Vowed (The Vampire Journals, #7) - Morgan Rice Page 0,19

see he was aiming for Caleb.

Caleb, his back to her, had his hands full, slashing and parrying with two vampires and one human warrior. He didn’t see the mace being swung right for him. The mace was coming down hard, and it was about to strike a hard blow on his shoulder.

Caitlin reached her sword high in the air and intercepting it before it reached Caleb. The chain, instead, wrapped several times around her sword, entangled in it. She then yanked it hard, and as she did, the warrior was pulled close to her; she then leaned back and sidekicked him hard in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

Caitlin turned and leapt into the air, somersaulting over Caleb, and landing a double front kick on the chest of his opponent. She then reached down and grabbed his sword, swung around, and cracked one of Caleb’s other opponents hard behind his knees, buckling him to the floor. Caleb followed up by kicking him in the chest, and sending him to the ground. The third warrior swung around and was about to crack Caitlin hard in the back with his wooden sword. She had made a stupid mistake—she had been too preoccupied with Caleb’s other two warriors, and now she braced herself for a blow.

But at the last second, she heard the sound of wood on wood, and spun to see that Caleb had blocked the blow for her, then reached over and kicked him, knocking him to the ground.

Caitlin looked at Caleb with gratitude, and he exchanged the same grateful look. She could really feel that they were in this together.

Dozens more warriors prepared to charge, but suddenly there was the blow of a loud whistle, and everyone stopped.

Aiden stepped forward.

“Well done,” he said, as Caitlin and Caleb stood there, out of breath. “Now, we switch to jousting.”

The warriors immediately repositioned themselves, as servants brought out horses from the castle grounds. These horses were beautifully bedecked, covered in jewels, and the kings’ men, wearing chainmail, handed out several shining lances.

Caitlin found herself led to a horse, which she mounted, then found herself handed a huge lance.

On the far side of the field, facing her, a vampire warrior mounted a horse and scowled back at her. She recognized him immediately. Cain.

Another whistle sounded, and Caitlin’s horse charged forward at a gallop. The warriors all cheered, as the two galloped right for each other. Caitlin could feel the wind in her hair, out of breath at the speed of the horse, doing her best to wield the heavy lance. She saw the expression in Cain’s face, bearing down on her, and tried instead to focus not on his eyes, but on his chest. On where to place the lance. He was taller than her, and had the advantage. But she decided not to rely on her senses.

Caitlin closed her eyes, and tuned in. She sensed the spirit of the horse, felt its minute movements, its breathing; she sensed her opponent’s horse, her opponent’s weaknesses. She felt every muscle in the horse as they ran, felt the indents in the terrain, the cool feel of her lance’s hilt.

When she opened her eyes again, she was but feet away—and she let her arm guide the lance to its proper place.

It was a direct hit. She hit Cain on his rib cage, a split-second before he reached her. Cain fell off his horse, tumbling to the ground hard, and the crowd cheered.

Caitlin jousted again and again, for what felt like hours, against vampire warriors, against human warriors….Time and again, she was victorious.

Simultaneously, several more jousting lanes were opened and more horses were brought out, so that Caleb was jousting other opponents beside her, and others were jousting beside him. It became a jovial atmosphere, as dozens of horses were charging each other at any given time, the air filled with the sound of clanging. The royal musicians came out and played on their trumpets and lutes, adding a festive, medieval flare to the festival. Eventually vats of wine were also rolled out, along with vats of blood, and people drank freely throughout the day.

As Caitlin took a break at one point, she noticed that her brother Sam was up on a horse, jousting opponents. He knocked one off easily, looking graceful as he did. She marveled at how far he had come.

She noticed that Polly was jousting, too. After defeating one opponent, she came around, and found herself pared off with Sam.

Caitlin could see