As if they had been waiting for Lorenzo to sit down, the jousters took their positions at opposite ends of the piazza, their faces completely covered with shiny silver helmets, lances held high. One horse wore red-and-white stripes, the other black with elaborate gold trim. Their faces were covered, too, in intricate gold masks. A wooden barrier called a tilt separated the opponents. To prevent collisions, Piero had explained when Felix asked what that was. Leonardo had added that it also provided the best angle for breaking the lance.
Earlier, Leonardo had pointed out the Tree of Arms below, where colorful shields hung. The point of a joust, he’d explained, was not to kill or even hurt your opponent. To Felix’s great relief, Leonardo said that if a rider or his horse was hit, the combatant would be disqualified. Instead, they tried for a hit right at the center of the shield, or to knock their opponent off his horse to score points. “Can you imagine how difficult it is to stay on your horse in one hundred pounds of armor holding that heavy lance?” Leonardo had speculated.
The crowd went wild with excitement, their shouts sending a shiver through Felix. For a moment, he let himself stop worrying about Maisie and gave over to the thrill of being here in Florence during the Renaissance watching a jousting tournament with Leonardo da Vinci and Piero della Francesca.
He wasn’t going to let Maisie ruin this day for him. Soon enough, they would give Leonardo that seal, and no doubt he would give them a lesson, and Felix would find himself back home in Newport. For right now at least, Felix was going to enjoy this jousting tournament. And if Maisie still hadn’t shown up here when it was over—even though they’d left her a note with very specific directions—he was going to enjoy the rest of this day.
CHAPTER 11
THE SHARD
Maisie stood at the edge of the piazza, which had been turned into an arena surrounded by colorful tents. Shields with fancy coats of arms hung from a large tree, and hundreds—maybe thousands—of people sat on benches arranged auditorium-style around the arena. She was so busy scanning the faces in the crowd that Maisie didn’t realize that she was wandering right into the arena itself. And she didn’t see the two jousters positioned at opposite ends on their fancily bedecked horses, lances held high.
An announcement was made, sending the crowd into an uproar.
Still, Maisie didn’t pause.
Felix and the others had to be up there somewhere!
Maisie, face turned upward toward the crowd, walked backward directly into the center of the arena, just as the jousters thundered toward each other.
People were shouting, but Maisie couldn’t understand that they were yelling Stop! Stop!
The knights, their silver helmets lowered, could only hear the usual muffled sounds.
The knight on the horse in red and white had a clear shot at his opponent’s shield. He aimed his lance, his horse speeding forward, a cloud of dust and red dirt kicked up behind them.
The sound of the horse’s hooves pounding behind her made Maisie stop and turn.
Her eyes grew wide with fright and her mouth dropped open, a scream catching in her throat.
That knight was coming right for her!
The lance glistened in the sunlight, high above her.
She began to run, only to find a second horse and jouster racing toward her from the opposite direction.
A wall ran the length of the arena between the two jousters, but it was too high for Maisie to climb.
She looked over her shoulder again.
The jouster was almost right upon her!
At the perfect moment, the knight thrust his lance at his opponent’s shield, and jabbed hard.
At the exact same moment, Maisie ducked.
The crowd was on its feet, screaming.
Maisie felt something powerful hit her in the back, and then she was lifted off the ground, the roar of the crowd deafening now.
The other jouster raced past as Maisie seemed to fly above the wall and the arena itself.
Suddenly the crowd’s yells turned into raucous laughter.
Maisie stopped moving, her arms and legs dangling in the air.
Slowly, she looked behind her to find the jouster’s helmet lifted and his angry face glaring at her.
Her gaze drifted from his face to his arm, which was outstretched, his lance still in the air.
And at the end of that lance hung Maisie herself, midair.
Luckily, instead of stabbing her, the lance grabbed her by the shirt, piercing it.
The knight was saying something to her in his angry voice, but either fear or the crowd’s laughter made it impossible for her to understand him.
Slowly, he lowered the lance and Maisie to the ground, and slid the point from her shirt.
In the Medici grandstand, Leonardo looked at Felix.
“Isn’t that your sister?” he asked.
Felix groaned. Of course it was his sister. Only Maisie would run between two jousters like that.
“I’ll go get her,” Felix said unhappily.
As he stood to leave, Sandro grinned at him.
“Better keep her away from that jouster,” he said. “He was certain he was going to win. But because he hit your sister, he lost the joust.”
“Great,” Felix muttered as he hurried down the grandstand.
“I don’t know why you’re so mad at me,” Maisie said. “You’re the one who left without me.”