Lady Alexa, Legendary Knight and Champion of the Holy Order

A week later the taxi arrived to carry Emily away to the land of Emporia. She placed her purple suitcase on the seat beside her and spent the long ride wondering what this weekend would bring.

The past week had seen a flurry of forms, measurements for costumes, details of the character and the event ping back and forth by email, and Emily was very excited to be playing a knight! Lady Alexa had learned the art of battle from her father, Sir Lagare, and aged just fifteen had secretly taken his place in a tournament when he was unfortunately killed by falling down a well on his estate. She had won that purse and as a woman was not permitted to be a knight, had kept her identity a secret for years until she happened upon a caravan under attack by raiders. The caravan guards had all been killed and Alexa single-handedly fought the attackers off. The caravan belonged to Queen Denaasi, who granted Alexa the knighthood she had always desired and appointed her to govern the armies of The Holy Order. There had been a lot of information she hadn't had time to read, but this was the gist of it. All very exciting! Emily was going to be a badass knight in shining armour!

The taxi arrived at a gate across a narrow road and Emily was greeted by security guards in bright orange vests. They checked her paperwork, fastened a white plastic band to her left wrist and directed her to the crew tent along a short path.

A large white tent stood in a small clearing. A large fire pit burned in front of the tent and a rickety wooden fence surrounded it. Two men dressed in shiny metal armour stood at an opening in the gate between two tall red banners displaying a coat of arms above the words ‘STAFF ONLY.’ Emily found all of this very impressive and quite unnerving – if you ignored the rumbling generators next to the tent and the two trucks parked behind it you could almost believe you had arrived in medieval times!

‘Emily… Emily…’ A pretty girl, tall with high, sharp cheekbones had greeted Emily at the entrance to the tent. The girl was dressed in a long red dress with a white corset and held a tablet on which she scrolled through a list of names. ‘Oh, of course: Alexa. My name is Hen. Follow me.’

Emily was instructed to leave her case in one corner of the tent and to store any valuables in one of a series of lockers against the wall. No keys on the lockers, Emily had to choose a four digit number for the combination lock.

The girl led Emily into a part of the tent separated by a canvas wall suspended from the frame containing mirrors, chairs and a trestle table with a coffee pot and a box of paper cups in the corner. After shuffling through a box full of plastic bags she pulled one out and handed it over. ‘You can change in here, I’ll be just outside. Let me know if you need any help with the armour.’

Emily found herself alone in the room. She took a moment to listen to the sound of the fire outside, the bustle of all the people around the tent. She smelled the fresh country air, the grass beneath her feet. Then she stripped to her underwear and prepared to become Lady Alexa.