Chapter Nine
By the time the tournament festivities began around mid-day, the breeze had picked up and the standards surrounding the field were snapping briskly.
Fat, puffy clouds danced across the blue expanse of sky, carrying with them the threat of rain as they passed.
In the tournament arena below, the perimeter of the competition area was packed with spectators.
The lists containing the crowd were small and hastily constructed, and they were already full of people.
There was a section for the Earl of Carlisle’s family, now full of Toby and her five children – Roman, daughter Catherine, the rambunctious twins Dylan and Alex, and baby Sophie.
There was also a seat for Tate but since he was competing, Saer sat upon it and laughed at the antics of his cousin’s children.
The rough boys were busy playing knights, pushing each other down, and adding to the fun.
Watching the rough twins roll their older brother was great entertainment.
Cathlina, Roxane, Abechail, and Rosalund had a rough bench to sit on but it was enough.
They had a great view of the field. At their feet on the rough-boarded floor was a linen cloth spread out containing a small table with food upon it.
There was an abundance of fruit, bread, cheese, plus little puddings in wooden cups that were made from mint and lemon and honey.
There was also something that they had never seen before, something that the young de Lara children scooped up out of a earthenware bowl and shoved gleefully into their mouths.
Upon tasting the dish, Cathlina and Abechail were told it was called pastos, a dish consisting of long, cooked sheets of wheat and eggs, all mixed up in a sauce that consisted of cheese, milk, nutmeg, and a few other ingredients.
It was creamy and delicious. It was a dish that Tate and Toby had collected on their travels to Italy years go and the de Lara children ate it quite regularly.
As the earl’s young children and Abechail sat on the floor of the lists and ate, Cathlina and Roxane were more interested in the knights that were now starting to take the field for practice.
The first series of games would be the joust and a big wooden guide had been built in the center of the arena to keep opponents from crashing into each other as they made their charge.
Even now, workmen were finishing with the reinforcement of the guides as the field marshals kept close watch on both the workmen and the knights that were thundering around the field.
It was beginning to get exciting. Saer came off of his seat and stood at the railing with Cathlina and Roxane, watching the knights take the field astride their massive war horses.
Saer had allowed Dunstan and Beauson to enter the competition to represent Kirklinton Castle, and they entered the field fairly early clad in the colors of the house of Saer de Lara.
Their tunics bore a big yellow axe right on the chest.
“Papa, are you disappointed that you are not competing?” Cathlina asked as a big knight in a green and black tunic blew past.
Saer watched the knight, too, scrutinizing him. “I am not,” he said flatly. “Although tournaments were great sport when I was young, I am afraid it is indeed a younger man’s sport. If I were to compete today, I would be easily defeated.”
“Did you win many tournaments?” Roxane wanted to know.
Saer’s attention was on the Earl of Carlisle now making an appearance on the field, a big man on a black and white charger bearing a tunic of crimson and gold.
Toby and her oldest son, a handsome and well behaved lad named Roman, began to yell and wave at the earl.
Tate thundered onto the field and the crowd, seeing that the earl had arrived, began to cry for him as well.
Behind Tate came another knight bearing the earl’s colors astride a muscular dappled gray charger.
When the two of them thundered out into the arena, the energy level of the crowd surged.
“Who is the other knight bearing the earl’s colors?” Roxane asked, squinting at the distant figure.
Saer was squinting, too. “I believe it is St. Héver,” he said, then cast his daughter a long glance. “You will not make a nuisance of yourself with him, do you hear? The man is not interested in marriage.”
Roxane’s lip stuck out in a pout as she turned away from her father, trying very hard not to watch every move St. Héver made as he deftly controlled his horse on the other side of the arena.
“I was not going to,” she sniffed, offended. “I simply wanted to know who it was, ’tis all.”
Saer cocked an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe her, returning his attention to the knights that were now starting to circle the arena, warming up their chargers.
Cathlina glanced at her sister, trying not to make eye contact because she was sure her sister was already upset about the fact St. Héver was here and Cathlina didn’t want to confess that she had seen the man earlier.
It would only inflame Roxane. As the chargers rushed past, kicking up clods of earth, she sought to change the subject.
“There are quite a lot of knights here,” she said to her father. “How many do you think there are?”
Saer watched de Lara blow by him, followed by St. Héver. “At least thirty or forty men,” he said. “They have already drawn lots to see who will compete against each other. See that wall on the opposite side of the arena? They will hang banners there so we will know who is competing against whom.”
“Papa?” Abechail wedged herself in between Roxane and Saer, tugging on her father’s sleeve. “Papa, there is a vendor selling candied fruits. I saw a girl with some. Can I please have some?”
Saer didn’t want to leave now that the knights were warming up, but he couldn’t very well let Abechail go by herself and he certainly couldn’t deny her.
Hurriedly, he grabbed her hand and very nearly pulled her off the lists.
Young Roman was invited to go along as Saer and the two children went in search of sweets.
Cathlina and Roxane didn’t much care, fixed on the knights as they were.
As they were watching Tate and Kenneth make practice runs along the guide, a knight on an enormous bay stallion entered the field.
Bearing a tunic of straight yellow without any of the elaborate embroidery the other knights had, he was a massive man in heavy protection as he thundered across the arena, struggling with his disobedient horse.
The charger was very young and very excitable, and it was difficult not to notice the pair as the charger kicked up his white feet and generally behaved badly.
He was so beautiful, however, that the struggle between man and beast became mesmerizing to watch.
Cathlina’s attention was divided between Tate, Kenneth, and the new knight with the wild horse.
Soon enough, she was only watching the knight with the excitable horse, as was nearly everyone else around her, because the pair was making practice runs along the guide.
When they made a run past another horse, the excitable bay tried to savage the other charger and the field marshals were called in.
It was one thing for the big chargers to savage each other in battle but quite another to have it happen in a tournament.
“Mayhap they will not let him compete,” Roxane said to her sister, pointing at the knight with the agitated horse in the middle of the arena as he spoke with two of the field marshals. “That horse is very mean.”
Cathlina shrugged. “They are all very mean,” she said, indicating a knight off to their left whose horse was muzzled with a great steel cage. “Look at that horse. They have to put a barrier around his mouth.”
They were both watching the knight with the muzzled horse when two big chargers suddenly roared up beside them. Dirt flew up, hitting Roxane in her greased-up hair, and she shrieked. Cathlina found herself carefully picking the dirt out of her sister’s hair as Tate and Kenneth lifted their visors.
“My lady,” Tate said to his wife, who was rising from her seat to greet him. “Do you have a favor for me to carry before this great and terrible production begins?”
Toby grinned her lovely white smile, fumbling around in her long sleeve before pulling free a small white kerchief.
As she went to hand it to him, the twins decided they wanted to ride with their father and started climbing up on the railing to get at him.
Cathlina and Toby pulled the boys down as they demanded to go with their father.
As Toby admonished the twins on their behavior, her beautiful five year old daughter, Catherine, calmly went to her father and extended a little posy she had picked that morning on the way to the arena.
Tate took it from the little girl as if it were the finest treasure.
“Thank you, Cate,” he said, smiling at her. “This is the best favor I have ever received.”
As the little girl beamed, Kenneth put in. “And there is no favor for me?” he asked her. “I am deeply hurt, Catie. I thought you loved me best.”
Cate giggled as Roxane spoke up. “You may have my favor, Sir Kenneth,” she said, pulling forth an elaborate and heady-smelling piece of silk from her bosom. She held it out to him, feigning shyness and batting her eyelashes. “I would be honored if you would carry it.”
Fortunately, Kenneth was adept at keeping an emotionless facade. His first instinct was to recoil and run away, but he fought it. He faced Roxane’s offensive bravely.
“I am honored, Lady Roxane,” he said, although he didn’t mean a word of it. “But you must not feel pity for me. There are dozens of young knights here that would be very proud to wear your favor. Surely you do not want to give it to an old knight like me.”
Roxane was flattered and offended at the same time. She looked around at the other competitors, rather uncertainly, until Cathlina came to her rescue.