The Sword in the Tree (6 page)

A man came by. He asked Magnus, “Is that your donkey?”

“Yes, sir,” said Magnus.

“I am a woodman,” said the man. “I need someone to work for me. Will you bring your donkey and help me carry firewood into the city?”

“Yes, sir, I'll work for you,” said Magnus.

“Do you need me, too?” asked Shan.

“No,” said the man, “but there is work in Camelot for boys like you. If you look, you can find it.”

Shan looked about the market place. He asked for work at a baker's. The baker sent him to a tailor. The tailor sent him to a shoemaker.

The shoemaker gave him work. “Carry the water and wood and sweep the floor,” he said, “and I'll give you food and a place to sleep.”

So Shan worked five days for the shoemaker. On the sixth day he went to the castle.

The gate was open. He went into the courtyard. He waited there with all the others who had come to see the king.

Many of the people were dressed in silk and fine linen. Shan was still in his goatskin clothes. He wished he had something better to wear before the king.

He heard someone say, “Here comes a knight of King Arthur.”

Someone else said, “Yes, it is Sir Kay.”

The knight came out across the courtyard. He was straight and tall, and his head was held high.

He said in a sharp voice, “Stand in a line, all who wish to see the king. I shall let you in one at a time.”

The people stood in a line.

Sir Kay looked at Shan. “Why are you here?”

“To see the king, Sir Knight,” said Shan.

“This is no place for children who wish to look at the king,” said Sir Kay.

“I wish to do more than look at the king,” said Shan. “I have come a long way and waited a long time to speak to him.”

“What do you wish to say?” asked Sir Kay.

“That is for the king to hear,” said Shan.

Another man had come out into the courtyard. He looked much younger than Sir Kay. He had a friendly face.

“The boy has his rights, Kay,” he said.

“This is nothing to you, Gareth,” said Sir Kay.

“Let us not quarrel,” said the other man.

Sir Kay said no more to Shan. He went to the castle door and began to let the people in to see the king.

All day Shan stood in the courtyard. When no one else was left, Sir Kay called him into the castle.

Shan waited in a small room. There was a curtain across the doorway. He looked out through the curtain into a great hall.

At the end of the hall he saw a round table. It was the largest table he had ever seen. All around it were chairs—more than a hundred, he thought. On each chair was a name.

He knew that this must be the Round Table where King Arthur sat with his knights. He wanted to go nearer. He wanted to look at the names on the chairs. As he started out into the hall, he heard Sir Kay's voice. He drew back the curtain.

“There is one left, Your Majesty,” said Sir Kay. “He is only a boy in goatskin clothes, and I think he has nothing much to say. If you wish, I shall send him away.”

“Bring him before me,” said another voice.

Shan's heart beat faster. He knew that he had heard the king.

Sir Kay came back to the little room. “His Majesty will see you,” he said.

Shan went out into the great hall where a man sat on a throne.

He saw the man's velvet robe and the gold crown on his head. He looked into the man's face, and it was a kind face, with eyes that were kind and a little sad.

“Kneel before the king!” whispered Sir Kay.

Shan knelt.

“Rise,” said King Arthur.

Shan stood before the king. “I thank Your Majesty, and I beg you to hear me.”

“I will hear you,” said the king.

“I am Shan, the son of Lord Weldon. Once I lived in Weldon Castle with my father and mother. My uncle came—a wicked man. He took my father hunting, and my father was never seen again. My mother and I ran away to save ourselves. Now my uncle lives in the castle that should be mine.”

The king sat for a while with his chin in his hand.

“If this is true, a great wrong has been done,” he said. “You shall have a knight to go with you to Weldon Castle. But I do not know which it will be. I have already sent most of my knights to far places—”

A man came out of a room behind the throne. “Your Majesty,” he said, “I am here.”

Shan saw that it was the young man he had seen in the courtyard.

“You, Sir Gareth?” said the king. “Were you not wounded when you last rode in the hunt?”

“That was a week ago, and my wound has healed,” said Sir Gareth. “If it pleases Your Majesty, I will ride with the boy.”

And he looked at Shan and smiled.

The next day they rode out from Camelot—Sir Gareth, Shan, and Magnus.

Sir Gareth led the way on his black war horse. Shan rode behind him on a brown pony from the king's stables. He carried Sir Gareth's shield. Magnus rode his donkey behind Shan. He carried Sir Gareth's lance. It was a lance of the finest ashwood with a tip of steel, and it was twice as long as the donkey.

They rode through woods and up steep hills and down. It was hard for them to talk with one another then. But every evening, when they stopped for the night, Sir Gareth told stories.

He told of King Arthur and the beautiful Queen Guinevere. He told of Merlin the wise man and Lancelot, one of the greatest of all knights.

“How can a boy grow up to be a knight of the Round Table?” asked Shan.

“A boy like you?” asked Sir Gareth.

“Yes, a boy like me,” said Shan.

“I have something to tell you—something you may like to hear,” said Sir Gareth. “Before we left Camelot, King Arthur spoke to me of you.”

“Of
me
?” said Shan.

“Yes. He said, ‘I like the way the boy stands and looks me in the eye. If his story is true, it may be that we can make a place for him here at the castle.'”

“Did he—did he mean that I might be a
knight
?”

“I can tell you this much,” said Sir Gareth. “The king likes to find his knights when they are young. First they are page boys at the castle. They wait on the table and work in the kitchen. When a page boy is older, he is made a squire. A squire helps the knights with their horses and armor.”

“And after that he is made a knight?” asked Shan.

“Yes, if he has learned his lessons well.”

“Sir Gareth, do you think the king
will
call me to Camelot some day?” asked Shan.

“If your story is true,” said the knight, “I think he may.”

“I have told the truth,” said Shan. “You will see that I have.”

One morning Shan saw the walls and towers of Weldon Castle.

He pointed. “There is my home.”

Sir Gareth nodded. He rode on faster than ever.

They came to the castle gate. A watchman called down from the wall, “Who is there?”

“A knight of King Arthur, come to see your lord,” Sir Gareth called back.

After a little while the watchman said, “My lord will see you, Sir Knight.”

Sir Gareth, Shan, and Magnus rode into the courtyard.

Lionel came out of the castle. He was dressed in fine linen and a velvet robe.

“Welcome, Sir Knight,” he said, with a smile.

Sir Gareth did not smile. “Are you Lord Lionel?” he asked.

“I am, and this is my castle,” said Lionel.

“I come from the king,” said Sir Gareth. “I come here to right the wrong done to this boy.”

Lionel looked at Shan. “Who is this boy?” he asked.

“You know me well!” said Shan.

“But I do not,” said Lionel. “Tell me your name.”

“I am Shan, and you knew me as soon as I came through the gate.”

“Shan? Shan? I know the name,” said Lionel. “It was the name of my brother's son. But he is dead. Last year he and his mother went away into the woods and were killed by wolves.”

“You can see I was not killed by wolves, and neither was my mother,” said Shan. “How can you look me in the face after what you have done? First you took my father from me. Then you took my home—”

“I will hear no more of this,” said Lionel in anger. “The son of my brother is dead. This boy is in a wicked plot to steal my castle from me. Take him out of my sight!”

Sir Gareth looked at Shan. “Can you prove that you are Shan and what you say is true?”

“Yes, I can prove it. There are people here who know me.”

Sir Gareth said to Lionel, “Bring everyone out. Let us see if anyone knows the boy.”

“Now we shall see,” said Shan.

“Yes,” said Lionel, “we
shall
see.”

All Lionel's men and all his servants came into the courtyard. They walked past Shan and looked at him. They said, one after another, “I do not know this boy.”

“Some of them
do
know me!” said Shan. “They are afraid to speak.” He saw a white-haired man by the wall. “There is my friend Nappus,” he said. “He will know me.”

He jumped down off the pony and ran across the courtyard. “Nappus, I've come home!”

The old man came to meet him. He caught Shan by the hands and knelt before him.

“You see—Nappus knows me,” Shan said to Sir Gareth.

“This man's name is not Nappus,” said Lionel. “He has no name. He is only a poor madman who can neither hear nor speak nor tell one face from another. I let him stay here only because I am sorry for him . . . Take him away.”

Two servants took Nappus by the arms and led him back to the wall.

Shan stood before Sir Gareth. “Believe me, Sir Knight, I have told the truth.”

“Believe him not, Sir Knight,” said Lionel. “He has never set foot inside these walls before.”

“This was my home,” said Shan.

Sir Gareth's eyes were troubled. “Can you prove what you say?”

Shan did not answer. He did not know what to say.