Hide & Seek by Barbara Gaskell Denvil

Author:Barbara Gaskell Denvil [Denvil, Barbara Gaskell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gaskell Publishing
Published: 2018-12-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The Jousting field was vast, grand, very flat and very well surrounded by wooden benches for spectators, with trees behind.

“Most grounds have high stands on both sides for those watching,” said Granny. “Built up seating, with a spacious place for the king and queen at the front. But this is not a parade, it’s a very serious arrangement, and there won’t be any waving of the lady’s favours or throwing flowers to the winner.”

“So we gotta stand?” asked John.

“Only three bouts,” Bayldon reminded him. “It won’t take as long as it did in the past. I think you’ll manage to stay on your two feet.”

“On me ten toes,” grinned John.

“But there’s a few seats,” Sherdam pointed out. “Enough for twenty or so on each side if we all squash up. Them on one side. Us on the other.”

The field itself was flat grass. It would soon be worn by llama hooves, and be a threadbare and mottled area of grass, but to start off it looked comfortably thick for anyone falling off his llama’s back. The lists themselves, solid wooden barriers built along the middle of the field, were fairly low, since llamas were not all magnificently tall beasts, but high enough for the purpose. They were painted with magic signs on both sides of the wood.

“Protection,” said Zakmeister. “They keep the whole field safe from magical tampering or tricks or traps.”

“Very pretty,” said Poppy, who had no idea what magic signs meant.

“You may not remember,” Granny said, “in the past I have decorated cakes with these same magical signs and patterns. They are highly protective to those who eat any part.” She paused suddenly and smiled. “Not that I expect you to eat a few splinters of these wooden barriers. However, these are the greatest magical signs of protection that exist.”

“And I bet there’s others that don’t mean protection at all,” muttered Poppy. “I bet there’s plenty of black magic signs too. I’ll have to learn the difference.”

Henry VIII was busy tapping anything he could find, playing the knowledgeable jouster who would test the strength of the ground.

Beyond the field, the lists, the seats and the surrounding space, there had been several large tents set up. Six were for the knights who would fight. Others had stores of arms, a small smithy, and one for other supplies.

“Dinner time,” said Granny. “We collect Ninester, Irima, Ferdinand and Sorazuma, and off we go to Peganda for a very special meal at the Speckled Hiccup Hotel, and then stay the night in their luxury rooms. The next morning, it will be back here to make sure our spells have worked and there’s been no tampering with our work, and by then all the Epilogs should have turned up. They agreed to come straight over to build up a force ready for battle. The wizards won’t see them, so they should be safe from all those wretched past Hazletts who used to throw Epilogs to the crocodiles. We can make up some more camps, and camp out up on that hilltop overlooking the field.

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