Read Online The Tournament of Blood by Michael Jecks - Free Book Online

sides. Those who are captured will lose their horse, armour, weapons – and have to pay a
ransom besides for their freedom. My God! It’s such a waste! And you want me to enter this?’
    ‘It always looks so spectacular,’ she told him honestly. Like many women, she enjoyed watching knights practising.
    ‘You want to be a widow so soon?’ he growled but then he remembered and could have kicked himself. ‘My darling, I am sorry. I wasn’t thinking.’
    Jeanne was not upset. ‘I lost my first husband when he died young, Baldwin, but you know I do not regret it. I cannot lie: I hated him. It was a relief when he became ill and succumbed.
You mustn’t treat everything so seriously. And I wasn’t pulling a face because I was hurt by your words; I had a twinge, that’s all.’
    Baldwin felt as if the world had suddenly jolted beneath him. ‘A “twinge”? What do you mean, a “twinge”? What sort of a “twinge”?’ he gabbled.
    She eyed him with amusement. ‘Baldwin, you have seen plenty of hounds give birth to their whelps, and mares deliver themselves of foals. You know what sort of twinge.’
    Baldwin threw a glance over his shoulder at the door. ‘I . . .’
    ‘Shall sit and amuse me. You don’t expect me to explode in a moment, do you? How long does a birth usually take? Sit here, hold my hand, and keep talking.’
    ‘You’re sure you won’t, um . . .’
    ‘It’s the beginning, but that may mean I have another thirty hours. It doesn’t feel very urgent yet,’ she assured him. ‘
Sit!
’
    Reluctantly he obeyed her, still gripping the message. His dog, hearing the sharp command, simultaneously squatted behind him.
    ‘Stop staring at my belly like that! Now, tell me what Simon plans. Why is he organising this tournament, anyway? What has it got to do with the tin miners, with the Stannaries?’
    ‘It is not his responsibility to arrange such events,’ Baldwin admitted, ‘but Lord de Courtenay has asked him to help. He wrote to Abbot Champeaux to enquire whether Simon
could be released from his duties for a while. You may recall that Simon’s father used to be a steward in the pay of Lord de Courtenay’s father until old Lord Hugh’s death in
1292. Apparently Simon’s father was most adept at setting out the grounds and siting the
ber frois
, the stands. So our Lord Hugh asked that the former steward’s son should be
allowed to help with
his
latest tournament. It is a matter of tradition – and an honour for Simon.’
    ‘But surely the Pope has only recently removed his ban upon all tournaments?’
    ‘And the King has imposed his own,’ Baldwin agreed.
    ‘May the Sheriff prevent it?’
    Baldwin laughed aloud. ‘The good Sheriff is one of Lord Hugh’s men. If I know him at all, he’ll be chafing at the bit to be there himself ! No, there is no likelihood that the
King would stop it.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘If the good Lord Hugh de Courtenay considers that he can arrange to hold a spectacle, I see no reason to think he is wrong,’ Baldwin said. ‘Perhaps he has a dispensation from
the King. In any case, Lord Hugh has requested and the good Abbot has enthusiastically agreed. Even now Simon is travelling to Oakhampton, I expect.’
    ‘Why is the Lord de Courtenay so keen to hold a tournament, I wonder?’
    ‘It’s probably something to do with that primping coxcomb Sir Peregrine of Barnstaple, Lord Hugh’s banneret. He is always scheming and playing political games. It is just the
sort of vain, pointless affair he would think diverting.’
    ‘You still do not like Sir Peregrine?’ Jeanne said lightly, her hand moving back to her belly. It felt as if her pelvis was preparing to explode.
    Baldwin had not noticed her wince. ‘I do not. Give me a plain enemy with a sword in his hand any day in preference to a subtle, devious courtier like Sir Peregrine.’
    ‘He was always polite and courteous to me.’
    ‘He would be,’ Baldwin grunted.
    She continued musingly,