The Silver Stag of Bunratty (11 page)

‘That doesn’t seem to matter to Sir Richard. He is really angry about the raid – and especially about poor Beauvallet. Anyway,
he
has broken
his
promise before now. And look at his father.’

Everyone thought of Brian Rua, dragged out from feasting and savagely killed by Thomas De Clare.

Tuan felt his anger rise. How dare they? How dare the
Norman English walk all over his people, killing them and taking their lands? The lands that this very castle stood on had once been Mac Conmara lands, his people’s lands. Bunratty castle should not be here at all. Tuan suddenly realised how much he hated being in the castle, living in the enclosed, dark space. It was true that the halls and huts his people lived in were dark and smoky too, but they spent so little time inside them that it hardly mattered. Bunratty smelt bad, he thought, it smelt of blood and it smelt of burning. Its walls were a prison.

‘I will kill De Clare myself,’ he said.

‘Yes, and end up dead with your head decorating the castle walls like one of the deer from the forest. Though without the antlers,’ Maude snapped.

Cliar said slowly, ‘Well … it looks like De Clare himself may be killed in any case.’

‘What?’ Tuan, Maude and Matthieu all spoke together.

She told them about Sir Richard’s visit to Dame Anna. ‘She said something about getting a message to Outlaw. If we go to her, maybe she can tell us how to rescue Tuan and get word to the Prior at the same time. I tried to talk to her earlier, but she was so busy with the wounded there was no time. And now she has gone back into her tower and when I tried to open the door, it was locked.
That’s never happened before.’

‘I can try to fight Fat John and Godric when they take me away from the castle,’ said Tuan. ‘At least I know what to expect now.’

‘Fat John and Godric? You wouldn’t have a hope.’ Maude’s voice was scornful. ‘No, the only thing to do is to get away from the castle before tomorrow. And I have an idea how we can do it. But then we have to decide what to do with you when you do get out. It’s too dangerous for you to try to get back to your clan. There are English and Scottish armies everywhere east of Cratloe. What we should do is go to Prior Roger in Knockainy. He said he would help you get back to your people safely. And that way we can warn him of what’s happening, and tell him not to follow Sir Richard to Dysert O’Dea.’

Tuan looked at Maude. He had already begun to imagine his escape, taking off back home to the hills and the forest. Back to his own people. But he knew the chances of making it even as far as Cratloe were very faint. Soldiers always shot on sight and asked questions later. Maude’s plan made sense. You had to admit it, she’d thought of everything.

‘It is true that the woods to the east are full of soldiers,’ he said. ‘But even if I do try to get to Outlaw, first I have to
get out of the castle. And that’s my biggest problem.’

‘Not exactly,’ said Maude. ‘The problem is that
we
have to get out of the castle. Matthieu and I are coming with you.’

Matthieu looked as if this was news to him too, but said nothing.

‘Why on earth would you do that?’ said Tuan. ‘You’ll be safe here.’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that. We could end up burnt to death or stuck here in a siege. Listen, I’ve been thinking hard and imagining being stuck with Lady Johanna for months if there’s a siege … if I had to listen to her for that length of time I would probably end up killing her. Or myself. Or burning the castle down or something equally dreadful. And on top of that they’re talking about marrying me off to some horrible De Burgh ally. This
cannot
happen! If we get to Prior Outlaw, perhaps he can help me and Matthieu get some news of our father. And if we all travel together it will make it easier for you, too. When we’re on the road, if we meet any English soldiers we can say you’re our servant.’

‘I bet you would only love that,’ muttered Tuan. He was not at all sure he wanted to go on this adventure with Maude. He knew she would try to boss everyone. She
couldn’t help it. But then, at the same time he had to admit that it would be nice to have company. He looked at Cliar. If only she was coming too.

‘I’m coming too,’ said Cliar. ‘I’m not going to be left behind here. I wasn’t born when the last siege was on, but Margaret has told me all about it. It was awful. Nearly every living thing was sick; humans and animals and even the birds. When the sick animals died they were catapulted from the battlements to get them out of the castle and to try to spread disease among the attackers. But the Irish catapulted them right back. And I do remember bits about the battle here seven years ago. It was horrible – there were bodies everywhere; they buried them in big pits because there were so many. And then just a couple of years later the village was burnt and lots of the settlers driven out. I’ll never forget the smell of burning … I am not going to wait here and see it all happen again.’

She smiled, a little shakily. ‘And anyway, you are the first real friends I have ever had, friends of my own age, and I’m not going to watch you go off while I’m stuck behind in Bunratty.’

Maude hugged her. ‘So, it’s decided. Lady Johanna has organised some musicians to come tonight and there will be dancing and feasting. All we have to do is get past the
sentries and take a boat down the Ratty to the Shannon. I know where there’s some rope, so we can climb over the battlements while the sentry is patrolling the other side. In any case, they won’t be watching for people getting
out
, but for people trying to get
in
. Once we get out we can cross the Shannon in the boat and take to the fields on the other side.’

Tuan shook his head. ‘We’d be better to stay with the boat. Remember what Outlaw said. There’s a river that feeds into the Shannon from the other side – the Maigue. If we find it, we can follow it down towards Knockainy.’ Tuan was trying hard to remember the rest of Prior Outlaw’s directions. But while he remembered the bit about following the Maigue, the rest of what the Prior had said was a blur in his head. He knew they had to leave the river at some point, but when? It would come back to him somehow. He hoped.

CHAPTER 14

E
SCAPE

hat night in the Great Hall the dancing failed to cheer anyone up. The dancers went through the motions, aware that Lady Johanna was watching and would be displeased if her efforts at entertainment were not appreciated. Sir Richard sat with a frown on his face, cursing his servants for being too slow to serve him and lashing out at Lady Johanna when she asked him what the matter was. Cliar was careful to keep as far away as possible from him as she served the meat and wine. She did not want to remind him that she had been there when Dame Anna had seen disaster ahead of him. Nor did she want anyone to notice her red eyes.

Cliar had been crying all day, pretending to Margaret that she had a cold so that she would not question her too closely. She had told her that Dame Anna wanted her help
after the feast so that Margaret would not wonder why she was not in her bed that night. Before going down to serve in the Great Hall she had hugged Margaret tightly, but Margaret, busy and overworked as always, had pushed her away impatiently, saying: ‘Get on with you – the sooner you’re gone the sooner you’ll be back to help me. I know we’ll need Dame Anna’s lotions and powders in the future, but God knows she could have chosen some other time to ask for you. I’m worn out and I could have done with you to help with the clearing up after the feasting.’

But the ghosts were not so easily fooled, and there had been a lot of wailing in the castle, for the word had gone around that Cliar was leaving. After she had said a tearful goodbye to them, she made one last attempt to enter the tower, but the door would not budge. If she’s in there, at least she’ll be able to see us in her silver bowl, Cliar thought, but somehow the thought brought no consolation.

Matthieu watched the dancing, tired and stiff and sore from his fall and still feeling slightly sick from all he had seen that day. But the bright colours moving in the shadows and the sound of the music put him into a kind of trance and helped him not to think about the horror. It made him imagine a world without tourneys and battles. Why did people have to fight all the time? Was it because they felt
they needed to win? Everyone was like that, even the children in the village, playing that game they spent all their time at. It was an Irish game, requiring great skill. There was a blown up pig’s bladder that opposing teams tried to hit into the space between two hurdles – they called it the goal. They hit it with a stick, although sometimes the children ended up just kicking it from one to another. If all the knights in the world were to kick around a stuffed pig’s bladder and try to get it into a goal made of wattles, maybe, thought Matthieu, that would get rid of the need they had to fight and win. To triumph over someone. He smiled to himself at the thought of it.

Then he wondered if other people had such strange thoughts. He told nobody about them, because he knew he would only be laughed at. Nobody laughed at Maude; everyone listened to her because she sounded so passionate about what she said, and her ideas were always practical and clear, not like his. He was passionate too, about his dreams, but nobody seemed to realise it or indeed to listen to him at all. Sometimes Matthieu felt he was no more than a reflection of the stronger characters that surrounded him. There were times he felt he might as well be invisible, for he seemed to have no effect on all the events that were happening around him. Even Maude, much as he loved her
and she loved him, sometimes seemed not to be aware that he was there. He had talked to Cliar about this and she had known exactly what he was talking about. ‘It’s the same with me,’ she said. ‘I’m only a servant, so people don’t notice me. But remember, Matthieu, that can be very useful sometimes; you can hear things and see things that others might not be allowed to hear. Remember that.’

Like birds, thought Matthieu. Nobody minded if a pigeon sat on a windowsill beside them as they shared secrets with each other. Yet here in the castle they so often looked as if they were listening, their head cocked to one side; and then they would fly to the tower, into Dame Anna’s window, for whatever titbits she could give them – or perhaps that they could give her? He was brought back to reality by a sharp thump on his shoulder from Maude.

‘Wake up! Now is our chance while the dancing is on,’ she whispered in his ear. ‘I’ve told Cliar to get Tuan and meet us in the hayloft. The roof is too dangerous with all the sentries. Come, let’s go upstairs and get our cloaks and Gile. Be quick now. And take some bread and meat from the table, we’ll need food for the journey.’

Even in the warmth of the hayloft, Cliar and Tuan were shivering as they waited for the other two. The night was clear and very cold. Tuan had not gone to the Great Hall
that night, as he felt that if he saw Sir Richard he would not be able to keep his fury from showing. He had found himself, as the evening went on and he sat in his little room, getting angrier and angrier. Tuan thought of his cousins – all soldiers, both boys and girls – riding over the wild hills, hair flowing, roaring at the tops of their voices, or taking the boats out onto the ocean, with the sun streaming on the water and the call of the gulls urging them to go faster, faster, to challenge the rocks and the waves and the wind with their speed and strength. He should be with them, not caught like a fly in De Clare’s spider’s web. He wanted to see his own people; he wanted to be home, sleeping around the fire with his cousins in the warmth of the hall, not in this cold, stone, stinking place.

He thought of his beloved mother. She would be praying for him, as she had promised to do every morning and every night. She had given him a hare’s paw to keep him safe; a lucky talisman. He wondered if it had been her prayers or the lucky talisman that had kept him safe so far. He also wondered how long such luck would last.

He dozed off and woke abruptly to Cliar shaking him.

‘Come quickly,’ she said. ‘We have to meet the others in the hayloft.’

The cock crowed and Tuan said: ‘He never shuts up. If I
could do just one thing before I leave the castle to make me happy, it would be to strangle that cock and set him to boil in a pot of herbs.’

Cliar laughed as she led him away.

The four children and Gile made themselves comfortable high up on some baled straw. The barn was mostly bare now of winter fodder, but they were hidden and secret in the hayloft.

Maude flicked back her hair and Tuan couldn’t help but smile – it was such a girly gesture for a tomboy. She caught him smiling and grimaced at him.

‘So, this is the plan,’ she announced. ‘I have got the rope we need to get down the walls on the other side of the battlements. The only problem is Godric – he’s on duty tonight and if he sees us we’re in trouble. We must try to get over the wall while he’s patrolling the other side of the roof. It’s a cloudy night, so let’s wait until the moon is hidden. There will be less chance of being seen.’

The children sat in the darkness, all of them feeling slightly sick at what lay ahead of them. If they were caught there would be no second chance for Tuan to escape from death. It seemed like a long time to wait, but finally the moon went behind a cloud and Maude sprang up.

‘Let’s go, fast.’

The four children and the dog scrambled towards the stairs which led to the roof. But at the top they stopped in their tracks, for standing on the battlements, looking over towards them, was Godric.

‘Hell’s curses on him,’ whispered Maude. He had spotted them and raised his lantern towards them. The moon, which had been hidden, had suddenly come out from behind the clouds.

‘And what are you doing here, might I ask?’ he said. But as he spoke, there was a rustling in the air and a cloud of silver swept across from Dame Anna’s window. A flock of doves circled Godric and he shouted angrily as the children hastily lowered the rope over the edge of the battlements.

‘Tighten it there as much as you can, Tuan,’ whispered Maude, as Tuan attached the rope to one of the crennelations. ‘You go first, Matthieu. Then Cliar.’

Matthieu looked down. It was a very long way to the ground. But there was no time to lose. Godric was still battling with the white cloud, but how long could the birds keep him at bay?

The watchers on the roof heard Matthieu land with a thump and a cry of protest on the soft turf at the bottom of the wall.

‘Cliar, you next,’ said Maude.

But Cliar paused, for she had seen something. Godric had raised his bow and shot one of the birds as it circled him. She saw it fall; and the figure inside the circling birds lifted his bow in triumph.

‘It’s wounded,’ she said. ‘I must bring it to Dame Anna. You go on,’ she said frantically. ‘I’ll follow you, don’t worry. I’ll meet you by the boat at the jetty.’

Tuan paused and seemed as if he was about to argue, but Maude pushed him roughly towards the rope. If Tuan was caught he would die.

‘Take Gile,’ she said. ‘And hold onto him tightly, he weighs a ton.’

Tuan and then Maude slid down the rope. But Cliar ran towards where the bird had fallen to the ground and caught it in her hands. Holding it as gently as she could, she rushed down the staircase, and ran as fast as she was able towards the north west tower, Godric calling angrily behind her, ‘Come back! I hit it, it’s mine!’

She paid no heed. She caught her breath in relief when the door of the tower opened. Slamming it behind her, she raced up the stairs and into Dame Anna’s chamber. But when she entered, the room seemed empty. The fire was out, a pile of dull, grey ashes. Dame Anna was not at her spinning wheel, nor mixing her potions. Cliar looked
around; surely Dame Anna could not have left Bunratty?

Then she saw the cloaked figure lying at the edge of the dead fire. It was Dame Anna, and for one horrible moment Cliar thought that she was dead. But she realised that the woman was only sleeping, for her breath, though shallow, was regular. Cliar looked down at the bird she was holding in her hands, the black arrow still piercing its feathers, red blood staining the whiteness. No heartbeat. It was already dead.

For the first time Cliar looked into Dame Anna’s face and realised how very old she was. It shook her; she had never thought of her as an old, frail lady. Should she wake her? No. There was no time. She laid the bird gently in the ashes of the fire and made her way downstairs. Godric had disappeared. Had he gone to raise the alarm? Cliar raced to where the rope still hung down the wall. Brian Rua was standing there.

‘Don’t worry about Godric,’ he said. ‘Them white pigeons have given him a fair pecking and have addled what little wits he has, fluttering around him. And some of us helped – we did a few apparitions and flapped around him, and he took off, scared, muttering about pigeons and children and some kind of stag coming for him. Fat John has sent him to bed to sleep it off. But you must hurry –
another sentry is on the way.’

Cliar gave the ghost a grateful smile, but there was no time to waste with more discussion. She had to join the others. She climbed onto the wall and down the rope, out of Bunratty.

At the jetty the others were waiting impatiently. Tuan had chosen a small blue rowing boat that would just about fit the four children and Gile, and would be light enough for them to drag along if there were stretches of the river which were too shallow for them to sail on.

They piled in and Tuan took the oars. ‘Have any of you ever rowed a boat before?’ he asked the others.

Maude and Matthieu shook their heads. There had always been a servant to row them wherever they needed to go.

‘It looks easy, though,’ said Maude.

‘It’s not as easy as it looks,’ said Tuan. ‘I’ll do the rowing until we get well out into the Shannon. Anyway, it will be quicker.’

‘I can row,’ said Cliar. ‘Do you want me to take the oars for a while?’

Tuan shook his head. ‘No, let me get us out a bit from the land first. After that we can take it in turns.’

As they made their way across the river, Tuan remembered his arrival in the castle. Another moon now,
and a sky full of scudding clouds. He looked into the trees and wondered if he had actually caught a glimpse back then of the Silver Stag in the darkness. Would he ever see it again?