Free Knight of the Empress by Griff Hosker

close to his manor and it makes that part of the road safer.  I expected nothing.  It appears I have upset the Emperor. He has no reason to suspect me and I can do nothing about his thoughts.  I will soon be gone from here.  Do not let it worry you. I will soon be back in England and I will be far from his influence."
    "Thank you for your understanding." He studied the seal of his new manor. I realised that I had obtained my manor in a similar way.  One owner died and the king, or in this case, Emperor, replaced him as though he had never existed. Such was life.  We were pawns to be used in this grand game of chess which Emperors, Kings and princes played. I remained quiet.  Our table was relatively quiet; the others examined the three Great Helms and discussed how they might affect a knight when fighting.
    "We shall discover this at the tourney. I, for one, am looking forward to this." Gottfried was turning the helmet around in his hands.
    "It might impair your vision and your hearing. The holes for the eyes have to be small else a blade could get in there and render the whole thing useless." Edward was ever the practical knight.  He had been a man at arms for almost fifteen years and what he did not know about fighting was not worth knowing.
    "Possibly but it would be very hard to get a lance below the edge and almost impossible to force such a helmet off a head.  I have seen it tried before and failed."
    Edward pointed a thumb at me, "The Baron here doesn't go for the head.  He goes for the middle."
    "Surely that is a harder target?"
    I had not being paying close attention. I was still watching the top table, "What?  Oh the middle.  It is a bigger target than the head.  If you miss when you aim at the head you have a good chance that your lance will go above your enemy's head.  A middle thrust which misses either hits the chest or the cantle. Both can dismount a rider."
    Rolf nodded, "Interesting but perhaps you have given your secret away for the tourney."
    I smiled, putting the Emperor and his machinations from my mind, "Perhaps I have others."
    "You will bear watching."
    The eight of us were the first to retire. I did not fall asleep straight away.  Although I had done nothing to justify my treatment by the Emperor I knew that I had in my thoughts. Matilda was an Empress and the daughter of a king.  What could she see in a lowly Baron who had a tiny manor at the edge of the world?
    I was up early and I resolved that I had sat on my backside long enough.  I sought Wulfric and Dick. "Today we become warriors again.  I want every weapon sharpened. We need more arrows manufacturing.  I want every shield painted blue."
    "Already done, Baron and Sir Edward mentioned the gambesons for the archers.  We bought some dye yesterday and they are drying now.  We found a washer woman who made them blue for a few copper coins. She said if we get some blue stars she will sew them on for us too.
    Dick nudged Wulfric in the ribs.  "Of course old Wulfric here sweet talked her too, eh?"
    Wulfric sniffed, "There's more than one way to skin a cat, my friend."
    I clapped them both on the back.  "Excellent.  We have a tourney coming up and as soon as it is over we will be heading back with Sir Guy and his men.  He now has a manor."
    "Good, I like him, sir.  He is approachable.  Not like that Sir Richard.  I never liked him!" My men were honest to the point of bluntness.
    We went to the tailor and picked up our surcoats. He promised me that the others would be ready by the tourney. I was about to leave and he said, "Baron, I hope you don't mind but someone heard I was making your surcoats and asked which one was yours.  I told him the one with the blue flower in the middle of the upper star.  I hope I did right."
    I nodded, "It matters not but could you tell me who it was?"
    "It was the steward of the Count of Aachen."
    "Thank you."
    I did not bother Rolf or the Swabians with that information but I did tell Edward,