Crossed Swords: A Tale of Maid Cordelia

Ch 8: The Wolf Returns

No joust was ever won without a fine horse, or without a rider whose equestrian skill was without peer. A knight unable to handle her horse would be just as unable to handle her lance, and therefore equally unable to unseat her opponent. In regard to these restrictions, Cordelia was blessed, because Vechya was not only her steed, but also her companion. She knew him intimately: when he was fatigued, when he had caught his second wind, how far and how long he could be pressured before he weakened, how to encourage him, how to manage his moods. He never flagged, it seemed; Cordelia had never known a moment when he could not recover from stress or strain. She knew how to pace the energy of his stride, and in the three days of her training, she had ridden him with the grip of a lance in her right hand, balancing its length and weight against Vechya's speed at full gallop. She had learned not to let the lance droop or sag, to keep it at full tilt as it hit its target, to keep her balance against being unhorsed, were she hit by a lance from the opposite direction. These goals, however, had not come without a price.

For two of the three days of practice she was profoundly in the worst of spirits, not at Vechya's lack of skill, but at her own ineptitude. For the first two days she had failed to remain upright. She had fallen seven times out of twelve; seven times had Lord Ebro's squire, Lord Bearance's squire, and Dame Calyx, on her own steed – whom she named Mirabi, which means 'swift one' in her language – upset her balance and unhorsed her from Vechya, no matter how much she had tried to remain balanced. Being struck at such a speed had knocked her for a jolt, had shaken the wind out of her. Their lances were too strong; they did not yield to Cordelia's armor, even if they had not actually penetrated it. She was not injured, but she had fallen. Each time she rose as swiftly as possible; she stamped the ground to take the dust out of the crevices of her armor, and remounted Vechya, once Mlava had brought him round. The lances that struck her were long and strong; they were flexible enough to prevent their breaking, but strong enough to knock her from her mount. In the joust, were she to be unhorsed only once, she would fail. She needed a course of action, and she asked Lord Ebro for advice.

"You are right," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You have learned that in the joust, you compete against yourself as well as against others, and that is a great deal of wisdom to have gained for one so young. Use this wisdom. Compensate for your opponent's strength, which is an unknown value at best. Ask yourself, what tactics would serve you best? Remember you have two goals: staying mounted on your horse, while ensuring that your opponent does not remain on his. Your larger strategy, you see, is not just to maintain balance – any average horseman can do that – but to maintain balance while the force of striking your opponent at full speed rebounds against you. Think of it: how many times have you ridden Vechya, and struck a stone, a fallen branch, or a clod of earth? Merely striking one of these objects can throw you off your horse. Now imagine striking, head-on, an energy bearing down upon you at the speed, and with the force, of a leopard falling upon its prey. Imagine that, while striking this object that travels at such a speed, you yourself are travelling at this speed. The goal here is to reduce the number of unknown factors to zero. In short, know what you are up against. Face your opponent with knowledge. Knowledge is your best weapon.

"Your opponents' lance is like a tree swaying in the wind," he continued, as they walked across the empty arena. "Just as you can stay atop a tree by shifting your weight – even in strong winds – so you can stay atop Vechya by shifting your weight at the right moment. You must see the tree swaying in the wind – that is, your opponent's lance as it bears down upon you – and never lose sight of it. Your eyes must be like the rivets on a sword, steadfast unto death. Then at the last moment, without moving your eyes, shift yourself on Vechya's back until you are on the opposite side of the saddle. Your opponent will either miss you or simply graze you on the shoulder, but you will remain on your horse.