Crown of Dreams (4 page)

Then she noticed what was happening outside the window. “Is that young Sir Cai on his pony? What does he think he's doing? The queen specifically said no jousting today.”

“Don't worry, Lady Isabel, Cai's not going to joust,” Rhianna said, already out of her dress. She pulled on her riding leggings and slipped her Avalonian armour over the top. The silvery material fell to just above her knees, light enough to dance in, yet strong enough to stop an arrow. Finally, she buckled Excalibur around her waist. Feeling much more comfortable than she had done in the chapel, she hurried down the stairs after the boys.

“Damsel Rhianna!” Lady Isabel said, losing patience. “Where do you think you're going dressed like that? Your mother's expecting you at lunch.”

“I'll have lunch later!” Rhianna called back over her shoulder. “I've got a duel to stop.”

O
n her way down the stairs, Rhianna wondered what she’d do if the challenger under that battered helm did turn out to be her cousin Mordred. But Elphin was right. Mordred wouldn’t come to Camelot alone,
not after the last time, when he’d been captured and thrown in the dungeon.

She clenched her fist on Excalibur’s hilt. Whoever it was out there, she wouldn’t let him hurt Arianrhod or Cai.

Her beloved mist horse, Alba, waited for her in the courtyard, saddled and bridled. Elphin was already mounted on Evenstar. The two Avalonian horses shone in the shadows, their white manes rippling almost to their knees, and their silver-shod hooves pawing the castle yard.

Are we going home now
? Alba said, whinnying when she saw Rhianna.

“Soon, my beautiful one.” She gave the mare’s nose a quick stroke before springing into the saddle. She felt bad every time Alba asked that, because she knew the little horse
meant home to Avalon. It had been a whole year since either of them had tasted apples from Lord Avallach’s orchard. “We’re going racing instead,” she said. “You’ll enjoy that, won’t you?”

Alba shook her mane in excitement.
I will win today. I am very fast
.

Rhianna smiled.

“Rhia,” Elphin said, nodding at the gates, which had begun to close. “We’d better hurry if we’re going to get out.”

Men came running out of the dining hall to man the walls. She saw bows and arrows in their hands as well as half-eaten pies, and her stomach clenched. What if Mordred had come with his army, after all? She drew Excalibur and trotted Alba towards the gates. Elphin followed with his harp on his back.

“Sorry, Princess Rhianna,” one of the guards said, stepping into her path and raising his spear. “We’ve orders to keep you inside until we find out who that stranger is.”

“Out of my way, you fool!” Rhianna said impatiently. “Cai’s out there. You can’t let him tilt against a grown man. He’ll be killed!”

“The boy carries the magic lance, and that stranger doesn’t look like much of a knight,” the guard said with a glance at his friend. “We think young Sir Cai’ll be all right.”

“Then you’re idiots!” Rhianna gathered up her reins and headed Alba towards the shrinking gap between the gates. She closed her eyes as they loomed closer.

“Mist, Alba,” she whispered. “Mist.”

The guards yelled in alarm when they realised she was not going to stop, and jumped out of
her way. She heard Elphin’s harp tinkle across the courtyard, and something solid brushed her shoulder. Her skin prickled. She opened her eyes to see Excalibur’s jewel shining brightly. Then Alba was through the gates and galloping down the slope towards the jousting field, with Evenstar close on her heels. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Gareth squeeze through the gap and run after them. The gates shut behind the squire with a dull boom.

“You’re crazy, Rhia!” Elphin called. “You can’t mist through the closed gates of Camelot! If they’d shut them all the way, you and Alba would both have broken necks by now, and I’d be taking your body back to the crystal caverns to lie with your father’s.”

She grimaced. “They didn’t shut them, did they? They knew they’d be in more trouble with
my mother if they hurt me than if they let me out. Is that man one of Mordred’s bloodbeards, do you think?”

The challenger didn’t look crippled like her cousin, but Mordred might have used magic to make himself appear whole. His helm was closed so nobody could see his face.

Elphin frowned. “I can’t tell from here. Surely the knights aren’t going to let Cai go through with this?”

Despite the closed gates, a surprising number of people had managed to get out of Camelot to watch. They climbed on to the stands beside the jousting field, where, normally, pavilions would be set up and seats draped with flags and banners. Today, there were no colourful flags and no cheers. The crowd watched in silence as Cai trotted his
pony to one end of the field, and the challenger trotted his horse to the other.

The boy looked scared, but gripped his lance in a determined fashion. The stranger laughed.

At first Rhianna wondered if the knights planned to teach Cai a lesson, as they had done with her at the spring joust when she’d tilted against Sir Bedivere. Were they counting on the boy to pull out and let a grown knight take his place? Then she saw Sir Bors and Sir Agravaine quietly trotting their horses up behind the stands, out of view of the stranger. Sir Lancelot waited at the other side of the course with more knights.

“Clever. They’re going to trap him when he’s made his run before he can recover his balance,” Elphin said. “Cai’s just got to duck. He’ll be all right, Rhia, don’t worry – I’ll help
him, like I did before.” He balanced his harp on Evenstar’s withers and readied his fingers over the strings.

Sir Bedivere mounted the stand with a trumpet. He announced, “The stranger claims Princess Rhianna’s maid Arianrhod belongs to him. The Pendragon’s champion says the stranger’s wrong. This tilt will decide the matter, according to Camelot’s law.” He checked the positions of the knights creeping up behind the stands and noticed the two mist horses standing in the shadows. He shook his head urgently at Rhianna as he lifted the trumpet to his lips.

“He means don’t interfere,” Elphin whispered.

Rhianna gripped Excalibur tighter. “I know, but I’m not going to let that man kill Cai!” she hissed.

A blast rang out, and the black horse sprang into a gallop. Sandy was only a few heartbeats behind. The stranger lowered his lance. After a bit of a fumble, Cai managed to lower the Lance of Truth, which sparkled brighter as Elphin played his harp. Sir Bors and Sir Agravaine fixed their eyes on the challenger and drew their swords as he galloped closer.

“Duck, Cai!” Sir Bedivere called.

But Cai didn’t seem to hear. He gripped the Lance of Truth as if it were his only friend in the world. He was getting too big for his pony, Rhianna noticed – and too big to duck a lowered lance easily.

“Race Sandy for me, Alba!” she shouted, urging the mare down the course after Cai’s pony. The crowd gasped as she galloped out into the sun with Excalibur shining in her
right hand. Sir Bedivere shouted something she didn’t hear above the pounding hooves.

“Cai!” she yelled. “Pull up, you idiot!”

Sunlight flashed into her eyes, half blinding her. Cai didn’t hear her any more than he’d heard Sir Bedivere. Squinting from behind him, she could see he had the Lance of Truth aimed straight at his opponent’s shield. She had to admire her friend’s bravery. But if he didn’t pull up, he would die.

Elphin’s harp sang out louder across the field. Excalibur warmed in her hand. Its jewel glowed brighter and its blade left a trail of light through the air. The Lance of Truth brightened, too, maybe sensing the Sword nearby. In front of them, the black horse loomed larger against the setting sun with every stride.

“Faster, Alba!” she yelled.

I will win this race
, the mare snorted.

The mist horse’s nose caught up with Sandy’s tail, then Cai’s knee. Finally, the boy noticed Alba. He gave Rhianna a startled look.

“Damsel Rhianna!” he gasped, as she leaned across and grabbed his rein to pull the pony out of the other horse’s path. “Don’t—”

Too late.

There was a blinding flash as the Lance of Truth clashed with the challenger’s lance. Somehow Excalibur got caught between them, and went spinning out of her grip. The crowd gasped in horror as Alba misted under her to avoid the weapons. Sandy, being a sensible sort of pony, shied out of the way too, unseating Cai, whose saddle slipped sideways. Then the challenger was past them. Splinters of his lance showered around them
as the ground rushed up to meet Rhianna.

Cai fell on top of her with a grunt and they rolled together in the mud. Rhianna closed her eyes, feeling sick. They ended up in a tangle of limbs against the central barrier and lay still, catching their breath.

“Are you hurt, Damsel Rhianna?” Cai asked in a shaky voice.

“I’m still alive, no thanks to you,” she muttered, sitting up and rubbing her shoulder.

She looked anxiously for Excalibur. The sword stuck out of the mud nearby, thankfully undamaged. She got shakily to her feet, wiped the blade clean on her leg and sheathed it. Sandy and Alba came trotting back together. Both horses looked sheepish.

I am sorry I misted,
Alba said.
I thought you held the shining sword, so you would stay on me.

“I did, until my so-called champion here knocked it out of my hand with the Lance of Truth,” Rhianna said.

Cai flushed, rubbing his wrist. “I wouldn’t have done, if you hadn’t put Excalibur in the way,” he said. “I’d have knocked that dirty spy off his horse instead! He wasn’t even a proper knight. Why did you stop me?”

“He’d have skewered you first, more like. You are an idiot Cai! Why didn’t you let Sir Lancelot challenge him?”

“I’m supposed to be your champion now! Any rate, Sir Lancelot’s still angry with Arianrhod for letting Mordred out of the dungeon in the summer, so he wouldn’t have jousted to save her from that man.”

“He wouldn’t have let an untrained squire joust in his place.”

“I’m not untrained!” Cai’s flush deepened. “I’ve been practising every day since you knighted me. If you hadn’t stopped me just then, the Lance’s magic would have worked, I’m sure of it.”

At the other end of the barrier, the stranger had been surrounded by angry knights. Sir Agravaine and Sir Bors dragged him off his horse and quickly disarmed him. They pulled off his helm, none too gently. Everyone went quiet as they looked at the challenger’s face.

Rhianna clenched her fist on Excalibur. To her relief, it wasn’t her cousin. But she’d recognise that horrible scar anywhere. It was Mordred’s bloodbeard captain, who had almost killed her twice now, and tortured Sir Bors last winter in the Saxon camp. A dragon had clawed his face during the battle that followed,
but he hadn’t died. His mouth twisted into a sneer when he saw Rhianna staring, and he spat into the mud.

“Is that who I think it is, Rhia?” Elphin asked, trotting Evenstar across to join them.

She nodded, chilled.

Sir Bors obviously recognised him too, because he clouted the bloodbeard on the ear, knocking him into the mud. “That’s for what you did to me last year,” the big knight growled, putting his boot on the captive’s neck. “Where’s Prince Mordred and your blood-drinking friends?”

The bloodbeard bared his teeth. “W-wouldn’t you like to know?”

“What do you want with Princess Rhianna’s maid?”

“She served my master’s mother, Lady
Morgan Le Fay. Mordred wants a word with her. You all saw me unseat the Pendragon’s champion – according to Camelot’s law, I believe that means you must hand the maid over to me.”

The crowd began to mutter.

“Bloody cheek, him coming here invoking King Arthur’s laws!”

“The maid
did
let the dark knight escape at midsummer, though.”

“We don’t want Mordred’s lot coming down here again. Maybe it’d be easiest to let him take the girl?”

“Nobody’s taking Arianrhod anywhere,” Rhianna said firmly, leading Alba across to the knights and their prisoner. “Least of all that man!”

She appealed to Sir Bors. “Can’t you see,
Mordred sent his bloodbeard here to stir up trouble? You can’t possibly believe him! Elphin thinks Arianrhod’s under a spell.”

“Ha, so you’d believe a
fairy
now? Since when have Lord Avallach’s people cared about men’s affairs?” The bloodbeard sneered at the Avalonian boy, who watched silently from a distance, clutching his harp.

Sir Bedivere took her by the elbow. “Don’t get too close, Damsel Rhianna,” he warned. “He seems to have come alone, but it might be a trick.”

“It’s a trick, all right! Arianrhod’s innocent.”

“Seems the witch-maid’s put a spell on your princess, too,” said the bloodbeard in a sly tone. “What’s happened to King Arthur’s famous laws? Does every man who comes to Camelot in good faith get challenged to a duel, and then
– when he wins in a fair tilt – get dragged off his horse and arrested by Camelot’s knights?”