also had a rapid heartbeat. Your body needed to be cooled down quickly.”
So that explained the cold cloth that had been on his back.
“I had to carry your arse here.” Arthur huffed. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Grayson came back with the vial. “Drink this. It will help get your body temperature back to normal and relax your heartbeat.”
Alfred took the vial. He sniffed the contents and made a face. Of course, medicine did not smell good. Nor taste good, as Alfred prepped himself to down the contents in one go. After counting to three, Alfred threw his head back and downed the medicine. He winced as he tasted the aftertaste on his tongue. He laid back down on the bed so that the cloth was on his back once more.
“Thank you.” Grayson took the vial. He got two more cloths that had been soaking in presumedly cold water. “Now that you’re awake, hold these in place under your arms for me.”
The ice-cold cloth felt fantastic on Alfred’s armpits. The knight hummed with pleasure as he felt the cooling effects immediately.
“How long will it take for him to recover?” Arthur asked.
“He has to rest for at least a week while staying out of the heat.” Grayson said. “During that week, he should not be doing sword training or physical labor. He should be in bed for as much as possible. After that week, he may be limited for some time while his body fully recovers. People heal from these types of things at different rates.”
As much as Alfred wanted to complain, he kept his mouth shut. He knew that he needed to heal properly from this. The best chance that he had in doing so was to obey Grayson’s orders.
“We’ll take about this more when he gets further along in recovery.” Grayson picked up his satchel. “I’ll be making some deliveries to the townsfolk. You two can stay in here.” The Court Physician left, leaving Arthur and Alfred alone.
“Why didn’t you say something?!” Arthur’s mood turned a complete 180 from concerned to irritated.
“Pardon?”
“When you weren’t feeling well! You could have voluntarily stopped at any time.”
Alfred frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.
“And then you had to faint just like that.” The prince stood and started to pace around the room. “While giving us all a scare.”
“Sorry.” Alfred felt guilty. He had not meant to scare anybody.
The apology made Arthur stop in his tracks. He sighed before sitting back down next to Alfred. “What I mean to say is that you need to learn how to take care of yourself better.” Arthur’s voice was once again filled with concern. “I notice how you tend to think about others before yourself. Whether it’s because you want to be a hero, or to give yourself an ego boost.”
Okay, not cool. Alfred was called out and didn’t like it. But he did not get a chance to retort because Arthur began to speak again.
“It can be argued that taking care of yourself is equally or more important than focusing on others. Especially when it comes to being a knight. How can you help protect the citizens of Noblia to the best of your ability when you cannot take care of yourself?”
The retort Alfred had prepared in response died.
“And now you’re stuck in the castle for a week, at best.” Arthur looked away, finding one of the bookshelves very interesting to look at all of the sudden.
“You’re right.” Alfred conceded. “I was maybe a bit careless back there.”
“You were careless.” Arthur quipped, falling back on their usual banter.
The familiarity succeeded in cheering Alfred up. “Don’t you have princely things to do? Like read boring documents?” He gave Arthur a cheeky grin.
“Don’t remind me.” Arthur muttered.
The prince’s attitude made Alfred laugh.
“I do actually have to go back to ‘princely things’ as you call it.” Arthur hid the smile on his face from Alfred’s view. “I’ll send a servant down to aid your recovery in the meantime.” He turned back to face Alfred. “Promise me that you’ll take your own health more seriously from now on. I’ll admit that you’re one of my best knights. The kingdom of Noblia cannot afford to lose someone like you from easily preventable illnesses.”
“I promise.” Alfred’s smile turned from sincere to smug. “I’m one of your best knights, you say?”
“Don’t make me regret saying that. Egotistical wanker.” Arthur grumbled more insults under his breath as he left the physician’s quarters.
Meanwhile Alfred was beaming. That was exactly what his pride needed. But now he had a promise to keep for Arthur, which started with his own recovery.