Sword of Camelot (12 page)

“Very well, you fool. You can die with him!”

“I won't die,” the youthful voice said calmly.

Mogen shouted, “You do not know the ancient prophecy! No man can stand before this beast!”

And then Reb heard a clear voice cry out, “But I am no man! I am Princess Elaine, daughter of the king of Camelot!”

Shock coursed through Reb's body. He struggled up onto one elbow. Dimly he saw the green cloak thrown back, and there was the face of Elaine. Reb could scarcely breathe. “Go back,” he whispered hoarsely. “Go back, Elaine. He'll kill you!”

“No, I shall slay
him,
” Elaine cried. She cocked the bow with the silver arrow in it, and as the beast rose up with a mighty scream, preparing to launch himself forward,
her voice rose clear. “Die by the power of Goel!” And she released the fully drawn bow.

The arrow streaked through the air and struck the beast on its underside, piercing the armor and disappearing down to the feathers.

Reb felt himself slipping away fast, but he heard the beast utter an awful, screeching cry and saw it fall to one side, thrashing about as it died.

He also heard Mogen screaming in rage and Elaine's clear challenge, “Begone, foul witch! Or you will meet the fate of your creature!”

Then Reb felt cool hands on his face, and even as blackness was overwhelming him he heard a voice saying, “Reb, Reb! Do not die!”

He opened his eyes one moment. Elaine's features swam into focus, and he tried to smile. “I reckon it's too late for me …”

H
e—he looks so pale, and he's hardly breathing at all.” Josh stood beside the still form of Reb. The rest of the Sleepers circled his bed. They had been admitted to his hospital room only a few minutes before and now were in shock at their friend's condition.

Josh swallowed hard and looked up at the man in the blue physician's coat who stood back by the wall. “How is he, Doctor?” he asked.

The doctor, a tall man with dark eyes and olive complexion, studied the young man on the bed and shook his head. “Not well—not well at all, I'm afraid.”

“Is it the poison that he got from that beast?” Dave asked. His brow was furrowed, and he bit his lip. He had said some rather harsh things about Reb. Perhaps now he was sorry for them. “He'll be all right, won't he?”

The doctor gave him a steady look before answering. “Some things we doctors can treat—a broken bone, a sword cut, an arrow wound, sometimes a fever.” Then he looked down at the pale face of his patient and seemed to think hard. “There's more to his illness than the poison from the dragon.”

“What do you mean, Doctor?” Jake asked quickly. “I thought it was just that wound in his arm and the poison that must have gotten into it.”

“That's bad enough, but we've done what we can for that. What worries me is that there is something else that I can't exactly put my finger on—he just won't come out of that coma.”

Wash picked up Reb's limp hand and held it tightly. There were tears in his eyes, and he dashed them away with his sleeve. “I should have stayed with him. I shouldn't have let him go out alone.”

Josh patted the small boy's shoulder. “Not your fault, Wash,” he muttered. “It wouldn't have mattered if all of us had been there. I don't think we could have done a thing.”

“What was it that happened?” Abbey asked. Josh knew she never liked sickness and, if she had had her way, would have fled the room. She feared illness, and now alarm was in her eyes. “Did anyone hear what actually happened out there?”

“We can tell you that.”
Elander entered the room, accompanied by Elaine. He came to the head of the bed where Reb lay, rested his hand on the boy's forehead, then pulled it back. “I knew all the time,” he said steadily, “that there was something going on in Reb, but I didn't know what it was exactly. That is, not until Wash told me the story, and then Princess Elaine confirmed it.”

“Well, what was it?” Jake demanded. “We couldn't get a word out of Wash.” He looked angrily at the boy.“ He acted like he was withholding information.”

“That's exactly what he
was
doing, Jake.” Elendar nodded. “He told me what had happened, and I required him to keep silent. But I can tell you now. Reb encountered one of the most evil beings in the kingdom of the Dark Lord. She calls herself Mogen, and a more foul spirit never set foot on this earth.”

“What is she—some kind of a witch?” Jake asked.

“I suppose that is what you would call her. She traffics with evil in every known form. She puts spells on people. She knows of all the worst poisons and herbs, and time and time again I have tried to trap her, but she has avoided me—so far.”

Josh looked down at Reb and felt a sudden spasm of fear as he noticed the clamminess of his face.

“He's—he's so sick,” Sarah said. “What did she do to him?”

“Well, for one thing, she put this on him.” Elendar reached into the pocket of his cloak and pulled forth a metal disk. “This is the amulet of the Dark Lord. You see this strange device carved on it? That is his sign—the bent cross. If you ever see that, you know at once that evil is behind it.” His voice was grim, and his eyes flashed.“ Anyone who wears it is in danger of his spirit being overwhelmed by the powers that would destroy Camelot. I will destroy the amulet, but I wanted you all to see it so that in your future travels you will be aware of the bent cross.”

“Is that what made Reb act so funny?” Wash asked, looking up at the seer.

“Partly that” Elendar nodded. “But it was even worse because, as I said, Mogen knows how to cloud men's minds, and she certainly clouded the mind of our young friend here. I think she touched you too, Wash, but only to put you to sleep so that you would not be aware of her presence. Now some of her power still rests on him.”

“The doctors say they don't know what to do.” Josh looked over at the doctor, who frowned in reply.

“We just can't do some things,” the doctor said.

“Don't blame the physician,” Elendar said quickly. “He has done well in binding up the wound and treating the poison from the beast—but it will take more than that. I will do what I can.”

The Sleepers watched, and the physician observed even more closely, as Elendar had a bowl brought by a servant. He filled it with water, took a leather pouch out of his cloak, and then removed from it what appeared to be dead leaves. Crumbling them, he let the leaves fall into
the water. At once a vapor cloud arose, and a strange odor permeated the room.

“This is the leaf of the carmine tree,” he said. “I have found it to be helpful in such cases. Be very still, all of you. You cannot leave the room.”

No one tried to leave. They all watched with bated breath. Elendar kept his hands on the head of the sick boy. The fragrance of the carmine leaves rose, a strong odor, and more than once Josh felt his head beginning to swim.
There's something in those leaves,
he said to himself.
I hope it helps Reb!

All watched Reb's face. He seemed a dead boy. His skin was sallow and clammy, and there was no movement at all for a long time.

Then Josh said, “Look! I saw his eyelids move a little bit!”

At once Elendar called in a loud voice, “Reb, comeback! Come back from where you are—and join the house of Goel again.”

Everyone seemed to be holding his breath, waiting.

Then Reb's eyelids fluttered.

Sarah gasped and put her fist against her lips. “He's alive! He's alive, and he's not going to die.”

As Josh watched Reb's eyelids, they slowly opened.

He seemed confused as he looked around the room, moving his head slightly. Finally he licked his lips, blinked several times, and whispered, “Where—where am I?”

“You are safe, my boy,” Elendar said. He took Reb's hands and held them still. “Do not be afraid. You have been on a long and dark journey, but you are back now. How do you feel?”

Reb licked his lips again, cleared his throat, and seemed to gather strength. “Why, I guess I've had a bad dream. Don't know what in the world happened to me.” He tried to sit up, and Josh and Dave helped him.

He grinned at them slightly. “Looks like I got a couple of good helpers.” He stared down at his bandaged arm, and memory seemed to come back to him. He shut his jaws firmly. “I remember part of it—about that critter that come at me.”

Elendar said, “We will pray that most of the memories will fade. But some you should never forget. Do you remember Princess Elaine?”

Reb sat up a little straighter. “Well, I shore do. That big varmint about tore my arm off, and then when I fell back I heard that woman—or whatever she was—screaming, and then I seen you, Princess, shoot an arrow that hit right in the middle of that big snake.” He slapped his head and said, “That's about all I remember except he fell over dead, and I guess I must have passed out.”

Elendar's eyes were still, and he seemed very relieved. “You are a very fortunate young man, Reb Lee Jackson. Goel has looked out for you well.”

“Yep, Goel and the princess here. I ain't never gonna forget that, Princess. I was a gone coon, you bet!”

Something in his voice sounded familiar—a humility and a lightness that had been missing.

“Yes,” Elendar said, nodding his silvery head. “He is no longer under the power of Mogen or the Dark Lord. Now he will become himself again.”

Elaine said, “I think it might be well if we let him rest some now.”

Elendar agreed and bustled about, getting the Sleepers to leave, but Reb called out, “Miss Elaine, you stay just a minute, will you please?”

Elaine hesitated but then, at a nod from Elendar, moved over to stand beside the bed.

When the others had gone, he said, “I don't know how to say this, but I reckon you saved my life.”

“It was the doing of Goel,” the princess said quickly. She repeated the story of how he had told her that she had been chosen to slay the vicious beast.

Reb listened intently. “You're about the bravest girl I ever saw—to tackle that beast with just one arrow, when knights had failed with all them big spears.”

“It was different this time.” Elaine smiled. He looked so tired she wanted to reach out and brush his hair back from his forehead where it lay plastered with sweat, but she refrained. “This was at the command of Goel, and the arrow was blessed by him. I knew he never fails.”

Watching her, Reb said, “I—I remember some things about what happened, but some things I don't.” His jaw tightened, and his face reddened. “I remember one thing, though—I behaved like a stupid mule the last few weeks!”

This time Princess Elaine did brush back the lock of hair. She let her hand rest on his forehead for a moment. “You mustn't torment yourself, Reb. You weren't yourself, as a matter of fact. You are one of the sweetest boys I have ever known. It was that Mogen who made you behave like you did.”

At the mention of Mogen, Reb flushed even more and shut his eyes. “No, I was responsible to do what was right. And I sure made a fool of myself with her, didn't I?”

Elaine drew her hand back and smiled. Then she pushed him down on the bed. “Lie down and sleep now. You'll feel better tomorrow after you've rested.”

He looked up. “I don't guess you'd want to go riding with me anymore—not after the way I've acted.”

“Of course I'll go riding with you! As soon as you're able. Lie back now and rest. I'll just sit here beside you.”

Reb closed his eyes and almost at once was asleep. Elaine arranged the cover around him, sat down, and watched the boy's face for a long time.

* * *

The council sat glumly around the table. Finally Sir Gwin said, “I'm sorry to be the bearer of evil tidings.” His face was long, and doubt filled his eyes. “But I felt you should know the worst.”

King Dion and Queen Mauve both spoke up at once. “No, you did exactly right, Sir Gwin.” King Dion rubbed his chin, then said, “Tell me again about the forces of Melchior. How many do you count in his army?”

“As badly as I hate to say it, Sire, at least three times the number of the men we can muster.” Anger leaped into his eyes. “We did not know how effective his trickery was at convincing men.”

Sir Elbert's large, round face was gloomy as usual. “There's not much hope, I'm afraid, Your Majesty. We'll do the best we can—but we're surrounded, and we'll have to fight a defensive action.”

Sir Nolen stood to the left of Sir Gwin. He was small, but his eyes were gleaming with anger. “We'll never give up, Sire,” he burst out suddenly. “If we could get in the clear and fight an action on horseback, I know we could win.”

“We can never do that,” Sir Gwin said. “Already our scouts have told us that they are closing in on all sides. We had better be prepared to withstand a siege.”

“Do we have enough food and water,” the queen asked, “to go on for a long time? Once we're surrounded, we cannot break through.”

“That is questionable, I'm afraid, Your Majesty,” Sir Gwin said. “We will do the best we can and trust the loyal hearts of those knights who have remained with us.”

The king looked over at Elendar, who had said nothing but remained in the shadows by the wall. “And what say you, Elendar?”

Elendar knew he was being asked for help, for guidance. He stared at the king steadily, then at the queen. Finally he said, “We must walk this road with all the courage we can muster. True, we are outnumbered, but”—he said in a louder voice—”we have right on our side.”

Sir Elbert gave him a disappointed look. “Really, Elendar. I was expecting more help than that.”

Elendar smiled at the large knight. “You do not trust the right to triumph, Sir Elbert?”

“Well, I don't want to be gloomy about this, but I don't think I can handle more than three of Melchior's knights myself. But we shall see, shall we not?”

“That's the most encouraging thing I ever heard you say.” Gwin smiled. “Let us go muster the men.”

“How much time do we have before they attack?” the queen asked.

“Not more than a day, I would think,” Sir Gwin responded, “and I would ask you, Sire, to stay away from the field of action.”

“I will be where the battle is,” King Dion said, and his youth seemed to come back to him. His hair was silver now, but his dark blue eyes were clear. He stood, and there was a nobility in him that shone out as he said, “The king will lead the army. If I fall—you, my son, will be the king.”

Prince Loren flushed and moved to his father's side. He bowed his head. “I will lay down my life for you, Father, and for Camelot.”

The king put his hands on his son's arm. “We must walk closer, my son, for one day you will wear this crown. Come now, let us go inspect the battlements and prepare for the battle.”