The Lioness and Her Knight (24 page)

Sir Carius nodded, a picture of benevolent tolerance. "We are a small land and have been beset by enemies. I'm afraid that it has made the people suspicious, and in their simple boorishness they treat outsiders ill. But"—he turned his attention back to his daughter—"the doltishness of our people is no excuse for us to talk our guests' ears off at dinner, my child."

Floria blushed, stammered an apology, then turned her attention to the dinner. For this Luneta could hardly blame her. Their meal was sumptuous beyond words. Luneta had thought that Laudine lived luxuriously, and she had reveled in the banquet at Camelot, but she had never even imagined such extravagance as she found here. Servants in silk and velvet hovered at their elbows, ready to refill every glass or whisk away every dish at a moment's notice. Luneta could not enjoy it, though. All this luxury, she realized, must have been paid for by the labor of those women down the dark hallway. Remembering them, Luneta could only be amazed by the casual indifference that Sir Carius and Floria showed to their opulent surroundings.

After dinner, Luneta was swept away by Floria to a private bedchamber where, evidently, Floria
would
be permitted to "talk her guest's ears off," which she did. For nearly three hours, Floria talked almost without stopping, while Luneta could only listen with incredulity to her cheerful, artless prattle. Luneta decided that the bubbling Floria could not possibly know about the prisoners whose labor allowed her to live in such style. If she did, she could hardly be so brightly cheerful. The only time that Floria stopped talking was when she discovered that Luneta, instead of being Ywain's lady, was his cousin. At that welcome news, her mouth dropped open and her eyes shone. "Do you think he liked me?" she asked suddenly, before bursting into embarrassed giggles.

Luneta blinked, swallowed, then managed a faint smile. "I really couldn't say," she was able to reply. Floria launched into a rapturous appraisal of Ywain's beauty, and Luneta could only shake her head. They had determined earlier in the evening that only a few months separated them in age, but in some way that Luneta couldn't explain, Floria was years younger than she. At last a bell rang somewhere farther down the hall, and Floria broke off. "Oh," she said breathlessly. "That's Father ringing for bedtime prayers. I must go. Will I see you tomorrow? We have private mass in the chapel every morning at nine. You'll be there, won't you?" The bell rang again, and Floria gave a little squawk and rushed from Luneta's room.

Luneta listened at the door until Floria's footsteps had faded away, then waited another ten minutes. There was no sound. Apparently when Sir Carius called for prayers, he meant it. She crept from her room and began listening intently at every door she came to. She heard nothing until suddenly, from the room at the far end of the corridor, there were voices.

She stopped moving so as to listen more closely. A gruff, gutteral voice that she didn't know was saying, "They have to die, of course."

"Could it not wait for a few days?" came Sir Carius's voice, no longer quietly assured but faint and trembling. "At least let the girl live for a while. My daughter has no friends."

"Your daughter has more gold than Queen Guinevere," a third voice interjected. "Let that be enough for her. We can't let any of them live. Wendel says that at least one of them had been wandering about the castle, and we don't know what they might have found."

"But—"

"You'll do what you're told," said the first voice. "Tell them you're taking them to mass in the morning and lead them out to the courtyard. We'll handle it from there."

"Yes, sir," Sir Carius said, faint and weary-sounding.

These must be the Brothers, those demon men who had inspired such fear in Dorothea,
Luneta thought. She heard their steps moving toward the chamber door and realized suddenly that she was in plain sight of anyone stepping from that room. Leaping forward to the next door, which providentially was unbarred, she opened it and slipped inside. Then she froze, seeing a fire burning in the hearth, but a moment later she relaxed: by the fire were Ywain and Rhience. Holding a warning finger to her lips, Luneta listened at the door until the Brothers had left Sir Carius's room and passed by. When at last their heavy footsteps had faded, she turned to her friends. "They're planning to kill us in the morning," she said.

"You heard them?" Rhience asked.

Luneta nodded. "Sir Carius will get us up for mass tomorrow, lead us out to the courtyard, and these Brothers that everyone's so afraid of will be waiting."

"I'll need a weapon," Ywain said, his eyes bright. "My sword is in the little stone building just east of the stables."

"They'll have it locked," Rhience said.

"Maybe I can open it," Luneta said. "Let's go try, at least." Then she froze and put her fingers to her lips again. Someone was padding softly down the hall. She pointed at the door and the others nodded. Then, while they waited, they heard the gentle scrape of a wooden bar being dropped into place outside the door. They were barred in. Luneta looked around quickly, but there were no windows. The soft footsteps whispered away.

Rhience sighed. "And we only have two beds," he said. Neither spoke, and Rhience shrugged. "Never mind. I
like
sleeping in chairs."

After a brief conference, they came up with a plan, such as it was. As soon as they reached the courtyard the next morning, they would rush for the stone storage room and try to get Ywain's weapons. There was a chance that a sudden dash would take their assassins by surprise and give them some time. Having come to this decision, Ywain chose a club from the woodpile by the fire. It wasn't very long, but it was as thick as his wrist and seemed strong. Then, with a carefree smile, he turned in and was asleep immediately.

"He's enjoying this, isn't he?" Luneta asked.

Rhience nodded. "He'll do what he can to avoid fighting now, but when he can't escape it, he embraces the challenge. He's born to fight."

"
Insana,
" Luneta said.

"
Insanus,
" Rhience corrected in a stern voice. "One must use the masculine form of the adjective when speaking of a male lunatic. Now do it right."

"
Insani,
" Luneta said. "Masculine plural." Then she went to bed.

Sir Garius led them down a narrow stairway, apologizing as he walked ahead of them that Floria wasn't able to join them. "She's hardly ever ill," he was saying, "but she looked so pale this morning, I felt she should stay in bed."

More like you didn't want her to see us being murdered,
Luneta thought briefly, but she was too busy listening ahead of them to dwell on Sir Carius's lies. At last, as they approached a door leading out to the courtyard, she heard what she was after, faint rustlings of clothing and shuffling of feet. She leaned close to Ywain and whispered, "They're on either side of that doorway."

"I'll just go ahead of you here," Sir Garius said, his voice shaking slightly, but Ywain reached out swiftly and grasped him by the collar. Taken completely by surprise, Sir Carius made no sound as Ywain dumped him unceremoniously behind them and then with a powerful shove propelled Rhience and Luneta before him out the door and into the open courtyard.

The Brothers must have been waiting for Sir Garius to come out first, because they didn't strike. Rhience and Luneta sprawled face-first into the dusty yard, but from the corner of her eye Luneta saw that Ywain had already spun around like a cat and smashed his short cudgel against one of the Brothers' shins. An amazingly large shin. A howl of pain broke the silence, and then the other Brother brought a heavy axe down on the spot where Ywain had been a moment before.

Luneta became aware of Rhience shouting in her ear. "Quick, Luneta, to the storeroom!" he called, and Luneta turned away from the battle to race after him. He led her to a small stone structure, just where Ywain had said it would be, and they tugged at the door. It was locked.

"I'll go get my sword," Rhience shouted, racing into the stables, but Luneta barely heard him. Instead, she went to a small barred window to the left of the storeroom door and peered in. For a long moment she could see nothing, but when her eyes adjusted to the gloom inside, she made out the shape of Ywain's sword against the far wall. The sounds of battle grew closer, but she resolutely ignored them. Reaching her hand through the bars, she uttered a sharp command, and Ywain's sword leaped from its scabbard and flew across to her waiting grasp. Drawing the blade through the window, she whirled around to see Ywain backing slowly away from two of the largest men that Luneta had ever seen. Both carried halberds that would have been too long for most men but that looked small in their massive paws. Their cruel faces grinned with anticipation as they raised their weapons to strike.

"Ywain!" Luneta screamed, throwing the sword to her cousin. The Brothers halted their advance for a second when she screamed, and Ywain snatched the sword deftly from the air and struck. He dived forward and to his right as his sword flashed, which placed one of the Brothers between him and the other. Both Brothers were frozen for a moment, as Ywain landed, rolled, and sprang back to his feet, and then Luneta realized that the first Brother was staring stupidly at the stump that had been his forearm. His hand, still clutching the halberd, lay in the dirt at his feet.

As one, the Brothers began screaming with berserk fury and threw themselves at Ywain, but he had the open courtyard behind him now and, being faster than his pursuers, was able to stay out of their reach. Rhience came panting up out of the stables. "My sword is gone," he said, "but I found your saddlebags. Is there something in here you could use?"

Luneta shook her head numbly. She had no weapons among her magical supplies. But at that moment a low growl from behind her cleared her head. "Lass!" she said. The lioness was locked in the storeroom. "Stand back!" Luneta shouted, rummaging in her bags. A moment later, she produced a clay flask filled with white powder. Dusting the storeroom door with the powder, she called in a firm voice, "
Attun nurah!
" and the door burst into white flames.

"Not bad," murmured Rhience's voice in her ear. "Can you do that with damp wood, too? Sometimes on the trail I have the deuce of a time—"

"Stand back, I said," she snapped. Waving her hand again, she called out, "
Tal shemayah!
" and the flames stopped abruptly. All that was left of the door was a smoking black hole ringed with a few charred fragments of wood. Then a long, tawny shape flew through the doorway and streaked across the courtyard toward Ywain and the Brothers.

The next few moments were a flurry of sound and motion. As Ywain told the story later, he had been penned into a corner and was about to be killed when Lass came to his rescue. Luneta didn't remember Ywain being so hard-pressed, but she always let Ywain tell the story his way. What was certain was that Lass struck one of the Brothers on the back, ripping with her claws and slashing with her great fangs, making that Brother bellow with surprise and rage and turn sharply around. Immediately, Ywain sliced off the head of the other Brother, and a few moments later, both Brothers lay dead in the courtyard.

Suddenly trembling and weak, Luneta sank to her knees, unable to tear her eyes from the monstrous bodies of the two horrible Brothers. "It's over, then?" she whispered.

"Not yet," Rhience said, gripping her shoulder reassuringly. "You stay here with Ywain and Lass. I'll be back in a few minutes." He strode across the courtyard to the front door that they had entered by the day before and disappeared inside. Ywain rumpled the lioness's ears and scratched her head, then the two of them walked back to Luneta.

"Are you hurt, cousin?" Ywain asked, seeing her kneeling in the dust. Luneta shook her head and smiled. Ywain grinned back at her. "Thanks for the sword—and for freeing Lass. It was looking a bit grim there." Taking Luneta's hand, Ywain raised her to her feet.

"No one else could have won such a battle," Luneta said.

"Of course not," Ywain replied. "No one else has a lion."

"Lioness," Luneta murmured.

The doors of the castle burst open and Sir Garius and Floria rushed out joyfully. Gazing with delight at the prone figures of the two Brothers, Sir Carius said, "The Knight of the Lion! Such a battle! Sir, I am forever in your debt! Ever since those two demon spawn came to this land, eleven long years ago, they have held me in their power. They sent me to war against my wishes! They have kept me and my daughter veritable prisoners in our own castle! I dared not cross their will in anything! But you have delivered us! Sir Knight"—Sir Carius took a deep breath and lifted his chin—"In return for your bravery, I offer you the most precious gift I could ever give! I offer you my daughter's hand in marriage!"

Luneta blinked and looked at Floria, but the blushing girl was gazing limpidly up into Ywain's face and was clearly not at all averse to her father's plan.

"But I don't want to marry your daughter," Ywain said simply. Sir Carius and Floria looked stunned, and Ywain continued, "I ask a different gift instead."

"What is that, Sir Knight?" Sir Carius said, his voice far more restrained.

"Set your prisoners free," Ywain said.

For a long moment, no one spoke, and then Sir Carius replied in a mild voice, "Prisoners? I have no prisoners."

Ywain's tone grew harder. "The women who live as slaves in your castle, sewing the fine products of Diradvent."

Sir Carius smiled, but without enthusiasm. "Oh, the workers! But they aren't prisoners! Why, those women are artists who have come to us to ply their skill! They are free to leave whenever they wish!"

"Sir Carius," Ywain said sternly, "they live behind barred doors in darkness, working as slaves. I gave you a chance to prove yourself a man of honor, and if you had agreed to let these poor women go, perhaps you could have claimed that you never meant such evil. Then you would have appeared a coward but not a villain. You refused, though."

"But all our land's prosperity comes from the women's wares! The well-being of all our people!" Sir Carius exclaimed. "Before the Brothers came, I was a poor baron, barely surviving off the rents of our land!"