“This is as far as we dare go,” said the dryads together, even as Una nearly stopped herself from colliding with their still forms. They had stopped rather abruptly.
“This?” said Una, looking around. She could see nothing, but she was relatively sure there were fewer trees here, judging by the more spaced out buzz of insects surrounding them.
“There is a cave ahead. You will wait there until morning,” said the dryads. “The man who is to help you will arrive by then. After that, just follow the path and it will lead you to the City of Pride.”
Una couldn’t see a path, but she trusted it was there. In fact, she could almost make out a faint light in a line above. The canopy would be less dense by a path, even though she could barely make anything out. The moon must be out tonight, and a big one to allow her to see anything in this forest.
“I don’t suppose you could stay and…”
But the dryads were already gone, melting into the night like the mystical creatures they were.
Una sighed. She didn’t like this. Once again she was alone in complete darkness, and she had a feeling a fire would only attract the worst things. She moved ahead, eventually finding the cave the dryads spoke of, and sat along its wall in complete darkness.
Yet sleep did not come. She wasn’t sure if it was the prospect of rescuing George, or the thought of her elusive “help” that was supposed to arrive by morning, or the thought of more caterpillars crawling all over her.
“Hang it all,” she said after nearly two hours of trying to fall asleep. She rose to her feet. Perhaps a fire would attract unwanted critters, or even some of these servants of Duessa, but she needed some light and warmth.
She gathered what branches she could find and set to work using George’s flint and steel that she still had on her person. Something about it comforted her, especially once the fire turned from some tiny embers and a lot of smoke, to something more substantial.
Soon she had a healthy fire going, and she huddled close to it, making sure to leave one stick partially embedded and close at hand, so she could reach for it if something or someone were to attack. Fires were great at warding off some pests and predators, but it did the opposite to others, particularly those with intelligence. She did not want to run into any of those tonight. But it was worth the risk. And the cave would hide the flames from all but the closest of potential predators.
The downside of a fire is it both made her long for sleep, yet simultaneously created a need for her to stay awake should anyone come.
But staring into the flames and feeling the warmth rush over her and the soft crackle of the wood numb her ears, it wasn’t long before she was dozing off against the cave wall.
A sharp crack woke her, abruptly. At first, she thought it was part of the wood bursting in the fire. But no, the fire had died considerably, and it was beginning to get lighter outside. The sun must have come out by now, though under the canopy it was still dark as pitch. It felt like she had only slept for a minute, yet apparently a lot of time had passed.
She wrapped one hand around her stick and pulled it from the burning embers. The tip was still hot and ashen. She held it forward, making her way out of the cave. The crack came again, this time unmistakably the sound of a boot snapping a twig.
She held the fire-tipped branch forward. “Who’s there?” she said. If it was an animal, chances were the sound of her voice would scare it off. Or maybe it was this person sent to help her extract George from the castle. She hoped it was one or the other. Otherwise, she had just given herself away to an enemy.
“Hello,” said a clear voice, young and masculine, devoid of roughness or pain that came with age. Just the mere sound sent a thrill up her spine. There was something hopeful in that voice. Yet she couldn’t make out its source. Whoever it was lay on the other side of a clump of trees.
“Hello?” she echoed. “I’m over here.”
“I’m coming,” said the voice, and Una waited to see who it was. This had to be the one the Faerie Queen had sent. His voice held too much heroism to not be such a person. Yet she stayed on her guard until a figure emerged from behind the trees onto the path where she stood.
He was a young man, about her age, wearing loose and comfortable clothing, with no armor that she could see. Though on his belt hung a scabbard with what appeared to be an incredible sword. She could only see the hilt; it gleamed in what little light they had, a clear gold and the pommel carved like the head of a dragon. There was something familiar about it.
She looked at the young man’s face, and her eyes widened as she recognized him. Three years had passed, but she would never forget that face, framed by perfect golden hair.
“Hello,” he said, putting forth a hand. “My name is Arthur Pendragon.”
24
No, no this could not be happening. Arthur Pendragon was the help she would receive? Had the Faerie Queen known what this man, this boy, had done to her all those years ago? She couldn’t have. She would not have put them together had she known.
“Arthur,” she repeated, her voice low.
“Yes,” he said as he approached, a smile still on his face. “You match the description that little fellow gave me. I’m supposed to meet you here and save some knight from great torment.” He put his hands on his hips like he was some great adventurer from the stories.
“You...you don’t recognize me, do you,” said Una slowly. She could hardly believe it was him. This was the man responsible for her imprisonment.
Arthur Pendragon drew closer, squinting his eyes to get a better look at her. “I can’t say that I’ve…” he trailed off. He peered closer, then his eyes widened and he took a step back. “You were there that day,” he pointed at her. “You...Una right?”
He only barely remembered her name. After everything.
Una re-entered the cave, kicked out the fire and grabbed her things, slinging her pouches of food and canteens over her shoulder before leaving. She didn’t say another word to Arthur.
“Wait, I’m here to help,” he said, pulling up closer to her.
“Oh, now you want to help,” said Una, keeping her eyes fixed in the direction of the path.
“Look, I know you’re probably angry at me for what happened all those years ago.”
“Angry?” she whirled on him incredulously. “Angry? I was imprisoned for three years!”
A grimace spread over his face. “I...I’m really sorry for that.”
Unbelievable. He was sorry? Well she would show him sorry. “I can’t believe this is what the Faerie Queen had in mind,” she said out loud. “If I had known it was you…”
“Ah, so you were sent by her. Perhaps you could tell me what our mission is.”
“You’re not coming with me anywhere. But I’m going to save the Red Cross knight from the City of Pride, whatever that is. Gloriana didn’t mention that to you?”
“She didn’t mention anything at all, she just sent Tom Thumb. And all he said was that I would help save a knight from torment. He said you would explain the rest.”
She wanted to spit, to run as fast as she could. If this was what the Faerie Queen had planned all along, she would have some very choice words to say to her the next time she appeared. She set off down the trail that supposedly led to the City of Pride.
“Look, perhaps we should talk things through,” said Arthur, following her. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Gloriana put us together.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters. Gloriana doesn’t make these decisions on a whim. You’ll need me or she wouldn’t have sent me. Besides. I’m the best fighter in all of England.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, with no perceived pride or anything.
“I can manage.”
“I respect that, and I’m sure you’ll do fine,” said Arthur, still following her. “But will it hurt to have help?”
Una stopped walking and pressed her lips together, hard. The rational part of he
r brain was in serious conflict with her emotions right then. Every inch of her wanted to keep walking, to get away from this man who had taken three years of her life away.
But instead she turned and faced Arthur. “Fine,” she said in a low and dangerous voice. “Let’s talk. First, let me explain what happened over the last three years. You got that little toy there,” she pointed at his sword, “and suddenly everyone worships you. You could have used that, used it to, oh I don’t know, set a little girl free who had been locked up for witchcraft.”
To her surprise, his face fell, and he bowed his head as if in remorse. “I truly am sorry for that. I was wrong to leave you.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“We were, I suppose,” he said, “though we hardly had time to get to know each other.”
“And you think that’s an excuse?” She took a menacing step towards the young man.
“Of course not,” he said, putting his hands out defensively. “We were friends, and it didn’t matter for how long. I should have ordered them to let you go. I was scared, and I fled, but that’s on me. I have no excuses.”
“No, you certainly do not,” Una said, folding her arms beneath her breasts. She let that hang in the air a bit before adding. “So you’re serving the Faerie Queen now?”
“Gloriana and I...have an understanding,” he said, hesitantly. “She’s long wanted me to join her knights, but that is not what I want...what I need to do.”
“So you refuse Gloriana as well,” said Una, her arms still folded. “I suppose it makes sense you would run from responsibility again.”
“Hey, I don’t run,” Arthur protested. “Gloriana’s cause is just, so I help where I can. I’ve slain my fair share of monsters in these woods, and elsewhere throughout England. But I cannot devote myself to such a...singular pursuit.”
“Like being king?” Una prodded.
Arthur gave her a frustrated look. “You wouldn’t act so skeptical if you had known all I’ve done to help.”
Una shook her head. “I’m not one to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do with your life. That’s yours. But you could have done something about me. Three years, Arthur. Yet you never came back.”
“I couldn’t,” he said hastily. “If I went back to Londinium, half of the people there would try to force a crown on me, and the other half would try to cut my head off entirely. Why do you think I left when I did?”
“You could have dealt with the dissenters,” Una said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Everyone knew only the true king could pull that sword out of the stone. I see you’ve kept it all these years. Not willing to let that part of your destiny go?”
“I’m not fond of the responsibility it gives me,” Arthur admitted. “But as much as it plagues me, it would be a disaster should it fall into someone else’s hands. But that ultimately doesn’t matter here. I am sorry I left you in Londinium, I truly am. And if I were to do it over again, I would rescue you in a heartbeat. But I made a mistake, and I know that. Now’s our chance to learn from that experience and make it right.”
Una tried to think of another retort, but words failed her. She needed to be angry at Arthur, to keep telling him how much pain he had caused. Yet his free admittance that he had done something wrong caught her off guard. All the times she had imagined this confrontation in her mind before, she hadn’t expected such humility. She closed her eyes and sighed.
“I don’t think I will ever fully forgive you,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “But there is a knight who needs rescuing and getting him out will require a lot more than what you could have done to free me. Help me do that, and maybe I can at least put the past behind me.”
Arthur considered her, then gave a curt nod. “I can agree to that. I suggest we proceed, then.”
She filled him in while they traveled down the ever-darkening path, passing no one on either side. He asked the occasional, clarifying question, but for the most part he stayed silent, listening to everything Una knew, everything the Faerie Queen had told her. She also told him of her travels with George, including their fight with the great serpent. He listened to every word with careful attention. But she did not tell him of her magic, or the lion.
“And you say little Tom told you the castle would be emptied?” he asked.
“Not empty, exactly,” Una clarified. “He implied there were many of Duessa’s servants in the castle, and that many of them had recently left.”
“Yes, I dispatched two of them before I found you. It’s lucky the dryads were protecting you or they might have seen your fire.”
Una looked at him. “The dryads left after they guided me to the path. They weren’t protecting me.”
“Oh yes they were,” he said. “Two of them were inhabiting the trees in that area. It’s fine that you didn’t see them. It takes a trained eye.”
Una scowled. Leave it to Arthur to brag about his superior ‘trained eyes.’
She was about to retort when Arthur added, “I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen more of them since we started. I would expect anyone coming from that castle to come by the main path here.”
As if he had jinxed the situation, they both heard the sound of voices ahead at the same moment. Una ducked, and Arthur immediately moved to one side of the trail, motioning Una to join him.
She moved alongside the man who would or at least was supposed to be king, and together they waited behind a tree and some bushes as the voices grew louder.
They weren’t voices exactly. At least, they weren’t speaking words that Una recognized. Instead, the creatures that came down the road made something more like animal sounds mixed with some kind of language. Una bowed her head low but kept the path in eyeshot enough to catch a glimpse.
The sight that met her eyes nearly caused her insides to spill out her mouth. There were three of them, two were human in shape but one had a face that looked like it was turned inside out, and the other had great golden spikes where his eyes should have been. The third was a dog, but one with three heads.
The three reached the place where Arthur and Una had been just moments before. The dog put all three of its heads down and sniffed the ground. Una froze, as did Arthur beside her. He put one hand on the hilt of his sword, waiting.
Should she use her magic? She was reasonably sure that she could do it, send them on their way before they could discover Una and Arthur’s hiding place. The power within her writhed, begging for a release. She felt it clawing for control, pleading with her to be let loose, to take those filthy creatures and tear them in half, to…
Una fought down her urges. Wherever those thoughts came from, they were not hers, and she did not like it.
The three-headed dog sniffed again, but subsequently appeared to lose interest. It kept going, and the other two followed in its wake.
Una and Arthur waited patiently for at least a quarter hour before either felt safe enough to come out.
“We were lucky there,” said Arthur. “That dog could have spotted us.”
“Yeah,” said Una, absently. She said nothing about her latest urge to use her magic.
They continued on for some time, and all the while the forest seemed to grow darker and darker, even though it must have been around midday by then. Something about the air felt gloomy, like waking from a bad dream. This City of Pride certainly didn’t herald anything good.
It took at least another hour before she began to realize that, though the darkness stayed more or less the same, there were fewer trees here. All light came in as if through a thick, gray fog. There was no longer a canopy preventing the sunlight, yet little came through.
“We’re in the desolation now, where little plant life can grow,” said Arthur, looking upward at the fog. “I’ve seen it before. This place is close to Annwyn by its nature. The barrier here is weak.”
“The air is so...thick,” Una remarked.
“It is. But it means we are close,” said Arthur, pushing forward. “
We must keep going.”
Una did not argue but kept up her pace. She wasn’t tired yet, which was good. She would need all her strength for what lay ahead. And yet the very air of this place seemed to suck the life out of her.
They continued for a while longer, pausing only to hide along the road as two more groups passed them, much as the first had done. But there were fewer places to hide the closer they got to the city. They got in the habit of walking alongside the road rather than directly on it. That at least gave them enough time to find a sufficient rock or hill to hide behind as others passed.
“There,” she said after a bit more walking. “Do you see it?”
Arthur looked, and confirmed what she saw. “Towers. We’re here.”
Through the haze, Una could make out seven towers, one larger than the others, probably doubling as the castle’s keep. They joined with a wall that surrounded the entire city. Indeed it was as much a city as a castle.
In fact, it was so big it might well have been called a fortress. It stood in heavy contrast to the palace of the Faerie Queen. Where that one had been tall and beautiful, this was spread out and the walls were blackened with soot, or maybe it was something in the fog.
She glanced at Arthur, the full weight of what they were up against sinking in. This place was huge, and it was likely to be fully guarded, even if a number of the inhabitants had left. If this was Duessa’s stronghold, and the Faerie Queen was incapable of eliminating it completely, what chance did they have? They couldn’t just charge in.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“We go in through the front gate, pick up your man, and get out of there before they all rush us,” he said as though he was discussing plans for morning tea.
“We can’t just stroll through the gate.”
“Well, I’m not very good at sneaking,” he admitted.
Yeah, that was no surprise at all. “You managed to stay hidden while we were on the road.”
“That was different. That was a battle that could be avoided. This cannot.”
Knight Rising Page 18
