[MR] Deed of Arms

[Melanie Weymark]

My good friend Dante asked me to post the following for those of you  
that do not follow his blog.

http://thepathofdante.blogspot.com/

Greetings unto you, my good friend,

I pray my letter meets you in fair health during this, the cruelest of  
winter months. The lake which lies southerly of my manor house has  
frozen solid, and snow has settled upon the ice. How different it is  
from when we did our small deed upon its shore this summer past.

Great tidings have befallen my house of late. It pains me that I have  
fallen so to the sin of pride, but I must boast of my good fortune,  
for I cannot refrain from the joy that fills my heart of passing  
recent events. My fair and noble lady wife did give birth to one that  
hath become the flower of my heart. I have been gifted with the most  
beautiful of children, a fair and adorable baby girl. We have named  
her Logan Alaina, and she is healthy and of good stock.

The sight of her stirs my soul my friend. I am sore tempted to take  
upon myself some task in honor of her pure and untarnished spirit. Of  
late I have read many tidings of rare and valiant Knights and men of  
coat armour, who did set some task before themselves at the outset of  
grand adventure.

Recently, a goodly Gentleman from the Champagne region, who was  
passing through my lands, did tell a tale over the high table of my  
manor as I did treat him and his to a feast most grand. He did regale  
me with a story about a Knight he met who donned a patch upon his  
right eye. Whatever you may think, his eye was not sore or spoiled  
from war. It was a good and decent eye, and he did cover it up for the  
greater love and honour of his lady.

It as if the will of God hath made it so that of late, my ears are  
inundated with grand tales of this nature. Recently, a passing Squire  
did tell me of a Knight of Styria, one Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein,  
who did a series of deeds of arms, from the lands of Venice to the  
borders of Bohemia. During the adventure he did break over three  
hundred lances while wearing the dress of a woman. All in an attempt  
to win the favor of a lady, who had stolen his heart years before.

I also remember when the good Sir Bryce de Byram, one of the Knights  
of our very own fair Kingdom of Atlantia, did cry his bans, and  
challenged all those goodly men of coat armour upon the eve of his  
wedding. I did cross swords with him those many summers ago. The deed  
did fill my heart, and to this day, it is often in my memory.
It is as if I am being swayed by the unforeseen, to take it upon  
myself to take on some little deed to honor the love of my daughter. I  
have been thinking upon the subject, and trying to come up with some  
way to show my love for her, and I have recently decided on that which  
I shall soon to undertake.

I have commissioned a shield from my armourer. A stout and worthy  
shield, made of good the best wood from the small forest which lies to  
the east of my manor house. I have tasked one of my servants, who is  
strong with the arts, to bind the shield in sturdy cloth, and cover  
its breadth with the darkest of black paints. My lady wife has chosen  
a garment which my daughter has of late grown out of, and has had it  
tacked to the face of my newly wrought shield.

I will take this shield upon the tourney field, and fight for the  
honor and faith of my good daughter Logan Alaina, until that time in  
which the men I face upon the field do render it useless through a  
good and many deeds of arms.

In the coming months I do travel abroad in hopes of advancing the  
honor of my goodly daughter. I travel the tourney of Candlemas in the  
Middle Kingdom, and then upon the week following, I plan on taunting  
the frost giant, and the tourney of Ymir, in our own fair Kingdom.

Perhaps, my friend, if you be in need of advancement, or have any  
small vow upon your soul, or do desire to exalt your lady, perhaps, in  
the coming months, while I bear this shield upon the tourney field, I  
may be able to help you accomplish them.

Your friend,

-D