by Tonke Dragt
He bent over the chessboard. With his hands resting on the table, he stared at the board for minutes. Then he made his move. “Your turn,” he said, taking a step back.
Tiuri had stood motionless all that time, trying not to think about his opponent’s words. Their contest was already hard enough. The King of Eviellan, however, seemed to be doing his best to disturb Tiuri’s concentration, because when it was his move, he started talking again.
“Yes, sometimes death is preferable to life. Do you know what pain is, and fear? Do you know shame and disgrace?” And he continued in that vein, his monotonous, subdued tone making what he said even more horrifying.
But Tiuri kept his eyes on the chessboard and did not react.
“It is better to fall in battle than to remain alive and die a slow death,” said the Black Knight, raising his voice. “Did you see your horse?”
Tiuri made even more of an effort to act as if he could not hear him.
“Ardanwen is dead,” said the King of Eviellan.
Tiuri did not move, but he felt tears smarting behind his eyelids. Why are you crying? he thought to himself. You didn’t cry for Ilmar and Arwaut. And that was worse. Don’t cry now. But he saw the chessmen through a blurry haze and had to swallow hard to regain his composure.
Ardanwen died a good death, he thought to himself. He was free, and no enemy could tame him. Tiuri took a deep breath, raised his head and looked at his opponent with something like a smile.
“It’s your move,” he said.
“Anyone who will not accept a master is dangerous,” said the King of Eviellan, “to others and to himself. Anyone who will not submit when he has lost must die.”
Tiuri nodded calmly. “That is true,” he said.
“As far as our game is concerned,” the king continued, “I shall wait a while before making my next move, and give you more time for reflection, Sir Tiuri. One last word of advice: Do not think yourself too lofty, too noble, too strong! It could prove your undoing one day.”
A moment later, the door slammed behind him.
9 THE THIRD NIGHT
If he moves his last knight forward, I can take his bishop with my queen. He could check my king then, but… Tiuri yawned. Had he considered all of the possibilities now?
The third night had begun, but the King of Eviellan had not yet appeared. The Fool was looking out of the window. It was quiet in and around the castle; all Tiuri could hear was the rushing river.
If the game is decided this evening, what will happen? If I lose, will the king put me to death immediately? And if I should win, will I be thrown into a dungeon to die a slow death? Tiuri shivered. Suddenly he thought of Ristridin, who had sworn to find the Black Knight with the Red Shield and to punish him. Would Ristridin have done what the king wanted? he thought. I don’t believe it for a moment! Perhaps he is locked up in a dungeon beneath this castle even now, a prisoner for all these months.
The Fool turned to him and whispered, “He is coming again, Friend.”
Yes, the muffled sound of footsteps was approaching, and then came the familiar creak of the bolts. Tiuri stood up as his opponent entered the room, in his black armour, but without a helmet this time.
For a short while, they played without saying a word. Then the other man broke the silence by saying, “Your king is in check.”
Outside, an owl hooted. Tiuri pricked up his ears. Then he focused solely on the game and brought his king to safety. They both had only a few pieces left now, and they were evenly matched. The outcome of the battle would soon be decided.
But the King of Eviellan did not seem particularly keen to end the game yet. Perhaps he was taking pleasure in playing with his opponent and leaving him uncertain of his fate. He stood up and left the room without a word or a sign of farewell.
Tiuri sighed with relief and blew out the candles. The Fool took out the file and set to work again on destroying the bars.
Tiuri took another quick look at the game. He would not finish it; he was about to escape and leave their battle undecided. In a way, he regretted it… But he had no choice. He had to get away, not only to save himself, but also so that he could try somehow to foil the enemy’s plans.
The owl hooted again… but was it really an owl? The Fool stopped filing and peered outside. Tiuri looked, too. He could see the guards. One of them was looking up, but he could not make out his face. Cautiously, Tiuri put his hand out of the window and gave a quick wave.
The guard turned to his companion and said something. Then, suddenly and silently, he attacked him! Holding their breath, the two prisoners watched the struggle. It did not last long. After a few seconds, it was obvious that the man who had been attacked was either unconscious or dead. The victor dragged him away and soon both had disappeared from sight.
“Quickly!” said Tiuri. “Keep filing!”
“This bar’s ready,” whispered the Fool. “Look out. I’m going to break it.”
Down below, the helpful guard had reappeared; it had to be Jaro. He waved at them and, for the third time, they heard the hooting of an owl.
Tiuri waved back before helping the Fool with the bars, which had now been filed almost the whole way through. Perhaps it was only a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity before they gave way… one of the bars almost fell to the floor and everything sounded so terrifyingly loud. It was a long drop to the ground below the window and Tiuri wondered if it might be a good idea to tie the bed sheets together and use them as a rope. But the guard whispered urgently, “Hurry! Drop down onto the ledge and then move in this direction.”
Tiuri climbed out of the window.
“Can you put the bars back?” came the guard’s voice.
Yes, then their escape wouldn’t be noticed quite so soon. Tiuri pulled himself up and whispered to the Fool, “The bars need to go back. Give them here… yes. I’ll do it. You go first.”
Now the Fool clambered outside and made his way along the wall like some giant insect.
Down below, the guard whispered instructions. “All the way to the bastion. Now down to here, and then jump.”
As he spoke, Tiuri, standing on the ledge outside the window, was busy trying to put the bars back. One was in place, but the other wouldn’t stand up.
“Leave it!” said the voice from below. “Just hurry.”
The jump they had to make was still from quite a height, but they both landed well. The guard was indeed Jaro. “Back into the shadows,” he whispered. “Over there, in that archway, there are some things for you – clothes, weapons. Put them on and wait for a sign from me.”
The Fool seemed to be able to see in the dark, like a cat. He found the clothes straightaway and he was the first to spot the figure lying there – the other guard. He moved and groaned, so he wasn’t dead, but he was firmly tied up and out of action.
“They’re the same clothes that the men here wear,” whispered the Fool. “They don’t fit me.”
Tiuri’s eyes had now grown somewhat accustomed to the dark as well. His friend did look rather odd in his disguise. Then he looked at Jaro, who was leaning on his spear, pretending he was still on guard. Jaro beckoned Tiuri over.
“Good, now it appears as if there are two guards again,” he said quietly, when Tiuri was standing beside him. “Your friend should stay in the shadows for a moment. Listen and I’ll explain the plan. It’s all gone well so far, but we’re not finished yet. You were so late!”
“The… the Black Knight was with us,” whispered Tiuri.
“I see. Well, the guards change an hour after midnight. It’s about an hour before midnight now, so we have two hours until anyone raises the alarm. We have to get across the field, to the river – that’s the most dangerous part. It’s so light tonight.”
Indeed, the moon was shining brightly and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
“Do you see that boulder over there?” said Jaro. “That’s where you need to head first. Then take a look around to make sure the coast is cle
ar and walk straight to the river. Don’t run or they might notice you. If you should happen to meet someone, try to act like you’re one of us. The password for tonight is ‘pawn’.”
“And what then?” whispered Tiuri.
“When you get to the river,” continued Jaro, “drop straight to the bank. There’s a path down there. Be sure they don’t see you from the bridge; it’s heavily guarded. We have to cross the river some way downstream… but you’ll see that when we come to it. We’ll go now, one at a time. You first, then your friend, and me last.”
“You’re coming, too?” asked Tiuri.
“Yes, what did you expect? No, don’t say anything. We don’t have much time. I’ve done my best to prepare everything as well as possible. You just have to do as I say. I know how things work here. Have you got it all?”
“Yes,” whispered Tiuri. “Thank you, Jaro!”
“Then go – and tell your squire to come here. Wait… You need to wait for me by the riverbank, but you’ll have to know where to cross, just in case… It’s past the rapids and the bend. I’ve hung a rope at the right spot. But I’ll be there. Go on!”
Tiuri shook Jaro’s hand, beckoned the Fool over and, in a whisper, told him to do exactly as Jaro said. Then he crossed the field to the boulder.
He stopped in the shadow of the large rock… and looked around. There were lights on the bridge and inside the castle. Tiuri could see the window they had escaped through, and Jaro and the Fool standing beneath it. There did not seem to be any danger, but still his heart pounded frantically as he walked in a straight line down the slope from the boulder to the river. The rushing of the water sounded louder and louder and he thought he could make out voices, too. He had to resist the urge to start running. He was almost there now… no, not quite! He looked back. The towers of the Tarnburg were silhouetted sharply against the sky and he could no longer see Jaro and the Fool. He wondered if Marius was already following him.
Then, finally, he reached the river… would the guards on the bridge see him? With any luck, they would think he was one of Eviellan’s servants, a man in green with a black cap on his head. It was a strange bridge and it seemed to be made from ropes. Tiuri took another look around, crouched and then quickly dropped down to the bank.
He found the path straightaway, and as he headed along it he felt much safer. He was hidden in the darkness now and only had to be careful not to stumble. Much of the river was in shadow, but the far side was white and frothy in the moonlight.
Soon he was at the edge of the water and could feel droplets splashing him. He thought of Jaro, who had put himself in danger for his sake. Then the Fool made his way along the path. Now they only had to wait for Jaro – where had he got to?
It seemed like an age before Jaro joined them. “That went quickly,” he whispered in Tiuri’s ear. “It can’t be any later than a quarter after the eleventh hour. So it’ll be some time before they discover the escape – unless a patrol comes to check.”
Had it really been only fifteen minutes since they’d left their prison?
“Follow me!” said Jaro, setting off downstream. Tiuri and the Fool obeyed without speaking. The darkness protected them, but also meant they made slow progress.
The water had carved out a deep riverbed. When they looked back, they saw the bridge high above it, looking very fragile. Ahead of them, the river made a gentle bend.
Just past the bend, Jaro stopped. “Can you swim?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Tiuri. Then he repeated it more loudly, to make himself heard above the rushing of the water. The Fool grabbed hold of him and said, “Well, I can’t!”
“It’s shallow enough to stand,” said Jaro. “As long as you have a firm footing!”
They watched the swirling water. Rocks jutted out above the surface here and there.
“To the other side, then!” said Jaro. “From the bridge they can only see us for the last part, and they’d have to be looking very hard. If you fall, just let the current carry you along. Come on!”
The water was very cold, but they were trying so hard not to be swept away by the river that they soon didn’t notice the chill. They stayed close together and, half swimming, half wading, they struggled to the other side – and to freedom.
When they reached the opposite bank, their teeth were chattering, but Jaro immediately started walking, now in the full moonlight. To their left, a rocky wall rose upwards, full of crevices and protrusions. When Tiuri looked back, he could no longer see the bridge.
Jaro stopped beside a rope that was hanging down. The Fool was the first to climb up, and Tiuri followed him.
The ascent wasn’t easy, but all three of them arrived safely at the top, among trees and undergrowth. Jaro undid the rope, which was tied around a tree, coiled it up, and said, “I put it here yesterday. Now they’ll never know where we crossed the river.” He really had set everything up perfectly. “And now be careful,” he continued. “We’re close to the road, and people come along here quite often.”
“The Road of Ambuscade?” Tiuri asked quietly.
“That’s right,” said Jaro. “We’ll cross it and then we’ll have to make sure we put our head start to good use.”
“I want to go to the west,” whispered Tiuri.
“Are you insane?!” said Jaro. “Going along the road that way is impossible.”
“But it leads to the pass, over the mountains…”
“Yes. But you can’t escape by heading in that direction,” whispered Jaro. “You might as well go straight back to the Tarnburg. The road is guarded day and night, from the fork in the river to the Tarntop, and the forest to the north is crawling with Men in Green. Our only chance is to the east, as far as possible from the Black River and not too close to the Green River. But let’s not waste time talking. An hour after midnight they’ll sound the alarm and then even the eastern route won’t be safe. What are we waiting for?”
Tiuri sighed. He might have known the Road of Ambuscade would be guarded, but still…
“Let’s go!” said Jaro impatiently.
“Are you coming with us?” whispered Tiuri, as they crept towards the road.
“Yes, what else can I do?” replied Jaro.
“Why are you helping us?”
“I’m sure you can figure that out for yourself,” said Jaro. “No, don’t thank me. Quiet!” He stopped and Tiuri saw his eyes glinting as they looked at each other. “Perhaps we can talk and make plans later,” he said. “But now we need to get out of here. Do you know how many soldiers there are in this wood? Not a hundred, more… maybe a thousand. To the east and out of the forest… And just pray that we make it.”
The road was fairly wide, and the shadows of trees lay across it in black stripes. They darted over and Jaro took the lead as they headed into the forest. He walked slowly at first, but after a while he started to run. They continued like that for some time, along a narrow path, until Jaro stopped and signalled that they should proceed more cautiously. Tiuri and the Fool soon realized why; they could hear people talking. “A guard post,” Jaro whispered once they had passed it.
After that, they moved on quickly. They came to a clearing, where Jaro looked around and gazed up at the sky for a moment. Then he abandoned the path and continued straight through the forest.
They could not see much, but they could hear plenty: not only their own hurried breathing, but all kinds of other sounds; the wood was full of noises. Flapping and fluttering, crying and calling, rushing and rustling; everything that lived here seemed to be awake. But they heard no people, and they could no longer hear the river.
I wonder what time it is, thought Tiuri. “Look, there’s another path over there,” he whispered.
“I’m just acting on instinct now,” said Jaro. “I don’t know the paths around here.”
“We mustn’t follow this path,” whispered the Fool. “It’s the track of an animal, this path – wild animals. They have their young now and they’re dangerous.”
“We’re better off avoiding every kind of path,” muttered Jaro. “I can barely see my hand in front of my face. We wouldn’t be the first to end up walking in circles.”
“Where are we going?” asked the Fool.
“To the east,” said Tiuri, “where the sun comes up.”
“Then we’re going the right way, Friend,” whispered the Fool. “I don’t know for sure, but I believe it’s so.”
“Then let’s get going,” said Jaro.
Suddenly there was noise all around them! First a horn rang out, high and piercing – one, two, three, four short blasts. Other horns answered in turn, from every direction. A brief silence, and then came the sound of a drum.
They froze.
“They know we’ve gone,” Jaro said quietly when everything was silent again. No, not silent; startled animals were flying and fleeing all around them.
“Well, we knew this would happen,” Jaro continued. “We’ll just have to take greater care now.”
A horn sounded again, not too far away.
“That will be the guard post we passed,” whispered Jaro.
“Are there many guard posts?” asked Tiuri.
“Yes. They use horns to pass on messages. Others do it with a drum, just like the Men in Green…”
“The Men in Green… They’re with you, aren’t they?” whispered Tiuri.
“They’ve made an alliance with the Black Knight. They always sound a warning when a stranger is approaching. We need to be even more wary of them than of the Red Riders. They suddenly appear, right in front of you, and once they have something they don’t let it go. But I’m talking too much,” Jaro said. “Any sound could betray us.”
As quietly as possible, they continued on their way. At first they heard nothing untoward, but soon there were voices shouting in the distance.
“Perhaps we’d better look for a hiding place and wait for it to get light,” Tiuri suggested when they came to a stop in the middle of a dark and almost impenetrable wilderness.
