Legacy: Arthurian Saga (220 page)

"You realize that I am asking you to
be a spy? To watch your own kinsmen? Is this something you can
bring yourself to do?"

Mordred said, abruptly: "Have you ever
watched a cuckoo in the nest?"

"No."

"They are all over the moors at home.
Almost as soon as they are hatched, they throw their kin out of the
nest, and remain--" He had been going to add "to rule," but stopped
himself in time. He did not even know that he had thought the
words. He finished, lamely: "I only meant that I shall be breaking
no natural law, my lord."

The King smiled. "Well, I am the first
to assert that my son would be better than any of Lot's. So watch
Agravain for me, Mordred, and bring them both back here. Then
perhaps," he finished a little wearily, "given time, the Orkney
swords may go back into the sheath."

Soon after this, on a bright day at
the beginning of October, Agravain followed Mordred as he walked
through the market-place in Camelot, and overtook him near the
fountain.

"I have the King's permission to ride
north. But not alone, he says. And you are the only one of the
knights he can spare. Will you come with me?"

Mordred stopped, and allowed a look of
surprise to show. "To the islands? I think not."

"Not to the islands. D'you think I'd
go there in October? No." Agravain lowered his voice, though no one
was near except two children dabbling their hands in the fountain.
"He tells me that he will revoke the ban on Gaheris. He'll let him
come back to court. He asked me where he might send the courier,
but I told him I was pledged, and couldn't break a pledge. So he
says now that I may go myself to bring him back, if you go with
me." A sneer, thinly veiled. "It seems he trusts you."

Mordred ignored the sneer. "This is
good news. Very well, I'll go with you, and willingly.
When?"

"As soon as may be."

"And where?"

Agravain laughed. "You'll find out
when you get there. I told you I was pledged."

"You've been in touch all this time,
then?"

"Of course. Wouldn't you expect
it?"

"How? By letter?"

"How could he send letters? He has no
scribe to read or write for him. No, from time to time I've had
messages from traders, fellows like that merchant over there who is
setting up his cloth stall. So get yourself ready, brother, and
we'll go in the morning."

"A long journey? You'll have to tell
me that, at least."

"Long enough." The children, back at
their play, sent a ball rolling past Mordred's feet. He reached a
toe after it, flipped it up, caught it, and sent it back to them.
He dusted his hands together, smiling. "Very well. I'd like to go
with you. It will be good to ride north again. You still won't tell
me where we'll be bound for?"

"I'll show you when we get there,"
repeated Agravain.

They came at length, at the end of a
dull and misty afternoon, to a small half-ruined turret on the
Northumbrian moors.

The place was wild and desolate. Even
the empty moors of mainland Orkney, with their lochs, and the light
that spoke of the ever-present sea, seemed lively in comparison
with this.

On every hand stretched the rolling
fells, the heather dark purple in the misty light of evening. The
sky was piled with clouds, and no glimmer of sun spilled through.
The air was still, with no wind, no fresh breath from the sea. Here
and there streams or small rivers, their courses marked with alders
and pale rushes, divided the hills. The tower was set in a hollow
near one such stream. The land was boggy, and boulders had been set
as stepping-stones across a stretch of mire. The tower, thickly
covered with ivy, and surrounded with stumps of mossy fruit trees
and elderberries, seemed, once, to have been a pleasant dwelling;
could be still, on a sunny day. But on this misty autumn evening it
was a gloomy place. At one window of the tower a dim light
showed.

They tethered their horses to a thorn
tree, and rapped at the door. It was opened by Gaheris
himself.

He had only been away from court for a
few months, but already he looked as if he had never been in
civilized company. His beard, carrot red, was half grown, his hair
unkempt and hanging loose over his shoulders. The leather jerkin
that he wore was greased and dirty. But his face lit with pleasure
at seeing the two men, and the embrace he gave Mordred was the
warmest that the latter had yet received from him.

"Welcome! Agravain, I'd hardly hoped
that you'd get away, and come here to see me! And Mordred, too.
Does the King know? But you'll have kept your word, I don't need to
ask that. It seems a long time. Ah, well, come in and rest
yourselves. You'll have plenty to tell me, that's for sure, so be
welcome, and come in."

He led them to a smallish room in the
curve of the tower wall, where a peat fire burned, and a lamp was
lit. A girl sat by the hearth, stitching. She looked up, half shy,
half scared at the sight of company. She had a longish pale face,
not uncomely, and soft brown hair. She was poorly dressed in a gown
of murrey homespun, whose clumsy folds did nothing to disguise the
signs of pregnancy.

"My brothers," said Gaheris. "Get them
something to eat and drink, then see to their horses."

He made no attempt to present her to
them. She got to her feet, and, murmuring something, gave a quick,
unpracticed curtsey. Then, laying aside her sewing, she trod
heavily to a cupboard at the other side of the room, and took from
it wine and meat.

Over the food, which the girl served
to them, the three men spoke of general things: the turmoil in the
Prankish kingdoms, Brittany's plight, the Saxon embassy, the
comings and goings of Arthur's knights-errant, and the gossip of
the court, though not as the latter touched the King and Queen. The
way the girl loitered wide-eyed over her serving was warning enough
against talk of that kind.

At last, at a brusque word from
Gaheris about the care of the visitors" horses, she left
them.

As the latch fell behind her,
Agravain, who had been straining like a hound in the slips, said
abruptly: "It's good news, brother."

Gaheris set his goblet down. Mordred
saw, with fastidious distaste, that his nails were rimmed with
black. He leaned forward. "Tell me, then. Gawain wants to see me?
He knows now that I had to do it? Or" -- his eyes glinted in a
quick sidelong look, very bright "--he's found where Lamorak is,
and wants to join forces?"

"No, nothing like that. Gawain's still
in Dunpeldyr, and there's been no word, nothing about Lamorak."
Agravain, never subtle, was patently telling the truth as he knew
it. "But good news, all the same. The King has sent me to take you
back to court. You're free of it, Gaheris, as far as he's
concerned. You're to go back to Camelot with Mordred and
me."

A pause, then Gaheris, flushing to the
eyebrows, let out a yell of glee, and tossed up his empty goblet
and caught it again. With his other hand he reached for the wine
jug, and poured again for all of them.

"Who's the girl?" asked
Mordred.

"Brigit? Oh, her father was steward
here. The place was under a siege of a sort from a couple of outlaw
fellows, and I killed them. So I got the freedom of the
place."

"Freedom indeed." Agravain grinned,
drinking. "What does the father say to it? Or did you have to wed
her?"

"He said the father was steward."
Mordred's dry tone laid slight emphasis on the second
verb.

Agravain stared, then nodded briefly.
"Ah. Yes. No wedding, then?"

"None." Gaheris set his goblet down
with a rap. "So forget that. No strings there. Come, let's have it
all."

And, the girl dismissed, the twins
plunged into talk of the King's pardon, his possible intentions and
those of Gawain. Mordred, listening, sipping his wine, said very
little. But he noticed that, surprisingly enough, Lamorak's name
was not mentioned again.

Presently the girl came back, took her
seat again, and picked up her sewing. It was a small, plain garment
of some kind, probably, thought Mordred, for the coming child. She
said nothing, but her eyes went from one twin to the other,
watching and listening intently. There was anxiety in them now,
even a trace of fear. Neither of the twins made any attempt to
conceal the elation which both felt at Gaheris's recall to
Camelot.

At length, with the lamp guttering and
smoking, they prepared to sleep. Gaheris and the girl had a bed not
far from the fire, and this, apparently, they were ready to share
with Agravain. Mordred, to his relief and slight surprise, was
taken outside into the cool fresh night and shown a flight of stone
steps curving round the outside of the tower. This led to a small
upper chamber, where the air, though chill, was fresh and clean,
and a pile of heather and rugs made a bed better than many he had
slept on. Tired from the ride, and the talk, he slipped off his
clothes, and was soon fast asleep.

When he awoke it was morning. Cocks
crowed outside, and a chill grey light filtered through the cobwebs
of the slit window. There was no sound from the room
below.

He threw back the covers and padded
barefooted across to look out of the window. From here he could see
the tumbledown shed that served as stable and henhouse combined.
The girl Brigit was standing there, a basket of eggs on the ground
beside her. She was scattering some remains of last night's food
for the hens, which pecked and scratched, clucking, round her
feet.

The stable was an open structure, back
and side walls, a stone manger, and a sloping roof supported on
pillars made from hewn pine trunks. From the window he could see
the whole of the interior. And what he saw there sent him back to
the bedplace, to snatch up his clothes and begin to dress with
feverish haste.

There was only one horse standing in
the stable. His own. The ropes that had tied his half-brothers'
beasts trailed in the straw among the strutting hens.

He dressed quickly. No use cursing
himself. Whatever had led his brothers to deceive him and to ride
off without him, he could not have foreseen. He snatched up his
sword belt, and, still buckling it on, ran down the stone steps.
The girl heard him, and turned.

"Where have they gone?" he
demanded.

"I don't know. Hunting, I think. They
said not to wake you, and they will come back soon for breakfast."
But she looked scared.

"Don't fool with me, girl. This is
urgent. You must have some idea where they've gone. What do you
know?"

"I -- no, sir. I don't know. Truly,
sir. But they will come back. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps two days. I
will look after you well--"

He was towering over her. He saw that
she had begun to tremble. He took hold of himself, and spoke more
gently.

"Listen -- Brigit, isn't it? Don't be
afraid of me. I shall not hurt you. But this is important. It's
King's business. Yes, as important as that. To begin with, how long
have they been gone?"

"About four hours, lord. They went
even before dawn."

He bit his lip. Then, still gently:
"Good girl. Now, there must be more that you can tell me. You must
have heard them talking. What did they say? They were riding out to
meet someone, is that it?"

"Y -- yes. A knight."

"Did they mention a name? Was it
Lamorak?"

She was trembling now, and her hands
twisted together in front of her.

"Was it? Go on. Speak. You must tell
me."

"Yes. Yes. That was the name. He was
an evil knight who had dishonored my lord's mother. He told me of
it before."

"Where did they expect to meet this
Lamorak?"

"There's a castle on the shore, many
miles from here. When my lord went into the village yesterday, he
heard -- the traders pass through, and he goes for news -- he heard
that this knight Lamorak was expected there." The words were
tumbling out now. "He was expected by sea, from Brittany, I think,
and there is no harbor near the castle, no landing that is safe,
with the weather we've been having, so they expected he would land
half a day's ride to the south, and then, when he had found himself
a horse, he would ride up the coast road. My lord Gaheris wanted to
meet him there, before he got to the castle."

"Waylay him, you mean, and murder
him!" said Mordred savagely. "That is, if Lamorak does not kill him
first. And his brother, too. It's very possible. He is a veteran,
one of the King's Companions, and a good fighter. He is also a man
dear to the King."

She stared, her face whitening. Her
hands crept, shaking, to clasp one another below her breast, as if
to protect the child who lay there.

"If you value your lord's life," said
Mordred grimly, "you'll tell me everything. This castle. Is it Caer
Mord?"

She nodded dumbly.

"Where is it, and how far?" He put out
a hand. "No, wait. Get me some food, quickly, while I saddle my
horse. Anything. You can tell me the rest later, while I eat. If
you want to save your lord's life, help me to get on my way. Hurry
now."