The Prince in Waiting Read Online Free PDF

would defend the city lying at the attacker’s mercy? Their ways, as even the Seers admitted, were capricious; neither punishment nor reward was certain. I remembered my own desperate pleas for sleep and how they had gone unanswered. Contests like this one were held in the other cities, too. Romsey, for instance, no more than ten miles to the southwest . . . a handful of men, riding swiftly, could take and hold it.
    I dismissed the speculations as futile. It was the custom to keep peace until after the Spring Fair. Even to think of anything different was to offend the Spirits. They had not helped me in the night but they might still help me in the fight to come. And I needed help, all the help I could get.
    We came to the Contest Field and Ezzard blessed the contestants in the name of the Spirits. Tents had been erected at one end for the nobles. I saw my father and mother there, and Peter. Not Aunt Mary. A woman who married a nobleman became a lady but the wife he had put aside had no rank. I trotted my horse past the throngs of commoners and found her, wedged in at the front. I dismounted and bowed to her.
    â€œGreetings, Aunt Mary. Wish me well.”
    She nodded fiercely. “I do that, Luke.”
    A man nearby made a jest about my chances and others laughed. She turned on them and they fell silent. I mounted and rode to where my parents sat. My mother said:
    â€œDon’t get hurt.”
    She spoke in a little frightened voice. She had clapped her hands with delight on hearing that I had been picked to be a Young Captain. She lived in the moment. Nothing was real to her before it happened, or mattered much after.
    My father said: “I know you will fight hard, so I have nothing to tell you. The Spirits go with you.”
    The first gong boomed and it was time to bow our heads before the Prince. On the second gong the Contest started.
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    Each Captain took a corner of the field. I had the western one, nearest to the city but farthest from the Prince’s tent. I waited with my men and spoke to them quietly:
    â€œRemember, keep silence.”
    It was usual for the teams to go into the fight noisily, yelling threats and imprecations. To cause fear, I suppose. It seemed to me that if mine were not already frightened by the odds against them a few shouts would not make them so. Our keeping silence would set us apart from the others but perhaps not to our disadvantage. It would also, I felt, help us to concentrate more, and help my men more easily listen to my commands.
    The second gong boomed.
    The four teams advanced warily from their corners. There were a number of ways in which a Contest might begin. Sometimes the teams circled the field for a period, keeping their distances, until one broke into an assault on another. Sometimes they met right away in a furious all-in melee toward the center. There was another possibility which I had dreaded, and my heart sank as I realized that this was what was happening. The other three teams were converging on ours; they were combining to eliminate the weakest before settling down to a Contest of three.
    I had made my plan and I was committed to it. If it did not come off it must make me look a fool or a coward, more probably both. The distances narrowed and I waited for the moment and watched for the opening. It must be left till the very last instant but the last instant could be too late. They had started hurling threats and catcalls at us. I said to Laurie on my left:
    â€œStand when I break. After that, it’s up to you.”
    They were not hurrying. Edmund’s troop were a little ahead of the rest and I saw him rein in to let the other two come up. They were out to crush us completely and were taking no chances. They were within twenty feet, fifteen. The best gap was between Henry’s troop and the fence. Sharply I dug in spurs and set my pony’s head toward it.
    The roar from the crowd momentarily