The King’s Charm Part V
“Is this supposed to be a hunt or a circus?” Fumed Mulau navigating her horse around a troop of musicians, in addition to the offending entertainers were to be found scores of servants, guards, scribes and hangers on without any clear purpose. Worse someone had brought a dancing bear cub along that bounced around scaring the horses and there were other pets, tiny toy dogs that did not even seem practical as emergency rations, annoying monkeys in mock Turkish outfits and someone had brought along a squirrel that had particularly offended Mulau by knocking over the one flute of pre-hunt champagne her mother would allow her.
“Please do not give the King ideas, he likes clowns,” Bayard shuddered, he had offered Paskai his help in guiding Mulau in the intricacies of a formal hunt in the grounds of the Royal Estate around Chambord. “So have you decided on your weapons? I recommend a light bow, I have one here suitable for a young lady,” Bayard held up a crossbow, it was highly decorated but really it seemed to Mulau to be a clumsy thing intended for an amateur.
“I have my own bow,” Mulau withdrew her own recurved bow which she had strung that morning from its scabbard mounted on her saddle.
“Ah a little cupid’s bow, I have sometimes hunted with short bows they lack…” Bayard took the bow off Mulau and gave the string an experimental tug to his surprise nothing happened, he was however a warrior. Once over the surprise he took a proper grip and pushed out with is left arm holding the string in place with his right, “…Hum this has quite the draw for a young thing,” He eased back on the string after a brief second, “I think it is rather much for a young lady though.”
“I do well enough with it,” Mulau knocked an arrow drew it back and released in one swift motion. A certain squirrel squeaked as a grape it had been about to eat exploded in its face and the long shaft embedded in a melon a little way beyond. The little animal took one look at Mulau and then scampered quickly back to its mistress aware revenge for its earlier escapades could easily be taken.
“Be a little careful my dear but you shoot well,” Bayard cautioned.
It took a long while for the great assemblage to mount let alone set off but to Mulau’s surprise it was not long before the first game presented itself. Thinking back she would realise there were probably a lot of huntsmen involved in corralling and herding the larger wildlife so that the nobles did not have to search too long or given there was such a mob of them, frighten away everything completely.
“A stag,” Mulau cried out but the beast was having none of this nonsense and quickly bounded away.
“Woohoo, I shall take it down first,” Declared Francois wielding his crossbow.
“Oh no he won’t,” Mulau muttered putting spurs to horse which surged forwards like the wind. Noble King and pretty young Princess might be in the lead but a surging pack of courtiers and servants followed behind another slightly more canine pack of hounds surged amidst the horses’ hooves. The stag however had clearly seen more than one of these hunts and choose a route designed to test the nerve and folly of the more breakneck riders.
Mulau abandoned efforts to notch her bow, gripping the reins occupied her loading hand for a while as horse plunged down a muddy funnel carved by late spring floods and lined with perilous tree roots to snap the legs of any blundering quadruped and branches to lurking low to catch the neck of any careless rider.
Then suddenly Mulau was in a clearing, she turned sharply as the bushes parted but it was the King, swearing joyfully as he breathlessly clung to crossbow in one hand and the neck of his mighty steed in the other. Half a dozen hounds caped at his heels.
“Where did the bloody stag go?” Asked Mulau but for a long moment the only answer was the horse of some courtier who had perhaps been unwise to so closely follow the King as its saddle was empty. The animal saw another pair of its kind and sauntered over before lowering its head and cropping some grass, a hound offered to make friends but was chased off with an angry snap before more grass munching resumed. The hounds though were not simply playing and messing about three of them set up a raucous barking and one lunged into some undergrowth. It came back out again spinning head of heels but it had flushed the stag who leapt forth, struck a pose and then hurtled down another narrow track barely visible to human eyes as Mulau and Francois gave wild chase. Behind then the rest of the hunt was only just coming into view.
“Faster, faster,” Mulau urged her horse and it responded by trying to outpace the wind leaping fallen branches and dodging tree trunks in a mad career which gave no thought to the mechanics of stopping. Branches whipped at her face but Mulau thought she saw her opportunity, in one swift movement the arrow was at her cheek the bow curving into a near circle ahead of her and then…she jerked her stave hand up even as she released her arrow.
“Careful,” Said Bayard as the arrow whistled above his ear.
“Idiot I could have spitted you, now out of my way,” Mulau applied spurs once again to her horse who had been slowing believing its task done. Woman and animal surged around and knight and courser and the pursuit was alive again. Again Mulau notched an arrow, she tensed a brief second and let fly, the arrow struck fast and true, waving like a flag in the stag’s hind quarters. Yet this just meant the beast slowed slightly, just enough in fact to set up the King with the perfect shot as he rounded a lucky corner and sent his crossbow bolt straight into prey’s heart. With a small thunder the stag went down, blood blew from its nostrils in a slight froth and then it expired, “Bugger the pompous ass got it after all.”
“We hunt well together do we not My Lady?” Beamed Francois who had clearly missed Mulau’s sotto voce remark.
Just then a wild hullabaloo started up from elsewhere, “Quickly, come quickly the Lady Mary is attacked!”
To Be Continued
) is always taking me for a secondary character ...
French history ? Are you sure ? But it would be less exciting without us, chinese women !LOL ...
Exact, my daughter !LOL ...
"Hum, I am not sure that I really want to discover what it is hiding behind all that ...."
hopefully not to wear you out 
