Christy English

An Excerpt from BELOVED PILGRIM

Friday, May 6th, 2011 | Nan Hawthorne, To Be Read Pile | 2 Comments

Welcome once more to Nan Hawthorne, author of the medieval crusade novel, BELOVED PILGRIM.  Click on the link above to see her book trailer, and below is an excerpt from the novel. This one is in my TBR pile, and I am looking forward to it.

At Margrave Leopold’s court in Mølk, Austria, where Ellisabeth has traveled in the guise of her own twin brother.

The Feast of All Hallows came and went with no sign of Conrad, though he was expected to arrive any day. Some of the knights, a motley collection of Frankish, Flemish, Germans and Austrians, began to fret that if Conrad took much longer, they would all be stuck in Mölk with the Alpine passes impassable in the winter weather. Fortunately they had an outlet for their impatience in the form of daily fighting practice, something of which Elisabeth and Albrecht took full advantage.

 Elisabeth found herself embraced by a small cadre of knights of a half generation her senior. She came to their attention one early morning as she and Albrecht practiced swordplay in the castle courtyard. Neither had noticed the gathering group who watched as they matched blow for blow as they had with her brother not so very long before. They were startled when cheers rose from the sidelines after a particularly hearty blow Elisabeth landed with her sword on Albrecht’s teardrop-shaped shield cracked it in half.

 A big man with a bushy black beard and likewise bushy black eyebrows sauntered over and put one hand on the shoulder of each combatant. “Well delivered, young Elias! And, you, my friend, need a new shield. Without it, you are a sitting duck for whatever the Paynim devils have in store for you!”

 He introduced himself as Johannes Schwarzes-Tier or “Black Beast.” His two companions were Alain de Bourges and Gerhardt von Regenheim. Alain offered to send his squire for an extra shield he had. “I would not wish your lord to be the loser for lack of your good right arm.”

 While Albrecht and Renard, Alain’s squire ran off to get the shield, Gerhardt, a smiling man with hair the color of burnished gold and deep blue eyes and part of his right ear missing, challenged Elisabeth to a bout with axes. The German knight got the better of Elisabeth quickly as she had never learned the technique of that particular weapon.

 Gerhardt drawled in his easy-going way, “Just remember that mighty crack you dealt to your squire’s shield. That’s how you manage a war axe. With well-aimed might. I will teach you.”

 Alain suggested, “Peut-être the young man has more experience with a mace? Ah, I think he does!” he said, seeing Elisabeth’s broad grin.

 Alain’s mace was his practice mace, without the spikes he would want for killing. When one of the men standing about offered to lend Elisabeth his battle mace, she started to protest, but Alain waved her concerns down. “I will give you that advantage, my friend.” Nevertheless, he eased her qualms by donning a thick padded gambeson.

 He and Elisabeth squared off with several feet of ground between them. It was apparent from the beginning that the young German knight knew how to use the weapon, though primarily for defense. The two moved toward each other and held their maces with one hand low on the handle and the other cupped under the shaft nearer the heavy iron head. Each tested the weapon’s balance by slapping its shaft onto that palm. The trick was to watch the opponent’s eyes to see where he was considering a blow. Elisabeth managed to deflect Alain’s blow aimed at her right arm by getting the shaft of her own weapon up quickly enough to intercept the smooth round ball, though the weight of the blow shoved her back. She feinted, no mean trick with such a weighted weapon, and swung about to strike Alain’s thigh. Alain shouted with surprise. The site of the wound was under the padding, but nevertheless a small amount of blood ran down his leggings. He grinned and held his weapon out in front of him like a sword, danced back and then forward so sharply that the round iron ball took Elisabeth in the teeth. Her nose erupted in blood. It was her first significant wound, but rather than cry out, she whooped with soggy pleasure.

 “Look!” she cried, putting one glove to her streaming nose and reaching up to her mouth with the other, having dropped the mace. With triumph she pulled out a tooth and held it aloft. “I lotht a toot!” she crowed.

 Albrecht and Renard came running up at that point. Albrecht dropped the shield he was carrying and ran to Elisabeth. “My lord! You are hurt!”

 Still clutching her nose, she replied, “Yeth, but he ith too. And I lotht a toot!” She smiled as wide as she could so her squire could see the missing tooth, though in truth he could not for the blood.

 Black Beast shook his head, but he was smiling too. “I remember my first disfiguring scar. I was as proud of it as our young Elias is.”

 Albrecht fetched his shield. He told the group, “The front was plain black, so I decided to paint a sitting duck on it.” He held it out, then frowned as the knights laughed. Then he looked chagrined. “I painted it upside down!” he moaned. Turning the shield around, they saw it was true. There was a duck, indeed, but its feet pointed skyward and its head toward the ground.

 Black Beast slapped him on the shoulder. “When your master knights you, you will be Sir Albrecht of the Upside-Down Duck, the bane of Paynim throughout the Holy Land!”

 

Beloved Pilgrim by Nan Hawthorne is available in print on Amazon.com and as an ebook from Smashwords.com.  It will be released shortly in Kindle format and in the UK.  For more about this novel about a woman who chooses to live and fight as a man in the doomed Crusade of 1101, see the author’s web site at www.nanhawthorne.com