LANCE OF TRUTH (16 page)

In a way, the holiday was a good thing because everyone would be at Camelot, which meant Mordred’s bloodbeards couldn’t slaughter them on their way to the duel. But then Arianrhod told her the queen wanted to present her to the people at the feast as the official heir to the throne, and Rhianna’s heart sank.

She couldn’t be in two places at once. What if someone came looking for her at the lake?
Her wet hair had not gone unnoticed, and word had got around that she went swimming there. The last thing she needed was for someone to stumble up there early and alert Mordred to the trap. She would have to talk to her mother.

The day before midsummer, she hid Excalibur under the straw in Alba’s stable and told the mist horse to call her if anybody tried to touch it. Then she headed for the royal dining hall, where the queen ate now that Lancelot was up and about. It meant wearing a dress and embroidered slippers instead of her more comfortable tunic and leggings, but it was the only place to catch her mother sitting down.

By the time she arrived, Guinevere’s plate held only crumbs and the queen was discussing last-minute arrangements for the feast with Lady Isabel.

“Mother?” Rhianna said. “I have to talk to you. It’s important.”

The queen smiled at her. “Ah, Rhianna darling! Just the person I want to see. Now, remember we’re going to present you to the people at the feast tomorrow as Arthur’s heir. I want you to look like a real princess, so you’d better start getting ready about midday. Arianrhod will help you bathe and do your hair. You can wear your new dress – the crimson one with the gold ribbons – and that pretty ruby tiara I sent you. We’ll soon find you a suitable suitor now you seem to be turning into a young lady at last.”

Rhianna bit her lip. The ruby tiara was the first offering she’d made to the Lady of the Lake.

“But that’s what I wanted to talk to you
about. I might not be here at midday…”

“Don’t be silly, darling. Of course you will. Where else will you be? Off in the woods with your fairy friend? You’ve got to grow up sometime, you know.”

“But—”

“Not now, darling.” Her mother rose in a rustle of skirts and gave Rhianna a peck on the cheek. “I’ve got a hundred and one things to do.”

As she left the hall, she glanced back at Rhianna and whispered something to Lady Isabel. They both laughed.

Flushing, Rhianna snatched an apple from the bowl and made her way to the stables.

She’d hoped Sir Lancelot might be there so she could check he was ready for tomorrow, but she couldn’t see his white stallion. Alba whinnied to her, smelling the apple.

“My mother cares more about stupid jewels and feasts than she does about me,” she told the mare, as they shared the apple. “And now she wants to marry me off! She obviously never expects my father to return… and Lancelot’s vanished somewhere, too. It’ll serve everyone right if I joust against the dark knight myself!”

You are upset again,
said the mare with a little snort.
Do you want to find Evenstar’s rider?

Elphin. She’d forgotten to check his blisters had healed enough for him to play his harp to help Lancelot tomorrow at the duel. She looked over the stall to see if her friend was with his mist horse. The stable was empty.

“Where’s Evenstar?” she said, her heart pounding uneasily.

They go to the warm lake that has sweet grass, with the pale knight.

She didn’t have to ask which lake. Her mare had grazed there while she’d dived for Excalibur last winter.

“But it’s too early!” Her heart jumped. “Why would they go there now? It’s not midsummer until tomorrow…”

Then she knew. “Mordred! He’s tricked us, hasn’t he? He’s come a day early!”

She grabbed Alba’s bridle and looked down at her dress and slippers with a grimace. It was already past midday. No time now to run up to her room and change. She rummaged under the straw for Excalibur. Good thing she hadn’t left her sword in her room, too. She’d just have to do without her armour and hope Mordred had not killed Lancelot before she got there.

Not stopping for a saddle, she led the mare out into the sunshine, hitched up her 
skirt and vaulted on bareback.

“Where are you going, Damsel Rhianna?” Cai called from Sandy’s stable.

“Tell the knights to come to the lake!” she called back. Before anyone could stop her, she was galloping through the gates and across the bridge.

A
lba was fresh after standing in her stable. She kicked up her heels, eager to find Evenstar. Rhianna lost her slippers at the first buck, but did not stop to pick them up. She let the mare gallop as fast as she wanted, not caring when the breeze tugged her hair from
its pins and tangled it with Alba’s sweetly scented mane.

They took the fastest route along the Roman road then galloped over the surface of the river in a sparkling spray. Alba’s hooves, shod with Avalonian silver, did not even get wet. Rhianna grinned as she remembered how the sight of her mist horse galloping alongside their boats had astonished the Saxons last year. Today there were no boats, just a confusion of hoofprints in the mud on the other side. The distant clash of weapons came from the wood, sending a shiver down her spine.

She crouched lower over the mare’s neck as they entered the trees, swerving dangerously around the trunks and ducking branches. She didn’t see the bloodbeards in the shadows until Alba reared in fright. They had dragged a fallen
tree across the path and were standing on it, watching the duel.

“Halt!” called one of the men, spinning around at the sound of Alba’s whinny. “This is private business.”

“Let me through!” Rhianna snapped.

The man relaxed slightly, jumped down and fingered her dress. “Well well, what have we here?” he said. “A damsel out riding, all alone in the big bad woods?” The others chuckled as he peered behind her. “Where’s your escort, lassie?”

“I don’t need an escort,” Rhianna said. “Not when I’ve got
this
!” She drew Excalibur and swung the blade at his mocking grin.

“That’s no ordinary damsel,” one of the men warned as he ducked in alarm. “That’s the Pendragon girl!”

The others scrambled for their weapons.
But they were too slow. Alba had already jumped the barrier and was misting through the trees. Rhianna heard hooves pounding after them and shouts from the men, and kept her head down.

“Faster, Alba!” she said.

Water sparkled silver through the leaves ahead of them. She saw Evenstar standing under the trees, his white coat streaked with sweat and his saddle empty. As she looked anxiously for Elphin, the little horse rolled his eyes and snorted at Alba.

He says the men fight in the water. The stallions make big splash. He is frightened of the shining spear.

Rhianna gripped Excalibur tighter, staring across the lake. The shining spear… she didn’t like the sound of that.

Sir Lancelot’s white stallion and Mordred’s black galloped towards each other along the beach, kicking up a glittering spray. Rainbows glimmered around the Lance of Truth, which was strapped to Mordred’s crippled arm. Sir Lancelot had his lance tucked under his arm, too, but it did not shine like Mordred’s. The champion knight hunched over his horse’s neck, and she saw blood on its white coat.

Elphin crouched on a rock just off shore with his harp. His fingers danced across the strings as the two knights met. The light brightened around them until Rhianna could not see what was happening. “Remember – in your heart!” she shouted to Sir Lancelot. The champion knight glanced her way, distracted. At the same time, a small brown pony burst out of the woods with Cai clinging on bareback,
barged past Alba and galloped straight for the two horses.

“No, Cai!” she shouted, hoping he had remembered to give the knights her message.

Sir Lancelot yelled a warning. Elphin’s harp sang louder. Rhianna raised Excalibur and urged Alba after the squire – too late.

She heard a great CRASH and a grunt of pain. There was a whirl of legs and arms. Then Mordred’s horse came galloping out of the water, its bridle hanging half off. The dark knight was still in the saddle, but he had dropped the lance. The dangling reins had got caught around his crippled foot. He was trying to untangle them with his remaining hand. His stallion shook its head in anger, flattened its ears and charged at Alba.

The mare misted again, and Rhianna almost
fell off. She grabbed Mordred’s bridle to stop his horse attacking hers, still trying to see what had happened to Cai.

The white stallion pulled up at the end of the beach, where the champion knight slid slowly to the ground and lay still. She felt a bit sick. What if he was dead? What if Cai was dead? Then the spray cleared, and she saw the Lance of Truth glimmering on the beach halfway along the shore.

“I’ll get it!” yelled Cai. The boy had already jumped off his pony and was picking the lance out of the mud. She let out her breath in relief.

The dark knight abandoned his efforts to free his foot and snatched his horse’s reins from Rhianna’s hands. He pulled off his helm so he could see better to sort out the bridle, then noticed her dress and laughed.

“I nearly didn’t recognise you, cousin! You didn’t have to get all dressed up for me, you know. That lance is useless. I might as well have tilted against Lancelot with a squire’s spear! But I see you’ve brought me Excalibur. Saves me the bother of riding to Camelot to claim it.”

“You’re a day early!” Rhianna said, flushing at his look. “You broke the rules. And now Lancelot’s unhorsed, so you’d better not be thinking of finishing the duel on horseback.”

Mordred glanced at the fallen knight and smirked. “I’d say your champion is in no state to continue the fight. That leaves you with a bit of a problem, doesn’t it? I don’t see anyone else here to defend your honour, which means I’ve won… unless you care to finish the duel yourself?” His eyes glinted a challenge.

“I’m not afraid to fight you with
this
.”
Rhianna showed him Excalibur. The white jewel, sensing the magic of the lake, shone brightly.

Mordred looked warily at her sword.

“You should be afraid. I killed your father while he held that sword, remember? I can kill you just as easily.”

“Let me fight him for you, Damsel Rhianna!” Cai called.

“How fitting,” the dark knight mocked, sneering at the lance in Cai’s grip as its head wobbled on the new shaft. “A squire’s spear in a squire’s hands… careful, Camelot brat, you might hurt yourself.”

Cai scowled. “Shut it, traitor, or I’ll skewer you with this thing.”

Mordred laughed. “Like to see you try.”

He renewed his efforts to untangle himself. Rhianna tensed. She opened her mouth to tell
Cai to get the lance to safety. Then Elphin shouted, “Look out, Rhia!” and she saw the bloodbeards running out of the trees to help their prince. The men she’d encountered had been joined by others – they must have the lake surrounded.

She did the only thing she could think of. Before Mordred could straighten, she slid on to the black horse’s hindquarters behind the dark knight and put Excalibur across his throat. “Nobody moves!” she ordered.

The bloodbeards stopped warily, eyeing her blade in dismay. Alba snorted uneasily at her. Mordred, who seemed taken completely by surprise, sat up slowly and pressed back against her.

“Well, this is nice,” he drawled. “I didn’t know you cared, cousin.”

“Shut up,” Rhianna hissed. “Or I’ll kill you, I swear.”

Gentle music drifted across the water, and she realised Elphin was playing his harp again. A few of the bloodbeards yawned, but the sleeping magic didn’t seem to work very well on them from that distance.

Mordred laughed. “Oh yes, go on, Rhianna Pendragon. Blood your magic blade. Do it, I dare you! Then you’ll never be able to take that sword back to Avalon for your dear father, will you?”

“I told you last year, I don’t care any more about blooding it. It’s not going to heal him, anyway, not on its own. I need the lance as well… Cai,” she said, trying to keep both her voice and her sword steady, “take the Lance of Truth to Sir Lancelot, and see if you can get
him back on his horse. Nobody else moves, or I’ll kill your prince! I mean it.”

Cai scowled at the bloodbeards, who stepped back reluctantly. Leading Sandy, he carefully carried the lance along the shore to where the white stallion stood faithfully beside the fallen knight.

Cai bent over Sir Lancelot. He glanced up at Rhianna and shook his head.

Mordred relaxed slightly as her blade lowered. “See?” he said. “Your champion’s finished. If he dies, I’ve won. According to the rules, that means you have to give me the Sword of Light, and I get to keep all Lancelot’s possessions. That includes the Lance of Truth, his horse, and his squire, I believe. I’ll soon thrash some manners into the little brat, teach him not to interrupt people’s duels.”

He waved a hand, and his bloodbeards ran towards Cai and Sir Lancelot.

“Tell them to stop!” Rhianna pressed Excalibur harder against Mordred’s neck.

“You won’t do it, cousin.” He laughed at her again. “You couldn’t do it last year, and you can’t do it now. For all your tough words, you’re just a damsel in a dress…”

Her hand tightened on the hilt. She closed her eyes.
Cut his throat. Just cut his throat and
have done with it,
she thought. And yet it didn’t seem right, not like this.

“RHIA!” Elphin warned.

She’d hesitated too long. The bloodbeard captain, who must have been creeping up behind her while Mordred taunted her, seized her ankle. At the same time, Mordred swung his elbow backwards and knocked her off 
his horse. She hit the ground in a daze. When she sat up, Mordred had drawn his sword and was galloping towards Cai and Sir Lancelot. The black stallion’s hooves sprayed her with grit.

Alba sniffed her anxiously.
Is it another race?

Rhianna had no breath to reply. The bloodbeard drew his blade and rushed her. She swung Excalibur to catch his blows, desperately trying to remember what Sir Bors had taught her in the training ring. But fighting in a dress was not easy. The long skirt tangled in her legs, and the stones on the beach hurt her bare feet. Further along the shore, guarding the injured Sir Lancelot, Cai gripped his wobbly lance and bravely faced the dark knight and the bloodbeards closing on him.

“Damsel Rhianna!” he yelled, his voice small and far away. “What do we do now?”

What indeed? She must have been crazy to think she could outwit the dark knight, when her father and Sir Lancelot had both failed to defeat him. But she tightened her jaw and danced around her opponent, determined not to let her cousin get hold of Excalibur, whatever happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mordred’s stallion overtake his running bloodbeards and gallop straight for Cai, intent on trampling the boy.

“
Cai
!” she shouted. But the squire seemed frozen to the spot.

The bloodbeard captain came at her again with his sword. She swung Excalibur in a glittering arc and sent a silent plea for help to the ninety-nine knights whose spirits were linked to the white jewel.

But, distracted by her friend’s danger, she couldn’t concentrate well enough to wake the magic in her sword. Some of the strength left her arm, and Excalibur lowered. The bloodbeard captain grinned at her. “Getting tired, Princess?” he taunted. “No dragon to help you this time, I see. Can’t control the creature, can you. And you’ve left your brave knights behind. Some Pendragon you are.”

She cast a desperate look at Elphin. His harp rippled louder, making the silver light dance over the water. Excalibur gleamed brighter. There was a sudden flash of light from the other end of the beach. She heard a splash.

The bloodbeard looked round and cursed. “The little fool! He’s only gone and thrown it into the lake.”

She risked a look round, too. Cai no longer
had the Lance of the Truth. Far out in the lake, rainbow ripples spread from where it had entered the water.

Mordred’s stallion had spooked at the flash of light. The black horse was galloping away into the trees, riderless, leaving his master in a tangled heap on the ground. The dark knight sat up and pointed at the squire in fury. “Someone kill the little brat and catch my horse!”

The bloodbeard captain left Rhianna and hurried to help his prince. Cai valiantly drew his little dagger as the other bloodbeards prepared to rush him.