The Battle for the Castle (8 page)

As they drew closer to the castle, the people began to gather along the side of the road. Men came out of the fields to shout a greeting. From the doors of the houses, women waved and the children who clung to their thick skirts raised their hands too.

William and Gudrin caught up with Jason who was walking his bicycle between the rows of people.

“Where's Tolliver?” William asked as they wobbled to a stop. Gudrin clambered off and untied her skirts.

“He's gone ahead,” Jason said. “To announce your
lordship's arrival,” he added with a roll of his eyes.

Now some of the people were falling into step behind them and seemed intent on walking all the way to the castle, although they kept their distance from the bikes. It began to feel like a parade.

“What did you do with the wizard?” they called to William.

“He's gone forever,” William called back.

“And you've brought some strange horses with you this time,” said an old man, eyeing the bikes nervously.

“Sir Simon has sent for you, then,” said a large woman with a baby on her hip.

William gave up trying to answer them all. He just smiled and waved and felt as if he were going to burst apart inside.

And all along the way, he heard them saying, “It's the boy. The boy's come back.”

Jason shot William a look across the top of Gudrin's head. “The boy,” he said. He seemed both impressed and skeptical at the same time.

“Half-boy, half-man.” William was startled by Deegan's words tumbling out of his mouth without any warning. Gudrin, who had drawn closer to him as the people pressed around, gave him a queer and interested look but she said nothing.

“And this is my good friend who has journeyed with me a long distance,” William called as he waved his
hand in Jason's direction. “A brave and noble fellow.”

The crowd cheered and clapped and a flush of color spread slowly over Jason's cheeks.

“Cut it out,” he muttered, but he didn't look as if he meant it.

The castle loomed up above them on its rise. From each tower, brightly colored pennants curled lazily in and out on the passing breezes. Sir Simon was standing with a group of his guards on the wall walk, his hand raised in a salute of welcome. William put up his own right arm and kept it high as they drew closer and the drawbridge was slowly lowered to receive them. They took off their helmets and trundled the bicycles across the thick wooden planks. When Sir Simon appeared before them in the courtyard, William handed his bicycle to Gudrin. The buzz of the crowd faded away into silence as William walked forward into his old friend's outstretched arms. Back at home, he never hugged people. It didn't seem manly. But here with this big bear of a man, a hug seemed the only thing to do. They clapped one another on the back, parted, stared into each other's eyes, and hugged again. They were too choked with emotion to speak, and in the silence, people shuffled their feet and looked at the ground. Somewhere in the back of the crowd, a child cried out, and the sudden sound broke the spell.

“My boy,” Sir Simon said at last. “You have returned.”

“I have,” said William.

“Alastor?”

“In the bottom of the ocean or so Mrs. Phillips reports.”

“Mrs. Phillips?”

“The Lady Elinore to you, my lord,” William teased.

“She is well?” asked Sir Simon.

“From all I hear tell. She lives with her brother now. She sent me the token for my twelfth birthday, so I decided to come back and see you.” Suddenly he remembered Jason. “And I brought a friend. This is Jason, a fellow squire with strong legs and a keen eye.”

“You are welcome, young man,” Sir Simon said, putting on his lordly voice. “Any friend of William's has a place with us.” The people clapped and cheered. Sir Simon raised his hand for silence. “Now, as you all know, I will be leaving tomorrow to make my way to the castle of the Lord of Babbingdale, Sir Edgar of Inglewich, for the great joust. As some of you will recall, your humble lord distinguished himself in the lists one year ago, and it is, of course, incumbent upon him to return and defend the honor of the name of Hargrave and our kingdom. Tonight many of our fellow
knights will be joining us for a feast, and tomorrow morning there will be a celebration in the courtyard before I depart with my entourage. All are welcome.” The people cheered again and then slowly began to disperse as Sir Simon beckoned to the travelers.

The guards pressed forward to greet them, and somewhere in the middle of the confusion, William noticed that Gudrin had slipped away. She came back some time later with her uncle. Dick seemed genuinely glad to see the boys. He smiled and even laughed when Tolliver told him stories of his ride on the handlebars. But William could see a difference in the man. Sadness had dropped over his face like a shade over a window. Gudrin stuck close by his side and was gentle and attentive.

The rest of the day passed in a tumult of greetings and feasting and exploring the castle. William and Jason were shown to the bedchamber next to Sir Simon's by Brian, the head guard.

“That man seemed to know you pretty well,” Jason said.

“Yes. He was in charge of me when I was Alastor's prisoner. We became good friends.”

“It's a lot better than last night,” Jason said as he looked around the tall stone room. “More straw in the mattress—”

“Pallet,” William said. “Mattresses haven't been invented yet.”

“Whatever,” Jason said, standing on his tiptoes to peer through the arrow loop. “I wish the windows weren't so skinny.”

“They're built that way for defense. So we can see out to shoot arrows but the attackers have a hard time hitting us.”

“Hey, teach, give me a break,” Jason said. “Enough of the history lesson.”

William didn't answer.

Jason set about unpacking his panniers. He laid his tools and magazines out in his usual methodical way. “So how long will Sir Simon be away? He sounds as if he wants us to run things around here but we can't stay forever.”

“I guess we'll find out tonight at the feast,” William said.

“The feast?” Jason groaned.

“Just close your eyes, hold your nose, and swallow.”

At the feast, William ate whatever was set in front of him. It all tasted perfectly okay, he decided, as long as he didn't know what it was. The boys were seated on either side of Sir Simon who filled the air with talk of the upcoming tournament and the knights he expected to meet in the lists.

“How long will you be gone?” Jason asked him at a break between courses.

“Three phases of the moon, perhaps a few days more,” Sir Simon said. “That suits you?”

“Oh, yes, sir. Extra training time,” he called to William above the noise.

“Training?” Sir Simon asked.

“On the bicycle. I'm building up my muscles for a long trip I have to take this summer—” Jason stopped.
“Well, this summer on the other side. You know, in our time.”

Sir Simon nodded. “I know. Where the Lady Elinore lives. Tolliver seems quite excited about your bicycle. He says you have agreed to teach him how to ride it.”

“Yes, sir. I could teach you too.”

Sir Simon put his head back and roared with laughter. “I doubt I shall need a steed like yours, young Jason. My horse, Moonlight, and I do quite well together, thank you very much.”

“Are you taking all the guards with you?” William asked.

“No. I shall leave your old friend, Brian, and a number of his trusted legion. And I have ordered extra guards posted at the border.”

“Are you expecting trouble?” Jason asked.

“Heavens no, my dear boy,” said Sir Simon. “But one must always be prepared. My spies have been out in the countryside, making their usual discreet inquiries. They have reported back to me that, except for the odd poacher, there is no danger to speak of.”

“And what's this talk about a skeleton ship?” William asked.

“I see you've been listening to Gudrin,” Sir Simon said. “She is nothing but a young slip of a girl. Like her grandmother, dear Calendar, she puts too much store in portents and visions.”

“And Deegan?”

“Ah, yes, my fool. He has a good heart, you can be sure of that, but one never puts one's trust in a fool.”

“The ship
was
in the harbor,” William persisted.

“It was. But I had it towed out to sea and the current bore it away. With my own eyes, I watched it go.” Sir Simon frowned and lowered his voice. “It would not be wise to talk any more of the ship. The common people are prone to superstitions and gossip spreads through the kingdom like water.” He stood up. “Now come, my boys, it's off to bed with the two of you. I want you up bright and early. I wish you to take part in the celebration tomorrow in some small way.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asked.

Sir Simon smiled and wagged his finger. “So curious, my boy. I like that. But the matter will wait till morning.” He put an arm around each of them and crushed them against his thick body for a brief, painful moment. “I am off tomorrow,” he said. “At long last.”

As usual, Jason fell quickly into a deep sleep. William lay on the straw pallet and stared at the thin strip of moonlit sky through the arrow loop. He pulled the animal fur up to his chin. Even though the spring afternoons were warm, all the cold despair of winter days seemed to seep out of the stone walls of the castle during the night, and he felt it in his bones. The ship
was gone, he told himself. Blown back to sea. Deegan was nothing but a fool and Gudrin a girl with a vivid imagination. Of course, his old friend, Sir Simon, wouldn't go off and leave them if there were any real danger.

The next morning the passageways of the castle swarmed with people preparing for the great departure. William and Jason stumbled from their chamber at the sound of shouting and spent the rest of the morning ducking out of the way. Every so often, they could hear Sir Simon belting out some new command from his bedchamber, and a nervous squire or a harried chambermaid would rush to carry out his wishes. Down in the kitchen, the scullion boys were busy packing provisions for the journey in large rush baskets while the cooks removed steaming loaves of fresh bread from the brick ovens. William slipped in and snatched some dried fruit and meat and a few hunks of bread when nobody was looking.

“I wouldn't mind two fried eggs and a plate of bacon and three pieces of toast with strawberry jam,” Jason said as he gnawed on the dried figs. “These are as tough as my hiking boots and they don't taste much better.”

“Let's go up to the wall walk,” William said. “We'll be out of the way there.”

From above, the courtyard looked like a train station at rush hour, with people scurrying in every direction, shouting at one another, then dropping bundles and hurrying to pick them up again. The clang of metal against metal rose above the tumult of human voices as the blacksmith completed his final repairs on the weapons Sir Simon was to take with him. In one corner of the courtyard, a man had set himself up as the local barber. He was doing a thriving business on the heads of various travelers. One by one, the horses were led up from the stables underneath the barracks into the sunlight of the inner courtyard. The pages groomed the mounts, saddled them, and then hung on them the brightly colored drapes that signified the procession to a tournament. The horses, sensing the excitement in the air, shifted about and stamped their feet.

“They look silly all dressed in skirts like that,” Jason said. “Like a lot of ladies going to a party.”

“See the biggest horse?” William said, pointing.

“The white one giving Tolliver all the trouble?”

“That's right. That's Moonlight, Sir Simon's stallion. It is a great honor for Tolliver to be dressing him. It means that Sir Simon has chosen him as his personal page. Next year, when Sir Simon rides out to a tournament, Tolliver will probably go with him.”

“Lucky,” Jason said quickly. He glanced at William and shrugged. “It'd be fun to try it once.”

Brian marched up to William and saluted him. “If it will please you to accompany me, Sir William. And also your companion. Sir Simon desires your presence in his chamber.”

“Very well, Brian.” They fell into step beside him.

“We are honored by your visit, my lord,” the soldier said.

“Thank you, Brian,” William said. “I am glad you will be staying with us in the castle.”

He grinned. “You and I, we have faced trouble before, have we not?”

“That we have,” said William.

An hour later William and Jason stood behind the wall of the barracks waiting for a signal.

“This is a crazy idea,” Jason said. “A boy on a bicycle dueling with a knight on a horse.” He readjusted his helmet again. It was a little too big so that the visor fell down over his nose when he least expected it. “It's hot in here. My glasses keep fogging up,” he babbled in William's ear. His voice sounded as if it were coming through a long tunnel. “How am I supposed to hold this lance and ride at the same time? And this chain mail shirt is itchy. I'm glad he didn't make me wear the full suit of armor. My poor bike would have been completely squashed under the weight.”

“It's all for show,” William reminded him for the fourth time. “You don't really have to knock the guy off. Sir Simon just wants to make a fool of Sir Morlan who played some trick on him last year. That's why he's making you hide back here. When the trumpets blow, the guy will be expecting a knight in full regalia and all he'll see is a boy on a bike.”

Jason drew himself up. “Yeah, well this boy and this bike are not just your everyday slobs, you know. I'm going to ride circles around the guy.”

William shrugged. Sir Simon hadn't given him anything to do. And what could he do anyway? A tumbling exhibition? With all the fools gathering, there were enough tumblers in the courtyard to hold a meet. No, it was the same old story. Jason was the train jumper and the bicycle knight and he, William, wasn't anything. Fine. So if Jason wanted to be the big hero, let him go ahead and try.