Yelling and screaming about it would not change my mind. He saw that and began to walk away. "I can't stop you from being insane. All I can do is warn you. Keep her close if you want her to be a real knight and not a whore or slave by the end of the month." he said bitterly. I was pissed initially, but I calmed down. He was right in a sense. This world was clearly not kind to women that tried to assert their independence. She could be a knight-errant and travel to find a master. But on the open roads, I knew it could be dangerous. I ran into so many bandits. Bandits and other men that were armed would be encountering her. All it took was one loss. All it took was one ambush. If she ever found a real master to serve, he could be the one to sexually exploit her. I never thought of it like that. This was a real eye opener. Keeping Molly in a safe place like Mansfield would not be so bad for her. Grissell clearly wanted to keep her at home for as long as possible too. It was not even a sure thing that Anthony would not accept her service. Or, that her brothers might want to leave the county.
It came to pass that one of Count Swifthunt's retinue knights had a son that he was training to follow in his footsteps. Children came of age at 16 and his son was now at that important age. It was his dubbing ceremony. He was brought to the count for his approval. Jeffery smiled and said "I am pleased to welcome Sir Alane Geofridus into my service." That was all that was needed. Now he needed to spend the night in the church. He would be doing his prayers and reflecting on his long journey. Everyone wished him good luck. As a knight serving Anthony, I had seen him around. Sir Betan Geofridus, his father, was a martial idiot. That was to say that he focused more on the fighting and the weaponry of the profession rather than the learning of tactics and the other noble arts. He was barely even literate. I had no problems with him. He sometimes even came out to test his blade with the centaurs. He was a match for the children. Sparring with them actually made him a bit faster overall as well. He had to up his reaction times to keep up with their strikes. Sir Betan broke about even.
As he was focused on only winning against them, he honestly was a pleasant sparring partner for the young centaurs. He was a racist, but he could put it aside in order to better himself in combat. Something I taught him was a duck and roll to avoid the charges. I pulled one off on the plains against that centauress. It saved my life. The other knights did not want to be anywhere near the centaurs. The Brownflanks here were much faster than her, but so was I. Sir Betan took a few months practicing the move to counter them at a full gallop. "This works on them, so it will work on cavalry charges too. At least one on one. I wouldn't want to be trampled." I said to him. That put a spark in his eyes. "Imagine us, Collin! The both of us facing a mounted combatant and defeating them in battle." "Yeah. It's something you only get one shot at in battle. If you fail, you are as good as dead. Did I tell you about the time I used it in combat?" I responded. I then gave him the full story. We were friends at that point. He was cool. When Sir Alane was dubbed in the morning, we cheered happily for him.
