We all did well. Regardless of what anyone thought of me as a person, I was a real knight. I was also sworn to protect and attend to the needs of Anthony Swiftheart. For this reason, I had to be part of the hunting party. It was a nice outing. We were either on foot or horseback as we looked for our prey. The king wanted to hunt a stag. It was his hunt, so he had the right to set the target. That was fine enough. He was too ill to keep up with everyone. He still was able to hunt via falconry. Having a raptor he trained to hunt on his behalf by his side, they managed to snag a rabbit. Everyone praised him. He was not a hunter. This was a vanity project his father wanted. There was only filial piety driving this trip. Hopefully, we could make this a genuinely good experience for him. Anthony was the younger son, so he was assigned the role of a scout rather than a hunter. The centaurs were not allowed to be part of the hunt due to racism. Petras and Jeran did not want to hunt animals for sport anyway, so it all worked out. That left only me to be his companion and assist him. We followed tracks.
Being able to keep track of the stags in the area was important. It would make or break the hunt. You could not kill what you could not find after all. After alerting the real hunters, we had some downtime in the camp. Our job was over for now. That is where we encountered the king. He was sitting with the princes and his queen. They were all talking in hushed tones. We held back a bit. When they noticed us, they stopped talking. The king told us to approach. We did as we were told. "I was wondering if the hunt was going well. We would like to be updated." he said. Anthony told him everything that he heard and saw while on the look for the stag. The king wanted to show his children and wife that he could hunt too. By this, he meant another round of falconry. Anthony and I were more than willing to escort them around for his falcon to catch some more prey. The king and queen's guards kept a bit of a distance, but they were present. The king's falcon took an hour, but it caught a rabbit. The queen and the princes had been cheering on the bird. Even I had been swept away by it all.
After holding up his trophy for all to see, he was done. Everyone understood that he was not athletic due to illness. From that point, the meat was prepared and the hawk could eat some of it. The rest would be made into a stew for him and his sons. It was a great prize. He caught a bit of a coughing fit. I signaled to Anthony. He knew what to do. "Your majesty, would you like to retire for now. We have a marvelous facility for you to use that might help with your constitution." he offered politely. The king just raised an eyebrow. "I believe that I've been here for long enough to prove that I am a hunter. Where would you propose we go now, Sir Swiftheart?" he asked. We led him and his family to the sauna. Using the noble wing that was built for this very purpose, we let them wash up a bit first. I was the one to explain what we would be doing and the benefits before we got in. I started it off light. At the time went on, we got it pretty steamy. I brought a chamber pot in with me. When the king began to cough, I placed it in front of him. "Use this to expel that loosened phlegm. Spit it all out." I said.
