Alden staggered back when the man—a veritable giant of a guy—slammed his shield across Alden’s arm and chest. I ran for the other side, one eye on Alden while he took a hell of a beating, the other scanning the crowd for Vandal or Fenice. I found them both assisting one of Vandal’s students into his armor.
“Who is Alden fighting?” I asked, knowing the lots weren’t drawn for the matches until the last minute. “I missed the start. How is he doing—ow. Oh, that had to be unfair! Why aren’t the judges stopping that huge man!”
“That’s Dan Jacobs. He used to be regional champion five or six years ago, and that backhand to Alden’s helm was a perfectly legal move,” Vandal said, shouting encouragement to Alden when the latter staggered forward and almost fell on his face. “Stay on your feet, man!”
“Is it legal to have a champion fighting a newbie?” I asked, clutching my hands together and wincing when the huge man kicked out, catching Alden on the knee. Alden swung around and slammed his shield into the man, sending him staggering to the side. “That seems wrong to me.”
“It would be if he was still a champion, but he’s been out of competition for a few years due to back surgery,so he’s considered a beginner just like Alden. Shield up, Alden! Keep the damned shield up!”
I left Vandal and Fenice, and scurried along the crowds until I found a spot where I could push up to the edge of the hay bales that marked the ring.
“Beat the tar out of him!” I yelled over the sounds of the crowd shouting their own encouragement. “Knock him to the ground and stomp all over him! Kick him in the balls! Hack him to bits with your sword and dance a jig on the bloody remains!”
A hush fell over the crowd nearest me as I bellowed out the last sentence. I was caught by surprise when I noticed that everyone was staring at me.
“Um. Too far?” I asked the sea of startled faces turned my way.
“Newbies,” one woman said, shaking her head and turning back to the action.
“Sorry. I just wanted to give Alden some encouragement—oh, hell, it’s over?”
The giant, who had knocked Alden to the ground right at the end of their allotted time, held out a hand and hauled him to his feet, the two men leaving the ring together in apparent accord.
I excused myself out of the crowd, and headed for the staging area where the combatants were armed and disarmed, almost stepping on Lisa, who popped up suddenly in front of me.
“Sugar! Just the person I’ve been wanting to see.” She looked a little worse for wear, her hair gathered up in a very messy bun, her clothes a bit wrinkled, and the scarf she wore knotted around her neck had a coffee stain on the end, no doubt from the latte she clutchedin her hand. She also wore sunglasses, which I suspected covered bloodshot eyes. “Have you seen Alden?”
“Yes, yes, I have,” I said obnoxiously, and put my hands on my hips, fighting hard to keep from outright accusing her of trying to murder him.
She clicked her tongue. “Honestly, Mercy, I don’t know why you have to be such a bitch to me. All I want is to tell Alden that there are some people trespassing over there.”
I turned to look where she pointed. Two silver vans were parked on the far side of the remains of the house, with a group of four people standing together in a cluster evidently consulting.
“I know Alden doesn’t want anyone to go poking around in the bits and pieces of the house. If you won’t tell me where he is, then you can at least tell him that there are trespassers doing who-knows-what.”
“They aren’t trespassers,” I said shortly, wanting to get past her to Alden to see how he was after his fight. “They’re probably the fire investigators, or the police.”
“Police?” Her voice went a bit shrill, and she took a sip of her coffee to cover it. “Whatever are the police doing looking at a burned-up house?”
It cost me a lot, but I kept from telling her they were probably looking for signs she had been cooking meth in the walls. “I know they were waiting for it to be safe to investigate the cause of the fire. No doubt they’re doing that.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” I swear she relaxed at the news, which troubled me. I had been trying to work out a reason why she would want to burn down the house, but couldn’t come up with one, and now here she was relaxing when it came to the idea that people were goingto investigate the fire, just as if it had nothing to do with her.
“Well, dammit,” I murmured to myself when she left me without another word. “If it turns out I can’t blame her for any of the evil things that have befallen Alden, I’m going to be very pissed.”
The next few hours slipped by without me being aware. There was Alden to see and beam loving looks to (and receive a few in return, which made me want to dance and sing all over again), and my former pupils to cheer on when they went into the archery ring. Alden and I helped out wherever possible, mostly with squire duties arming and disarming the various combatants, or pointing out where the portable toilets had been arranged (behind the stable, thank heavens), where drinking water was available, and where the catering company needed to set up their long tables of food, which the participants and their helpers alike descended upon like voracious wolves.
By early afternoon, I’d forgotten the people who were poking around the ruins of the house. I sat next to Lady Sybilla and Adams for a half hour, watching the various forms of melee fighting.
“I have to tell you that I’m a bit surprised you are enjoying such a bloody sport,” I told Lady Sybilla when one of the combatants had to be assisted out of the list, and was having the doctor attend to what appeared to be a broken arm.
She tilted her parasol so that she could pin me back with her pale blue gaze. “Why would I not enjoy medieval combat? It is, of course, upon the backs of knights just like these that our country was created. It is a noble sport, after all.”
“I guess so, but it’s a bit...” I waved a hand around while I thought of the word I wanted. “...gory.”
“It is invigorating,” she said, turning her eyes back to the ring as the next two combatants—two women, this time—were announced. “I am very pleased that I had the foresight to bring these people here, and look forward to seeing them next year.”
“I don’t know that there’s going to be a next year,” I said slowly, my gaze searching the crowd for Alden. He’d told me at lunch that he had decided to accept Barry’s offer for the land, assuming I had no objections to him using the profits to buy a house elsewhere.
