He ran to Richard who had not seen Blake’s act. “Sir Richard! Sir Richard!” he cried in a hoarse whisper. “Some terrible affliction hath befallen Sir James!”
“Hey, what?” exclaimed Richard. “What meaneth thou lad?”
“He has cast aside his buckler,” cried the youth. “He must be stricken sore ill, for it cannot be that otherwise he would refuse combat.”
Richard spurred to Blake’s side. “Hast gone mad, man?” he demanded. “Thou canst not refuse the encounter now unless thou wouldst bring dishonor upon thy friends!”
“Where did you get that line?” demanded Blake. “Who said I was going to quit?”
“But thy buckler?” cried Sir Richard.
The trumpet at the Prince’s loge rang out peremptorily. Sir Malud spurred forward to a fanfare from his own trumpeter.
“Let her go!” cried Blake to his.
“Thy buckler!” screamed Sir Richard.
“The damned thing was in my way,” shouted Blake as he spurred forward to meet the doughty Malud, Richard trailing behind him, as did Malud’s second behind that knight.
There was a confident smile upon the lips of Sir Malud and he glanced often at the knights and ladies in the grandstand, but Blake rode with his eyes always upon his antagonist.
Both horses had broken immediately into a gallop, and as they neared one another Malud spurred forward at a run and Blake saw that the man’s aim was doubtless to overthrow him at the first impact, or at least to so throw him out of balance as to make it easy for Malud to strike a good blow before he could recover himself.
Malud rode with his sword half raised at his right side, while Blake’s was at guard, a position unknown to the knights of Nimmr, who guarded solely with their bucklers.
The horsemen approached to engage upon each other’s left, and as they were about to meet Sir Malud rose in his stirrups and swung his sword hand down, to gain momentum, described a circle with his blade and launched a terrific cut at Blake’s head.
It was at that instant that some few in the grandstand realized that Blake bore no buckler.
“His buckler!” “Sir James hath no buckler!” “He hath lost his buckler!” rose now from all parts of the stand; and from right beside him, where the two knights met before the loge of Gobred, Blake heard a woman scream, but he could not look to see if it were Guinalda.
As they met Blake reined his horse suddenly toward Malud’s, so that the two chargers’ shoulders struck, and at the same time he cast all his weight in the same direction, whereas Malud, who was standing in his stirrups to deliver his blow, was almost in a state of equilibrium and having his buckler ready for defense was quite helpless insofar as maneuvering his mount was concerned.
Malud, overbalanced, lost the force and changed the direction of his blow, which fell, much to the knight’s surprise, upon Blake’s blade along which it spent its force and was deflected from its target.
Instantly, his horse well in hand by reason that his left arm was unencumbered by a buckler, Blake reined in and simultaneously cut to the left and rear, his point opening the mail on Malud’s left shoulder and biting into the flesh before the latter’s horse had carried him out of reach.
A loud shout of approbation arose from the stands for the thing had been neatly done and then Malud’s second spurred to the Prince’s loge and entered a protest.
“Sir James hath no buckler!” he cried. “ ’Tis no fair combat!”
“ ’Tis fairer for thy knight than for Sir James,” said Gobred.
“We would not take that advantage of him,” parried Malud’s second, Sir Jarred.
“What sayest thou?” demanded Gobred of Sir Richard who had quickly ridden to Jarred’s side. “Is Sir James without a buckler through some accident that befell before he entered the lists?”
“Nay, he cast it aside,” replied Richard, “and averred that the ‘damned thing’ did annoy him; but if Sir Jarred feeleth that, because of this, they be not fairly matched we are willing that Sir Malud, also, should cast aside his buckler.”
Gobred smiled. “That be fair,” he said.
The two men, concerned with their encounter and not with the argument of their seconds, had engaged once more. Blood was showing upon Malud’s shoulder and trickling down his back, staining his skirts and the housing of his charger.
The stand was in an uproar, for many were still shouting aloud about the buckler and others were screaming with delight over the neat manner in which Sir James had drawn his first blood. Wagers were being freely made, and though Sir Malud still ruled favorite in the betting, the odds against Blake were not so great, and while men had no money to wager they had jewels and arms and horses. One enthusiastic adherent of Sir Malud bet three chargers against one that his champion would be victorious and the words were scarce out of his mouth ere he had a dozen takers, whereas before the opening passage at arms offers as high as ten to one had found no takers.
Now the smile was gone from Malud’s lips and he glanced no more at the grandstand. There was rage in his eyes as he spurred again toward Blake, who he thought had profited by a lucky accident.
Unhampered by a buckler Blake took full advantage of the nimbleness of the wiry horse he rode and which he had ridden daily since his arrival in Nimmr, so that man and beast were well accustomed to one another.
Again Sir Malud saw his blade glance harmlessly from the sword of his antagonist and then, to his vast surprise, the point of Sir James’ blade leaped quickly beneath his buckler and entered his side. It was not a deep wound, but it was painful and again it brought blood.
Angrily Malud struck again, but Blake had reined his charger quickly to the rear and before Malud could gather his reins Blake had struck him again, this time a heavy blow
