Harrowing Hats

by Joyce; Jim Lavene

  There were two security guards outside the Dungeon along with my brother, Tony, and one other man I recognized from Robin’s pack in Sherwood Forest. The five of them stood outside talking quietly as the gray morning light crept up on the Village.

  “Hey, Jessie,” Tony said even though I was still inside the open doorway, trying to be inconspicuous.

  I’d forgotten how good he was at knowing I was there without seeing me. Chalk it up to twin magic. I had a similar talent—I was always able to tell when he needed money.

  “How long have you been there?” Chase asked me.

  “Not as long as you. What’s up?”

  One of the security men laughed. “I’d say about twenty of the Merry Men.”

  Twenty-five

  He wasn’t kidding. The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest—including Robin Hood—were scattered through the forest, hanging from trees like trussed-up turkeys. They were carefully bound and gagged, gazing at us in anger and frustration when we saw them.

  The security men laughed until Chase finally said, “Okay. I think we’ve all had our fun with this. Each of you take a tree. Make sure there aren’t any visitors tied up. If there are, bring them to me. Don’t just let them leave. I don’t want to see anyone’s personal experience hanging from a tree in Renaissance Village on the Internet.”

  I had a little pocketknife with me that I’d recently started carrying in the pouch on my side. It had already come in handy a few times. I went to help Robin first, recalling his words from last night. I don’t think this was what he had in mind.

  As soon as I cut his gag, a steady stream of oaths followed, all aimed at the Templars. “We didn’t do anything,” Robin swore to Chase while I cut him down. “Those guys need to be reined in.”

  I knew he was lying—I knew something was up last night. It just didn’t work out the way he’d planned. When I saw the look on Tony’s face—let’s call it his lie-to-Jessie face—I knew I was right.

  Chase knew, too. “Don’t bother denying that you planned to teach the knights a lesson. I live here, too. If you want to keep something secret, you shouldn’t tell everyone in the Village about it beforehand.”

  Robin glared at me.

  “I didn’t say anything,” I defended. “But I suppose you told other people, too.”

  He started to deny it but tried another tack. “We have our pride! We were here first.”

  “This isn’t just your forest anymore,” Chase told him. “We’ve talked about this before. Stealing from or otherwise tampering with the Templars isn’t a good idea. Play your games with someone else.”

  “Never mind that,” Alex, Robin’s second in command, yelled as he was released. “Why do you always take their part, Chase? These guys are marauders. They need to be stopped. Since when can’t groups have fun together?”

  “Your idea of fun is different than theirs,” Chase said. “What was your plan, Alex? You thought you could sneak into their encampment and take it from there?”

  “These were our trees first.” Robin pushed on the tree that had recently been his home. “The Templars have been taking over everything. Ask any resident—”

  “Except the women,” Tony added. “Don’t ask the women.”

  But Chase was done hearing their excuses. “I’m not your father,” he told them. “I don’t favor either of you. I’m here to keep the peace. That’s all.”

  “At our expense!” Alex shouted.

  “Get some sleep, all of you,” Chase advised. “Leave the Templars alone.”

  “Are you sure this is what Adventure Land wants?” I asked as Chase and I left the forest. The security men were still cutting Robin’s guys down from the trees.

  “I don’t know right now, Jessie.”

  “How about some coffee? We can talk over breakfast.”

  “I have a hundred things to do before breakfast,” he said with an edge to his voice. “I’ll pass for now. See you later.”

  I’d never seen Chase so stressed. Not even when the elephants and camels had gotten loose at the same time. Not even when his lance broke during the joust and the Black Knight kept coming after him. I knew it was time for me to get involved.

  I got two coffees and two extra-large cinnamon rolls from the Monastery Bakery. It was still early, no visitors yet. The Village was waking up around me with chickens clucking and roosters crowing. The maintenance guys were cleaning out the privies, and the street sweepers were washing down the cobblestones. I watched as the new Green Man practiced his routine on stilts and the men who owned the Three Pigs Barbecue unloaded what looked like hundreds of pounds of coleslaw. Did people really eat that much coleslaw in a day?

  The pirates were up early (probably still doing ship repairs), barking out commands that drifted out over the lake in pirate-speak.

  I waved to Ginny Stewart, a tough, white-haired woman who owned the Lady of the Lake Tavern. She was sweeping out the courtyard beneath the Hanging Tree. She kind of waved her broom at me and kept going.

  I finally reached Merlin’s Apothecary on the far side of the castle. He didn’t know it yet, but he and I were going to have a little talk about what was really going on out here with the Templars—and with Chase.

  Merlin was dusting his motley, stuffed moose head, affectionately known as Horace, when I entered his shop. Everything in the apothecary needed a good cleaning. There were years of dust and cobwebs on the colored bottles and the jars that held Merlin’s magic potions.

  Apparently the place looked exactly like visitors thought it should, though, because they spent hours there and loved to have their pictures taken with the moose and the wizard.

  “Ah! Lady Jessie! It’s very good to see you this morning!” Merlin greeted me from the ladder. “I see you have two cups of coffee. To my knowledge—which is as vast as the ocean—the bailiff is not about this place. That can only mean you’ve brought me breakfast.”

  “That’s right. I have a fresh cinnamon roll for you, too. Would you like to eat in the courtyard? The minstrels are rehearsing next door. It should be a wonderful place to talk.”

  “I see. This gift of breakfast comes with a price.”

  “Nothing is free, wizard. You of all people should know this.”

  He didn’t move from the ladder, instead looking like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to come down at all. “Mayhap I will forego breakfast, my lady. A thousand pardons. The shop needs cleaning, as you can see. Perhaps another time.”

  “Perhaps not.” I wasn’t taking no for an answer. Maybe I couldn’t bully Chase, but I could handle Merlin. “Get down here and eat this food or I’m telling everyone who you really are.”

  He tipped his pointy, purple hat with gold stars to one side of his graying head. “I don’t believe this would make any difference to the everyday workings of the Village. Tell away.”

  “If everyone knew you ran Adventure Land, there would be a line waiting all the way to the Village Square with residents who have complaints. Perhaps you have never seen how angry they are every Thursday morning as they wait to complain to the bailiff.”

  “The next time I see Sir Bailiff,” Merlin whined, “I shall complain as well. He was not supposed to share his information about me with everyone.”

  “Lucky for you, he didn’t. I’m the only one who knows.”

  He mumbled and complained all the way down the ladder, but the important part was that he ended up sitting with me at one of the tables in the courtyard. The morning was pleasantly cool after the rain the night before. The music from the practicing minstrels was sweet. The coffee was still hot—and I was determined to get my answers.

  “What do you want, Lady Jessie?” he asked when we were seated and enjoying our cinnamon rolls.

  “I want to know why you aren’t doing anything about the Templars terrorizing the Village. That’s for starters.”

  “What would you have me do? The visitors like the Templars. We’ve seen a three and a half percent growth in ticket sales since they set
up camp. You can’t argue with the numbers. They make shareholders happy. In turn, that makes me happy.”

  “They hung Robin and his men up in trees last night. They interrupt other residents trying to do their jobs.”

  He shrugged. “Robin Hood steals toaster ovens. I don’t see any difference except that he and the Merry Men aren’t bringing in any new business. We have to continue to grow, Lady Jessie. I’m a very old man and there are two things in life I still enjoy. One of them is being with pretty, young women and the other is living here as a wizard. The only thing that could keep me from enjoying my final years on this earth is bad ticket sales.”

  “What about Chase? How does he figure into this?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You have him sneaking out at all times of the day and night. He’s not doing what he’s supposed to be doing. I know he’s working for the Village somehow outside his duties as bailiff. What’s going on?”

  Merlin sipped his coffee and smiled at me. “Methinks this may be a personal matter, my lady. What does a beautiful young woman such as yourself do when her man strays?”

  “Don’t give me that crap! What’s his special assignment?” He wasn’t messing with my mind—at least not this morning.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  There was an off-key lute player on the stage next door. We winced at the sound and the music stopped as the rest of the musicians waited for him to tune his instrument.

  Unfortunately, I’d already used my only threat against Merlin. I didn’t know what else to say. I knew he was lying, but I didn’t know how to make him tell me the truth.

  “A pleasant repast, my lady,” he finally said as the music began again, this time in tune. “I hope you have the answers you require. I must take my leave now. I have matters to attend to in my apothecary before the opening of the Village.”

  “Fine. Don’t tell me. But I’m warning you, wizard, you’re going to lose Chase Manhattan as your bailiff if something doesn’t change. I’ve known him for a long time and I’ve never seen him this way. I know you know he doesn’t have to be here. He could be gone in a puff of your magic smoke.”

  He seemed to consider my words. I wasn’t sure at first if it would matter. I knew it did when he sat back down. “If you tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, I’ll deny it.”

  “Not that it really matters, but fine. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “One of the big shareholders in Adventure Land came up with, and financed, the idea for the Templar Knights encampment. It seems to be a good idea—except that he insisted his son be one of the knights. The boy is a little hotheaded and high strung. There were problems right away.”

  “And?”

  “We decided to give the riders a leader. Someone strong and capable they could look up to. They aren’t bad boys, you know. They just need a firm hand on the reins, so to speak.”

  “The big knight.” I nodded. “I’ve met him.”

  Merlin laughed. “Of course you have, silly girl. You live with him.”

  Suddenly I totally understood everything. “You’re making Chase do double duty as the leader of the Templars and the bailiff! No wonder he keeps disappearing.” And many other aspects that I didn’t plan to relate to Merlin. “It has to stop. Detective Almond said Chase doesn’t show up for meetings. I thought he might kill Robin Hood this morning. You have to find someone else.”

  “Don’t you think we’ve tried? Chase is a natural leader. The knights, including our young stockholder’s son, look up to him. He keeps them in check.”

  “Or he could if that was his only job,” I argued. “You can’t have it both ways. Either Chase stays on as bailiff or he leads the Templars. I bet you aren’t even paying him extra.” I got up from the table and gathered the trash from breakfast. “This isn’t going to go any further. But find another person to lead the Templars or I’ll convince Chase to leave the Village forever.”

  With my final warning ringing in the cool morning air, I left Merlin with the breeze whipping at his purple robe. I heard one of the tavern wenches from Baron’s Beer and Brats swear at him as his robe flew a little too high, and I didn’t look back.

  Twenty-six

  I was so angry that Chase was being used by Adventure Land. No wonder he was so moody and not himself. After all he’d done for them, I couldn’t believe they’d treat him this way.

  I stopped and considered that Chase had agreed to take on this double duty. It was true that his personality lent itself to helping others. But I had to wonder why he hadn’t told me the truth. I knew now that he was close when he said they’d made him do it and that it was hush-hush. Now that I knew the truth, it made me uneasy.

  I’d told Merlin that Chase would quit working at the Village, but that probably wasn’t an option. I wouldn’t be happy about that for me or for Chase. There had to be a way to reconcile this problem with the stockholder’s son. I just had to figure out what it was.

  After looking everywhere for Chase to tell him that I knew what was going on, I finally saw the Templars practicing at the Field of Honor. It was still early, so there was no show for the visitors and only a handful of residents watching from the closed gates.

  The Templars had doffed their heavy chain mail for loose black kaftans and pants. Their faces were still covered, but I knew that the leader, the biggest rider, was Chase.

  It made me smile to think about him flirting with me, letting me think he was someone else. And was I ever glad I’d told his alter-ego that I was committed to my man, who ended up being the same person. You never know when you’re going to say exactly the right thing. Too often, it’s the other way.

  I realized at that moment that I couldn’t say anything to Chase about his role with the Templars. He obviously didn’t want me to know—for whatever reason. I decided to honor that, at least until he was ready to tell me the truth.

  That didn’t mean I had to give up trying to help him with the knights. Robin had been too boastful of his plan for retribution. The knights (especially the problem stockholder’s son) needed to be taken down. They needed to see that the Village was more important than any single attraction. I had a plan forming that would be better worked without Chase’s knowledge—at least I hoped so.

  Chase was hard on the other knights. They practiced every drill and horse maneuver I’d ever seen. Horses and riders became one on the field. No wonder they’d beaten the Queen’s Knights. They were great riders with huge egos. I hoped there was a way to teach them a lesson without hurting Chase.

  The group of riders circled the field then met in the middle, clanging their shields together, kind of like fist-pounding, to show their solidarity as a team. Only one rider didn’t do his part with the others. He stayed back from the group, and when they started to depart the field, he attacked Chase from behind.

  I gripped the fence post until the wood threatened to go through my skin. This wasn’t good theater, as some of the residents around me thought. This was malicious, an attempt to take power by embarrassing and possibly injuring the leader—Chase.

  But years working in the jousts as both the good knights and the bad made Chase ready for a sneak attack. It happens all the time during performances. The lance coming at him from behind was deflected by his shield. Chase pivoted in the saddle and pushed hard, knocking the lance from the other rider’s hand.

  I wasn’t sure what he’d do next. It was Chase—I thought he might continue riding out of the field. I was surprised when he lifted his lance and rode back to take on his opponent. The other knights formed a corridor around him and the contender but didn’t interfere.

  Without a lance, the rider could only wait until Chase hit him. He successfully moved his horse to one side and deflected most of the blow with his shield. But he dropped his defense and the shield clattered to the ground.

  “These guys play for keeps,” Hans Von Rupp, the blacksmith, said in an admiring way. “I like to see them rough, you know?�
��

  I didn’t—couldn’t—talk to him. Chase was riding down on the other man with his lance at the ready. The rider came back at him with a long sword that looked disturbingly real. I wanted to run out there and remind them that this wasn’t really the Renaissance. We were here to entertain, not fight for our honor or egos. But I stayed where I was. I wasn’t sure the other riders would let me in, and I had a healthy fear of getting underfoot when two riders were fighting.

  The long sword hit Chase’s shield, but the lance pushed the rider from the saddle. He fell heavily on the ground while his horse moved away from the attack.

  The man on the ground didn’t move. Chase turned his horse at the end of the corridor of knights and rode back to finish the job, at least that’s what it looked like.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Daisy Reynolds from Swords and Such asked. “It’s over. Somebody needs to tell them to stop. What’s wrong with these guys anyway?”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Bart volunteered. But the heavy chain and padlock on the gate kept him from honoring that vow. It would take a key or bolt cutters to get through in time to stop the fight.

  Or you could be stupid and small enough to climb between the rails and run into the enclosure with your arms up—screaming at them to stop. “Hey!” I screamed, standing beside the man on the ground. “Honor is satisfied. You guys need to go home and cool off. No death by joust today or the bailiff will have your heads in the stocks tomorrow!”

  Yes. I was that fool. I was the only one who could get between the rails fast enough from the group watching. Not to mention that I had a vested interest in making sure Chase didn’t kill anyone—no matter how much they deserved it.

  The rider brought the horse to a dead stop right next to me. The hot air coming from the horse’s nostrils tickled the side of my head. I didn’t move—didn’t breathe. I was totally conscious of how close that huge beast was to me.