I felt like writing a new forward, and I did. This is a story of love as well as knighthood and powerful wizards. The ending of the story is rather ambiguous so as to leave room for a sequel. Anyway, the story follows young Mercurius Knight as well as his rival and adversary Matthias Zarron. It pretty much shows why wit beats steel. Sword and sorcery, etc. run rampant through the realm.

Looking towards a sequel! E-mail any opinions to me at Zarron84@hotmail.com. Work is still in progress.
 

Anyway, the reason you’re all here:

Matthias Zarron’s
    Mercurius Knight:
An Innocent Proclamation
A young knight of eight years old stood over the baby girl. The young baby was the princess of the realm; the king and queen stood over the baby girl. The king smiled over his baby, and looked at the young knight.

“Are you Ferdinand Mercurius?” The strong king asked.

“Yes my lord.” The squire said, kneeling.

“Then knight, I have chosen you for a special reason, to be the Royal Protector of the princess. Rise, Mercurius Knight.” The king said. He had chosen this boy.

That day, the boy became a great knight. His father had been the head of the royal protectors for well over a decade, and now he was being positioned with the job of protecting her Royal Highness, Princess Alexis of Versailles.

Thirteen Years Later, a Bard comes to Pass:
“Mercurius you are so mean!” The girl whined. The princess of Versailles cried helplessly alone. Her Royal Protector, as well as her future husband if Christopher (the Court Advisor) had anything to say about it. But, alas the boy was brutish.

“Stupid Geovani!” Mercurius called, kicking the squire in training to the ground.

Dusting himself off, the brown haired boy replied. “I am only as stupid as I believe.”

“Geovani’s stupid! Princess Alexis thinks you’re stupid to!” Mercurius said, he was twenty-one. The Squire was only about fifteen, and was receiving a beating. Mercurius looked to Alexis for approval. The princess cried some more.

“See! She doesn’t agree with you!” Geovani said, and received a vicious kick across his face.

“I’m Mercurius! And I’m her Royal Protector; you made the Princess Alexis cry! Prepare to be punished!” The young knight said, drawing his blade. As he was about to flat side Geovani, he felt a hand on his shoulder. The Royal Protector turned and saw a young boy, about the Princess’s age, looking at him from under a large white cloak.

The cloak was obviously for someone much more muscular, as the entire boy (Mercurius assumed it was a boy, he could not tell for certain) was hidden under it. The figure stepped back. The white cloak was thrown off to reveal the small boy.

“I am Matthias the Bard. I think you are making a big mistake, picking on little children.” The boy said. Mercurius fumed, and punched the Bard down. The princess cried, and Matthias stood, brushed off and approached the girl.

She is lovely… her eyes, her hair… all of her delicate features, Matthias thought. He turned his back on Mercurius and approached the crying figure. He kneeled, and took her hand in his. She stopped crying and looked curiously at the Bard.

“Vagrant! How dare you touch royalty!” Mercurius shouted. He grabbed Matthias by his shoulders, and wrenched him up to his feet.

Matthias turned, and received a violent blow to his jaw. The boy lulled backwards for only a moment, then his mind’s instinct kicked in. As the stronger and older boy’s fist was about to connect, the young Bard caught the punch and turned it aside. He brought his fist straight into Mercurius’s mouth, and kicked him over. Mercurius rolled back, and grabbed for his sword.

“A swo… swo… sword?!?” The Bard cried out in dismay.

Iron Sword, and Iron Wit.
Who is this boy, who fights Mercurius? Mayhap he is a chivalrous squire of the old knights? Maybe he is a send from some wise man to protect me from Mercurius? Why did he look at me like that though? Did his eyes relay some deeper meaning, or is it my imagination? All of these questions raced through the princess’s head.

As the princess thought, something raced towards Matthias’s head. A fist. A rather heavy one too, Mercurius decked the boy. Matthias is not the sturdiest boy and thus he fell to the ground. Blood poured down his face, and Mercurius drew out his blade.

“I’ll kill you.” The sword came down, but a white searing light suddenly blinded Mercurius. No… wait a second! It was the Bard’s cape! The white cape had been elegantly flung into the stronger man’s face. He thrashed around, and felt restraints around him.

“Young sir, thank you ever so!” Geovani said, shaking hands with Matthias.

“’Tis nothing good sir. Who are you though, fair lady, that such a ruffian should make your eyes well with tears?” The young Bard asked in soothing tones. He produced a simple white handkerchief for the crying maiden, and she accepted it. After drying her tears, the Bard tenderly took her hand.

“STOP! SCOUNDREL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MERCURIUS!” Came a booming voice. It was that of the knight Darien. Darien was strong, as well as strapping. If he were twenty years younger, the Princess would have thought him attractive. But he wasn’t, and therefore she didn’t.

“Is that his name?” Matthias asked, as he looked at the knight covered in the white cloak. The boy carefully let him loose.

“Come with me. What is your name? I am the knight, Darien.” The knight said

“I am Matthias.” The boy replied. Alexis approached Matthias and tugged on his cloak. “Yes my lady?” Matthias asked looking at her deeply into her eyes.

“I’d like to speak with thee, in private.” The princess said, and Matthias’s eyes lighted up.

A Royal Decree
“You want me to what? Contend against the knight?” Matthias asked in disbelief.

“Yes. I saw you in combat, you are sound of mind.” The princess stated calmly.

“Yes… but he’ll slay me if I really try to beat him.” Matthias said.  The princess sighed, and began to tear. The Bard reached out and put his hand on her shoulder.

“I believe in you.” The princess said, as she kissed a charm that hung around her neck, and handed it to him. Matthias picked up the charm, and kneeled to the princess, and she left.

Matthias swooned back. He left and then he was sent as a member of the special envoy to the Mercurius Temple, where Mercurius would fight for his knighthood, as well as his lady. If he won, he would marry Lady Alexis.

Temple of Mercury:
In the temple, knight of the temple of Mercury walked through the gates as he stared at the glare coming off the pillars. He felt a power source burning from inside. He instinctively drew his large claidmore, and winced under its weight. Stupid blade, he thought, why can't it be light? He slowly walked into the temple. It had a glow of ivory and silver around it, and he could see the large demon that had destroyed the pillars, it was a large minataur like creature. Its horns turned like screws and it glinted silver along its hide.

Mercurius gritted his teeth, and channeled his icy magic through it. As the Minataur charged him, he dodged to the side. "Toro!" He shouted out, as a beam of ice charged into the back of the metallic Minataur. Its back froze, but was thrown off by the force of the creature's skidding stop.

"Blast!" The knight dodged under a ball of blackness that was formed in the creature's mouth. The energy then swarmed towards him, and was absorbed into his blade. Finally, he sighed and closed his eyes. His mind focused on his princess, who he was protecting, and he felt the blade turn frosty.

"Ice Freezing, Glare!" He shouted as the multiple balls of light crashed into the creature's horns. The next volley removed the machine arms and legs, as an explosion of sparks circled the area. The machine fell to the ground, and groaned as its red eyes turned black.

Alexis and her Court.
Alexis and her court meandered through the forest. Brother Christopher, the priest, was dressed in a black suit with a white collar. Squire Geovani was dressed in full chain mail. At the young boy's side was strapped a silvery stiletto. Also with them was the travelling entertainer Matthias the Bard.

The darkened forest had an odd sense of foreboding ever since they had lost contact with Mercurius.

"Lady Alexis, the day is almost out, I am certain that Lord Mercurius is dead, or he wouldst have returned by now." Squire Geovani stated.

Matthias shook his head, as he glanced at Princess Alexis. The girl simply nodded solemnly.

"Take heart," Christopher says, "for he is in a better place. For 'tis us who must worry! Those bandits will be here any moment now! We must make haste."

Matthias grinned, and pulled a small, sleek green gun. "You go ahead, I shall hold them here."

Sighing, Christopher asked. "How, Bard are you going to hold four bandits?"

"Magic. Do I have your blessing Lady Alexis?" Matthias approached the Princess, and carefully took her hand. He kissed her hand gently, and then turned away.

“You have my blessing, and my wishes.” Alexis said, as the Bard walked off.

"Lady Alexis!" Geovani yelled, as he grabbed the girl's ponytail. She yelped as she stumbled backwards. "Like I was saying, Lady Alexis, why didst thou abandon the Bard? He canst fight off bandits!"

"Squire Geovani, he must have a plan. Why else would a Bard say he could fight off bandits?"

"Because he is only a Bard?" Christopher said with a humph.

"I have faith in Matthias… I think." Alexis silently wished good luck to the two heroes, as she set off on her own.

Matthias versus the Bandits.
The young bard ducked under another rain of arrows. He popped up, and fired a thin green sliver of light. It struck the bandit's bow, breaking it. The bandits stared as another green light broke his bow. The remaining two archers ran forward, drawing blades.

Matthias grinned, as he cut the rope that held the humongous tree trunk back. It rolled forward, knocking the first two bandits off their feet. Third and fourth bandit charged forward at the young Bard. Matthias the Bard ducked under a sword strike, and punched into the bandit's stomach with his dagger. The third bandit turned and ran.

Court without its Heroes.
Alexis sat alone, in court well away from the forest. A week had passed since the forest trek, and Matthias had yet to return. Mercurius also had disappeared since the adventure to the temple. Christopher waited for the king; he would be greatly disappointed. Ever since Alexis failed the entrance exam to 'Tirias's School of Magic' the King had been forcing Christopher to tutor her, and the priest was not enjoying it.

It wasn't that the princess was not a good student, ok that was it exactly. The princess couldn't concentrate from one thing to another, and was often distracted. Also, Mercurius' squire, Geovani, was there most of the time. And he, was the most dismal failure of all time in scholarly achievement. In fact, while Christopher was trying to tutor the princess in magic, Giovanni would bother her. If only he had been wandering around the forest alone for a week.

Matthias had been lost in the woods as well as Mercurius, and the two rivals hadn't met too well. Each one believed the road to the castle went a different way, and they had parted paths. In fact a full week had passed, and they both had been returned to the castle. After telling of each of their ordeals, Brother Christopher voted that Mercurius had been the true hero, and was giving the gem of true seeing. The hero contest was one sided, and Matthias knew he would lose. But it was worth a try. He had his chance to show off for the princess.

The Gem of True Seeing was merely a valuable gem; it had no magical properties. But, Brother Christopher and Mercurius continued their deeds, and were constantly defeating Matthias in unfair bouts of strength, because that was what the country wanted. Heroes of strength, not wit. Alexis didn't like Mercurius much, and Matthias was only a friend.  Matthias was constantly off on one little soiree or another.

One day, she and Geovani were wandering through the forest, when a discussion of the two heroes came to pass.

"No, Squire Geovani I must say that Matthias is the better hero. For when strength fails, what can Mercurius do?"

"Then again, strength is the key to winning any physical competition. How can Matthias hope to defeat Mercurius in their silly feud? And are you not to wed Mercurius this month even? Surely he will not want to here you speak this way." Geovani remarked, as the girl looked away.

"Do not bring Mercurius up again! He is obstinate, and more annoying then thee." Alexis was beginning to tear. She hated Mercurius, he had always bullied people around, and now as a 'hero' he was doing it more so then ever. He had nearly killed Matthias many times, but it was the Bard's grace and elegance (of wit, or maybe luck?) that had kept him alive.

"Is that possible? I will be forced to marry a bull like Mercurius?"

Their conversation in the garden continued, a dark presence pervaded through it. A solitary man appeared before them. Geovani dressed in his glinting chain mail stood defensively in front of Lady Alexis. The wizard waved his hand, and the young squire was slowly being forced away. Geovani yelled, and charged the man, and with a single cut he broke through the man's cloak breaking bones and cutting deep. The wizard simply turned towards Geovani, and sent a freezing blast at him.

Ice connected with the squire, and he was sent flying through the air. Alexis screamed, as a deep sleep overcame her. Then, in an instant Alexis and the wizard disappeared.
 
The Rescue