Erec stood in place, as if his feet were turned to stone. His eyes darted from Neron, to Hugh, to the guards and back again. Thankfully, it seemed to him that the guards were stricken with a similar malady for they did not interfere either.

Neron seemed to vibrate with nervous energy as his eyes darted between Erec, the king, and the guards. Erec found it interesting that Neron seemed to have dismissed Brecken as a threat. Erec almost smiled but then Neron's fingers twitched as if he started for his sword, but checked himself. Erec wondered at the war that was so obviously raging withing the man.

Which impulse would win? Neron's inflated pride, or his over-indulged love of self?

At last Hugh moved, but it was with such a casual air that Erec was impressed. Hugh behaved like it was an ordinary day at court in his palace. If anyone were to walk into the room at this moment and gaze only upon the king, that person would never surmise that Hugh had just fought off an assassin, and that his life-long friend was accused of making the attempt.

"You surprise me, Neron." Hugh said at last. Erec heard no note of distress.

"Your majesty! Surely you do not—" Neron bellowed irately.

Desperation was thick in his voice and Erec had his answer.

Over-indulged love of self.

"Do not misunderstand me, Neron." Hugh sounded almost bored. "It does not surprise me that you would make an attempt to seize my crown. What surprises me, Lord Neron, is that it took you so long. Guards, seize him."

As the guards stepped forward and held Neron by the arms, the man continued his pleas.

"But are we not friends?" Neron stepped forward, his voice sounding almost regretful.

"Never have I called you friend. I merely disliked you less than all of the others." Hugh waved a hand and the men started to drag Neron toward the door. "Have you never heard the saying, Neron, to keep your friend close, but your enemy closer?"

"But Lord Erec is the one—"

The guards paused, as if they also wished to know if the king would also arrest the man to whom this kingdom owed so much...

"Ah yes. Well..." Hugh agreed with a sigh. "I can hardly have him drawn and quartered, now can I? After this bloody resurrection of his, the people have elevated him to a position only a little lower than a blessed saint. I am almost reconciled to being well and stuck with him."

Hugh frowned with obvious distaste. "But you..."

Hugh waved a hand and the guards moved once more to the door. They stumbled because Neron's knees unexpectedly gave way and the guards were forced to drag him as he gave up all pretenses and began to sob and beg for mercy.

"Wait!" Hugh called, holding up a hand.

The guards halted just as they reached the door. Neron suddenly regained his full strength, and found his feet again, though the guards held him in place between them.

Erec frowned. He had underestimated Neron.

The sorrowful sobbing and begging were yet pretense...

"I have a masterful idea."

Brecken and Erec exchanged a worried look but neither moved.

"I shall arrange a tourney a fortnight hence. And as part of the sport, Neron, you may prove your innocence in battle. I choose Lord Erec as my champion. If you kill Lord Erec, I shall spare your life. Banishment shall be your sentence and you shall live out the rest of your days away from this land. However, if he kills you..." Neron shrugged. "I shall still be rid of you."

"And what of me, your majesty?" Erec found his voice and Hugh turned, as if surprised to find Erec was still there.

"What of you?" Hugh shrugged. "If he kills you, then I am rid of you at last. If you kill him, I shall simply have to await another opportunity."

"And where shall this tourney be, your majesty?" Erec asked, hoping he would not have to make the journey back to Kingstown and then wage a personal war while fatigued.

"Here. My quarters here are adequate and I could hardly enjoy the blood sport if you were both fatigued from the long journey. Guards, lock them in the dungeon until the tourney."

"My liege." Brecken took a knee and spoke quietly, "Lord Erec did not try to assassinate you. He has saved your life and has secured your place in history by brokering a treaty with Far North. Surely you do not mean to reward such loyalty with imprisonment. The people..."

Hugh frowned and waved away the guards that had reluctantly stepped toward Erec.

"Yes, the people." Neron looked as though he just stepped in horse dung. "I do not wish to lose their admiration by offending their... protector."

Hugh's sigh was heavy with resignation; the way a traveler afoot might sigh at the first drops of rain. Erec thought he knew Hugh, but the young king had surprised him in the last quarter of an hour.

Erec was pleased to be surprised yet again as Hugh turned to him, and asked in all earnestness: "Do you swear to me that you will remain here and fight in the tourney as champion of the crown in a fortnight?"

Such an effort of civility deserved a gesture in like. Erec took a knee and flipped his sword around, hilt up. Kissing the cross of the hilt, he bowed his head.

"I swear it, your majesty."

"Then rise and be gone from my sight. I do not wish to see you again until you appear for the tourney. Brecken, arrange it. Full tourney. We have knights enough here, do we not. Start with a joust, I think. I have not seen a good joust in ages..."

Erec rose quietly and left the room, making his way somberly to his own quarters. It was bittersweet news for his wife and his men. Erec could defeat Neron, although the victory would not be without cost. Neron was willing to do anything for a win, even if it meant breaking the rules. Neron would fight mean and dirty.

Not unlike the enemy upon the battlefield...

However experienced Erec was in battle, this was no ordinary tourney. By order of the king, this tourney would hold a special event: Trial by combat. It was to be a death-match betwixt the accused and the king's champion. Neron was already a ruthless man, but in a fortnight, he would fight for his life.

...which made him unpredictable, and dangerous.

It did not help the situation any that he had not competed in a tourney nor lifted a lance in joust since he made captain a decade ago...

---

In the Lady Alexandi's favorite sitting room, the day before the tourney...

"I disagree, my lady." Gwyndolyn said without looking up from her mending. Robin seemed to be literally tearing through his clothing with a disturbing frequency.

Not so disturbing when she stopped comparing the boy to Sofi, but instead compared him to her brothers...

"Why?" the Lady Alexandi pressed without looking up from her own needlework.

"I do not have any great love for the man, but neither do I think him to be evil. That is, not in the true sense of the word."

"But there can be no disputing that Lord Neron is the very devil himself!" On this, Lady Alexandi would not cede.

"Oh, Aye. That man is evil, and his heart is surely blackened as he seems incapable of remorse and is without conscience."

"And Lord Neron has spent his life in company of our majesty, has he not. Are not the two of them known to be close friends for all of that time?"

"It is said that they are friends from the time they were first toddling, but saying a thing does not make it so. I do not believe it a mark of friendship to be secretly plotting the death of said friend in order to seize control of his crown."

"Ambitions aside, they have ever been in company. You cannot throw a white cloth into a muddy puddle and expect the puddle to turn white."

"Nay, for the white cloth will become muddied. But I do not understand how men are like white scarves and muddy puddles...Ouch!" Gwyn shoved her finger in her mouth, lest the drop of blood upon it should soil the shirt.

"I did not understand when first I heard it, either. It is something the Reverend Mother used to say to us when she warned us to stay away from the soldiers. Over time her meaning has become clear. It is simply that we often become like those with whom we associate. Therefore, it is wise to surround oneself with people of good character, which is definitely not Lord Neron."

"Is that not the Christian way?" Gwyn gasped, inspected her finger and finding no blood this time, shook her hand before resuming her work.

"Aye. But in the case of our majesty and Lord Neron, how can you say that Neron is evil and his friend is not. They two are cut from the same cloth!"

"Nay." Gwyn scrunched her nose in thought. "I think not. Sooth, they are similar, I grant you. They both are ambitious men. Both are hungry for power and it would seem that each man loves none other so much as himself. But..." Gwyn smiled triumphantly, "Similar is not identical."

Lady Alexandi smiled sweetly as she challenged: "You do not know the men as I do. You therefore you lack the knowledge to make a proper—"

"Nay!" Gwyn's hands fell to her lap as her head snapped up to glare at her friend. "His set his hounds to attack me in my father's barn. He murdered my father and set more of his hounds to hunt me like a fox in the wood! I know the character of Lord Neron better than most!"

"I concede the point." Lady Alexandi nodded, and Gwyndolyn relaxed. Alexandi smiled. "But you could not know our majesty as you have never been to the palace or visited the king's court."

"I have been to Kingstown. But I did not go to the palace. Neither have I ever been to the king's court...in Kingstown. I have been in company with his majesty these weeks he has been at Brecken." Gwyn gave a sweet smile, eyes twinkling with amusement at the challenge she found in her friend's gentle gaze.

"And so, it is from mine own personal knowledge and not based upon rumor that I state that I do not believe Lord Neron and our majesty to be identical in nature."

"I, too, have personal knowledge of both men and my opinion is unchanged. I do not see enough of a difference to warrant such a claim."

"Lord Neron is so absorbed in his self-love and his lust for power is so great that he will stop at nothing. I have seen it upon his face; Lord Neron truly hates Erec."

"So does our majesty."

"Not for the same reasons, and I do not believe to the same degree. Neron wishes to have the crown and its power for himself. He wishes Erec dead because, as the People's Champion, Erec has stood between Neron and the crown for most of their lives. Erec is in Neron's way. I suppose that is the simple truth at the root of his hatred..."

Gwyn frowned thoughtfully.

"I think our majesty was jealous of Erec. Hugh was a younger son, and never meant for more than knighthood in service first to his father, and then his brother. Erec is simply born with no wealth or claim to nobility, yet my husband has always excelled. He thrived and advanced from orphan to Captain, to People's Champion."

The Lady Alexandi smiled.

"Your observation is sound. Hugh was ever jealous of his brother Bruce, and of Erec as well. When Bruce died, Hugh the Younger was crown prince, and he changed. I rather think that he did not change, so much as he gave up his pretense of humility. This was a disappointment to Hugh the Elder that only added to his measure of grief."

"I would think, given what I know of him now, that as a youth first finding this taste of power, he was incorrigible."

"Perhaps I misspoke for our majesty was ever as he is now. He is of royal blood and behaves with the proper decorum and grace on most occasions. As a child, he was very competitive and always wanted to be the best at everything. I wondered..."

"You wondered if those who competed with Hugh the Younger let him win in deference to his crown?"

"I did." Lady Alexandi agreed with a smile, "Until I saw him sparring with Erec. Unless he is teaching, Erec will never spar with less than the best of his abilities in order to offer a fair contest."

"And it was because of this that our majesty began to hate Erec?"

"No. The jealousy and rivalry between the two of them was friendly for the most part, until after Erec's father died saving Hugh the Elder's life. The king promised his dying captain that he would see that Erec was made a knight and take him into the royal guard that he may follow in his father's footsteps."

"Erec told me once that his father was a favorite of the king."

"Aye. And after his death, the king kept his promise. He placed Erec here with us to serve out his knight's training. But Hugh the Elder did more, in that he never forgot Erec but continued to show an interest in Erec and his progress during all the years of his training. Since his majesty was often critical of Hugh the Younger, all of this attention was kindling for hatred's fire."

"Of course, Hugh the Younger could hardly have any love for the person upon whom his own father garnered all of the praise and affection that should have been showered upon the crown prince. And if you still doubt, remember that it was Erec who was at Hugh the Elder's side when he made his final decree. I heard tales of the upset Hugh the Younger made!"

"Very well." Alexandi nodded. "I concede your point that the reasons for their hatred are different...But you have done nothing to show that his majesty is not the same as Neron. Rather it seems you have done nothing save to prove my point." Lady Alexandi smiled as she repeated: "They are from the same cloth."