The World Above (15 page)

Instantly Steel moved to shield me, thrusting me behind him.
That will make no difference
, I thought. The soldiers encircled us. I spun so that Steel and I stood back-to-back.
Futile!
I thought. All I had done was to make it possible to look my attackers in the face. I had no weapon to fight with. No way to defend myself.

“Well, lads, what have we here?” a rough voice spoke.

That must be the leader
, I thought. He had a face that looked as if it had taken a few blows. His nose dominated his face. I wondered how many times it had been broken.

The band of soldiers was small, no more than half a dozen. But that would be more than enough to capture a man with only a knife, and a girl with only her wits and courage to defend herself.

Wits. Use your wits, Gen
, I thought. Robin and the others could not be that far off. Perhaps, if I could keep the soldiers talking, get them to make enough noise . . .

“What on earth do you think you have?” I snapped. “Are you stupid, or can’t you see beyond the end of that great nose of yours? Haven’t you ever seen a father and daughter out foraging for mushrooms? You’ve no right to stop us. We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“You’re a spitfire, that’s for sure,” the captain spoke once more. He tossed the short sword he carried from hand to hand, as if deciding which to use when he cut us to pieces. “What’s the matter with your father? Cat got his tongue?”

At that, the woods around us erupted in a great roar. A man dashed out from the stand of trees just behind the captain. He seemed as tall as one of the trees he’d sheltered behind. In one hand he carried a branch, which he brought crashing down over the captain’s head before he could so much as turn around.

Mayhem broke out. Half the soldiers rushed to take on the attacker, while the other half turned tail and ran for their lives. Steel leaped forward to help press the attack. Almost before I could catch my breath, it was all over. Steel and the newcomer stood facing each other. Four of Duke Guy’s soldiers lay on the ground.

“I don’t know who you are, but we are grateful for your help,” Steel began, though he had to tip his head back to look into our rescuer’s eyes. “Without you . . .”

The giant’s eyes had moved from Steel’s face to find mine.

“Gen,” he said. “I’d know you anywhere.”

“And you can only be Sean.”

Before I could say another word, Robin rushed into the clearing, with Shannon following close behind. Slowpoke and a group of scouts approached from the opposite side.

“It’s all right,” Slowpoke said. “We got them, Robin.”

“Sean!”
Shannon cried out. She ran toward him.

Sean caught Shannon in an embrace, lifting her off her feet to hold her close. I could see his lips move as he whispered something in her ear. Shannon shook her head fiercely and buried her face in his throat. In spite of the difference in their statures, brother and sister looked a great deal alike. Sean had Shannon’s curly hair, though his was cropped close.

“Shan,” he said, his voice a deep rumble in his chest. “Come on, now. Don’t act like such a girl.”

One of Shannon’s dangling feet shot out to kick him in the leg.

“There now,” Sean said. “That’s the Shannon I know and love.”

“Giant,” she accused as he set her on her feet.

“Pip-squeak,” he responded. Her head barely reached above Sean’s waist, and her arms couldn’t quite reach all the way around it.

“Where’s Jack? What’s happened to him? Why aren’t you together?” she demanded.

“If you’ll stop talking, I’ll tell you,” Sean said. “Jack is alive. He’s also Duke Guy’s prisoner.”

“Getting to the town was easy enough,” Sean explained a short time later. Several of the scouts had gone back out to search for any additional soldiers. Satisfied that we were safe for the time being, Robin had called a halt so we could hear Sean’s story.

“It took Jack and me about a week to reach Duke Guy’s fortress, just like we’d thought it would,” Sean explained. “Once we got there, we agreed to split up. It seemed safest that way.” He made a face. “I tend to draw attention to myself. But we arranged a place to meet each night.

“During the days, Jack did his best to familiarize himself with the layout of the town. I plotted possible escape routes through the forest. Both of us waited for the assizes.”

Robin’s face had worn a frown of concentration through Sean’s recital. But at the mention of the court of appeals, Robin’s face cleared and he began to nod.

Quick. He is so quick
, I thought.

“You thought to use the assizes to get close to the harp,” he said. “My father always makes use of it there, and it’s one of the few times he actually lets it out of arm’s reach, though hardly out of sight.”

Abruptly Robin got to his feet and began to pace, as if trying to work out the way things must have gone.

“But you couldn’t just snatch it, could you? It’s too heavily guarded.”

“That’s right,” Sean acknowledged. “But Jack wasn’t ready to give up. We knew we had four weeks before you’d come after us, Gen.”

“So you decided to wait for a second session,” I said.

Sean nodded. “This time I was to accompany Jack. He’d told me how the assizes worked overall—where the harp was placed, how many men guarded it, how it was transported. But he wanted a second pair of eyes, just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.”

Sean gave me a crooked smile. “He was trying to think like you, Jack said. He was trying to build a plan. But for all that, it was hopeless. The session was almost over for the day when a fight broke out. It happened so quickly I never did know what it was about.”

“Don’t tell me,” I said, as what must have happened next came clear in a flash. “Jack improvised.”

“He did.” Sean nodded. “But it was really all my fault, because I’m so tall. I could see what no one else could, not even Duke Guy himself. For a few precious moments, the harp was left unguarded.

“The fight was sudden and fierce. One moment everything was calm. In the next, it was pandemonium. Half of Guy de Trabant’s soldiers waded into the fray. The other half rushed to protect the duke himself. In the confusion, the soldiers forgot all about guarding the harp.”

“So you took it,” Shannon breathed. “
You
took it, not Jack. Oh, Sean.”

“I knew how much it meant to him,” Sean said, his tone pleading. “I used the confusion to get to Jack and give him the harp. He was more likely to be able to slip away, because he’s—you know—the same size as most people, and the harp really did belong to him, after all. But the harp . . . the harp . . .”

His voice choked with emotion.

“The harp began to sing, didn’t it?” Robin asked quietly. He stopped pacing and reached out to lay a hand on the giant’s shoulder. Seated, Sean’s shoulder was almost the same height as Robin’s.

“The harp began to sing,” echoed Sean. “I’d heard the sound it made as it helped Duke Guy pass judgment. But this was something different, something more. Never in my life have I heard such a sound. I don’t think . . .” He twisted his head to look into Robin’s face. “I’m not sure I have the words to describe it.”

“I think I may,” Robin said quietly. From across the clearing, he met my eyes. “It sang for me, the one and only time I touched it. I’m still not sure I understand why.

“Imagine the sound that you love best, the one that never fails to fill your heart with joy. Perhaps it’s a sound you remember from childhood. Or maybe it’s a sound that’s been silenced forever, your mother’s voice singing a lullaby. Whatever that sound is, the voice of the harp is as beautiful, and more. Once you have heard it, you will never forget.”

“I could never have described it like that,” Sean said. “But that’s how it was. The second I put the harp into Jack’s hands, it began to sing. At first it was just a note—a tone. But then it began to call out a single word: ‘
Master! Master!
’”

“The harp called out for Guy de Trabant?” I exclaimed, astonished.

“No,” Sean said. “Though I thought so at first myself. But I’ve had a lot of time to think about it since. I think your plan worked, Gen. Reclaiming the wizard’s gifts was the best way to demonstrate your birthright. Somehow that harp recognized Jack. It knew who he was.”

“His true master,” Robin said. “Roland des Jardins’ son.”

“But the harp gave him away,” Sean said in a tortured voice. “The moment it began to sing, the soldiers surrounded Jack. It was terrible. For a moment I thought . . .”

“You thought they would kill him,” I said.

Sean nodded. “But they did not. They dragged him forward, the harp still in his hands, and threw him at Guy de Trabant’s feet. The expression on de Trabant’s face when he got a good look at Jack almost stopped my heart.”

“He recognized him too,” I said. “He must have, Jack looks so much like our father. Anyone who had seen Duke Roland would know Jack was his son.”

“What happened then?” Shannon asked, anguish in her voice.

“The soldiers took Jack away,” Sean said. “They dispersed the crowd. And then . . . nothing. For days the town was locked up tight. It was impossible to get close to the fortress. Then, about two days ago, Guy de Trabant sent out his heralds.”

“That would be when the soldiers appeared at the Boundary Oak,” Robin murmured.

“There’s to be an execution,” I said. It felt as though a band of iron was wrapped around my heart.

“No,” Sean said quickly. “Something more complicated, more cunning.” He turned to Robin. “You know the harvest festival is just a few days off?”

“Of course,” Robin said, nodding.

“There’s to be an addition to the festivities,” Sean explained. “An archery contest. Duke Guy has a champion archer who will compete against all comers. If he is unbeaten, the duke’s cause will be deemed just and the prisoner will be executed the following morning.”

Shannon gave a low moan. She doubled over, as if all the strength she usually displayed was folding in on itself.

“And if the champion is defeated?” I asked, though I felt like I was suffocating.

“Then the winner will have earned the right to decide the prisoner’s fate,” said Sean. “Duke Guy agrees to be bound by the outcome.”

“So all we have to do is to find someone who can outshoot the champion,” I said, buoyed by a surge of unexpected hope. “Just how good is he? Can it be done?”

“Oh, it can be done,” Robin answered. “It
has
been done, but only once.”

“Well then, that settles things!” Shannon cried. She shot to her feet, all her earlier energy restored. “We find the man who bested him and get him to do it again.” At the look on Sean’s face, she broke off. “What?”

“I don’t know this for sure,” Sean said, his tone apologetic. “It’s just what I heard them say in the town. It’s why I thought I must come to the forest myself, to try and find Guy de Trabant’s son.”

“It’s you, isn’t it?” I asked. “You’re the one who can defeat the archer.”

“The only one,” Robin admitted. “A fact my father knows quite well. In fact, it’s what he’s counting on. His trap is just like he is, cunning and subtle. If I don’t show up, not only will I brand myself a coward, I’ll have an innocent man’s death on my conscience.”

“But if you do appear, and best the champion for a second time . . .”

“Then my father wins on all counts,” Robin completed my thought. “He will have both me and Duke Roland’s son within his power. He can do whatever he wants with both of us.”

Robin immediately began to make preparations for Jack’s rescue. The archery contest was set for the following day. That didn’t give us much time. Robin sent Slowpoke and the quickest of the other scouts back through the forest to find the others and notify them of what was going on. As many of Robin’s people as could be assembled were to come to the archery field to mingle among the crowds.

Steel, who was not known in Duke Guy’s lands, volunteered to go on ahead to reconnoiter the town. That left Robin, Sean, Shannon, and me to proceed together, along with the few remaining scouts. In less time than I might have dreamed possible, our small band had dispersed. Steel would be the last to depart.

Robin was going to try to save Jack, no matter what.

“Will you walk with me a moment, Gen?” Robin asked. “There is something I would like to show you.”

“Go ahead, Gen,” Shannon said quickly. “Sean and I will go with the scouts.”

Robin set a brisk pace, brisk enough to make conversation impractical, though not quite impossible. As we walked, long shadows began to fall.
It will be dark soon
, I thought.
All our fates will be decided tomorrow
.

I tried to think of a way to help. Some fallback plan I could provide. Making plans was supposed to be what I was best at, but I couldn’t seem to get my mind to focus. It skittered back and forth like a mouse in a trap.

If Robin did nothing, I would lose Jack for sure. But if he participated in the archery contest and could not escape his father’s trap in time, I would lose them both.