Knight made good time heading south to Texas, heading to Plano, just north of Dallas. It was going to be a very large gathering, thousands of fighters in a series of huge melee battles lasting over a weekend.
He brought dual swords as well as his sword and board, and probably looked strange on the highway. It was still cold as he was going through Kansas, but he had dressed for it, and he was determined to get there. He camped in rest areas, or at hotels if it was too cold.
He told Mal he wanted to go it alone. He thought a lot about the question Mal asked him, “Am I too clingy?” It was a trick question, in Knight’s mind. If he said yes, then Mal would distance himself again and Knight was terrified that history would repeat itself. If Knight said no, then Mal could be too clingy.
Knight felt that he needed to be alone on his terms. Not to punish anyone, but to know, and remember, that he could survive alone if he wanted to. He knew the chain was around his wrist, but this time he didn’t need to look at it to reassure himself. Mal was there, waiting for him…Knight smiled as he rode, thinking about the fun time he was probably having with Craig.
Although Knight had acted tough and brutish, Knight wanted to show Craig that he wasn’t afraid of him, no matter who or what he was. Knight wanted to make sure that Craig knew who was boss, and wanted to Craig to think twice before banging Malcolm. That thought caused the smile to fade, and he sighed. He knew how it felt, to want to surrender sometimes…which made him think of Valko.
He left a message with Valko telling him he was going on this trip, and left it at that. Since the talk in the Minefield, he hadn’t seen Valko, for fear of pissing Mal off. He’d called and left messages. That was the best he could do.
He pulled into the temporary campground set up for the event, and showed his blue card saying he was a member. After paying his gate fee, he rode into the camp itself and went looking for a spot to set up his miserly pup tent. He considered that this was probably the first time he was going to sleep in his own tent on one of these events.
He found the singles area, camped out, then rode the bike to where the motorcycles were parked. He walked back to his spot, dressed in his armor, and went to the first large encampment that he saw.
There, he stood at the gates and bellowed, “I will challenge anyone here! Five ducats if I lose, dinner if I win. I challenge you all in this house.” Then, for effect, he threw down his gauntlet at the gate.
A small group of men turned to look at him. “Yeah, I’ll do it for fifty bucks,” said one man, standing up.
“Me too.”