The Secrets of the Wild Wood

by Tonke Dragt

“I am only playing a game of chess with him, Marius,” replied Tiuri. “And if I win, I shall know who he is.”

  “Do you not already know who he is?” said the Fool. “He is the Master of the Red Riders. He is playing with you and he wants you to lose!”

  Nonsense! Tiuri wanted to say, but he did not. Maybe without even realizing, the Fool had found words that hit home and shocked him.

  He is playing with you…

  Had he unintentionally done exactly what the Black Knight wanted of him? Tiuri had certainly spoken to him, even though he had planned to remain silent and aloof, and he had listened to him, although he knew his words were lies. And even if he were to win the game… what did it matter if he saw his enemy’s face? He is playing with you, and he does not care if you win or lose…

  “Perhaps I am doing the wrong thing, Marius,” said Tiuri with a sigh. “But now that I have started, I must keep going – and I must try to win.”

  He walked over to the window on the right, pressed his burning face against the bars and let the evening breeze cool it down. He suddenly felt hopelessly imprisoned; the world outside the Wild Wood seemed so far away that it was beyond reach.

  At that very same moment, on the other side of the Wild Wood, Piak was staring at the Forgotten City in the moonlight and trying to remember the goal of his journey.

  The Fool brought Tiuri back to reality. “Here!” he whispered, holding out the file.

  Ah yes, of course! Their situation was far from hopeless. And what’s the point of worrying about decisions that have already been made? thought the young knight. Should I have abandoned Marius to save myself? I could never have done that!

  He smiled at his friend and quietly said, “First blow out the candles. If the guards are still there, they’ll be able to see us by the light.”

  Yes, they were still there. When the room was dark, he could see them quite clearly. “We have to file through at least two bars,” he whispered. “Let’s see how it goes.” He took the file and started to move it at the bottom of one of the bars – slowly, so as to make as little noise as possible.

  “They can’t hear us,” whispered the Fool. “The water outside is making more noise. Can you hear it?”

  After a while, he asked, “Shall I do it?”

  “Yes,” said Tiuri. “But don’t file the bar all the way through. Just do it like this, around the outside.”

  “Why?” asked the Fool.

  “When the Black Knight returns tomorrow, he mustn’t see that we’ve been filing through the bars. I think we’ll have to wait until the third night to escape.”

  “Look how quickly I’m doing it,” said the Fool. “I’ll soon be able to snap this bar with my hands. I’m strong.”

  “Shhh!” whispered Tiuri. “The guards!”

  More men were coming, down below; one of them was carrying a lantern. Someone shouted an order. He soon saw what was happening: the changing of the guard.

  “Well, it doesn’t look as if the fortress and our prison will ever be without guards,” said Tiuri. “Look, these bars are thinner at the bottom now, Marius. We’ll have to work on the top of the bars next! But we can do that tomorrow evening. It’s time to go to sleep.”

  “You sleep, Friend,” said the Fool. “I already lay on the bed, and you are tired. You should sleep. I will go on filing and I will wake you if I see anything.”

  Tiuri looked at the bars, then at the chessboard, and shook his head. But the Fool was so insistent that he finally agreed, even though he was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink. However, it was fine. Tiuri soon dropped off and slept without dreaming.

  6 THE ROAD OF AMBUSCADE

  “Look at the bars,” whispered the Fool the next morning. “If you want, these two will soon be gone.”

  Tiuri blew away some iron dust and said, “Excellent! No one will notice they’ve been filed through, unless they go and stand with their nose right up against the bars.”

  “But the guards are still there,” said the Fool.

  “We’ll still escape anyway,” said Tiuri. He was as cheerful as any prisoner could be.

  He walked over to the chessboard and considered his next move. The creak of the bolts made him look up at the door, and there was the Black Knight again. This time he even had his red shield with him.

  “I should just like to wish my guests good morning before I begin my daily rounds,” he said in a mockingly polite tone. “Have you had a good night’s rest? Your breakfast will be brought soon.” He glanced at the chessboard and then walked towards the window.

  The Fool stepped out of his way, but Tiuri dashed across to stand beside the knight, just in front of the bars they’d been filing.

  “What fine weather,” said the Black Knight, as he looked outside. “I am sorry the circumstances prevent you from enjoying it. The water of the rivers is wild and high, as the snow in the mountains is melting. Everything in the wood is budding and growing, and my men will soon have their work cut out for them as they try to keep the roads open – the Wild Wood Way, the Road of Ambuscade…”

  “The Road of Ambuscade?” repeated Tiuri. He had to make sure the knight didn’t look at the bars.

  “It’s over there, right in front of you, although you cannot see it from here. You can see the High Bridge that leads to it, though. The Road of Ambuscade runs east to west on the other side of the Black River.”

  “So that’s the Black River?” said Tiuri, rather surprised.

  “The castle is situated between two arms of the river, which define the Tarnburg’s territory,” replied the knight. And he said, “You followed the Black River for some way. What took you there?”

  Tiuri replied, “I wanted to know if it was true that the Second Great Road to the west had entirely disappeared.”

  “And you found that it hadn’t,” said the Black Knight. “From the Owl House, the road has been cut open again and it runs to the Great Mountains, as it once did. But it has a different name now, one you have already heard: the Road of Ambuscade.”

  Tiuri had taken hold of the bars and now he was gripping them so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. He was shaking inside. Because suddenly he thought he understood why the road had that name… and so he also knew what the Black Knight was doing in the wood! Ambuscade… That meant an ambush… A surprise attack…

  “Would you like to play some more chess, my lord?” he asked, hoping that his voice sounded natural.

  “Have you already made your move?” came the reply.

  “I shall do so now,” said Tiuri. He walked over to the chessboard and moved one of his knights.

  “Now it is my turn,” said the knight, “but I shall wait for this evening. Until then.”

  When he had gone, Tiuri went back to stand at the window. The two guards had just been relieved. A group of Red Riders was rushing towards the bridge.

  The Road of Ambuscade…

  Everyone knew there were two roads to the land of King Unauwen. But few could suspect that there was now another road – that the old road through the Wild Wood had been opened up: a route leading through a pass in the Great Mountains, and giving access to the kingdom in the west. The Knight with the Red Shield and his army could use that road to invade the Kingdom of Unauwen and take the country by surprise. No one would expect any attack from Eviellan to come from that direction.

  There was friendship between King Dagonaut and King Unauwen, so how could anyone have known that a knight of Eviellan had established a stronghold in the Wild Wood? He was most certainly planning a surprise attack from the Tarnburg!

  “Perhaps,” said Tiuri to himself, “he truly means King Dagonaut no harm. I think he wants first and foremost to conquer the Kingdom of Unauwen. And there’s a very good chance that he’ll succeed if he takes that route.”

  “You have such a strange look on your face, Friend,” said the Fool. “Has something shocked you? What is it?”

  “Do you see the mountains, Marius?” said Tiuri slowly. �
��Do you know what’s on the other side?”

  “It’s where the sun goes down,” said the Fool.

  “There’s a magnificent land over there, Marius, the land of the great King Unauwen, who lives in the most beautiful city in the world.”

  “Have you been there?” whispered the Fool.

  “Yes, I’ve been there,” said Tiuri. “And the Black Knight with the Red Shield wants to conquer that kingdom and destroy it. That is his secret!”

  The hours crept by. Tiuri tried to fathom the problems of the chess game, but he kept thinking about the Road of Ambuscade.

  In the evening the Black Knight’s servants brought not only the meal, but also his bag of belongings. He took a look inside; only his money had been taken. And at the bottom of the bag was a glove.

  Tiuri looked at it for a while. It was the glove given to him by Lavinia, the young lady of Mistrinaut. He had said he would wear it when he was knighted and was allowed to take part in tournaments. Now he was a knight, but at Castle Islan he had forgotten Lavinia. Yes, now he was a knight, but everything he thought he was doing right had gone completely wrong. The Fool was further from home than ever and the two of them were prisoners. Instead of fighting in a tournament, he was playing chess with a man who was an enemy of everything he held dear. He was not worthy of owning Lavinia’s glove.

  He closed his eyes and saw her before him as she had first appeared to him. He had been a prisoner then, as he was now. But beside her loomed the image of Isadoro and he heard her say once again, “Travel to the east, but avoid the west.”

  With a sigh, he put the glove back into his bag. Why was it that lately he seemed to have lost any feeling of certainty? Old Waldo had been right, “Before you know it, you’ll be in all sorts of trouble that you never asked for.” He and Piak had been so carefree, so eager to set off on their journey. Now he was locked up, and Piak… Oh, where was Piak?

  After Tiuri and the Fool had eaten, the Black Knight came again. Tiuri did not realize it was him at first, because this time he was not wearing armour, but a black robe with wide sleeves over a red undershirt. His face was concealed behind a black mask and he had a cap that almost entirely covered his hair. Tiuri could still see that it was blond, though. The knight seemed to be unarmed and perhaps he didn’t look at all frightening without the mask. Perhaps… But who knew what kind of face was hidden behind that black velvet?

  Just like the previous evening, the Fool hid in the bedroom; just like the previous evening, the knight sat down in a chair beside the chessboard. As he regarded Tiuri, the expression in his eyes was impossible to read; they looked dark, and that was all.

  “It is good to sit here with you,” he said. “You are my guest, and I am your host. And we shall settle our dispute – in a fair fight.” His voice sounded pleasant and friendly.

  But Tiuri could still feel the bars on the window, even though he did not look at them. “It’s your move,” he said simply.

  The knight did not make his move. Instead he said, “How old are you?”

  “Seventeen,” answered Tiuri.

  “Then you must not be annoyed if I address you by your first name,” said the knight. “I am twice your age, and what I have lived through sometimes makes it feel as if my youth was a whole lifetime ago. Seventeen years old and already a knight. You’re at an age when you should be excelling at games and tournaments or swooning over some young lady, rather than sitting behind bars playing chess with… me.”

  Tiuri just stared at him.

  “Was even the Daughter of Islan unable to prevent you from entering the forest?” the knight continued.

  Isadoro! Do you know her? were the words on the tip of Tiuri’s tongue, but he pressed his lips together and remained silent.

  “Ah, it was better that you left Islan,” the knight added, speaking more to himself than to Tiuri.

  Tiuri could no longer hold back. “Do you know Sir Fitil?” he asked.

  “Had you not already guessed as much?” said the Black Knight, leaning over the chessboard, as if putting an end to the conversation.

  “Then I was right. Sir Fitil is a traitor!” Tiuri muttered to himself.

  The knight looked up and said sharply, “Do not speak that word! Sir Fitil is no traitor and has betrayed no one.”

  “No,” Tiuri responded angrily, “he certainly said nothing about your presence here! According to him and… According to him, there was nothing of interest in the Wild Wood.”

  “And that was true,” said the knight. “You can view my presence here as in the old song. Did the beautiful Isadoro not sing it for you?”

  Tiuri suddenly felt an almost uncontrollable urge to throw a chess piece at his head. But he held himself back and did not move.

  The Black Knight continued, “In a castle on the Black River there once lived a knight who loved peace. He expressed the wish to be left alone. Then trees grew up around his castle and hid it from the eyes of men. Hundreds of years went by and he was forgotten. But now he lives again. I am that knight!”

  He stood up, paced the room, then turned back to Tiuri and said quietly, “You are the youngest knight of King Dagonaut – not of Unauwen. On what do you base your judgement of Eviellan, my country? No, it is not entirely my country. I am an exile, born in the Kingdom of Unauwen. Have you heard the history of the king and his sons?”

  “Yes,” replied Tiuri.

  “King Unauwen had two sons, born on the same day,” the knight began in a singsong tone, as if reciting a poem. “The elder son was crown prince, successor to the throne, while the second was to receive nothing. But he was only very slightly younger than his brother, and in many respects identical to him. Can you not feel some sympathy for that younger prince? Do you not understand that he conquered Eviellan to become what he was destined to be: a king, a ruler? Ah, it is a sorry tale, the story of Prince Viridian, King of Eviellan.”

  He sat down again. Tiuri was silent. Fascinated, he stared at the knight.

  The knight continued, “Eviellan shares your borders and there should be friendship between your land and mine. But some of Dagonaut’s knights dare to make judgements about the discord between Eviellan and the Kingdom of Unauwen. They call Eviellan wicked. But what do they know about it?” His eyes, glinting in the candlelight, were fixed on Tiuri. “What do you know about it?” he asked. He did not wait for an answer, but moved one of his pieces forward, and then said abruptly, “It’s getting late. The victor must be decided.”

  They played on. Tiuri felt as though some other fight were being fought between the two of them, one that had nothing to do with chess. I think, he pondered, he wants to persuade me to come over to his side.

  He became aware that he was no longer paying enough attention to the game, but he soon noticed that the Black Knight was also playing with less concentration. It was the knight’s turn now, and he moved his queen – an ill-considered move! A ring sparkled on his finger.

  Tiuri stared at it, wide-eyed.

  A ring with a white stone, which gleamed like a star. He knew that ring! Not so long ago he had been sitting opposite another knight at a chessboard, a knight who wore the same kind of ring. Prince Iridian. And much longer ago, someone had told him, There are only twelve such rings in the whole world. King Unauwen gave them to his most faithful paladins.

  How was this possible?

  The Black Knight seemed to notice Tiuri’s surprise. He quickly pulled his hand away and hid it in the sleeve of his robe.

  Tiuri stared at the chess pieces with unseeing eyes. A knight from Eviellan, the enemy of King Unauwen, and yet one of his most loyal paladins?

  “Well?” his opponent said quietly. “I believe you are thinking more about two kingdoms than about the game we are playing. But those two lands are no more different than the white and black sides before us.”

  But that’s not true, thought Tiuri. Indeed, he knew little about Eviellan, but what little he knew was not good. He thought about Sir Ristridin, about the words �
��so treacherously slain” carved on the tree, and about the Fool, who had been taken from his home. He pictured the opponents of Eviellan: Evan, Tirillo and Prince Iridian, the son of King Unauwen.

  King Unauwen had two sons… and he had given two of those twelve rings to them. That was it! A ring to the crown prince and a ring to the King of Eviellan…

  Play! he thought feverishly. He just made a foolish move. Remember Prince Iridian’s lessons. This fight could almost be over…

  “Check,” he said a little later, in a clear, firm voice.

  After a few moves he spoke again, “Check!”

  “Checkmate! You’ve won,” said the Black Knight, slowly laying down his king.

  The ring sparkled again as he raised his hand to the mask.

  Tiuri now suspected who he was, but still, as he looked at him, he was full of anticipation.

  The knight removed his mask, and Tiuri saw a pale face in the candlelight, a handsome, friendly, rather melancholy face.

  It was the face of Prince Iridian.

  7 UNMASKED

  Startled, Tiuri jerked back, knocking over a chess piece.

  “You…!” he whispered.

  The expression on the other man’s face changed.

  “You do not know me!” said the Black Knight sharply. His eyes narrowed, and for one moment there was nothing but fury on his face. But then he smiled, melancholy and slightly mocking.

  But Tiuri knew now that this was not Prince Iridian – no matter how much he looked like him. And so his suspicion had been correct: his opponent was Iridian’s twin brother, the King of Eviellan.

  “Well?” said the knight, as he looked curiously at Tiuri. “My face seems to surprise you. Have we perhaps met before, after all?”

  “No… no, my lord,” said Tiuri.

  “Are you sure about that?” asked the knight. He now looked so much like Prince Iridian that Tiuri could not help pausing briefly before he answered, “I am certain of it, my lord.”