Harrowing Hats (24 page)

“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.

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.

The man on the ground moaned and tried to lift his head. He finally lay back against the ground and didn’t move. I knelt beside him and removed his black headpiece. I wasn’t sure if the loudest sound of surprise came from the riders around me or the watchers at the gate.

The young man under the hood looked like he was in his early twenties. He was very blond, very good-looking, and very out of it. He opened his eyes and smiled at me. “You must be an angel. Are you here to take me to heaven?”

I wasn’t sure how to reply so I tried to make him comfortable, then looked up at Chase—still behind his own disguise and on his horse hovering over us. “You better call for paramedics. At the very least, he has a concussion. Wanda can’t handle this. I shouldn’t have to tell you either.”

I didn’t care then if he knew that I knew who he was. This was reckless and irresponsible. Chase knew better.

“What’s going on out here?” Chase demanded, running in through the now open gate.

I did a double take when I saw him.
Huh?
If that was Chase—who was the big guy on the horse?

“Call the paramedics,” he said into his radio. He dropped down on the ground and checked out the fallen knight. “What happened, Jessie?”

I was too stunned to answer. I didn’t have to, though, because Daisy, Bart, and Hans all told the story at the same time. The riders still remained in their columns. The knight who’d injured his friend on the ground saluted Chase mutely, then rode hell-bent-for-leather out of the field and into the forest.

The young man was starting to come around. The color came back to his face. I didn’t want to think about the mass of bruises that were hidden under his black costume. Chase talked to him until the paramedics got there—keeping him alert and asking him questions about the date, his location, and other information he should know.

We all stood around as the paramedics took the rider away. Daisy and the others didn’t know what I knew. I wasn’t sure right then if I knew what I knew. Was Merlin lying to me? Wasn’t Chase part of the Templar Knights? Was the big knight who’d taken me home on his horse Chase or not?

Once the paramedics were gone, Daisy and Bart went back to Swords and Such after throwing out a few warnings about the Templars. Hans did the same. Chase couldn’t say he didn’t know the knights were a bad element in the Village.

“I think I need that coffee now,” Chase said. “Are you busy?”

By this time, I’d found my voice again. “Are you kidding me? I just watched one of those knights try to kill another one, all the time thinking it was
you
, and all you can say is let’s have coffee?”

He glanced around the empty field. “Not here. We should talk in private.”

“This is about as private as it gets here. Are you one of the knights or not?”

“I guess you talked to Merlin. I can’t believe he told you.”

“Merlin would tell his last secret for a cinnamon roll. Or anything else, for that matter. I don’t know why everyone in the Village doesn’t know he’s CEO of Adventure Land already.”

“Have you ever heard of loose lips sink ships?”