Part 13 (2/2)
We had all been straining our eyes to the wood, answered ”Goodbye,” and then turned to wave, but he had gone. So had the glade, the cave, the stream.
We were standing on the highest point of a bleak moor in the burning-off of a summer mist that rolled away from our feet as rapidly as Brother Jude-the- Less's ma.n.u.scripts rolled up across the table if they weren't weighted down.
Nearby was what might once have been a ring of stones, but there was nothing else recognizable for miles: even the wood was a half-day's walk. It was as if something had picked us up from somewhere and dumped us down again nowhere.
”Well, I'll be . . . blest!” said Conn, scratching his head. ”However did he manage that?”
But n.o.body had an answer. There was the illusion-bit, which I thought might help, but even I was uneasy about this. If I explored it too deep I should have to explain how it was we seemed to have only been with the magician a couple of days, reaching him in early spring, while now we were standing in countryside that was- ”High summer,” said Moglet. ”How nice. Didn't know we'd been there so long . . .”.
There: where was there? What about all the anachronisms of season? The strange sleep that had fallen so easily on us all, a blanket of time-consuming dream so that one woke unsure whether one still slept? I should have pinched myself, but didn't, I don't know why.
We all felt the same, I could see that, but no one wanted to talk about it: a bit like suspecting there might be a wasp in the preserve, but hoping it will fly out of the window before you have to disturb it.
It was Snowy who pulled us together. ”The wood is indeed east by south, and that is our first direction, is it not? Come, my friends, this quest is for all, and better to start at once than to question too much. We are together, that is what matters. Friend Corby, do you confirm the direction?”
Corby shuffled on Conn's shoulder. ”As the crow flies, unicorn, as the crow flies. Not that crows allus fly straight, mind . . .”
The Binding: Unicorn The Castle of Fair Delights And so we went south by east and past the wood, and on to a different mark as we pa.s.sed through it. The going was easy, the foods of the wayside plentiful, and both Conn and I found we had more money than we thought in our pockets, so it was easy to keep us all provisioned. It was almost dream-like, that progression, from the high heathlands to the downs, the plain to the valleys: everywhere they were bringing in the first cutting of hay, and the air was full of the sun-warmed smell of the drying gra.s.ses, the honey-heavy perfume of may, the bruise of wild garlic. Lambs, colts, calves, kids were younglings now, no longer babes, and the birds were feeding their second brood; sweet cicely pollen-powdered my knees, keck-parsley my hips, angelica my shoulders; corn-poppies, Demeter's bane, bled at my feet and elder laced my hair, and all day and every day the sun walked with us. There may have been days when it was cold or cloudy or it rained, but in truth I do not remember.
It was, therefore, something of a shock to all of us when we were brought abruptly back to the realization of our quest by finding the first standing stone. Bare, ragged as a sore tooth, twice man-height, it stood alone on the crest of a little hill and pointed with afternoon's shadow finger to the valley beneath, a valley ringed by forest and bearing in its midst a fair castle, towered and beflagged. The building lay in greensward; at the front a wide driveway led to the ma.s.sive doors of the courtyard and at the back was what looked like a jousting-yard. From the four corners of the main building where little wooden towers rose like siege-toys, fluttered pennants, banners, flags in stripes of yellow and gold, seeming to beckon us down to this place that might have been painted onto the landscape one moment since, a scene from some legendary tale. Indeed I blinked twice, to make sure it was really there, and it was only on the second blink that I saw something I had missed before: the crescent-shaped lake that lay to the left of the castle. Even at this distance it was dark and deep and still, a black scar on the green.
”Ah!” exclaimed Conn. ”And isn't that a sight to gladden the heart? There we shall surely find a warm welcome and hospitality of the finest if I'm not mistaken, Thingummy. And as the finger of the stone points that way and the direction on the map says the same . . . Well, then?”
I frowned. For no reason I felt s.h.i.+very.
”If it's so fair . . .” said Puddy.
”And we're supposed to face great danger?” supplemented Moglet.
”What the h.e.l.l's wrong with it?” added Corby. ”Must be something we can't see from here.”
”My great-great-great-grandfather was fond of remarking that the prettiest flies often hid the sharpest barb,” contributed Pisky, helpfully.
”Oh, come on now! You're just a bunch of confirmed pessimists!” exploded Conn. ”You see something nice and welcoming and all you want to do is run away from it, just because it is pleasant! That old magician did say that the sun would sometimes s.h.i.+ne on our endeavours, didn't he? Well it is, and down there is a castle as fair as any I've seen, and I'm longing to sit at a table bearing venison pasties and beef and oyster pies and drink a decent Frankish burgundy. And when I've eaten and drunk I should like to be shown to a chamber containing a man-sized bed laid with real linen sheets and pull a bear-pelt over my toes-not lie out under the stars itching with hay-ticks and walked over by hedgepigs! Down there is civilization and that's where I'm going, and you can come or not, as you please!” He tugged at Snowy's bridle.
”Well?”
”It is as The Ancient said,” he replied cryptically. ”This is the way we must go.”
”Told you,” exulted Conn. ”Now, are you others coming or not?”
He knew we would, if only because we remembered what the old magician had said about the importance of keeping together, and indeed, as we descended the gentle path that led to the fringe of woods surrounding the castle, we all began to wonder-us pessimists, that is-what foundation, if any, our fears were grounded upon, for the day was fair and the sun indeed shone, and little fluffy clouds deliberately either missed it or else hid it for a moment only, just to remind us how beautiful it beamed uncovered; bees fed on deep trumpets of creaming honeysuckle, gra.s.shoppers made a raspy music and above us larks climbed to their pinnacle of song- Then we descended to the wood.
The trees closed in, the sun was a sullen greenish glow; there were no flowers for the bees, no gra.s.s for the gra.s.shoppers and no bird sang. Silence, and only our footsteps on the loamy track that led, straight and true, through the heart of the trees. I felt as though I were in a bowl of silence, as confining as Pisky's crock; drowning, oppressed unbearably by the lack of sound. Conn had stopped whistling the merry tune he had had on his lips a moment since and even the echoes had fled without memory. We all trod softly, as if some terrible thing lurked asleep in the shadows, only waiting a snapped twig to waken to attack.
It was Moglet who voiced our fears: ”Why no birds? Where are all the creatures who should be here? Are they all frightened of something?”
I could not have answered, but luckily there was no need for at that moment a half-dozen men-at-arms appeared on the path before us, clad in blue and yellow, spears at the slope, and at their head a knight, mounted on a black palfrey. He was elderly, moustached and bearded, and his hand was held up and open in the universal gesture of greeting.
”Peace, friends,” he called, and we halted. At that moment I had Corby on my shoulder, Moglet in my arms, Puddy in my pocket, head out, and Pisky's bowl dangling from my elbow, and I could feel their united suspicion as they turned to the stranger.
Conn and I confirmed his gesture of greeting, and he dismounted, waving back the men-at-arms to stand easy.
”Greetings: name's Egerton de Ruys. Glad to welcome you, Sir Knight,” and he strode forward to clasp arms with Conn. He had a nasal, pinched sort of voice and clipped his words off short; one eye socket was empty: a retired knight, if I was not mistaken. ”You and y'r servant very welcome, by'r Lady!
Saw you from the west tower, don't y'know, and m'niece, the Lady Adiora, sent me to beg you to take advantage of our hospitality in the Castle of Fair Delights and sojourn awhile. Be glad of y'r company.”
”Well, and that's gracious enough,” said Conn. ”Hear that, you disbelievers?”
But seeing that he was apparently talking to a broken-down pony, a hunched servant carrying a scrawny crow, a frightened kitten and a small fish, he pinched his lips together and stroked his moustache, trying to look nonchalant. It was evident that the time spent in our exclusive company had made him forget that, to anyone else, talking to animals and a mere servant like that would be considered eccentric, to say the least.
”Sir Egerton: your servant,” he said formally, and introduced himself. ”My- my servant and I would be glad to accept your hospitality . . .” and he turned and scowled at us, as if daring us to contradict.
So we came through that last fringe of wood, silent still save for the jingling of harness on Sir Egerton's horse, the plod-plod of the men-at-arms and the thudding of my heart.
The track broadened as we left the trees, and as we approached it I was better able to admire the grandeur of the castle. The bottom storey-and-a-half was built of stone, perhaps fifty or so years ago and, I guessed, founded on an earlier structure, Roman perhaps. The upper storey-and-a-half was completed in wood, as were the four towers, the whole gilded and pierced and painted in blue and gold and decorated with carved and sculpted figures of knights, ladies and mythical beasts with three heads or a dozen feet, and there were many little narrow windows, like surprised eyes. A bit draughty in winter, I thought. However, it was difficult to remember snow and ice on so pleasant a day, though paradoxically it certainly seemed cooler down here in the valley. Once more for no reason I s.h.i.+vered, and glanced sideways at the lake: it should have sparkled with suns.h.i.+ne and glinted in the breeze that cracked and snapped the pennons and flags atop the towers, but instead it lay dark and still, dead, and I felt the others s.h.i.+ft and press closer as we pa.s.sed through the heavy wooden gates into the courtyard. This was paved with white cobbles, and to left and right were stables and sheds, and servants in a scurry: one boy's task, I noticed, seemed to be solely that of picking up any stray leaf, straw, or other piece of rubbish that might mar the otherwise pristine approach. I hoped Snowy wouldn't disgrace us by relieving himself, because that would obviously have meant shovels, buckets and mops almost before he had finished.
The stable to which we were a.s.signed was, again, almost too clean and, apart from two palfreys, clear of horses. Sir Egerton indicated the end stall, away from the other mounts.
”Can put your-er, nag, here, don't y'know. The other creatures-er, pets?”
”Er . . . yes,” said Conn, his swift glance at us coloured by his suddenly luxurious surroundings to the extent that we obviously appeared to him suddenly exactly as we were: dirty and disreputable. ”And my-my servant, er-Thingummy . . .”
”Well,” said Sir Egerton, rubbing at the white whiskers on his chin. ”Can see you have problems, yes indeed. Never can remember their names meself!
Like to leave the animals here, and you and your er, servant can be housed within? M'niece don't care much for cats, or birds come to that, and that fish don't look big enough for eating.”
I was frowning dreadfully at Conn, but he affected not to notice. ”Why, of course, of course! Just leave the-the animals comfortable, Thingy, and follow me.”
Making sure there was fresh fodder and water for Snowy and stowing the others in the manger, I wiped my grubby hands ineffectively on my jacket.
”I'll be back,” I said shortly. ”Just spy out the land.”
”Don't like this place,” wailed Moglet.
”Neither do I,” said Corby. ”Summat wrong somewheres . . .”
Puddy hunched up. ”Don't be long.”
Pisky was at the very bottom of his bowl and said nothing.
I turned to Snowy. ”Keep an eye on them, dear one.”
He shook his head. ”I agree with the crow. Listen hard when you are in that place, watch closely. All is too fair, too clean. And guard the Rusty One: we don't want to lose him.”
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