‘A hostage?’ replied the Queen, shaking her head as if confused. ‘Before you said that I took your sister prisoner. That was it, wasn’t it? Now you are saying I took Sir Ganfree’s daughter prisoner? Which one is it?’ She turned to the Baronian soldiers. ‘I’m a little confused, I must say, about what exactly I am supposed to have done. I think Sir Roderick might be as well.’ There were a few chuckles at this.
‘They are the same person,’ said Roderick, feeling desperation suck the power out of his voice. ‘My sister is Banfor’s daughter. You kidnapped her to force him to help you.’
‘Oh I see,’ the Queen mocked. ‘Your sister is Sir Ganfree’s daughter, is she?’
‘You told me she was.’ Roderick was sweating and yet somehow he had also gone cold inside. He knew it wasn’t going well. Every Baronian had been trained from birth to believe that everything their ruler said was true and wise. For Roderick to convince them otherwise would require more than just words. He needed proof. Banfor couldn’t help him this time. He was unconscious, and Roderick suspected Sir Lilley would arrange to keep him that way.
‘Did I, Sir Roderick? Are you sure I said that?’ Her tone was of someone humouring a dangerous madman, which is what the crowd seemed to think Roderick was.
‘Yes! Ask my sister. She is there.’ Roderick pointed up the hill to where Sonya sat stiffly on her horse, a mounted guard close on either side.
‘Of course, Sir Roderick, if that is what you wish,’ said the Queen. She turned and focused her attention on Sonya. ‘Have you been taken prisoner by me, dear?’
Sonya went to speak, but couldn’t seem to open her mouth. Her head turned mechanically from side to side. Roderick sensed the Queen’s power at work, but could do nothing to intervene.
‘It is the Queen. She is stopping her from speaking!’ he yelled. People scoffed, shook their heads.
‘How did you come across the lady?’ the Queen asked Sir Ledwick, who was near Sonya.
‘Your Majesty,’ he replied, ‘we were stationed away to the north and on our way to join your force when we came upon her wandering along a forest track. She was distressed and lost, and could not explain what she was doing or why she was there. We brought her with us for her own protection.’ He looked at Sonya, and added, ‘She would not have survived long on her own.’
‘Such a shame,’ said the Queen. ‘If in fact this girl is Sir Roderick’s sister, it may be that troubles run in this family.’ She turned back to Roderick. ‘This is getting silly now. Whoever that girl is, I did not arrange for her to be kidnapped. I grant you that the way in which you – or the Nareeans – have managed to tame and fly that beast is an impressive trick, and I shall enjoy extracting the secret of how it was done from their King when he is a prisoner in our dungeons. But we have our country to protect. Either assist us or stand aside.’
Roderick did not know what to do. He was in control of the most powerful animal in the world but it was all bluff. He would never use her against his own people, or even against the Nareeans. He had come to prevent bloodshed, not cause it.
His control over Grynaldeen was not sufficiently precise for him to make her pick up the Queen and take her away. All he could really do was aim and unleash her. If the Queen ordered the Baronian army to attack, he would have to get the cockroach quickly out of the way before she got caught up in the battle and started squashing innocent people.
He looked around. On both sides archers fidgeted with bows. Roderick realised that if the Queen or King Melane gave the order, he would be filled with holes in seconds. All that might be preventing them was their uncertainty as to what Grynaldeen would do if he was killed.
‘There is more,’ he pleaded. ‘It was the Queen who ordered the attack on Taroom. She did it so she could have a reason to start a war. She wants war. She wants power!’
He pulled from his pocket the Baronian button Ruby had found at Taroom and held it up. ‘Look. A Baronian soldier’s button, found among the ashes of Taroom.’
But no one could see the button. To them it was a dot.
Sir Drayshus glanced at the Queen, who nodded. Drayshus dismounted. ‘Sir Roderick,’ he began, walking slowly towards the cockroach. ‘Even if that is what you say it is, and it was found where you say it was found, it could have got there any number of ways. The Nareeans could have put it there, couldn’t they?’ He, too, was adopting the humouring tone.
Drayshus’s eyes flicked sideways to the Baronian archers. They held their bows firm and ready.
‘No. When I held it, I knew Baronians had raided Taroom.’
The crowd murmured. Roderick knew that what he said made no sense to them. He had lost them.
Fromley watched Roderick in amazement. The scared, weak boy he used to feel sorry for had just flown on the back of the most dangerous creature in the world. His claims were sensational, amazing and clearly unbelievable. Yet something nagged at him. A fragment of words he had heard in a farmhouse.
As instructed by Sir Lilley, he had lured Sonya away from her home to travel with him to a farmhouse an hour’s ride from Palandan. He had felt terrible all the way, because he knew what would happen when they arrived. As he had led her inside the farmhouse three men – northerners by their looks and accent – stepped forward and surrounded them. Sonya looked uncomprehendingly at him as they grabbed her. One of the northerners had pulled a knife and they had led Sonya down a corridor. She had looked back over her shoulder and, with fear in her eyes, begged him for help. And he had looked at the floor. While two of them had locked her in a room at the back of the house he had made awkward small talk with the third northerner who at some point had said – he could remember exactly – We’ve got the easy job anyway, no raiding for us. No following soldier orders.
At the time he had been feeling so desperately terrible that he had not really taken it in, but afterwards he had puzzled over the words. Now that he had heard what Roderick had said about the attack on Taroom, perhaps they were beginning to make sense.
Sir Drayshus stepped closer, and spoke carefully the way you might speak to a madman who was armed with a giant cockroach. ‘Aside from that button, Sir Roderick, do you have any more evidence of the events you describe?’
Roderick tried desperately to think. ‘Ask Sir Banfor.’
Sir Lilley was kneeling over him, smearing a paste on his forehead. ‘He is very ill,’ he said. ‘I doubt he will recover soon.’
Roderick looked around for Ruby but couldn’t see her. No one would believe a Nareean anyway.
‘How can we control that cockroach, Sir Roderick?’ continued Drayshus soothingly. ‘It is a dangerous beast.’
The Queen sat calmly on her horse. ‘Sir Roderick, one final question if I may,’ she said. ‘Are you knowingly acting as an instrument of the Nareeans, or have some dark arts of theirs overtaken your mind and made you behave in this way?’
Roderick bowed his head. He noticed his hands were shaking. What more could he do? Could he use Grynaldeen to block the armies coming together? But even she was not invincible. Eventually they would shoot arrows into her eyes. It had all gone wrong. The Queen had won.
As Fromley watched Roderick’s failing efforts to convince the soldiers of the Queen’s treachery, he tried to work it out. Sir Lilley had told him that Sonya had to be lured away from her home for the good of Baronia, and he had believed it. But according to Roderick, he had been duped into kidnapping an innocent girl. Plus he had just heard the Queen deny that Sonya had been kidnapped, and he knew that wasn’t true. Sonya had been kidnapped, and he was the one who had done it. Could the Queen not know about the kidnapping? But Sir Lilley had arranged it, and surely he would only have done so if the Queen had ordered him to. Maybe Roderick had figured it all out.
Those words from the farmhouse kept echoing in his head: We’ve got the easy job anyway, no raiding for us. No following soldier orders.
It meant, surely, that other northerners had gone on a raid. Could it have been the raid on Taroom? Had the raid on Taroom also been organised by Sir Lilley? Could it have been carried out by Baronian soldiers commanding a group of northerners?
Roderick’s crazy story was beginning to make sense.
The Queen sensed Roderick’s uncertainty and pushed her thoughts into him. She wasn’t trying to flatter or soothe him this time. Her thoughts were like blows. You’re weak. You’re bad. It’s your fault. You’re a failure. Give up. They circled around and around in his mind. Roderick sank to his knees and let his head fall forward onto Grynaldeen’s back.
The Queen stared hard at a Nareean soldier, concentrating fiercely. The soldier suddenly ran across the space separating the two armies and smashed the nearest Baronian a two-handed blow with his sword. The Baronian screamed.
‘The Nareeans are attacking,’ cried the Queen. ‘Fight, my soldiers!’
It was as if a spell was broken. The battle was about to begin.
Soldiers started to slowly move forward. Fromley knew that within seconds it would begin, and then there would be no stopping it. As loud as he could, he roared, ‘NO! STOP!’ Remarkably, everyone did. Perhaps everyone was so confused by all that had happened that they were not yet completely ready to fight. Perhaps they were happy to grasp any excuse to put off the hacking and bleeding that was to come. Perhaps it was because Fromley was a big man with a deep and commanding voice. Whatever the reason, everyone stopped.
‘Do not fight,’ he shouted. ‘Sir Roderick speaks the truth. This war is wrong.’
Sir Drayshus turned his horse to face him. ‘Roderick is your friend, Fromley. I know that. But friends are not always right.’
‘I helped kidnap Roderick’s sister.’ There were gasps from the Baronians. ‘Sir Lilley ordered it.’
All eyes turned to Sir Lilley, standing next to the prone body of Banfor and rapidly turning the colour of beetroot. His eyes darted about.
Fromley continued. ‘Sir Lilley ordered me to deliver Roderick’s sister to three northerners in a farmhouse. One of the three said something about other northerners going on a raid under the orders of some soldiers. I think he meant Baronian soldiers, and the raid was on Taroom. It is as Roderick says. He is right.’
Roderick pulled his head up from Grynaldeen’s back. He stared at Fromley. The friend who had betrayed him and become his enemy was now trying to help.
‘I cannot believe this of Sir Lilley,’ said the Queen. ‘This is more lies. Restrain Sir Fromley. It is well known he is a close friend of Sir Roderick’s. It seems they have been plotting together. There will be time enough to extract the truth later. But now, my army, there is a battle to win, and glory to be earned!’ She raised her sword above her head. ‘Attack!’
Nobody moved.
Sir Drayshus spoke. ‘Your Majesty, with great respect, embarking on a war, even a battle, should only be done when there is no alternative. You have said that yourself. In light of the information Sir Fromley has provided it would seem sensible to investigate these matters further. That is,’ he turned to the King, ‘if the Nareeans will allow us to at least postpone this battle.’
‘We have no wish to fight,’ said the King. ‘We are here merely to defend our nation.’
Drayshus whispered something to Sir Keith next to him, who dismounted and strode over to Sir Lilley. Drayshus fixed Lilley with a look of steel. ‘Sir Lilley, I believe there are some matters you need to explain. I hope you will do so willingly.’ Lilley swallowed and looked pleadingly at the Queen, who would not meet his eye. Sir Keith laid his hand firmly on Lilley’s arm.
Surely, Roderick thought, whatever Lilley’s loyalty to the Queen, he would not be brave enough to keep his mouth shut once Sir Drayshus started asking him hard questions. The Queen’s role would be fully exposed.
‘This is ridiculous,’ said the Queen, slipping off her horse. ‘It is just what the Nareeans want. We are falling into their trap.’ She walked along the front line of soldiers. When she reached its end, she turned left up the hill. Where was she going? There was enormous tension. No one yet knew if Roderick’s accusations were true, but there was a growing feeling of unease and suspicion. Finding out that a knight as high ranking as Sir Lilley may have been involved in treachery was shocking. If the Queen was also involved, it would be head-busting.
Sir Drayshus hesitated. As head knight and chief of the army his duty was to obey the Queen. But he had a higher duty: to act in Baronia’s best interests, and if what Roderick said was true, the Queen was definitely not doing that.
Seconds ticked by as he wavered. Drayshus knew that if he made the wrong move, he could spend the rest of his life in gaol for high treason. Or be executed. He felt everyone’s eyes upon him. He sensed that the Baronian army would do what he ordered them to, even if the Queen objected.
He decided. ‘Baronian knights and soldiers! Step back! Your Majesty, this war must not –’ Before he could continue, the Queen, who had made her way up to where Sonya sat on her horse, reached up, grabbed her arm and yanked her off. She wrapped her arm around Sonya’s neck, pressed a knife to her throat and started back down the hill, pushing Sonya in front of her.
‘If your ears are so full of the words of spies and traitors that you will not help me defend our great nation, then I must do it alone,’ she declared.
She pushed forward towards the Nareeans. Sir Drayshus stepped into her path.
‘No, Your Majesty. These matters need to be investigated before we commit to war. If what Sir Roderick and Sir Fromley have said is untrue, they will face serious punishment.’
The Queen pushed her knife against Sonya’s neck. Sonya cried out, and a trickle of blood appeared. ‘I command you, Sir Drayshus. Step! Aside!’
Drayshus locked stares with the Queen, and then his eyes flicked to Sonya. He slowly exhaled and stepped back.
The Queen pushed Sonya forward again. Roderick realised they were heading towards him. When they reached the cockroach the Queen whistled and her horse came running. The armies were frozen. Minutes ago they had been on the verge of hacking each other to pieces, but now they were paralysed by the threat of a knife against a girl’s neck. The Queen motioned Sonya up onto the horse and, keeping the knife close to her at all times, climbed up behind her. ‘Roderick,’ she said, ‘off the beast. Now!’ Once again she brought her knife to Sonya’s neck.
Roderick had no choice. He slid down the side of Grynaldeen to the ground. ‘Up,’ ordered the Queen. Sonya struggled to stand on the horse’s back, reached up and grabbed the join between the cockroach’s head and body, and pulled herself up. The Queen scrambled up onto Grynaldeen’s back herself, all the while keeping her knife close enough to Sonya for it to be a constant threat. ‘Lie down across it,’ ordered the Queen. Sonya obeyed, stretching out face-down on Grynaldeen’s back. The Queen sat behind her, a leg on either side of the roach.
Grynaldeen had become used to Roderick directing her. He didn’t try to brutally impose his will. Rather, the boy had worked out how to suggest, persuade and guide her in a way that made it not unpleasant to obey. Now she was aware of a new force inside her head, and there was nothing gentle or persuasive about it. These were hammer blows of brute power. At first they were trying to force her to fly, but flying was a delicate and complex operation. No matter how strong a person’s powers, it was virtually impossible to make a cockroach fly without its cooperation. Then the commands changed. Grynaldeen tried to resist, to push back against them, but they were too strong. Like it or not, she was being directed to kill.
Roderick saw Grynaldeen prowl towards the Nareeans, snarling fiercely. He tried to aim calming, peaceful thoughts at her, but the Queen was in complete control. The cockroach charged forward into the Nareean forces, trampling some, clawing others and scattering the rest.
The Baronians stood by, unsure whether they should rejoice i
n the slaughtering of the Nareeans, join the cockroach in attacking them, help the Nareeans defend themselves against the beast, or flee themselves. Unable to decide, most opted to cautiously back up the hill out of harm’s way. Sir Drayshus, incapable of taking a backward step to anyone or anything, drew his sword and moved in front of the cockroach, blocking her path to the Nareeans. Grynaldeen’s front leg effortlessly swatted him away. He flew through the air and crashed into a tree, and then lay crumpled and still at its base.
CHAPTER 24
FIGHTING FOR CONTROL
Ruby, invisible, spied Banfor lying near the bottom of the hill, at the front of the Baronian army. If she could wake him, maybe he would be able to stop the Queen. She dodged between soldiers towards him. Chester was there already, making sure none of the soldiers got too close to Banfor and muttering to himself.
‘He is asleep but it is daytime. And he never sleeps in daytime. Therefore, he is not asleep. But when he is not asleep, he is awake, and when he is awake his eyes are open. And his eyes are not open. Which means not awake. So he is not asleep and not awake . . . But what else is there?!’
‘Chester. It’ll be all right,’ said Ruby, laying an arm on his shoulder.
‘Ahhh! A voice and a touch but no body! This is a day when everything that is not supposed to happen, happens.’ He sniffed. ‘Is it Ruby the unseeable again?’
‘It’s me,’ Ruby said. She heard a roar. The cockroach was not far away, slashing at the Nareeans with its legs. ‘Let’s get him out of the way. Can you pick him up?’
‘I am a strong bear, by which I mean strong even compared to other bears. And even if I was not, I would still be stronger than a strong human.’ He scooped Banfor up. Ruby took his arm and led him back through the ranks of Baronians to the top of the hill where, past the soldiers, they found a tree. Chester laid Banfor under it.
‘We have to wake him,’ said Ruby.
The Adventures of Sir Roderick, the Not-Very Brave Page 23
