# Knights in Shining Armor



## AtokaGhosthorse

Awesome!


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## knightrider

Knights in Shining Armor

Chapter 1
“That’s a girl,” Julie said softly to her white appaloosa mare, “little more, down, yes! Good girl!” She gave her a carrot. 

“I’m impressed,” the man watching said seriously. “How did you teach her to bow like that? I’d like to teach my horse some of those tricks your horse does.”

“It isn’t hard. I can show you. Have you decided to board your horse here in our back yard?”

“Yes. I’ve talked with your parents, and they say if you don’t mind the extra work, I can keep Trojan here.”

“It will be nice to have another horse here as a companion for my horse, Brielle. Did you say your name is Brodar? What an unusual name.”

“It’s a nickname really. It is my medieval name.”

“Medieval name?”

“Yes, I belong to Markland, a medieval group from Maryland University. We do things like re-create battles, have feasts. And me, I like to do jousting with Trojan.”

“Jousting! With lances and armor and everything?”

“Yes. I haven’t really done much yet. Last summer I worked with a man named Chris, who jousted professionally. I learned a lot from his group and am hoping to put on my own show this summer. But my stable, where I kept Trojan, had to close, and I had to find another place to keep him. Say, your appaloosa is a big ol’ girl, isn’t she? So impressive with that snow white coat and black polka dots. Do you think you could show me how you taught her to rear up?”

“Sure. It isn’t hard.”

“I’m bringing Trojan tomorrow. I guess I will see you then.”

“Yes, fine. Well, bye.”

With a wave, Brodar was off, striding back to his station wagon while Julie was lost in dreams.

He was twenty-five, her parents said, and she was only seventeen. He wasn’t exactly handsome, but certainly arresting with his thick shining dark hair and beard, vivid blue eyes, and strong nose. He wore armor and jousted with his horse. He had his own trailer. He seemed kind and friendly; at least, not a know-it-all, because he asked her about teaching horse tricks.

Brielle interrupted her reverie by butting her nose against Julie’s sleeve. Julie turned to her and laughed as Brielle lifted her hoof high, offering to shake hands for a treat.

“Come on, sweet lady, time for me to clean your paddock and give you fresh water. Soon you will have a playmate. I’ll bet you’ll like that.”

Julie watched her lovely horse with joy. Her parents had bought her eight years ago as a yearling. Her mom’s brother, her Uncle Wes, knew horses and said he would help Julie train her. No one had imagined that Brielle would grow so tall, maturing at 16 hands. Julie was very proud of her. She had won many ribbons in local shows and fox hunted several times every winter with the local hunt. And Brielle knew twelve tricks, things like counting with a foot, and rolling a barrel with her nose. Julie hoped that having another horse on the place would be fun, and not take up the extra time she liked to lavish on Brielle. The board money would be nice. Her parents had agreed to give her half the money because she would do the work of keeping Trojan. She wondered what he would be like, and if she would come to love Trojan as she loved Brielle.

After school the next day, when Julie walked up the lane from her bus, she saw Brodar’s horse trailer in her driveway. Brielle was racing up and down the pasture, whinnying excitedly, while Brodar held Trojan who nervously cropped grass in the front yard.

Julie studied Trojan carefully. He was a fiery red chestnut with a full blaze and one white foot, compactly built, with flowing russet mane and tail. Brodar had said he was a Morgan, and from his finely chiseled ears, wide large eyes, and rounded quarters, Julie guessed he was a fine example of the breed. Man and horse fit well together, she thought.

“I was waiting for you to come home before I put him in his paddock. I thought you would know what to do with Brielle,” Brodar said.

“Oh, Brielle. She’s a mess when other horses come over. She’s all noise and bluster. Come on in. She’ll stop when Trojan comes in.”

As soon as the two horses settled down, Brodar turned towards his station wagon for a load of tack and equipment.
“Would you be able to show me the trails around here?” he asked her.

“Of course!” she responded. “I know all our trails really well. I ride them every day.”

“Good. Can you show me the trails this afternoon?”

“I’ll go get my saddle.”

As they rode, Brodar told her more of Markland, the medieval group he was involved in, and the jousting show he was putting together.

“So far, we really only have Mjollnir, that’s my best friend, and me. And Devon and Lothbrok want to be squires if they can learn to ride in the process. Mjollnir is going to buy a horse in June for the show. We will be doing shows at the Renaissance Festival in August and September, and some other little shows this spring, if we’re ready.”

“What strange names you all have. Mjollnir? Loth . . . what?”

“We call each other by our medieval names. It’s more fun that way. Lothbrok is a character from a book and Mjollnir is Thor’s hammer.”

“Sounds strange to me. What is your real name?”

“I forgot.”

Julie felt uncomfortable for a moment and they rode in silence. Then she asked, “What kind of shows do you do?”

“One knight rides out and challenges another knight. They joust. The winner fights a third knight. That will be Roheryn, if he buys a horse this winter. Then one of us will win and we’ll fight with swords. There’s a lot of funny parts too.”

“Sounds great,” Julie said enthusiastically.

“Really? Do you think you would like to practice with us?”

“Oh, yeah, that would be neat,” she exclaimed.

“Well, we won’t start practice until December or January.”


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## Kalraii

Subbing xD


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## Knave

Me too. I love the way you write. 🙂


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## knightrider

Thank you so much. I appreciate your reading it. I value your comments!!


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## LoriF

This is great! I'm looking forward to more.


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## knightrider

After the ride had ended, and Brodar had driven away, Julie questioned her mother about Brodar.
“I know his mom from work," she told Julie. “She had mentioned her son had a horse a few years back, and I had told her we had one too. We chatted from time to time. Then when she said Brodar was looking for a place to keep Trojan, I thought you might like to take it on. So I asked you.”

“But what about Brodar? What do you know about him?”

“Just what his mom tells me. She wishes he would settle down, perhaps think about getting married instead of running around with this medieval group he hangs with. But I think he is a fine young man.”

“Yes, he told me about the Markland club. They have meetings on Tuesdays and he invited me to go.”

“I think you better be spending more time with your homework, Julie. Taking care of another horse is going to take up most of your free time. Also, I don’t want you getting ideas about dating Brodar. He is twenty-five—way too old for you.”

“Oh, Mom, don’t be silly.”

“Well, what do you know about boys and dating?”

“A lot more than you think!” Julie flared up and stomped into the dining room to set the table. Actually, Julie was bluffing, for she really didn’t know anything about boys or dating. She had been on only one date in her whole life, and that was a blind date her best friend had set up for her. The boy hadn’t shown any interest. She was so quiet and shy at school, that boys never thought to ask her out. Everything about Julie was unspectacular. Brown hair, brown eyes, not pretty or large, but ordinary. Skinny, a bit flat-chested, a bit awkward, shy around people, and devoted to horses. Julie wondered if she would ever get a boy to be interested in her.

The next day, Brodar arrived with his friend Mjollnir as Julie was cleaning the horse pens.

“Hi Julie,” he greeted her. “This is Mjollnir. He’s a sophomore at Maryland U.”

Julie had thought that Brodar looked like a knight with his dark hair, mustache, and beard, but Mjollnir was truly handsome. He had a strong lithe body and thick black hair past his shoulders, smoldering gray eyes and perfect teeth. He would make an ideal knight for the show. She tried not to stare as they were introduced. A boy like that would never look twice at her.

“I was going to give Mjollnir a riding lesson first, then would you like to go riding with us?”

“Sure,” Julie answered happily. They were so friendly. The boys at school would have snubbed her by now.

“What a strange saddle you use,” Julie commented as they tacked up Trojan. “I never saw one like that before.”

“It’s a McClellan saddle,” Mjollnir answered. “They are the closest thing to a jousting saddle that we could afford.”

“It’s neat. Is it comfortable?”

“Noooooo!” both men moaned. “They are awful. You’ll have to try it. You never rode in anything so uncomfortable.”

“Then why do you use it?”

“It’s authentic!” Brodar exclaimed as if that were reason enough.

Mjollnir mounted Trojan, and Julie could see that Trojan was not a good riding lesson horse. He tucked his head and tried to bolt each time Mjollnir asked for a trot. Mjollnir held on grimly, but never had much opportunity to practice his posting trot. It was all he could do to hold Trojan in a jerky half-trot, half-canter. Brodar told Mjollnir to relax his back, and keep his heels down, but Mjollnir couldn’t concentrate on anything but staying on and not getting run away with.

Julie walked down the pasture and stood by Brodar. “Trojan isn’t much good for a lesson horse, is he? He’s too spirited.”

“No, it isn’t working out very well. And Mjollnir really wants to be a knight and learn to joust.”

“You could give him a lesson on Brielle, then. She’s very quiet and dependable. I’ve taught several of my friends to ride on her.”

“Really? That would be great! Hey, come here, Mjollnir. Julie says you can practice riding Brielle. She is much better to learn to ride on.”

“I accept,” Mjollnir said gratefully. “I don’t think I’m ready for this horse yet. Funny, I could ride him last year at the Renaissance Festival in the list.”

“He was tired, and the list was narrow.”

“What is a list?” Julie asked.

“Oh, it’s a series of ropes or poles that run the length of the arena, only about 5 or 6 feet wide, to keep the horse running straight.”

“Hmm. Yeah. Well, I’ll go tack up Brielle,” Julie offered.

“You sure are nice,” Brodar said. “Are you always this nice?”

“I try to be,” Julie answered over her shoulder. As she saddled Brielle, she thought about her being nice. Since she wasn’t pretty or talented or charming, she always tried to be nice. People usually liked you if you were nice, and Julie had her share of friends. But they were never boyfriends. It would be wonderful if Brodar kept bringing around boys to ride with them. Perhaps one of them would be not very good looking, but nice, like her, and he just might . . . She felt a sudden twinge of loyalty for Brodar. She wanted Brodar to like her. He was the one she wanted. How silly, for he would most certainly be the one she could never have.


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## GMA100

Subbing! I'm hooked! Can't wait for more!


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## AnitaAnne

These are the best books ever! Can't wait for the next installment...


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## knightrider

@GMA100, @AnitaAnne, @LoriF, @Knave, @Kalraii, thank you ever so much for your responses. It means so much to me. When I send these books off to publishers, they get rejected. It's such a joy and a thrill that somebody finally likes them!!! Thank you so so much!!!!


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## Knave

I am glad that the complement helps! I really do like reading everything you write. Your journal has been one of my favorite things, and I love the books!


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## knightrider

Mjollnir mounted Brielle, exclaiming about how tall she was. Trojan was 15.1, quite a bit shorter than Brielle. Soon he had his stirrups adjusted and was posting around the pasture.

“I can do it!” he said with elation. “Now I’m getting it!”

Julie’s eyes shone. It made her happy to see his success. After a half hour lesson, Mjollnir showed he could handle Brielle’s trot fairly well.

“Let’s go to the cement factory where we have more room,” Julie suggested. “Then Mjollnir can do some cantering without tearing up my pasture.”

“Where is that?” queried Brodar.

“It’s that deserted cement processing plant we ride through when we cross the railroad tracks.”

“That place?”

“Yes, that’s where I school Brielle for horseshows, and give my friends riding lessons and whatever. The parking lot is big, and dirt, and no one seems to mind if we ride there.”

A short time later, Mjollnir was getting Brielle to canter, though she was so different from Trojan’s eager bounding, that at times Mjollnir had to use a stick to get her to go. Still, he felt he had made great progress, and they decided to celebrate by going on a trail ride.

Julie soon saw how the two friends shared the horse. One rode while the other enjoyed running alongside. They seemed so happy with one another, so easy, and so friendly with her. She felt lucky that Brodar had brought Trojan to her place to stay.

Several times during the ride, Mjollnir spoke of his girlfriend, Megan. Julie tried to pretend she wasn’t disappointed. She figured he would have a girlfriend. Anyone that good looking was bound to have a girl. No doubt Brodar did too, though he had not spoken of her.

After that ride, Brodar seemed ready to include Julie in all his horse activities, and she loved it. They went riding several times a week, with Mjollnir returning frequently, and improving his riding with each visit.

Julie met Brodar’s other friends as well. There were the two guys planning to be squires—Devon, who was twenty-three, a construction site inspector for the county, and Lothbrok, a university senior with a major in Russian. Brodar frequently brought girls to ride, too, Katyas and Shirleys, Tanyas, and Sherries, so many different girls, and rarely the same one twice. Julie had a hard time remembering them or keeping their names straight. They were almost always attractive, sophisticated, college graduates working and living in their own apartments. Or punk-type college girls with spiked orange hair and black leather jackets. They usually said they were good riders, and usually didn’t even know how to hold the reins properly, much less mount the dancing, spirited Trojan. They frequently were run away with, sometimes fell off, and it never seemed to bother Brodar a bit. He just laughed at them, thought they were cute, and brought a different girl a week or two later. It was all very strange to quiet, shy Julie. But one thing she was glad of—Brodar never mentioned having a special girl. As long as his life was filled with silly, spacey Tanyas and Sherries, he might still welcome her solid quiet presence.

He seemed to. He talked to Julie as if she were a friend, not a little kid. They worked together teaching Trojan some tricks, though they never could teach him to rear. He could shake hands, count, nudge with his nose, drink from a bottle, pose on a pedestal, but no matter how hard they tried, he would not rear. Oh, he surprised them by rearing frequently when he got excited, going straight up and bolting forward with mad abandon, but never when they tried to get him to rear.


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## GMA100

Oh I love it! More please!!


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## knightrider

Winter arrived, short days of frosty weather when it was too cold for long rides, and all the girls in Brodar’s repertoire said they’d ride in the spring.

Brodar and Julie built a jump trail in the woods behind her house and liked to go flying over the fallen trees and rusty barrels they had set up for jumps. Mjollnir was learning to jump, too, though he wasn’t quite good enough for their wild and hairy jump trail.

Mjollnir could ride Trojan on the trail rides, though, and they usually rode double on Brielle, taking turns who rode on the back of Brielle. Sometimes Megan, Mjollnir’s girlfriend joined them, and Julie liked that fine because then she got to ride double with Brodar. She loved feeling his strong lean body close against hers, his beard tickling her neck, his soft voice in her ear. He told her funny stories of adventures in the Markland group, camping trips, historical demonstrations, and battle re-creations. Julie had never been so happy as she was that winter.

At school, she just went through the motions of attending classes, doing her homework, studying for tests. She still saw her girlfriends, her non-horse friends, for movies and shopping trips, but she dreamed of the hours riding with Brodar. So what if he wasn’t hers. So what if he was once engaged to a beautiful girl who dumped him. (That is what she heard from Devon). During the times they rode together, she could pretend he was hers.

They had their first Renaissance Festival practice in January. It was an inauspicious start, with only Mjollnir and Julile. In their heavy winter parkas and thick gloves, they rode Trojan and Brielle to the cement factory, a quarter of a mile from Julie’s house.

“What a place for practice,” Mjollnir laughed. “Cement mixers parked over there, port-a-can over there. We should get photographs of this place to remind us where we got our start.”

“Oouh, I’m cold,” Julie huddled into her down vest.

“Let’s start by riding the horses at each other with lances like we were jousting,” Brodar suggested.

Mjollnir slid off Brielle and handed Brodar and Julie the lances he had been carrying. As they rode at one another with couched lances, Trojan bolted out of control and Brielle veered away when she neared Trojan.

“Let’s try again,” Brodar shouted.

They tried four or five more times. Brielle went slightly straighter, but Trojan always bolted headlong through the parking lot.

“I think we need a list,” Brodar said. “When I was talking to the horse trainer at Medieval Times in Florida, he said we couldn’t really train our horses without a list. We’ll have to build one, that’s all. Let’s try throwing lances for a while. We’ll ride at the port-a-can and try to hit that.”

Build a list, Julie thought. As if it were that simple. Building means hammers and nails, post hole digging, buying lumber, hours of work. And we’ve got no place to build it. The cement factory would not tolerate a jousting list in the middle of their parking lot. Putting on the show seemed fraught with difficulties. But, no doubt, Brodar could pull it together.

They practiced riding at the port-a-can, throwing their foam rubber tipped spears. Slam! Brodar hit the outhouse almost every throw, but Brielle bucked and jumped away when Julie tried to release her spear. She wondered if Brielle was going to work out for this show.

At school, in study halls, and when the lessons were boring, Julie dreamed of the show, re-writing parts, and making up new stories that they might act.

All through January, Brodar and Mjollnir practiced. By now Mjollnir could ride well enough to practice on Brielle. Sometimes other Markland friends would show up for a practice or two. Devon, Lothbrok, and a new guy, Paul Jennings, were the most regular to come to practice because they planned to be squires for the show.

Then, at last, Roheryn showed up for a practice. To Julie, he was the epitome of a movie star, with deep dark eyes, dark curling hair, a cleft chin, strong jaw, and athletic body. She learned that he acted regularly in plays, always the leading man, of course. He had stage presence, all right, lots of it. He carried himself like he had the world on a string. But, surprisingly, he was nice to Julie and treated her with deference and kindness. So Roheryn was going to buy a horse and be a knight? Julie thought. Since he had little experience with horses, she wondered how that was going to work out.

She offered to let him ride Brielle in the practice and noticed right away that he couldn’t ride well. Brielle dropped her head, refused to canter, and careened away when she was supposed to run at Trojan.

“Whoa, Brielle, whoa!” Roheryn cried, out of control. “Easy girl, steady.”

Julie would have despaired of anyone else becoming a horseman in just a few months, but she couldn’t scorn Roheryn. His presence was riveting, even if he couldn’t ride a horse. He’ll learn, she thought. Brodar will teach him.

When they took a break, Mjollnir asked Roheryn, “I hear you are buying a horse soon?”

“Yes, maybe next month, at the farmer’s auction. I hope to buy a Belgian or a Clydesdale, a big draft horse, a jousting horse.”

“Buying at auction is risky,” Brodar cautioned. “You never know what you are getting.”

“Yeah, but the prices are so cheap, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just sell it and get another one.”

Julie supposed he had a point. Roheryn owned his own locksmith business. No doubt he was used to buying and selling. She knew most draft horses were gentle and hoped Roheryn would get a quiet safe one.

“When you get it, will you bring it to practice?” she asked.

“I don’t have a trailer, but maybe we can work something out.”

Julie felt a thrill of anticipation. How exciting to be a part of this group putting this show together.

“Say, Roheryn,” Brodar called as the man muscled Brielle around the parking lot after their break. “You might do better with that horse if you lowered your hands.”

“She keeps stopping on me. She won’t listen.”

“Why don’t you try riding Trojan for a while?” Brodar offered. “Now, let’s do the part where the knight challenges the interloper and they fight with axes.”

Mjollnir mounted Brielle smoothly and rode to his assigned place. Roheryn on Trojan galloped up to Brielle, who sidled away nervously. They took one awkward ax thrust at one another before Trojan bolted away fractiously.

“Sit down and relax your back,” Brodar shouted as Roheryn flopped all over the galloping horse.

“It’s this saddle,” Roheryn puffed when he finally got the horse under control and returned to the group. “I can’t ride in these McClellans.”

After practice, the four sat in Julie’s dining room over steaming mugs of cocoa.

“We sure have a long way to go,” Mjollnir said sorrowfully.

“In only a month, Richard Orehick, the entertainment director from the Renaissance Festival, will be here. He wants to see a rehearsal in February.”

“In February! Yikes, all we do is garbage!” Mjollnir exclaimed.

“I’m afraid so. Maybe when Roheryn gets his horse, things will start to pull together. We’ll build a list and the horses will joust better.”


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## knightrider

When the men drove away, Julie assessed her discouragement. On the negative side, most of the time only one or two squires showed up for practice. Roheryn wasn’t any kind of a rider. And worst of all, Brielle wouldn’t joust. Brodar had built a quintain, a metal figure of a knight with a shield. One corner of the shield was cut away for a ring. The rider aimed his lance for the ring, but if he missed and hit the shield instead, the quintain spun around, striking the rider with a sand bag. Brielle hated the quintain passionately, swerving away whenever someone rode her near it. Although Julie left it in Brielle’s stall for two weeks, hoping she would get used to it, Brielle seemed to have a personal grudge against that metal knight.

But on the positive side, Brielle was improving daily at swordfighting. Brodar and Mjollnir could play out a fight on Brielle and Trojan. The faithful squires Devon, Lothbrok, and Jennings came fairly regularly to practice. Roheryn seemed a considerate person with plenty of audience appeal. He could speak his lines well. No doubt with his own horse, he would improve quickly at riding. Mjollnir was becoming a better rider every week and handled Brielle and the spirited Trojan with skill. 

And where in all this is my part? She wondered. Brodar had cast her as a damsel in distress to be rescued, or a prize for whom the knights would vie to marry. Neither one fit a plain, unremarkable seventeen-year-old.

The next few weekends brought snow. It was fun to practice falls in the snow. Mjollnir did the most dramatic falls.

“Just lift your legs and roll to one side,” he coached Julie.

“I try,” she told him, “but I always seem to land on my knees.”

“You’re too tense.”

“I know,” she said ruefully.

“Well, you fall better than Roheryn, anyway.”

Julie wrinkled her nose. Roheryn was not working out very well at practice. He couldn’t make Brielle or Trojan mind, he didn’t fall well, he threw the lance badly. But no one was very annoyed with him because he was always gracious and courteous. He rarely complained, in fact, he never said anything unkind about anyone. And he was an actor, a good one, with a gorgeous face and an authoritative voice.

One cold day Brodar had exciting news when he came to ride.

“Julie, I talked to Richard Orehick on the phone. You know, Richard, the entertainment director at the Renaissance Festival? He’s going to give us a tentative contract if we make him a videotape.”

“My uncle Wes can make the videotape,” Julie said.

“And we have some performance dates. Horse Fair is April 19 and dress rehearsal for Horse Fair is March 12. And we can do a show for Markland on April 10, if we want to.”

“What is Horse Fair?” Julie asked.

“It’s demonstrations of all the horse breeds and kinds of riding. There’s horse racing, skill contests, and every kind of horse thing you could think of. Everybody who has a horse or likes horses goes.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of it, but I never went. Gosh, March 12 is only a month away. How will we ever be ready?”

“We’ll build a list. I have a place in mind where we can build it. But I’ve got more news: Roheryn bought a horse!”

“He did? What kind?”

“A Suffolk Punch, four years old. She rides Western and drives.”

“Sounds wonderful!”

“Yes, I’m really pleased. Let’s go for a ride and I’ll show you where I think we can put up our list. There is a clearing in the woods not far from your house. I was thinking maybe we could cut some saplings for posts and use some rope my dad has.”

They practiced the next Saturday in bitter single digit cold, and the next Saturday in sleet and freezing rain. Brodar, Paul Jennings, Devon, Mjollner and Lothbrok had devised a system of saplings and polypropylene line to make a flimsy list. Brielle immediately began to joust better. Trojan began to settle down. Everyone was encouraged.

Brodar and Mjollnir thought up a wild stunt where they would get on their hands and knees head to head and have Julie jump over them. Brielle did the jump readily, so they thought they’d add that to the show.

Julie’s uncle Wes agreed to videotape and came out to several practices. He was a big robust man, almost bald, with a gray beard and mustache. He knew all kinds of things about horses and had mentored Julie while she was training Brielle. During the practices, he held horses, handed up lances, shields, and swords; and had a cheerful word for everyone.

They had decided to do the March 12 dress rehearsal with just Brielle and Trojan, as Roheryn’s new horse, whom he had named Sleipnir, was not ready yet. It seemed she was becoming difficult to ride. When Roheryn first brought her home, she was quiet and docile, but lately, she had started bucking and bolting when people tried to mount her. She wouldn’t neck rein and wasn’t learning. She kicked people. Roheryn didn’t have time to ride her much and didn’t come to practices anymore.

On the other hand, Brielle and Trojan were jousting better and better. At last, they were practicing something that didn’t look half bad. Julie was so excited, she lay awake nights thinking about it. They had settled on three scripts for shows but were only going to do one for the Horse Fair.

Julie had chosen a medieval name, Lady Bjarki, and in the show they were doing for the Horse Fair, she would have her dowry stolen from her by a gang of brigands. Then she would help fight off the brigands. Mjollnir and Brodar would show her how to joust. The brigands would return, and there would be a grand battle of swordfighting between the men. The captain of the brigands would kill Brodar and she was to kill the brigand captain. She had butterflies in her stomach every time she thought of it. Would Brielle joust? Would Trojan stay under control? Would the squires remember their cues? Would the Horse Fair people like the show?


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## knightrider

March 12 arrived with Julie still working sewing horse trappings when Brodar backed into the driveway to hitch his station wagon to the trailer.

“Good morning!” he called to her from the car.

“Did you eat breakfast?” she asked. “I haven’t yet. I’ve been so busy rushing around.”

“Poor Lady Bjarki. Trying to do everything.”

“There is so much left to do! But right now, I’m going to eat. Want some blueberry muffins?”

“Oh yum!” Brodar exclaimed.

“Did you get the tips mounted on the lances?” she questioned as they gulped down some muffins.

“Mjollnir did it. They’re in my car.”

“Oh good. Now about the quintain. Did you grease it?”

“Aye, my lady.”

“Brielle hates that quintain. I hope she jousts at it. She hates the way it swings around.”

“She hates jousting.”

“I know. But she does good tricks.”

“Ah. Here’s Wes, right on time. Hi, Wes, can you start loading stuff in my car?”

“Hi Uncle Wes,” Julie greeted him at the door. “I finished my dress. Like it?” She held up the peach colored gown. Laced up the front, it had long, belled sleeves and a full skirt. The skirt alternated fabric colors of peach and pumpkin with a pumpkin colored placket behind the front laces. The simple lines accentuated Julie’s slim height.

“Ah, that’s gorgeous,” he approved. “You made that?”

“Last week. Mom helped me put in the darker fabric, so it makes a smooth line. I need the skirt in the circular shape to ride.”

“I thought ladies rode sidesaddle,” he said.

“No, not until much later. The dress is pretty authentic, I think. It’s pretty close to what a medieval lady might ride in. I’m happy with the dress. But my horse trappings aren’t quite done. I copied them from a book.” She showed him Brielle’s caparison.

“Hah!” Wes chuckled. “My old curtains!” Well, I’m glad you put them to good use.” Wes hefted the heavy video bag. “I need to charge this battery before we leave.”

Then Mjollnir drove up with the armor, shields, and weapons. So much to do! So much commotion. Julie wondered if they would ever be ready on time.

At last all was stowed, and horses were loaded into the trailer. This is it, Julie thought. I am on my way to a real medieval performance. They had practiced long and hard and yet nothing was polished. No one really knew what was going on. She didn’t see how they would do a very good job.

They arrived at the deserted show grounds and unloaded the horses and equipment. Devon and Loth soon joined them to help. Everyone looked a bit tense, but as Julie tied the trappings onto the horses, slipped into her costume, and set the lances in place, she began to feel her confidence returning. 

Brodar pulled on his chainmail and buckled his vambraces on his wrists as Loth tied the scarlet and black mantlet and torse on his helmet. He was a dashing figure in red and black. Mjollnir, in black and white, secured his shining leg armor and tested the knots on his lance penant.

We may not have much of a show, Julie thought, but, by golly, we look terrific. It was fun! She was glad she was there.
A sprinkle of people showed up in the stands and Wes began to videotape.

Chapter 2

“Here we have three companions,” Roheryn began to announce. “Sir Brodar, on his way to Newmarket to joust, his loyal squire Mjollnir, and the lovely Lady Bjarki, whom they escort to her wedding.”

Julie gave Brielle the cue, and she reared up dramatically. Roheryn paused in his narration, he was so impressed with the rear. Julie had to smile. It was going to work out. It was really fun.

All went well until the king of the brigands, Devon, pulled her off Brielle in a furious struggle for the gold, her dowry. As Mjollnir ran at them to defend Bjarki, Brielle bolted to the other side of the ring. Julie couldn’t catch her. They had rehearsed the fall and the retrieval twenty times, but today Brielle sensed an extra tension in all the performers. Brodar and Mjollnir fought on and on against the brigands, stealing glances at Julie and Loth as they scrambled after the wary horses. At last Julie cornered Brielle, remounted, and galloped to rescue the exhausted Brodar and Mjollnir.

Brielle changed into the band of brigands like a warhorse, much to Julie’s amazement and delight, while Julie wielded her cudgel to chase off the brigands, who fled and hid.

Then Mjollnir mounted Brielle to show Bjarki how to joust. Mjollnir handled Brielle well as they jousted three passes. On the fourth pass, Mjollnir was to fall. Brodar’s lance touched the shield and Mjollnir fell like a meteor. Even Devon and Loth wondered if he was hurt.

When the brigands returned, Julie and Brodar galloped away for reinforcements. During the final melee, Brielle fought well. Julie killed the brigand captain with panache and Brielle reared perfectly in finale.

The tiny group that had come to watch clapped politely. The director of the Horse Fair approached the group.

“Good job, nice show. We’ve never had anything like you at our Horse Fair. That was great.”

“Thanks,” Brodar answered. “Glad you liked it.”

“Yes, I did. I’ll let you know what time to have your horses ready on the nineteenth. If you’ll excuse me, I have to take care of some other things.”

As the audience drifted away, Brodar and Mjollnir decided to practice the “Knight’s Challenge” show next. Devon and Loth readied the props and set the quintain in place.

When his turn came, as Mjollnir rode Brielle at the quintain, he missed the ring and smacked the quintain shield with a loud bang, spinning the weight. Brielle bolted, bucking, and Julie shouted, “Hang on, Mjollnir!” as she watched him slowly tilt to the left. He fell off in a clanking heap while Julie hustled to catch Brielle. Wes had it all on videotape, but luckily no audience was left to watch it. Mjollnir was unhurt, and they practiced the rest of the show, as well as one more, “The Hand of Bjarki.”

At last, tired and cold, but pleased with their videotape, they loaded equipment, armor, and horses for the drive home.

“Boy, Brielle is such a flighty horse,” Loth commented on the ride home.

“But she jousted well,” Julie defended her. “And I actually fought on her. She did better fighting than she ever did in practice.”

“We need to have our props ready faster.”

“Yes, the whole thing is too slow.”

“When it’s time to jump over the person, the squire needs to get right out there.”

“We need to have some sort of dramatic name for the jump.”

“How about the ‘Jump of Death’?”

“Yeah, I like that.”

“Didn’t Brielle rear great?”

“Mjollnir, your falls were terrific.”

“Even your unplanned one.”

“Trojan only bolted once. I think he’s coming around.”

“He’s a good jousting horse.”

“Yes, the jousting went well. The rest of it was ragged.”

“What will Richard Orehick think?”

“Sure hope he likes us.”

After they had analyzed the tape three times in Julie’s living room, and everyone had gone home, Julie felt curiously let down. So, that’s it, she thought. We’re not very good. We have a long way to go. Brielle is not a good jousting horse. And Brodar will never ask me out. Then she realized why she was feeling low. In all the hurry and work for the performance, she and Brodar had not had any of their long quiet rides she had so enjoyed. He rarely spoke to her, except about the show. She was a buddy to him. She was a buddy to all the fellows, but nothing more. A sweet little underage mascot. She sighed and went out into the dusk to brush the sweat from Brielle and Trojan.


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## knightrider

Julie got her chance to be alone with Brodar the very next week. When he came out to ride, he told her about Roheryn.

“Sleipnir is getting worse, “Brodar said. “Roheryn can hardly get on her. She’s broken two bridles, throwing people, and running off. She rears and bucks if you ask her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

“Sounds bad,” Julie said, “but I’m not surprised. Roheryn doesn’t seem like the kind of rider who would discipline his horse.”

“He’s asked us to come and help him next Wednesday.”

“US? Me too?” she squeaked.

“Yes, why not? You’re a good rider. Look what you’ve taught Brielle.”

“Uncle Wes helped me.”

“Can you go Wednesday?”

“Sure. I’d love to. I’ve been dying to see Sleipnir.”

When Brodar came to pick her up on Wednesday, Julie felt as if she were on a date. She had dressed carefully in her good, well-fitting jeans, a plaid western shirt, and attractive green sweater. She wore her good cowboy boots instead of her regular rubber farm boots. As she got in his station wagon, she felt as if they were going out together.

She found it easy to talk to Brodar. There were always so many things to discuss about the show. They had two performances coming up in three weeks, and so much yet to do.

It seemed like no time before they were pulling into the driveway of the stable where Roheryn kept Sleipnir.

He was there waiting for them, and together they walked into the field to catch the horse. She was coated with mud. Roheryn and Brodar chatted as Julie helped brush out the mud and tangles from her coat. Sleipnir was small in stature, but immense in muscle and bone. Her feet were the biggest Julie had ever seen, and Julie’s nerves tightened as she worked her way back to brush Sleipnir’s hindquarters.

“Watch out,” Roheryn warned. “She’ll kick sometimes.”

“What a pretty color she is,” Julie exclaimed as they stripped off the mud.

“Yes, she’s almost a palomino with that golden body, but her mane and tail, being more of a cream color, make her a sorrel.”

“What a thick mane and tail she has.” Julie stood well to the side as she combed out the burrs in the animal’s tail.

“She’s a great looking horse for jousting,” Brodar added.

“Ahhh, the sweet girl,” Roheryn crooned to her. “She’s a good girl most of the time.”

He put on her saddle and bridle and led her out to the adjoining pasture. “I mostly just ride her in here,” he said. “I have to lunge her first though, else she’ll buck me off when I try to get on.”

Roheryn snapped a lunge line to the mare’s bridle and picked up the lunging whip. Julie could see right away that Roheryn was not able to command the mare. She walked or trotted as she pleased or stopped to eat grass.

“May I take her?” Julie offered.

“Sure.” Roheryn handed her the lungeline and the whip.

Sleipnir dropped her head for grass and Julie snapped the line smartly against her nose. “Walk,” she said sternly.
The mare trotted, surprised. Julie snapped the line again and held the whip in front of Sleipnir, as Uncle Wes had taught her. “Walk.”

Sleipnir walked. Her eyes smoldered and her ears were plastered against her head, but she submitted.

Julie lunged her three or four times around each direction, amazed at how quickly the mare picked up the cues. “Walk. Trot. Walk. Whoa.” Sleipnir executed them with precision.

“My, she is smart. I think she is the smartest horse I’ve ever worked with. I bet she could really learn tricks!” Julie exclaimed.

“I just want her to learn to be ridden,” Roheryn said dourly. “I’ll ride her now. I guess she’s ready.”

As he went to mount her, she sidestepped quickly and aimed a deft kick at Roheryn.

“No!” Julie shouted and whacked her smartly with the lunging whip. Sleipnir bolted sideways, dragging Roheryn along.

“Don’t do that. I’m holding her,” he said shakily. “Brodar, you hold her head while I get on. Julie, don’t hit her with the whip when I’m trying to mount.”

“But she shouldn’t kick you. She needs to learn.”

“Don’t whip her, O.K.?”

Julie grimaced. No wonder the mare was so naughty.

Roheryn managed an awkward mount as Brodar clung grimly to the bridle. Sleipnir lowered her head and flattened her ears. All three of them could see she was ready to buck.

Roheryn rode her around them two times.

“Can you get her to trot?” Brodar asked.

“Trot,” Roheryn said without conviction. “Whoa girl, easy girl, trot.”

“Loosen the reins some,” Julie offered. “No horse can trot with reins that tight.”

“If I loosen the reins, she’ll drop her head and buck.”

It certainly did appear that she was ready to buck.

“Trot,” he said weakly, and brushed her with his riding crop.

Suddenly, Sleipnir trotted, turning sharply to push through a nearby apple tree, then bucking and dropping her shoulder to throw Roheryn off balance.

“Stay with her. You’ve got her!” Julie cried.

But Roheryn fell with a thud.

“What a fall!” Brodar said.

“I didn’t really fall off her. The saddle went over,” Roheryn replied.

“You need to whip her all the time she’s bucking. She is evil to act that way,” Julie said.

“I can’t whip her. It’s all I can do to stay on.”

“Well, someone should get on her now and beat her tail,” Julie said.

“I will,” Brodar volunteered.

Sleipnir was ready for Brodar. As Julie gingerly held her head, remembering the vicious kick earlier, Brodar leaped into the saddle as the mare exploded into bucks.

“Whip her!” Julie cried, jumping from foot to foot. “Don’t let her get away with that!”

Staying on the fat round stick of dynamite was about all Brodar could do. First Sleipnir would rear up, then come down on stiff front legs, kicking high. She twisted and whirled but Brodar stayed on.

“Holy craps,” Roheryn whispered.

Five minutes later, Sleipnir stopped, her sides heaving.

“Do you think you can get her to walk?” Julie asked in an awed voice. “She looks like she’ll just buck again.”

“Why don’t you put the lungeline on her and lunge her with me on her?” Brodar said, panting.


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## knightrider

Julie cautiously snapped the line to Sleipnir’s bridle. “Walk,” her voice quavered. Sleipner walked, but only three steps. Then she began bucking again.

“Bad girl, no!” Julie shouted and slapped her hard with the lunging whip.

Sleipnir squealed and bucked harder.

“No! No!” Julie screamed and whipped her.

“Ow, yow!” Brodar yelled.

“What happened?” Julie shouted.

“You hit me with the whip!”

“Oh, sorry!”

At last the mare gave up and walked sedately around Julie.

“Wow.” Julie and Brodar locked eyes.

“She’s tough.”

“But she’s walking. It’s working. I guess that’s what she needed.”

They went around two times, then reversed. Then a trot twice around. No bucking.

“That’s enough.” Julie threw down the whip. “Give her some corn. She did well.” Julie walked up to the horse and scratched her ears as Roheryn got the corn.

“Good girl. Nice Sleipnir. All right. You did it.”

Julie turned to Roheryn as he fed her the corn. “She’s a handful, Roheryn. She will be hard to straighten out. But if you do it, you’ll know you really accomplished something.”

“I think I can do what you did,” he said faintly.

“Not by yourself. You’re going to need help. Is there someone who will come out and work with you?” Brodar asked.

“Yes, there are some girls here at the stable who are good riders,” Roheryn answered. “Probably better than you, Julie. They will help.”

Julie felt a pique of annoyance. If they are better than me, than why couldn’t they fix the horse? But, she reminded herself, Brodar had ridden the horse. She had only lunged it. She wondered if she could have ridden those bucks.

“Well, I’ll put her away now,” Roheryn said. “It’s getting dark.”

“Yes, we’d better go,” Brodar said.

“Sorry I hit you with the whip, Brodar,” Julie said ruefully.

“It’s O.K. I’ll live. Aim for Sleipnir next time.”

“Thanks for coming out,” Roheryn said, waving.

“Oh, no problem. Bye.” They waved back.

Julie and Brodar walked back to the car together and again it felt like a date.

“What a horsebreaker you are!” she enthused. “Breaker Brodar!” I’m impressed.”

“No, I was impressed with you. You are really good with horses.”

“Roheryn didn’t think so. He said the girls at his barn ride better than me.”

“What does he know? You know he can’t ride. He wouldn’t know a good rider from a bad one.”

“Well, you were a good rider today.”

“I never could have done it without you holding the lunge line.”

“That was nothing.”

“You were whipping her. She wouldn’t have stopped if you didn’t keep whipping her. You know what? We’re the B team. Brodar and Bjarki. A good horse breaking team.”

Julie grinned at him.

“Say, I’m hungry. Want to stop at Hardee’s and get roast beef?” Brodar offered.

“Sounds great.”

They sat at a table while Julie drank in every detail of Brodar’s face. This must be truly heaven, she thought, to go to a restaurant with Brodar, laugh, talk, eat together.

“I took a liking to a Viking. A Saxon is what I use my ax on.” Brodar was quipping silly puns as Julie laughed. “Now I want you to repeat this: One smart fellow, he felt smart. Two smart fellows, they felt smart. Three smart fellows, they all felt smart. Now you say it.”

“One smart fellow, he felt smart.”

“Faster, say it faster.”

“Two smart fellows, they smelt . . . oh, you’re crazy!”

“Ha.” Brodar’s blue eyes twinkled. “You know, I feel more relaxed with you than I do with other girls,” he said.

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know. I guess because I don’t feel any pressure to be something with you.”

“I like you the way you are.”

“Well, thanks, but I mean, it’s not like we’re on a date or something. We’re buddies. Just Julie, you know?”

Julie’s smile faded. Just Julie. She had coined that phrase herself when she was nine years old. She had always been Just Julie. With Brodar she had hoped to be something special. She wanted today to feel like a date, but he obviously didn’t.

She changed the subject. “Do you think Roheryn can straighten out Sleipnir?”

“Hope so.”

“Me too. We need her. But I don’t think he can do it without help. I sure hope someone at his barn will take care of it.”

“I don’t know. He’s a pretty strong-willed tenacious guy. It’s possible he could pull it off,” Brodar said thoughtfully.

Julie wished the evening would last forever, that Brodar would never have to take her home, but too soon, she was saying goodbye in her driveway and climbing the steps to her door.

I had a date with Brodar! She hugged the thought to herself. No matter that he wouldn’t call it a date, it seemed like one to Julie.

How funny if she told her friends she had a date.

“What did you do?” she imagined them asking.

“Oh, we bucked a horse down. He rode it and I whipped it.”

It was a ludicrous date, but just being alone with Brodar was so idyllic. She could imagine how romantic it would be to go dancing with him on some moonlit terrace, holding him close, feeling his beard against her face.

Her eyes got cold and sad. “But I’m Just Julie,” she said out loud. “And Just Julie puts silly dreams like that away.”

The next morning her mom sat down with Julie at the breakfast table.

“How did it go with riding Sleipnir yesterday?” her mom asked.

“Not so good. That horse is a mess.”

“You sure got home late. We expected you back for supper.”

“Brodar bought me supper at Hardee’s.”

“You know, Julie, I wish you wouldn’t spend so much time with that crowd. I know I offered to let his horse live here, but I’m not happy about your dating him.”

“Aw, Mom, it wasn’t a date. He even said so.”

“I’d be a lot happier if you spent more time with kids your own age. Men in their twenties, even college guys, want different things from a girl.”

Julie turned a sad face up to her mother. “Nobody wants anything from me, Mom.”

“Well, you just watch out. Why don’t you spend more time with your friends from school?”

Julie didn’t answer, as her mom’s question seemed more of a request than a real question. The truth was, nobody at school wanted to spend time with her. At least the Markland fellows allowed her to hang around. They seemed to like her even if they didn’t date her.


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## GMA100

I love it!! Keep up the good work!


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## gottatrot

I really love your story!


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## knightrider

Thank you so much! That people read it and like it means a lot to me.


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## knightrider

Chapter 3

The jousters were looking at their next performance a few weeks away, a small show done as a demonstration for the Marklanders.

“What we need,” Brodar suggested, “is a way to incorporate some variety with just the two horses. I have some ideas—like Roheryn could joust with me and I lose. Then Mjollnir takes my horse and jousts with Roheryn.”

“That sounds good,” Julie agreed.

“I had another idea, too. How about a Lords and Ladies Joust? The girls share one horse and the guys share another horse. The girls begin beating the guys at spearing rings, picking up favors off the ground and the other games. The guys get mad and start cheating—snatching lances, throwing hay. It breaks down into a brawl. Both knights get disqualified and one of the ladies wins.”

“I like it. Sounds great. Who do we get for the other lady?”

“We could try Tanya. She likes to ride.”

Julie wrinkled her nose. “She pretends she can ride. She doesn’t handle a horse very well. And she wants everything her way. She wouldn’t be fun to work with. How about Teanna?”

“She’d be perfect, but she moved to Pennsylvania.”

“Oh.”

“There’s Ariel. She’s a good rider.”

“She wouldn’t clean Trojan’s feet when you asked her that time. I’m not sure we want a prima donna on the team.”

“No. I suppose you’re right.”

“I know someone. Actually, I know her boyfriend from my horse club, but I know her some. She’s nice, a good rider, and doesn’t mind doing work. And she even knows about Markland, because her boyfriend went to Maryland U. Shall I ask her?”

“Why not? Invite her to some practices and we’ll see how she works out.”

“Her name is Carol.”

That Saturday Carol came to their practice, and everyone agreed that she would work well in the show. Roheryn, Mjollnir, and Brodar would alternate being the knights and Julie and Carol would be the ladies. Julie was glad to have another girl in the group, though she didn’t know Carol that well. She had ridden several times with Carol’s boyfriend who was a friend of Wes in the local horse club. Although Carol was older than Julie, about the same age as most of the jousters, she treated Julie with interest and respect.

“You have to have a medieval name,” Julie told her after practice. “Something to use in the show. Mine is Bjarki.”

“I don’t know. I could be Lady Carol, I guess, but it would be fun to have a medieval name.”

“Well, you have another week to decide.”

“My nickname when I was growing up was Rienna.”

“Rienna? I like that. That sounds good. Lady Rienna.”

“Maybe I’ll choose that then. Meantime, if you don’t need me to do anything else, I think I’ll go now. I need to ride my two horses.”

“Oh sure. So you like doing the show?”

“Yes. It seems like fun. I’d like to do it.”

“Good. We’d like to have you.”

When Rienna had left, Devon approached Julie. “I really like your friend. She’s gorgeous. Where do you know her from?”

“I know her boyfriend from my Uncle Wes, from riding club. She has two horses and she works at the museum.”

“I wonder if she is serious with the boyfriend. Boy, I’d like to get her phone number.”

“Ask her next Saturday. She’ll be here.” Julie turned away, suddenly busying herself with repairing Brielle’s frayed leadshank. I don’t care, she told herself fiercely. So Rienna has beautiful dark hair and dark eyes. That only adds to the show. She’s nice and I like her, and I don’t care that Devon wants to date her. I’m doing this show because it would be fun, not to get dates. Having another girl will make it more fun.

The Markland performance was scheduled on the grounds of Maryland University, where Markland was based.

Julie felt very collegiate as she rode Brielle around the grounds.

“What a pretty horse,” people stopped to tell her.

“You are so lucky,” the college coeds sighed.

Brodar galloped up on Trojan. “I’ve got us some squires and brigands for the brigand show.”

“Great,” Julie responded. “Who?”

“A group called the Skraelings. They are from St. Mary’s County mostly, some from Baltimore. I’m going to sit down with them and go through the show now. You can meet them.”

“O.K.”

“Hey, Tanya! Want to ride Trojan a few minutes while I talk to the Skraelings?”

Tanya tossed her glossy black hair over her shoulder, hiking her medieval costume up to her hips. “Absolutely. May I run him?”

“Oh, I guess so.” Brodar dismounted and handed the reins to Tanya.

“Here they are. Julie, these are the Skraelings: Lef, Gobie, Frolf, Sven, Paul—you already know, Carla, Jenny, and Ragnar.”

“Hello.” Julie looked at the motley crew of fellows and girls. They seemed a friendly rowdy bunch, ready to tackle anything and willing to accept her immediately. All the guys were good looking, and the two girls seemed cordial.

Brodar explained what the Skraelings were to do as brigands and squires.

What a crazy show this will be, taking on new actors ten minutes before the performance, Julie thought. Oh well, the Marklanders are a happy, indulgent group who seem to enjoy whatever we do with the horses.

The brigand show went off fairly well, except the Skraelings came in at the wrong time and refused to die when Julie stabbed them with her foam tipped spear.

“Die at the hands of a woman? How dishonorable!” Julie could just imagine them saying.

After the show, Brodar congratulated them. “Good work, guys. Hey, I really appreciate your being brigands.”

“No problem. It was fun.”

“Yeah, we liked it.”

“Want to do the Horse Fair next week in Upper Marlboro?” Brodar asked.

“Oh sure!”

“Sounds great.”

“I’ll be there.”

The Markland dancers began their routine and the jousters took a break. After the dancing, they planned to do the two jousting shows with Roheryn and Rienna.

The jousting shows were not so successful. Halfway through the second show, with Mjollnir on board, Brielle refused to gallop down the list. Julie had to grab her bridle and start her down, then smack her rump to keep her going. Roheryn didn’t do much better with Trojan. He sprinted down the list like a wild horse while Brielle turned and bolted in front of him.

The Marklanders remained enthusiastic.

“It’s a good show,” they told the group. “A little ragged, but you can iron that out before the Ren Fair in August. You have lots of time.”

“Brielle was just in a bad mood,” Julie told everyone. “By next week she’ll be fine for Horse Fair.”


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## knightrider

Still, when the day of Horse Fair arrived, Julie woke up worried. What if Brielle wouldn’t joust? Her parents were coming to Horse Fair, and some people from her church. She expected the people from Rienna’s horse club to be there too, and many of the people she foxhunted with. Brielle just had to do well.

Everything started great. All the equipment was ready from performing just one week before. There were even stalls for the horses to wait in. Brielle seemed cheerful and alert, and Julie proudly showed off some of Brielle’s tricks to the lady who had sold her to Julie years ago.

They had prevailed upon Uncle Wes to do the announcing for them, and he began the show dramatically. Julie’s 4-H leader was there taking pictures, the people from her church clapped and cheered, and her dad waved. Brielle did her tricks with aplomb.
But when the time came to joust, Brielle would not go down the list. Julie pulled and smacked as Mjollnir kicked her, but she stood stubbornly as the audience laughed.

At last Brielle cantered—straight into the ropes that formed the list. She dragged ropes and posts across the arena, kicking and bucking. When Mjollnir turned her around, she slammed into the other side of the ropes, and the quintain smashed to the ground.
Brodar charged in on Trojan and the two began a furious mock swordfight until the brigands returned.

In the final scene, Brielle executed a dramatic rear to close the show, as if to apologize for her rotten behavior during the jousting.

Julie slunk away through the crowd, wishing she were home, wishing she had never tried to do any of this jousting stuff.

“She’s sour,” she explained to Mjollnir. “We rode her too hard, pushed too much, practiced too much. She never liked it to begin with, and all these practices have ruined her.”

“What can you do?” he asked.

“Stop jousting with her. It might take about four months, or she might never joust again. But by that time, Roheryn’s horse will be ready, or he’ll have a new horse, and you’ll have a horse, and we won’t need Brielle.”

Julie sat silently beside Brodar in the car ride home. She was wishing she had never decided to be in the show. What a disgrace in front of her parents and friends.

“It doesn’t matter so much, Julie,” Brodar covered her hand gently. “We won’t be needing Brielle to joust any more. She still does her tricks well.”

“You don’t need me in the show anymore. Rienna is better and prettier. I just make a mess.”

“No, we do need you. Who takes care of the horses and gets the equipment ready, loads the hay nets and water buckets, cleans and mends the tack and trappings?”

Julie didn’t answer.

“Don’t quit on us, please, just because you had a bad day. We need you to do the shows. We really do. You inspire me.”

“I do?”

“Yes, scheduling practices, your enthusiasm, your continuous new ideas.”

She gave him a half smile.

“You’ll see. Tomorrow you’ll feel better about this. Today you are tired and cold.”


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## ChasingDreams

I can’t wait for more! Following 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## knightrider

The next weekend, Uncle Wes took Mjollnir and Julie horse shopping, just to check out the horse market. They went to several stables and rode a number of horses that cost too much and didn’t impress them. At the last place they rode a horse they really liked, but he cost twice as much as Mjollnir could afford. They felt like they had gotten a feel for horse prices even if it was discouraging.

They took a break from practices for a few weeks. They had worked so hard, and yet the show was still disorganized and amateurish. Julie knew what they really needed was more suitable horses.

When they resumed practices, the Skraelings began to come faithfully every week. Brodar had promised that they would learn to ride if they would squire for the Ren Fair.

It was Julie’s job to get the horses ready and give the riding lessons each week. She got to know each fellow well, and his individual riding foibles.

“Devon, sit up straight.”

“Lef, keep your legs under you.”

“Frolf, heels down.”

What Julie didn’t like were the girlfriends tagging along who also expected riding lessons, though they contributed nothing to the show.

“Gee, Carla, I’m sorry, there’s just not time for you to ride,” Julie would say.

“She can have my time,” Loth or Paul Jennings or Devon would offer.

Julie would bite her lip and half-heartedly give another lesson.

After the lessons and the practice, usually the whole gang would gather in Julie’s living room, to eat cheeseburgers and discuss the show, or watch a videotape like Jabberwocky or Ivanhoe. They watched the jousting repeatedly in slow motion and analyzed every move. Julie loved it. They were funny and fun. They had crazy ideas and cracked stupid jokes.

Frolf was best at goofy ideas. “Hey, like remember the time we were fighting Brodar and we all died at the same time?” he asked.

“What do you mean, ‘we’? You weren’t even there,” said Lef.

“I wasn’t? Oh, I guess not. Well, anyway, I’ve got this great idea for a fight. Sven and I attack each other with—get this—Christmas trees. Lights and tinsel and everything. I’ll be the ‘Knight Before Christmas’ and Sven can be the ‘Silent Knight’, get it? And we’ll use ‘tree’ jokes like ‘Aha, I got you treed’ and ‘a treed and true method’ and ‘needle me, will you?’”

“Yeah, and then what?” asked Devon.

“Well, first we swing them like two-handed swords, and then we fight like they’re quarter staves, but finally we run at each other like they’re jousting lances.”

“And then what?” asked Devon more skeptically.

“Well, then we like call it a draw but we’re both surrounded by all these Christmas decorations that fell off and we’re too superstitious or something to walk on them, so the ladies have to ride the horses in and rescue us, see? You like it, huh?”

“Well, work on it some more and we’ll think about it, O.K.?” said Devon. “I don’t think it’s quite ready yet.”

“Hey, like I forgot to tell you about the sausages part,” said Frolf.

“Oooouuh,” everybody groaned.

Whenever someone said something flirtatious, Paul Jennings would say, “Ooooh, Baby.” Soon the other Skraelings were saying it under any stupid context. It always brought a laugh.

On one ride, Frolf fell off when some motorcycles came roaring too close to Brielle. “I hate it when that happens,” he said as he brushed himself off, insisting he was fine. From then on, whenever anything bad happened, some Skraeling would come back with that reply.

Carla’s car broke down and she called to get someone to pick her up. The fuel pump diaphragm was torn. “I hate it when that happens,” she said.

While practicing a fall, Mjollnir split his elbow badly. “I hate it when that happens,” Lef said.

Brodar always had his crazy puns. “I left my armor out in the rain last night, so my fighting is a little rusty.” Julie had never enjoyed herself so much with a group of people.


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## knightrider

Chapter 4

In May Brodar had a serious talk with Roheryn. “We need another jousting horse. I’ll drive Trojan every week to practice at your place, but we need to get busy with real practice for Sleipnir.”

“Sleipnir is not ready yet,” Roheryn answered. “She’s getting better, she really is, but she’s not ready to joust yet. She still bucks a lot, and bolts.

“Well, I’ll help you get her ready, because we need you very soon. How about if I bring Brielle and Trojan to your barn next week?”

“What day?”

“Wednesday again?”

“Sounds good. I’ll meet you there.”

When Julie and Brodar arrived, Sleipnir was tacked up and cross tied in the barn.

“She seems in a pretty good mood today,” Roheryn greeted them.

“Good. We’ll get our horses ready.”

“You have a really severe bit on her now,” Julie remarked.

“Yes, this is the only bit that will stop her. With anything else, she just runs away.”

Julie watched as he stretched the curb chain tight against Sleipnir’s chin. Uncle Wes had taught her to leave two finger’s space.

Soon the three of them were riding together in the side pasture. Roheryn was right about Sleipnir improving because she walked along sedately, although Julie kept a wide berth from Sleipnir’s heels.

“Roheryn, you’ve done a great job with her. I’m really impressed,” Julie rejoiced.

“Let’s try riding at one another with lances,” Brodar suggested.

Roheryn said quickly, “She’s not ready for lances yet. Let’s just walk past one another until she gets used to that.”

“She’s doing it fine!” Julie cried. “She’s great!”

After several passes, they decided to try it at a trot.

“Trot,” Roheryn ordered, but Sleipnir only flattened her ears and humped her back.

“I think she’s going to buck,” Roheryn worried.

Julie had to agree.

“Trot,” he said again, touching her nervously with his heels. His grip on the reins was tight so she couldn’t bog her head to buck. Repeatedly he nagged at her sides with his heels. “Whoa girl, easy girl, trot.”

Sleipnir had had enough. She jumped forward, unsettling Roheryn, then lashed out with her heels. Then she reared, high and higher until she stood poised in the air for what seemed like an eternity.

Julie was spellbound. Oh, for a horse that would rear like that!

Slowly, inch by inch, Roheryn lost his grip and tumbled to the ground. Sleipnir dropped back to earth and began cropping grass.

“Ah, ah, my foot,” Rohern said softly.

“Are you O.K.?” Julie and Brodar chorused.

“Yes, I’m fine. My foot. I landed on it wrong. Ah, it really hurts.”

Julie had never seen Roheryn so shaken. It frightened her a little, and her heart went out to him. He was trying so hard to be brave and was probably in serious pain. And dreadfully disappointed, no doubt.

“I don’t think Sleipnir is going to work out,” Brodar said slowly as Roheryn hobbled to catch his grazing horse.

Roheryn’s face was ashen. “No, I will sell her. I’ve had it with her. What do you think I can get for her?”

“We looked at some horses a few weeks ago for $800.”

“Eight hundred. That sounds reasonable. I’ll put an ad in the paper for eight hundred.” He spoke in quick, clipped phrases that betrayed the intense pain of his foot.

“Are you really all right, Roheryn?” Julie asked. “You don’t act all right.”

His face twisted. “It really hurts, really a lot.”

“It might be broken. Look, don’t walk. I’ll put the horse away for you.” Brodar offered. Brodar took the reins and Sleipnir lunged at him with her front feet. As he leaped away, she spun around and kicked at him.

“No! Bad girl!” Julie shouted. But no one had a whip with which to smack the horse. Julie narrowed her eyes angrily. “Ooouuh, that wicked thing.”

As Brodar untacked Sleipnir and turned her out, Julie longed to comfort Roheryn. “I am really sorry. You must feel awful right now.”

“No. I don’t feel so bad. At least I know it’s settled. That’s it. I’ve had it.”

“Will you go to the hospital about your foot?”

“Yes, I think I will go. It really hurts.”

“Can one of us drive you?”

“Oh no, my van is an automatic. I’ll be O.K., really.”

Impulsively, Julie gave him a hug and he put his arms around her.

“I wish it hadn’t happened like this,” she said sorrowfully. “I really wanted it to work.”

“It’s not so bad really, no big thing.”

Brodar returned and they said goodbye quickly as Roheryn drove off to the hospital.

Julie and Brodar shared a sober ride home.

“Roheryn asked me to drive Sleipnir to the auction at the end of the month if he doesn’t sell her. I said I would.”

“The auction! She’ll sell for dog food there!” Julie wailed. “She’ll die!”

“Not necessarily.”

“Would you buy a horse that bucks, rears, and kicks when you try to ride it? Would anyone?”

“Maybe the girl at Roheryn’s stable can ride her and get her going better.”

“If that girl could have straightened that horse out, she would have before now.”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

All that week, Julie thought about the beautiful Sleipnir, soon to be sold for dog food. How smart she was, how well she reared. Julie even called Uncle Wes on the phone and talked to him for an hour about it.

“You would be crazy to take on that horse,” he warned her. “Some horses are just bad actors and that’s one. Even if you did get her to ride right, which I don’t think you could do, you could never trust her. She’d attack you in the jousting list.”

“Aw, Wes, I guess you’re right. Roheryn’s foot is badly broken.” Still, Julie didn’t believe him. Something about Sleipnir, something about the way she listened, made Julie think she could train her.


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## GMA100

I can’t wait for more! It’s really good!


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## Knave

Me too! I am always excited when there is an update. It’s perfect for me because I have a very bad habit of reading the last chapter before the book...


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## knightrider

Thank you guys, so much! It's been a real trip down memory lane for me--hadn't thought about this stuff in years. "Brodar" and I have been e-mailing each other back and forth having fun remembering some of this stuff. I had completely forgotten that "Sleipnir" broke "Roheryn's" foot. I knew he dropped out of the show, but I was just thinking he lost interest after his bad experience with his horse.


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## AnitaAnne

Exciting stuff! This is my current favorite book to read 

But the poor mare Sleipnir...I am wanting to save her myself...


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## knightrider

Julie put Sleipnir out of her mind when Uncle Wes called her on Friday night. “I heard about a horse that Mjollnir might want.”

“Oh, really?” Julie was excited.

“It’s an appaloosa mare, 15.2, five years old, green broke for $350.”

“That sounds perfect. What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were bone thin or lame or something like that.”

“Can we go see her?”

“You bet. How about Saturday morning?”

“Fine for me. I’ll see if Mjollnir can go, then call you back.”

Julie soon discovered that Mjollnir was in New York for the weekend, but she and Brodar decided they would like to go see the mare in any case. If they liked her, they would take Mjollnir the next week. If they didn’t like her, Mjollnir wouldn’t have to waste his time.

As they drove to the barn, Julie reminded herself, “She probably has a big knee or a bowed tendon.”

“Maybe she’s rangy and ugly with that big ugly app head,” Wes laughed.

“She seems too good to be true.”

As soon as they arrived, the horse trader took them into his huge dark barn where the mare stamped restlessly.

“Oh,” Julie breathed. The animal was beautiful from her delicate tipped ears to her elegant slender legs.

“Let’s see her in the light,” Wes suggested.

Out of the stall, the mare was terrified, but she obediently followed the horse dealer out of the barn, her eyes wide with fear, nostrils trembling, ears flicking.

In the bright sun, they could see the ravages of neglect. Her coat was falling out in matted chunks, and she had no hair along her back from a severe case of rain rot. Her feet were jaggedly broken to the quick. She was so coated with mud, it was hard to tell her color. But her delicate elegance made her look more like a two-year-old than a five-year-old.

“Are you sure she is five?” Brodar asked, trying to check her teeth.

“If she isn’t five, she will be soon,” the man answered.

“Can we ride her?” Julie asked.

“Waal, I ain’t got no saddle. But yew kin ride her bareback.”

Uncle Wes shot the man a sharp look. “She’s never been ridden, has she? She’s not broken, is she?”

“Waal, I sat on her back oncet, bareback. She didn’t do nothin’. Git on her. She won’t do nothin’.”

“I will. I’m the lightest,” Julie offered.

Bodar gave her a quick leg up and she poised lightly on the mare. “She’s not very tall, I don’t think. She’s not 15.2 hands.”

“But she’s strong,” the man said.

“Come girl, come, come,” Julie said softly pulling the mare’s head to one side. Off balance, she took a small step, then another. “Good girl, off you go.”

Puzzled and confused, the mare turned a lustrous liquid eye toward Julie. Julie knew she wanted that horse. In a few minutes she had the mare lightly trotting up and down the paddock.

“Oh, Uncle Wes, she’s trying so hard to please! Here, Brodar, you try her.”

As Brodar rode off, Julie said, “She moves well. I like the way she moves. See how she carries herself?”

“Yeah, Ah think she'll be a good mover," the dealer agreed.

Brodar slid off and they examined her legs, her eyes, ears, and teeth. When they tried to pick up her feet, she snatched them away.

“She ain’t bin taught nothin’ yet,” the dealer said quickly.

Julie couldn’t believe she only cost $350, just Mjollnir’s price. They hadn’t seen anything this nice, nor had Uncle Wes, who had been looking and listening for months.

“I like her,” Julie announced. “I think we should get her. Look how frightened she is, yet she has done everything we asked her to do. She is so willing, I’m just sure she’d be a good jousting horse.”

“She’s too small,” Brodar remarked.

“But she is strong,” Wes said. “She could carry a man and armor.”

“She’s too elegant.”

“Yes, she is elegant.”

“We’ll come back next week with Mjollnir and see if he likes her.”

“Next week she won’t be here, I reckon,” the dealer said. “onct I got her up from the pasture, I ain’t gonna turn her back no more. I’ll sell her tomorrow night at the auction if I kin. If I kain’t, then she’ll be here.” 

“Oh, Uncle Wes, let’s buy her. She’s so wonderful. I’m sure Mjollnir will love her. She’s so brave, I’m just sure he will. And if for some amazing reason he doesn’t, then we’ll sell her, and he can get a horse he wants.”

“We’ll think about it,” Wes told the dealer. “We’ll call you.”

As they got in the car, they discussed the mare’s merits.

“She’s too small, but she is willing. I think she’ll make a good jouster,” Brodar said.

“Small is good. Less far to fall. She’ll be easy to break, I can tell, and when Mjollnir has a hand in breaking her, he’ll love her all the more.”

“It’s possible she will grow since she’s been so neglected,” Wes mused.

“There, you see, she’ll grow!” Julie crowed.

“It will take a year before you notice any change and she’ll be sold by then,” Wes laughed.

“Unless Mjollnir keeps her. She’ll be so good, and he’ll love her so much, he’ll probably try to keep her. Maybe we’ll lease her over the winter. Then we’ll have her to joust next year.”

“You’re right about her attitude,” Brodar mused. “She’s a sweetheart.”

“So, don’t you think we should buy her?” Julie turned to Brodar. “She won’t be here next week. Someone else is bound to pick up on her. Especially at that price.”

“We’ll think about it. Let’s think about it tonight.”

“Just remember, if she doesn’t work out, we can sell her after we break her. She’ll be worth a lot more money. Heck, we can sell her in a week and make money.”

Wes laughed. “I don’t know about that, but we’ll give it some serious thought.”


----------



## knightrider

That night Julie sat down to talk with her dad. “I’d really like to buy this horse, Dad. Mjollnir will pay us back if he likes her, and if he doesn’t like her, we’ll sell her for a profit. She’s such a wonderful horse.”

“To buy a horse for someone who hasn’t seen it sounds like a mistake to me,” her dad replied.

“I know it does, but he’s just bound to like her.”

“Wes says she’s small.”

“Mjollnir won’t mind that. He’s small too. He’ll look real good on her.”

“Julie, it looks like your mind is made up. Why don’t you try to get Wes to buy the horse?”

“I did. He won’t. But look, if you won’t buy her, I’ll use the money from my savings account. She’s the best horse I’ve ever seen, and I’ve just got to prove it to all of you.”

“Tell you what, Julie, I’ll go halves with you. You pay half from your savings account, and I’ll pay half. And Mjollnir pays for her keep whether he buys her or not.”

“It’s a deal! Thanks, Dad.”

“You want that horse so bad. I guess it’ll be good for you to break and train her. And good for Wes to help you with it.”

“You wait and see, Dad. She’ll be the best horse you ever saw. Hey, I’ll go call the horse dealer and tell him we’re buying her.”

After she had called the horse trader, she made a call to Brodar to see if he would go pick up the mare.

“You are going to buy that horse?” Brodar exclaimed.

“Yes, she’ll be perfect. Mjollnir will love her.”

“I don’t know. He should see her first.”

“Yes, he should, but he is in New York, and by the time he gets back, she’ll be sold. We haven’t seen any horses for $350. Neither has Wes, and he’s been looking for two months. Three hundred fifty is about all Mjollnir can pay.”

“Bjar, you are taking a big step.”

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll sell her. But I just know it will work out. Something about that little mare--she’ll be the best jousting horse ever.”

“Look, I can’t go with you tomorrow. I have a soccer game. But you and Wes can take my car and trailer. Just leave me Wes’s car.”

“Great, thanks! You won’t regret this, Brodar. I just know you won’t.”

Then next day Julie and Wes borrowed Brodar’s car and trailer to pick up the mare. Julie was so excited, she couldn’t stand it. Was the mare really as wonderful as she had imagined? Or had she made it all up as a fantasy?

When she saw the mare’s pretty head, she was sure.

“Has she ever ridden in a trailer?” Julie asked the dealer.

“Naw, lived in my back pasture the last couple of years.”

“Well, let’s take her slow, then,” Wes said quietly.

The little mare stepped tremblingly forward as Wes led her towards the trailer. Her eyes were wild with fear. She had never spent so much time with people in all her life.

Julie walked up into the trailer and held a bucket of feed enticingly towards the mare. It was clear she had never seen feed before and didn’t know it might taste good. “Hey lady, easy girl, come, come,” Julie crooned.

The mare put one tentative foot on the trailer ramp, slipped, and backed off, snorting fearfully.

Wes eased her forward again.

“Come, come, pretty girl. Here it is,” Julie held out the bucket of food.

The horse put one foot again on the ramp, then the other foot, step by step, until she was in the trailer. Julie tied her head after Wes put up the ramp.

“Can you believe how calmly she loaded!” Julie exulted. “I knew she would be fantastic!”

The dealer looked a little green. “She’s a good horse,” he said faintly.

“I’ll say she is! Thank you so much for selling her to me. Three-fifty, right? Here’s the check. Thank you again. I know we’ll love her.”

The dealer looked disheartened and sick as they drove off.

“Ha! Didn’t he look sorry when he saw how good she was!” Julie crowed. “He could have gotten a whole lot of money for her if he had just spent a little time training her, and he knows it!”

“I agree,” Wes said. “I think she’s worth a lot more than what you paid for her. Good looking, great attitude, nice color.”

“Nice color! She’s an ugly color, Uncle Wes. The color of mud.”

“Nah. I’d call it ‘antique gold.’ Burnished antique gold.”

“Wow. Antique gold. I like it.”

“And at least mud won’t show on her like it does on Brielle!”

“Right!”

“Say, Julie, would you like to drive the trailer?” Wes slowed up.

Julie gulped. “Well, yes, I would, but now? Today? With that unbroken mare in the back?”

“Why not now? You have to learn some time.” He pulled over slowly.

“Oh wow, I’m scared,” she breathed.

“Go for it.”

They changed places and Julie accelerated cautiously.

“The important thing to remember is turns. Horses can’t anticipate turns so it’s up to you to take it easy. More horses have become difficult loaders from people’s bad driving than anything else. Give your horse a good ride and he’ll load for you every time.”

“This is scary.” Julie gripped the wheel as the mare pawed inside the trailer.

“She’s young, she’s scared. She’ll settle down.”

“I can’t believe I bought her. It’s terrifying and wonderful all at once.”

“Like every good thing that happens in life.”

“You think this is a good thing, Uncle Wes? I mean, buying the mare without Mjollnir seeing her? Buying an unbroken mare for this jousting show?”

“I don’t know if it’s a good thing for the jousting show or a good thing for Mjollnir, but I think it’s a good thing for you.”

“Do you think you would buy her, Uncle Wes, when the jousting show is over in the fall?”

Wes laughed. “What would I do with a little elegant horse like that? Big hulking me on that little mare? No, Julie, I don’t need a horse. I get all the riding I want when we ride together from time to time.”

“We’ll have to think of a name for her quick. I hate calling her ‘the mare’.”

“You have any ideas?”

“Of course. I always have ideas. But I’ll let Mjollnir name her since she’s his. He’ll probably give her some Viking name.”

“Or something medieval.”

As soon as they arrived home, Julie turned the mare loose on the upper pasture where she began to eat ravenously.

“That will put some meat on her skinny ribs,” Wes laughed.

Julie’s parents came out to admire her as Julie went to work with brush and currycomb.

“She’s a little small, isn’t she?” her dad asked.

“What’s wrong with her back?” her mom worried.

“I know she’s a mess right now,” Julie said defensively. “But you wait. When her hooves grow out, she’ll be another inch taller. And when her hair grows in, she’ll be positively beautiful. Look at those flat, strong bones. She’s tough and brave and sturdy. And friendly too.” Julie laughed as the mare ambled over to nuzzle her.


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## knightrider

Here is my darling Shadow, exactly two weeks from the day I bought her, riding in a parade. We did a show on her that day also, and she did a fine swordfighting routine with a Skraeling (who didn't do the Ren Fair) who was already a decent rider. She had been backed for the first time ever 10 days before that. I hated rushing her like that but sometimes a horse has gotta do what a horse has gotta do. I didn't put any of that stuff in the book because it didn't add to the story. Brodar and Trojan are in the background.


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## knightrider

As soon as Mjollnir received the news that Julie had bought him a horse, he came straight to see her.

“Well, what do you think?” Julie said proudly as he stared at the horse. “She already looks better than she did on Saturday. I’ve been washing her every day with plexodine shampoo to get rid of that fungus. She’s fatter, too. I can tell.”

“Wow. I can’t believe it,” Mjolllnir said. “She’s really neat.”

“I knew you’d like her.”

“I do. She’s neat. But don’t you think she’s a little small?”

“No. She’s tough and strong. She’ll be perfect for jousting.”

“But you have to break her and all.”

“It will be easy. I’ve already been putting a saddle on her back every day. And she’s learning to lunge. Today I’m going to get her used to a bridle. Look, she can already give me a hug and a kiss.”

“Wow, she’s great. I just don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to do anything until you get to know her, ride her and all. I know you’ll love her.”

Mjollnir patted her gently.

“Have you thought of a name for her?” Julie asked.

“Lots of names but can’t find quite the right one. I’m going to call my brother in Boston and see if he has some good ideas.”

“It should be a warhorse name, like Thunder, or Boramic. Or Bucephalus. What was Roland’s horse’s name?”

“I don’t know. I thought of Artimis and Berrick.”

“Wes suggested Gracefully—so you could mount Gracefully. Brodar said Boldly so you could ride Boldly. You could fight on Bravely.”

Mjollnir laughed.

Julie added, “I thought of Shadowfax, Gandalf’s horse from the Lord of the Rings.

“Much too pretentious.”

“Oh, she’ll live up to it. You’ll see. This horse will be worthy of a name like Shadowfax.”

“I don’t like Shadowfax, but I do like Shadow.”

“Shadow. I like it too.”

“Then Shadow it is. We’ll name her Shadow.”

In a week’s time, Julie and Brodar were riding Shadow in the yard. They were apprehensive, especially as she didn’t want to trot. They still had memories of Sleipnir’s shenanigans. But within a day or two, Shadow had learned to trot, although somewhat disjointedly, when urged with their heels.

Julie had a dentist appointment the day Mjollnir came for his first ride on Shadow. Brodar decided it would be a good day for Shadow’s first trail ride.

“Just as we were about to go, a train stopped on the tracks below the pasture,” Brodar told her later.

“So you waited, of course.”

“No, Mjollnir rode her right past that steaming, hissing engine. Shadow didn’t flinch.”

“Brodar, you’re crazy! Even Brielle won’t go past a stopped train! You could have been killed!”

“Shadow walked right past it. She’s a bold little mare.”

“I’ll say!”

“But Mjollnir wasn’t very comfortable on her. She wouldn’t walk. She kept jigging. It really made him nervous.”

“But he handled her all right?”

“Oh, he handled her fine. She bucked me off twice.”

“Bucked you off?”

“Yes, when we got to the ball field, I decided to canter her. She bucked, and I went flying. So I got on and tried again, and she bucked me off again.”

“You stupid fool!” Julie exploded. “She’s only been ridden three times in her whole life and you’re trying to canter her! I’ve never even cantered her on the lunge line. You probably ruined her! All the work I put into training her and you spoil it with one impulsive ride. I should have known better than to let you go off riding without me. I should have known you’d do something stupid!”

“I’m sorry. I really am. I hope I haven’t ruined her,” Brodar said contritely.

“Well, probably not ruined, but set her training way back. Now I better start all over again. I guess today I’ll try to lunge her at a canter. But she’s really not ready. We have to rush her training so, and I hate it. She’s such a fine horse, she deserves to have us take our time training her.”

“You were the one who said she’d be easy to break.”

“She is easy to break. Much better than Brielle, and Brielle was easy. Uncle Wes says Shadow’s the most willing youngster he’s ever seen. But we shouldn’t rush her so.”

“We have to. We need her. By the way, Roheryn didn’t sell Sleipnir.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“So I’m going to go get her in two weeks and take her to the auction.”

“Oh.” Julie’s face sobered. “If I hadn’t gotten Shadow, I would have insisted on buying Sleipnir. That would really be a mistake, wouldn’t it?”

“You bet. That horse is dangerous.”

“Somehow I don’t think so.”

“She’s going and that’s that.”


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## ChasingDreams

Aw, I’m so sad for poor Sleipnir... 

These updates need to be longer, clearly we need more 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## knightrider

Every day Shadow became easier to ride. Her training was not affected by Brodar’s mismanagement. A few days later Julie and Brodar decided it was time to start getting Shadow used to armor. When Brodar mounted, wearing a light suit of chain mail, Shadow bolted, bucking across the pasture. As soon as Brodar could get her stopped, he slid off.

“I don’t think this mare’s ready for a jousting show,” he gasped.

Julie was disheartened. “I guess we better take it slower. I’ll get on her and carry the chainmail across the saddle.”

After twice around at a walk and twice around at a trot, Shadow didn’t flick an ear.

“Let’s try it again,” Julie suggested. “She doesn’t mind it a bit now.”

Brodar donned the chainmail once again and remounted Shadow. She wanted to bolt, half-stepping and jigging, but he held her to a walk.

“I know, let’s go on a trailride,” Julie suggested. “I think she’ll relax on the trail.”

She did, and by the end of the ride, she accepted the armor as if she had worn it all her life.

With each new piece of equipment: shield, sword, lance, trapping, Shadow panicked violently. But in just an hour or two, or sometimes a day or two, she placidly accepted it.

Unfortunately, Mjollnir was sometimes there to see Shadow’s panic.

“I don’t know,” he would shake his head, “I think she’s too flighty for this.”

“She is today,” Julie would defend her, “but wait till you see her tomorrow.”

But Mjollnir lived too far away to come every day. He didn’t see Shadow’s steady progress.

As time loomed closer and closer for Brodar to take Sleipnir to the auction, Julie fretted more and more.

“I think we could train her, Brodar,” she told him. “She’d be such a good jousting horse. And she can really rear. You saw that. She’s so smart, I could teach her all kinds of tricks. I think if we had her, and rode her every day, she’d straighten out.”

“She’s poison. Even Wes says she’s dangerous. Let her go.”

“But, Brodar, she’ll die. She’s beautiful and she could be a good horse, if you’d only give us a chance to try her. She never threw you.”

“I don’t know.”

“Tell you what. Why don’t you pick her up a week early, give me a week with her? If she improves dramatically, we’ll buy her from Roheryn. If she’s still wicked, we’ll take her to the auction. It’s just a week. Can’t we just try for one week?”

“I’ll ask Roheryn.”

“Oh, thank you!” She jumped up and hugged him and thrilled to his touch as he hugged her back.

They went to get Sleipnir on a Thursday evening in June. No one was at the stable. A man wandered out to see what they were about but went away when Brodar explained they were buying the horse and picking her up.

Buying Sleipnir! Julie thought with amazement. We must be crazy. Brodar went out to the field to catch Sleipnir and they searched around for Roheryn’s lead shank. It felt eerie to be taking her away with no one around, as if she and Brodar were conspirators in horse thievery.

Remembering how the mare had attacked them, Julie let Brodar load her into the trailer. He coaxed her, step by step, with grain. She took a lot longer than Shadow to load, but better than many young horses. Julie remembered that Sleipnir was only 4 years old, an adolescent in horse years. Julie closed up the ramp, half expecting a volley of kicks and Brodar’s pained cries. But in a moment, Brodar exited out the escape door.

“Everything O.K.?” she questioned.

“Just fine.”

As they pulled out of the driveway, Julie wondered if she was dreaming.

“We got us a horse!” She tried to sound excited, but her voice quavered.

“We must be crazy,” Brodar responded.

“Sleipnir. It was Odin’s horse in Norse mythology, right? Roheryn told me.”

“Yes, a magical horse that had eight legs. Sometimes called Sleipnir Death Dealer.”

“Death Dealer? Yes. She breaks people’s bones. And she might be death dealt herself.”

“Sleipnir Foot Breaker.”

“No, I like Sleipnir Death Dealer. She’s so big and mighty and strong.”

“And dangerous.”

“Death Dealer.”

When they got her home, there was only enough light to brush her and fool with her a bit. As Julie picked up a hind foot to clean it, Sleipnir aimed a fierce kick, catching Julie in the shin.

“Ah!” Julie cried and smacked the horse soundly across her rump. “Bad girl! No!” she shouted while she rained blows with her hands. She looked at Brodar. “She kicked me, the witch.”

“Roheryn said you couldn’t clean her hind feet, but that was back in February. I thought he had taught her to pick up her feet by now.”

“Well, she will learn, and soon,” Julie said grimly, getting a crop. She held the crop between her teeth, planted her feet firmly and reached for the hind foot again. “Kick me again, Witch, and see what you get.”

Sleipnir lifted her back foot. Julie held it a second and released it. “Good girl, good lady.”

She turned to Brodar. “She’ll do it. We can do this. You’ll see.”

By this time, Julie’s mother had come out to admire the new horse.

“She’s huge,” she exclaimed.

“Not really, Mom. She’s actually not as tall as Shadow. She just looks big because she’s built so strongly. She’s a draft horse.”

“All these horses!” her mom said. “Don’t you think we have too many horses here?”

“Way too many!” Julie agreed. “But they won’t be here for long. Brodar will board Sleipnir out if she works out and Mjollnir will take Shadow when we get her broken. Just for a week or two more, O.K., Mom?”

“What can I say? No?” Julie’s mom laughed. “That’s quite a mare you have there. She’s really impressive.”

Julie gazed at the mare. “I think she will be,” she said softly, “I really think she will.”

Chapter 5
Julie and Brodar were amazed about Sleipnir’s changed behavior. She did not try to kick or bite them, stood quietly to be mounted, and walked calmly. It was as if she was a different horse. Her only residual temper was picking up her back feet, and, by lifting her back legs gently and slowly, Julie soon had her compliant. When Brodar climbed on her, she never offered to buck or rear. It was as if, at Julie’s place, she knew she was safe.

“Nobody whipped her or hurt her where Roheryn kept her, did they?” Julie asked.

“Not that I know of. If anything, Roheryn spoiled her and let her misbehave without correcting her.”

“We don’t even have to correct her. She’s a different horse. It’s really weird.”

“It is weird. Maybe she knows here she won’t get away with that mess.”

“I guess we’ll never know. But I’m so glad we gave her the chance.”

“Me too!”

After a few days of back to basic training, Brodar and Julie took Shadow and Sleipnir for a long trail ride. Both horses were well-mannered, if a bit untrained.

“The first thing I’m going to do,” Julie decided as they rode, “is to borrow a rubber snaffle from our neighbors. They have one they don’t use. Sleipnir doesn’t know how to stop with a bit, and I’m going to teach her.”

“Well, looks like we’re keeping her, doesn’t it?” Brodar said as they rode happily along.

“Sure does!” Julie exclaimed. “She’s great!”

“And it looks like I’m paying for her, doesn’t it, since you paid for Shadow.”

“Oh, Brodar, I sure do appreciate it. I can’t possibly ask my folks to help me buy yet another horse.”

“Yep, I guess that’s what I’ll have to do, then.”


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## GMA100

Is it possible at all to do two updates a day??  I love it!!


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## AnitaAnne

Thank you for posting another installment...have been not so patiently waiting...

Sleipnir is SAVED!! :loveshower:

The real Shadow is a nice looking horse! 
@knightrider I now understand your HF name! Used to think your name should be *Dawnrider* because of your daily 6:330 am rides :smile:


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## ChasingDreams

This is literally my favorite thread! I get so excited to see an update!🤩

And yay for Sleipnir! I knew “Julie” wouldn’t let her go to auction 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## knightrider

You guys are so great and encouraging! You have no idea how much of a lift your comments give me. Thank you so very much!

Something I learned not that long ago from Horse Forum was "shutting down" a horse. I did not really understand Shadow's inconsistent behavior until I learned about "shutting down." I think that Shadow was clearly "shut down" in many instances. I knew then that her training was appalling and that it was wrong wrong wrong to do to her what we had to do. But I didn't realize what it was doing to her.


> “Let’s try it again,” Julie suggested. “She doesn’t mind it a bit now.”


She probably minded it VERY MUCH, so much, in fact, that she shut down. I imagine she was shut down when she walked past that hissing spitting train, when she walked right in the trailer, and when she had to do the swordfights. I really did her a disservice. But she was a lovely fine horse. I rode her probably ten more years doing joust shows, foxhunting, horseshowing, driving, camping, and parades, and she just did me proud. I wasn't real good to her in the beginning, but she was always good to me.


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## knightrider

A week later, as Sleipnir improved steadily, Brodar mailed a check to Roheryn, and Sleipnir Death Dealer became totally his.

Although she learned to carry armor, ride at the quintain, and sword fight faster than Shadow, she didn’t have that spark of animation that Shadow brought into everything she did.

Also, Sleipnir tended to buck, just little disconcerting crowhops, as she cantered down the list. Only Brodar and Julie could get her to canter at all. All the other squires could only get her to walk.

Squire riding practice continued, now more exciting than ever with four horses. Julie put the girlfriends, at least the ones who knew something about riding, to work schooling the young horses.

She usually had Carla ride Shadow because when she was younger, Carla had owned a pony. Carla had a fine seat and light hands, and although Shadow pranced and jigged when Carla rode her, Carla didn’t seem to mind. Julie was glad Shadow was getting used to other riders.

Carla was Paul Jennings’ girlfriend, and wherever he was, she was often nearby. Carla was a little plump with a round face and owlish glasses, but she had an enormous bosom, of which she was very proud. The Skraelings frequently made jokes and references to Carla’s chest, which she encouraged every chance she got.

Although Julie tried hard to like Carla, she just couldn’t warm up to her. Carla was cordial, but Julie felt no spark of friendship. Carla never offered to help, never volunteered any personal information, or jumped into a friendly conversation. Furthermore, as well as making regular references to her shapely body, she made sarcastic remarks, which made Julie feel ill-at-ease. Julie was glad she had finally found a use for Carla instead of being mildly annoyed whenever she was around.

Jenny was the sometimes girlfriend of Frolf, and everybody’s pal. Overweight, unattractive, and shy, she wanted very much to learn to ride. Julie wanted to befriend Jenny, but to Julie, Jenny seemed like one more burden she was expected to carry. Jenny never helped with any of the chores, and when asked, usually said she couldn’t do it. Julie found herself being short with Jenny and immediately felt ashamed. But with everything else the squires needed her to do, taking care of Jenny just seemed like the last straw.

Each Monday, squires began arriving at her house at 4:00, just as she was walking up the driveway home from school. She had to change her clothes and oversee the brushing, horse care, and saddling of all four horses. Then there were lessons to be taught from 4:30 until 8:30 when it got dark. Then they cleaned the saddles and bridles as she supervised the stable work until it was done. Frequently the Skraelings stayed until 11:00, drinking Cokes and eating cheeseburgers, watching videos or talking.

The socializing was fun, but Julie wondered what she was getting from all her efforts. Carla cuddled with Paul Jennings. Jenny hung on Brodar, Rienna stayed aloof. And Tanya or Kendra or Emily, or whoever else happened to show up, flirted and laughed and talked as Julie fetched Cokes, cleaned up spills, and passed the corn chips.

Trying to teach the squires to be horsemen rather than just riders was a trying experience. One evening she got a call from Lef. (A call from a boy!) “I’d like to take Kristy for a spin on the horses tomorrow,” he said. “Can I like, borrow Brielle and Sleipnir for the afternoon?”

Julie gulped. “Uh, well, I don’t lend out my horses actually. I mean, I take you all for rides, but I don’t just lend out my horses.”

“Why not?”

“Well, they . . . I love them. It’s . . . well, my friend’s pony was killed . . . she lent him to someone who couldn’t ride very well. The person fell off, and the pony was hit by a car.”

“But I thought you said I rode well.”

“You do, but not that . . . well, it’s just . . . “

“Oh, that’s O.K. It was just an idea I had. Never mind. I’ll see you Monday.”

Julie hung up feeling awful. She wanted to accommodate Lef. She wanted him to like her. Why couldn’t he understand the enormity of what he was asking?

Other times when squires were riding, they would complain because Shadow was flighty or that Brielle wouldn’t trot. “It’s because YOU can’t ride!” she wanted to scream at them, but she held her tongue. “Oh, do I have to ride Brielle?” they would whine. “Jennings has been riding Trojan the last two weeks. I think I should get a turn.”

The only squire who didn’t complain about Brielle was Frolf. Frolf was the worst rider of the group and the best sport. Overweight and clumsy, he made an effort to be friendly and gracious to Julie. Once he even told her she had nice eyes. So, Julie was always glad to see him, mostly because he preferred Brielle to the other horses and always praised her.

Lef was probably the best looking of the Skraelings—nothing so gorgeous as Roheryn or remarkable as Mjollnir—but strong, sturdy, and handsome. Although he loved to ride, he often seemed pre-occupied and spent little time talking to Julie.

Gobie was one of Julie’s favorites. He wore his hat pulled over one eye and looked darkly mysterious and romantic, but he kept his heart on his sleeve. All his life, he told her, he had felt inadequate, and riding horses and doing this show was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him.

Sven was the funniest Skraeling. He got the group wound up with hilarious antics, from crazy puns to pratfalls. Oddly enough, he didn’t look like a funny man. He had elegant delicate good looks—ivory skin, dark curling hair and beautiful teeth. He was slender in build but a tough staunch fighter. He spoke very little to Julie.

Paul Jennings was the only Skraeling who retained his real name, and he was a garden of paradoxes. His name used to be Slime, King of the Beggars, and when Julie first met him, she thought he was not very bright. But he had a great variety of interests from scuba diving to philosophy to opera and could speak knowledgeably about a great many subjects. He never drank alcohol because at one time he had thought he was becoming an alcoholic. He was a marine biologist, just out of college one year. He had a cherubic smile and a dimple in his chin.

Together the Skraelings made a crazy, fun-loving group. Whatever they did, it was bound to be a lark, and Julie enjoyed being part of it.


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## knightrider

Wasn't sure I should put up this photograph, but heck, it's been more than 30 years and none of us look like we did back then, who would recognize us . . . so here goes.

Top row: Rienna on Shadow, Devon, "not Julie" on Sleipnir, a Markland guy there for the day (good friend and good guy but not part of the show), young boy whose Dad did Ren Fair (was part of troupe, but I did not put him in the story), Mjollnir on Trojan, Loth on Brielle, Lef, and a guy who played a wizard at the Ren Fair who was just helping out that one day.

Second row: Paul Jennings, Brodar, Sven, Gobie, Frolf

This photo was from a show we did, but I did not include it in the story. I wanted the story to move right along, and it did not add anything to the plot.


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## AnitaAnne

Very cool picture!! I do believe I might have seen you at a show one time...y'all look very familiar for some reason. Shadow is a real beauty btw and looks super sweet too. What a find!


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## Caledonian

:smile:Really loving your story and photos.


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## GMA100

Caledonian said:


> :smile:Really loving your story and photos.


^^^^^Same!!! Wish I could write such a book on my life one day. Although it wouldn’t be near as interesting as yours!


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## knightrider

In July, with school out, Julie decided it was time to have a celebration of “her” students learning to ride. From 4-H, she had had experience with putting on gymkhanas, or games on horseback. Julie thought of some amusing games the novice riders could play that would be safe for them and good training for the horses. She borrowed a ribbon catalog from Rienna’s horse club and ordered ribbons. She got together all the necessary props and invited everyone she thought would like to come.

At 4:00 that afternoon, she, Carla, Paul Jennings, and Lef set out on horseback for the Horse Party, which she had scheduled in the horse club riding arena.

The first game was Cowboys and Indians, a game Julie had frequently played on Brielle when she was growing up. She had told the squires to bring their water guns and had an arsenal of squeeze bottles in Devon’s car, which he was driving over with all the props.
As they arrived at the horse arena, Jennings, on Shadow, began to canter. Shadow shied at some guinea hens in the field next door, and Jennings went off with a plop.

“Are you O.K.?” people asked, pressing forward. Shadow nonchalantly munched the grass nearby.

“Oh, I guess so,” he said with disgust. “But that horse is a mess.”

Julie rode Brielle over to catch Shadow, as no one else had thought to do it.

“What do you mean?” she asked him.

“She’s a crummy horse. If I had a crop, I’d hit her good.”

“It wasn’t her fault!” Julie exclaimed. “You fell off.” She picked up Shadow’s reins and realized one rein was broken. Shadow must have stepped on it while eating grass. She could mend it, she had a leather stitcher, but she felt annoyed that everyone had gathered around Paul and left Shadow to break her rein. She tied the rein back onto the bit.

“She’s a little feistier than what you’re used to,” Julie said to Paul. “How about if Carla rides her for this game?”

“Sure, fine. I’d rather ride Trojan anyway.”

The game was lots of fun as the Skraelings had plenty of imagination. The cowboys formed a knot in an upper corner while the Indians pow-wowed below. Soon the Indians advanced in attack as the cowboys circled on their horses to cut them off from the back. People on foot and on horses were shooting water and laughing.

Julie looked up from her barrage of waterfire to see Carla disappearing towards home on Shadow bolting out of control. She didn’t worry much. Shadow was obedient and easy to stop, and Carla was a decent rider; she had ridden Shadow frequently without any problems. The water and the Indians’ howls must have scared Shadow, but no doubt, Carla would get her under control quickly.
It took longer than Julie thought it should, but at last Carla brought Shadow back to where the cowboys and Indians were playing. Carla was thoroughly rattled.

“She’s acting crazy. I can’t do anything with her,” Carla cried.

“Why don’t you ride her inside the arena then, away from the action, until she calms down?”

Julie turned back to the game, joining in the general melee. After the cowboys defeated the Indians and everyone was out of water, she heard a shout and saw Carla cantering rapidly around the riding ring.

As Julie approached the enclosed ring, she saw Shadow increasing her speed.

How strange, Julie thought. I would certainly think Carla could stop that horse in a ring. Shadow is so sweet and obedient.
When Julie ducked under the fence into the ring, she realized that Carla was terrified and totally out of control. Shadow bolted wildly around as Carla bounced tensely, the reins useless in her wooden hands.

Still, Julie could not believe Carla was in trouble. After all, Shadow was only galloping, a slight touch of the rein could stop her. The horse would probably soon tire and stop on her own. Carla was a good enough rider to stay on until then. But Carla’s fear incapacitated her and panicked the young mare more. Julie could see Carla was losing her balance and flopping further and further to the left. Unwilling to relinquish her death-grip on the pommel when she rolled off, she pulled the saddle off to the side.
Shadow’s terror reached a new level with the sideways saddle banging her flanks at every stride. She slammed into fenceposts trying to rid herself of the slapping menace.

Julie sighed with relief as a latigo broke. Now the saddle will fall, she thought, and I can catch my horse. But a McClellan has four latigoes and the other three held firmly as the saddle swung under Shadow’s belly.

After four more fence crashing circles around the arena, another latigo broke to drag the saddle behind Shadow as she kicked it violently. Finally, the last two latigoes let go, and free from the terror jolting behind her, Shadow stopped, her sides heaving, sweat dripping in pools beside each hoof. The Skraelings had run to help Carla when she fell, but Julie had riveted her attention on Shadow. When Shadow stopped, Julie retrieved the exhausted horse and picked up the filthy saddle from the dirt.

“That horse is a disaster,” Paul Jennings snarled. “You had no business letting Carla ride her.”

Julie turned away, plopping the misshaped mass of leather on the fence rail to see what could be salvaged. The saddle blanket was shredded. The saddle leather was broken in six places. The metal piece on her other rein was broken. Shadow was trembling and exhausted. A hind foot was lacerated and trickling blood.

“What a stupid horse,” she heard Carla saying to her friends.

“Never make a jousting horse.”

“You can’t even ride it.”

“Worthless little thing.”

Julie fought her rage as she led Shadow away. She’s young! She’s just a baby! Carla told me she could ride. I believed her! Julie opened the water can Devon had brought to fill the water guns and began to sponge Shadow as the rest of the group clustered around Carla.

Brodar’s saddle ruined, Shadow injured, possibly lamed with running fifteen times around the ring, my reins broken—nine dollars to buy new ones, and I guess I will have to buy new ones because the hardware broke this time and is lost somewhere in the ring. Brodar’s blanket ruined. And not one word of apology from Carla. Well, I suppose she’s mad because I’m not all goo-goo over her because she fell off. Big deal. She fell off. I’ve fallen off a hundred times. When I fall off, I catch my horse and make sure it’s all right. And I’ve never fallen off simply because a horse was galloping.

As Julie walked Shadow in circles to cool her, Brodar arrived with his car, and Mjollnir told him what happened.

“You should have seen it!” Mjollnir gesticulated. “That horse was berserk. I’ll never ride it again.”

“Shadow?” Brodar said, incredulous. “She’s easy to stop. Why didn’t Carla just stop her?”

“The horse was crazy. It’ll never make a jousting horse.”

“Awwww.” Brodar walked over to Julie. “How’s Shadow?”

Julie wanted to hug him. He was the only person who had asked about Shadow, who had come to talk to her. He hadn’t rushed to see how Carla was (he had done his share of falling off, too), he had come to Julie. She felt better that somebody cared and understood.

“I think she’s O.K. Her back foot is cut, and she may be lame from all that running. It’s your saddle that may not recover. Look at it.” Julie motioned towards the fence. Brodar returned with a long face.

“It’s dead, Jim.”

“We can’t use it today. It’ll take a lot of repairs to fix it.”

“If we can fix it at all.”

Rienna drove up in her car. “What’s up?”

They told her what had happened.

“I have a saddle in my trunk you can use.”

“Oh, could we?” Julie brightened. “Oh, thanks so much.”

“Only Rienna and Brodar and I will be riding Shadow from now on, “she asserted as she tacked up the mare.

“Who would want to ride her?” quipped Frolf. “We’re not the suicide squad.”

The sweating mare still needed to be walked so Julie promptly swung up on Shadow and led the popcorn chase. In the popcorn chase, one group left a trail of popcorn while the other group tried to follow it and catch them. Shadow walked and trotted along as if nothing had happened, swiveling her delicate ears at each sound and swinging her tail merrily.

When they got back from the popcorn chase, a horse trailer was in the field. A girl named Andrea, whom Julie hardly knew, had come with her horse, Strider.

Andrea was a stunning blue eyed blonde. “Seventeen going on 44,” Julie’s father would have said. She acted very sophisticated, a princess who enjoyed her many accolades. She was vivacious and friendly to everyone, though Julie noticed she wasn’t a particularly good rider. Julie had learned a lot today about people who owned horses but didn’t ride so well.

Julie tried to forget the ugly incident with Shadow and enjoy the horse party. She passed out sodas, carrots, and pretzels as everyone was hungry and thirsty after the popcorn chase.

Then they began the games. Julie had been playing gymkhana games on horseback since she was seven. She was sure everyone would enjoy them.

They did enjoy them very much, games like racing to a barrel and chugging a Coke, then racing back. And saddling your horse blindfolded. Rienna didn’t seem to want to play the games, Brodar was too busy socializing, especially with Andrea, and Julie was too busy rushing back and forth, pouring Coke, setting up starting cones, or running the stopwatch, so Gobie stood holding Shadow on the sidelines as the others rode Brielle, Sleipnir, Trojan, and Strider.

“Come, Gobie, don’t you want to play? You can ride Brielle,” Julie would invite as she hurried past.

“Naw, I can’t ride well enough for this.”

“Please, Rienna, won’t you ride Shadow in this?” Julie begged.

“No, I’d really rather just watch.”

What Julie hadn’t figured on was the competitiveness of the group.

As Mjollnir began to win every game on Trojan, all the participants clamored to ride him. After the first few games, Trojan was the only horse being ridden, with Andrea and a few good-natured squires like Frolf riding Strider. No one would ride Brielle or Sleipnir, much less Shadow.

“All horses to be used in this next game,” Julie cried, swallowing her hurt feelings. “Find a horse and take a cup of water. Whoever has the most water at the end of the ride wins.”

A tall Nordic blonde named Sherry sniffed. “I can’t possibly win this if I have to ride Brielle,” she said scornfully.

Julie’s eyes blazed. “I have won this game, and every other game here on Brielle!”

“Well,” Sherry took the reins disdainfully. “She’s so rough, I don’t know how you did it.”

“Brielle’s not rough!” Julie exclaimed to Brodar as they measured and poured the water.

“I know. Trojan won’t win this one,” he replied.

“Rienna, won’t you please ride Shadow in this? It will be good practice for her. Please?”

“Oh, all right, but I didn’t bring clothes for riding.”

“Who cares?”

Julie was pleased when Brodar on Sleipnir won first and Shadow won second in the water ride. Her two babies had distinguished themselves. Sherry had gotten disgusted halfway through the ride and poured her water out.

Even though her youngsters had won, the fun was gone for Julie. She watched as people vied to ride Trojan for the rest of the games.

The last game of the evening was thread reins. “They’re not really threads,” Julie explained, “just thin yarn. Whoever can ride the longest using just the thin yarn wins.”

“I’ll ride Shadow,” Brodar jumped up, taking the first piece of yarn Julie cut. Their eyes met, and Julie was grateful for Brodar’s vote of confidence.

“You’re going to ride Shadow in this?” Mjollnir exclaimed. “You are absolutely crazy! That horse will bolt and throw you. She can’t be stopped.”

“I think she can.”

“You weren’t here. You didn’t see it. Don’t do it, Brodar.”

“We’ll see.”

The five riders walked, trotted, and cantered their horses. The fiery Trojan broke his yarn as soon as Julie called ‘trot,’ but Shadow went on and on, cantering lightly around the ring along with Brielle. At ‘halt!’, Brielle’s rider broke her yarn and Shadow was declared the winner.

“She’s really easy to stop,” Brodar said to Mjollnir.

Mjollnir shook his head in amazement.

It was quite dark by the time they rode the horses back through the woods home. After the horses were put away, the Skraelings stayed until 12:30, joking and partying, while Julie sat in the background feeling sad.

They don’t know any better, she told herself. They know nothing about horses. They think riding a horse is like driving a car. You step on the gas, it goes; you push on the brakes, it stops, and if it doesn’t stop, it’s a defective car. They don’t understand about loving a horse, how cruel it is to say Brielle’s no good. They wanted to ride Trojan because he loves to run, and he’s more fun for them. They don’t understand how long it takes to be a good rider. They think they’re good riders because they can canter. They think they know horses because they come riding once a week.


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## knightrider

Here is "Uncle Wes", who was actually my best friend's husband and knew next to nothing about horses. He was a terrific help, though, and invaluable to us doing the show. The girl next to him on Trojan I called "Lisa", the best friend du jour of "Andrea." The other two riders were ??? Some of the many hangers on who thought they should be given a chance to ride. Brielle soon grew tired of so many beginners and started to "not go" when novices climbed on her.


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## gottatrot

> Julie had learned a lot today about people who owned horses but didn’t ride so well.


I'm quite sympathetic to Julie's perspective of things.


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## knightrider

The next morning, Julie’s mother had a talk with her.

“All these people coming every week and staying so late,” her mom complained. “Your father had to go to work today, even if you didn’t. You keep us awake, you know, staying up so late. I’ve had enough.”

Me too! Julie wanted to say, but she didn’t. “Sorry, Mom. I was afraid they were bothering you.”

“They eat up all our food and drink up all our sodas. At first, I was glad you were making so many new friends, but they take up all your time. And you don’t look like you’re really enjoying it.”

“Well, I didn’t last night.” And Julie told her mother some of the things that went wrong. “But, Mom, this was the last night. They won’t be coming over any more. This was the end of their riding lessons and that’s why I had the horse party—sort of a celebration for them learning to ride. Next week Richard Orehick, the guy who does the Ren Fair, is coming to our practice. We’ll start really putting the show together.”

Her mother sighed. “O.K., Julie.”

On Friday morning Brodar called Julie. “I won’t be coming out to ride after all,” he explained. “I’m taking Celia to a concert tonight and I have to go pick up the tickets. Then I’m going to take a nap before I pick her up.”

“Oh,” Julie said softly.

“What’s the matter?”

Julie imagined the unknown Celia. Probably had blood red fingernails a half inch long, golden complexion, and auburn hair. Probably created custom picture frames or designed bathrooms. “Nothing,” she answered. “Have a good time.”

“O.K. See you later.”

“Right. See ya.”

Julie hung up the phone and felt like crying. Suddenly she wanted to lie down on the floor and bawl. She wished she had never met Brodar, never gotten involved with the jousting show, never met the Skraelings, or any of the squires. She was stuck now, with four horses in her back-yard when there should have been one. Her summers had been so fun and pleasant in years past. This was a nightmare, and she wanted out of it.

For Julie, the best cure for a heart-ache was a long ride, so she saddled Brielle and headed for the woods.

If I want out of it, I can get out, she thought. No one is making me do this. Mjollnir and Brodar don’t like Shadow and I know three people right now who would buy her, especially if I didn’t try to make much money on her. Brodar can board Sleipnir in Crownsville or Columbia, wherever he wants. Trojan? I don’t know what to do about Trojan. I guess he can stay here. But I’m getting out. Brodar can just find someone else to shovel his manure, carry the water buckets, mend the trappings, and clean the saddles. Perhaps Carla wouldn’t mind mussing her hair to do it. Brodar will be glad Shadow is sold. He doesn’t want her anyway.

Julie wanted to pick up the phone and arrange for Shadow’s sale as soon as she got back from the ride. She had some neighbors who were anxious to buy Shadow. They were almost as excited about her as Julie was. Julie assumed they’d probably buy her when the Ren Fair ended, but they’d told her twice they’d buy her as soon as they could.

Then she realized it wouldn’t be fair to Brodar to just sell the mare without even consulting him. Shadow was supposed to be Mjollnir’s horse, though Julie knew he didn’t really like her.

She called Brodar instead.

“Hello, Brodar? This is Julie. I’ve decided to sell Shadow and I thought I’d let you know.”

“Sell Shadow? What are you talking about?”

“I don’t want to do the Ren Fair any more. I’m going to sell Shadow to the Goodriches and you’re going to have to find a place for Sleipnir to board.”

“What do you mean you don’t want to do Ren Fair?”

“I don’t like it. It’s not fun.”

“Just yesterday you were all enthused. It’s because I cancelled our ride to get the concert tickets, isn’t it?”

“No, it isn’t. I just am sick of the whole thing. I do all the work, and nobody does a thing for me. Nobody takes me anywhere or buys me anything, or even says, ‘Thanks, Bjarki.’ It’s not fun and I’m tired of it. I don’t want to face one more day of shoveling all that horse poop.”

“Ah ha. You’re jealous because I’m going out with Celia.”

“No, I’m not. I just wish I could call you up and say, ‘Sorry Brodar, I’m busy, I’m tired, I’m not taking care of the horses today.’ I am busy and tired. I’m tired of this whole thing consuming my life. I’ve had enough.”

“Hey, Julie, hey, I’m sorry,” Bodar said remorsefully. “You’re right. I haven’t helped with the horses all week, have I?”

“No, you haven’t,” Julie snuffled.

“Well, I’ll tell you what. I am going to cancel my date and come right out and shovel that horse poop and go for a ride.”

“No, don’t, Brodar.” Julie felt panicky. She hadn’t meant to manipulate him. Now he’d resent her for spoiling his plans.

“Yes, I will. Furthermore, I am going to hitch my trailer and take Brielle and Trojan to ride somewhere fun, anywhere you want to go.”

“I’ve already been riding, Brodar, and I have to help Mom paint the porch.”

“Well, you’re going again. I’ll be right over.” He hung up.

Julie felt confused and frightened. Brodar was acting like her being in the show was really important. No, not her being in the show—that she, herself, was important to him. That her feelings were important. He had cancelled his date with sex-pot Celia to take her in the trailer! Could Brodar really care about her that much? Why? Or was it that he was scared he would stop receiving all the free services Julie was doing for him? No, he seemed more concerned with her than worried about what she would or wouldn’t do.

He arrived twenty minutes later and set straight to hitching up the trailer.

“Brodar, I feel so selfish,” Julie stood beside him as he fastened the trailer ball. “Don’t give up your Celia just because I want out of the show.”

“Celia’s not important. It’s just a stupid date. I probably wouldn’t have fun anyway. I’ll have more fun going for a ride. And you’re right. You’ve done way too much work. You got us two good horses and trained them, put everything together, even wrote two scripts. I haven’t been fair to put all that on you. So . . . where do you want to go?”

“I want you to go to the concert with Celia.”

“Too late. I already got Tom to take her.”

“Oh, Brodar, I feel so awful.” She buried her face in his shoulder and he held her for a moment. “Why don’t you just let me drop out? It’s so simple. I wasn’t in it before you met me.”

“It wasn’t a show before I met you. Now it is, and you are a part of it. It just wouldn’t be our show if you weren’t in it. I know I let a lot of the burden fall on you and that was wrong. I’m going to pull my own weight more from now on, you’ll see. Now, where do you want to ride?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess . . . When I was young, and Uncle Wes had a horse and trailer, sometimes he’d take me and Brielle to Greenbelt Park to ride. They have wonderful trails there. It would be nice to go back.”

“I used to play Lord of the Rings games there when I was in college. I’ve never ridden a horse there. Let’s go.”

The ride was delightful. Brodar made up things Trojan was saying. “He says his girth is too tight and I should loosen it.”

They laughed at his silly puns. “Did you know my horse is sphereless?”

“Oh, I know. Trojan’s not afraid of anything.”

“No. He’s sphereless. They cut ‘em off!”

“Sphereless. Oh, Brodar.”

“And Sleipnir is a knightmare.”

“A nightmare?”

“Yes, a mare the knights ride!”

“We’re the merry band from Maryland,” he joked. “Now, I’m going to teach you a song. Don’t worry, it’s clean.”

Julie was happy again. Brodar was so much fun. Poor Celia. She lost out.

As they were riding back to the trailer, Brodar got serious. “I don’t want you making any plans to sell Shadow.”

“But you don’t like her.”

“I like her fine. She’s not working out that well for our jousting act, but she’s a wonderful horse.”

“But Brodar, she is working out for the jousting show. She’s doing great! I don’t understand why you say she is not working out. Sleipnir is still bucking when we try to canter her down the list. Paul Jennings can’t even get her to canter.”

“What did Shadow do when Mjollnir tried to practice falls off her last Saturday?”

“Well, I know. She panicked. But she always panics every time you do something new with her. Remember how awful she was the first time I tried to carry a lance with her? Now she never bats an eye. But the day I picked up a cudgel instead of a lance, she panicked as if she had never seen a stick. In just ten minutes, she was used to the cudgel the same as the lance.”

“Can you catch a flag on her, or lance a favor in the air?”

“No, but she runs straight and true down the list when you have a lance, better than Sleipnir or Brielle. Sleipnir just won’t go at all, and Brielle turns around and runs away. I’ve spent most of my efforts teaching her to joust, and that’s what she does. It bothers me when you say she doesn’t joust well.”

“Well, all right, she jousts pretty well. But Mjollnir doesn’t trust her.”

“I know. I wish he liked her better. You know I was reading in my horse magazine about horses that go sour, like Brielle. There’s this exercise called the fartlek tradition from Sweden. I understand it is supposed to help a horse that is sour. It consists of some galloping and jumping interlaced with walking and trotting. I forget how many minutes of each you do, but I thought if I try it, it might bring Brielle back to her sweet self.”

“Well, maybe not quite sweet, but Swedish.”

“Oh, Brodar, you crazy guy.”

“Ha.”

When they returned to the house, Julie grew tongue-tied. “Brodar, I really feel funny that you canceled your date to go riding. I mean, I really loved it, but I’m not sure why you did it.”

“I did what I wanted to do.”

“But you had this big exciting date.”

“Yes, I did. I had a wonderful time, Julie. Thank you so much.”

Julie laughed. “You are so funny.”

“Good. I’m glad you like me. Now, I’d better go, and I’ll see you soon, O.K.?”

“Right. Thank you for everything.”


----------



## knightrider

Chapter 6

On Monday, Richard Orehick came to their rehearsal. Julie had tried to have everything ready for his arrival, but when he drove up in his red Chevy Luv truck, the squires were still stringing the list, only two horses were saddled, and half the equipment still needed to be driven to the practice site.

“Hello,” he said cheerfully when he saw Julie. “I’m Richard Orehick. You must be Julie, that Brodar has told me about.”

“Yes, pleased to meet you,” she said shyly. Richard was much younger than Julie had imagined and strikingly good looking, with strong gray eyes, brown hair, an elegant beard, and mustache. He only looked about 25 himself. How could he be manager of the Renaissance Festival? Furthermore, she soon decided, he was wonderfully nice. He chatted with her briefly about horses and riding, making her feel as if she were quite important, then helped the squires load the equipment into his truck and drove to the clearing in the woods.

In Julie’s opinion, their first practice with Richard was a disaster. Squires missed their cues, didn’t have equipment ready, fought clumsily, and rode badly. The horses were worse. Brielle wouldn’t ride down the list, even for the games. Sleipnir refused even to walk when Paul Jennings, as king of the brigands, rode in for the attack. Shadow lurched and careened down the list in a wild frenzy. Julie was the only one who could control her at all, and even she was riding half out of control most of the time. Trojan was Trojan—racing with mad abandon down the list each time he was pointed at it. Julie was sure Richard would wash his hands of the whole thing after this rehearsal. When it was over, they questioned him at length.

“What needs the most work,” he told them, “is the fighting scenes. They’re sloppy, and at times, dangerous. Swings like this,” he demonstrated, “and this, we can’t have that. These gaps where one man fights another man, and the others simply wait and watch—looks bad, and it’s not believable.

“Have all your equipment ready exactly in the same place each time, and you need someone who will oversee having all the props ready. And make a list of props.”

“We have that.” Julie pulled out a paper from her pocket.

“Then be sure someone is using it. You don’t want to start into a scene and realize you have no dagger.”

“We need to block out where people will stand and at what place they will come in,” Devon added.

“No, blocking doesn’t come yet. We will do that at the Festival site. What we need here is more precision. Do the show exactly the same way, several times, so that everyone knows exactly what everyone else will be doing.”

“But we never have the same people at practice. Like, this is Fred’s second time ever practicing with us, and we don’t have his fighting style down yet.”

Richard sighed in exasperation but remained pleasant.

“No more different people. And you people who are coming, you need to make a commitment to come every time. You know when the practices are, don’t you?”

Everyone nodded.

“Then make every effort to be there. We have only three more practices before the Festival, and we have to put this show together by then.”

“Now, the good things. I like the energy in this group. You can sense it, and the audience will notice that. You have a lot of good ideas. Brodar and Mjollnir fight well, so utilize that more than you are. Less on the dialogue, more on the action. Basically, a pretty good practice. I need to go now, but I’ll see you here next week. Oh, one more thing. If you say practice is at 6:00, then start it at 6:00, not at 6:30 or 7:00. Your time is worth more than that, and my time is worth more than that. So, state your starting time and stick with it. It’s a good habit to get into before the Festival, because you will need to start precisely on time there to meet your schedule.”

“That means we’ll have to tack up the horses starting at 5:00,” Julie muttered.

“Then you tack up the horses at 5:00. Great, see you next week, starting at 6:00, right?”

“Right, thanks a lot, Richard. See you next week.”

After Richard had left, they practiced a few more fighting drills and skills Julie wanted Shadow to learn. She was sure Shadow could learn to handle everything in the show, if she just had time to teach her. But there was so much yet the mare needed to learn. Neither Shadow nor Sleipnir neck reined suitably and, of course, Shadow still had trouble with flags. Julie hadn’t had much time to work with her properly.

After practice, everyone sat in Julie’s living room with character sheets to fill out. Their group name was the Knights of the Nearly Round Table, but they all had to think of character names and personalities. For some, it was easy—they just used their Markland names. Julie called herself Lady Bjarki. She wrote that she was shy around people but tough with horses, that she liked adventures, but tended to get in trouble. That fit in with the stories they were acting out.

Julie had just about finished hers when Gobie hunkered down next to her. “Say, Julie, like how do you spell ‘queen’?”

She was surprised that he would ask but spelled it for him quietly.

“How do you spell ‘squire’?”

“S-q-u-i” she spelled.

“Wait a minute,” he said, “S-q-, what?”

She looked at his paper. She could see in a minute he couldn’t write. It was a curious hodge-podge of capital and lower-case letters, and totally illegible.

“Here, I’ll write it.” She wrote ‘squire’ on the back of an empty character sheet.

“What do you think I should write for this— ‘How do you feel about the nobility?’”

“Those are people like the dukes and members of court.”

“Yeah, I know, but I don’t know what to put.”

“Well, you’re a squire, right? So I guess you are halfway nobility, or the son of nobility, or something.”

“Then I like them fine, I guess.”

“I guess.”

“How do you spell, ‘I like them fine’?”

Julie wrote out the rest of his answers, touched, that of all the people in the room he could have asked, he had come to her. She wondered how many of the others knew he couldn’t read or write. How odd, for he talked so intelligently. She liked him even more for his courage.

The next few practices steadily improved, and Julie worked every day teaching the young mares the necessary skills. Shadow could neck rein fairly well but forgot everything when she got excited. She always got excited when they were sword fighting or jousting. Sleipnir could be heaved around with some effort. She no longer bucked as she cantered down the list, but she needed to be ridden with a crop. No knight could carry a crop when he had a shield, lance, or sword. Julie hoped that Sleipnir would come around in the next few practices.

The last Monday before the Ren Fair, Julie and Brodar made two trailer trips to carry all four horses to the Festival site. From that day on, Shadow and Sleipnir would live at the site, in stalls that Richard had agreed the management would provide for them.

When they arrived with the two mares, there were no stalls built, only the stalls from Chris’s last year’s jousting group. They put Shadow and Sleipnir in Chris’s stalls and went to find Richard.

“You said there would be stalls built for us, and there are not,” Brodar said when they found Richard.

“Where is Zack, anyway? He said they’d be ready for you today. Gosh, I’m really sorry. You can keep them in Chris’s stalls until yours are built.”

“That’s five stalls, right? That was the agreement in our contract.”

“Well, see, that’s a problem. Zack was only planning to build four. I couldn’t see why you would need a fifth stall anyway.”

“For storing our armor and weapons and props. And for extra horses to stay in. We have some friends who want to come in for just one or two days.”

“I don’t want any outside horses in the show. We need to stick with just what we’ve got and not add any more things to confuse the show. You all can build some storage bin with the scrap lumber over there, can’t you? You can have all that scrap to build with.”

“What if Chris comes in from New York and finds our horses in his stalls?”

“I’ll take care of that. It’ll be all right.”

As Richard walked away, Julie looked at Brodar doubtfully. “I sure don’t like leaving them in someone else’s stalls. If I were Chris, I wouldn’t want to be driving in late at night and discover two strange horses in my stalls and nowhere to put my horses.”

“It’s not a good way to get off to a good start with Chris, that’s for sure. I’m plenty worried about how he’ll take to us being here anyway. He’s the professional jouster and been doing this festival for the last six years. I’m worried that he’ll see us as interlopers. I hope we can get along with him and his group.”

“Mjollnir was worried about that too. He went up to New York to see Chris’s show, and told me Chris wasn’t terribly friendly.”

“Yes, he told me that too.”

“Well, shall we find someone to feed the mares or go get Brielle and Trojan?”

“Let’s find someone to feed. I’ll feel better when I know that’s taken care of.”

Brodar had several friends from last year working at the fair. He first asked all of them if they would feed and look out for the two horses, but none of them could. At last they were referred to Kitty, a glass worker who was selling handicrafts at the fair.

Brodar and Julie picked their way through mud puddles to Kitty’s truck. At first glance, all they could see was a very sturdy woman’s behind rummaging around in the truck.

“Kitty?” Julie said hesitantly.

The behind backed up to reveal a robust redhead dressed in a stained peasant skirt and ragged tank top.
“That’s me,” she said cheerfully.

“I understand you like animals,” Brodar began, “and we wondered if you would like to take care of our horses, feed ‘em and all, for a few days or a week.”

“Horses. I don’t know anything about horses.” She stopped smiling.

“It would only be for a couple of days until we find someone else,” Brodar urged.

“Gee, I don’t know.”

“That girl over there said you like animals. That you had a ferret or something,” Julie fumbled.

“Well, yes, I do like animals.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Don’t have no ferret or nothin’. She must be thinking of Elliot’s ferret. But, I’ll tell you what. Looks like you’re in a jam, so I’ll help you out. Yeah. Horses. What all would I have to do?”

“Our stalls are over there. We’ll show you the feed and all. We’ll be back every few days. And if it doesn’t work out, if it’s too much trouble, or you don’t like it, you can let us know.”

They showed Kitty what to do, and with thanks and a wave, walked back to the trailer.

“Sure doesn’t look good, does it?” Julie said mournfully. “I had thought sure we’d find some girl who would give her eye teeth to take care of them.”

“Kitty doesn’t seem very enthusiastic, does she?”

“And we don’t know her at all. Suppose she gets drunk or something?”

“Hey, Shadow and Sleipnir are tough. They can live with a little adversity. Look where they came from! Sleipnir would be dead right now if it hadn’t been for us. And Shadow certainly had her share of short rations. They’ll be all right. Don’t worry, O.K.?”

Julie sighed. “Right.”


----------



## knightrider

Practice went well at the site. The squires were finally starting to pay attention, except when Andrea or Sheila or Carla would jump on someone’s back or tickle them, or giggle, or shout out some silly joke. The squires enjoyed it; Julie supposed the girlfriends made it fun for them. But they were a royal pain in the neck to her. They asked for drinks of water when she had tack to change or horses to train. Or they asked to ride when it was someone else’s turn. They hung about getting in the way, asking for favors, and doing little to help.

After practice that evening, Andrea approached Brodar with an earnest face. “You said if I came faithfully to practice and worked hard, I could be a squire. I have worked hard, and I really hope you’ll let me be a squire.”

“What do you think, Bjar?” Brodar turned to Julie.

“Oh yes, Andrea helps tack up the horses and brush them. She spread fertilizer on the pasture for an hour last week and helped cut the weeds the week before. She really has worked hard. But, well, we kinda promised that you had to be working in the show since March before you could really be in it. So it really wouldn’t be fair . . . “

Andrea explained, “Well, I don’t really have to be in the show, you see, I just want to come and work.”

Brodar laughed. “Sure, anyone is allowed to come and work.”

“That’s all I want! Oh, thank you, thank you so much!” She gave Brodar a quick hug.

“She has a thing for Lef,” Brodar remarked as she danced away.

“I know,” Julie answered. “I noticed.”

“Well, she’s really pretty. She would certainly add something if she were a damsel in the show. She could ride Shadow when I fall off.”

“Yes, she could.”

“She is a hard worker, and she is really nice.”

“She’s nice to everyone, no matter who you are.”

“But it isn’t really fair to people like Carla and Jenny who have been coming since January.”

“Carla doesn’t do any work.”

“I know, but she won’t see it that way. She’ll just notice that Andrea got in the show and she didn’t. Paul Jennings already told me several times that Carla would like to be in the show. I said we didn’t really have a role for her.”

“Yeah, he asked me too.”

“You know she’ll feel bad if Andrea gets to ride a horse in the show and she doesn’t.”

“So, she’ll just have to feel bad, won’t she?”

“I guess so.”

“Richard Orehick seems to like us,” Brodar changed the subject.

“Yes, practice went well, didn’t it?”

“It’s a lot easier with space to set out our props, knowing where everything is all the time.”

“Richard was right when he said we shouldn’t make any changes in the script. We’re finally pulling it together.”

“I just wish Sleipnir would neck rein.”

“And I wish Shadow wouldn’t bolt down the list.”

“Look at the Skraelings—they’re wound up tonight.”

“Oooh baby!” Frolf stuck his face into Brodar’s face.

Richard Orehick’s long-haired secretary Terry waved as she walked past.

“Yow-wee!” Jennings shouted. “I dig red shorts.”

“I dig tank tops,” Gobie gestured towards a pretty blonde painting a sign.

“Looong leeegs,” Loth said, accentuating the vowels.

“What do you do w’ them long legs?” Frolf growled.

“Drown myself in ‘em!”

“Ooooh baby!”

The Skraelings did flips off the horse stalls and hacked two sawhorses with their swords until they were misshapen masses of wood. Then Sven jumped on Frolf’s back and Gobie jumped on Lef’s back and they jousted at one another with a broom and a pitchfork. Frolf bolted out of control and threw Sven into a mud puddle, but Sven caught his restive steed, with the help of Carla and Sherry, who cornered him. Sven remounted, but Jennings ended the joust with his attack wheelbarrow. He wheeled the barrow right and left, screaming like a buzz bomb until “horses” and riders were scattered all over the list. Julie laughed so hard her stomach hurt. Those Skraelings were a stitch.

When everyone took a breath from laughing, Gobie suggested they all go out for pizza, so Julie and Brodar loaded Brielle and Trojan, took the horses home, and drove to the pizza place to meet them.

The restaurant was noisy and crowded with teenagers, and the Skraelings, as usual, let everyone know they were there. They began acting out a scene of a rejection of a guy and his girl, only the couple was Frolf, with a napkin on his head, and Jennings.

“Take this pizza. I bought it for you. You may as well eat it,” Jennings said indignantly.

“I wouldn’t eat pizza you bought if it was the last morsel of food left on earth.” Frolf made his voice pitched high like a girl’s.

“I think it is! I hear the atomic blast now! Look! Over there!” Jennings motioned and the strangers in the pizza shop looked too.

Frolf wrinkled his nose. “I hate it when that happens.”

Everyone cracked up. The Skraelings have such talent, Julie thought. Too bad they don’t use it to make our show better. They are so funny when they are not supposed to be.

After the pizza they all decided to go to a movie at the University. The movie was a silly James Bond, but Julie was sure that going to a movie with Skraelings would be fun.

When they filed into their seats, Julie was pleased that she was sitting next to Gobie. Of course, it would be nicer if she could be with Brodar, but he was next to Andrea and another girl named Lisa who was Andrea’s current friend. He probably engineered that, Julie thought. Lef was on the other side of Andrea, and they were holding hands.

The movie started and Gobie put his arm over the back of Julie’s seat. At a movie with a boy! She daydreamed, feeling Gobie’s strong arm gentle against her neck. Maybe he likes me some. Maybe he will ask me out. She wished he would take her hand like Lef took Andrea’s. Halfway through the movie, her daydream turned to chagrin as she noticed Gobie also had his arm around Carla on the other side. How silly I was, she chided herself angrily. Gobie doesn’t like me. He probably wishes he were next to Sherry, and he’s making the best of a bad situation. The fun of the movie was gone for Julie. She sat through the rest of it longing for it to be over. Brodar likes Andrea. So does Lef. Jennings has Carla, everybody likes Jenny, and no one is for me. She realized as soon as she thought it, that it wasn’t true. No one was with Sherry or Lisa or Jenny or Tanya. But they all had had dates with the squires. Even Jenny went out with Frolf from time to time. Nobody ever asked Julie out. It was as if they didn’t consider her a girl. It was awful.

Julie tossed and turned all night that night. She had nightmares about the two mares, that they had gotten out, that Chris had arrived and turned them loose, that Kitty had not fed them, that people were mad at her about the horses, but she couldn’t understand why. She dreamed about the squires, and about Brodar, and all the dreams were awful.

The next morning, she called Brodar at his work. “I want to go out to the site,” she said. “I can’t stop worrying about the horses.”

“We’re already going tomorrow for the dress rehearsal. They’ll be all right until tomorrow.”

“They probably will, but I won’t. I’m going this afternoon when my mom comes home with the car unless you want to go.”

“I don’t really want to go. I’ve got a lot to do at home.”

“O.K. I’m going.”

“You don’t need to.”

“I’m worried, and I can’t get anything done around here. I know all these trips to the site are a waste, but this time, I’ve got to do this, or I’ll go crazy.”

“O.K.,” Brodar said, “I’ll call you at two when I get home from work. Just to let you know if I’m going or not.”

“You don’t need to go.”

“I know, but we’re in this together. I may as well go.”

“O.K., but you don’t have to.”

“We need to build that storage bin anyway. Maybe I’ll bring some tools and we can build that. I’ll call you and let you know.”

At two o’clock, Bodar drove up in his station wagon, “I decided to go. Come on,” he said.

Julie jumped in and they discussed the show as they drove to the site.

Then, sensing his kindly trust, she poured out her feelings about Gobie and the Skraelings at the movies.

“I don’t know, Bjar,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe they consider you too young.”

“I am the same age as Andrea, and Lisa, and Elena too.”

“Elena?”

“Remember, she’s that girl who showed up at the Markland event and hung around, and all the guys went ga-ga over her?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, maybe they consider you too competent or something. You are the horse expert—their teacher. You broke Shadow and trained Sleipnir.”

“They see you as competent too. You helped.”

“They don’t ask me out either.”

They drove in silence for a few miles. Then Brodar said, “Gobie, huh? You go for Gobie?”

Julie wanted to say, I go for you, but she was afraid. “I go for anyone who would be interested in me. I thought maybe Gobie was. He was nice to me and talked to me about things and all.”

“Gobie, huh? Grrrrr,” Brodar said softly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Why the grrrrr?”

“Oh, I just hope ol’ Gobe doesn’t do something stupid. You are a very special person, very sweet and precious. I hope he doesn’t . . . I don’t know.” There was a long pause. “I just would want someone very special for you.”

You are very special, Julie thought, and you are the one for me.


----------



## knightrider

When they arrived at the site, Julie jumped out of the car and hurried to their area. Shadow and Sleipnir were tied on ropes far too long to be safe, to half finished boards and wooden pallets where their stalls would be. They twisted and turned unhappily trying to find relief from the hundreds of flies that plagued them. They had no water, and the water buckets that Julie had left for them in Chris’s stalls were gone. Julie stroked them, brushing away the pesky flies and crooning to them. She felt like crying, they looked so miserable.

“Gosh, I’m glad we came out,” she said to Brodar.

“Chris is here. There’s his truck and trailer.”

“Wow, it’s a big one.”

“Let’s go see him.”

They hurried around the fence to Chris’s side and saw horses everywhere. Chris was busy building a set of new stalls.

“Hi, Chris. How was the drive?” Brodar greeted him.

“Typical. O.K. Hi, Brodar.”

“You got a lot of horses here. How many?”

“Seven. They won’t all stay the whole time of the Festival. Some are going to Kansas City in two weeks.”

“What’s the story on the stalls?”

“Oh, Zack threw together those things this morning, but he doesn’t have any chains for the stall doors, so they’re tied.”

Julie felt like saying, “Don’t you know how to tie a horse? They are lucky they didn’t get their feet over those long ropes and break their necks,” but she remained silent. Chris had a way of keeping people silent. He was as small as a jockey and built like one too. He had blonde hair almost to his waist, deeply tanned, leathery skin, and a cold unsmiling manner, although everything he said was friendly and amiable. Brodar was right when he said Chris was a hard one to read.

“Was it really inconvenient when you came in from New York to find our horses in your stalls?” Julie asked.

“They weren’t in my stalls. They were tied out there.”

So that explains why they were so dangerously tied, Julie thought. “They were out there all night? And all day today?”

“Yep.”

My poor babies! Julie anguished. I only taught them how to stand tied a month ago. It’s a miracle nothing went wrong.

“What do we do for doors to the stalls?” Brodar asked.

A friendly plump brunette sauntered up. “Zack said he was going to get us chains, but God knows when that will be, so Chris went out this morning to buy some. These horses got to have doors on their stalls. See how Chris installed these chains across the opening of the stall? You could get some chains.”

Chris said, “Here’s some rope Zack gave me to use. I won’t use rope because the horses chew right through it. You can cut yourselves off what you need.”

“Are you Brenda?” Julie asked, knowing it must be her. “I’m Julie. I’m helping Brodar with the show.”

“Right, you got it. Now listen, anything you need, just ask us for it. Those poor critters need some bedding. You can borrow some of our sawdust if you want.”

“Thanks,” Julie said, “but I brought some shavings.”

“Where do you buy your hay, by the way? We need some hay real bad.”

“I order mine from Aintree Farm. They deliver it. It’s real good quality hay, what I buy, but they sell all types. You could get the cheap hay if you wanted.”

“Are they local?”

“Sort of. They’re down on Highway 301. I’ll bring you the phone number tomorrow when I come back.”

“Great, thanks.”

Julie and Brodar took the rope and made a network across the openings of the half-built stalls. Julie hurried to untie the miserable mares. “There, you sweet beauties, now you can get at those flies, and rest, and move around, you poor sweet things.” She turned to Brodar. “I’ll get them some water. I’ll try to find our buckets.”

“And I’ll find Zack and see if he will finish these stalls. He still needs to build two more.”

Julie sent back around the fence to ask Brenda about her water buckets. “Do you know where our b-“. She stopped because she noticed her buckets neatly arranged in each of Chris’s horses’ stalls. “Do you need my buckets?” she asked politely.

“Oh, are those yours? They were just left here, so we used them.”

“You can use some of them. I had brought some extras because Shadow drinks so much. But I need four of them.”

“Well, here. Take these four.”

“Yes, I’ll take these, because I paid a lot for them. Those old paint buckets I got for free.”

“Yes, we got lots of those too.”

“Where do you get the water?”

“Come here, I’ll show you.”

Julie’s next job was to find Kitty and ask her what had happened. Kitty was making glass ornaments at a little table next to her truck.

“Hi Kitty, how’s it going?”

“Isn’t Zack just awful to leave those stalls unfinished and tie those horses? I couldn’t believe he did that.” She threw her long fluffy red hair over her shoulder. “But I’ve been checking on them every hour. I’ve been carrying them water every hour because they didn’t have any water buckets.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Kitty. I am feeling better knowing that you tried to take such good care of them. Chris used my water buckets. He didn’t know they were mine. I’ve got them back now, and the horses have water.”

“Well, I’ve enjoyed taking care of the guys. They’re real sweet. I went twice in the night to check on them. I didn’t like the way they were tied. I mean, I don’t know much about horses, but they didn’t look too happy.”

“They weren’t happy, but I know they were a lot happier than they would have been if you hadn’t been so conscientious. Thank you so much. Here, I brought you some fruit: pears and peaches and nectarines. And this pineapple. I didn’t know if you had a big knife to cut it with.”

“I sure do. This is wonderful. Really, it wasn’t all that much trouble to take care of them. I don’t have nothing else to do. It gets boring here, and I like an excuse to take a walk. ‘Got to go see my babies’ I say and walk over and check on them. I never sleep very well at night anyway, so it was nothing to walk over and check on them.”

“Oh, Kitty, I’m so glad we found you.”

“Well, I thought you guys were real weird to come out here and get some total stranger to take care of your horses, but I’m happy I could do it.”

“We didn’t have much choice. The people we thought would do it said they couldn’t. It will only be for another week anyway until I find a teenage girl.”

“Why?”

“Well, I thought you didn’t really want to do it that much.”

“No, I like it. I like walking over there. Checking on my babies.”

“Well, great. Hey, we are planning to pay you, say ten dollars a week?”

“Nah, I don’t want no money. It’s kinda nice, doing it.”

“Then how about if we bring you food, things like you don’t get to eat living out here on the site?”

“Fruit’s nice. Yeah, I like the fruit. Fine, bring fruit if you want to.”

“Oh, I will. You’ve been super, and I feel so much better.”

Julie hurried back to the horse area and found Brodar waiting.

“What’s the word with the stalls?”

“Zack says he’ll finish them tonight. He says he’ll have the second two built by Friday.”

“Boy, I hope so. Want to try to build that storage bin?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

They pulled out some scrap lumber and looked at it. Unfortunately, neither of them had any idea of how to build the bin. Julie couldn’t even visualize how to start. They nailed some boards together but didn’t like what they had done.

“Tell you what. It’s getting dark. Let’s feed the horses and go home. Tomorrow the Skraelings will come out. Paul Asego is coming too, and he can build anything. He’s a whiz at that. They’ll have a much better idea of what to do.”

As they got in the car, Julie said, “I am so glad we came out. It was a disaster here. Those poor horses. If we hadn’t come, they’d have been tied up like that for two days. And it’s starting to rain. Look.”

“I know. It’s awful. Just what we need. More rain.”

“But Kitty is wonderful. We are so lucky we just happened on her. I was really doubtful about her yesterday, but I feel a lot better today.”

“Oh yeah.”

“You know what is strange, Brodar? You know how when you see somebody’s horse, you say, ‘What a nice horse, what a pretty color, nice face,’ or something like that? We said that when we were admiring all of Chris’s horses. But he never said a word about Shadow and Sleipnir. I was so expecting him to like Sleipnir. I even had fantasies that he would buy her at the end of the Fair.”

“He’s a weird guy. He doesn’t say what you would expect him to. Doesn’t always do what you expect him to, either. But he’s an O.K. guy. He seems to be happy enough that we are there.”

“Yeah, all that seems cool.”

“Say, what time shall we take the horses tomorrow? Two? Three?"

“Gosh, probably more like three-thirty. I have to go to this freshman orientation registration thing at the University tomorrow.”

“Ah! You start college, don’t you?”

“Yeah, in two more weeks.”

“You poor kid. You start college and do the Ren Fair all at the same time.”

“Is that going to be hard?”

“I hope not.”


----------



## knightrider

Mjollnir with Sleipnir in one of the lousy stalls that management built for us. We never again relied on them to build us stalls. Every year we built our own stalls after that--much better! Ya live and learn.


----------



## knightrider

Julie arrived home from the freshman orientation meeting hot and damp and frustrated. All day, the weather had been drizzly and there were endless lines, mobs of people, and no one knew anything. If college was going to be like that, she didn’t look forward to it much.

Brodar was waiting for her with the trailer hitched. “Boy, I’m glad you’re finally here. I expected you a half hour ago!”

“Traffic was awful on Route 1. Everything took forever. I didn’t get any lunch either.”

“I guess we could stop for lunch on the way, but we’re already late.”

“Never mind. I’ll just eat this apple. Let’s put the halters on the horses. Do you think we’ll have practice in the rain?”

“Yeah. It looks like it’s clearing off.”

As Julie flung herself into the tackroom, Brodar took her hand and they sat down together on a bale of hay. “You don’t really want to do this, do you? I mean, this whole thing, this Festival?”

She felt a trickling sense of relief that perhaps Brodar understood. “No, I don’t. I was trying to tell you that.”

“I don’t want to do it either. It isn’t anything like I imagined it would be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t think it would take so long.”

“So long?”

“To train the horses. So many rehearsals, so much time to make everything, so much equipment to be made—which breaks the first day you use it.”

“You don’t want to do it?” Julie met his eyes.

“No.”

“But we have to. We signed the contract with Richard.”

“No. We don’t have a contract.”

“What?”

“I signed the contract, but somehow they forgot to. They mailed me back an unsigned contract. We have no agreement.”

“Shall we go tell Richard it’s off?”

“I’m ready to.”

“Me too. I’m sick of all of it. It’s no fun.”

They sighed and looked at one another.

“What would we tell the Skraelings?” Brodar asked.

“They’ve been working and practicing all this time. They are really looking forward to doing this show,” Julie added.

“Yes, to be in the Ren Fair—not just as street characters, but a real act.”

“We couldn’t do that to Richard. He’s counting on us. He’s come to all those rehearsals and put a lot into us.”

“We could quit if you really want to. I’ll support you in it.”

Julie grimaced. “Well, it’s not fun now. But I keep hoping it will get fun.”

“So, what do you say?”

“I say let’s go for it.”

“O.K., we’ll go for it and not look back.”

Chapter 7

When they drove up and unloaded Trojan and Brielle, Zack was there to meet them. “Those **** horses of yours got out last night. They chewed right through the wood. Look at this board! I’ve already replaced it once this morning and now I have to replace it again.”

“Chewed wood?” Julie was surprised. “They never chew wood at home. They must be really unhappy here.”

“They are,” Brodar agreed. “Look at their stalls.”

A steady night and day of rain had turned their stalls into quagmires, and the horses were standing in fetlock deep mud.

“Where are the shavings I put down?” Julie cried.

“They ate ‘em.” Kitty came up, a poncho over her head. “This is awful. This weather. Soon as those guys finished eating their hay, they started on their shavings. By this morning there was nothing left.”

“There should be roofs on their stalls,” Julie cried. “All the water is just draining into here.”

“You’ll have to put down different bedding,” Kitty advised. “They just eat the shavings.”

“I guess I could try straw,” Julie mused. “But even Brielle eats straw and she doesn’t eat shavings.”

“Gosh, it’s raining harder, isn’t it?” Devon splashed up to the unhappy group.

“Yes, and nowhere to put Trojan and Brielle,” Brodar added. “Their stalls are not ready.”

“Do you want to do this in the rain?” Richard Orehick approached them with a dapper black umbrella.

“Oh, sure, why not? We’re here,” Julie said. “but not with our costumes, O.K.?”

“All right,” Richard agreed.

“Say, Richard, what about our stalls?” Brodar asked as the rain increased. “These horses are standing in muck.”

“You’ll get your stalls by Fair-time.”

“With roofs?”

“I don’t know about roofs.”

“Look here, Richard, we had it written in our contract, five stalls, you told me over the phone, you’d throw in the stalls since we were getting paid so little. Now we are only getting four stalls and no roofs. These horses can’t live here six weeks with no roofs. And we want that fifth stall. It’s in the contract.”

“And you look here,” Richard snapped back. “We agreed on Monday you’d do without the fifth stall and I don’t like the way we agree to something and then you bring it up again. Whenever something doesn’t go your way, you go back on your agreement.”

Brodar blew out his breath. Julie knew now was the moment he might say the deal was off. Would he say it? “We’ll get the horses tacked,” he said.

The drizzle had turned to a downpour and soaked the saddles the minute they were on the horses. Julie didn’t want to think about what the rain would do to the leather.

Richard reappeared from the office with his black umbrella. “You know what? Even I don’t want to be out in this. Let’s just go over it in my office and forget rehearsing with the horses. We can’t hear each other shout in this storm.”

Gratefully, the squires led Brielle and Trojan back to the trailer, stripped off the saddles, and re-tied the horses. Julie buried her face in Sleipnir’s dripping mane. Could any day be more awful?

“Sorry I came down so hard on you guys,” Richard Orehick stood at her shoulder.

“It’s O.K.,” she stammered. “It’s not just you, it’s lots of things—like I didn’t have any lunch and it’s 6:30 now. And I had a rotten day.” She sighed.

“I think it will all come together.”

She smiled. “I’m sure it will,” she said with a cheerfulness she didn’t feel.

Richard’s office was crammed with sixteen waterlogged dripping people. There was hardly room to breathe.

“Let’s run through the brigand show,” Richard started.

Jennings wiped his nose and swung his head. “Well, he da big bad boss man. He say, gimme a drink. I don’ like dat. It my booze. So he try to take da drink.”

“So I hit ‘im,” Frolf picked up on the accent, smacking Jennings across the arm.

“We don’ put up w’ dat crap,” Gobie responded. “So me ‘n Loth, here, jump in.”

In a moment they were wrestling and giggling.

“See here, I’ve got a lot of things to do,” Richard’s eyes snapped angrily. “I’ve given you quite a lot of my time, and I don’t mind giving you my time, but not to waste it. I’ve got a hundred things I need to be doing right now, and I’ve set them all aside to do this for you. I don’t mind doing this for you, but I expect you to do your part. I’m not here to have my time wasted. Either we’re gonna rehearse this, or you can leave, and I’ll do things I need to do.”

Subdued, the squires narrated their parts. Julie wanted to burrow into the floor. She barely whispered when it came time to say her part.

She was thinking to herself, Richard doesn’t like us anymore. I don’t want my horses living here anymore. I don’t want to do the show anymore. Life had been so simple and pleasant when all I had was Brielle. And after all, what have the Skraelings given me? They’ve tromped on me, hurt my feelings, and used me. I wish I’d never met Brodar. Him and his stupid gorgeous eyes, who dates beautiful sophisticated women.

At last the talk-through ended, and Julie stepped out into the rain-washed dusk. She wondered if she had ever felt so low.

Well, the best cure for the blues was a horseback ride and the two mares needed to be exercised. “Let’s ride the mares bareback,” she said to Rienna.

“O.K., sounds fun,” she agreed. They hurried to the trailer to grab bridles when Julie exclaimed, “Trojan’s gone!”

“Gone?” Brodar cried.

“Yes. His leadrope is gone too.”

Brielle pawed and danced on her leadrope, neighing for her missing buddy.

“We’ll grab the mares and go look for him,” Julie said. Quickly, they slipped on the bridles as Brielle screamed and charged about on her leadrope. Julie was as worried for Brielle as she was for Trojan. They rode into the misty evening calling, as the Skraelings fanned out.

“Here he is!” Paul Jennings called, and in a moment, Jennings appeared riding the wet horse bareback out of the night.

“Oh, thank God!” everyone exclaimed.

“I’d like to ride Sleipnir,” Andrea murmured as Julie slipped off to hug Trojan.

“Go ahead,” Julie said. “I’ll put on Brielle’s bridle and join you in a minute.”

“Say, Brodar, do you have a minute?” Jenny and Carla stopped him as he reached for Trojan’s bridle. “We all want to talk to you.”
Brodar turned to Mjollnir. “Here, you ride Trojan. Go on. I’ll ride later.”

The Skraelings gathered around Julie and Brodar as the three people rode off.

“You know all this endless rehearsing and practicing is a real drag for us,” Jenny began.

“It wasn’t what we expected,” Lef said. “I never wanted to be the announcer. I wanted to fight.”

“Besides, we never agreed to do the Festival,” Frolf added. “We thought we were just going to do a couple of Markland shows and learn to ride. Yet you’re all the time expecting us to help with the horses.”

They turned to Julie. “They’re not our horses, they’re your horses, but you complain if we don’t clean their feet and put their saddles on. You’re all the time on us to do work, but we get damned little riding.”

“Not one of us has been riding since the horse party. Look who’s riding right now—Rienna, Mjollnir, and Andrea.”

“So, we act up a little, we have to blow off steam. You get after us for every little thing. We’ve had it and we’re agreed we don’t want to do the show if it’s going to be like this.”

So much for letting the squires down, Julie thought. She felt backed up against the car with Brodar like two settlers surrounded by a siege of Indians.

“Anyone who wants to drop out of the show is welcome to drop out tonight,” Brodar said. “No hard feelings. I’m sorry you feel so much pressure. I admit I wanted to put on a good show, and I did put pressure on you to remember your cues and help out with the horses. I know you haven’t gotten to ride much recently, but we’ve had serious rehearsals to do. We had a lot of fun before, but we had to put it on hold for a couple of weeks.”

Frolf said, “You keep telling us things like we’re actors. We never wanted to be actors. We’re fighters.”

“That comes as a surprise to me,” Brodar said, annoyed. “You are all the time goofing around and capering at feasts and events.”

“We’re tired of all this and we’ve had enough.”

“Anyone who wants out is free to go.”

Andrea rode up. “Aren’t you going riding with us?” She flipped her lashes at Brodar demurely.

“Yes, I am,” he answered coldly.

“Come on, get on the back of Sleipnir then.”

Brodar stood on his bumper and threw a leg over Sleipnir as Julie jumped on Brielle.

But Sleipnir was sick of the rain, sick of the mud, didn’t want another rider on her, and sensed that Andrea wouldn’t discipline her. She bucked big, a heels-in-the-air rodeo buck that sent Brodar and Andrea flying.

“Oh, are you O.K.?” The Skraelings bent over them.

“No. Owww.” Brodar closed his eyes in pain. “My elbow, my knee.” He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a darkly reddening gash in his elbow. “That will be right where the shield hits it,” he moaned. He didn’t pull up his pant leg, but Julie could see a darkening patch of blood on his sweat pants at his knee.

Poor Brodar. Poor us, she thought. Could anyone ever have a worse day?

Brodar remounted and they rode into the night, but the soothing comfort Julie usually felt while riding did not come. The rain had slacked into mist as the dusk turned to blackness. She was tired and wet and cold.


----------



## knightrider

The next day, Julie waited for her mother to come home, borrow the car, bought four bales of straw and a can of creosote at the feed store, and drove out to the site.

She felt her heart lift when she saw the cheerful heads of the two mares hanging over their stalls. But it sank when she saw the filth the horses were standing in. Deep sucking mud squouched with each animal’s step. She shook out the straw into the mud pits and watched with sad eyes as each mare happily munched away at her bedding. Julie knew in two hour’s time, they would be standing in mud again.

As Julie dourly watched the horses eating, Chris came around the fence to get some water.

“Hello, Julie, is it?” he said pleasantly.

“Yes,” she said shyly.

“How’s it going?”

“Not so good. I can’t find any bedding they don’t eat.”

“You can borrow some of our sawdust from our pile, if you want.”

“Thank you. I guess I will. Although it seems to me that straw is better for them to eat than sawdust.”

“That’s a nasty kick your mare’s got there,” he commented.

“I guess Shadow kicked Sleipnir. But I don’t know how she did it.”

“They chewed through the center partition last night. They were together when I got up this morning, so I nailed that up.” He gestured.

“Oh, thank you,” Julie answered. “I’m going to paint everything with creosote today so maybe that will help.”

“Come on over to our tackroom, and I’ll lend you some Cut-Heal for that kick.” 

When they walked over to Chris’s side, Chris introduced Julie to his jousters. “This is Kyle, Don, Britt, and Bill. Julie.”

They nodded politely, then their eyes flicked away, as men always did when meeting her. Of course she had noticed them when they had arrived. Each one was more gorgeous than the next. But they were only interested in Andrea. They had quickly gone over to meet Andrea, and she was friendly with them already.

“Bill, where’s that Cut-Heal we had?” Chris asked, and wandered away.

Julie followed Bill into the tackroom as he searched through horse armor and gauntlets, curry combs and lances. “Ha! Here it is,” he exclaimed. “What’s the matter with your mare?”

“She got kicked.”

“Let’s see.”

Bill helped her apply the medicine while chatting with her amiably. Julie decided he was lots nicer than the others, and no doubt the best looking too.

He talked to her about New York as she slapped vile smelling creosote on every part of wood the horses might chew.

“There,” she said as she finished. “Think that will keep them from getting out?

“Sure hope so,” he agreed. “Well, got to go, I guess. Take care. See you Saturday.”

“Oh yes, the big day. Good luck.”

“Same to you. Bye.”

On Friday, Julie and Brodar organized all the trappings, gear, and equipment, went over the scripts, and loaded everything they thought they would need into the car.

“I’m glad we’re not driving out to the site today,” Julie exclaimed. “I’ve had enough of driving there every day. But I’m worried about the horses.”

“Oh, I’ll bet they’re O.K.”

“Boy, Wednesday was awful, wasn’t it? When the Skraelings surrounded us and attacked?”

“Yeah, like the Indians attacking a wagon train,” Brodar said.

“Funny, that’s just what I was thinking at the time. But you handled it well.”

“Thanks. I didn’t feel good about it.”

“Well, how could you feel good about it? But I noticed nobody quit.”

“No, nobody quit. I guess it’s just pre-fair jitters. Everybody is up tight,” Brodar added.

“What are you doing for supper, Brodar? Want to stay and eat with us?”

“Gosh, I’d love to, but I have a dinner date. Yikes, I’ve got to go now.”

“Who is it?”

“Do I have to tell you every date I have?” Brodar said with exasperation.

“No. Don’t tell me then.” Julie turned away.

“Oh, all right. I’ll tell you. Andrea.”

“Andrea?”

“Yeah, some of us are getting together, probably Chinese and a movie.”

Julie tried not to show her dismay. Andrea was her age! So Brodar was dating Andrea. It hurt too bad to be borne.

“It’s not really a date, Julie, it’s just a bunch of us getting together. She likes Lef anyway. I’m just picking her up because she lives over this way. Tell you what, why don’t you come along? It would be more fun with you there.”

“No thanks. I’ve got to fix Mjollnir’s trappings and tape up that bamboo lance. Shadow needs Velcro sewn on her leg wraps. And I was going to put eyelets in my dress.”

“Now you’re making me feel guilty,” Brodar said.

You should feel guilty, Julie thought angrily. “Well, look, don’t let me hold you up. You better go.”

“Why don’t you come along, Julie? Really.”

“No thanks, I don’t want to.”

“I’m asking you.”

She stared at him sullenly. “You have a date. Bye.”

He left, and she stumbled out to the pasture blinking away tears. Of course Brodar would prefer Andrea. Pretty, blonde, vivacious. She wore her costume cut low to reveal delicious cleavage. Julie didn’t have any cleavage. Julie didn’t have anything.

“Oh yes, I do,” she spat out through her tears. “I have Brielle, the best horse in the whole world. They don’t like you and they think you’re no good, and they don’t like me either. But we have each other, don’t we, my beauty?” Julie caressed Brielle’s forelock. “Come on Lady. We’ll go for a ride, like old times, you and me. Maybe I won’t even go tomorrow. They don’t need me. They don’t want me.”

As she rode, Julie knew she was wrong. Everyone liked her, it just didn’t occur to them to include her. She was Just Julie. They’d feel sorry to know she was riding alone and crying. But their attitude was, “Good, Julie, nice girl, go away now.”

Why couldn’t at least one ordinary homely boy notice her? Well, one problem was that all the boys on her jousting team, and Chris’s too, were too good looking. But perhaps at the festival itself there would be a boy, a nice plain looking boy, who might like a shy, gentle, plain looking girl?

The next morning Julie was up at 6:00, brushing, trimming manes, checking gear, packing lunches and water jugs, filling feed buckets, stacking hay. Brodar arrived at 7:30 to complete the loading, and they were driving down the road by 8:00.

“Are you nervous?” he asked her.

“Yes! Aren’t you? This is the big one.”

“We’ve done it before.”

“This is different.”

“I know.”

“Did you have fun last night?” She had held that question in for an hour. Now, she just had to know.

“Not especially.”

“Why not?”

“I was tired. Thinking about today. I felt bad too, that you were home working. I almost called you.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, we were watching this dumb video.”

“Who are you going to ride?”

“Shadow.”

“Not Sleipnir?”

“I know I complain about Shadow all the time, but you’re right. Shadow jousts better. She’s much more dramatic.”

“My mother thinks so.”

“I’ll be glad when I can ride my own horse.”

“Soon I think Mjollnir will be able to handle Shadow. She’s really coming along.”

“I hope so.”

When they arrived, Brodar showed her where to sign in and get her hand stamped as a participant. Julie began to feel a thrill of being in the Festival.

A Coke truck drove through, past their horse stalls, and then deliveries of shrimp, steak, and beer. Three stilt walkers waved and said “hi.” Kitty stopped by to greet them.

They unloaded Brielle and Trojan and discovered, miracle of miracles, Zack had finished their horse stalls. The only problem was that Jimmy, one of Chris’s Belgian horses, was in one of them.

Chris came over to their side of the fence when he heard the horses nickering to one another. We’re going to move Jimmy out of there,” he explained, “but while you’re not using it, we figured maybe we could.”

“Oh, sure, no problem,” Brodar said. “We’ll tie our horses to the trailer until you get Jimmy moved.”

Rienna and Devon arrived to help them unload equipment. Then it was time for cast call, a meeting held each Festival morning before the fair began.

Richard Orehick led it. He gave a welcoming speech, reminded everyone they were to stay in character—no sunglasses or beer cans. He introduced the people who would walk together playing Queen Elizabeth and her royal court, explained a few more rules, then a pep talk, and they were dismissed to drift back to the horses.

Andrea and Rienna were hard at work brushing the mud from Shadow and Sleipnir when they got back. Squires were flocking through the gates. The excitement was infectious. 

Julie threw down more straw to make the stalls tolerable. Their first show was not until noon, but there was plenty to do. Julie longed to walk around the Festival grounds to see it all come together. She had seen it deserted in the blistering heat and the downpouring sodden mud, but she had never seen it alive as it was now.

Musicians, craftspeople, and food booth operators all stopped at the horse stalls for a friendly word and to pet the horses. A local newspaper photographer snapped their pictures and took their names. It was glorious.

She heard Chris’s fellows joking and talking as they tacked up their horses for their first show.

“Who wants to squire for Chris’s show?” Brodar called and Julie remembered him promising Richard Orehick they would supply squires for each of Chris’s shows.

“I’m not ready.”

“I can’t.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Somebody has to,” Brodar said uneasily. “I don’t have my armor on and Mjollnir is still making the shields.”

“Oh, I will,” Devon said testily. “Come on Loth, we’ll see what kind of show they’ve got.”

Julie rushed around barking orders, adjusting trappings, fixing bridles, changing girths. She noticed only Rienna and Andrea were doing anything with the horses. The squires were all busy getting their own equipment together. 

“Time!” someone shouted, “What time is it?”

“11:45,” someone shouted back.

“Fifteen minutes!” another squire said.

“Mount up in five minutes,” Julie called. “Are you ready, Brodar?”

“I can’t find my gorget. Has anybody seen my gorget?”

“No, but I’m looking for my gambeson.”

“Here’s a gambeson. Is this it?”

“No, that’s Jennings’.”

“Where’s my gorget!” Brodar shouted.

“Props,” Julie muttered. “We need two lances, quintain rings, the chest of gold, fighting lances, swords . . . “

“I’ll get those together,” Andrea offered.

“Thanks.”

“Five minutes!”

“Mount up!”

They rode their horses to the list and waited as Chris finished up his show. Julie swallowed and adjusted the reins, shifting her dowry box under her arm. I hope Brielle rears. I hope she runs at the quintain. I hope Shadow behaves. Then they rode in and Lef began the show.

Shadow pranced and danced as if she were on eggshells while they waited for the brigands to attack. At the attack, Brielle acted suitably bold, but Shadow bolted in a panic.

“Hold her, Brodar!” Julie cried out, but there was no holding Shadow. She leaped the restraining fence and bounded out into the crowd.”

“Ahhhhh!” People shouted.

The crowd stopped the horse and soon Brodar was back in the list, swordfighting valiantly as Shadow ducked and danced.
Julie finished out the play sick with dread. Now they would demand she sell Shadow, and she would, of course, because it was obvious even to her that Shadow would never make a jousting horse. And Julie had had such faith in her.

At last the show came to its conclusion. Julie stabbed the brigand king and Brielle reared, a small elegant rear, not her best, but at least she did it.

As they trooped backstage, Mjollnir rode up to her. “What did you think?”

“What could I think? It was awful. You were right. Shadow is no good.”

“What? I thought it went great. It’s the best we’ve ever done!”

“But Shadow jumped out of the arena!”

“Well, that was bad, yes, but the way she jousted, she was great. She was just like Trojan last year, he did the same kind of thing.”

“He jumped the barrier?”

“Yes, but he ran back to the trailer, not out into the crowd. She looked so much like Trojan out there, I am really enthused.”

“And you, Brodar?” Julie asked.

“It was O.K., I guess. Shadow is really wired. But Brielle did fine, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Well, I guess we’re on our way.”


----------



## knightrider

Their next show came off even smoother. They used all four horses and played the jousting games like catching a favor in the air and running down a peasant with a mace. At the end, they did the “jump of death” where Rienna and Julie/Bjarki jumped over kneeling Brodar and Mjollnir as a punishment for their cheating.

After the horses were sponged and untacked, they had a two-hour break, and Julie at last had an opportunity to see the fair.

She strolled about, bought some French fries called “crisps,” listened to a harp player, watched a pantomime show, and an acrobatic juggling show called Pandemonium. One of the jugglers was so handsome she could not take her eyes off him. She browsed through hats, and medieval jewelry, and too soon, it was time to return and ready the horses.

The Skraelings were at their high jinks again. Frolf was doing flips into the sawdust pile.

“You pootched me,” Jennings cried. “I saw you. Don’ pootch me, mon.”

“I pootch you if I want,” Frolf threatened. He slammed into Jennings as Sven slammed into the other side. Jennings collapsed.

“The end!” he shouted.

“His demise was sad and untimely,” intoned Frolf.

“He was our friend and devoted follower,” lamented Sven.

Chris’s jousters peeked around the corner to see what was going on. Julie grinned at them. Bet you guys don’t have fun like this, she thought. You’re too busy being super cool.

“Are you guys practicing or something?” Britt asked.

Jennings sat up suddenly. “Ask a stupid Skraeling, get a stupid answer.”

Everyone broke up laughing.

“Hate to say this, but we got to get ready,” Julie said.

“Right, let’s go.” They began to armor up, continuing to joke and cut up. Julie felt a rush of pride for her goofy, loveable group. Maybe we’re not polished and cool like Chris’s jousters, but we do have fun. It was fun. Julie realized she was having a wonderful time.

“Thanks, Frolf.” She gave him a hug. “Thanks for everything!”

“Owww-weeee!” he yipped. “You just made my day!”

She grinned at him and threw on Brielle’s saddle.

Shadow did better in the last show, which had a lot of swordfighting in it and not much jousting. The men fought well and they marched back to camp joking and jubilant.

“Good day, huh, great show!”

“We got a ways to go yet.”

“I need squires for Chris’s 3:30 show,” Brodar called.

“Hey, I’m tired.”

“My finger hurts where Devon hit it.”

“Count me out.”

“Then I’ll do it.” Brodar marched out in his armor.

“I’ll come too.” Mjollnir clanked after him.

Julie knew in the real historic times, a knight would never ever stoop to do a squire’s job. She wondered if Brodar and Mjollnir had shamed their squires. No . . . probably not. The squires sure could be dense at times.

“How do you think we compare with Chris’s show?” Julie asked Devon.

“Oh, he’s got those big draft horses and all that plate armor, but we fight better, I think. And those guys he’s got don’t ride so well and can’t make the horses mind.”

“He gets bigger crowds than we do.”

“He has a crier, an announcing sort of person who goes around gathering the crowd, before the show starts.”

“Oh.”

Loth came up. “The crier should cry us too,” he said, “but he doesn’t.” 

“We don’t count for much around here,” Devon muttered.

“Oh, but we will. We’ll show ‘em all!” Julie cried. “We’re going to be a whole lot better!”

“Hey, let’s see the fair,” Devon touched her arm.

“I wish to see the fair,” Lef imitated Julie’s lines in the last show. “I’m bored!” He mimicked her fake British accent.

“Come we’ll see the fair.” They each took her arms and dipped under the restraining rope.

Soon the other Skraelings found them and joined them. They formed a crazy procession, as patrons looked on and laughed. They were slamming into trees and into each other, belly bumping, and doing summersaults. Julie couldn’t stop laughing.

At last it was time to see Chris’s 5:30 show, his big jousting show in full armor. The whole group was curious about that show and Brodar had no trouble finding people to work it.

As Julie watched the show, she felt confidence returning for their own show. Yes, Chris had better armor, gorgeous guys, and horse plate armor. But they didn’t ride as well; they often rode past each other and missed. The show was, well, actually sort of boring. And Devon was right, they didn’t fight nearly as well. In their full plate armor, they were slow and clumsy, and they obviously hadn’t had years of fighting experience like the Skraelings had. To top it off, their horses wouldn’t run down the list. Just like Brielle, one named Peter and another named Molly would turn and run away when the other horse came down the list at them. Richard Orehick can’t be too upset with us, Julie thought. He pays those guys lots more than he pays us and they’re only a little bit better.

After Chris’s show, the fair was over for the day, as the final cannon signaled for the patrons to leave, and the group began to load armor and equipment into their cars.

“We need a storage box,” Julie said. “We forgot all about making it today.”

“Don’t vorry. Tomorrow you vill haf your box,” Jennings said in his Transylvanian accent. “Ve vierd vones vill make it.” He rubbed his hands together. “I nevair go anyvare wit’out my box.”

Loth and Gobie had climbed to the top of the fence and were doing a swashbuckler sword fighting routine.

“You guys are nuts!” cried Andrea. “That wall is ten feet high!”

“At least!” Gobie laughed.

“You’ll fall off and break your legs!”

Frolf held out his Roman sword. “Here, guys, jump on this. It’ll catch you.”

“Say, anyone want to go to the movie at the Student Union tonight?” Brodar suggested.

“Oh yeah, right, let’s go,” the group responded.

“What time?”

“Nine-thirty?”

“Sounds good,” a chorus of voices.

“We have to take the horses home first,” Brodar said. “Come on, let’s get everything loaded.”

This time, Julie promised herself, she would only go to see the movie. She wouldn’t worry about somebody liking her.

But at the movie, Frolf paid her special attention, sat next to her, and made little comments from time to time during the show. 

“Brodar’s driving you home, huh?” he asked as they were leaving the theater.

“Uh, I guess so.”

“Wish I was.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything to say.

“But I can’t. I came in Gobie’s car.”

“Oh, too bad, I mean . . . it would have been O.K.”

“Really?” He sounded excited. “Then I’ll try to borrow a car next time.”

Julie rode home in the darkness next to Brodar feeling elated. What a great day! Brielle was fine! Mjollnir likes Shadow, and a boy likes me! So what if he is chunky and lumbering and homely? He is funny and cute and sweet. A boy actually likes me! I’ll never get Brodar. He only likes sophisticated beautiful women. But I might get somebody.

“What ya thinking, Julie?” Brodar asked softly.

“I think Frolf likes me.”

“Of course he likes you. Everyone likes you.”

“You think so?”

“Of course, everyone says how nice you are.”

“Really? Oh, that’s good to hear. It seems like all I’ve been doing is complaining and giving orders.”

“You’re remembering the Skraelings’ Indian attack on our wagon train?”

She laughed. “Black Wednesday, yes, but today was great. Today was fun. It was all I dreamed it could be.”

“Oouh, I’m tired,” Brodar yawned.

“We haven’t gotten a thing ready for tomorrow. Can you be at my house at 7:00?”

“Seven! Yow! I guess so.”

“You can sleep on our couch if you don’t want to drive home and come back.”

“Yeah, good idea. Maybe I will.”

“By the way, next week, Labor Day, I can’t come to the Ren Fair. It’s my dad’s birthday, and the whole family is going sailing with some friends of his.”

“Sounds fun.”

“It is. We go every year for my dad’s birthday.”

“Oouh, I’m tired. I guess I’ll take you up on your offer of the couch.”

“Great.”

Julie found it hard to sleep again that night, thinking of Brodar asleep downstairs. Wouldn’t it be neat to tiptoe down the steps and snuggle up against him? It would be heaven. He’d put his arm around her and bury his face in her hair and they’d sleep like two puppies curled up together. She wished he liked her like that, but she knew he didn’t. He’d sleep like that with Andrea but not with her. Julie tried to push away the rising negativism broiling up inside her. She tried to bring back the euphoria she had been feeling earlier in the evening. Ren Fair is fun, she told herself, as long as I don’t fret over not having Brodar.


----------



## knightrider

Here is Rienna doing the "jump of death" on Trojan.


----------



## GMA100

Wow!! that picture is so awesome! I love the story too!


----------



## knightrider

She woke the next morning feeling groggy and exhausted and stumbled outside to care for the horses. Just as she emptied the wheelbarrow of manure, Brodar hastened up.

“Need help?”

“Oh yeah. The bag of clean trappings, hay nets, leg bandages, brushes. Hitch the trailer?”

“Right.”

Back at the Festival, Julie felt like an old pro getting her hand stamped, unloading the gear, attending cast call. She was really looking forward to the same fun as she had yesterday.

Today they had a substitute squire, a friend of Brodar’s named Paul Asego, who had brought his girlfriend Karen to help with the horses. Karen’s mother was a riding instructor and Karen had owned a horse most of her life. Julie wished Karen had been coming to their Monday night practices, she was so helpful and knowledgeable. As the girls readied the horses, Julie noticed Kyle and Britt took frequent opportunities to come over to their side of the fence. They never spoke. They just stood and stared—at Andrea. Although she felt a ***** of jealousy, Julie had to laugh. If anyone could bring the two groups together, Andrea could.

Frolf wandered through the gate wearing a green trash bag. “Look, everybody. I’m a cucumber!”

Gobie tied a sock around his head. “Ahoy, mates, arrrrrr.”

Jennings looked up from his vambraces. “Essssss.”

“Ennnn,” cried Loth.

“Teeee!” shouted Jennings.

It took Julie a minute to figure out they were mimicking Gobie by saying other letters. They were so smart. Their minds were so quick. They were somehow wasted in the show. Somehow, someone should put their humor into something. But Julie didn’t know how.

She rode into the 12:00 show feeling confident, no jangling nerves this day; she intended to enjoy the performance to the fullest.

Lef began the show, the brigands argued over the liquor jug, Brodar escorted her with her dowry. Brielle felt fresh and ready. The brigands attacked, took her gold and she said her lines. Brodar demonstrated the quintain and she declared she was ready to joust.

As she rode Brielle into the list, she sighted down her lance carefully, eager to catch the ring and vindicate all womankind. Just as Julie aimed for the ring at the quintain, Brielle swerved. Brielle had chosen that day, that time, to declare she hated that quintain, was sick of riding at it, and was done. Julie’s left foot slammed into the center post.

Rockets of pain shot into Julie, overwhelming washes of fire. Her foot felt mangled. Brielle stopped at the end of the list as Julie stared blankly at the crowd, trying to get control of her mind as the agony threatened to overwhelm her. Should she ride out of the list, declaring she had been hurt? Or adhere to the “show must go on” slogan that actors took so seriously? People in the crowd closest to her began to realize she was hurt. Through her fog of pain, she saw looks of concern appearing on their faces.

I must decide, she told herself. I must decide now, go or stay.

She turned Brielle’s head around and headed back to the jousting, trying to smile bravely. She finished the show hardly remembering what she did or said and limped back to their camp.

“My toes are broken,” she said through her teeth as she collapsed on a sawhorse.

“Oh no.”

“How did it happen?”

“What’s the matter?”

People showered her with concern. Karen rubbed her back. Devon gave her water and Brodar gave her Tylenol. Her head was spinning. In just twenty minutes, she had to do another show.

The others scurried to prepare the props, weapons, and horses as Julie closed her eyes, trying to decide what to do. She pulled off her soft suede boot. She had worn the soft boots because they were so comfortable when she had to be on her feet all day. If only she had put on her sturdy riding boots for the show! Her toes were swelling, purplish and ugly. She put her boot back on, not wanting to look at them. 

By one o’clock, the Tylenol had taken effect. She felt much better and ready to go. This show, Julie hardly aimed at the quintain, but watched the center posts guardedly as Brielle galloped past. She missed the ring, but everything else went well, including the dangerous “Jump of Death.”

After the one o’clock show, the Knights of the Nearly Round Table grouped at their camp.

Devon took out his wallet to get some money for lunch.

“That’s disgusting!” shouted Frolf. “Put that ugly thing back in your pants!”

“It’s just my wallet,” he said, blushing.

“Wallet?” said Lothbrok. “Isn’t that a French wall?”

“Or maybe a baby wall,” said Frolf, “like an eaglet.”

“No, an egglet is even younger—before it’s hatched,” said Lothbrok.

“Why isn’t it an ‘eagling’ like a duckling or a gosling?” asked Sven.

“Gosling? I do that with pitchers of beer! I get so blitzed, I forget the periodic table,” Frolf put his finger in the air.

“You know the periodic table?” asked Julie.

“Nope,” said Frolf. “When I forgot it, it was for keeps. In fact, I forgot that I ever knew it.”

“In fact, he never knew it,” said Sven.

Laughing, they clapped one another’s shoulders and headed out to see the Festival.

Loth returned with ice and sat beside her on the prop trunk as Andrea sat on the other side, talking cheerfully.

Julie closed her eyes, tired of being brave, tired of being gracious and grateful for everyone’s attention. She wished everyone would go away and leave her alone and let her be miserable the way she really felt. She wished she were home and Mom was setting pillows under her foot and bringing her a tray of hot soup.

Then it was time for the three o’clock show, a non-demanding one for Julie. She took two more Tylenol, and decided she felt good enough to ride around as a fair maiden, pretend to be bored, and wish to go to the fair.

After the show, as the squires were taking off their armor, Julie felt much better. “I think I’m ready to walk around the fair,” she said. “It doesn’t hurt so much now.”

As she limped past the ice cream booth, she saw Devon, who offered to walk with her. They listened to a madrigal group and talked with the pretzel seller, a friend of Devon’s. Julie bought a rubber stamp of a sailboat, a birthday present for her father.

“How do you like doing the Festival so far?” Julie asked Devon.

“I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’ll let you know. I haven’t gotten to ride as much as I thought I would. And I’ve already broken two swords. It’s expensive.”

“Gee, sorry about the swords.”

“Yeah. How much did you say we’d get paid, anyway?”

“Something like seven dollars a day,” Julie answered, “depending on how many squires there are on any given day.”

“Boy, not much.”

“No.”

“How much does Chris get?”

“I don’t really know. Quite a lot more.”

“And we’re working for him for free. You know, that really bites my butt. I can’t stand doing his shows.”

“I know.” Julie began to feel increasingly glum. Devon was not cheering her up. 

He lingered for what seemed like hours at a swordmaker’s shop, talking about armor and swords. Julie wanted to leave him, and go lie down, or something, but she thought it would be rude since he had spent the afternoon with her.

Brodar saw them and hurried over. “Wait till you see what the Skraelings did to our camp! They’ve destroyed it!”

“Oh no. What did they do?”

“You’ll just have to come see.”

“Are you coming, Devon?” Julie asked him.

“Oh yes, I have to see.”

“I asked them to help me build a storage box; they built a bloomin’ house!”

“A house?”

“It’s a mess. A real disaster. They’ll probably throw us out of the fair for creating an eyesore.”

Julie stopped dead when she saw it. “It’s nice!” she cried. “I like it!”

The size of a modest horse stall, the little hut was fully paneled, complete with roof and floor. It was made from hundreds of different colored pieces of scrap lumber, some nailed at crazy angles. There were two plywood signs, discarded from last year, advertising the Festival. The inside was neatly lined with benches all the way around, except one side which contained Brodar’s prop trunk. There were hundreds of nails, with things hanging on them, three rows, all the way around, with everyone’s names on them, one side labeled “horse gear,” one side labeled “personal gear,” and the third side “weapons.” Each horse had nails for bridle, trappings, and breastplate. Each person had several nails for costumes, keys, and drinking mugs.

“It’s wonderful! I love it!” Julie cried.

“It’s awful,” Paul Asego said.

“Did you do the benches?” She turned to him.

“Yes.”

“I could tell. They’re fabulous. It’s great!”

“It’s terrible work. I only had this hand saw.”

“No. I love it.” Julie sat down on the trunk. It was cool and shady in the little shelter. The Skraelings had put the mares’ hay, feed, and bedding in one corner. “You could live here, it’s so nice.”

“I just might.” Andrea came up behind her. “Brodar says he’ll bring my horse Strider to the festival next week and I think I’ll sleep here.”

“Really?” Julie felt a thread of annoyance. So Brodar would go get Andrea. The deal was other people could be in the Festival if they made arrangements to get their own horses there. Andrea got her horse to the horse party without Brodar’s help. Why was she leaning on Brodar now?

“Brodar said he could use me next Labor Day Monday when you aren’t here.”

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Julie began to remove the trappings from Shadow’s bridle.

“Would you mind leaving Shadow’s bridle?” Andrea asked. “I’m going to spend the night tonight and Brodar said I could ride the horses. He said I had to ask you about Shadow because she is actually your horse.”

“Uh, O.K., I guess so. I usually clean the bridles during the week.”

“Oh, I’ll clean it.”

“You ready, Andy?” Kyle sauntered up.

“Oh yeah, right. See ya, Julie.” Andrea strolled away with Kyle.

Julie didn’t want Andrea riding Shadow, she didn’t want Brodar to go get her to be in the show next weekend, and she especially didn’t want her toes broken. She wished so much she was home, she felt like crying. Instead, she began lugging saddles and lances to Brodar’s car. The sooner it was loaded, the sooner they could leave.


----------



## knightrider

Brodar and Mjollnir swordfighting on Shadow and Trojan with the dreaded quintain in the background.


----------



## Knave

Dumb hot chick! Lol


----------



## knightrider

Chapter 8

“How’re ya doing?” Brodar patted her hand as he drove them home.”

“Not too good. It really hurts.”

“You’ll go to the doctor?”

“Of course!”

“Want to stop at the emergency room at the hospital now?” He slowed up.

“No. I’ll go to my doctor tomorrow.”

Julie leaned her head back and gritted her teeth. “What’s this about you’re getting Andrea next week? I thought we agreed we wouldn’t do that.”

“Meow,” Brodar said coldly.

“No, but we agreed. To be in the show, you had to practice since March. It wasn’t even fair to let Andrea be a damsel in the show and keep Carla and Jenny out. This is really not fair.”

“You’ll be gone on Monday. She can take your place. She’s pretty. She’ll really add to the show.”

“There’s no stall for Strider!” Julie exploded. “All we girls do is work, and if Strider’s there, Andrea will spend all her time with Strider, and Rienna and I will have more work to do. Besides, Andrea only wants her horse there, so she can flirt with Chris’s jousters. It’s her excuse to hang around them. Haven’t you seen how she spends all her time on Chris’s side?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it, but she does all the work we need her to do for us. She does a good job.”

“I know she does a good job, but it’s not fair. It’s not right, and she’s using you.”

“If I want to let her use me, it’s my decision. I don’t mind.”

“Then you’re a fool.”

“And you’re jealous.”

“No, I’m not!” Julie lied. “It’s just bad for the show!”

“Tell you what. I’ll pick her up on the way on Monday, just Monday, the day you’ll be out. Then we’ll still have four horses, but she won’t be using up our time fooling with Strider.”

“Oh, all right.” It annoyed Julie that Brodar would do anything for a pretty girl. All those guys would. But they sure wouldn’t do it Julie, no sir.

Then she felt a fierce stab of pride. So what if men won’t do things for me. I’ll learn to do them for myself. I’d rather learn to stand on my own two feet than bat my blue eyes at some guy to get what I want. I’m glad I’m not pretty. I know how to do what I want, not get what I want. Poor Andrea, all she knows is how to get other people to do for her. She doesn’t really know how to do anything for herself.

The next day the doctor called with the results of her x-rays.

“Good news, Julie,” he said. “Only three toes broken. Your big toe, the second toe, and the fourth toe.”

“Oh, that’s good news?”

“Just keep them taped up for two weeks like I taped them, then put on those protectors for two more weeks. They should heal fine. I’d like to see you in two weeks.”

“And the orthopedic shoe?”

“Yes, wear that as long as you have pain.”

“Oh great,” Julie told her mom when she hung up the phone. “Can’t you just see me jousting in an orthopedic shoe? Real authentic.”

“Maybe you can put a black sock over it and it won’t look so different from your boot. Maybe one of your brother’s ski socks?”

“Yeah. Good idea. Boy, I hope this is O.K. by the time I start college. I sure don’t want to go clunking around campus in this old shoe.”

“It’s not so bad. People will notice you and remember you.”

“The doctor said I didn’t have to wear it if it didn’t hurt.”

“Are you nervous about school?” her mom asked.

Julie laughed. “Oh yeah.”

“I think it’ll be fun for you.”

“Hope so.”

On Tuesday Julie drove out to the site to check on the mares and was surprised to see Andrea helping Kyle and Britt wash Jimmy with the hose.

“Hi, Bjar,” Andrea greeted her enthusiastically. “Mares are fine. I’ve been looking after them.”

Julie noticed how dirty the stalls were. The horses were standing again fetlock deep in mud and manure. ‘Looking after them’ obviously didn’t mean cleaning their stalls in Andrea’s mind. “Oh, by the way,” Julie said hesitantly, “Could you hose your horses somewhere else? The water drains right into our stalls.”

“Oh sure,” Britt said. They moved ten feet away, so the water drained into the armoring area instead.

Never mind, Julie told herself. It’s a hot day. By next Saturday, it will all dry up. But why the heck can’t they hose their horses in their own area? Because they don’t want their area muddied up, that’s why. ‘Course they don’t mind muddying up our side. Well, we’re not here, so we shouldn’t mind. But she did.

“Did you hear about your mares?” Chris asked her as she went to find Kitty.

“No, what?”

“They got out last night. We were all having dinner at the Red Lobster and Zack called me. I left dinner and found them. They had pushed the side out on the little one’s stall. I nailed it back for you.”

“Hey, thanks. Hey, I’m really sorry they are such trouble for you. Leaving your lobster dinner and all.”

“No problem. Glad to help you out.” He waved his hand.

So much for Andrea “looking after the mares” Julie thought.

Julie heard the story again from Kitty, and as she was bedding the mares down for the night, Richard Orehick stopped by in his truck.

“Hi, Julie, how’s it going?”

“O.K., I guess.”

“Say, listen, I understand your horses keep getting out. I can’t have it. If they get out anymore, you’ll have to take them home.”

Julie almost exploded. It seemed that everyone wanted her to solve their little problem—from Andrea getting to be in the show to Devon getting money for his broken swords to Richard Orehick. Each person thought their problem was the only one she had to solve. It never occurred to them that she was being deluged by problems—and every single problem, she, alone, was expected to solve. No one ever said, ‘Hey, you did a good job, Julie. You bought creosote, you found Kitty, you made a videotape, you asked Kyle to stop hosing his horses there, you bought two good jousting horses, you trained them well, you did a good job with the show.’ No, they never said that. They just said, ‘There’s this problem I’ve noticed, and I want you to fix it.’

She sighed and answered Richard Orehick politely, “I know. I don’t want them getting out either, believe me.”

“Well, see that it doesn’t happen again.” He drove away. Julie heard Andrea giggling with Don on the other side of the fence. Her toes hurt. On the way home, it started to rain again.


----------



## knightrider

Brodar riding Sleipnir in a show. Behind is the fence we had so much fun on. You can see the ledges where we put our feet.


----------



## Change

Don't stop now!


----------



## knightrider

That evening, Frolf called. “Hello, Julie?” This is Ken, Frolf, and uh, I like, wondered if you would like to go out Friday night?”

“Oh yeah!” Julie said happily.

“Like a movie? Um, at the University?”

“Sounds fine.”

“Um, the seven-thirty show? Can I pick you up at seven?”

“Sounds good.”

“O.K. I’ll see you then. Bye.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

When she hung up, Julie whooped. “Yow-wheee! I got a date! I’m going to the movies with a boy!” She ran upstairs to decide which jeans and top to wear.

“I got a date with Frolf on Friday night,” she told Brodar as they drove out to see the horses on Thursday.

“You do? So he’s moving in on you, huh?”

“What’s that mean?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Are you still seeing Andrea?”

“I was never ‘seeing’ Andrea. I took her to a movie with a group of people, that’s all. She’s going with Lef.”

“Not any more, I’ll bet.”

“As a matter of fact, you’re right. They sort of broke up.”

“I could have predicted that.”

“So Andrea’s taking care of Shadow and Sleipnir?” Brodar’s thoughts jumped ahead.

“No, not really. Kitty says she rides them with Kyle and Britt but doesn’t clean the stalls or anything. She feeds them without telling Kitty, which is a problem. Kitty said Andrea did give them water once.”

“Hum.”

When they arrived, the mares were eager as ever to see them, but they could not find the bridles. Brodar finally found them in Chris’s tackroom, dried white salt around the ears and cheeks. Sleipnir’s bridle was broken. They found some leather thong, mended it, and went for a ride bareback in the fields alongside the Festival site.

“These are good horses. I love these horses.” Julie patted Sleipnir and straightened her flowing cream-colored mane.

“They’re good girls, all right,” Brodar agreed. “So what are you doing with Frolf tomorrow night?”

“A movie.”

“No dinner?”

“He didn’t say.”

“He better watch out.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.”

Julie was carefully dressed and ready when Frolf came to pick her up. She shyly introduced him to her parents and they walked out together to his car.

“The movie is Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Have you seen it?"

“No, but I like Star Trek. It sounds good.”

Julie could see Frolf was nervous and she was surprised. Funny, crazy Frolf who always acted the clown was shy? She tried to put him at ease as they chatted about the Festival, their friends, and the horses.

“Are you hungry? Want something to eat? I don’t have much money.”

“Um, no, no thanks. That’s O.K.” Julie answered.

When they sat down in the theater, Frolf took her hand. Julie wanted to cheer.

“Cold hands!” he exclaimed. “Mine are sweating. Sorry.”

“It’s O.K.” Why did she make him so uncomfortable and how could she put him at ease?

They watched the movie holding hands and he kept her hand as they walked back to his car, discussing the movie. Now he was beginning to relax, becoming the Frolf she thought she knew. He joked with her and made up silly rhymes. She was enjoying herself.

“Now I’m starving,” Frolf said as they got into the car. “Want to eat something? I do.”

“Sure. O.K.”

Julie ordered a chocolate shake as Frolf got some burgers. He left the radio playing as they sat in the car, eating, a light mist covering the windshield.

“It’s raining again,” Julie said sadly. “The stalls will be a disaster.”

“Hey, I heard you aren’t coming on Monday.”


“No. I’m going sailing with my family. It’s my dad’s birthday.”

“Too bad. We’ll miss you.”

“Thanks.”

Julie felt warm and comfortable in the haven of the car, as headlights flashed by them, tires swished on the wet pavement, and the radio played softly.

“Shaaa-ree, Sherry Baa-Bee,” Frolf sang in a falsetto voice, imitating the Four Seasons as the song came on the radio.

Julie smiled at him, sipping on her milkshake.

“That was my song, once,” Frolf said. “I used to sing that to my girlfriend.”

“Her name was Sherry?”

“Yes. Sherry Torthveld. She was a Marklander. I met her two years ago at a feast.”

“Uh huh.”

“She blew my mind as soon as I met her. She like gave me a big kiss and pressed her thigh between my legs. Ummmm. I would have followed her anywhere.”

“Uh huh.”

“We talked a lot at the feast and I asked her out. We went together for about a year. Then things started to like go sour.”

“Yeah?” Julie was starting to enjoy the fact that he was confiding in her, so close and intimate in the quiet car alone.

“She said she wanted to like break up. She started seeing another guy. Then one day, actually it was one night, I like took her to an Oriole’s game. She still had my ring at the time, my high school ring, and we started arguing. She said, ‘This is what I think of your ring,’ and she threw it onto the field.”

“She threw it away?” Julie was horrified.

“Yeah, like right down onto the ball field.”


“What happened?”

“I never got it back. I don’t have a high school ring.”

Julie looked down at her own ring. “That’s awful.”

“Yes, but I like a woman with passion. Sherry had passion . . . and the sexiest kisses. Um, um, she was something else.”

Suddenly, Julie felt terrible. Frolf wasn’t happy and close and intimate. He was wishing he was with Sherry. Julie thought about her own flat, awkward, skinny body and her lack of sensuality. No doubt, Frolf was sorry he had taken her to the movie, sorry he was with her, and not with Sherry. Sherry was voluptuous and passionate—everything Julie was not. Julie felt gawky and ugly and undesired.

“Well, I guess I’ve got to get you home.” Frolf crumpled up his hamburger papers and started the car. “Good movie, huh?”

“Yes, I liked it,” Julie said softly.

When he walked her to her door, he gave her a quick kiss. “Good night, Julie, thanks,” he murmured.

Thanks for what, Julie thought as she closed the door. You were sorry you got stuck with me tonight. Some first date. Huh.

As she got ready for bed, she thought about what Frolf had said. It didn’t bother him at all that Sherry had thrown out his high school ring. He seemed proud of it. And Brodar said he liked Andrea to use him. Men are crazy, she thought. They seem to enjoy self-centered, manipulative women. They call it passion or sensuality. She thought of some of the ruthless, egotistical girls she knew in high school. They always had plenty of dates and boyfriends. She remembered popular songs that glorified that type of girl. Men like that, I guess. I’ll never be like that. I couldn’t live with myself if I was. I guess that’s why no boy will ever want me.

Saturday morning Brodar arrived as Julie was filling the haynets.

“How’s that foot?” he greeted her.

“Not too bad. I can get my leather riding boots on, so I’ll wear them for the shows.”

“O.K. What do you want to load first?”

“Those hay nets.”

Julie was not looking forward to seeing Frolf. No doubt he’d be regretting wasting his precious money on her. 

“How was your date?” Brodar asked as they piled in swords and shields.

“It was O.K.” Julie said.

“He didn’t get fresh with you?”

“Of course not!”

“He better not.”

“Yes, Daddy,” Julie teased him.

When they arrived at the site and got things unloaded, it was time for cast call. Julie saw Frolf as she was walking back.

“Hi Frolf,” she said quickly and hurried away.

“Well, hi Bjar.” He looked puzzled.

Rienna was busy currying the mud from Sleipnir’s flank.

“What a mess,” Julie commented.

“This week of rain hasn’t helped much.”

“I guess I’ll work on these stalls. Where’s Andrea?”

“I don’t know. Last I saw, she was helping Kyle tack up Molly.”

The horses were coated with mud, the stalls filthy, and Andrea was helping Kyle. Julie was really annoyed. Julie hoped the Knights of the Nearly Round Table would miss her a lot on Monday with just Rienna to do all the work.

The Skraelings were putting on feed sacks and pretending to be pioneer women fighting off Indians. Mjollnir climbed to the roof of their shed looking for Apaches. Julie couldn’t stay resentful for long. They were just too funny.

“Surprise attack!” Gobie shouted and jumped from the fence onto Jennings, ripping his feed sack dress.

“You beast! You monster!” Jennings hit him with his pouch like an old lady with her purse.

Frolf, Sven, and Loth surrounded him snarling like a pack of wolves as Jennings cowered. Frolf scrambled on all fours to the corner post and lifted his leg.

Julie collapsed on the prop trunk, laughing.

Jake, the gatekeeper, popped his head in. “You guys are funnier than anything in the Festival.”

The shows went well. No one was hurt, and no one’s weapons broke. Everyone was pleased with their day.


----------



## gottatrot

That is some crazy riding in the photos!

Julie reminds me a little of Anne Elliot in the Jane Austen novel Persuasion. She is a favorite character for my sister and I both, being always overlooked and undervalued. "Oh Anne," everyone says, as they lean on her and depend on her without being grateful for everything she does.


----------



## knightrider

This is my last entry until Monday. More is coming. I won't be around for 6 days because I am camping with the horses in Ocala National Forest. Don't give up on me, OK? I SO appreciate all your comments!!!


After the last show, Julie and Rienna sat in the booth cleaning bridles. Suddenly the gorgeous juggler from Pandemonium appeared from around the fence.

“Hi big fella,” he greeted Sleipnir. “You’re a handsome thing.”

Julie’s heart stopped. The most fabulous guy in the whole Ren Fair was talking to her horse!

“Hi.” She stood up and walked over to Sleipnir.

“Hi, these your horses?”

“Yes.”

“Nice horses. What’s his name?”

“Sleipnir. It’s a girl.”

“Oh.”

“I saw your show. It was great.”

The man’s face lit up. “Really? You liked it?”

“Oh yeah. I loved it.”


“Bet your show’s good too. It must be great riding horses.”

What a face! What teeth! What a smile! What a body! Julie was enthralled.

“Want to go riding sometime?” she choked out.

“Oh, yeah, I’d love it!”

“Today? After the fair?”

“Today? Oh wow. I’d love to. Can my buddy come too?”

“Oh, sure. We’ve got lots of horses,” she gestured.

“Hey, this is great. I can’t believe it. This is great. Where’re you from?”

“Around here. How about you?”

“Connecticut. My buddies and I just come to Maryland for the Ren Fair.”

“What do you do in Connecticut?”

“Street work. You know, juggling on the streets.”

“How neat.”

“It’s O.K. I like it. Well, I gotta go. I got a four o’clock show. See you around six.”

“Right. See ya.” Julie waltzed back to Rienna. She couldn’t believe the handsomest guy in the whole Festival was going riding with her. Ren Fair was glorious!

Devon helped Julie load the props before Chris’s five-thirty show. Julie wanted to have everything ready to go home before the gorgeous juggler came to ride. Then they could ride a long time while Brodar flirted with the ice cream girls. While they were loading, Julie noticed the little blonde gypsy dancer Stacey nestled close to Gobie on the prop trunk. Stacey’s costume was a tiny bikini bodice and fluffy gauzy pants with coins that jingled when she swiveled her hips. Oh well, there goes Gobie, Julie thought. Guess I don’t have a chance with him now.

For some reason all the Knights of the Nearly Round Table usually watched Chris’s five-thirty show, perhaps to see what Chris did best, or maybe to see what he did worst. Sometimes his horses wouldn’t joust, and his fellows never fought as well as the Skraelings did.

At last the festival ended with the final canon, and Julie changed into her shirt and jeans. Soon, the juggler came around the fence with his friend.

“Hi, this is Steve,” he greeted her.

“I’m Julie,” she said eagerly.

“And I’m Rob.”

“Isn’t there another one?” she asked. “Aren’t there three of you in the show?”

“Yes, Will. Oh, he wanted to come so bad. He was so envious of us, but he does magic shows on Saturday night and he had to go to that job. He wants to come another time on a Sunday.

“Of course. Sure!” Julie studied Steve. He was fine looking in his own right, dark hair and green eyes and a cute dimple in his chin, and she would have stared at him if she’d seen him on the street, but next to Rob, well, Rob was better looking than any movie star.

“So,” she said briskly, shaking away her daydreams. “We left their saddles on. You pick the one you want to ride. I’m riding Shadow,” she gestured.

Rob said, “Well, I’ve never ridden before. I’ll take a gentle one. Which one is gentle?

“That’s Brielle, the white one. She’s mine. And you?” she asked Steve.

“I only rode once or twice. I know how to get on and stuff, but I can’t really ride.”

Julie had to smile at their Connecticut accents. How cute they were! “How about Trojan then? He’s a bit spirited, but he’s real fun to ride if you don’t panic.”

“Don’t panic, she says, don’t panic! Is there cause for panic?” Steve asked.

Julie laughed. “No, you’ll be fine.”

They mounted up and rode out to the parking lot field. Festival patrons were still straggling to their cars.

“Mommy, look! Horsies!” a child called.

“This is great!” Rob enthused. “This is wonderful. You don’t know how much I love this!”

“It’s a pleasure to take you,” Julie said happily.

“Look at them riding,” a girl said to her boyfriend, envy all over her face.

Julie grinned. You bet!

They made a wide sweep around the parking lot field while Steve and Rob looked ecstatic. Julie had never seen such enthusiasm from beginning riders.

“Can we ride up this hill?” Rob pointed.

“What happens if we trot?” Steve asked.

Julie replied, “Do you want to trot?”

“What do you do at a trot?” Rob wanted to know.

“You just sit and relax to begin with. If you ride more, I can teach you something else.”

“Ride more? You mean we can ride again sometime?”

“Oh, sure, you can ride tomorrow if you want.”

“Hey, this is wonderful. This is great. You don’t know how wonderful this is,” Rob said, bouncing on the saddle as they began to trot. “This is weird. What do you do with this trotting?”

“Relax your stomach. Just relax.”

“Look at Steve. Steve is great,” Rob cheered.

“You’re great too. You both are fine.” Julie had never let such raw beginners do so much trotting, but the two jugglers were balancing perfectly. Trojan, excited by the trotting, broke into a canter which soon became a gallop. “Sit down,” Julie called. “Pull back evenly with both hands. Sit down.”

Steve brought Trojan back to a trot, grinning from ear to ear. “Hey, I love this! You say we can go again tomorrow?”

“Sure. Same time?”

“Oh, great. We’ll bring Will tomorrow. He’ll love it.

Reluctantly, they brought their horses back to the stalls as the sunset streaked the sky into an orange glow.

“Oh, Julie, thanks so much. This was marvelous. This is the best thing that’s happened to me in Maryland.” Rob grinned at her.

Julie glowed with joy.

“Say, Bjarki, can I take Stacey out on the horses?” Gobie asked.

“Oh, oh sure,” Julie said, feeling a twinge of worry. Gobie was not a good rider and she could see Stacey, on Sleipnir, didn’t even know how to hold the reins. “But just walk, O.K.?”

She knew Gobie might be annoyed that she had taken Rob and Steve trotting and cantering. But they were her horses. She did know the animals and could judge a good rider from a bad one. Actually, the headiness of taking two gorgeous guys, professional entertainers, horseback riding had been overwhelming to Julie. She knew she hadn’t used good judgement letting them ride so fast. But there were no mishaps.

She began to untack Shadow. After Carla’s fiasco, she didn’t let any squires ride Shadow outside the arena.

“Stacey’s fallen off!” she heard Devon say. She scooted out to the parking lot. A group of Skraelings escorted Gobie and Stacey, now afoot, back to their camp.

“The saddle fell off,” said Stacey with a trace of irritation. “Someone didn’t put it on properly.”

Julie bit her tongue before she made a comment about riders checking their girths before they mount. She probably had reminded the squires to check their girths before mounting every single lesson since March. But . . . they forgot, of course. Julie replaced the saddle quickly and watched Stacey remount. “Just walk, Gobie, please?” Julie pleaded.

“We were trying to walk before, but Brielle just took off.”

Julie couldn’t imagine gentle Brielle taking off unless the rider was extremely incompetent, but she didn’t say anything. “We have to go pretty soon,” Julie said.

“Yeah, like we’ll only ride around here a little bit. Stacey has to go anyway.”

“O.K.” Julie checked around for last minute things in the gathering darkness. She found her mug and a bandana.

“Hey, cute guys you were with,” Andrea grinned at her.

“They’re the jugglers from Pandemonium.”

“I know!”

“Who were those guys?” Mjollnir asked.

“The jugglers who do the Pandemonium show.”

“Oooooo-wheeeee baby!” said Frolf.


----------



## Knave

Have so much fun!


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## AnitaAnne

@knightrider have a great time camping! 

The pictures are fabulous and a great addition to the story. This should be published!! 

While you are gone I may just re-read everything :smile:


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## Caledonian

Too much fun to give up on the story. 

I admit that I hate camping but I could definitely be persuaded to go if the horses came as well. Have fun


We had the International Medieval Combat Federation World Championships at Scone Palace the weekend before last.

I didn’t see jousting listed as a class but I was aiming to go and watch the archery and see the rest of the horses. 

In the end I had to work so, sadly, I missed it, although I did see some good photos, including the USA team. I’m hoping to get along to the next Jousting event at Linlithgow Palace in a couple of months. It's amazing to see them in person.


----------



## GMA100

I’ve been counting the days! And Monday is *finally* here!!! I hope you had fun camping!


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## knightrider

You guys are so SO encouraging. It means a lot to me. Camping with the horses, swimming them in the lake, going swimming ourselves was the best ever. The trails were lovely, the weather delightful, the horses all well behaved! I look forward to it every year, and this year was everything I hoped for.


Gobie and Stacey came back on the horses and Julie hurried to untack them. She wondered where Brodar and Rienna were and why no one else was helping. People always seemed ready to ride, but when horses needed to be untacked and saddles stowed, she was frequently alone. Faithful Devon appeared from the darkness and helped her lug the saddles to Brodar’s car. Then they sponged the horses briefly and fed the mares.

Finally, Brodar and Rienna showed up, and Julie tumbled into the car, exhausted but happy. Doing Ren Fair was great.

“You’re quiet tonight,” Brodar commented. “Tired?”

“Yes, very. My toes hurt.”

“I’ll bet. Good shows today, though.”

“Yeah, good, good day.” She dozed as Brodar drove through the darkness.

Chapter 9

Sunday was blisteringly hot and muggy. Everyone was moving in slow motion at a low energy level. Moving felt like swimming through the heavy air. The horses were wet with sweat standing in their stalls.

After cast call, Julie sat with Jake, the elderly gate keeper, on his bench to watch the fair come alive.

“This is my favorite time of the fair,” she told Jake.

“Mine too, I guess.”

“Want a peach?”

“Why, sure. Thank you kindly.”

They ate their peaches and watched the gypsies dance, the jesters greet the incoming crowds, and the stilt walkers. Newton brought his elephant through the back gate.

“Hi Newton,” Julie called.

“Hi Bjarki,” he answered. “Hot day today.”

“Sure is.”

She was glad to be there, glad to be a part of it, and sorry she would miss it tomorrow.

“Well, got to go, Jake.” Julie got up slowly. “Got work to do.”

“Right. Have a good one, Bjarki.”

“You too, Jake.”

She and Rienna brushed the damp horses and delayed as long as they might, before putting on the hot trappings.

Between shows, Julie wandered in the shade of the trees among the craft booths. At a hat booth, she saw a beautiful black cat crouched in the bushes.

“Puss, puss,” she whispered, wiggling her fingers. “Here, pretty kitty.”

The owner stepped out of her pavilion. “That’s our kitty Maren.”

“She’s beautiful,” Julie said.

“She was a stray here three years ago, so we kept her. We named her Maren for Maryland Ren Fair. Ma-ren. She likes you.”

Maren rolled on her back and batted Julie’s fingers.

“Nice hats you have. I see they are really popular,” Julie said.

“Oh, you like them?” The owner looked pleased.

“Yes, I’d like to buy one for Brodar. He’s been wanting a black one with a red feather.”

“Those are twenty dollars, but for a performer, you get it for eighteen.”

“I’ll come back when I have the money.”

“It’ll be here.”

“Bye Maren.” She stooped for one last pat of the black kitty.

How right she felt here. Everyone was so friendly. She loved it.

Back at camp, the Skraelings were armoring up for the last show. Gobie was singing.

“Aaaamen. Aaaamen. Aaaamen. Aeeemen. Aeeemen.”

“Stop your singing,” Frolf sang to the part that would have been “Halleluia.”

“Stop . . . your singing, stop . . . your singing . . . stop your singing,” Jennings sang to the same tune.

“Anyone seen my water jug?” Loth interrupted.

“Seen . . . his water jug, seen . . . his water jug, seen . . . his water jug, seen his water jug, seen his water jug,” Julie and Frolf sang together. Sven and Jennings joined in.

“Why don’t you stop repeating everything?” Gobie said.

“Stop . . . repeating everything, stop . . . repeating everything, stop repeating everything, stop repeating everything, stop repeating everything.” They sang it through.

“Jeez, a guy can’t say anything around here.”

“Can’t . . . say anything around here, cant . . . say anything around here, can’t say anything, can’t say anything, can’t say anything,” they sang.

“You guys are crazy!” Britt shouted over the fence.

“Guys . . . are crazy, guys . . . are crazy, guys are crazy, guys are crazy, guys are crazy.”

By now, everyone in the camp was shouting it at the top of their lungs.

Paul Asego swung under the barrier, unmindful of their grins. “Anybody seen my lunch? I had it in a . . . “

“Seen . . . his lunch, seen . . . his lunch, seen his lunch, seen his lunch, seen his lunch. Halleluia.”

Frolf suddenly pulled Jennings’ spare underpants on top of his head. “Look at me. I’m a baker!” Everyone howled with laughter.

Although it was hot and muggy, the three o’clock show came off surprisingly well. Loth’s sword broke, but there were no other mishaps. Since she wasn’t working the Labor Day show, Julie wanted to make the most of her Ren Fair day.

“Who wants to work Chris’s 3:30 show?” Brodar was calling.

“Hey, we’re all tired! It’s really hot. We don’t want to work his stupid show!” the guys yelled back.

“I’ll do it,” Julie said. Maybe she should set a good example. The contract had said squires and she wasn’t a squire, but maybe they would rather have her than nobody.

“I’ll go too,” Loth muttered.

Working Chris’s shows consisted of hanging quintain rings, setting apples on posts, and cheering for his knights. Since Bill was the friendliest, Julie cheered loudest for him. Working the show wasn’t bad. Grubbing around in the dust in front of a crowd when you were used to riding wasn’t much fun, but it was O.K. When Chris’s show was over, he thanked her for helping, though she noticed he didn’t thank Loth who also helped.

The squires were joking desultorily in the heat when Julie ambled back to camp. Remembering Devon’s comments the week before, she asked, “Anyone want to ride?” hoping they didn’t. The poor horses were hot and tired.

“Oh yeah!”

“I do.”

“Sure!” came the squires’ voices.

Rienna and Devon had removed all the saddles from the sweaty animals, so Julie hitched up her skirt and tacked them up again. After the squires sorted out who was riding which horse, Julie escorted them out to the list. She knew she should stay and supervise, but the sun was so hot, and she was so tired of working with horses. She really wanted to see the fair. It was fun to chat with the hat lady or sit in Kitty’s booth and watch her make glass ornaments or watch Pandemonium in the shade. She noticed the mud show going on right next to the jousting list. She had heard a lot about the mud show but hadn’t seen it. She wandered over and sat down on a straw bale seat to watch.

Three quarters of the way through the show, she left. It was a funny show, and well-done, but the mud beggars, as they were called, performed disgusting antics like crawling in mud, eating mud, and burying themselves in mud, breathing out of straws in their noses. The depravity of it all bothered her, especially since they asked for more and more money to do more sickening stunts. People clapped and howled enthusiastically.

Julie made her way back up to the list. Lef was the only rider left, cantering Trojan up and down the list pretending to joust. “It’s awful hot, Lef, and Trojan is soaked. I think you better just walk him,” she cautioned. “And then take off his saddle and bridle and wash him when you’re done.”

Brielle, Shadow, and Sleipnir stood sweating in their stalls, saddles and bridles abandoned on them, no squires in sight. With a sigh, Julie pulled off the tack and sponged the tired horses.

She sauntered out to the craft booths and saw Brodar and Rienna giggling and sharing a frozen mousse together. Further along, Frolf was hanging over the Coke booth whispering something to the buxom Coke girl. She jumped back, screeching with laughter. In the oppressive heat, the magic of the fair seemed gone for Julie. She wished the day were over, and she was glad she’d be out sailing on the cool, pleasant river the next day.

She stopped to watch a hawk demonstration. After the show the hawk lady smiled at her and told her how much she liked their jousting show. Feeling better, Julie chatted with the man who ran the pony rides. He had forty ponies on his pony farm. He was running three different concessions that day—a county fair, this Ren Fair, and a firemen’s carnival. He told her about the ponies he had there and some other funny stories about ponies, and she felt more cheerful. She realized that people were still friendly and nice at the Ren Fair. Julie knew she was making friends. Just not quite the friends she thought she would make.

At 5:00 she wandered over to watch Pandemonium do their show, and Rob winked at her as he juggled on his unicycle. She grinned. They had some funny lines in their show. She wondered if they could help her make the jousting show more humorous. Those Skraelings were so funny, but not in front of an audience. When the juggling show ended, Julie stepped to the back of the juggler’s stage.

“Gosh, you’re hot!” I thought I was hot!” she exclaimed. The sweat was dripping from their faces.

“Too hot to ride?” Rob looked crestfallen.

“Oh, no, especially not at six. It will be cooling down by then.”

“Oh great, wonderful. Because Will’s coming too. This is Will.”

“Hi, pleased ta meet ya.”

Will was a snappy smiling redhead. He wore a red clown nose in the show, and though his looks weren’t dazzling like Rob and Steve, he was plenty cute. She wished he didn’t wear the clown nose.

“So, you like our show?” Will said cheerfully.

“Oh, it’s the best show at the fair!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry we haven’t seen yours yet.”

“I can understand why. After you get done doing that, you must be beat.”

“It’s not too bad. It’s pretty fun.”

Rob broke in. “Audience was off today, though. Really flat.”

“Ours too. Really dead,” Julie agreed.

“It’s this heat. We’re not used to this heat. Feels like you’re breathin’ water,” Will exclaimed.

“Today’s a bad one. And you still got tomorrow,” Julie said.

“Oh, that’ll be a killer.”

“So, we can still go riding? Great. We may be a few minutes after six. We got to put all this stuff in Steve’s truck,” Rob said.

“That’s O.K. I’ll be around,”

“Great. We’ll see ya then.”

She waved and walked away. By now Chris’s 5:30 show was under way, but she didn’t feel like watching it. Instead she watched a lady juggle cigar boxes, and part of a puppet show.

“Hi.” Stacey sat down on Julie’s straw bale at the puppet show. “Thanks for letting me ride yesterday. It was great.”

“Glad you had fun.”

“Oh, I did. I don’t care about falling off. Can I go riding again sometime?”

“Sure.”

“Hey, thanks! Well, I better go. I got stuff to put away. Bye!”


----------



## knightrider

The Fair ended for the day and as the crowd started for the exits, Julie headed back to the horses to saddle up one last time.

Trojan was still saddled. Of course, Lef had forgotten to untack him, and although Julie felt sorry for Trojan, she was relieved she didn’t have to saddle him too.

Gobie was resting on the prop trunk and jumped up to help her put on the tack.

“Can I ride some?” he asked.

“Yeah. How about Sleipnir?”

“Well, I was hoping to ride Trojan.”

Poor Trojan, Julie thought.

“O.K. I guess so, but no cantering. He so tired, and he has to work tomorrow.”

“Well, I could ride Brielle then. She won’t be going tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that would be better.” Gobie was so nice. She wished he would like her again, but now he was interested in Stacey. Well, Stacey was blonde and cute, and a dancer. Julie could never compete with that.

Brodar and Rienna came back from Chris’s show.

“How was it?” Julie asked.

“It was pretty good,” Brodar said.

“Is the list clear? Can Gobie ride there?”

“Yes, Chris’s guys have finished.”

Julie needn’t have asked. Soon Andrea was bringing Chris’s horses over to wash them off with the hose. She was careful, Julie noticed, to wash them where the water didn’t drain onto anyone’s things.

Frolf and Jennings lurched in hooting and howling. “Do you know me? I carry American Express. Don’t leave home without it.”

Frolf reached into the cooler, pulled out a bag of crushed ice, and set it on top of his head. “Hey, I’m a sno cone!”

“But, you need flavor on a sno cone.” Sven emptied a can of root beer on top of the crushed ice.

They saw Julie. “I’m bored!” Jennings shouted, imitating Julie’s pretended British accent that she used for the show.

“I wish to go to the fay-ah,” Frolf repeated Julie’s lines. Julie kicked him, and he fell over into the sawdust pile.

Jennings began to jump and twitch, and as Julie turned to watch him, Frolf grabbed her ankle, tumbling her into the sawdust. 

Andrea gave the group her forty-four-year-old-condescending-sophisticated-smile.

“If everybody had a surfboard,
“Cross the U.S.A.
“Then everybody’d be surfin’
“Like Califor-ni-a!” sang Sven as he dragged a clothesline attached to a piece of scrap plywood. Mjollnir aped a surfing posture on the board.

“Now, to shoot the curl!” shouted Sven, and jerked the board, flipping Mjollnir into the sawdust pile with Frolf and Julie.

Julie wondered if Chris ever thought one silly pile of sawdust would create so much fun. It was surely fun, no matter what kind of supercilious look Andrea might give them.

For a moment, she felt sorry for Rienna, who only watched them, and laughed, but didn’t join in. Then she remembered that Rienna had Brodar.

Julie was still sitting in the sawdust pile when Rob and Steve and Will came around the fence.

“Hi!” She jumped up, brushing away the sawdust that clung to every sweaty pore. “Yow, I’m a mess. Our jousting group is really crazy.”

“Face it. You love us!” Jennings grinned at her.

She touched his cheek. “Yes, I do.”

She turned to the jugglers. “You want to try different horses today?”

“I don’t know. I sort of got used to Brielle,” Rob said.

“What kind of rider are you?” Julie asked Will.

“I’ve ridden a little,” Will said.

“Then why don’t you ride Sleipnir and we’ll ride the ones we rode yesterday. You can get your horses out and I’ll go get Gobie and Brielle.”

Moments later they were heading down the parking field as the jugglers exclaimed their delight.

“Ooooh, I love this!” Will called out. “Look you poor slobs down there. You’re walkin’ and I’m ridin’!”

Julie crinkled her eyes at Rob. “He really gets into this, doesn’t he?”

“What’s this? What’s he doin’?” Will asked as Sleipnir jerked her head.

“It’s a she, and she’s trying to eat grass. Don’t let her put her head down. Sleipnir’s a pig.”

“Wow, she’s tough.”

“She is tough. Jerk her mouth, that’s the way. Don’t be afraid to jerk her when she’s being bad.”

“O.K., O.K., this is marvelous. Hey, I always wanted to do this,” Will said happily.

“Can we trot?” Steve asked as Trojan arched his proud neck.

“Well, I guess so. Let’s steer clear of that man with the baby stroller,” Julie said. She wondered if Richard Orehick would get after her for riding when there were still patrons about.

They began to trot, a clump of four horses, and Trojan broke into a canter, streaming ahead.

“Oh, this is wonderful. I never thought I could be doing this,” Rob said.

Julie felt wild and crazy and reckless. “Do you want to canter?”

“Oh yeah, can I?”

She urged Shadow into a canter and Brielle followed suit the very next stride, with Sleipnir close behind. It was madness, allowing beginners to canter in an open field, especially with pedestrians about. But Julie was giddy with madness. She was part of a wonderful, exciting, exhausting, exhilarating Ren Fair show. She was really a part of it, and gatekeepers and entertainers knew her name.

They cantered to the top of the rise and pulled up.

“Yeow! I love it!” Rob shouted.

“This is fabulous!”

“Wonderful!” the others agreed.

“We better walk now for a while. It’s still sorta hot, and these poor horses have worked all day.”

They walked, and Steve and Rob and Will told her of their adventures working in Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus where they had originally met. They had all been clowns for Ringling Brothers. They told her funny things that had happened working in the circus, and sad and tedious times too. Too soon it was dark, and they had to head back.

Julie realized for one small, barely perceptible moment she had not missed Brodar. For almost a year now, the ache for Brodar had been such a part of her life, she had grown used to it. Could it be possible that she might get over him?

When everything was loaded, and they were in the car alone together, she studied his noble, handsome face. No, she would never get over Brodar. Not if she lived to be a hundred years old. Not gorgeous Rob, nor handsome Steve, nor even cute funny Frolf could ever take Brodar’s place in her heart. His face would be her face for ever and ever. 

“I noticed Frolf hanging all over that Coke girl, what’s her name, Evelyn,” Brodar said.

“Yeah,” Julie said quietly. “Looks like you’re getting along real well with Rienna.”

“We’re friends. We have a lot in common.”

Julie couldn’t think of any answer. She was too tired and afraid she might start a quarrel with Brodar. Of course, Frolf would hang on the Coke girl. He liked hot blooded passionate women. He wouldn’t be interested in Julie. He probably asked her out that one time because he felt sorry for her. But she’d feel bad about it tomorrow. Tonight, she was just too tired.


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## knightrider

Brodar on Sleipnir


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## AnitaAnne

So happy you are back to writing! I love the story and the pictures bring it to life. 

I noticed in the picture that Sleipnir has her eyes closed; do you supposed she was scared to ride down the list so cantered with her eyes closed?


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## knightrider

She slept late on Monday, getting up just in time to feed and care for the horses before Brodar arrived to take Trojan. She felt a twinge of sadness watching him drive away without her, and a twinge of relief that she didn’t have endless responsibilities to deal with all day. Nothing to do all day but enjoy the sunshine, cool breezes, and sailing. It would be a welcome relief.

As the day passed on the boat, she thought about the Ren Fair crew. Did Brodar get Strider on time? Was Rienna able to get the horses ready without help? Did they miss her? And the unthinkable thought—did they like Andrea better than her?

In the middle of the afternoon, it began to rain, and Julie was secretly glad they came in early from the sail. She wanted to be home when Brodar returned.

The family arrived home about six, had a light supper, and drifted off to do their own things.

“Why don’t you go for a short ride on Brielle? You still have plenty of light.” Julie’s mother noticed Julie’s restlessness. 

“Nah, I’m kind of tired of horses. I’m glad I’m not around ‘em today.” Actually, Julie rather expected Brodar home around 7:30 and she wanted to be there when he got home.

Seven-thirty came and went. And eight-thirty, and Julie grew annoyed, then angry. He’s having so much fun with Andrea, he can’t be bothered to bring Trojan home at a decent hour. It’s been raining for hours. I can’t imagine they would linger at the Festival in the rain. Unless he wanted an excuse to be with Andrea. Little, self-centered, conniving, selfish snot. Julie knew really that Andrea wasn’t any of those things. She was just immature and thoughtless. It didn’t occur to her that begging to be in the show was unfair. That asking Brodar to go get her horse was using him. That hanging with Chris’s group was cruel. That dumping Lef for Kyle was cold. It was what she wanted, and she would have been surprised if someone had told her she was hurting people. ‘If it feels good, do it’ was probably her motto, and she didn’t think about who she stepped on along the way.

Julie was sorting through her notebooks and going over her class schedule when Brodar pulled in with the trailer.

“Where have you been?” Julie ran out in the rain.

“Taking Strider home. You knew that,” he answered shortly.

“I expected you home hours ago.”

“It’s only an hour later than we usually get in. You knew I had to take Strider back.”

“We usually take people riding after the fair.”

“We did.”

“In the rain?”

“It wasn’t raining. It just started raining like this about an hour ago.”

Julie was surprised. “It’s been raining here since two o’clock.”

“Gosh, we didn’t get any rain until about six, and then it was just a light mist.”

Julie felt very ashamed. She had no right to be angry and jealous. It was Brodar’s horse and Brodar’s trailer. Why did she think he owed her anything? Because she secretly hoped he’d miss her and be anxious to get back and tell her about the day. “It just wasn’t Ren Fair without you” she wanted him to say. “It wasn’t really much fun, so I came on home.” That’s what she would have done, if she had gone without him. Instead, he laughed and played and had a great time without her.

“Well, how did it go?” she asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

“It went great. Strider was fine. Andrea did a great job. Everything was fine.”

“Good. Then you can do without me a lot,” Julie said tightly.

“Why? Don’t you want to do it anymore?”

“No. I enjoyed not going. It was great. Since Andrea’s so perfect, you can just use her instead. I’m starting college tomorrow, and I’ll probably be too busy to do much Ren Fair. I’m sure Andrea will take great care of the mares. It will be a good excuse for her to be near Kyle all the time. And you obviously don’t mind picking Andrea up every day. So, I think it will work out fine.”

Brodar’s face was white. “I think I’ll go,” he said softly.

Julie realized that she was being catty and petty and cruel. But she hurt so bad! And he just didn’t care!

“I’ll help you unload Trojan.”

They unloaded the horse, fed him, and brought in the tack and equipment without talking.

“It wasn’t all perfect. Some things did go wrong,” Brodar said quietly as Julie sorted through the dirty trappings and tabbards to put them in the washing machine.

“What went wrong?” she asked gently.

“To begin with, Andrea didn’t really say how far Strider was from the site. It’s a long drive.”

There’s a lot of things Andrea doesn’t say, Julie felt like answering, but she bit her tongue.

“I had to drive down this long muddy rutted farm lane. It was a mess. Then Strider wouldn’t load, and Andrea wasn’t any help loading him. At last we got him in, and I missed cast call. The mares got fed twice accidentally. I left a note saying, ‘Feed the mares,’ and Rienna fed the mares and left, and then Devon came along and fed the mares again.”

“I bet the mares loved it, those greedy things.”

“It didn’t seem to hurt them any.”

Julie put the load of laundry into the machine. “Let’s go upstairs. I’ll bet you didn’t get any supper.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Tell me about the rest of it while I fix you some food.”

“Rienna did great as Bjarki. All the horses were fine. Strider was sort of unschooled, but he did fine. It was a good day. Like I said, we didn’t get the rain.”

“So why don’t you use Andrea and Strider rather than me and Brielle? I’m sure they’re better.”

“I don’t want them. I want you in the show. You’re a part of us. We need you there.”

“Andrea is prettier and she’d probably let Strider live there on the site so you wouldn’t have to go get her every time.”

“Bjar, I don’t want to. I want you.” He gazed earnestly into her eyes and she wanted to throw herself into his arms. What could he mean?

“Andrea is nice and friendly and works hard,” Julie stumbled.

“But she’s not you.”

“No, she’s better than me.”

“Oh, Julie, how could you say that? I know Andrea was using me today. She hangs around Chris’s crew all the time. She really doesn’t want to help us. She’s not one of us. I didn’t mind letting her use me today. It was fun having her around. But not to take your place. Please stay with us, Bjar, please?”

Julie dropped her eyes. “O.K., I guess so. Parts of it are really fun. I really like it. But I get tired of doing all the horse work while everybody else plays.”

“Rienna helps a lot.”

“Yes, she does, but sometimes she hangs out with you, and I get stuck with it alone.”

“I know. She said that today. She means to help you more.” Brodar paused. “It will get better, Bjar. Today, when you weren’t there, the squires started really pitching in and helping. Even Sven was brushing a horse. It’s all coming together now. The shows are really starting to come together.”

Brodar touched her arm. “Oh, but one thing. Richard Orehick talked to me. We can’t ride the horses in the list when there is a mud show going on.”

“What!”

“The mud beggars complained to Richard. It seemed some patrons left the mud show to watch the squires riding. So, Richard said we can’t use the list while the mud beggars are doing their show.”

“Isn’t it just like those jerks!” Julie exploded. “People leave the show because it is disgusting and insulting, and the mud beggars blame it on the horses. What about the fact that the mud beggars run their show overtime every time, trying to get more money, and are doing their show on top of us?”

“I said something to Richard about that, and he said there was plenty enough crowd to go around and we mustn’t worry about it.”

“Plenty enough crowd for us, but not plenty enough crowd for them, it sounds like. Do you know who left the mud show to watch the squires riding on Sunday? I was there! A father and two little girls! That’s all! And they quibble over that! It’s pathetic.”

“I also talked to him about our squires not liking to do Chris’s shows. He said Chris hasn’t been happy with our squires either. The squires are too slow, and they aren’t very helpful.”

“Well, you get what you pay for in this world,” Julie said coldly. “He got them for free.”

“I said it was really tough to get guys to do the shows each time, and he said I should make up a schedule and post it so there would be no questions.”

“Good idea! The guys will hate it. I’m kinda scared to do it, but I guess it will work. I’m afraid the guys will say we’re not fair somehow.”

“They probably will, but it’s worth a try. Hey, you start college tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she said self-consciously.

“A university co-ed. Sounds great.”

“I’m scared.”

“Oh, don’t be.”

“I know where my classes are, the buildings and stuff. I’ve lived around here all my life, so I’m familiar with the University of Maryland, but still, going to college is a big step. And I hate limping around on this stupid foot.”

“Oh, your broken toes. You poor kid. I’d better let you get to bed. Big deal tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll see you in a day or two, huh?”

“Yeah. Good night.”

“Night, Bjarki.”


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## knightrider

Soon after Julie got home from her first day of school, the phone rang. It was Brodar.

“Hi, how’s the university co-ed?”

“It was O.K. It’s raining again, and traffic was impossible. I’m in that carpool, you know, so we got this special carpooler’s parking space which is great for Gina and Carrie, but about a mile from my first class.”

“How about your classes?”

“I think they’ll be O.K. One professor seems a little weird. I already got a lot of homework. Yuck.”

“Sounds like you had a rough day. Shall I come out and go riding?”

“Oh, I don’t know, it’s raining harder,” Julie answered dispiritedly. “But I’d love to see you. I mean, no, I don’t know. I mean, you probably don’t want to since it’s raining. I know you don’t like to ride in the rain and all.”

“No, I think I’d like to come out and ride.”

“But it’s Tuesday. You never come on Tuesdays because it’s Markland meeting.”

“You don’t want me to come? You have plans?”

“No, I’d love for you to come! But you said you’d see me in a couple of days, and it’s raining, and you have Markland meeting . . .”

“Well, I’d like to come.”

“Then come! I’d love to see you.”

“Good. I’ll be there soon. Want to go check on the girls in the rain?”

“Oh, I know we should, but I’m so tired of worrying about them. I’ll be going on Thursday. That’s day after tomorrow.”

“O.K. I’ll go with you.”

“Good. See you in a little bit?”

“Right. See ya soon. Bye.”

Julie was so glad to see Brodar, she ran out to his car to give him a hug.

“Hey!” he exclaimed. “What’s all this with the affection?”

“Oh, I’m glad to see you.” She hugged him again.

“School’s not so fun, huh?”

“No, it’s O.K. I think I’ll do O.K. I don’t know. I guess I’ve just had enough of rain.”

“Yeah. Me too. Ready to ride?”

“Um. Let’s go.”

As they rode bareback side by side, she told him about school and then, as always, their conversation turned to the Festival.

“Hey, Brodar, I had a great idea.”

“You are full of ideas.”

“Yeah but listen to this one. All those girls who keep asking you to let them in free? We’ll tell them they can get in free. But they have to work Chris’s shows. Guys too—like Cedric and Ragnar. They want in free? Sure, they can get in with our jousting team. But they have to work. Then our squires will get a little slack, too. Works out great for everybody.”

“Yeah. It sounds good.”

“Hope the mares are O.K. Think they’re O.K.? All this rain.”

“I don’t know. I hope so.”

“A little mud won’t kill ‘em, will it? It’s only for a few more days. Brodar, I’ve decided, after this week, I’m bringing ‘em home. I’ll keep them home all week, and they can just stay out there on the weekends. I can’t live like this anymore. This is awful.”

“You mean drive them out every weekend and bring them back?”

“Yeah, at least I’ll know they’re O.K. Also, I drive out there every day anyway. I should have just brought them back. I don’t know why I thought they could live out there. Except that other people do it all the time. My friend Lois kept five horses for years at a barn a mile or two from her house. Never had a problem. I don’t know why I can’t pull it off. But I can’t. I give up. I really do. I’m just trying to stick it out this week.”

“Let’s go get them now, want to?”

“Oh, I do, but I’m trying to stick it out this last week. Taking care of four horses and going to college will be a drag. But it’s a drag worrying about them every minute.”

“Poor Julie. You’re not having much fun at Ren Fair, are you?”

“No, I’m having fun,” she said thoughtfully. “It’s neat to be a main act at the fair. I’ve made lots of friends. I’ve learned a lot and the Skraelings are funny and I like them a lot.”

“But there are a lot of negatives.”

“I don’t even want to go into all the negatives. But you said last week when I was gone the squires really pitched in and worked. Things had to pull together because they couldn’t rely on me.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Maybe it will keep on pulling together.”

Chapter 10

On Thursday, Julie and Brodar drove out to check on “the girls” as Brodar liked to call them. When they got there, the mares, as usual, were standing deep in filth, but everything else looked all right.

“Just a few more days, ladies,” Julie told them, “and you’ll be coming home to live. No more mud, no more extra feedings and then running out of food.”

“Hi, Chris, how’s it going?” Brodar said.

“Your little mare got out again yesterday,” Chris said.

“What happened?”

“Somebody’s tarp blew off in the storm and happened to land in the little mare’s stall. She just jumped clean out.”

Julie gave Shadow a hug. “Poor little girl! It must have scared you to death. I don’t see any marks on her. How do you know she jumped out?”

“Don saw her. He said she just rose up on her hind legs and jumped out.”

“Well, she’s quite a jumper, isn’t she? I sure appreciate your catching her and putting her back.”

“No problem. Glad I could help.”

“I’ve brought some extra hay. It seems we keep running out of hay. I don’t understand it, but I’ve been bringing extra. I’d like to give you some, you’ve been so good about watching out for our mares.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I’d like to.”

“Then thank you kindly.”

“You’re very welcome and thank you. After this weekend, I’ll be keeping them at home. It’s just not working out here.”

“I never understood why you kept them here.” Chris waved and sauntered away.

“That’s odd,” Julie said to Brodar. “He keeps his horses here.”

“But he lives here.”

“This whole Ren Fair is not working out like we figured,” Julie said.

“No, but it’s coming together, like you said on Tuesday.”

“Yes, this next weekend should be much better.”

Julie was right. The next weekend went fairly smoothly. Several girls did show up, which Julie scheduled to work at Chris’s shows. Instead of minding, they seemed to enjoy having a job in the festival. Cedric came to fight with the squires in the 3:00 show, and he also worked one of Chris’s shows. The squires reacted well to the schedule Julie had devised. She had made up three weeks’ worth, hoping the squires would see that she had made it as fair as she could.

The next problem was finding a place for the squires to ride while the mud shows were going on, and while Chris was doing his shows in the list. They rode up and down the little dirt road that ran behind their camp and the merchant’s stalls. The squires found it boring. The horses didn’t want to trot or canter so close to their stalls, and Julie held her breath every time, waiting for some craftsperson to complain to Richard Orehick.

The only other problem was that Andrea spent more and more of her time with Chris’s jousters. She didn’t even come to help saddle horses before the shows. Julie noticed she never missed being a fair maiden in the 3:00 show. Brenda had offered Andrea a job sewing costumes for her, so Andrea could usually be found in Chris’s pavilion, sewing, or hanging out with Kyle and Don and Britt. On the other hand, Bill seemed to be his own person. He got along fine with everyone in his group, but he went his own way, if the spirit moved him.

Brodar approached Julie on Saturday after the shows. “I’ve been thinking about what to do with Andrea,” he said.

“Yes?” Julie responded.

“She’s not really working for us anymore.”

“I noticed.”

“I’m thinking of letting her go and getting Karen to replace her.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Well, I know she was sort of like a special friend to you.”

“Not really, she acts like everybody’s special friend, but I guess she isn’t anybody’s special friend.”

“Oh. Well, she’s causing a lot of friction around here, and she’s not really adding anything, so I think I will let her go.”

“It suits me more than you know, Brodar,” Julie said. “It annoys me to see her sitting with Chris’s guys at the end of the day, talking over their day, while we talk over our day at our camp. When the Skraelings are cutting up and being silly, she looks down her nose at us.”

“Oh, I don’t think she’s really looking down her nose at us.”

“O.K., maybe not, I guess she just wants something more than what we can offer. But I am glad if you let her go, because she feeds the mares without permission. I’ve asked her not to, but she says they look hungry. Sometimes when I go out to check on the horses during the week, they’re out of food, and Kitty says Andrea feeds them without telling anyone. Then Kitty runs out of food. It’s real annoying, not to mention dangerous. They’re both so fat, I’m afraid they’ll colic or founder, being fed extra. Andrea doesn’t think of things like that.”

As Brodar and Julie drove home that evening, he told her about his conversation with Andrea.

“She said she wasn’t surprised. She said she knew she had gotten real busy working for Brenda and hadn’t had much chance to help out.”

“Huh!” Julie snorted.

“She said perhaps I would prefer she worked for Brenda because Brenda pays her, and she can pay me back the money she owes me.”

“She owes you money?”

“Yeah, about six hundred dollars. She borrowed it a couple of months ago when she wrecked her car.”

“Good heavens! So she thinks you let her go for that?”

“You know I didn’t.”

“Of course not. Even I know you well enough to know how little you hassle people to pay you back the money they owe you. I think she’s just using that as an excuse to make you the bad guy.”

“I don’t know, but I’m not going to worry about it.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You leave all the worrying up to me.”

For a moment, Julie thought they might have a quarrel, but Brodar didn’t chide her.

“The Skraelings are getting together at Jenny’s house tonight to see some videos. Want to come?”

“Sure, if I don’t pass out taking care of the horses.” She yawned. “I get so tired. You sure have a lot of energy.”

“I get tired too, but you only get one Ren Fair a year, so I like to make the most of it.”

“I like your attitude.”

Julie had an O.K. time at Jenny’s house. They all sent out for pizza and watched a movie about a village in Germany in the 1600’s. It was a gruesome, tiresome movie, and Julie wandered into a bedroom where Loth and Lef were discussing politics and listened to them instead. After a while she fell asleep until Brodar woke her to drive her home.

“Exciting time you had, sleeping.”

“I envy you, being able to stay up. I’m not a night person.”

“Well, you’ll have those horses ready tomorrow morning, and I admire you for that,” Brodar told her.

“Thanks for spending so much time with me, Brodar. I really do appreciate it.”

“The pleasure is mine. I like it. I feel comfortable with you. I can relax.”

“Good, I’m glad. Will you be O.K. driving home? I just can’t keep my eyes open.” In a few moments, Julie was asleep with her head on Brodar’s lap. He slipped his arm across her shoulder and she smiled and snuggled closer.


Here is Andrea


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## GMA100

Oh wow! I love how easy it flows! I love reading stuff like this!!! If there was a love button, it’d be broken lol


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## Caledonian

I agree with the above. It's a really great read.

How much planning goes into your stories or does it just flow when you sit down to write?


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## ChasingDreams

This is my favorite book, I’m hooked! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## knightrider

You all are so encouraging! Thank you so much!!!! 

Normally, I think about the stories for a long time before I write. I usually write historical fiction, so I research the history for a year or two before I write. Once I start writing, it just pours out, no writer's block for me!

This particular book was pretty much just descriptions of what happened that year we put on our own show at the Renaissance Festival. So it was fast and easy to write because I was just writing down the stuff that happened. I changed some things around to make the story flow better. I cut out incidents that did not add to the story.


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## knightrider

Sunday was another good day. Karen came to take Andrea’s place, and it was good to have another cheerful willing hand with the horses. Karen had large brown eyes, long thick soft brown hair, and was friendly and willing. Best of all, she knew horses, and could saddle and bridle and trap them up as well as anyone else, without acting superior or bossy. Karen was herself a Skraeling, and everyone liked her. She was a welcome asset to the jousting team. Julie only wished they had gotten her sooner, instead of agreeing to let Andrea work for them. Something about Andrea set Julie a little on edge, but something about Karen made people glad she was around.

Julie had invited Pandemonium to come ride again that day after the festival ended. Only Rob and Steve could come, but they had a great time riding around the parking fields, and then exploring a little dirt road that ran alongside a field.

“I started college this week,” she told them. “I don’t have classes on Tuesday afternoons. Would you like to come ride at my house? I’ll have all the horses living at my house this coming week, and I’ll need people to come help me ride them.”

“Sure! You bet! I’d love to come,” Rob agreed.

“Me too. Count me in. We don’t work during the week, so we can always come.”

“Great. When we get back, I’ll draw you a map to my house. Then you can come. It’s not far.”

When they returned to the stalls, there were others who wanted rides, and Julie handed the horses over, drew two maps, and looked after the other last-minute loading jobs before they could leave.

“Rienna is following us home,” Brodar explained as they loaded the horses. “I’m taking her out to dinner, and maybe to a movie after we get the horses taken care of.”

Julie felt a rush of jealousy. Last night Brodar had been hers, if only for pretend. But tonight, he would be Rienna’s, a real date. And of course, he would be much more interested in Rienna. She was older, had two horses of her own and a well-paying job at the museum downtown. She was pretty and sophisticated, and everything Brodar looked for in a woman.

Put away your silly dreams, Julie, she told herself sternly. Brodar will never be yours.

“My Uncle Wes says he will come and videotape us next Saturday,” she said. “Where do you think would be a good place for him to set up the camera?”

“I guess in the Queen’s pavilion,” Brodar mused. “That is where the newspaper photographer took his pictures. Or else next to Chris’s horse stalls. What do you think?”

“They both sound good. I guess I’ll let Uncle Wes decide. Well, I think we better get going. I know you have things you want to do.” Julie tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

As she prepared her homework for school that evening, she tried not to think of Brodar having fun with Rienna. She is his type, she told herself. I’m not. I’m Just Julie, just a pal. I don’t get dinner dates and dances. I get washloads of dirty trappings and horseshoeing bills.

She felt ashamed of herself for giving in to her pity-party. Plenty of girls would be envious of all the fun I have, she thought. It is fun. Lots of it is fun. And Uncle Wes will videotape us next week, and I can show my friends what I do. I could have some college friends over to watch videos. I wonder if that boy in Spanish class was noticing me. He smiled. Oh well. She sighed and went down to the basement to put on the second wash load of horse trappings.

On Monday after class Julie and Brodar went to pick up the two mares and bring them home.

“Did you have a good time last night?” she asked Brodar when he arrived.

“It was O.K.” he mumbled.

“I had a great time,” she said sarcastically. “I cleaned the saddles and washed the trappings and did my homework.”

“Gee, you make me feel guilty. I should have helped, shouldn’t I?”

Julie was sorry she had been nasty. “It’s O.K. Next time I’ll ask you to help. I should ask you if I mind. But I didn’t know I would mind so much. I kept thinking of you out having fun with Rienna and me stuck home doing work.”

“You could have waited until today. I would have helped you today.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I know. I wanted to get it done. I wanted to put Ren Fair out of my life a bit and think about college this week. ‘Course that will be hard to do with two extra horses to take care of.”

“I’ll shovel the pens tomorrow,” Brodar volunteered.

“I know you will. You’re very good.”

When they went to load the horses, they noticed Sleipnir’s halter was gone. After a grand search, they finally found it in Chris’s storeroom.

“This morning we had a time with your mare,” Chris told them. “She pushed her stall down and got out. Must’ve gotten into something bad to eat this morning because she was down and wouldn’t get up. Kitty came and got me. We were terribly worried. I listened to her belly with a stethoscope, and her gut sounds were normal. Then she got up and seemed to be O.K. She ate her breakfast, but we almost called the vet. We were really worried.

“Jeez, I’m so embarrassed. You went to a lot of trouble. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s O.K.”

Julie could just imagine the knot of worried people surrounding the naughty mare. Chris, Kitty, Chris’s guys, Brenda, and other Ren Fair live-ins. How awful!

“Bet you’re glad we’re taking them home,” she said.

“They haven’t been much trouble, no more than my own.”

“Well, you are kind to say so.”

Uncle Wes was at the house when they arrived with the mares. He had started rigging separate pens for Shadow and Sleipnir by extending the electric wire. An hour later, they stood back and admired their handiwork.

“There. All horses are properly housed, Julie said triumphantly. “Now, I just hope I can take care of them all.”

On Tuesday, Rob arrived on time and helped Julie brush and saddle the horses. Steve came a little late, but soon they were on their way—Rob on Brielle, Steve on Sleipnir, and Julie on Shadow. She had chosen one of her favorite trails—a long wide path that stretched for miles alongside a wildlife refuge. Julie was amazed at how easily the jugglers trotted and cantered. Neither one had quite caught on to posting, yet they rode with ease and grace. She was letting them go faster and do more daring things with the horses than she had ever allowed the Skraelings to do.

“We’re coming to a log jump. It’s not very high. Would you like to try a jump?” Julie offered.

“Oh sure,” Rob said. “I’ll try anything. I really love this.”

“Oh wow, I think I’m scared,” Steve said.

“Just get forward like this,” Julie showed them. “Arch your back, heels down, see, hands forward, then over you go.” She jumped the log with an enthusiastic Rob right behind. Steve soon joined them wreathed in smiles.

“I did it! It wasn’t bad. I jumped!”

“You guys are great,” Julie said. “I’d never ordinarily let people canter and jump who have only ridden a few times. But you guys are great.”

“Hey, we really appreciate being able to come. Riding horses is the best thing about doing the Ren Fair.”

“Taking you riding is one of the best things that has happened to me at Ren Fair too.”

“Tell me, Julie,” Rob asked. “What’s it like to really run, like in the movies?”

“Only a little rougher and a little faster than a canter. You get up in the same position as you did to jump.”

“Wow, that must be great.”

“Why not try it? I must be crazy, but when we get out to the main trail, let’s do some galloping. Want to?”

“Do I ever!” exclaimed Rob.

“O.K., if we turn here, we’ll get out to the wide trail. Now, Brielle is fast so when you need to slow down, just sit down on her and ease her back into a canter with the reins. Steve, Sleipnir used to run away with people.”

“Swell.”

“But we haven’t had any trouble for a long time. I just want you to be aware of it. If you feel she’s out of control, sit down and pull back firmly. Don’t let her pass me or Brielle, O.K.?”

“Got you. I think I’ll just go with a fast canter and let you and Rob do the running.”

“O.K. You ready, Rob?”

“Ready.”

Julie touched her heels to Shadow and she slipped into a canter, then a hand gallop, then a full gallop. Brielle surged ahead, and Rob whooped joyfully. He bounced wildly in the saddle and grinned from ear to ear.

Julie whipped her head around to watch Steve, who was smiling and managing Sleipnir in a controlled easy gallop.

After a good run, they pulled the snorting, prancing horses up, filled with exhilaration.

“I can’t believe anything could be that great,” Rob enthused. “That was tremendous.”

“I love the way you yell,” Julie laughed.

“I can’t help it. I love it.”

“We better walk a while to cool them down and calm them down.”

As they walked, Rob and Steve told her more of their lives in the circus, training and riding elephants, and of their boyhood adventures.

They had one more good gallop that Steve tried too. Then, too soon, they were back at the barn.

“You know, I just realized something,” Julie said as they untacked the horses. “I don’t know why I didn’t figure this out before. I know why you guys ride so easily. Because you’re acrobats! Riding is mostly balance, and your balance is much better than regular people’s. Riding unicycles. Standing on one another’s shoulders.”

“Juggling while balanced on the open ladder,” Steve added.

“Yeah, that’s your part, isn’t it?” Julie said. “How tall is that ladder?”

“Eight feet.”

“Wow. I’m impressed.”

“Well, we’re impressed with the riding. It’s really beautiful in the woods, in the country, and riding the horses is wonderful. We can’t thank you enough,” Rob said.

“You’re welcome. Can you come again next Tuesday?”

“I can,” Steve said.

“Me too,” Rob agreed.

“Great. Well, I guess I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Right!”

By Saturday, Julie was looking forward to the performance and the videotape session. “Ren Fair is half over after this,” she said to Brodar as they readied the horses.”

“Are you glad?”

She cocked her head, pursing her mouth. “In a way, I am, but now it is starting to get more fun. The squires work for Chris without complaining and Karen is a big help. Rienna does so much, and I’m much happier with the mares at home. I wish I’d brought them home weeks ago. Now I’m really starting to enjoy myself.”

But after Ren Fair, she thought, I’ll stop seeing Brodar so much. Well, I guess I’m ready for that. I’m tired of hurting. I’d like to be a college girl and do collegiate things instead of being a performer. I’d like to go out with that boy from my Spanish class and do dumb stuff like college kids do.


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## AnitaAnne

I just love this story; I hope it never ends...

:loveshower:


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## knightrider

That Saturday morning a new fellow showed up as a substitute squire. He was friends with all of them from years before, but Julie hadn’t met him because he had lived in Jamestown working as a ship’s carpenter on the historic ships there. They called him Bjorn, and Julie liked him immediately. Built like a football player, he had bright red hair, a button nose, and a merry countenance. He was full of jokes and fun, flirted outrageously with all the girls, and fell in love with Sleipnir. Although he had hardly ridden a horse before, the first day he was handling Sleipnir better than any other squire.

After the 3:00 show, the squires pulled their armor from their sweating bodies.

“Gee, that was a tiring show,” said Paul Jennings, falling flat onto the ground.

“Watch out you don’t land on that used horse food. You just missed it by inches,” warned Frolf.

“Shucks,” said Jennings, “my aim is off. Could one of you kind fellows bring it over here for my inspection? I’ve heard you can foretell the future by reading that stuff.”

Sven walked up and said, “Hey, Jenn, don’t eat that dirt—you don’t know where it’s been. Anyway, don’t move. Brielle is right behind you with her tail up.”

Jennings jumped to his feet in a flash, but Brielle was calmly munching hay in her stall.

Brodar sauntered up. “That was an exhausting show. I can hardly lift my leg to pee.”

“Hey, like let’s all get together and form a puddle; I know I’m melting,” Bjorn suggested.

“One puddle, coming up,” shouted Frolf, wielding the hose. He put this thumb over the end and started chasing the squires about.

Paul Jennings, who was on the ground again, got a good dousing before he leaped out of range.

“Fortunately, I’m a knight and won’t get squirted by a mere squire,” Brodar said to Mjollnir just before they both got drenched.

Even the ladies were not immune. Just as Frolf started on Bjarki, the squires attacked, using their shields for protection.

“Now die, varlet!” they shouted as they wrested the hose away from Frolf and turned it on him.

“Oh boy, a wet tunic contest!” he exclaimed as he got his just desserts.

“Ooooh, baby,” the Skraelings answered.

The shows went well, the videotaping was fine, and Julie was happy with the weekend. On Sunday they departed at 6:00 p.m., drove Brielle and Trojan home, then returned for Shadow and Sleipnir. Julie reveled in the two hours that she had Brodar to herself. They talked over the Festival, their friends, their dreams for next year.

Around 8:30 that evening, the squires began trickling in to Julie’s house to watch the videotape. They sat on the rug in Julie’s living room, drinking Cokes and making jokes and watching the show.

“Here’s where Rienna falls off—watch—flump!”

“Ha!” everyone shouted and Rienna giggled in embarrassment.

“Watch this fight here, there’s where you hit my elbow. There.”

“Ahhh. I’m sorry. Jeez, that’s awful.”

“I need better elbow protection.”

“Let’s work on it this week.”

“Look at Sleipnir’s ears, what a chump.”

“Faster than a speeding squire!”

“More powerful than a hungry drafthorse!”

“Catch the flag! Catch the flag!”

“Alp! I caught the very tip of it.”

“And threw it back to me when I wasn’t ready!”

“Look at Shadow—wham! Out of control.”

“I thought she was going to run over that lady.”

“What was she doin’?”

“Tryin’ to get a picture.”

“She shouldn’t have tried to take it in front of Shadow.”

“Ha.”

“What are you doin’, Brodar?”

“Hey, good fighting there.”

“You bet.”

“All the tabards the same color look good.”

“Trojan looks good.”

“He always looks good.”

“’Good day, good knight.’ That’s what you should have said there.”

“Good line. We should use that.”

They stayed until 11:00 when Julie reluctantly told them they had to leave. “I have class tomorrow,” she said, “and I have to do my homework.” She didn’t want to say her parents were probably annoyed at their staying so late. But they probably were.

Chapter 11

“I haven’t been studying the way I should,” Julie told Rob and Steve when they came out to ride. “I’m getting behind in my classes, but I figure Ren Fair will be over in two weeks. I may as well enjoy it while I can.”

“The time goes by quickly, doesn’t it? Are you going to the cast party next Saturday?”

“Oh yeah. Are you?”

“We’ll be there. You should hear Everett play the chain saw.”

“He plays a chain saw?”

“Yeah. It’s a riot. And Tony Anthony swallows a light tube. You can see it inside of him.”

“I can’t wait.”

Julie took them for a long ride again down the powerlines where they could do lots of cantering and galloping. As always, they loved it, and she loved seeing them have such a good time.

As she watched Steve roll the wheelbarrow and Rob wield the shovel, she couldn’t help but wonder what made them come to ride? They were so courteous, and willing to help with the horses, so cheerful and kind, she wondered why they spent so much time with her. Why weren’t they riding to hounds with heiresses? They easily could, as charming and good looking as they were. Instead, they were mucking stables and making Julie feel like an heiress.

On Friday, after Brodar and Julie delivered Shadow and Sleipnir to the site, they drove to the sawmill and stuffed the horse trailer with sawdust. They filled the mares’ stalls until the bedding was fetlock deep instead of mud. Then they worked until well after dark putting the rest of the sawdust in plastic trash bags. Trojan and Brielle could use it over the winter. Julie went to bed exhausted.

The next morning when she finished bagging the last of the sawdust, she had a fine coating of sawdust covering every inch of her skin, but she jumped to help Brodar load the gear when he arrived.

The day went well. Bjorn was an enthusiastic addition to their gang.

At the end of the day, Julie prepared Brielle and Trojan for the drive home.

“Aren’t you going to stay for the cast party?” Jennings asked.

“Sure, we’ll be back,” Brodar answered. “But I learned from last year, it’s no fun to be putting horses away for the night after a party. We’ll take them home now and come back.”

“But you’ll miss the food!” Bjorn exclaimed.

“No, you save some for us,” Brodar answered. “See you in an hour or so.”

“Hey, we’ll keep the party going for ya!” Frolf shouted.

When they arrived back at the party, people were getting food. Rienna and Brodar soon drifted away with their dinners as the Skraelings started into their usual stunts.

Jennings was standing with his plate of food talking with some entertainers Julie didn’t know. Bjorn and Frolf marched up to Jennings and Julie cracked up.

Both hefty guys, they were dressed in identical white tunics with their surcoats stuffed with pillows and their belts buckled up around their armpits, their bellies extending identically. On their heads they wore white quilted arming caps, which, to Julie, looked like babies’ caps.

“Private Snocker.”

“Corporal Pooker, reporting for duty, sir,” they said, and saluted at the same time.

Julie was glad she didn’t have food. She would have choked it through her nose, they were so funny.

“Who ordered you guys here?” Jennings said indignantly. “I asked for men, not porpoises!”

“No, the description distinctly said porpoises,” Bjorn answered.

“Well, begging your pardon,” Frolf interrupted, “I believe the order did say dolphins, and to be exact, dolphins are not porpoises.”

“Throw anything in the air and I guarantee I will hit it at thirty paces,” Bjorn said.

“Oh yeah?” Jennings said warily. “How about this?” He threw a bent Coke can into the air.

Bjorn watched it fall, then took his sword and smashed it on the ground. “Done, sir, and quite smartly if I say so myself.”

“I can better that,” Frolf said. He threw a stick into the air, aimed his finger at it as if it was a gun, made a shooting sound and jerked in recoil.

“Ya missed!” Bjorn cried.

“Twas fairly struck!” Frolf shouted.

“A clean miss.”

“Examine the stick, sirrah.” Frolf held up the twig. “You will see tis riddled with holes.” It was.

“Oh my God,” Bjorn said ominously. “This stick was made holy by sorcery.”

“Good,” said Jennings. “I always wanted a sorcerer. Are you a good source?”

Just then Richard Orehick got on the microphone of the chessboard stage and began introducing people and the talent acts began. Julie got some cold lasagna and greasy macaroni salad and sat on a straw bale to watch the woodcarver play the hammer dulcimer, and a juggler sing. Members of the court did a scene from Shakespeare and the palace guards did a parody of the court. A leatherworker told jokes. A mime played the violin.

After an hour or two, Julie went back to the stables to check on the mares. Rienna, Brodar, Lef, Frolf, Evelyn, Stacey, and Gobie were being silly at their camp. Frolf had pulled up the handicapped parking sign and held it next to his head. “Anyone know where this goes?” his speech slurred, his steps halting. “Handicapped” the sign said, and the arrow pointed straight a him. Everyone was laughing.

Suddenly Julie felt very tired. She looked at her watch. It was 11:00. She knew Brodar didn’t want to go home. Everyone was having a good time. Even she had had a good time, but suddenly she felt tired and lonely and left out.

She climbed into the front seat of Brodar’s station wagon and drifted off to sleep.

“Here she is,” Brodar awakened her. “We’ve been looking all over for you. We wondered if you’d gone off with some guy.”

Julie sat up stiffly. “Oh, I was tired, and you all were having so much fun.”

“It was a good party.”

“Are you ready to go home now?”

“Yes, sure am. Are you?”

“Yeah, about an hour ago.”

“O.K. Bye, Gobe,” he called. “Bye Devon, bye Rienna. See you all tomorrow.”

“Auf wiedersehen,” said Bjorn.

“Yeah, I’ll be the same, too,” quipped Sven.

“Bye,” Julie said, waving out the window.

They all hollered back and Brodar pulled away.

Julie sighed. “I guess you and Rienna are pretty well set up.”

“Naw, I told you we’re just friends. You know she’s got a boyfriend.”

“I know, but she didn’t bring him to the party.”

“He couldn’t come.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t really be comfortable with Rienna. I try, but I never really know what to say.”

“Hmmm.”

“With you, I’m comfortable. I can really talk to you.”

“Good. I’m glad. I feel comfortable with you too.”

“Want to sleep on my lap again?” Brodar offered.

“It was nice last week.” She smiled shyly at him. “But I’m not sleepy anymore.”

“Did you hear the guy play the chainsaw?”

“No. I missed it. Rob had told me about it, and also Tony Anthony might swallow a light tube, and I wanted to see that, too. I’m sorry I missed it.”

“It was great. That guy could actually play a song with the chainsaw.”

“The Skraelings were funny tonight,” Julie said.

“Yeah, they were.”


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## knightrider

Brodar on Trojan


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## knightrider

“Want to sleep over on our couch again?” she asked him as they went in the house.

“Great idea. I think I will, if you think your folks don’t mind.”

“It’ll be fine.”

After her nap, Julie did feel wide awake.

“You hungry?” she asked Brodar.

“A little. Are you?”

“Yes. Want some ice cream?”

“Thanks.”

They sat down on the couch together with their ice cream.

“I have a hard time talking to Andrea now,” Julie confided. “I mean, she’s always friendly and pleasant, but I’m wondering what she’s thinking.”

“I know what you mean,” Brodar agreed. “Her leaving us for Chris’s jousters was a real kick in the teeth. Lef is still seething.”

“But he had broken up with her by then, hadn’t he?”

“I think not officially, but things were cooling off.”

“Mjollnir isn’t happy about it either.”

“No, it feels too much like Chris gets all the good stuff—he gets the high dollar pay, he gets the press publicity, he gets the beautiful women, he gets the big crowds, star billing, admiration from the public.”

“And Andrea is sort of like the symbol for all of that.”

“Yeah, I guess she is.”

“She wasn’t doing much work the last week or two anyway. Rienna was really annoyed."

“Weren’t you?”

“I was telling myself I wasn’t because I wanted everyone to get along. I can’t really separate how I felt from how I wanted to feel.”

“Most people can’t,” Brodar mused.

“Now that she’s gone, I guess I’m more bitter than I realized.”

“Yeah. Think Mjollnir should ride Shadow tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I think he’d be fine, but I’m always happier when you ride her. Bjorn sure does well with Sleipnir, doesn’t he? He’s a great addition to the show.”

“Yeah, he really gets along with Sleipnir. He talks more and more about buying her.”

“Then he can be a knight next year.”

“Say, are your parents going to be upset about my being here so late?”

“No, they like you,” Julie told a white lie. They did like Brodar. He was always a gentleman, but they didn’t like Julie spending so much time with older guys. 

“How about your parents?” Julie asked. “What are they like?”

“Regular working class. They’re O.K. My dad is an electrician for the county. My mom works at a doctor’s office as a receptionist.”

“How do they feel about all your medieval activities?”

“They think I’m eccentric. Sometimes they even call me Brodar.” He hesitated. “I don’t tell many people this, but my real name is Simon.”

“Simon! That’s a great name.”

“It’s a stupid name. ‘Simple Simon.’”

“I like it . . . but I won’t call you that, if you don’t want me to.”

“I don’t. I told you because I know I can trust you.”

“You can.”

Julie hated to go up to bed, but she knew in a few more hours, it would be time to get the horses ready for Sunday’s shows.
Reluctantly, she bid Brodar good night. She gave him a warm hug and he kissed her tenderly on the lips. She was smiling as she fell asleep.

Sunday was not their best day. Everyone was tired from being up so late, the day was hot, and the crowds were sluggish. Mjollnir let Bjorn take his place in the shows. Bjorn rode Sleipnir and did well. He was funny and fun, a good performer, and the crowds liked him.

“I love this little horse.” He hugged Sleipnir. “I’m thinking of buying her.”

“Oh, could you?” Julie exclaimed. “It would be wonderful if you bought her. I figured I would sell her to the Amish when the shows were over. They’re the only people I know who would want a smallish draft horse.”

“Hey, Bjorn, you were good out there.” Jennings clapped him on the shoulder.

“Faster than a speeding knave.
“More powerful than a hungry drafthorse,” Bjorn joked.

“Sleipnir is powerful, but she has a sense of humor. Like you,” Julie said.

“Don’t get too enthusiastic. You’ll give him a big head,” Jennings warned.

“He’s got a big head,” Gobie shouted. “Look at his helmet on me!” He put on Bjorn’s helmet which hung down ludicrously, and everyone laughed.

“How much time?” Devon asked.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Let’s get these trappings on.”

Julie waited until the end of a Pandemonium show to see if Rob and Steve and Will wanted to ride on Tuesday. Rob and Steve did, but Will couldn’t.

Then she meandered back to camp to see if anything needed doing and saw Mjollnir, Lef, Gobie, and Loth on the fence support ledge, hanging on the fence over the parking lot.

“What are you doing up there?” she called to them.

“Watching out for Indians,” Mjollnir answered.

“See any?”

“Come on up and see.”

Julie climbed up to the top ledge of the fence. My, the view was great. Behind her, she could see almost all the Festival grounds, and most of the parking lots in front of her. Brielle’s spotted rump looked funny from her high perch.

Soon Rienna sighted them and climbed up too. Then they added Brodar, Devon, Frolf (“Whoa, Watch out! The fence is falling!”), Paul Asago, Bjorn, Sven, Jennings, and Karen. They shouted silly jokes to one another, swarmed around the fence, and finally ended up on the side where Chris’s horses were stabled, next to the list, just as his 5:30 show was beginning.

As the crowd gathered to watch Chris’s joust show, they looked up to see the Knights of the Nearly Round Table, fourteen people strong, hanging over the joust fence. Chris looked up and scowled, then tried to ignore them. They were stealing his show, and they loved it.

Julie laughed with joy. We’re the jousters, she thought happily. We’re all in this together, and it’s great and funny and fun, and no one can put us down.

“Who’s got Chris’s 5:30 show? Brodar shouted.

“Dunno. What’s the schedule say?”

“Who can see the schedule?”

“Who remembers?”

“Oh, I have to work,” said Mjollnir. “And Jennings.”

“Work is a four-letter word, remember this is a family show.”

“Well, Paul is a four-letter word too, so I shouldn’t be out there," said Jennings.

“Well I’m dumb and that’s four letters so I can’t work,” said Lef. “But then we’re all pretty dumb, so none of us can.”

“Right, too dumb to work,” agreed everybody.

“You know how to spell ‘dumb’ backwards and upside down?” asked Sven. He turned his back on the group, hung by his boots from the top of the fence, and shouted, “D-U-M-B!”

“Heck, I can spell philosophical with my eyes closed,” said Jennings.

“Phyllis Offical! I used to go out with her!” cried Lef.

“Yeah, so did I, but she couldn’t spell,” said Loth.

Bill blew the opening horn as Mjollnir and Paul climbed down to help squire the show. The rest of the Nearly Round Table watched from the fence, as the crowd stared at them curiously. It was a great vantage point to watch the joust. Chris’s horses were still sour. Peter turned and ran away when Molly ran at him. They did an O.K. job, but their horses needed a rest. Julie could see they did a decent job of pulling off a difficult show with uncooperative horses. Her feet began to get tired of clinging to the narrow ledge.

She climbed down and helped pack up, so they could get all the horses home that night. Julie was glad she had had some experience driving a trailer, since she had to drive the first load of Trojan and Brielle home with Mjollnir. Then Mjollnir took the car back to get Sleipnir and Shadow.

When the horses were taken care of, Julie sat down at her desk to study. She tried to memorize her Spanish verbs but kept thinking of Brodar. He seemed to like her more and more. Bjorn—wouldn’t it be wonderful if he bought Sleipnir? Shadow was already taken care of—Julie’s neighbors were going to lease her when Ren Fair ended. They really liked Shadow. Sleipnir could stay the good jousting horse she had come to be, and Bjorn would be a knight.

“Decider, conseguir, conducer,” she tried to force her mind back to Spanish. Brodar could easily take Rienna away from her boyfriend. Brodar was so dashing and charming, funny and cute. Rienna’s boyfriend didn’t come around much. He seemed rather like a stick-in-the-mud, and Rienna was fun-loving. That boyfriend couldn’t be as attractive as Brodar. And Brodar would doubtless prefer Rienna to Julie, if he could get her.

“Traducir, traer, cambiar.” She tried to concentrate. Shadow didn’t turn out to be the best jousting horse, after all. Trojan was the best. But Shadow was a real fine horse, a magnificent horse, and some day, maybe even next year, she would be the best jousting horse. It just took more time than Julie thought it would.

Just one more weekend, and it would be all over. They’d been working on it since December, and now it was just about over. Julie figured she could survive anything one more week. She closed her Spanish book. She’d study harder next week. She’d catch up after Ren Fair ended.


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## GMA100

I always love when you post a new one, but then I hate it cause it’s a whole another day till I get to read some more! Lol 
Do you have this written somewhere where you’re just copying and pasting, or are you writing the whole thing out on here?


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## knightrider

I wrote this whole thing in 1986 right after it ended so it was still very fresh in my mind. I never could have remembered all that stuff if I was writing it now. In fact, pasting it up here has reminded me of so many things I forgot! It's been a real trip down memory lane.

Here is a picture of our "official" logo that I painted on my trailer. And on the back of the trailer with my coat of arms and "Brodar's" coat of arms. Station wagon pulling it with lances strapped to the top, ha ha.


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## knightrider

On Tuesday she took Rob and Steve riding again. They had a super time riding through the woods and fields, cantering and jumping, racing and laughing. Julie didn’t want to think about how much she would miss their friendship.

“You leave right after Ren Fair next week, don’t you?” she asked sorrowfully.

“Yes, I pull out of here on Sunday night.”

“And I’ll be going on Monday morning.”

“Are you glad it’s over?”

“Some. In a way,” Steve answered. “I guess it’s time I got on with my life.”

“Yeah, I’ve got some things I’ve been planning to do in Connecticut,” Rob agreed. “But I’ll miss it. I’ll especially miss the horses. I’ve really loved this. No question about it, this has been the best part of my coming to Maryland.”

“Well, I’ll miss you guys too,” Julie said. “Will you write?”

“I’m not much of a letter writer,” Steve said.

Julie shrugged. “We’ll probably see each other again. It just feels like we will.”

It seemed better to leave it like that.

Julie was surprised to see Brodar’s station wagon in the drive when they brought the horses back.

“Hi!” he greeted them. “I thought I’d saddle up Trojan and find you, but I guess I don’t have to.”

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Julie said. “Tonight is Markland meeting. You don’t usually come riding on Tuesdays.”

“I felt like a ride today.”

Julie couldn’t argue with that. She felt like riding every day.

After Rob and Steve left, Brodar helped Julie with the feeding and casually asked,” Those guys put any moves on you?”

Julie knitted her brows. “Of course not. Why would anyone put any moves on me?”

“Because you are an attractive and lovely girl. Why wouldn’t they?”

Julie took a step back. “Gosh, Brodar. What a nice thing to say. I wish it was true.”

“It is true, and I worry about you, you are so sweet and innocent. I don’t want anybody hurting you.”

“Except you,” Julie said under her breath.

On Friday, when they delivered the mares, there seemed a feeling of finality about everything they did: the last Friday to take the mares, the last time to shovel in bedding, the last time to lay out the equipment and trappings. Julie asked Brodar several times, “You want to do this again next year?”

“You bet,” he would answer. “I plan to do a lot of things differently next year, but I plan to do it next year.”

“Good. I don’t like to think about this being the last time. Knowing we’ll do it next year makes me feel better.”

Still, there was a relief that it was finally over that Julie didn’t talk about. No more endless loads of trappings to wash and mend. No more weekends taken up every single minute. No more behind in her studies, missing out on concerts, football games, pep rallies, dances. She could enjoy being a college girl. No more constant work, work, work taking care of four horses, shoveling all that manure, checking the electric fence, repairing stalls, buying feed, getting sawdust, holding horses for the farrier and the equine dentist.

No more Brodar. After the Festival, he would probably slip slowly out of her life. Well, good, she thought. Better that he does, rather than this slow torture. He likes Rienna better, he’ll be seeing a lot of her. He won’t be coming to ride much anymore. He’ll go ride with Rienna on her horses. Then maybe I can get over him and have fun with some college guy. If one would ever like me.

Saturday morning the weather was perfect—not hot, but not cold either. Julie was ready to give her best performance, and everyone else was too.

After the 1:00 show, Julie scurried away to see the fair. There were some acts she had still not seen and she was anxious to catch them while she had the chance. She was watching a pewtersmith cast mugs when Lothbrok dashed up.

“You’ve gotta come to camp, Julie. There’s a war going on.”

“What?”

“The Great Skraeling War is in progress. You shouldn’t miss it. Actually, I was sent as an envoy from the Mongol camp to get you.”

“This gets crazier all the time.”

“Well, come on.”

Julie hurried along with Loth until she saw their shed. It was torn apart. The Skraelings had torn off most of the roof and much of the siding. They were swarming from the broken support posts to the fence and back, shooting imaginary guns at one another, swinging swords, jumping from post to post, flinging empty aluminum cans while Frolf made the explosion sounds with his mouth.

“Those are the bombs,” he turned aside to inform her.

“Which side am I on?” Julie asked.

“A hostage, from the Mongols!” Jennings cried and grabbed her, hauling her, with Mjollnir’s help, up to the splintered roof.

“No, wait, you give her back!” Loth screamed. “I got her.”

“No. I fight on your side, dum-dums!” Julie cried. “Give me a lance. See how many dirty brigands I can kill!”

Frolf handed her a padded lance and she promptly caught Bjorn in the leg with a well-aimed throw.

“Yow! A casualty!” he yelled. He lobbed a fake Pepsi can grenade. Frolf made the explosion noise, and Lef smashed another piece of the siding with his ax.

“Soon you will have no fortress.”

“We have the advantage,” shouted Jennings. “Height is an advantage. We can destroy you any time we want. Our accurate lance throwers are invincible.”

“Not if we tear down your fortress!” Lef cried. “Give it up. Your castle is destroyed.”

“We still have the fence,” Jennings shouted as he danced along the top of it.

Patrons arriving and leaving lifted their faces to watch. Julie laughed and waved.

“Go ahead, laugh, fool,” Lef said. “Soon you will be our prisoner.”

Julie threw a board at him. He threw a foam tipped spear back at her. She caught it and hit Lothbrok with it. “Another man down!”
Lef gave Sven a boost up to the top of the fence, and he immediately engaged Mjollnir in a brilliant swordfight along the top of the fence. Everyone stopped fighting to watch. Julie stopped laughing and began to worry. The fence was ten feet high, and a fall could really be dangerous. She had never seen better fighting. She wished Uncle Wes was videotaping it. She wished it was in the show. She wished Richard Orehick was watching. She wished they were not doing it.

Sven forced Mjollnir back onto the remains of the roof. Then Mjollnir forced Sven to the edge. Suddenly Frolf pulled Sven’s foot, jerking him off the roof, and he and Bjorn caught him. It was a brilliant stunt. Everyone yelled and cheered.

“You’ve made a mess of our camp,” Julie said slowly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll fix it,” Paul Asago reassured her.

They all climbed off the posts and fence, got their hammers and nails and began to replace the walls and roof. In twenty minutes, the shed was better than ever. The roof was more secure and better put together than it had been before. Julie shook her head in amazement. Those Skraelings.

“Two-fifteen!” Brodar shouted. “Time to start tacking up.”

The three o’clock show was their best yet, until Brodar and Mjollnir had their final swordfight. As they fought, Julie heard the squires passing the word to one another that Mjollnir was hurt. Julie peered at the helmeted head. Sure enough, she could see blood oozing from his eyeslit. His eye! How awful. Perhaps he would be blinded. She worried intensely until the show ended and she rushed up to Mjollnir.

“I’m O.K.,” he told the concerned circle of friends. “My eyebrow is cut, but I can see fine.”

“What happened?” People were asking him.

“The thing we always worry about—Brodar’s sword must have slipped through my eyeslit.”

“Hey, guy, I feel really bad,” Brodar said with his arm across Mjollnir’s shoulder.

“Nah, it’s O.K., really. I could have done the same to you.”

“We’ll get you to the first aid station. Look how it’s bleeding. Looks like you’ll need some stitches.”

As Brodar and Mjollnir took off for the first aid booth, Julie went out to the list to help with Chris’s 3:30 show. She always squired for that show because all the fellows were tired from fighting.

She had just hung the last ring when she saw a parade of Nearly Round Table squires heading from their camp through Chris’s stables. She slipped away to get a closer took while Chris made his ending speech.

Each squire had on a full-face helmet, and each helmet had a sword or knife or ax sticking into the eyeslit. She counted eight squires, heading out for the first aid station. Bjorn knocked on the door. When a spritely looking girl answered the door, the squires pushed toward the opening.

“I’ve got a problem, Miss,” Bjorn said hesitantly.

“Would you look at my eye, please?” Gobie elbowed him aside.

“I think I’m in trouble, ma’am,” said Lothbrok.

“I made a mistake in the last show,” said Frolf.

Lef had an ax in one eyeslit and a knife in the other. Julie started laughing and couldn’t stop. Patrons turned and gaped. The first aid girl called to her friend, and they clutched each other shaking with laughter. The squires couldn’t keep their faces straight when Mjollnir came out, holding ice to his brow.

“Oh, look at you guys. You all are crazy,” he said.

Yes, they are crazy, Julie thought. And I love every one of them.

Brodar drove Mjollnir to the hospital where he got seven stitches. Julie stayed behind and put the gear together to go home. She and Rienna had the tack cleaned and most of the armor loaded by the time Brodar returned. Megan had driven Mjollnir home.
Julie took Rob and Steve for a short ride, then took some other friends they had made through the six weeks—Devon’s friend who made armor, a cute guy that Evelyn knew, the man who sold crisps, even a patron who wandered over. It was their last Saturday, and Julie hated for the time to end.

At last they loaded Brielle and Trojan and headed for home in the darkness.

“Good day, except for Mjollnir, huh?” Julie said.

“Yeah, I think it was our best day yet. Richard Orehick was watching the 3:00 show.”

“Do you think he liked it?” she asked.

“I sure hope so.”

“It was pretty good. He was bound to like it. We did a good job.”

“Except for Mjollnir getting hurt,” Brodar added.

“Yeah, but I don’t think many people noticed that.”

“No, I guess not.”

“You want to sleep at our place tonight?” Julie wished he would stay, so they could sit on the couch again feeling close, so this special magical time with Brodar would last a bit longer.

“No thanks, I really need to make some phone calls and do some things at my house. Seven-thirty tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.”


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## knightrider

This is a fun logo our friend made for us--not official--because all of us in the core group (not the Skraelings) skied together a lot in the winter when we couldn't joust.


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## knightrider

Here it is--sorry, I clicked the wrong thing . . .


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## knightrider

On Sunday, there was an even stronger air of finality about the day. Julie wandered about the grounds between shows, saying good-bye to the people she had come to care for—the hat lady and her cat, the girl who demonstrated the hawks, the Coke truck man, the pony ride man, the gypsy dancers, Jake, the gateman. So many people she considered her friends. Some she would never see again. But she didn’t let herself think of that.

Julie had expected this final day to be raucous and silly, but there was a quiet air of sadness. This was the end, and everyone was saying their, maybe forever, goodbyes. As the six o’clock cannon went off, people immediately began packing up and putting away. There was not the usual get-out-the-beer-let’s-party atmosphere that had pervaded the end of every other Festival day. People were leaving and had work to do, and good-byes were painful and best gotten over with quickly.

By 6:30, Julie and Brodar were in the car with the first pair of horses, the station wagon loaded to the roof with feed tubs, excess hay, water buckets, lances and armor, shavings fork, and wheelbarrow. By 8:00 when they returned, there were few people left from the fair. Usually at this time people were playing rock music, dancing, drinking, and throwing frisbees, but not on this night. It was already quite dark as they searched around the shadows for any last-minute gear.

“Hey, Bjarki,” Julie heard a voice in the darkness. “I know we already said good-bye, but I wanted you to have this.”

“Oh, Kitty, you haven’t left yet.”

“Nah, I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I’m just too tired to make that drive to Houston tonight. But look, I wanted you to have this.” She held out a small bundle wrapped in toilet paper.

“Oh, Kitty, you shouldn’t have.” Julie unwrapped it gently. It was an exquisite glass knight on a rearing horse. “Oh, Kitty, this is so beautiful. I remember when you made it. I will treasure it always. You have been so good to me. I was so lucky I met you. This is beautiful. I know how expensive this one is because I always admired it.”

“I know. I saw how you would stop to look at it. So I thought you should have it.”

“I can’t thank you enough. It is priceless, and I will treasure it forever.” She put her arms around Kitty and the tears began to stream down her face. “Please come back next year, Kitty. I hate good-byes.” Julie backed away, sniffing. “I’m so ashamed. How silly to cry.”

“Not silly,” said Kitty gently. “You’re a very special person. I’m glad I could give you something that you really like.”

“Oh, Kitty, I love it. I’ll always think of this summer and all the craziness with the horses, and how good you were.” Julie sniffed again and wiped her nose on Kitty’s toilet paper.

“Hey, I gotta go. But I’ll see you next year, O.K.?” Kitty took a step back.

“Of course, and you’ll write? You still have my address?”

“Right here in my pocket.” Kitty tapped her jeans. “See ya.”

Julie carried the glass figure carefully to Brodar’s car. “Look what Kitty just gave me. Isn’t it gorgeous? I can’t believe it. Do you know it cost $35! I can’t believe it. She is so nice.”

“She is nice,” Brodar agreed. “And that is beautiful.”

“She said I was a special person.”

“Well, didn’t I say that?”

“Yes, thank you, you did. Are we ready to load?”

“I believe we are. I think we have everything.”

“I’ll get Shadow, then.”

Julie fought tears again as they drove away from the site for the last time. Good bye Ren Fair, good bye fun and excitement and being a part of a grand troupe. Oh, I will be glad to be ordinary again, she told herself. It will be good not to be rushed and tired all the time.

“Did Bjorn say he was buying Sleipnir?” Julie asked suddenly.

“Yes, he wants to make the final arrangements at the boarding stable near his house this week. I’ll probably deliver her on Saturday.”

“Ah, I’ll miss her. But I’m really glad he’s buying her. She sure turned out well, after almost going into a dogfood can.”

“Yeah, Bjorn loves her.”

“He rides her just fine, too.”

“And you say your neighbors are getting Shadow tomorrow?”

“Yes, they’re coming over around 3:00 to ride her to their house.”

“We’ll sure miss those girls, won’t we?”

“But we’ll see them lots. My neighbors say I can ride Shadow sometimes, and I’ll get her back in May. They’re just leasing her, you know, for the winter.”

“And Bjorn wants to be a knight in next year’s show.”

“It was a great Ren Fair, wasn’t it?”

“I had a good time.”

Julie turned to look at him. “Are you sorry it’s over?”

He scratched his head and glanced at her. “In a way I am sorry because it was lots of fun, but one thing I am very glad about.”

“What’s that?”

“I was waiting for Ren Fair to end to ask you this question. I was going to wait until we were back at your house and have the horses put away, but I’m going to ask you now. Julie, would you go with me? I know I’m a lot older than you, and you probably want to date college guys . . . but . . . "

“Yes!” Julie exclaimed. “I’d love to!”

He took her hand as they drove through the darkness. “I didn’t think it would be this easy.”

“I can’t believe you are saying this to me,” Julie said in amazement. “Do you really mean it, or are you just sorry the Festival is over?”

“No, I really mean it.” Brodar was indignant. “I’ve been hanging around you for months. Surely you noticed.”

“But I thought you liked Rienna. I thought you liked Andrea.”

“I do like them, as friends. But I was waiting for you.”

“Waiting?”

“I don’t date high school girls. I was waiting for you to go to college.”

“But I started college four weeks ago.”

“I know. But first I had to screw up my courage. Then I decided it would be better to wait until the Festival ended, in case you found some guy at the Festival you wanted. I was sure worried about Rob.”

Julie laughed. “I’ve been crazy about you for months. I thought when Ren Fair ended, it would be the end of us.”

“The end of the B team? Not on your life. I hope we don’t ever end.”

Julie grinned and squeezed his hand even tighter as the car headed down the dark road for home.

The End


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## knightrider

Notes about Knight in Shining Armor

Just about everything that I have written actually happened to us, doing our first production on our own at the fair.

I was not 17, I was about 36, same age as Brodar, and the Skraelings were either in college or early twenties. Uncle Wes was actually my best friend’s husband, who was always a huge help to us, videotaping, building stuff, announcing, and being a wonderful support. On the other hand, he knew nothing about horses, and the “Uncle Wes” who was a mentor to Julie did not exist. I had to do all that horse buying, training, and trailering myself.

I wrote this novel a month after the Ren Fair ended, in 1986, and horse knowledge has changed hugely since then. I thought about changing the wording (and still might) to current thinking but decided not to. Yes, Roheryn fed Sleipnir corn, which we would never do today, and corn was her treat of choice. I thought about changing the terminology from “breaking” the horse to “starting” the horse but decided to leave it the way we used it back then.

Perhaps all the whacking on Sleipnir was too harsh, but that is what I was taught as a child, and that is what I did. Soon after Sleipnir came to live with us, I wondered if she had pain issues, particularly the stifles, as she never really fully let people clean her hind feet. I never knew if the bucking at the canter was from sticky stifles, but I had a hunch her stifles were not sound. For that reason, I never taught her to rear. When I sold her (for the second time—not in the book), I informed the new owners that I suspected her stifles and recommended they NOT breed her . . . but they did anyway and sold the baby for $3000. Hope the baby didn’t have stifle issues! They used her in a beginner lesson program and she was great. It was very strange about her vicious behavior at the stable where she was. She happened to end up there again, about 3 years later, and immediately began to bite, kick, buck, and rear. That was when I bought her back and sold her later to a riding school, where she had no problems at all. I never for a minute thought that Sleipnir was a Suffolk Punch. She was 14 hands, and it is my opinion that she was a Belgian that for some reason did not grow.

I was happily married when all these adventures occurred, and Brodar was my solid long-term friend. I believe we jousted together about 15 years. We still keep in touch regularly. Brodar loved pretty girls and did drive me crazy forgetting everything when a pretty girl came around. Like in the book, he regularly blew me off if there was some pretty girl involved, which made me really mad. I would feel the same way if a girlfriend blew me off when we had plans.

I thought the book would be far more interesting if the main character had love problems, and it would suit very well to make it unrequited love. When I was 17, no boy looked at me or showed any interest at all, so it was easy to create Julie. I knew just how she felt.

Mjollnir was every bit a true gentleman and knight as portrayed in the story. He still keeps in touch with Brodar and me. He never did get a horse and doesn’t ride any more. He rode for several years jousting professionally for Chris, and witnessed a horrendous accident, which put him off jousting.

Andrea did something that no one has ever done for me, before or since this story. Three years after her “betrayal”, she came to Brodar and me, saying that she had been very wrong, selfish, and unkind to dump our troupe for Chris’s guys. She was very sorry, and she said she would make it up to us by squiring for our shows three times for free . . . which she did. She was an excellent squire, and I was totally impressed that she showed that kind of maturity.

The story takes place in the beginning of our adventures doing jousting shows. Brodar and I actually worked 3 years for Chris in his show before branching out on our own, so we had a lot more experience than this story indicates.

When the story takes place, I did not joust in armor. I only did the games, and was the “producer,” a truly thankless job. Shadow was my tried and true jousting horse for many years, but that was later. I donned armor and jousted on her, did tricks, and many shows, including the Renaissance Festival.

Jake, the gate keeper, was my buddy for a number of years, until he died of cancer.

Kitty, the glass worker, also got cancer from inhaling the fumes from the glass. We kept in touch regularly until she died. I still miss her and keep the beautiful glass figurine of the knight in my china closet. She later gave me a broken heart, which she told me she never ever sold broken pieces, when my happily married husband left me for another woman.

The Skraelings were an immature bunch, as you can tell from the story, and drifted away soon after that year. I kept up with Gobie for a while. He was my favorite. Brodar and I kept our troupe very small after that one wild and crazy year.

I kept Shadow all her life and held her head as she died. She is buried on our farm with a beautiful headstone. She earned me $21,000 in her life. Not bad for a $350 unhandled 4-year-old.

Brielle had ringbone, probably was starting to have it that year. I retired her and kept her until she died.

Trojan developed stomach cancer and died Halloween day, in 1987. We buried him on our place with a Thor’s hammer (Mjollnir) in his mouth and a Viking sword by his side.

I have not put up any pictures of Chris or his show for privacy reasons, as he is a professional jouster. We still keep in touch and visit one another from time to time.

Pandemonium was one of the few names I did not change because their show disbanded. One of them kept up with me for many years. If he was doing a show and saw me in the crowd, he would stop the show, and call out, “Lady Briavael, so good to see you!” and then spend some time after the show. One of them became a smoke jumper in Oregon, and the third one had a falling out with the other two and I lost touch with him. Riding with them was an amazing experience.

I changed everybody’s names except Shadow. Although Mjollnir never wanted her to be Shadowfax, I did, and that was her name.
Here are some photos of later shows and jousts. And yes, that is the Washington Monument in the background of the one photo. We were doing the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Washington D.C. We rode in it every year.


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## knightrider

More photos of my amazing Shadowfax


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## ChasingDreams

No!!! It can’t be over! That one picture with Shadow bowing in front of the Washington monument is pretty cool.

Seriously amazing story, thank you so much for sharing it with us ❤


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Knave

Yes, thank you for your story! I looked forward to it each day. I love that you explained it in the end too. It made me feel like I went on your adventure with you!


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## AnitaAnne

This is the end? Oh no tell me it isn't so! :eek_color:

Love the pictures and the follow up, Shadow was so pretty! What a deal she was too. 

I suspected all along your Sleipnir was a QH/Belgian cross. She has the look of one. Keeping the training true to the times was in keeping with the story. 

Thanks for sharing your story, it was really fun for me to read. Going to go back and read it again and again :gallop:


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## knightrider

Thank you all so very much. I so appreciate all your comments. You really do not know how much I appreciate it! It was fun putting it up every day and looking for old photos to share. Someone on Horse Forum suggested Sleipnir was a Haffie/Belgian and I never thought of that, but that sounds plausible too.

I have lots of other novels in my closet that I might put on computer at some time. Right now, I would like to give some other stories room. I really enjoy reading other people's stories. I'll give you all a breather and let someone else have a turn!


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## Knave

I look forward to your next! On a side note, I don’t think your having a story takes anything away from anyone else’s story.


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## LoriF

I loved reading this story, it sounds like it was so much fun.


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## gottatrot

That was a great story and I was sad to come to the end. What amazing horse adventures you have had! Love the photos.

I'll never think there are too many stories to read, please don't wait too long before putting another book on here. Yours are great. 

Those Skraelings were making me laugh out loud with their jokes, and I was very happy as a hopeless romantic that Brodar was interested in Julie after all. Perhaps the modern idea is for stories to have dark or mysterious endings, but I want the characters I care about to end up happy.


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