I Will Be the Greatest Knight

After a successful landing, Irene turned around and smirked at the challenging knight who was staring at her with raised eyebrows.

The Commander walked forward with his glass in hand and took a sip. He silently stared at the wall for a few moments before he counted the bricks alongside the window.

"Thirteen," he announced to the room. "From the windowsill to where she touched, it was thirteen bricks. Can the others confirm?"

"I can," Alix confirmed. "I kept my eye on where her hand was. Maximus, you're next. Make the knights of Hydrogia look good here."

"Not a problem," Maximus insisted. "Don't be too hurt when I beat you. Fair is fair."

Irene merely rolled her eyes at his overconfidence. They were of similar heights, but he was likely a bit heavier than her simply because men were more dense than women and, as much as she was lithe and packed with as much muscle as she could possibly gain, a man would always be heavier with half the effort. It was simple biology at that point.

Maximus did much of the same as Irene, lowering into a half squat before he propelled himself into the air and reached as high as he could on the wall. Since both Alix and Henry had their eyes on the spot Irene had jumped to, their eyes broke away from the wall and to each other.

"Felix, drink," the Commander ordered. "He was in the eleventh brick."

Irene had already reclaimed her chalice of wine from Felix and, even with the cup to her lips, one of her arms shot into the air and she looked triumphantly at her challenger. When she lowered her glass she was able to shout, "Yes, Felix, drink!"

It went like that for quite a while afterward as well. Who was taller? Who could make it from one side of the Duke's Tower to the other? Even Sir Trenton and Commander Henry arm wrestled only for the Commander to, unfortunately, lose and have a sore wrist after.

The entire point of the wager game was to challenge one another on frivolous things, however, soon enough, their Commander went to one of the shelves along the wall and retrieved something else.

"I think we've had enough betting for one evening," he explained as he shook out his wrist and a few drunken laughs from the knights followed. "How about we take it a step more extreme? We'll stand in a circle and roll the dice. Whoever the number lands on has to drink. It seems plain, but this is the game that separates men from boys…" However, his dark eyes traveled to Irene and he gave her a small smirk. "Girl from woman."

By that point, Irene was able to grin fully at her Commander. Any worries she had were leaving her. There were few thoughts in her head as she merely enjoyed herself with the others.

When they were all in a circle, Henry tossed the two dice first, the sum was four which put the place on Sir Alix. He dutifully took a sip of his drink, but he soon bowed out.

"I have had enough," he admitted. "At a certain point I have to settle with the fact that I am not fully recovered. Maximus roll for me."

Since the other knight was at his side, he nodded and rolled the dice.

Seven put it at Sir Phillip. He drank and rolled.

Another turn, another turn, and another turn.

As the game progressed, the men were dropping like flies. One had even rushed out of the front of the Duke's Tower, shouting he was going to be sick all the way.

The next to be out was Felix, who was swaying slightly by that point, but he didn't want to leave. He needed to see how this game would turn out.

The three left standing were Trenton, Henry, and Irene.

By that point, Irene knew that her wits were gone, and she had already made an irreversible mistake. Her logic now was that she might as well keep going. What was the worst that could happen?

However, a few turns of rolling the dice more, the only people being landed on were Irene and Trenton and they were both completely off-the-wall drunk.

Soon enough…

"Four!" Irene cried. "Commander. You get to drink!"

She shouted it as if it wasn't a burden.

"This is where I admit defeat," he admitted, his head hanging.

"No, Commander! I had faith that you could win. I won't let you down!" Irene cried.

Henry then backed towards a chair and decided to see the rest of this match. How on earth had the smallest and largest knight gone head to head for so long?

"You're going to allow yourself to get beaten by a girl?" Trenton asked in a teasing tone.

"Considering she's one of the best sword fighters in my order, that isn't the insult you think it is," the Commander quipped. "Please, continue."

Seeing the Commander sink further into the chair and rest his head along the back with his hands holding the chalice against his stomach, Irene turned to Trenton more determined.

And all of a sudden, the tide turned.

They rolled three more times, each turn landing on Trenton who tried to keep drinking, but even he knew that there was a limit. By the fourth, he was on his knees in front of the female knight, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she observed him finally admitting defeat.

"Better luck next time, Trenton," the Commander said, slurring slightly. "Now, if you throw up on my floors, you'll be the one who has to clean it up."

Irene shamelessly giggled. She couldn't even recognize her own laughter anymore.

"I can take him to his quarters," Felix offered from where he leaned against the windowsill a bit away. "I'm having trouble staying awake so I think it's time for me to retire as well."

Seeing the large knight get taken away, Irene tried to keep her front up as she called after him, "It seems everyone was beaten by a woman!"

There was silence after that and Irene let out a faint groan as she stumbled. Now that the others weren't there, it was as if her mind had finally given in.

She was about to fall over and she was going to let it happen.

At least until she felt strong arms go around her waist.