The Unlovely Bride by Alice Coldbreath

Author:Alice Coldbreath
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2020-02-27T18:30:00+00:00

22

It seemed to Garman that he was quite unruffled by the hustle and bustle down at the tilting field that morn, which usually irritated the hell out of him. He went about his business, showing Kit how he kept Bria’ag calm and getting him to fix on the last pieces of his charger’s regalia. Lenora’s cousin showed himself good with horses and competent with armor, so all went as well as could be expected.

He swung up into his saddle and Kit passed up his jousting spear. “Which box?” he asked, lifting his lower vizor so the box could see his mouth. Already the crowd was restive and noisy.

“Fourth from the left,” Kit answered smartly, showing himself quick on the uptake. “The Kellingford colors hang there.”

Garman nodded, slamming his helmet shut. Then he made his way to his start position. He allowed himself only a moment to scan the excited crowd for Lenora. He fastened on her box at once with its large yellow banner bearing the hippogriff. He soon found her in her rose-colored gown talking animatedly to Kit’s friend, the young puppy.

Only then did he turn and fasten a cold hard stare on Roland Vawdrey who was similarly positioned at the other end of the field, decked out in red and black. The marshals were running up and down the field, checking everything was in its correct position and Garman could not say exactly when he became aware of a disturbance in the crowd, only that he sensed something amiss even as he saw the flags being raised to stand ready.

Bria’ag snorted and tossed his head, trying to see the audience to the left of them, despite the heavy chamfron hampering his vision. “Easy, boy. Easy.” But the charger was having none of it. Despite the fact he was generally as indifferent to the crowd as Garman himself, something was definitely disquieting the beast. Garman took his eye off the marshal and instead scanned the crowd. Initially, he could see nothing, but his hearing told him something was very amiss.

Something gave a shuddering groan and then the screams started. He heard the ominous splintering of wood and then one of the boxes began to list drunkenly forward. Lenora’s box. Garman’s stomach lurched, he threw down his spear and urged Bria’ag toward the tumult. Even as the horse closed the distance between them, he knew he was going to be too late. Before his eyes, the roof caved in and the whole structure collapsed.

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