THE BLOODS OF BOLTON | GAME OF THRONES

CHAPTER 11

BENFRED TALLHART'S POLISHED armor sparkled in the sunlight. 

After three days of nearly constant rain, the storm clouds had at last broken apart and faded into small wisps of grey and white. A good omen, he thought as he glanced up at the sky; to him it had never seemed so blue. The gods are smiling upon me today. They had already helped him to win his first match against a household knight sworn to House Locke. The fat old man toppled off his horse with one blow from Benfred's lance. Fool's luck his cousin Brandon had called it: "Your opponent was half off his horse before you struck him." Benfred liked to think that wasn't so, and he intended to prove his cousin wrong in his next match.

"Lord Benfred of House Tallhart," announced the herald.

Benfred gave his horse a kick with his heels and cantered onto the field, his forest-green cloak flowing behind him. Engraved on his steel breastplate were the three sentinel trees of House Tallhart, and his horse was caparisoned in green and brown. The boy threw his fist into the air and bellowed, "Proud and free!" Then he heard the lords and ladies chuckle and saw his father shaking his head. Brandon Tallhart was sitting beside him and holding back a laugh. That lit a fire inside Benfred.

Watch me, cousin, he thought. Fool's luck, ha! The Others take your fool's luck!

Next, the herald called Daryn of House Hornwood to the field. Benfred remembered how Daryn had japed about his performance in yesterday's horse race. "Decided to go for a swim, did you?" the boy had said while Benfred was sitting on the riverbank and dumping water out of his boots. For that, Benfred had chucked his boot at the boy's head, but he'd missed and then had to fish it back out of the river.

The fool of yesterday, thought Benfred, but I'll be the hero of today. He lowered his visor and took his position. Daryn threw a kiss to Alys Karstark and then did the same.

Both boys readied their lances and charged each other at full speed, abandoning all style and strategy for the sake of brute strength. The two collided in the middle. Benfred's point hit first and shattered against the moose on Daryn's breastplate. Daryn's counterstrike came seconds after, with equal force. The wood exploded and sharp splinters went flying. All the ladies gasped, the common folk cheered, and Alys Karstark was out of her seat. A riderless horse trotted down the lane, and her betrothed was lying face-down on the ground. His competitor lay on the other side of the tilt, his armor dented and helm rolling across the dirt. 

Lord Manderly was laughing so hard wine sprayed out of his nostrils. "They've knocked each other unconscious, the fools! Buahahahaha!" As he laughed, his young squire tried to dab his coat dry with a handkerchief. The fat lord had been drinking since his arrival, from a silver goblet from his personal collection. His stubby, sausage fingers swatted at the squire's busy hand. "Leave me be, boy! I said, leave me! Hahaha!"

Tally Ryswell arrived at the jousting yard just in time to see her beloved Benfred Tallhart being carried away on a deer hide stretcher. His head of blond hair bobbed up and down as he groggily asked, "Did I win? Did I win?" Daryn Hornwood was on the stretcher behind him, nursing a bloody nose and a broken arm. Despite their protests, both boys were forced to withdraw from the competition and would likely spend the rest of their visit in the sickrooms.

"I bet he rode valiantly," Tally said with a hopeful glimmer in her eye.

Tansy stifled a laugh. "By the look of him, I'd say he rode carelessly."

"Even so," Tally replied in a waning voice, "he's still handsome."

By then, the grounds crew was busy preparing the yard for the next match. They shoveled dirt over the bloody spot where Benfred Tallhart's face had smashed against the ground, and they found one of his teeth as well. Drucilla wondered if Tally would still consider him handsome with one less tooth. She'd once discarded a brooch because it was missing a single gemstone. Reek later found that brooch and pinned it on himself. The guards thought he'd stolen it, and so he was whipped in the yard.