Valten exchanged his lance of war for a blunted one and prepared to face a foreign knight with a French-sounding name. After the flag fell, the two met in the center of the lists with a loud crash. Valten splintered his lance on his opponent’s shield, while his opponent struck Valten’s shield with only a glancing blow.
The two lined up again. The flag fell and the two horses charged forward, but the challenger’s horse reared, then shied to one side. Valten could have taken advantage of the situation and struck his opponent while he was unable to strike his own blow, but Valten halted his horse and did not strike. It was a display of courtesy, according to the rules of chivalry. The crowd shouted their approval.
The marshals allowed them to return to their places. The challenger’s horse whinnied, but then seemed to calm down. He stood still until the marshal once again flung down his flag.
Valten and the challenger met in the center again, and once again, Valten’s lance broke apart upon impact on the other knight’s shield. The challenger was unhorsed, landing on the ground with a crash and rolling helplessly to a stop. He didn’t move as they led his horse away. His squire and attendants used a wooden litter to carry him off the field.
Valten waited at the end of the lists, accepting a new blunted lance.
Feeling reasonably assured that he wasn’t badly injured from the bleeding wound over his eye, Gisela sighed in delight at his two decisive victories. She didn’t know how many more challengers he would have to face.
A knight in shiny silver and gold armor with a bright yellow scarf around his arm entered the lists. The two waited for the flag to fall, then charged at one another. They both splintered their lances on each other’s shields. A maiden seated about twenty feet away in a dress the same shade of yellow as the scarf on the new knight’s arm started to clap and cheer. Then she and her companions giggled as the two knights made ready for their next encounter.
Hoping with all her heart that Valten would conquer the yellow lady’s knight, Gisela held her breath as they met each other again in the center of the lists. Valten aimed for the knight’s helmet and struck a good blow, while the other knight struck Valten’s shield. Neither lance broke, and though the other knight tottered a bit in the saddle, they both stayed on their horses.
For the final tilt, Valten appeared to be aiming for the other knight’s helmet again, while that knight’s lance was aimed too low and would surely strike Sieger in the shoulder. Gisela gasped. Sieger would be killed! But just before they could collide, Valten pulled the horse aside, avoiding the other knight’s lance, and missing the other knight’s shield as he passed.
Normally, Valten would have been penalized for dodging the strike, but since the other knight’s lance was aiming for Valten’s horse, which was against the rules of the tournament, Valten was proclaimed the victor of that round.
Gisela shouted with the rest of the crowd, applauding for Valten as he paraded slowly around the field and waved a gauntleted hand at the crowd. He seemed to pause just in front of Gisela, then make a bow as Sieger also bowed one knee toward the crowd of beautiful maidens in the gallery. Gisela gave him her happiest smile, just in case he was looking.
Valten was allowed to leave the field for a short rest before he would be expected to face the rest of his challengers.
She watched two more rounds of jousts, but quickly lost interest in the rest of the knights or how they might fare and turned to Cristyne. “I think I will go look around. I’m tired of sitting.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Gisela was hoping she would say that, especially given the guard’s warning about walking around alone.
She and Cristyne made their way down the scaffold to the ground below and circled around the tournament grounds, having to skirt the edge of a wood as they walked.
In their conversation, Gisela learned that Cristyne was the youngest of nine children, and a couple of her sisters were considered great beauties and had married well. Cristyne was expected to do the same, but she rather fancied a poor yeoman farmer she’d grown up with.
“My mother says I will forget about him soon enough.” Cristyne looked sad. “Do you have anyone you hope to marry?”
“Me? No, I have no one like that.” She hoped her face didn’t display the truth about her feelings. And it wasn’t as if she hoped to marry Valten. At least, not since she’d grown up and realized how unreasonable that was.
They encountered an older woman with a large cloth-covered basket. Gisela and Cristyne each bought one of her buns with gooseberries and honey inside.
While eating, they wandered toward the area where the knights’ pavilions were set up and where some of their horses were tethered, resting until they were required for the remainder of their jousts. Gisela wanted to see Sieger to reassure herself he was unhurt. The steel shaffron protected his head, but the rest of his body was only protected by the cloth caparison that displayed Valten’s coat of arms.