Dark Age Maiden

Knight training, fighting from horseback

In silence they finished removing their hard leather armor. 

         Carina started toward the gate. "Come on," she said. "Let's go back. I know you meant well."

         Later that night in her room Carina thought about what had happened. She still harbored some anger. She had asked him not to hold back but he had. How could she improve her skills if she was treated differently because she was not a man? She hurled her mug to the floor in disgust.

        The image of Giancarlo came to her. She hadn't thought of him for days. Why was he taking so long coming back? Was he really fighting a battle against the Saracens? Somehow, despite the worst fears of her kinsmen, she found it hard to believe. Surely there would have been some report.

          Carina wondered if Giancarlo would consent to sword fighting practice with her. Considering the matter further, she found herself unable to guess whether he would or wouldn't. If he did agree to fight her she didn't think he would let her win like Uberto. That was what was wrong with Uberto, she decided. He was too good. Maybe too good for her. She thought more about Giancarlo before she went to sleep. She hoped he wouldn't be long in returning.

        Tiberio, her father,  was tired of waiting for Giancarlo, and like everyone else, he was worried by the lack of news. He knew the men were anxious to advance to fighting on horseback. It would be the last major part of their training. He decided to get on with it even though he didn't have all the necessary equipment. In particular he lacked two training devices. He had hoped they would be supplied by Giancarlo.

        In the small office in his residence, Tiberio was engrossed in sketching an articulated pell. When completed, he would take the drawings to Ernesto, the blacksmith. Ernesto had already forged fifty pike points for him. Tiberio was anxious to begin training the pikemen—the peasants who would learn to handle long spears, as soon as possible.

        He looked at his drawing of the specialized pell, laboriously erased a line, and redrew it differently. He hadn't seen one in a long time. He missed Giancarlo, especially when it came to military matters. Giancarlo knew much more than he did about preparing for war.

        Three days later, when the knights in training arrived at the practice field, a new man appeared, also on horseback. Uberto looked at him, at first without recognition, and then he realized it was Carina's brother. The one with the hobbled leg. 

        On the preceding day Tiberio had told them to bring their horses. It would mark the beginning, they knew, of mounted sword practice—a day they had long awaited. Two new contrivances stood opposite each other along the outer wall of the fortress. Most of the men had never seen anything like them.

        One was similar to the pells they had long practiced on, but it was raised in the air and dangling by a rope from a horizontal beam. The thing had a crosspiece of wood that extended like arms from the upper part of the trunk. From the ends of the crosspiece hung forearm like appendages. They moved slightly in the breeze. At the other end of the space along the wall a thick ring about eight inches in diameter hung from a gibbet. It looked ominously like a hangman's noose.

      Tiberio stood facing them. Next to him were Luigi and Christoforo, two of his knights.

        "Today we will begin learning the fine points of fighting from horseback," he said. "Those of you who have some experience will augment your skills. As you know, the armed man on a horse constitutes a shock force in battles. He is a member of the surprise corps that appears where most needed in a conflict. He is often a scout who learns where the adversary is located and reports on the size and weaponry of the enemy. For that reason a knight on horseback needs the skill to fight alone in a forest or as part of a cavalry charge on an open field of battle. Though you will usually be small in number compared to those fighting on foot, you are the elite troops of any engagement."