The Legend of the King (8 page)

Sir Breunis roared with laughter. "You must be mad! I hold every advantage now. Why would I give you a chance?"

"Then make it harder! I challenge the greatest and most skilled of all your knights to single combat! Whoever you choose! I'll even take on one of those big fellows behind you!"

"No!"

"Then I hope you're not in a hurry, because we aren't coming out. We have food enough in here for months!"

At that point, the large knight in the middle leaned from his saddle and said something in a low voice. Sir Breunis shook his head and replied, but the large knight persisted. Gaheris turned to Lynet and said, "Go, Lynet! Get Douglas dressed and ready."

"Gary, I think you're the most wonderful man in the world, but I also know you're hopeless with a sword. I don't see that you fighting a single combat is any different from just letting them kill you. I still think you should take the rest of the men out with you. In a battle, who knows what will—"

"Listen to me, lass. I've no time to explain it right now, but I want you to trust me. I've no intention of dying here today."

Lynet searched her husband's eyes and saw in them a lurking flicker of anticipation, even amusement. She knew his every mood, and if he were lying, she would know it. "What is your plan?"

Gaheris shook his head. "No time," he said. "Go! And have someone get a second suit of silver armor ready for me."

Lynet nodded and descended to the courtyard. Behind her she heard Gaheris shouting something at Sir Breunis and his companions as the negotiations continued, but she paid no attention. Walking up to where Douglas's mother wept over his body, supported by a village maiden, Lynet said, "Elspeth?"

Douglas's mother looked up. She was no more than forty. "Yes, my lady."

"I am sorry for your loss. If I could restore Douglas to you, I would in a moment."

"I know, my lady."

"But I can't. And now I have to ask something else of you." Elspeth looked blank, and Lynet said, "Sir Gaheris has a plan. I don't know what it is, but I know he wants to make the soldiers outside think that your Douglas is Sir Gaheris."

"Eh?"

"They want Sir Gaheris dead. So, Sir Gaheris wants to pass off Douglas's body as his own to make them think they've won."

Elspeth still looked blank, and Lynet felt her heart breaking for the young mother stupefied by her grief. Then she received unexpected support. The young woman whose arm still encircled Elspeth's shoulders said, "And if this plan works, then we'll all live?"

"Sir Gaheris thinks so," Lynet said.

The girl leaned her head on Elspeth's shoulder. "Let her do what she has to, Elspeth. This way Douglas will still be saving us all, like he meant to." Elspeth said nothing but nodded weakly. The village girl looked up at Lynet. "What do you need us to do?" she asked.

Lynet smiled a thank you. "I'm sorry. I know you're Coll's daughter, but I don't remember your name."

"Rowena, my lady. I was to marry Douglas next month."

"Oh!"

"Shouldn't we be making haste?" Rowena asked.

Lynet shook herself, then looked into Rowena's steady young eyes and began giving directions. For the next few minutes they and those nearby were busy, fetching two identical suits of armor and putting one of them on Douglas's corpse. Elspeth had to leave during these preparations, but Rowena stayed beside Lynet through it all. At last the armor was on, save for the helm. Lynet sent everyone away, but Rowena stayed. "My lady," Rowena said. "Will it work? Douglas has black hair, and Sir Gaheris is red-haired. Even if they don't know his face—"

"Rowena," Lynet said. "I have to tell you something that may frighten you."

"What, my lady?"

"I am an enchantress."

"Yes, my lady."

"No, Rowena, I'm serious."

"Yes, my lady, I know. Everyone knows that." Rowena's eyes lit up suddenly. "Oh, do you know a spell for changing hair color?"

"Er ... yes. What do you mean
everyone
knows?"

"Well, maybe not the babies," Rowena admitted. "What, did you think it was a secret?"

"Well, yes."

"My lady, there isn't a family in the shire who doesn't have someone in it you've healed."

"But ... I never healed anyone in front of witnesses."

"Do you think we're idiots, then?"

"No, of course not, but—"

"Shouldn't you be saying that spell now?"

Lynet nodded dumbly. She could have saved herself a great deal of worry if she'd known that all her tenants knew who she was and didn't care. Kneeling beside Douglas, she placed a hand on his hair, feeling the cold skin underneath. Slowly and clearly, she spoke briefly in a language from a distant time, and beneath her fingers Douglas's dark hair began to glow and then lighten.

"A little more, I think," Rowena said. Her voice was empty of expression. Lynet glanced up into the girl's face. Her jaw was clenched, and the lines on her forehead were deep, but her eyes remained fixed on Douglas's face.

"Good God, Rowena, you've got steel in you!" Lynet couldn't help exclaiming.

"The only steel in me is in place of my heart," she said softly. "Go on. It's still too dark."

Lynet turned back to Douglas and repeated the process. When she was done, she nodded. "It won't fool anyone who knows Sir Gaheris, but it's better than I expected." Raising Douglas's head, she placed the helm over it and closed the visor.

"Is it done?" asked Gaheris's voice. Rising to her feet, Lynet turned to see Gaheris approaching. She nodded. Gaheris looked intently at her face and said, "I'm sorry, lass. It didn't even occur to me until you'd gone how hard this would be for you."

"What about you? Did you get what you wanted?"

"Ay, I'm fighting at the front gate in a few minutes. Help me with this armor."

"You're fighting Sir Breunis?" she asked, buckling one of his greaves.

"Of course not. A coward through and through. I'm fighting that chap in the middle of Breunis's party."

"The largest one, of course. And you think you can beat him?"

"I'd better not. I feel sure that Breunis will have his archers at the ready to shoot me if I look to be winning."

Lynet looked up sharply. "Gary! Then how—"

"Don't worry, lass. I won't win." Gaheris turned to the assembled farmers and townspeople. "Listen to me!" he called out. "I'm going out to fight a single combat, but don't worry. I'll be fine. As soon as I'm gone, I want all the women and children to follow Lady Lynet to the back of the castle. She'll let you out a secret door there, and you'll all go to the forest. Make your way to the caves on the coast, and the men and I will join you there when we can."

There was a moment of confusion while the people absorbed this command and gathered their families together. Some women protested, but the men repeated Gaheris's instructions. "Go on, Nellie," a man beside Lynet said to his wife. "You heard the lord. It'll be all right. Just follow Lady Lynet to the magical door in the ivy."

Lynet sighed and looked up to find Gaheris's eyes on her. "It seems that everyone knows I'm an enchantress," she said at last.

"I know, lass," Gaheris replied. "But keeping it secret seemed so important to you that I didn't have the heart to tell you." He raised his head again. "Now, men! When I go out, I want you to stand by the front gate and be ready to open it, and fast. Bring whatever weapons you can find. They may try to rush the castle when the gate's open. I don't think they will, but let's not take chances. Ready? Let's go."

Lynet rose to her feet and looked into Gaheris's eyes. She didn't completely understand his plan, but she knew that plans go awry as often as not. "Goodbye, my lord," she said. "I love you."

"Nay, lass," Gaheris said, smiling. "I'll see you soon." He touched her cheek with a gauntleted finger, then turned and walked with the men toward the front gate.

They had no trouble getting through the Ivy Gate, which Lynet left covered with ivy but unlocked, and all through the next hour of trudging through the deepest part of the forest they saw no one. At the craggy coast, they came to the caves that Gaheris had spoken of and hid in them. Outside, the gray sea raged, broke against the rocks, and sprayed foam, making the air damp and cold even in the back of the caverns. Rowena led a group of girls out to gather wood, and when they came back and piled it up at the mouth of the largest cave, Lynet started a roaring fire with a word. But not even the warmth and glowing light of the fire could dispel the cold darkness that gripped Lynet's heart.

And then, after two hours, there was a scuffle of dust at the cave entrance and Coll the carpenter walked in, followed by a steady stream of other men. For several minutes, there were tearful reunions on every side, but Lynet saw no Gaheris. Slowly she walked to the very mouth of the cave and stared into the growing darkness. No one.

Then Gaheris was before her. "Miss me, lass?" he said.

The dizzy world seemed to right itself, and for a second she could only stare. "He didn't kill you," she said at last.

"Nay, of course not."

"But I'll tell you this," added another voice from behind Gaheris. "It was dashed hard not to. I mean—good Gog, Gary!—that wasn't the best you could do, was it?"

It was Gawain.

"No, really, Lynet," Gaheris said. "You didn't recognize him?"

"I don't know what Gawain's armor looks like!" Lynet protested.

"It wasn't his armor," Gaheris said. "It was that blasted man-eating black horse of his."

"Guingalet hasn't bitten you in years," Gawain said calmly. "He's a right pussycat now in his old age."

"And besides," Lynet said, "why would I be looking for Gawain among the soldiers besieging his own castle?"

"It was all I could think of," Gawain explained.

Gawain had arrived the night before, found the White Horsemen encamped around Orkney Hall, and without hesitation had ridden right among them, claiming to be a messenger from King Mordred come to see what was taking them so long.

"Weren't you afraid you'd be recognized?" Gaheris asked.

"I counted on there not being too many of the knights of the Round Table in Mordred's armies," Gawain said. "But, yes, it was a risk. So you recognized me the next morning and thought of this single-combat idea just like that? How did you know you'd end up fighting me?"

"I trusted you to take care of that end of it. I figured you'd not want me fighting anyone except you."

"No joke!" muttered Gawain.

"The rest was easy," Gaheris said. "While Gawain and I pretended to fight, I told him what we were doing. He drove me back against the front gate and killed me with a mighty blow. By the way, that hurt, Gawain."

"I didn't think Breunis would believe it if I killed you with a gentle tap, brother."

"Still, I'm going to have a nasty bruise."

Gawain shrugged. "Behold my remorse."

"Anyway," Gaheris said, "when I fell at the gate, the men opened it, dragged me in and out of sight, and set Douglas in my place. Then I went out the back way. Thanks for leaving the door unlocked, by the way. I hadn't thought of that."

Gawain took up the story then. "I took off my helm so the men inside could see it was me, then called for their surrender. They raised the gate and produced the body, which I identified as Gaheris. It took a few minutes for me to persuade Breunis to let the men go free—his orders had actually been to kill everyone, but I told him that King Mordred wanted people alive now so they could pay taxes."

"Don't say 'King Mordred,'" Lynet said.

"Sorry. Then I rode away, found Gary in the woods, and here we are."

"Now what?" Lynet asked.

"Tomorrow I head back to Arthur. You two should come with me."

"Gary?" Lynet asked.

"I think so," Gaheris said. "At least at first. Leave someone here in charge of the castle and send everyone else to their homes. I don't think they'll be bothered anymore. This was all about killing me, and that much they think they've done."

"But why would Mordred want
you
dead?" Lynet asked.

But neither Gaheris nor Gawain could answer.

Lynet rose to her feet. "All right. We leave in the morning. I'll go speak to someone about the castle." She found Rowena at the mouth of the cave, sitting beside Elspeth. "Rowena?" Lynet said.

"Yes, my lady?"

"Tomorrow Sir Gaheris and I start for Camelot. This is only the beginning of a great war." Rowena nodded. "I need someone to leave in charge of Orkney Hall. Will you do that for me?"

"Me?" Rowena asked, startled. Lynet nodded. Rowena looked out at the black sea for a moment, then back up at Lynet. "I'll take Elspeth with me. We've decided I'll be her daughter now."

Lynet smiled.

On the evening of his first day of traveling, Terence found the first signs of the White Horsemen, a forest hermitage in ruins. The house had been burned to the ground, the well filled with dirt, a goat enclosure torn down, and everything trampled to dust by hundreds of shod hooves. There was no sign of the hermit, so Terence hoped he had escaped. Abandoning the journey into Cornwall, Terence followed the destroyers' trail to the east.

The next morning he came upon a ravaged farm. Like the hermitage, every building and structure had been torn down and burned. Terence dismounted and climbed over the rubble, sifting through the ashes and pushing aside charred timbers. After a minute, a stirring of breeze brought to his senses a familiar, oppressive smell from the edge of the woods. Terence followed the scent, praying that he would find only the carcass of an animal, but just within the forest he found the bodies of a man, a woman, and three children. Judging from the state of decay and the marks of scavengers, they had been dead at least a week. Terence covered his face with a kerchief and breathed only through his mouth, but although he could muffle the smell, nothing could ease the weight that bowed his head and shoulders. It wasn't death itself that burdened him; it was the senselessness of these deaths. Death ought to mean something more than the ill chance of being in the path of the wrong army. Terence didn't try to move the bodies. Instead, he shoveled a mound of earth and ashes onto them. Then, with the largest of the remaining timbers, he built a rude shelter over the mound, a rustic forest crypt. He said no words of dedication before he started east again. He knew no prayers that day.