A/N This is not so much Historical, because the setting is a made-up country, but no other genre really fit. The time period is roughly equivalent to the 1400s in Medieval Britain.

Brentwood Forest, Oldwick
29th April 1410

The arrival of the three brothers to the clearing by the old well was marked by the sun breaking over the trees. The three boys, however, paid little attention to what the sun was doing, and rather to what their horses were doing at that time. Arthur, the eldest, had his horse under perfect control, guiding it around the trees he had selected and ending up in the middle of the clearing with a smirk upon his face. He watched, slightly amused, as the other two had more problems. Oliver had recently acquired a new horse, one that was more rowdy than his previously docile mare, and had found it hard to keep up with Arthur when they were reaching their destination. Edmund, the youngest, was only eleven and struggled to stay on his horse, let alone control its direction.

Arthur rode over to where his younger brother was dangling half way off his stationary horse. "Come on, Ed, it's really not all that difficult."

He struggled to contain his laughter, but it spilt over when Edmund finally did topple off his horse and landed with a thump on the ground. His horse looked around, as if amused as well. Arthur jumped off his horse and crouched down to where Edmund had landed, expecting to find him crying, or at least sulking at his embarrassment in front of his two brothers - who at eighteen and seventeen were giants to him. Instead, Edmund was already scrambling back to his feet and putting his foot up on the saddle, ready for another go.

"Arthur, you promised me I'd be able to ride like you by the end of today! Help me up!"

Arthur glanced behind him to where Oliver was watching them with faint amusement and the two rolled their eyes towards each other.

"As you wish, little brother..."

Arthur pushed Edmund up onto the saddle and steadied him before he fell off in the other direction. "Now hold onto the reins like this, and grip her with your knees, there, look. Bring her forwards - gently. There. Now she'll trot around and you can try to stay on."

He stepped back and watched as Edmund's face lit up when his horse completed a circle of the clearing without him falling off once. He looked over to Oliver.

"Oli, did I do well?"

Oliver had been battering a forlorn tree with a stick, and now turned in his saddle. "Very well, we'll have you defeating King Stephen yet!"

Arthur burst out laughing, and Oliver joined in. Edmund watched them, not quite understanding the joke. King Stephen was their monarch, and he felt slightly indignant that his brothers would be joking at his expense. He knew that King Stephen had once been a great fighter, and many said that he'd never lost a battle on his home soil. But now Edmund had heard people talking of how King Stephen was very ill, suffering from something that was likely to be terminal. It scared him a little - Papa was even older than the King, and he didn't want Papa to die.

Arthur had leapt back up onto his horse. "Right, Ed, now you've managed to stay on, how about a little fight?"

They had picked up some long sticks on the way there, which Arthur now scooped up and brandished in the air. He tossed one to Edmund, who promptly fell off his horse again while stretching to reach it.

Oliver shook his head as Edmund sheepishly climbed back on clutching his stick. "Grip with your knees, Ed. Then you can use your hands for whatever you want." He had already acquired his stick, and was sparring with an invisible enemy. "See?"

Arthur struggled to keep a straight face as he instructed Edmund next. "Me and Oliver are going to pretend to be battling - you come at me with your weapon and try to get me off my horse."

Edmund nodded, his brow furrowed in concentration. More than anything, he wanted to prove to his brothers that he could do this. Thomas would be waiting for him back at the manor and he didn't want to be laughed at for the rest of the evening.

"I'm ready," he announced, watching in awe as his brothers began to spar with each other. They had both been training for years and years, and Edmund didn't see how he would ever be able to match them in agility and skill. The two looked almost as if they were dancing around the clearing, their horses lunging backwards and forwards as if in synchronisation. He gasped as Oliver did a particularly adroit twist, the point of his stick almost piercing Arthur's side. The two turned at the noise.

"Edmund," said Arthur, sounding exasperated. "You're supposed to be creeping up on me."

Edmund nodded his head violently, and Arthur and Oliver turned back to their battle. Edmund delicately tested his horse, and it moved gently on his command. Satisfied with his control, he pushed the horse a little faster, but to his dismay it started moving in completely the wrong direction. Panicking, he grabbed the reins and brought the horse to an abrupt halt, nearly falling off again but using the reins to pull himself back up.

His horse was suddenly restless, didn't seem to want to obey him. Angrily, he pulled it around to the right direction, ignoring the sniggering that could only be coming from his oldest brothers. Spurring it forwards, he battled with the stick until it was out in front of him the way he'd watched Arthur fight all the time. He shut one eye as he concentrated on moving just towards Arthur...

Edmund was about to give a triumphant shout when, at the last moment, Arthur turned away from Oliver and backed out of Edmund's path. Edmund's lunge with his stick hit nothing but air, and the effort drew a quiet, "Oh", from him before he tumbled once more off his horse.

The first thing Edmund heard once the dizziness had started to wear off was the raucous laughter from his brothers. He felt his cheeks burn with shame, and realised that Arthur had been tricked him all along, and hadn't meant to let him get anywhere near him.

When Arthur was able to control his laughter and come over, this time Edmund was sulking on the ground, but allowed Arthur to help him to his feet and dust him down.

"Not bad for a first try, Ed," he said, ruffling Edmund's hair and glancing knowingly back at Oliver, who was still laughing too much to be able to come down off his horse.

"I'll never be as good as you," sulked Edmund, crossing his arms and turning his back to his brother.

"Don't be stupid, one day you might even be better than me. I'll let you into a secret." He bent down to Edmund's ear level, so that Oliver couldn't hear. "When me and Oli first started training, he unhorsed me at least once every day - very embarrassing, especially because I'd been training for nearly a year longer than him. So I trained at night with Papa. You should have been there when I knocked Oli down for the first time!"

Edmund grudgingly smiled, feeling slightly better that his idol had once been the underdog too.

Oliver had now managed to stop laughing and was leading his horse towards them. "I get the feeling you'll make a great knight, Ed."

Edmund's smile vanished. "I don't want to be a knight, I want to be a Duke like you!"

Arthur and Oliver glanced at each other. "Ed," said Arthur. "Only one of us can be a Duke. There's not enough land for all of us to get a bit."

"Besides," interrupted Oliver. "Being a knight will be a great experience. Sir Edmund Brinon'. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

"I suppose," conceded Edmund grudgingly. He'd had too many arguments with his brothers about their inheritance, so he didn't want to start another one now. "What else do I get by becoming a knight, Oli?"

Oliver grinned. "Well, most importantly, you'll get all the ladies in the land wanting to marry you. You'll be able to choose the most beautiful woman in the whole country!"

Edmund didn't see why that was the most important reason to become a knight, but his brothers probably knew about that more than him, so he nodded his head as if enthusiastic about it.

"I'm not sure about the most beautiful," commented Arthur, a glimmer in his eye. "But certainly one of the most beautiful."

He shared a secret glance with Oliver, who grinned and nudged him. Edmund looked between the two, confused.

"You always do that when you talk about women. What's the joke?"

"Nothing," said Arthur hastily. "Don't worry about it."

"It's certainly not," began Oliver, "because he's already found the most beautiful woma-"

He broke off his a yell as Arthur swung his stick towards him, but broke out into a grin and scooped his own stick off the ground. As the two began to battle again, this time on foot, Edmund slowly made his way back towards his horse.

Despite their reassurances, he still didn't like the idea of becoming a knight. He had been told that it was paid well, and he was provided for whatever he might need, but the concept wasn't the same as what Arthur would become - the Duke of Oldwick, one of the most powerful men in the country. As their father's heir, he was the most important of the sons and Edmund, the fourth son, wouldn't get any of the land. A knight was all he would become unless he wanted to go into the Church.

At least he had the choice, though. And, he thought with some pride, Papa wanted him to become a knight, thought he would be good at it. Perhaps more than wanting to impress his brothers, Edmund wanted to make Papa proud. He knew they, as a family, had to uphold the tradition of successful sons from the Brinon family, and he didn't want to be the one to change that.

He had just managed to climb back onto his horse when Arthur and Oliver finished their fight. They looked exhausted, but very happy with themselves, and Edmund wondered if that was what battles really were like. If so, perhaps being a knight wouldn't be so bad, if fighting was fun and you had your brothers by your side.

They soon began the ride back to the manor. It was easier to stay on when the horse was going a bit faster, and Arthur had taken hold of his reins and was guiding him along the path through the trees. Oliver's horse, which had been hanging behind on their journey out, now found its speed and Oliver was no longer in sight. Edmund found himself looking up at his oldest brother, the heir to the dukedom.

Arthur had so much confidence in himself, and just seeing him canter along on his horse made Edmund realise quite how big the age difference between them was. He was easy-going, had a sense of humour that was often teasing, and was physically attractive; his nut-brown hair and deep brown eyes were said to be the sign of a successful heir. When Edmund thought of his own dark hair and blue eyes, it started to become obvious why Arthur would take over the land, and not him.

By the time the manor came into sight, Oliver's horse was already tied up in the paddock. Arthur carefully brought Edmund's mare to a halt, and helped him down before leading the two horses to join Oliver's. While Edmund waited for Arthur to tie the horses up ready for them to be brushed down by the stable boys, he crouched down in the dirt and drew himself as a knight: a cloak, a sword, and Sir Edmund Brinon' over the top. As an afterthought, he added a beautiful woman at his side, waving a handkerchief like he'd been told women did.

At Arthur's approach he quickly rubbed out what he'd done. His brother was smiling, and looked about to say something when Oliver burst back out through the doors.

"Arthur! You'd never guess what news I've just been given!"

Arthur crossed his arms. "Surprise me."

"King Stephen has just died!"

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