Grail of Stars (9 page)

“What about me?” Cai said, running up with the Lance of Truth to join them. “I’m the Pendragon’s champion now. I’ve got to stay with Damsel Rhianna in case she needs me to fight a duel for her.”

One of Gareth’s friends grinned. “You heard Sir Galahad. That ship takes nobody who’s not good enough. Seems you got to stay and
help us look after the horses,
Sir
Cai.”

Cai swung his lance at the squires, who closed around him in a threatening manner.

Rhianna shoved the boys apart. She gripped Excalibur’s hilt and concentrated on Sir Galahad’s spirit. “Cai comes with us,” she said firmly. “If he’s good enough to carry the Lance of Truth, he’s good enough to sail on your ship.”

The ghostly knight looked closer at Cai’s lance, which glittered in the mist like Excalibur’s blade. “That’s the lance my father stole from the Grail Castle!” he exclaimed.

“Lancelot didn’t steal it,” Sir Bors muttered. “He was given it by one of the damsels.”

“By Lady Elaine?” said a small voice, and they all looked up in surprise. Rhianna had almost forgotten Arianrhod, who leaned over
the rail beside Gareth’s ghost, listening eagerly.

“How does the maid know about Elaine?” Sir Bors grumbled. “I thought Lancelot kept that part of his life a secret.”

“Never mind,” Rhianna said. “Cai comes with us, all right? Get on board, Cai. I’m going to ride Alba for a bit.”

The boy passed the Lance of Truth up to Arianrhod, who lowered the rope ladder for him. Cai scrambled up, while Sir Bors splashed into the water and quickly grasped the end before Arianrhod could pull the ladder back again. “Take the other squires and find some boats,” he called over his shoulder to Sir Bedivere. “We’ll meet you on the Tor. See if you can’t find that fool Lancelot on your way. I’m goin’ to have something to say to him when I next see him… letting Damsel Rhianna and
her maid sail off into the mist on
this
ship! What was he thinking?”

“I don’t think Father had much choice, Bors,” Sir Galahad said, looking at Rhianna in amusement. “She carries King Arthur’s sword, and it seems she knows how to use it.”

Sir Bors hauled himself aboard and scowled over the stern at Rhianna and Alba. “When you get back on this ship, young lady, you and I are going to have a serious talk.”

Rhianna pretended not to hear. She slowed Alba to wait for Evenstar, who was trotting up and down the beach with his nose to the ground, trying to pick up his rider’s scent. When she called him, the little horse galloped across the water and let her strap Elphin’s harp to his saddle.

“Look after this harp for Prince Elphin,”
she told the worried horse, giving him a pat. “We’ll rescue your rider as soon as I’ve found the last magic Light.”

He say he will bite anyone who tries to steal it
, Alba said, shaking her mane.
Why is the big knight angry with us?

Rhianna watched Sir Bors shooing away Gareth’s ghost. “He’s not angry. He just doesn’t understand magic.”

As the mists closed around them once more, a shiver went down her spine. What did she really know about magic, despite having grown up in Avalon? Using the Sword of Light to control the knights’ spirits had left her trembling, and she couldn’t use the Crown of Dreams properly, not even to find her friend. Without Elphin at her side, with his violet eyes and his calming songs, she felt very alone.

“Elphin,” she whispered. “Hold on, wherever you are. I’ll be back to help you as soon as I can.”

R
hianna knew she would have to face her friends eventually, but she put it off as long as possible. The moon had turned the mists to silver by the time she told Alba to trot alongside the ship so she could climb over the rail.

Sir Bors had lit torches on board so that the ship trailed fire through the night. He was holding a muttered conversation with Galahad at the tiller. Cai sat with Arianrhod near the mast. The maid had taken the Crown of Dreams out of her pack to polish its jewels, while Cai rested the Lance across his knees and glowered at Gareth’s ghost whenever the dead squire tried to touch it. But as soon as they saw Alba at the rail, they both dropped their Lights and rushed over to help Rhianna aboard.

“Sir Bors isn’t very pleased with you, Lady Rhia,” Arianrhod warned, glancing at the big knight.

“He’s probably calmed down by now,” Cai said. “He’s been talking to Sir Lancelot’s son for ages. You wouldn’t believe the adventures Sir Galahad had before he died! He’s so young,
too… I hope I have an exciting life like him.”

Rhianna frowned. “Haven’t you had enough adventures with me, looking for the four Lights? Or do you want to die on a quest, like Galahad did?”

Cai flushed. “I didn’t mean that.”

Sir Bors had spotted Rhianna. He came striding across the deck. She stiffened and her hand crept towards Excalibur.

But the big knight opened his arms to give her one of his crushing hugs. “If you thought you could sneak off with your maid to look for the Grail without me and Cai, Damsel Rhianna, you can think again. You don’t get rid of us that easily.”

“I would have taken you with me in the first place, if you hadn’t gone riding off to the Lonely Tor with Elphin,” she said, still angry
with the knight for letting her friend ride into the mists alone.

Sir Bors grunted. “Well I’m here now, and I know my way around the Grail Castle so don’t leave me behind again, right?” He held her at arm’s length and looked her up and down. “I’m sorry I let the fairy lad ride off like he did, but I thought he’d be all right with his magic horse and Merlin. Bedivere and the others will find him, don’t worry. I’m more worried about
us
getting back, to be honest. Not many who see the Grail return alive.”

“We’ll get back,” Rhianna said, trying not to think of what might happen to Elphin if they didn’t return. “I found the other three Lights, didn’t I? And that was when I had to fight Mordred, his witch-mother and the shadrake for them! If Mordred’s bloodbeards
are over on the Tor like Gareth claims, at least we know they won’t be waiting for us at the Grail Castle – even Mordred’s ghost can’t be in two places at once.” She hoped not, anyway.

“Maybe not, but where we’re going has its own dangers.” Sir Bors glanced at Galahad’s ghost and lowered his voice. “Let’s assume you manage to get hold of this Grail that’s killed Lancelot’s son and just about everyone else who’s ever laid eyes on it, and we find your fairy friend and get the through the mists to Avalon,
and
Merlin’s right about Arthur waking up to finish off the bloodbeards and lead us all again… what are you going to do with the Lights afterwards, when your father is back on the throne of Camelot?”

Rhianna frowned. She hadn’t really thought
much about it beyond giving Excalibur back to her father.

“We’re going to keep them, of course!” Cai said, gripping the Lance of Truth. “So sneaky traitors like Mordred can’t never kill the king again!”

As he spoke, the mists around them chilled and dimmed. The ghosts faded from view, and Rhianna thought she saw her father watching them from the shadows behind the mast.

“Keep your voice down, Cai,” the big knight muttered, glancing out to sea. “I don’t suppose I can talk you out of tryin’ for the Grail now you’ve come this far. Just take care in the Grail Castle, both of you. I’ve been there, and they don’t see things quite the same way men do.”

“It’s all right, Sir Bors,” Rhianna said, keeping an eye on her father’s ghost. “I’ve lived
with Elphin’s people in Avalon, and they don’t see things the way men do, either.”

When the big knight had gone, she quickly checked the deck, but King Arthur had vanished again. She settled back against the mast with a sigh and hugged her knees. The sails glowed blue again, and the mist flickered with coloured lights. Strong magic surrounded them – she knew that much from having taken the spiral path with Merlin. They must be far from the world of men now.

She dozed off thinking of Elphin and dreamed of racing their mist horses through Avalon’s golden wood.

A touch on her shoulder woke her. “Damsel Rhianna?” Cai said in a funny voice, his
face glowing with coloured lights. “I think we’re here.”

She leaped to her feet and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Ahead of them, a castle of stars floated out of the mist. Lights blazed from every window and spire, flickering gold and green in the night. When she looked more closely, she saw the castle actually stood on a tall rock, and the sea reflected the lights so that another magical castle appeared upside down, glittering in the dark water beneath.

“It’s so beautiful!” Arianrhod breathed, her eyes full of stars.

Rhianna’s heart pounded with excitement, and she pushed her worry for Elphin firmly to the back of her mind. The final stage of her quest! She mustn’t make a mess of things now.

Everyone came up on deck to stare at the
enchanted castle as the ship drew into the harbour. They glided up against a quay, where strings of lanterns hung from posts carved to look like fish.

Grey-cloaked figures ran on silent feet to meet them. They pushed a plank across to the ship and formed two lines, bright eyes watching from under the grey hoods. Rhianna noted bows slung over their backs and full quivers strapped to their narrow waists. Her neck prickled.

Remembering Sir Galahad’s warning, she looked anxiously for her mist horse. Alba and Evenstar were trotting up and down outside the harbour wall, nervous of the upside down castle rippling in the water under their hooves. “Hide!” she told Alba. “Find a quiet beach and wait for us. I’ve got to go into the castle now. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The two horses cantered off, flicking their tails.

Rhianna straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. She waited until Arianrhod had packed away the Crown of Dreams, and Cai had picked up the Lance of Truth. Then she rested a hand on Excalibur, raised her chin and strode across the plank after Sir Galahad. Sir Bors hurried after them with Gareth’s ghost treading on his heels.

Galahad led them to a pair of huge gates decorated with shells, where an old man who reminded Rhianna of Merlin stood waiting for them. He had blue eyes and long silver hair plaited with seaweed. He wore a flowing cloak embroidered with tiny glittering fish that rippled like the sea as he moved.

Galahad went down on one ghostly knee
and said, “I bring visitors from the land of men, Your Majesty. What is your command?”

The king frowned at them. “My guardians also reported seeing two horses from the fairy isle. Avalonians are not welcome here.”

“We saw no one from the fairy isle on our way here, sire.” Galahad glanced at Rhianna, who bit her lip at this reminder of her missing friend.

The king’s gaze moved to her sword. “The damsel carries Excalibur!” he said in surprise.

“That’s right, Your Majesty,” Rhianna said. “I’ve come for the Grail of Stars. Is it here?”

The king sighed. “So this time, men send an innocent young girl to seek what they dare not. The best thing you can do, my dear, is get back on that ship right now, and forget you ever heard of the Grail of Stars. Galahad here will
return you safely to wherever he found you.”

Rhianna tightened her hand on Excalibur’s hilt. She didn’t want to hurt the frail old king, but she hadn’t come this far to be packed off home like a child. “No one sent me. I came of my own free will to find the Grail to wake my father, and I’m not going back without it.”

The grey-cloaked guardians stiffened. There was a hiss down the lines as arrows magically appeared on their bowstrings. Rhianna’s heart pounded. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cai grip his lance tighter. Arianrhod hugged the pack containing the Crown to her chest. Gareth ducked behind a wall, then remembered he was a ghost and stood in front of the arrows with his arms spread, grinning.

Sir Bors quickly stepped forward to join Rhianna and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Your
Majesty. The girl gets carried away sometimes. But if your guardians hurt her, they’ll have Arthur’s knights to answer to.” He dropped his hand to his sword too.

The arrows swung round to take aim at the big knight.

“Enough!” The king held up a blue-veined hand, and the archers relaxed. “Forgive my guardians. They are rather jumpy lately. Something is happening in the mists. I sense a darkness between the worlds, where light once shone. I hoped Lancelot would come, but I see the Lance of Truth has come without him.” He frowned at Cai. “Is Arthur’s champion so besotted with Queen Guinevere, he’s sent his squire in his place?”

“Sir Lancelot wanted to come,” Rhianna said, remembering guiltily how she had left the
silver-haired knight at Nimue’s lake with the queen. “But I stopped him.”

The king blinked at her. “And who are you, damsel, to order grown men around and carry Arthur’s sword at your hip like a knight?” He smiled. “Or almost like a knight. I see you’ve got it on the wrong side.”

Rhianna glanced down at her scabbard, which she wore on her right hip so that she could draw her sword left-handed. But she did not adjust it. She had learned her lesson the hard way, fighting dragons.

“She’s Rhianna Pendragon, King Arthur’s daughter!” Cai said proudly. “She’s better with that sword left-handed than any of his knights. And I’m Sir Cai, her champion. So before anyone touches her, they’ll have to fight
me
.” He swung the Lance of Truth at the nearest
guardians, who jumped back warily. Gareth winced as the shaft sparkled through his ghostly body, and glared at Cai.

“Enough, Cai!” Sir Bors said. “Put up that lance before you skewer someone. We’re among friends here – the Fisher King must welcome all those who come on a Grail Quest, isn’t that right Your Majesty?”

The king nodded thoughtfully and gave Rhianna a closer look. “She’s Arthur’s daughter? Really? Where has such a fierce damsel been hiding all these years?”

“On Avalon,” Cai said, still scowling.

“Explaining the fairy horses, I suppose,” the king said. “Did this young damsel come out of Avalon, too?” He lifted Arianrhod’s hair to see her face, but hissed through his teeth when he saw the pentacle scar on the maid’s cheek.
“She bears the witch-mark!”

Arianrhod shrank back as the arrows swung round again, this time aiming at her.

“Morgan Le Fay did that to her, but she’s my maid now,” Rhianna said quickly, shrugging off Sir Bors’ hand to step between her friend and the arrows. “Arianrhod was born right here in your castle, Your Majesty, so you needn’t be afraid of her.”