The Wrong Side of the Banner

Camelot was louder than Penelope expected.

She had sketched it a hundred times from old books — the towers, the banners, the cobblestones worn smooth by centuries of armored boots. In her drawings, it was peaceful. Majestic. Quiet.

In real life, it smelled like horses.

"Name?" barked the herald at the registration table. He was a compact, fidgety man in a red-and-gold tabard, flipping frantically through a stack of parchment scrolls.

"Penelope Starwrite," she said, hugging her sketchbook to her chest. "I'm here for the Banner Competition. The art contest?"

The herald — Edmund, his name tag read — squinted at his scrolls.

"Starwrite. Starwrite." He stabbed his finger at the page. "There. Sign here."

Penelope picked up the quill and signed.

Edmund yanked the ledger back, scanned it, and went slightly pale.

"Oh," he said quietly.

"Oh?" Penelope repeated.

Edmund looked up. His hazel eyes had gone very wide.

"You've just registered for the Grand Tournament of Knights."

The Name in Ink

Penelope stared at Edmund.

Edmund stared back.

"The Grand Tournament of Knights," she repeated slowly, as if saying it again might change what it meant. "As in — swords? Horses? People hitting each other with lances?"

"That is, broadly speaking, what jousting involves, yes." Edmund cleared his throat. "You signed the official ledger."

"I thought I was signing up for the banner contest!"

"The banner contest registration closed yesterday." Edmund shuffled his scrolls frantically. "There's only one open list. And your name is now — very permanently — on it."

From behind Penelope came a sharp cackle. She turned.

An old woman sat on a stool by the gate, wrapped in a patchy traveling cloak and grinning with exactly three teeth. A grey parrot perched on her shoulder.

"Champion Penelope!" the parrot squawked, ruffling its feathers. "Champion Penelope!"

Several knights nearby turned to look. One of them — enormous, armored, and deeply unamused — crossed his arms.

"That," he said, eyeing Penelope's sketchbook, "is Camelot's new champion?"