Squire
The third Protector book describes Kel's next four years in training. Her new knight-master, Raoul of GoldenLake and Malorie's Peak and Commander of the King's Own, is as different from her original master, Lord Wyldon, as a man could be. He introduces Kel to a new way of life, one that's as much fun as it is challenging. He not only allows her to carry and use her chosen weapon, the Yamani glaive, but he helps her to take her skill at jousting to the next level in addition to nurturing her natural ability to lead. With his help, she becomes a formidable new force on the tournament field, sending shock waves through the world of young Tortallan knights-in-training, and intriguing young lady nobles. As she travels with him and Third Company, she encounters Neal's handsome cousin Domitan, or Dom, as well as other interesting folk. Raoul finds himself pressed into escorting the "progress," a group of noblemen and women who are traveling across the entire realm to celebrate Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami's wedding. Raoul reluctantly complies, and Kel has a chance to reunite with her Yamani friends, where she recognizes Princess Shinkokami as one of her childhood friends. She also tries to make things more comfortable between Roald and his future bride.
But combat isn't the only thing Kel has to overcome. In this novel, she takes a new foundling, a baby griffin with a tendency to bite and scratch, under her wing, as well as facing matters of the heart. Kel meets a wide panorama of faces, old and new, including the Yamani Princess Shinkokami and her ladies, a very troubled squire, a baby griffin, and a metal creation like nothing she has ever seen before. Old friends and foes appear: Neal of Queenscove, Owen of Jesslaw, Cleon of Kennan, and the still-bullying Joren of Stone Mountain. Through it all, Kel never allows herself to forget what awaits her after her night-long vigil in Midwinter of her fourth year as a squire: the Chamber of the Ordeal. Hormones quickly announce themselves in Kel and the other warrior teens. Faced with the infatuation held for Dom and the affections from Cleon, Kel must realize that not only is she a knight-in-training, but also a young woman.
Read more about this topic: Protector Of The Small
Famous quotes containing the word squire:
“And they both went a walking to Blackberry Fold.”
—Unknown. Squire and Milkmaid; or, Blackberry Fold (l. 20)
“There now are no Squire Westerns as of old;
And our Sophias are not so emphatic,
But fair as then, or fairer to behold.
We have no accomplish’d blackguards, like Tom Jones,
But gentlemen in stays, as stiff as stones.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)