by Gail Merritt
One evening, we were sitting outside the Talarin on an old rusted bench, watching two great horses pulling a traveller’s barge along the opposite riverbank. Ardin was stroking the fox, who purred like a cat and I was feeling happy and contented with my new life in the Palace. Very slowly, I became aware of a tingling in my head, which grew until the pain made my eyes water. The fox became alert. There was a voice, somewhere, calling for help. I stood and Ardin, seeing the colour drain from my face, struggled to his feet beside me. The voice was in pain but was growing clearer as I moved towards the towers. When I reached the great doors, I recognised it.
‘Black Mantle! He’s in danger.’
7.
Fire
I raced towards the Talarin, with Ardin and the fox behind, tripping over grass tussocks and slipping on loose stones. A tight band of fear tightened round my chest and I tried to break it through action before thought, using my powers to open the doors, while sending my thoughts flying about the towers, out towards the Palace, seeking Silver Mantle. As the great slabs of the portal swung wide enough to admit us, I was already trying to locate Black Mantle within the labyrinth of rooms, but the powerful web of secrecy that enveloped the very stones cloaked all but the rooms known to the novices, as if a veil of darkness covered whole levels of rooms and corridors. It was impossible to locate him because Black Mantle’s presence was everywhere in the Talarin.
‘Where is everyone?’ I yelled.
‘In the great hall. Final decorations.’ Black Mantle’s voice was low, harsh, hardly audible.
‘I can’t find you. Where are you? Help me!’
‘The tower above the Listi. Go to the top. Fire.’ His breath was short, and he coughed.
I took Ardin by the arm and pulled him after me towards the tower. Ardin found it hard not to stop and gawk in this strange, unfamiliar place but he followed me up the worn stone steps, two at a time. The smell of smoke grew as we climbed. Our throats filled with it and our legs became heavy with the effort of climbing. I tried calling but there was no reply. Ardin stopped, hands on hips, gulping air. I went on but soon heard his footsteps following. Then we saw the flames.
A pile of broken wooden furniture and tapestries was burning furiously up the face of a door at the end of the corridor. Tapestries along the wall were also alight and flames crept along the wooden floor towards us.
‘We can’t get through that!’ Ardin covered his face with his hands. We were both coughing.
‘Help me to find you, Black Mantle! I could not feel his presence. ‘Help me!’
Ardin tried to shuffle along the edge of the floor but the flames leapt towards him. I closed my eyes. I needed the stillness and in the stillness, I knew what to do. Perhaps Black Mantle told me, perhaps it was Silver Mantle, perhaps the idea came from myself. I have no memory of that. All I do remember is seeing Ardin’s shocked face as I floated past him, through the flames to the door. I held arms out towards the blistering door and it fell, spanning the burning floorboards. I knew Ardin was following behind me as I entered the room.
It was empty. At first we both thought that we were in the wrong room but there was a faint cough. It came from a large cupboard that filled half of the room. The cupboard was locked and Ardin might have kicked it in if I had not used my power before he could reach it.
What we saw frightened both of us. The inside of the cupboard was arranged like small, padded room, with a bed and table. A doll sprawled across the bed as if some child had thrown it there after play. The doll lifted its head, the head of a dwarf and coughed.
‘So,’ it coughed again. ‘Megwin of Brak, we meet face to face.’
I was stunned. Thankfully Ardin drew my attention back to him. The fire was racing back through the open door towards us. He gathered Black Mantle in his arms and we hurried back over the top of the burning door bridge, singeing our clothes as we sped along the corridor, down the steps and into Silver Mantle. Behind her, others went up to douse the fire. She guided us into a small chamber, part of Blue Mantle’s apartments. He was waiting and tenderly took Black Mantle from Ardin, carrying through to what was his own bedroom. Silver Mantle followed him but not until she had caused goblets of cool water to appear for us. I could hear them quenching the flames but it distant, muffled by the stone walls, or perhaps our own stupor. We waited in silence, too stunned to talk, too busy trying to make sense of all we had seen, too grateful for each other’s hands that clasped our own.
‘He will be well,’ Silver Mantle regarded us gravely. I wondered as if I looked as shocked as Ardin did. Although I had grown used to the strangeness of the Mantle world, my imagination had not prepared me for what I had seen in that room. ‘Sometimes fate is very cruel. Black Mantle was born with this terrible curse. He has the mind of a giant, perhaps greater than all the Mantles who have ever lived, an yet he must hide himself away.’
‘So he shuts his body away and lives only with his mind?’ Ardin nodded to himself.
‘That’s terrible,’ I stammered, ‘no one would laugh if they knew him.’
‘Think Megwin!’ She took my hand. ‘Think about the night you came to the Talarin. Would you have respected a dwarf with a tiny squeak for a voice as mush as you respected the powerful, invisible being who knew your thoughts before you did?’ Of course she was right. I regarded my hands. Black Mantle’s mystery was part of his power. Without it he would not command the same respect from the novices. Yet I respected him.
‘That is because you have come to know me better than most and you have a generous heart.’ He limped towards me with Blue Mantle in his wake, like a stern watchdog demanding that he rest. ‘My appearance shocked even you, but you do not see me as just a deformed freak. I was wrong about you child. For two hundred years I have waited up late for the novices to arrive and you are the only one to wish me a good night.’ He took my hand and squeezed it. Then Blue Mantle took command and insisted that he rest.
Silver Mantle turned to Ardin. ‘I must beg Your Highness never to speak about what you have witnessed today. It must remain our secret.’
‘You have my word.’ I thought the Prince looked very noble at that moment despite the soot that covered his face and his scorched breeches. Later when we had returned to the Palace, Silver Mantle took me aside.
‘This is the beginning.’
‘Of what?’
‘The fire was lit deliberately. Someone wanted to kill Black Mantle.’
‘That is frightening.’
Her voice became harsh. ‘No, what is frightening is that they knew where to find him.’
8.
Silver in Waiting
The celebrations began before dawn. Guests had been arriving for many days and, in the grey light, a stream of visitors, silk-clad and homespun, continued to pass into Vellin, some to seek scarce lodgings, others to impose themselves on distant relatives or friends, others to take up positions on the route of the procession or on the banks of the Listi. In the Palace, servants scattered in all directions, delivering breakfast trays or neatly laundered robes, Others crowded the stables, frantically brushing tails and manes, polishing everything they could lay hands on. The stable cat was even scrubbed and the resident rats made jokes at his expense.
There was a calmer air in Silver Mantle’s apartments. We breakfasted together, discussing the programme for the day. She had not mentioned the attempt on Black Mantle’s life but I knew that it weighed heavily on her and she feared that her powers might not be strong enough or alert enough to detect danger that may threaten the King or the prince. Later, as I was being dressed for the procession, I went over the route in my head, trying to predict any possible place that could conceal an assassin or where some preventable accident might happen. By the time I reached the main avenue of Vellin in my mind, I already had an impossibly long list of likely events. I looked at myself in the mirror, the Lady Megwin of Brak, with roses in her hair and a dress that fell to the floor in soft yellow folds. I giggled and maids giggled with me.<
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‘Megwin! How charming you look.’ King Llewid bowed slightly when we met in the great hall. The room was cleared of tables and it seemed to me that every person in the Five Kingdoms was present in that place. I was flattered to find Llewid content to stay and hold a conversation with me rather than be steered by his Minister to exchange pleasantries with the eligible daughters of influential courtiers and kings. We talked about unimportant things but I felt many eyes were watching us enviously. After all, he was the only unmarried King in the Five Kingdoms and quite the most handsome. I was even more delighted to find my seat on the royal barge was directly behind his,
‘That’s excellent!’ he bent his head to mine, ‘we shall be able to chatter to each other if the programme becomes tedious.’ I think I may have even blushed a little.
The procession through the streets began in the afternoon. At the head of it, Ardin rode his favourite horse, Gavalan. Poor creature. Although he adored his master, he had appealed to me for help. He hated the heavy saddle and all the trappings that he was expected to bear. I persuaded Ardin to reduce the amount of gold and silver adornments and to make certain that the grooms unsaddled the horse as soon as his work was done.
Behind Ardin, the King and other royal visitors rode in beautiful carriages. Among them were the Souran, clad in their sumptuous robes, decked with jewels and gold filigree. Black Mantle was not with them, he was with me. Together we moved among the crowds, keeping watch over the Prince. I wore a simple cloak to hide my beautiful dress and carried a large pouch over my shoulders, such as many women wear to carry their children. No took notice of what my ‘child’ looked like. We made our way towards the River Listi as the hundreds of decorated carts and wagons passed by. The people cheered and laughed at jugglers and fire-eaters, clowns and acrobats, stilt-walkers and musicians. I cast my thoughts across them all but found no one wishing harm to Prince Ardin.
By the time we reached the river, the barges were filling with invited guests and I had to leave Black Mantle in the care of Blue Mantle in order to join the royal barge.
‘There you are!’ Llewid cried. ‘Where have you been hiding? I was looking for you during the procession.’ He was about to launch into a description of what I had missed when the Master of Ceremonies asked everyone to take their seats. He kissed my hand as we parted and I caught Silver Mantle scowling at me.
The music and entertainment began, air pipers from the north, dancers from the Northern Meeds and so it went on. I had a good view of Ardin from my seat and he was having a wonderful time, surrounded by pretty girls and sharing jokes with his friends. He did catch my eye once and smile.
As the sun set, torches were lit and the merriment continued. On the Royal barge, the seats were rearranged to enable people to mingle and I found myself talking to a young nobleman from Gaheil. His father, like my own, was a Lord of the Gathering, descendants of ancient manor lords, summoned in times past to assemble armies and even elect their kings. He was telling me amusing stories about how the farmers of Gaheil frightened strangers with their about monsters from the caves, I was enjoying his explanation for such phenomena when my skin suddenly grew icy.
There was hate. Its smell stained the air. It crept along my limbs like a vine. It wrapped chains about my ribcage. I looked for Ardin. He was cheerfully enjoying himself with a group of young courtiers. I had to seek out the source of this hidden fury. Silver Mantle had felt something too. She was moving towards me when someone spoke to her. I was sure she would speak to me in my mind but I could sense only the hate, closer this time, coming through the crowd of faces. Everyone was animated, smiling, intent on enjoying the evening. I felt their emotions too. My mind bounced quickly between Silver Mantle, the King and Ardin but they were all occupied with other, pleasant thoughts. The hate was now so close I felt as if I would choke. I backed and almost fell off the barge.
‘Careful, I don’t want to have to dive in and save you.’ It was Llewid gripping my arms. I gasped. Llewid? No, surely not Llewid. He was charming, grinning pleasantly, drawing me back towards the group where Ardin was telling a joke. I could no longer hear what Llewid was saying. His words were lost in the screeching anger of the hate. I tried to follow Ardin’s story but all I heard was fury. Silver Mantle was lost in the crowd and I was still uncertain that Llewid was the source of the malevolent thoughts, but there was a steeliness about him that I had not felt before. Servants circulated with tasty savouries and large bowls of confectionery. Guests dipped their fingers into the bowl, delighting at what they uncovered. Everyone gathered to take their turn. Ardin politely allowed Llewid to dip first, then received the bowl himself.
The hate became a living thing. I could hear it think. It was small, angry and it was going to kill. Ardin dropped his hand towards the bowl but I thrust my hand in there before him. There was pain. I withdrew my hand and opened it. A large spider glared angrily at me. It swore at me for keeping it a prisoner, in the venomous way that spiders have when angered. I had to use all my strength and power to show the spider that it was wrong. I was not its jailer. It believed me and apologised, but the damage was already done. My legs were shaking and by the time Silver Mantle reached me, I could no longer see colour, or feel anything but the venom coursing its way through my body. I stammered, ‘Spider, poison, she’s sorry… will help. Meant to kill Ardin…Llewid.’
I hoped that she understood what was saying. My lips were numb and I remember sinking into her arms before the blackness flooded into my mind and the world disappeared.
I dreamed. It was a strange realm that I imagined, populated by huge spiders with the face of Llewid, King of Dereculd. He was mocking me, touching my cheek, promising me a new life. Then he took my arm and I knew I was going somewhere with him, yet I watched myself go. I called after myself but that other self just look back and beamed at me. I was crying. I felt drawn apart. Then I heard Black Mantle’s voice. ‘The treatment appears to be working. She is stirring.’ I saw his blurred face.
‘Gently old friend. Let her recover slowly,’ said another voice that I did not recognise.
‘Megwin?’ Silver Mantle’s face swam hazily before me. I blinked and she grew a little clearer, her expression concerned.
‘Welcome back!’ The unfamiliar voice had a face, the sort of face that knew contentment and relished merriment, a ruddy, bright-blue-eyed face that had spent a lot of hours in the wind and rain, weather worn but quick to smile. ‘We were worried about you. If it had not been for your friend the spider, you would surely be dead. She gave her venom so that I could make an antidote.’
I struggled to sit up. The spider was sitting on the windowsill. I thanked her and she immediately launched into apologies. The poor creature had starved, sitting at my bedside and Black Mantle urged her to seek food.
‘When you fainted the little spider ran up my gown to inform me of what had happened. We hurried to get you back to the Talarin. Prince Ardin left his own party to carry you there and would only return to his guests when I assured him that you would recover. Alas,’ Silver Mantle shuddered, ‘at the moment I lied. No one knew how the spider had found its way into the bowl but one this is certain, you saved the Prince’s life.’
‘How long have I been here? Has the party finished?’
‘Gracious child,’ Black Mantle tutted, ‘that was four days ago. The guests have nearly all left and the Prince has been sleeping in the novices quarters. He would not move until he knew you were well.’
I looked to the stranger. ‘It was fortunate that you were among the guests sir.’
The old man’s face creased in a grin. ‘I was an invited guest but I had not planned to attend. I arrived two days ago. Fortunately, you decided to stay alive until we could meet.’
I was confused and looked to Silver Mantle for explanation. She took hold of the old man’s cloak, on the chair beside the bed. ‘You, of all people should know him. Think. Who else would he be?’
My heart thumped. It was a meeting that I had long s
ince anticipated with a feeling of excitement and dread, for his powers were well known throughout the Five Kingdoms and since the day I spoke with the fox, I knew that he alone shared the realms of living things as I did. I looked into his eyes and spoke softly to his mind. ‘You are Green Mantle.’
9.
Departures
‘I am indeed Green Mantle,and I have been wanting to meet you for a long time. My friends in the laneways all speak about you, horses or snails, they all have a tale to tell. If half of it is true, then it is high time we met.’
