How William Blackfox Got Me To Court

by Arthur Blackmoon

It seems the crown had been trying to give me an Award of Arms, for like 3 events, but since I wasn't much on court at the time -- and i had heard that the king was looking for me -- so, being my barbarian self ; ) i normally hid during court , not wishing the king to find me. (OK , so i had images of an angry king ordering me beheaded if he ever found me.) With that background, I should add that I had started winning unofficial thrown weapons and archery even back then. ("Unofficial" because archery and thrown weapons at that time were not "official SCA activities" There were no rules, no marshals, there was drinking on the range, etc. ) I had won a spear, hand made by Tarl of Wolfstar. (Which I carried until recently, when I gave it to a deserving knight ) But did I mention that the king on the throne was also from Wolfstar??

Anyway, here I am, hiding in in the shade, when up comes William Blackfox. Now, I liked Blackfox , so thought nothing of it as he approached me, smiled, picked up my spear , said, "Nice spear!" then smiled again, and turned around and headed off across the site! I'm like, "William, give me back my spear, Uriah will skin me if I lose it!" He laughed and said I could have it back in just a moment , as he kept walking. Not wishing to harm him, all I could do was follow and wheedle him, until suddenly he stopped. I was like, "Cool, can i have my spear back now??" As I reached for my spear, I was suddenly surrounded by all these big guys in white belts, (yep , you got it , visions of Blackmoon's head on a pike outside the gate ) who closed ranks around me, and like a Roman formation, marched to a door, opened a path to the door, and said "That's the way out. " I'm like , uumm , ok......

So I opened the door, and went inside. When my eyes adjusted , I was ten feet from the thrones, and everyone - including the royals - are looking at me . I turned around to run back out the door, and there stands William with a big smile on his face, saying, "Go on in, they're waiting on you..."

I thought I was gonna die...

When I bowed before their Majesties, I never took my eyes off the king , thinking I might still escape if he reached for his sword . Which worked just fine, until they said, " Kneel. " At that point, I knew I couldn't escape even if he did grab a sword, so I settled in to hear what he was going to say .... Boy, was I surprised when they started reading the Award of Arms scroll. = )

So, the only reason I have an Award of Arms, is because Blackfox knew I would follow the spear ; )