The Sword of the Spirits

Chapter One
 A Traitor Dies

Chapter Two
 Prince of the Three Cities

Chapter Three
 Blodwen's Summer

Chapter Four
 The Player King

Chapter Five
 The Council of Captains

Chapter Six
 A Weapon from the Past

Chapter Seven
 The People of the Bells

Chapter Eight
 The Battle of Amesbury

Chapter Nine
 The Walls of Winchester

Chapter Ten
 The Sword of the Spirits

The White Mountains
Excerpt

About John Christopher

With love to Sheila and Jenny

L
ESS THAN A WEEK AFTER
I was acclaimed Prince of Winchester the pigeons brought a message of defiance from Petersfield.

That city had been taken by my father, Prince Robert. On the advice of the Seers he had kept it, rather than exact ransom as was the custom. He had made one of the Petersfield Captains his lieutenant, but the blue and gold flag of Winchester flew from its citadel.

When my father was killed by treachery and my brother Peter reigned, the men of Petersfield accepted him in turn. He was renowned as a warrior, and had
killed the man who killed my father. He ruled both cities, and if there were any in Petersfield who objected they did not do so openly but only murmured in corners.

Then my brother's Lady died, accidentally as it appeared. But when I returned from my journey beyond the Burning Lands to the city of the Wilsh, I found myself accused of her murder. In fact Ezzard the Seer had killed her, by means of the forbidden ancient power called electricity. It was done for my benefit—she was carrying the child who would bar me from succession—but I knew nothing of it.

Nevertheless my brother accused me, along with the Seer and his Acolytes. He ordered me to be burned alongside them in the palace yard. It was then that I challenged him and he accepted the challenge. We fought and his sword broke against mine—that which was forged for me by the Seers in Sanctuary. He flung himself against me, his weapon broken to a stub, and my sword took his life.

So at last I became Prince, as the Spirits had prophesied years before at the Seance of the Crowns. The crowd which had vilified me and shouted for my death cheered me instead. But that was in Winchester.
In Petersfield there were other thoughts. I had won some reputation in the north but the news was not yet widespread. They saw me as little more than a boy, a Prince by accident. They thought the time was ripe to regain their freedom.

The message that came was brief and insulting. Michael, Prince of Petersfield, sent greetings to the Prince of Winchester. He would do him no hurt so long as he stayed behind his own walls. And he was sending a gift to help him while away the time there. He was also returning something which had been loaned by his predecessor, for which Petersfield had no further use.

The gift was not long delayed. I was called to the North Gate next morning. During the night the guard had heard the sound of horsemen, but on being challenged they had turned away. They had left some things outside the gate. A wooden sword and shield such as boys use when they play at warriors, and one of those wooden horses that children put between their legs and run with, pretending they are horsemen. There was also the body of Captain Markham, my brother's lieutenant.

A crowd had gathered. They stood in silence. They
were looking at the toys and the dead man. They were also looking at me. I saw Blaine and Harding, who had bowed the knee to my father and my brother but been their enemies nevertheless. They had pledged allegiance to me, too, but with the same lying tongues. They would pull me down if they could.

Greene was there as well. He was the Captain who had commanded the expedition to the north. I spoke to him, but loud enough for others to hear.

“Have this body taken up. Tell the Seer he will be buried with full honors in the Captains' graveyard.”

Greene nodded. “I will see to it, sire.”

“Take up those other things also. Keep them carefully.”

He was silent. They were all watching me. I paused before I went on:

“We will tie them round Michael's neck before we hang him.”

They cheered at that. Greene's face spread into a grin. His fingers rolled the waxed ends of his mustache. As I had learned on the expedition he lacked inner certainty, but he obeyed orders and fought well and bravely. I said:

“How long will it take for the army to be ready?”

He said confidently: “They can be ready in three days.”

“No.” I shook my head; their eyes were on me. “You can do better than that. We ride north tomorrow.”

There was another loud cheer, echoing back from the city's walls. I turned and left them.

•  •  •

I talked to Edmund in the little parlor behind the Hall of Mirrors. I sat in my father's old wooden chair, with Margry's painting of my mother hanging on the wall opposite. The morning had been gray, but with mists that were rising now. At times the sun lanced through. It would be hot in the afternoon.

Edmund was my friend, although my father had killed his and taken the crown. He had ridden with me on the expedition; and when my first sword broke in the fight with Peter it was he who had thrown me the Sword of the Spirits so that I could fight on. That sword lay now on a table by the window, unsheathed. Briefly the sun dazzled from the steel.

Edmund said: “It shines brightly.”

“Rudi has been putting a polish on it. Hans brought it back to me just now.”

Rudi was Master Armorer to the city. He was also a dwarf: armory was one of the trades the dwarfs kept, as an honor as well as a duty. Hans, his son, had traveled with us beyond the Burning Lands.

“A polish,” Edmund said, “but not an edge. Even Rudi could not improve on the edge it has.”

“No.”

The sword was said to have been forged not by men but by the Spirits. I did not want to talk of this to Edmund because even to him I could not tell the truth: I had given an oath of secrecy to the Seers. To change the subject, I said:

“Rudi has been busy with a new sword for Hans. He is determined his son will go into battle as well equipped as any warrior of Winchester, and better than most.”

Edmund's hand had been on the sword hilt, caressing it. He turned and said:

“Into battle? You are not letting him ride with the army?”

“Yes. He will ride beside me.”

“But it is impossible,” Edmund said. “A dwarf may not be a warrior.”

“He rode with us to the north.”

“As your servant.”

“And saved my life when I was a prisoner of the Sky People.”

“It was well done,” Edmund said, “and you are right to reward him. But not in such a way as this.”

“In what way, then?”

“With gold. No dwarf can ever have enough of that.”

“This one can. Gold means nothing to him. He wants only one thing: to be a warrior. And he has earned it.”

“The Captains will not be pleased.”

“They will have to learn to be. Or at any rate put up with it. In the same way that Greene learned to eat the flesh of polybeasts even though at first it revolted him. In the same way that he learned to accept a polymuf as his equal at the court of King Cymru.”

“But we are back in a civilized country, Luke! All that was on the other side of the Burning Lands. We have our customs and they must be kept.”

I knew the customs as well as he did. Since the Disaster, when the earth had buckled and belched fire, strange things had happened. Beasts had been born misshapen, and men also. Apart from those of human stock there were dwarfs, who were a true breed, and polymufs, who might have any deformity or crookedness.

Wherever polybeasts were found they were slaughtered, and buried or burned. In the case of children the Seers examined them and made pronouncement, calling them either true man or dwarf or polymuf. Their lives must then be lived in accordance with that decree.

Polymufs were servants always, and could hold no property. They were pitied at best, more usually despised. Dwarfs, on the other hand, worked as craftsmen and were respected as such. They had goods, even land, and polymufs to serve them. The Master Armorer sat at the Prince's table in ceremonial banquets. All this was according to custom; and custom held also that only a true man could be a warrior.

I said: “I promised it to him. I will not begin my reign by breaking a promise.”

“At least put it off for now. Do not take him on this campaign. Wait until things are more settled.”

He meant: wait until your position is more secure. I had won my title lawfully and the crowd had cheered me for it. But the crowd was fickle, and not all my Captains were to be trusted. And I was young and inexperienced. I could not afford to make mistakes which in an older man would have been forgiven or overlooked.

I knew all this and understood that he spoke as he did for my good. I looked at him with fondness. He was taller than I and far more handsome; but the long face was frowning, the blue eyes worried. I put my arm on his shoulder.

“Do not fret. They will do as I say as long as I give them a victory over Petersfield. And if I fail they will pull me down whether or not a dwarf rides with the army.”

•  •  •

Later that day I saw the new Seer, the one who had been sent to replace Ezzard. His name was Grimm, but it belied him. He was a large and portly man, amply filling his Seer's black coat. He was taciturn in public, as a Seer must be; when he spoke his voice
was not harsh like Ezzard's but calm and easy.

I did not see him at the Seer's House but at the palace. By having Ezzard executed I had freed myself of suspicion of complicity in his crime, and the High Seers had confirmed this when they condemned him as one driven mad by false Spirits. But they had agreed that it would be wise for me to seem to stay aloof from the new Seer, at least for the time being. He might come to the palace but I would not go to him, except to a Seance in the way of duty and observance.

Like Edmund, Grimm was unhappy, though not about Hans. He knew nothing of that. It was the campaign that troubled him. He said:

“Luke, it is folly to risk everything at this stage. You need time to consolidate. Things have happened so fast. There should be a breathing space.”

I said: “Tell that to Michael of Petersfield. Or to the spirit of Markham, whom we buried this morning.”

“He has baited you and you have risen to the bait. It is what he wanted.”

I shrugged. “Maybe so. It makes no difference. I could do nothing else.”

“You could have laughed it off: the joke was feeble enough.”

“And the dead man? Does one laugh off a corpse also?”

“He was not of this city. They could not say his spirit called on you.”

“Not of this city, but he served it. He was lieutenant to my father, to my brother, and for a few short days to me. My honor requires me to avenge him.”

Grimm scratched his broad white skull, his head being shaven as befitted his office. He said:

“This business of honor wearies me. I hope you are not going to take it too seriously, Luke.”

I was aware yet again of the division in my nature and my mind. I knew and understood what Grimm meant. To him and the other Seers such things as honor and glory were of no importance in themselves: they only mattered insofar as they served that larger plan to which their lives were devoted.