"Well," said Snowy. "I"ve been cropping gra.s.s till I"m swollen-bellied, but I still can"t see a way into the dungeons, or whatever they are, to find what I know is there. There is nothing but that barred gate to see."
"That pipe runs right beneath the gra.s.s and through that gate," said Corby.
"The gra.s.s is a different colour. Dug years ago, but you can always tell."
"But the water can"t get through," I objected. "Moglet and Puddy and Pisky said so. It can"t have anything to do with floods or things drowning-"
""Ware strangers!" hissed Corby, and we all ducked down behind the reeds except Snowy, who was too big.
From the front of the castle came half-a-dozen or so stable-hands carrying sacks and fodder and as we watched they moved, bowed with the weights, to the dark gateway in the wall. One man took out a large key and unlocked it and they pa.s.sed inside-and out from that unlocked gate flowed such a miasma of fear and despair that it crawled as palpable as a fog to where we lay hidden, and such overwhelming sorrow struck my heart that I beat my hands against invisible bars and sobbed out my prisonment.
"Shut up, Thing!" warned Corby. "They"re coming out again."
And as we watched the stable-servants emerged with baskets of ordure and cast them into the cesspit beyond the lake and rapidly infilled with fresh earth, but as they did so Moglet and Snowy sniffed the wind.
"Deer, boar . . ."
"Hare, coney?"
"Bear? Wild pony, certainly."
"Badger."
"We must get in there somehow," said Snowy urgently. "My nose tells me that there are dozens of animals in there, and we still don"t know why!"
The idea seemed ridiculous to me. Why keep animals imprisoned underground? If one wanted meat one either grazed cattle or hunted, that was part of life. Why keep them fed and watered underground, when it was so much cheaper to let them roam free? Deer and boar were plentiful, at least outside this forest, and so were the smaller game. Everywhere else but here: was that the answer? Was that why they stored them? But what of the absence of any kind of life: no birds, no hedgepigs, no mice, no rats? And the overwhelming fear that overlaid all? But why, why? There must be a simple explanation . . . A feast and a fair, that was it! They had some deer, boar and hare for the feast, ready for easy slaughter when the time was ripe. And the others were for the usual tainted entertainment this place seemed to afford.
The smell of badger that Moglet had detected in the droppings must mean that one comer of that enclosed s.p.a.ce they had been tidying and gravelling yesterday would be reserved for baiting, and the bear must be a tame one, trained for dancing. The wild ponies? Those I supposed would be for the lady"s horsebreakers to show off their arts. If the general standards of entertainment in this place were anything to go by, this was an improvement: better than the stupid torturing pleasure they usually seemed to take with strange, twisted things like me . . .
"No," said Snowy, who had obviously been reading my thoughts. "No, there are too many, dear child, and their fear has infected all the land around. It is more than mere sport or entertainment."
"Then what?"
"I am not sure. Not yet . . . But one of us must get in there to find out."
It started to rain, quite heavily. One of the men carrying over more hay looked up and saw us.
"Hey you: Crookback! Yes, you . . . Bring that nag of yours over here and make him useful, otherwise we"ll all get soaked."
I would have refused, but Snowy spoke urgently. "This is just the chance we have been waiting for! Take me over . . ."
"You"re not a beast of burden at the beck of anyone!"
"Don"t argue, for once. Just do as I say."
So I left the others sheltering as best they could and led Snowy over. "You want to borrow the pony?" I asked, sounding, and looking too, I suppose, like a halfwit.
The stable-hand grabbed Snowy"s bridle and thwacked his rump. "C"mon, you bag-of-bones!"
I watched him load up, noted Snowy"s meek head hanging down, saw him led down a slight incline to the mouth of a tunnel that revealed itself now I was nearer to the barred gate, then made my way back to the others.
Puddy and Pisky were fine, revelling in the warm summer rain, which was coming down faster now, but Moglet made a wild leap at me, burrowing under my jacket and proceeding to soak us both, and Corby, nothing loath, tried to huddle under my cloak. We made our way back to the castle, more or less together, and I stowed away the others, for I could not know how long Snowy would be. Then, as luck would have it, I ran straight into Conn and the Lady Adiora.
We had obviously missed their riding out, for they were now returning wet with rain, Conn mounted on a beautiful strawberry-roan Apparisoned with red velvet, both now dark with rain. I rushed over to clutch at his bridle but he looked down at me as though I were a stranger, all the while listening to the lady"s prattle.
" . . . but because of the weather we had better postpone it. My weathermen say it should clear up by New Moon, so probably four days hence. You will have to practise your archery, meanwhile-What is that dirty creature doing?" In a different voice. I was frantically pulling at Conn"s bridle to try to gain his attention. "Send it away! That part of your life is gone, my love, but if you still have a fondness for the creature I will find it work in the kitchens . .
Conn pulled away from me. "Not now, not now," he said. "Later, Thingy, later . . .".
I spat on the ground as they pa.s.sed, but the angry tears were not far from my eyes, and when I went into the castle that night I was denied the table and pushed towards the kitchens, where a greasy scullion grabbed me and made me turn one of the spits while he dipped his fingers in the gravy and lay back at his ease, and every time I tried to escape he pulled me back by my ear, cackling with laughter at my discomfort.
I was worried, for Snowy had not returned by the time I went over to the castle, and each minute dragged interminably. When I finally escaped the rain had stopped and the summer stars were shining faintly, and low clouds obscured the moon. I had only had beans and bread for supper and water to wash them down, but managed to salvage a beef-rib bone from under the nose of a great hound and, dusted down, it would be more than adequate for Corby and Moglet. I hoped Puddy had managed to find one of his unmentionables during the day, and Pisky could have a sliver of the beef.
But when I reached the stable all this planning was forgotten, for there was Snowy, head drooping, flanks heaving, trembling as though in an icy blast.
The bone went flying as I rushed forward, and I will give the others their due, that bone was not touched until we had heard Snowy"s story.
At first I thought his distress was due to ill-treatment and abuse, and I ran my hands over his hide, his joints and tendons, looked to see he had water and fodder, but all was as it should be. And then, though he had volunteered nothing, I realized that the aura of near-palpable suffering that emanated from him was an exhaustion of the spirit that has had to suffer mental ill- treatment as real as if it had been beaten or starved, and I put my arms around his neck and leant my head against his jaw.
"Tell me-tell us-dear one, what has happened, what you saw that was so dreadful . . ." And as he told us it was as if we were there and could see through his eyes, hear through his ears, smell it and taste it and feel it.
As he had approached the open gate in the wall a great stench of animal came from it, and out of the dark, yawning mouth of the tunnel a belch of fear, raw and undigested, that had made him stop in his tracks, and the men had used a whip to urge him on, jesting that he could smell the wolves and was afraid he would be turned into their dinner.
And wolves there were, penned next to the great dusty bear and her yearling cub: three grey, slinking animals, eyes slitted sharp as their teeth. And next to the wolves two large badgers, almost as big as the half-dozen wild boar, both these pig-like animals full still of rage and l.u.s.t for killing, wasting their strength on futile rushes against the bars as the men approached, the badgers" claws rattling impotently against the metal, the boars" tusks ringing as they clashed with their prison. And opposite these fierce creatures were the gra.s.s-eaters, the proud stag with his three terrified hinds, the wild ponies, mountain goats, hares, coneys-and their keepers rattled the bars and taunted them as they threw them their food, gave them their water, telling them how their days, hours, minutes were numbered.
"Four days from tomorrow you"ve got, my fine creatures, and then you"ll be so much skin for the buzzards! Midsummer Night will be perpetual night for you all! And not from each other, oh no! "Twill be the fine lords and ladies as will lead the ma.s.sacre, and them getting points each for the ones they kill. Not so many for the bears, "cos they"re a bigger target, though more difficult to finish off, but big points for the hares, "cos they"re smaller and move faster. Roast venison all round from you, my fine fellow and your dames; only ones we can"t eat are the pesky wolves and rancid badgers, but they"ll do for bait for the next lot of meat-eaters. Ah yes, roll on the Midsummer-Night ma.s.sacre!"
And so, Snowy told us, big-eyed with wonder and horror, he had had to calm all those beasts, tell them what they needed and hoped for.
"And what was that?" I asked, knowing what the answer would be even as I asked the question.
"Why, that we would rescue them all, of course," he said.
The Binding: Unicorn Midsummer Madness And, looking at the faith shining from those strange brown-grey-green eyes I almost believed we could, even as I asked the hopeless: "But-how?"
So he told us.
In essence the plan was to open the exit gates beyond the slaughter-yard and guide the animals away from the castle to the ride leading through the woods to the bridge across the river that marked the boundary between this petty tenure and another. The plan entailed opening well oiled gates, the control of panic among the animals and slowest ones to go first, and also a distraction at the castle end to divert those attending the Madness. Snowy promised to organize the animals and keep them from panic, if the rest of us could ensure the opening of the gates and the distraction.
"There," he said. "How about it?"
We all agreed enthusiastically, caught in the euphoria of the moment, but it was the common-sensical Puddy who brought us back to reality.
"A good idea," he said, with his sometimes maddening slowness, "but what would distract the lords and ladies enough not to send their servants chasing the beasts? And how would we escape afterwards? And what of the Rusty Knight? Remember, The Ancient insisted that we had all to keep together, and this is only the first of our trials. By all accounts he has eschewed his loyalties already."
Conn! Oh, dear G.o.ds, I had forgotten him already!
No, I had not forgotten, that was not the right way to think of it. He was in my thoughts day and night, and I was made both fiercely jealous and desperately miserable by his defection to the beautiful Adiora, but he had a.s.sumed the proportion of a dream, not to be confused with the day-to-day realities of eating and drinking, sleep, discoveries, plans for the escape of the animals. I cursed myself for my forgetfulness of his place in the general scheme of things as I gazed blankly at the others.
"Thing-dear will think of something," said Snowy comfortably, and such was the a.s.surance in his voice that at that moment I truly believed I would, and put the problem temporarily from my mind.
But there was still the question of a distraction, and it was Corby who suggested fire. "Top half of this place is all wood, and would make a merry blaze . . ." and so I volunteered the next day to scout around on the upper floors and try to find a convenient corner to set combustible material. For the escape afterwards Snowy promised that we would not be left behind. Pisky asked why the animals couldn"t be let out now, please, but Snowy confirmed that there were guards on duty day and night around the castle, and escape before ma.s.sacre-day would be impossible.
We settled down for the night, curiosity allayed by Snowy"s story and a definite plan of action to follow, but perhaps because of this the stimulation of thought made us restless, bog-eyed sleepers when at last dawn broke on another grey, dripping day.
The stable-servants "borrowed" Snowy again, and I asked him specifically to look out for and question the prisoned animals as to the whereabouts of a particular item I thought might be in the dungeons; Conn and the lady went out riding again, accompanied only by two discreet grooms, and I shut my mind to reclaiming him for the time being. By dint of dodging servants on occasion and behaving as if I belonged on others, I managed to gain access to the upper floors of the castle. The first floor consisted of bedchamber after bedchamber, a magnificent solar and a small library, but the next floor with its jutting towers was more hopeful. Those rooms facing to the front of the castle were all occupied, but of the others overlooking the back Conn was in one and the last was full of empty chests, discarded pallets, hangings in need of repair and tattered tapestries: these were all dry, and would give off a good smoulder-smoke if lit.
All this reconnoitring took time, and I still had not had a chance to speak to Conn alone by the time the rest of us gathered in the stable after supper. I had managed a bowl of sc.r.a.ps for the others, having been relegated to the kitchens again, and also a useful pocketful of fat strips, ideal for starting a fire. I had also checked the gates out of the slaughter-yard: these had been opened again today, and while I noted the ease with which the bolts slid back, I also saw that it took two men to swing them open, largely because the ground sloped slightly upwards at this point. A careful removal of acc.u.mulated stones and debris was all that was needed, and I saw how I could play an idiot and build mudpies at this point, and also lay out a couple of arrow-pointers the way the animals were to go.
Snowy was able to confirm what I had suspected, that a pipe, now blocked with debris, led into the upper part of the dungeon and thence into a disused cistern, cracked and perforated.
"That must be the pipe that leads to the lake," I said eagerly. "Which animal is nearest?"
"Luckily for us it is the badgers; their cage holds both pipe and cistern. I have asked them to clear away what rubble they can and pile it under the pipe.
Some of the smaller coneys are going to squeeze through their bars to help.
Now it"s up to you lot at the lake end. Have you spied out the escape route?"
"Tomorrow," I promised.
The next day was the penultimate one before the intended killings, and there was a lot to do. The most important thing, of course, was to investigate the escape route, but my idea about the underground pipe, which had started merely as a secondary diversion, now a.s.sumed greater importance in my mind, for if it succeeded it would mean no more "games" like these could be played at the castle ever again: fire from above, water from below . . .
But I was thinking ahead too fast: back to the first priority. That morning I begged a ride on one of the water-carts, Corby paying for our pa.s.sage by playing counting tricks with stones, to my dictation: Pisky, Puddy and Moglet I kept hidden under my cloak. As soon as the cart stopped at the river and they started to fill the water-skins I excused myself, saying I would walk back.
There was a wooden bridge across the river and I strolled across, to be accosted by a sleepy bridge-keeper on the other side, who demanded a copper coin before I could proceed to the village, five huts and a tavern.
"Lord Ric"s demesne," yawned the bridge-keeper. "Naught to look at for miles. Forest clear through for five leagues at least, then the Hall. Looks of you, you wouldn"t want to try it without a mount."
"Where does the river come from?" I ventured.
"Gawd knows! Somewheres to the west. Now, you coming or going?"
"Going," I said, and went.
So far, so good. A bridge guarded by one man, a forest north for miles, a river flowing east/west: the animals had a good chance if they got this far; it was to be hoped that there were meadows or clearings for the coneys and hares farther up the riverbank.
Now for the sluice in the lake. Luckily I got a lift back with a later water-cart because the pebble in my stomach was pulling again-no, not a pebble, the dragon"s ruby: I kept forgetting. It was midday when we reached the sc.u.mmy waterside, and I asked Pisky to swim down as far as he could to determine the construction of the sluice, and Puddy to hop down the pipe to see how far in it was blocked; I set Corby to find likely pieces of wood in case we had to lever up the sluice, and sat back on the bank for five minutes" rest, Moglet on my lap.
After a moment or two she became restless. "Why can"t I do something?" she demanded. "Everyone else is being important . . ."
"I was just coming to that," I said carefully. "I couldn"t manage without you, Moglet dear. We need a sentinel, a watcher, and I can"t be in two places at once." I was improvising rapidly, my thoughts in careful man-speech so she wouldn"t understand. "You were just what I had in mind; would you go behind that clump of dried gra.s.ses, keep an eye on the comings and goings at the castle, and watch the tunnel-gate as well?"
Pisky reported back, choking, that the nether end of the sluice was deep in mud, but that the mechanism seemed simple enough; the only bar to raising it seemed to be a block of iron placed crossways across the wheel that had to be turned north/south to engage a number of teeth that governed the height.
Puddy said that, as far as he could judge, the tunnel, apart from silt, was clear up to within a foot of the walls of the castle: the echo of his splashes changed in quality with the weight of the walls above him. We called it a day after I had leant over as far as I dared to try turning the wheel, and had fallen in. The wheel needed greasing and I needed a bath.
That night I told an exhausted Snowy what we had found out. He nodded.
"The badgers have worked hard all day, and they say there is only a foot or so more of debris to move; they reckon they are right under the castle walls now.
But the last bit will be the hardest: there are rocks and hard-packed earth in there."
"How deep is the water in the pipe?" I asked Puddy.
"Inches only. The silt piled up at the lakeward end is what holds the water back. Once the pipe is clear it will run straight down to the dungeon, provided the digging beasts get it clear. Pressure of water will take all before it-the last six inches, anyway."
I instructed Snowy to have the badgers excavate through as far as they dared, leaving an airway of about three inches at the top; the pipe"s diameter was at least two feet, but we didn"t want anyone excavating so far that they leaked the plot. On the other hand, if I could wind up the sluicegate just a little, at least we would know if our plan might work.
"Is it level, or does it slope down towards the castle-the pipe, I mean?" I asked Puddy.
"Slopes down. Only gradually. Exit is some foot or two lower than the lake end."
"Bother!" I said, thinking rapidly. "That means someone will have to come back for us, Snowy dear, after you have led the others out. Can you find someone else to lead them down to the river?"
"I am the only one who speaks all their languages. Perhaps I could send back a couple of the ponies . . ." he hesitated. "Is all this necessary, my dear?"
"Yes," I said. "Very necessary. The majority of the animals may well escape this time, but what about the next ones? And the next? We want to make certain, don"t we, that it never happens again, and if we flood the dungeons it will take them a long time-a very long time-to dredge it out again. Perhaps never, as the lake is on a higher level than the castle. Then maybe they will give up this sort of thing forever. I hope so . . . Send us back whatever help you can, for there will be all five of us-"
"And what about the Rusty Knight?" asked Snowy.
What indeed about the Rusty Knight? About Conn, the redhaired wanderer who had captured my heart . . . I had not seen him, except fleetingly, since the night we arrived. And when I had tried to speak to him it would seem he had forgotten all about us, for his eyes were only for the Lady Adiora in all her seductive beauty. For a moment or two I felt sorry for myself, lying sleepless on the straw in the stable, while he-while he luxuriated in silks and linen, but then the straw p.r.i.c.ked at my spine and with that discomfort came the realization that I hadn"t done much, hadn"t done anything in fact, to wrest him from his diversion. I had crept away like a whipped slave on the lady"s bidding and had sobbed from the hurt his carelessness of me had engendered, but had I gone back upstairs and tried to win him back to us next morning?
No. Had I fought for what I wanted, even though it might be impossible? No.
Had I reasoned with him, bribed him, suborned him, warned him? No. Had I reminded him of the quest we were bound upon, of The Ancient"s words, of the dragon? No. Had I rebelled, fought, poisoned, stabbed? No . . .
In fact I was a coward, that was the truth, as soft as Moglet who now lay across my chest, sides gently heaving, needing the rea.s.surance of my body for her tentative purr. But then Moglet had me, and I had-? Them, of course, Snowy, Corby, Puddy, Pisky and my little cat. We were interdependent.
Independent, too, by very virtue of our differences. But Conn? He and I should have been closer, for we were humans; but then he was a man, and men were different, it seemed. They had all sorts of privileges and greeds and l.u.s.ts of their own, which they were allowed to indulge quite freely, it seemed, but didn"t they too have such fundamental qualities as loyalty, for instance?
Couldn"t he, even for the short time the quest might take, leave his pleasures for another time?
I realized, of course, that he did not see the Lady Adiora quite as we did. To him she was a lovely body, a luxury, a dream to be indulged. To us she was a shallow, heartless queen who exploited the fears and vulnerabilities of helpless animals for her own pleasures and satiation, much as she was using Conn- I sat up suddenly, disturbing a protesting Moglet. Of course! Just as she had to have this midsummer madness of a ma.s.sacre to satiate her l.u.s.t for cruelty, so also did she have to have this succession of men to satisfy her other l.u.s.ts; not only Conn, but also those other knights with pale faces and jealous eyes who had stared at him on that first night. And Conn would become a cast-off, just like the rest of them, so soon as a fresh male appeared! Now I understood the mutterings of the servants, the angry looks of the desiccated knights. She was the spider, they the flies, to be seduced and devoured, sucked dry and discarded as and when she pleased.
And poor Conn believed she was the love of his life, true and tender and everlasting! But how could I possibly disillusion him, show him he was only one of many? And how, most important of all, persuade him to leave her the day after tomorrow? How make him understand what she was, his impermanence in her life? Make him realize about the ma.s.sacre, her part in it? I didn"t know, I just didn"t know. And there was so little time . . .
There was less time than I had bargained for. That next morning there was more hustle and bustle than usual and I caught at a servant"s sleeve.
"What goes on?"