The Lioness and Her Knight (7 page)

"Well," Luneta said, "this is a pretty mess."

Rhience began to smile, then to shake with silent laughter. "Ay, lass. You could say that. I should have known that your cousin wouldn't be able to wait long by the spring before trying it." He frowned with sudden concern. "I hope old Ywain is all right out there."

Luneta stood. "Don't you think we should go down and wait for Sir Esclados to come back? Ywain might get hurt and need our help."

Rhience nodded, and together they went down the long stairs to the main courtyard. There they watched a crowd of well-trained soldiers take positions just inside the front gate. Luneta looked but saw no sign of Lady Laudine. Minutes passed slowly. Some of the soldiers began to look at one another and shuffle their feet nervously.

"How long do fights like this usually last?" she whispered to Rhience.

"The longer it goes, the better for Ywain. It means he's holding his own. I can tell you that my own fight with Sir Esclados didn't take this long."

A lookout on the castle wall shouted something to the servants waiting below, and immediately two of them drew their short swords and climbed up on either side of the open gate.

"They're getting ready to cut the ropes holding up the portcullis," Rhience said. "That's odd. Usually you just lower the gate slowly. It looks as if they need to close it in a hurry."

"What does that mean?" Luneta asked.

"I scarcely dare think it, my lady," Rhience said.

"What? Scarcely dare think what?"

"It almost seems as if Sir Esclados must be running back to the castle and they need to close the gate behind him, because—"

"Because he's being chased?" Luneta demanded. Rhience nodded, and then Luneta heard the pounding of horses' hooves approaching from across the plain.

Everything happened at once. A great horse ridden by a knight in red armor—Sir Esclados, Luneta supposed—burst into the castle with a clatter and then a bang as the red knight fell heavily from the horse's saddle onto the flagstones. Luneta saw blood spattering the stones, but she had no time to look because the servants with the knives had cut the ropes holding up the great iron portcullis and with a shriek it began to fall. Just before it fell, though, a second horse leaped through the gate. Luneta recognized Ywain's armor and horse, and they nearly didn't make it. When the portcullis crashed down, it left a long gash in Ywain's horse's flank. The horse stumbled, and Ywain was thrown violently to one side, bouncing against a wall. The horse scrambled to its feet—which meant it had no broken bones—but it was maddened with pain from its wound, and it joined Sir Esclados's mount in rearing and slashing with its front hooves at anyone who came within range. Servants dodged and screamed and called for help. One of them had managed to pull Sir Esclados's helm from his head, and Luneta's stomach felt sick and empty at the gory sight that was there. Then Rhience plucked her sleeve.

"Come on, my lady, we've got to get Ywain."

Luneta looked blankly at Rhience for a second, then nodded and ran with the fool to where Ywain had been thrown by his falling horse. By the time they arrived, he had already risen to his feet and was holding his sword out before him in readiness.

"Halt!" he called to them, seeing them approach. Then his sword lowered. "Luneta? Rhience? Oh, Lud, you don't mean to tell me that the red knight is ... of course he is. He's your host! Well," he said, straightening up and sheathing his sword, "that settles it. I won't finish him off, after all."

"From the looks of it, I'd say you already had," Rhience commented.

"Think so? I couldn't be sure with his helm on. But I won't fight him any more now. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to, anyway. A bit awkward to attack someone lying in a courtyard surrounded by people tending his wounds, you know."

"Ywain," Luneta said impatiently, "will you please shut up and think for a moment? What are you going to do now?"

"I just told you. I'll not continue the fight."

"And then what? Ywain, what are you going to do if he dies?"

Ywain lifted his chin. "He attacked me first."

Luneta nearly screamed with impatience. "Who cares, Ywain? Do you see all those soldiers gathered around Sir Esclados? They're busy with him right now, but what do you think they'll do to you once they notice you here?"

Ywain lifted the visor on his helm and looked out at Luneta and Rhience. "You think they'll be angry?" They both nodded. "I see," Ywain said. "Will they attack?" They nodded again. Ywain set his lips and allowed his visor to drop. "I'm not afraid."

"You should be," Rhience said. "I hear that Sir Esclados has more than fifty men here."

Ywain raised his visor again. "You think I should leave?"

Luneta sighed with frustration, and Rhience said, "That would be splendid. Do you mind telling me how you intend to do it?"

At last the full significance of his situation seemed to dawn on Ywain. "Oh, yes. The gate's closed, isn't it? Is there another way out?"

"Probably," Luneta said, "but I don't know it. We've only been here one afternoon."

"What should I do, then?"

"I think you should hide," Luneta said, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Hide?" Ywain repeated distastefully.

"Or you could die," Rhience pointed out.

Ywain hesitated, but as it happened, at that very moment a soldier called out, "Send for the rest of the guard!" and Ywain said, "All right. Where should I go?"

Neither Luneta nor Rhience had any immediate ideas for hiding places, but they dragged Ywain around a wall and into the first door they could find. Out of the courtyard was a good first step. And by the time they had Ywain out of immediate danger, Luneta had thought of exactly where to hide Ywain.

"Shh," Luneta said, leading Ywain by the hand down the dark halls of the castle. "I'm nearly sure that this is the right corridor. We're looking for a great door with two candles in sconces on either side of it."

From behind Ywain, Rhience said, "I still think we should have gone down to the cellars, if we could find them. Maybe we could cover him with stove wood or something."

"That doesn't sound very comfortable," Ywain said pleasantly. For one whose life was in danger he seemed amazingly cheerful.

"No, the cellars won't do," Luneta said. "Think for a minute. Even if no one saw Ywain fall off his horse—"

"I didn't fall; I was thrown."

"Be quiet. Even if they didn't see Ywain, they have his horse and they'll know that he's somewhere in the castle. Before long we'll have search parties, and the cellar is the first place they'll look."

"Maybe," Rhience said, "but isn't this the hall where the bedchambers are? Do you plan to hide him in your wardrobe?"

"That sounds worse than the stove wood," Ywain said.

"Here it is. Now, you two wait in the shadows while I make sure it's empty." Luneta hurried to the door and knocked. After a moment of silence, she pushed it open and looked in at Lady Laudine's bedchamber. No one was there. "Come on!" Luneta called to the others. "Inhere!"

They entered the room and Ywain whistled. "This is your room? They treat their guests well here, don't they?"

"No, it's not mine."

"You want Ywain to hide in a lady's bedchamber?" Rhience asked with exasperation. "Of all the witless—"

"You know, it's not such a bad idea," Ywain said. "Last place they would look, and all that. But I don't see any very good hiding places."

"I don't care where you hide," Luneta said sharply. "We're only here to get something. Take off your gauntlet."

"My gauntlet?"

"Yes, your gauntlet. That thing on your hand. Take it off." Luneta opened Lady Laudine's jewelry drawer and began rummaging among the gems.

"I hear voices down the corridor," Rhience said. "Can you crawl under the bed in your armor?"

"Here!" Luneta said, taking up the faery ring triumphantly. She turned to Ywain, who had just finished taking off his armored gauntlet. "Put this ring on, and make it fast!"

"Put on this ring?"

"Do it now!" Luneta snapped, and Ywain took the ring from her and put it on his finger. At once he disappeared.

"By all the gods," whispered Rhience.

Ywain's voice came from the air. "And now, where should I hide?"

"You
are
hidden," Luneta said, taking a deep breath. "It's a magic ring. You're invisible."

For a moment there was only silence. Luneta supposed that Ywain was confirming Luneta's words. At last his disembodied voice said, "Lud!"

"All right," Rhience said with an exaggerated sniff. "I'll grant you that this is a
little
bit better than the stove wood idea." The voices in the hallway were closer. "And just in time, too."

The door to the bedchamber burst open and Malvolus the steward and five armed soldiers rushed into the room. "Where is he?" Malvolus snapped at them.

"Where is who?" Luneta replied.

"One of the soldiers saw you running away with the knight who has slain my master!"

"Is Sir Esclados dead?" Luneta demanded.

"As if you didn't know. You probably planned the whole thing, the three of you."

Luneta thought quickly. "Your soldier may have seen this knight running the same way we did, but as you can plainly see, there is no knight here."

"You've hidden him!" Malvolus snapped. He waved to the soldiers. "Look under the bed! In the wardrobe!"

"Be careful!" shrieked Rhience, in a voice of abject horror. "You almost stepped on my imaginary friend!" He looked earnestly at Malvolus. "His name is Asinus, and nobody can see him but me."

"Begone, knave! I've no time for your foolishness!" Malvolus roared furiously.

"Very well, I'll tell Asinus to
step back into a corner where no one can accidentally bump into him,
shall I?" Rhience said this very slowly and clearly.

Luneta heard the faintest scrape of metal beside her, and she guessed that Ywain was taking Rhience's advice. Malvolus wasn't through with them yet, though. While his soldiers poked their swords and spears under the bed and behind hanging tapestries, he scowled at Luneta and demanded, "If you weren't hiding the knight, then why are you here?"

"I was looking for my lady, of course. Do you know where she is?"

Malvolus glowered at her. "With her husband, I would imagine!"

Luneta met his gaze without flinching. "Then I should go to her at once! Come, Rhience!"

"Should my imaginary friend stay here?"

"Yes, of course," Luneta said. When Rhience started to leave, Malvolus glared at him with pure hatred, and Rhience hesitated, but Luneta grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the hallway. "I see what you mean," she said, once they were well away from the door. "The steward doesn't seem to care for you, does he?"

"No, he doesn't. It's very strange. Do you suppose he had an unhappy childhood?" Rhience replied.

"I certainly hope so," Luneta said. "Look, we need to figure out what to do next."

"I should think it would be easy from here," Rhience replied. "We wait until everyone is done searching—which may be several hours. Then, once they've given up, we can smuggle Ywain out during the night. I wonder if his horse becomes invisible when he gets on it. After all, his armor disappeared along with the rest of him."

"But he has to leave the ring here," Luneta pointed out. "It's not his—or mine, for that matter."

"Hmm. Well, that's awkward, but it can still be done. We just have to get him away and over a hill before he returns the ring to you."

"But how—?"

Rhience patted her hand. "We don't know yet, my lady. But we can't do anything until they've stopped looking for him anyway, so there's no rush. Now, don't you think that we should find Lady Laudine?"

***

The next several hours were as trying as any that Luneta had known. She had never herself experienced the death of someone close to her, so she didn't know exactly how it would affect her, but she still couldn't help thinking that she would deal with it better than did Lady Laudine. By the time Luneta found her—in the small chamber where the soldiers had carried the body of Sir Esclados—Lady Laudine was already stiff with hysterical grief. She sobbed and screamed and fluttered her hand in front of her breast in a gesture that meant nothing to anyone but herself. She would not respond to any of the ladies-in-waiting who stood around her offering timid and barely audible words of consolation. There were a few manservants standing over Sir Esclados's body, and two of them were taking off their dead master's armor one piece at a time, but even they were distracted by Lady Laudine's display of inconsolable sorrow.

Clearly, the first thing to do was to get Lady Laudine away from the body, and Luneta felt a stir of frustration that none of the attendants had had the wit to remove her from the bloody corpse. "Come, my lady," Luneta said firmly, nearly shouting so as to be heard above Lady Laudine's wails, "you should leave this room now.

Luneta's voice caught Lady Laudine's attention, and her eyes focused on Luneta. "Oh, Luneta! He's dead! He's dead!"

"I can see that," Luneta said firmly, although she was carefully not looking at the form on the bed behind her, "and I'm very sorry, but staying here won't bring him back. Come with me and let Sir Esclados's servants attend to him."

"No, no, he wouldn't want me to leave!"

Luneta started to retort that she doubted that Sir Esclados cared one way or the other now, but she caught herself in time and replied instead, "I am sure that he would want you to take care of yourself, too. My lady, it is very sad, and of course you must grieve, but let me take you away from here."

Luneta kept her voice firm and even and practical, and her tone as much as her words seemed to calm Lady Laudine. She looked forlornly up into Luneta's face and said, "Oh, Luneta, you're just like your mother."

"I most certainly am not!" Luneta exclaimed angrily.

"Have you no
feeling?
" Lady Laudine asked forlornly. "I've lost my love, my heart, my being this day!"

Luneta could only stare, quite dumbfounded. Was that really what she felt for the surly Sir Esclados? Fortunately, Rhience, who had come in behind Luneta, chose that moment to speak. "We understand, my lady. But you must respect his wishes in death as well as in life." Lady Laudine burst into another gust of sobs at the word "death," but Rhience continued. "Would you have disturbed Sir Esclados's privacy when he was alive?" Lady Laudine's eyes widened, and Rhience pursued his advantage. "Then you should allow him time alone now, don't you think? Come away now."