< previous page page_429 next page >

Page 429
fixed on the castellan of Hemel, whom he had expected to encounter.
The shock of the blow, the Frenchman's shriek as the point penetrated his armor, only whetted Geoffrey's appetite. So many times had the boy Geoffrey struck back when he was physically assaulted and heard laughter from his larger, older tormentors that he still dreamed of pain-filled cries in response to his blows. He wrenched the lance back brutally as his opponent fell and was rewarded with another shriek. That man would fight no more this day, and likely not on any other either. But Geoffrey did not think of that, nor would it have gladdened him if he had initially been riding toward, pulling his own into position again, and spurring his horse to make it regain the speed the encounter had slowed.
To his left, a little behind the first wave, Geoffrey found another opponent. That one, either inexperienced or a fool, had lifted his head a trifle too far over his shield's edge. Geoffrey caught him in the face. Whether the lance point tore through the metal visor. Geoffrey did not know. His opponent this time did not cry out, but Geoffrey heard, even over the shouts of the men engaging behind him, the sharp cracklike a dry branch snapping beneath the heelof a broken neck. The lance point was caught in the visor and the man was a total dead weight. Geoffrey pulled and lifted, but the weapon did not come free. The shaft snapped, some two or three feet from the head.
Again, Geoffrey set spurs to Orage, turning him right once more and using the broken shaft to strike aside a lance aimed at him. In the same motion, he released the useless shaft and drew his sword. He was in time for a single blow at the man whose lance he had avoided, but it fell on the shield and did no harm, and the impetus of both destricrs carried the combatants past each other. However, there no lack of opponents; Geoffrey was engaged before he could turn his horse to finish with the man at whom he had struck.
By now the charge was over. The French line was bro-

 
< previous page page_429 next page >