Chapter Fourteen #3
“The finals already?” she said. “I suppose I missed the other bouts while Adabella and I were finding food and dancing dogs.”
Christin nodded, her eyes on the field. “Addax unseated Jonathan,” she said. “Then it was Cassian and Deinhold, and Cassian won that easily, but the bout between Addax and Cassian was something to behold. Cassian is a champion too, you know. It was a battle of titans.”
“Not today, it wasn’t,” Cassian said as he came into the lists and his daughters began to scream for him.
He grinned, picking up the littlest one as he sat behind his wife, next to Catalina.
“Today was simply not a good day for me. My shoulder still hurts from yesterday and Addax just made it worse. I kept trying to drop my shoulder to keep it away from him, but he hit it every time. The marshals noticed and that is why I lost the points. And the match.”
He was unhappy with the loss while trying to protect a sore body part, and Brielle turned around, looking at her husband.
“You dislocated it yesterday,” she said. “No wonder it hurts. The physic had to pop it back into place.”
She reached up, rubbing his left shoulder, but he shook his head. “That hurts,” he told her, removing her hand. “I need rest if I am going to be any good in the mass competition. Sherry and I are going to take the prize, eh, Sherry?”
Alexander had his eyes on the field, sighing heavily to Cassian’s statement. “I’m too old for the mass competition,” he grumbled. “That is a younger man’s game.”
Cassian grinned, putting his hand on Alexander’s shoulder. “Come on, lad,” he said. “You’re not too old. You’re just right.”
“I agree,” Christin said. “He’s just right. But I also hate the mass competition because it’s brutal and lawless. If he does not wish to compete, he’ll hear no complaint from me.”
Cassian wouldn’t accept Alexander’s withdrawal. “Sherry, the younger de Lohr sons are going to compete and they will need your guidance,” he said. “You’ll have me, Curtis, Roi, Douglas, probably Rhys and Maddoc, and a few more. We’ll need a leader.”
“Do not do it, Sherry,” Brielle said. “Cass will push you into the thick of things to save himself if the going gets rough.”
Cassian snarled at her. “My loving wife said that,” he said sarcastically, but quickly returned his attention to Alexander. “Please, Sherry. Say you’ll participate.”
“Hush,” Christin said. “The match is ready to start.”
All attention turned to the arena floor just as the marshal dropped the flag.
Both horses began to charge, kicking up dirt, and the crowd leapt to their feet, screaming.
Somewhere, someone even had a drum and was banging it furiously.
Catalina didn’t even have time to be anxious or excited, it all happened so fast. The horses were running at one another, the lances came into contact with the knights, and both of them shattered.
In a big explosion, wood flew into the air, straight for the lists.
Catalina heard Alexander shout first. She noticed the parents covering up the children, so she moved to do the same.
Ines was still at Brielle’s feet, but Adabella was next to her, so she put her arms around the child to shield her from flying wood, but no one was shielding her.
A substantial piece of wood flew into her face, slashing her jawline.
Other people had been hit, too. Catalina knew she’d been struck, but she was checking to see that her daughter was uninjured when she heard Brielle say something about the blood on her face.
Suddenly, Brielle and Christin were at her side, using the sleeve of Brielle’s broadcloth dress to stem the blood flow coming from the left side of Catalina’s jaw.
Alexander and Cassian were crowding around, all four of them inspecting the gash.
“That must be tended to,” Alexander said. “She caught a good piece of it.”
Brielle took her sleeve away, trying to see how big the gash was, before putting the fabric over it again. “I’ll take her back to Lioncross,” she said. “Cass, can you please collect her children and bring them?”
Cassian nodded, moving to collect the children, of which there were many.
Alexander went to help him as Brielle and Christin began to move Catalina out of the lists.
No one even bothered to ask Harald to tend his grandchildren because he wasn’t in his seat any longer.
He’d moved at some point and didn’t turn up on a quick perusal of the lists, so between the four adults, they collected all of the children and moved Catalina from the lists.
They were hardly to the bottom of the stairs when Essien appeared.
His helm was off and his face was tight with concern.
“God’s Bones,” he muttered, looking at the blood on Catalina’s neck. He’d seen what had happened from the arena floor and come running. “I did that. My God, I know I did that.”
“Not to worry, Es,” Alexander said. “She’s in good hands. ’Tis only a scratch.”
Essien didn’t answer him. He went straight to Catalina, pulling away the fabric that Brielle had pushed against her jaw only to see a fairly decent gash from where the wood had sliced her. The man looked positively sick.
“I’m so terribly sorry,” he said as Brielle put the fabric back. “Are you in much pain?”
Catalina smiled weakly. “None at all, I promise,” she said. “I did not even realize I’d been cut until Lady de Velt told me.”
Essien wasn’t comforted by that at all. “I must go with you,” he said. “I will tend her, Brie. This is my fault and I will tend her.”
He started to push Brielle away so he could take physical custody of Catalina, but Alexander stopped him.
“Es, they want you back on the field,” he said. “The lady will be well, I promise. This will not kill her.”
The marshals were standing at the railing below the lists, summoning Essien, but he had little interest in answering them.
“I’ll forfeit my match,” he said seriously. “I must tend my lady.”
“Nay,” Catalina said, coming to a halt and preventing him from leading her away. “My lord, please finish your match. You have earned this. You must finish.”
He looked at her, his eyes full of doubt. “But you are injured,” he said. “I must help you.”
She smiled. “You have,” she assured him softly. “You were kind enough to see to me when you knew I’d been struck by the wood. That means a great deal to me. But now you must finish your match, something you have worked very hard for.”
“But—”
“Essien, please.”
Essien. She’d called him by his given name, and that did something to him. It made it personal. She wasn’t being formal any longer, and somehow that strengthened him. It bolstered him in a way he’d never known before. He was indecisive a moment longer before finally nodding.
“Very well,” he said. “If you insist.”
“I do. Please.”
He took a deep breath, calming himself, but finding that he wanted to get this match over quickly. He wanted to return to Catalina’s side.
“As you wish,” he said, reaching out to take one of her hands and kissing it sweetly. “This will not take long.”
With that, he headed off, followed by Cassian as Alexander and Christin herded the children.
With Brielle still holding the fabric to Catalina’s jaw, they headed off in the direction of Lioncross’s keep as Essien mounted his steed and collected a fresh lance.
Thoughts of Catalina’s bloodied face haunted him, so much so that when the marshals dropped the flag and he spurred his horse forward, he used a difficult trick against his brother because he wanted to end the match quickly.
He wanted to get back to Catalina.
Riding at full speed toward his brother, he aimed his lance at Addax until the last second, when he moved it slightly, away from his brother’s body.
But a split second later, as Addax began to pass by the tip of the lance, he swung it back at his brother, catching Addax in the back of the shoulder with a sweeping motion.
The idea was to sweep his brother right off the horse, and he did so most ably.
Unable to keep his balance at the unexpected move, Addax was knocked forward, holding on for a few seconds before losing his grip and falling heavily to the earth.
The crowd went wild with glee.
With the championship won, including the horse that his brother was riding—which was, in fact, Essien’s horse—he had everything he wanted.
He’d finished. He made a sweep in front of the lists to acknowledge his adoring admirers before dismounting, quickly, and pulling his brother to his feet.
Making sure Addax was unharmed—which he was, because the man was laughing at the fact that he’d just lost the much-coveted horse—Essien left the crowd cheering as he ran off for Lioncross Abbey.
He had a woman to see.