Dark Age Maiden

It just was not to be

        For days, Carina scarcely left her father's side, and she cared for his every need. At first, she was fearful he wouldn't regain consciousness. She noted the rapidity of his breathing and the pain that still registered, even sleeping, on his face. She felt his pulse racing, and she applied moist cloths to his temples to help cool his fever.

        In the afternoon of the next day Tiberio awakened. Carina was ecstatic to see him open his eyes, and with great joy she went to his side. Tiberio tried to move but began coughing and then became wracked with pain. Carina could see that any movement and each cough caused him a paroxysm of agony. She told him, "Lay back, father. Try not to move. I will get Oriana. Wait without moving if you can. I will be right back with her."

        She left him to run through the hallways of Giancarlo's huge citadel. Finding her door, she knocked loudly. Oriana answered, and Carina told her that her father was awake and in terrible pain. Oriana grabbed her bag and went quickly with Carina back to his room.

        Carina's father had changed for the worse since she had left him; his face was redder from coughing and he seemed to be having difficulty catching his breath. Oriana pulled out a small vial from her bag and poured it's thick liquid into a mug. She added a small amount of weak wine that Carina had quickly obtained for her, and she told Tiberio to drink. She held the mug before his lips, and he took its rim in his mouth and managed to get some of the medicine down before coughing again.

Carina knelt next to his bed with her hand on his shoulder. Her face was close to his. She coaxed him to try to swallow more of the medicine. He tried to drink it again with some success, though some of the liquid dripped onto the blanket Carina had placed over him.

         Oriana peered down at him and told Carina she was glad he had been able to drink as much as he had. "Rest now, Tiberio," she said, "the coughing and pain will soon become less. You will become sleepy. Let it come over you, for rest is what will help you to heal. Carina will stay with you. You are in good hands, Tiberio. Rest."

        Carina noticed her father already seemed less agitated, either because of what Oriana said or because the potion she gave him was beginning to work. His cough became milder and his eyes were less glazed. She turned from him to thank Oriana. Oriana continued to regard her father watchfully until the medicine gradually calmed him and he became drowsy.

When she was ready to leave, Carina escorted her to the door. Oriana told her she would return later to redress his wound. Carina went back to her father and knelt next to him. He was still awake. She held his hand and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, father." He didn't speak but she felt him lightly squeeze her hand.

        In his apartment, Giancarlo took counsel with Ruggiero, Donato and his two sons. He expressed his belief that the Saracens facing them were not nearly so numerous or well equipped as those who had fought at Toulouse. He had noted there were far fewer archers, and probably because they had come by sea, there were not many horses. It seemed to him that rather than wait for the next attack, they should launch one of their own and drive them back to the sea. He sought confirmation of his idea from those he trusted.

        "With all the knights from Tiberio's manor," Giancarlo said, "we are sixty strong against but few mounted cavalry of theirs. Furthermore, we can field almost three hundred pikemen."

        "Men with long spears cannot fight in hand to hand combat, father," said Leonardo. "Once the Saracens get past their heavy pikes they will mow them down." 

        "I think the pikemen would be effective if we protect their flanks and rear," said Ruggiero.  "No one, not even horses will charge into a phalanx of raised spears."