by Joyce
“Yeah, like they’d care.” He stood back and held his arms out at his sides. “How do I look? Sufficiently evil, I hope.”
“You’re the devil,” I said with a grin. “Is Katharina jousting today?”
“Yeah. I’m keeping her identity a secret until the joust is over. Then she can pull off her helmet and let all that red hair fly.”
“What about Foxfire?”
“Too sick to participate, although he’s doing better since the vet saw him. That’s another problem. She isn’t used to the horse she’s riding. I’m going to have to fall on the ground to let my new jousters take me off my horse.”
I planted a big kiss on his lips. “Just don’t get too full of yourself, sir. You can be hurt just like anyone else.”
“I get it. Now fetch my horse, squire.”
The Black Knight always rode a large black stallion. The horses were supplied by the Templar Knights who were the best trainers I’d ever seen. They could get horses to do things I didn’t know horses could do. I knew in that way that Chase at least had a great advantage.
I found his horse in the stables wearing his colors, and tugged at the bridle to get him to follow me. The horse snorted a few times, but eventually we got back to the dressing area. I put the block near the elaborate saddle so Chase could mount in the stiff armor.
“Good luck,” I said when he was in the saddle.
“Thanks. Love you. You have to be the prettiest squire ever.” He winked, and the horse trotted away.
I could hear the announcements that preceded the joust. They were being made by the king and members of his retinue over the loud speaker. There was no way they could be heard above the crowd without it, even though it was technically a breach of Renaissance rules.
Chase rode out on the field as I took the lances to his starting point. I wasn’t exactly dressed as a squire. People were sure to point that out to me later. It was an emergency. Everyone would have to suck it up.
Even more people were in the bleachers now, and a large group of residents was standing at the fence. No doubt, word of Chase jousting had reached along the cobblestones and everyone was curious.
After Chase and his horse had been cheered by his side, and booed by the other side, the opposing jousters came on the field. Again the cheerleaders led the jeers and cheers according to their spots. There were far more Huzzahs! than boos. One of the cheerleaders wasn’t doing a very good job.
Chase would be jousting against one of the three knights—whoever the champion was of their contests. One of them was having a rough time with a large chestnut mare. I suspected it was Katharina, although it was impossible to tell by their unmarked armor and similar britches. Their helmets kept their faces and identities secret.
As the first two knights began to joust, Chase removed his visor and began making outrageous, completely obnoxious remarks, goading the knights and the other side of the field. That was part of his job as the Black Knight.
In the Queen’s Joust, her champion—the handsome and charismatic Sir Marcus Bishop—would remark on the beauty of his hair and the radiance of his shield and armor. His challengers never won. They were regularly knocked off their horses to uproarious laughter.
The Black Knight was evil, even though he still had his own cheering section. I laughed at Chase’s handsome face as he jeered the competing knights who wanted to fight him. The very idea that his face could be evil was hilarious to me. I’ve seen him angry and stern when he was working as the Bailiff. But evil? No way.
The knight that I believed was Katharina triumphed over her opponent as she sent him to the ground with a fine blow to the chest from her lance. The crowd went wild, stomping their feet and yelling Huzzah! The next opponent got ready for the contest.
The second knight was tougher. He lasted for a few rounds. Katharina again tilted her lance into his chest, and he lost his seat on his horse. I was sure it was her by then. She had a riding style all her own even though she wasn’t on her Foxfire. She was going to make an excellent jouster. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her riding as the king or queen’s champion at some point. She had grace and strength that everyone watching recognized.
“Are you ready?” I asked Chase as I handed him first lance. “She’s aiming for below the breastplate. You should’ve worn the plackart.”
“I’ll avoid that area, squire. Thank you for your good advice.”
It was part of the act that the Black Knight was even mean to his faithful squire. I knew what to expect as I turned away. I felt Chase’s boot at the back of my skirt and fell face first into a pile of hay.
That really riled up the spectators on the opposite side of the field. The cheerleader on Chase’s side led her group in loud guffaws. I got to my feet and shook my fist at my master. Everyone loved it. I hadn’t forgotten the old routine.
Chase and Katharina squared off against each other on opposite ends of the field. The Black Knight was never allowed to accept a favor for his joust. The challenger always received a favor from the cheerleader on that side of the field.
Katharina held her horse in check as the cheerleader gave her a red rose. Loud Huzzahs! followed. But she didn’t return to her spot where she would face Chase. Instead, she quietly moved her horse to where I was standing. She handed me the rose she’d just received.
“I joust for you, my lady.” Her voice was muffled but understandable from behind her visor.
No one knew what to do. Chase’s spectators yelled Huzzah! and so did Katharina’s. I smiled and curtsied to her. She was definitely one of a kind.
Her horse went back to its starting position, and she raised her lance. Chase lowered his visor and assumed the correct position with his lance. The sultry day grew quiet around us. The king dropped the pennant, and the joust began.
Normally, the Black Knight always prevailed against his opponent. But I knew Chase had something else in mind since he’d described Katharina removing her helmet while still on her horse. That meant he meant to lose.
One of the first things he taught perspective jousters was how to fall from the horse without getting hurt. I knew he’d make it good for the sake of the drama. I held my breath as she came toward him, her lance ready to unseat him.
Chase moved slightly to the right as she bore down on him. Her lance missed him completely. The momentum of missing her target almost knocked Katharina to the hay-covered ground. She held up her hand, signaling that she was all right, and the pair got ready for the next joust.
As I thought, Chase hit his target in the next joust. Katharina clung to her horse despite the hard blow to her chest. She’d worn her plackart. It protected her from his lance, but not from the strong push that might have unseated her.
Again, she held up her hand to show that she was all right. There were loud Huzzahs! and plenty of foot stomping from both sides of the field. The riders got back in position again for the last joust.
I watched with as much excitement as the people around me. More residents had lined up to see the finale. I wondered what their response would be to see Chase fall from his horse, and Katharina unmasked as the first female jouster. It would be a moment everyone would remember and discuss for a long time.
The horses started toward each other again. They snorted, and their hooves threw up clods of sand and hay behind them. The lances aimed true and straight at their opponents. Music usually played from the grandstand during the joust, but even the musicians were silent, watching the event.
The lances met, their tips moving past each other until they hit their targets. Chase sent his lance to the left just slightly to avoid hitting Katharina. She, however, kept her aim where it was supposed to be. Her lance hit Chase below his breastplate, knocking him from his horse.
Both sides of the field started shouting as Katharina took a winning lap around the inside of the fence. Chase’s cheerleader finally got her people under control and they began to boo.
I could see the stunned faces on the residents around
me. If Chase had ever been unseated from his horse, it was a long time ago. This wasn’t what they’d come to see.
Then Katharina’s big moment was at hand. She doffed her helmet, and the sun glinted on her glorious long hair. There was no doubt at that moment that the knight was a woman—even though some of the knights also sported longish hair. She raised her lance high, and the crowd went wild.
I ran to where Chase had fallen, concerned that he hadn’t gotten up yet. His horse stood above him trying to eat the grass at the side of the fence. I removed his helmet. “Are you okay?”
Chapter Eighteen
“Just got the wind knocked out of me,” he wheezed, barely able to speak. I examined his abdominal muscles beneath his T-shirt. The area was slightly red but no damage done. “Next time you say plackart, I’ll say yes ma’am.”
I threw myself on top of him. “You’re okay. She’s really good. No one can believe she beat you.”
He lay back against the sand. “We all have to lose sometime.”
“But you lost on purpose. I knew that’s what you were going to do.”
“Yeah, well, let’s not talk about it right now. I think I’m getting too old to fall off a horse.”
The joust was over. The bewildered King Harold was giving the victor’s purse—fake gold coins that had to be returned—to Katharina.
D’Amos, Daisy, and Phil Ferguson from the Sword Spotte, ducked under the fence to find out what had happened. I moved back to grasp the horse’s reins.
“Are you okay?” Daisy ran her hand up and down Chase’s chest.
“Daisy!” I called her off before it got embarrassing.
Her round face turned bright red, and she pulled her hand back. “Simmer down. I was just feeling for broken ribs.”
“Let us help you to your feet,” D’Amos said. With Phil’s help, they got Chase off the ground.
“Thanks, guys.” He removed his helmet, and I helped him take off his breastplate. He’d dropped one of his gauntlets, and I went to get it.
“What in the world happened to you, big guy?” My brother, Tony, asked.
Good news! He wasn’t wearing a monk’s robe.
“It was staged, of course,” Sam DaVinci said as he joined the fast-growing crowd of residents. “Anyone could see that.”
“You did a bang up job, my boy,” Merlin told him. “And who is that lovely vision in armor?”
“Our newest knight and jouster, Katharina,” Chase said. “She’s something, isn’t she?”
Diego and Lorenzo, the Tornado twins, paraded their little pig around on her leash. “I want someone to tell me why the lady knight gave Jessie her favor. There must be a punchline.”
“She was just saying thank you,” I explained.
“Yes!” Lorenzo galloped around behind the pig. “I would like very much for her to say thank you to me.”
I grabbed Tony’s arm and pulled him away from the group. “No robe?”
“No robe. I couldn’t bake bread without burning it. I don’t know how they do it.”
“What now?” I was so glad for him and the Brotherhood that he hadn’t become a monk.
Tony nodded toward D’Amos. “I’m working with animals. They needed someone.”
“Maybe that’s your calling.” I smiled at him, wishing I understood him better. I kept waiting for him to grow up. It never seemed to happen.
Katharina rode her horse toward us. She smiled at Chase. “I think they like me. The king asked me to be his champion.”
“Great.” Chase was still brushing sand and hay from his clothes. “Just don’t accept any personal invitations to the castle from him.”
Daisy agreed. “Yeah, Harry has been a model husband since Pea was born. I wouldn’t count on that continuing.”
Merlin set his pointed hat straight on his head. “And you don’t want to make an enemy of Livy. She takes things very personally.”
Katharina paid attention to everyone’s advice as Diego and Lorenzo kept trying to get her to look at them. Her eyes, it seemed, were only for Tony. “Are you ready?”
Tony winked at me and jumped on the horse behind Katharina. “I’m always ready.”
As they rode away together, Diego was hurt. “What does he have besides a handsome face and a firm tush? Why didn’t she take me?”
Lorenzo hugged his brother. “Cheer up. You always have me.”
Diego pushed him away. “I believe that is part of the problem, sir. Please take your pig, and leave me at once. I am grieving for the jouster who might have skewered me.”
***
I didn’t mind that it wasn’t only my talk with Tony that had kept him out of the Brotherhood of the Sheaf. Maybe he and Katharina would work out. I’d always thought the right woman could be a blessing for my brother. He had to quit hanging out with the fairies and the other Village women who weren’t serious about a relationship.
I cleaned Chase’s armor back at the changing area while he showered. I was glad that Katharina and I could be friends, especially if she was going to date Tony. I also didn’t need more people like Tilly in the Village, who wanted my head on a platter.
On that note, Wanda appeared. “I thought Chase was a goner for a moment.” She traced one finger down the edge of his breastplate, not quite touching it, and yet sparks followed her finger on the metal. “Too bad. He and I could have made lovely spectral music together.”
“You mean like you did in real life, right?” It was a snarky thing to say, but Chase had never liked Wanda.
“You don’t know everything that went on here while you were teaching at school. There were all those long winter nights when Chase was alone.”
“I have a pretty good idea.” I continued rubbing the cleaning solution on the gauntlets. I wasn’t sure if Charlie would be back anytime soon, but I didn’t want the next Black Knight to find his armor dirty.
Wanda disappeared for a moment, but before I could take a breath of relief that she was gone, she was back again.
“I didn’t know Chase sang in the shower.” She grinned like a demon.
“It doesn’t count if he can’t see you and he doesn’t know you’re there.”
“No, but I can certainly see him in all his glory!”
“Go away. Find someone else to haunt.” I was determined not to let her get under my skin.
“Speaking of haunts, I believe Princess Isabelle is haunting the castle garden. I was over there last night and heard her crying.”
I put down the gauntlet. “Seriously?”
“It sometimes happens when someone has been murdered. They can’t find peace.” Wanda rolled her eyes back into her head—a ghastly trick she’d learned. “I know all about it. Maybe I can give her a few pointers to get her going on the right track.”
Great! All we need at the Village is another malevolent ghost. “Leave her alone. She’ll find her own way.”
“The poor thing just wants someone to solve her murder. I suppose she’ll have to do without since you and Chase can’t seem to figure out who killed her.”
“The police have Sir Dwayne in custody.”
“As if lover boy killed her. Is that the best you can do?”
“Do you know who killed her?” I realized that a straight answer from her could save us some time. I wasn’t sure how I’d know, or trust, that it was accurate but it was worth a shot.
“Perhaps. But I’m not telling you, Jessie. Not unless you give me something in return.”
I searched her frightening blue face that I’d somehow grown accustomed to since her death, and wondered what she’d ask for. “Such as?”
“I want greater access.” She licked her lips. “I want to be in your apartment again.”
I started cleaning the second gauntlet. “Forget it. I’ll figure it out on my own. Leave Isabelle alone.”
“All right then. I’ll tell the princess you aren’t interested in catching her killer. Ta-ta.”
She vanished an instant before Chase got out of the sho
wer with a towel wrapped around his hips. “Did I hear you talking to someone?”
“Wanda. She was in the shower with you, and claims to know who killed Isabelle. She said she’ll tell me if I let her back in our place.”
“What? That’s just wrong.” Chase dried his long hair on a towel. “No way. She’s probably lying anyway.”
“You’re probably right.” I looked up at him. “She also said that Isabelle is haunting the castle garden where she died.”
“You believe her?”
“I don’t know. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. Maybe Isabelle knows who killed her.”
He shrugged. “I suppose it’s worth a visit. How do you talk to a ghost?”
“If it’s like talking to Wanda, the same way you do when they’re alive.” I looked at the red mark on his abs that was slowly becoming a large bruise. “That looks painful.”
“I’m sure I could do with a massage, if you know someone who’s willing.” He grinned and dropped his towel.
I locked the door.
* * *
We waited in the castle garden after midnight. The Village was quiet by the time we’d walked up the hill. Gus was absent from the castle gate again, and we let ourselves into the back of the structure. The moon was drifting above us in a dreamy, star-filled sky. I could think of many other things I’d rather be doing than waiting for a ghost to appear.
But if Isabelle was haunting the garden—and she knew who killed her—it would be worthwhile.
“I still think we should’ve brought Madame Lucinda,” Chase whispered. “She seems to have experience in this kind of thing.”
“I have experience with a ghost too. And I don’t want to involve Madame Lucinda if we don’t have to.” I glanced around the dark garden that surrounded us. The smell of roses perfumed the night air while cicadas and frogs serenaded us.
Chase didn’t realize how scary Madame Lucinda was. He couldn’t see her dragon or anything else magical in her tent. He also didn’t know that she’d taken Bill’s elf magic. There was too much going on between me and her to casually invite her to a ghost hunt. I had a feeling that my debt to her might end up having to be repaid by something I didn’t want to do. It was just an uncomfortable feeling I had when I was with her, as though she was waiting to ask a favor of me.