Part 23 (1/2)

'Old you may be, my ancient friends, but I am older yet! Still there is work for us to do!'

Now the crowd quieted down, for in all this joyful excitement and hubbub, there had been no sign from Caer Sisi, the Royal Palace. In fact, when Holystone turned the head of his pony in that direction, great jets of steam suddenly shot from the ground in a ring all round the palace on its island, as if to protect it from intruders.

'Dear me! That's a highly ingenious form of defence,' muttered Captain Hughes, who happened to be beside Dido just then. 'I must send a memorandum to the War Office about it. A barricade of scalding steam; most effective. Expensive, of course . . . I am not sure that it would be practicable in His Majesty King James's dominions.' He added thoughtfully, 'I am afraid it gives no very encouraging clue as to Queen Ginevra's intentions.'

Holystone halted his pony a safe distance from the steam jets and sat regarding them. The herald came up beside him again, blew another blast on his bocina, and declaimed, 'The High King Arthur, Rex Quondam et Futurus, stands here outside his palace of Caer Sisi. Who bids him welcome?'

'That's a tactful way of putting it,' commented Captain Hughes.

After one revolution of the rotating palace, three people emerged from the smaller door at the top of the steps: The Grand Inquisitor, the Vicar General and old Mrs Morgan.

Now the jets of steam slackened down until they were only about two feet high, and the two men, Gomez and Fluellen, picked their way forward, edging between the spouts with some care, and advanced until they were within speaking distance of Holystone.

'Are you in truth Artaius Mercurius, son of Uther Pendragon?' demanded the Vicar General.

'I am!' replied Holystone.

'What proof do you give in confirmation of your statement?'

'The mark of Gwydion on my arm,' he bared it, 'and the sword Caliburn in my hand.'

'Under whose recognisance do you come?'

'King Mabon, ruler of Lyonesse, and Caradog son of Caradog, Guardian of the Pa.s.s of Nimue.'

The two men consulted together. Mrs Morgan went back inside the castle, after a very sharp scrutiny of Holystone. Gone to tell the queen, Dido guessed.

The two officials exchanged more words, and Gomez announced, 'It is enough! We accept your recognisance, Pen-dragon, son of Uther. Advance to be greeted by your loving queen!'

'So I should hope!' tartly commented Captain Hughes.

Now there ensued a long pause. Dido expected that the castle would stop spinning, that the great doors would open; but neither of these things happened. Maybe they've forgotten how to stop it, she thought to herself; or more likely the machinery's gone wrong, rusted after all this time.

Whether this was the case, or whether the queen was still doubtful of her caller's legitimacy, the castle continued to revolve. However, after several more turns (and evidently with considerable difficulty, owing to her girth and lack of mobility) Queen Ginevra herself presently emerged through the rotating door and stood at the top of the black marble steps. A throne was hastily carried to the spot by several guards. She sat down on it.

Then, in a faint, high, weary, but carrying voice, she called, 'Arthur, son of Uther. Rex Quondam! Come forward and be recognised by me!'

Holystone walked forward, crossed the bridge, and mounted the steps. Under his beard he was very pale, Dido noticed. She also noticed, with some surprise, that the queen did not seem to have made any particular alteration in her garments or coiffure. She still wore the flowing white robe, like a nightdress, and the plain circlet of diamonds over her lanky hair.

Evidently Lady Ettarde had not come up to scratch in the matter of festive robes.

For that matter, where was the Mistress of the Wardrobe?

Glancing round, as this thought occurred to her for the first time, Dido noticed Silver Taffy not far away, edging through to the front of the crowd. He was leading somebody by the arm.

A man- in the crowd near Dido could be heard to mutter, The queen looks more like his mum than his wife, don't she?'

And a woman snappishly replied, 'Well, he's been reborn and she hasn't. Some people have all the luck!'

The Vicar General in ringing tones proclaimed, 'Welcome, Arthur, Rex Quondam, to your faithful, devoted, loyal and long-suffering queen, Ginevra, who has waited for you these thirteen hundred years, keeping your kingdom safe for you. Great be their reward who remain faithful in adversity!'

'What adversity did she have to put up with?' somebody murmured. 'She's never gone hungry!'

Queen Ginevra's high voice was heard to exclaim, 'Arthur! It really is you!' in a tone of genuine astonishment.

And he answered steadily, 'Yes, it's I. Guinevere -Jenny! It's been it was good of you to wait for me so long.'

And stepping forward he bent down (the queen looked like a fat white dumpling beside his spare erect-ness) and kissed her on her broadish brow, above the pouched, poached-egg eyes, below the greasy white hair.

Dido, glancing at Elen, who was on her left-hand side, noticed that the princess looked likely to faint. She was swaying dizzily in her saddle. Leaning across, Dido grabbed her arm. 'Put your head right down on your pony's neck!' she hissed.

'Why, husband, did you stay away so long?' the queen was asking in a complaining tone. 'And why, when you did come back, did you go to Lyonesse first? And then ride here at the head of an armed force?'

Dido did not catch Arthur's reply. Silver Taffy had come up to Captain Hughes, and greeted him with a grin and a wink.

'Got back then, I see, sir! No problems? Found the young ladies, all right and tight?'

'Certainly,' said the captain coolly. 'And you what have you been doing? Where have you got that poor devil Brandywinde?'

'Oh, he's here, sir just behind me. Well, the first thing I did,' he laughed cheerfully, 'was to put paid to my Auntie Ettarde's account. She won't sew anybody's shroud, not ever again. She lies spitted like a partridge among her tuckers and farthingales!'

'What, you wretch-' began the captain, in a tone of horror. But Taffy only laughed, and moved farther towards the front of the crowd, pulling Brandywinde behind him. The latter appeared wholly confused, as if he did not know where he was, or what he was supposed to be doing.

Meanwhile it was plain that the reunion between the queen and her husband was not going very well. Gine-vra continued to scold poor Holystone for his slowness in returning to her. He looked miserably depressed. The queen's eyes had turned to their mirror-blankness, reflecting only the patchy, smoke-flecked blue sky. At this moment Catelonde gave a loud angry rumble.

Poor Mr Holy, Dido thought, He just can't act loving enough towards her who could? And that's what she can't stand o' course she can see that he don't like her one bit. Anybody could see that. He can't help himself. Oh, why do I have to feel sorry for people all the time, however nasty they are?

'You are a very faithless, untrue, unkind husband!' Ginevra suddenly cried shrilly. 'How do I know what you have been up to all these years?'

King Arthur's return to his wife was going horribly wrong.

Mabon called out angrily, 'What about you, you miserable woman? I hadn't been going to say anything about it, if Gwydion was really fond of you let bygones be bygones is my motto but what about my daughter? What about Elen? You had her abducted -twice! You were going to murder her!'

Ginevra turned her sightless eyes in his direction.

'I had to do it,' she said complainingly. 'It was the will of Sul. I had to survive, for the good of the kingdom.' And she repeated, 'It was the will of Sul.'

'Sul be blowed!'

'Oh, hush, Papa!'

Now Silver Taffy, shrewdly perceiving that the mood of the crowd was changing and turning hostile towards the queen, if she was not prepared to welcome Arthur, strode out in front of the people and shouted, 'Yes, and what about all our girl-children, that she said were taken by the Aurocs! We all know what really happened to them. What about them, you old she-hyena?' He turned to the crowd and shouted, 'She had them! She murdered them every one!'

There was a gasp of horror from the throng.

But at this point Elen, suddenly recognising Silver Taffy, exclaimed, 'Why, but that is the man who took me prisoner for the queen you hateful monster! Whose side are you on, you double traitor?'

Forgetting her previous faintness, she pointed an accusing finger at Taffy. And Hapiypacha, as if he had been waiting all day for this signal, launched himself like a javelin towards the pirate. Taffy went grey with terror at the sight of the snow-leopard bounding towards him; he spun round, wailing, and fled along Westgate Street. Hapiypacha bounded lightly after him, and in a moment the pair were out of sight; there was not the least doubt as to what would happen.

Into the silence which followed this grim occurrence came the whining voice of Mr Brandywinde: 'And what about her wickedness and witcheries? Turned my fingers to blobs of dough, she did look, friends -' and he exhibited them. 'Can't even spread bread and b.u.t.ter! Compensation, there ought to be, for all she done the tongues cut out, the shrunken heads -'