The Stones of Ravenglass (16 page)

They were soon in the forest, and that was where everything began to go wrong.

There was a sudden shout, and then a scream. Edern’s horse bolted and Tumi saw two mounted soldiers, their spears pointed at him and Mabon. Beneath one of the soldier’s helmets, a broad pocked nose could be seen. Stenulf.

Mabon’s horse reared up and Tumi felt a sharp blow on the side of his head. He slipped out of Mabon’s grasp and slumped forward. Before he lost consciousness he thought,
If I’m not dead yet, I soon will be.

Minutes later, Tumi opened his eyes to find he was still astride the horse. Mabon was breathing heavily in his right ear.

‘What happened?’ mumbled Tumi, rubbing his head.

‘A branch hit you,’ said Mabon. ‘We scattered when the soldiers appeared. I thought those two brutes were sleepy with drink.’

‘Aelfric and Stenulf?’

‘Yes. Them. They’re the worse of the lot.’

An eerie cry echoed through the trees. It sounded like an eagle’s call.

‘Edern,’ said Mabon. ‘It’s his special call. It’s the nearest he can get to flying.’ He gave the horse a light kick and they cantered towards the sound.

They could scarcely see where they were going. The moon was thin and the stars obscured by clouds. They were almost upon Edern and Zobayda before they realised it. Edern had stopped calling, and Zobayda had extinguished the candle in her lamp.

‘Is that Beri?’ Zobayda whispered.

‘No, it’s us,’ said Mabon.

‘Where is she?’ Zobayda said anxiously.

‘I’m sorry, Zobayda,’ said Peredur. ‘I think they caught her.’

‘What?’ she cried. ‘We must go back and rescue her.’

‘It’s too late, princess,’ said Peredur. ‘We’d never get close. But she won’t be harmed.’

‘She will! She will!’ moaned Zobayda.

‘No, Peredur’s right,’ Edern said gently. ‘Beri will be safe. Those thugs won’t dare to hurt her. They say that Osbern D’Ark wants Beri to be his wife.’

‘You stupid boys. D’you call that safe?’ Before they could stop her, Zobayda had slipped down from the horse and run into the trees.

Chapter Sixteen

Timoken heard a shout. It wasn’t carried on the air, but came from somewhere deep inside his ear. He drew his cloak tighter and, bending his head, he murmured into its crimson folds, ‘What am I hearing?’

The jinni’s spirit seemed to stir. No sound came from the cloak, but an image appeared before Timoken. He saw the jinni’s face on the ring his sister wore. He saw Zobayda running through the trees and calling; the name she called was Beri.

Timoken felt his shoulder being violently shaken.

‘What’s the matter with you, boy?’ came the wizard’s harsh whisper. ‘We must go back.’

Timoken blinked. For a moment he had almost forgotten the soldiers and their dogs. From the safety of the trees, he looked up at the cliff-top. The soldiers were still there, staring down into the forest. Could they see him?

‘Come back, Timoken!’ Eri tugged his arm. ‘Do you want a spear through your heart?’

‘The cloak protects me,’ muttered Timoken.

‘What’s happened to you?’ The wizard tugged again.

‘I saw my sister,’ whispered Timoken.

‘You saw her in your mind. Let’s leave this place.’

‘No.’ Timoken stared at the pack of black hounds pacing and growling behind the soldiers.

A low howl came from Timoken. The wizard let him go and stepped away.

Timoken’s howl carried up the steep cliff, ‘Go home,’ he told the dogs. ‘Go back to your warm kennels, your dinner bones, your crying puppies. Go, before it is too late!’

The leading hound lifted his head and began to whine. It sounded almost like a human sobbing. The rest of the pack joined in, and soon the air rang with the whining and whimpering and squealing of dogs. The soldiers shouted at the pack, ordering them to be silent, but the dogs weren’t listening. They bounded away, back through the forest, following their leader home to Ravenglass.

Believing their hounds had caught another scent, the soldiers mounted their horses and rode after the dogs.

Timoken smiled with satisfaction. ‘They won’t be back for a while,’ he said.

The wizard scowled. ‘And what then?’ he grumbled. ‘We’ll never be able to defend our pile of stones against an army.’

Karli and Sila came creeping out of the trees. ‘But, sir,’ Karli said, ‘you can make another magic wall.’

‘Yes, Eri,’ said Sila. ‘You can make our castle vanish, can’t you?’

‘It isn’t even a castle,’ muttered the wizard.

‘It will be,’ Timoken told him.

The other children began to emerge from the trees. They gathered round Timoken and the wizard, questioning and chattering in low, urgent voices.

‘What shall we do now?’

‘Will the soldiers come back?’

‘How can we build a castle?’

‘Where will we sleep tonight?’

Timoken put his hands over his ears. ‘Aaargh!’ he growled. ‘Be quiet. I can’t think.’

‘We are not as loud as you, Timoken,’ said Thorkil coolly.

‘Quiet, everyone!’ Eri lifted his staff and the voices dropped to an occasional mutter.

Timoken’s hands fell to his sides. ‘We are not going to let the conquerors stop us from building our castle,’ he said.

There was an enthusiastic murmur of agreement. Elfrieda was the only one to raise a question. ‘As I said,’ – she glanced at Enid – ‘I refuse to go up there,’ – she pointed to the tumble of stones high above – ‘sitting on a row of spikes. So how are we going to get there?’

‘Like this!’ Timoken seized Elfrieda round the waist, lifted her off the ground and carried her, screaming and kicking, over the river and up to the top of the cliff.

‘You brute!’ shrieked Elfrieda as Timoken dropped her gently on the ground.

Laughter from the children below made her angrier than ever. She raised her arm, ready to strike Timoken, but he bounded out of reach, climbing up the pile of stones with light, half-flying leaps. Elfrieda scrambled after him, yelling, ‘You won’t get away with this, you rude, ignorant oaf!’

Timoken danced around the top of the pile while Elfrieda pulled herself up, now falling back as the great stones shifted beneath her, now clawing herself closer to the top. And then, at last, she was there. She lunged at Timoken, he leapt back and, all at once, he was rolling down into the darkness. With one long, terrified wail, Elfrieda rolled beside him, until they reached the bottom of a stony slope.

Timoken rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t so dark after all. The ground was soft, like a carpet. He got to his feet. A low lamp was burning on a distant table. Beside him, Elfrieda sat up with a groan.

‘What happened?’ she moaned.

‘We fell through a hole.’

‘I gathered that, but how can there be a . . . a room under all those stones?’

Timoken shrugged. He looked about him. He saw carpets on a far wall, their colours muted in the dim light. He saw a couch covered in cloth of gold and silken cushions; he saw a marble floor veined in gold; his parents’ golden room. ‘It’s still here,’ he said.

‘What’s still here?’ Elfrieda stood up, rubbing her bottom.

‘The castle,’ said Timoken. He stared up at the circle of light at the top of the slope. ‘It was only the outer walls that crumbled, and the four towers. They were much higher than the roof. They just fell on top of it.’

‘And through it,’ Elfrieda pointed at the rubble lying on the rug where they stood.

‘But it won’t be so difficult to rebuild,’ said Timoken.

‘Huh!’ was Elfrieda’s only reply.

They crawled carefully up the ramp of fallen stones and climbed out of the opening. As soon as they appeared there was a cry of relief from the crowd far below.

‘We thought you were gone!’ shouted Eri.

‘The castle’s still here!’ Timoken happily replied. ‘Underneath all this!’ He kicked the stones beneath his feet. ‘But we can live here while we build.’

Elfrieda gave a long sigh, which the others never heard.

Leaving Elfrieda to grumble, Timoken flew down to pick up the others. First came Sila. When Timoken returned for his next passenger, Eri said, ‘Enid’s spikes are not so sharp on her neck. If you sit just behind her head . . .’ he beckoned Enid and she ambled over to him. The wizard pulled himself up to sit on her neck. Adjusting his robes and wincing very slightly, he said, ‘Girls might have to sit side-saddle, like me. Boys on the other hand . . .’

‘I’ll try,’ said Karli eagerly.

‘You next, then, Karli!’ Eri clicked his tongue twice and, flapping her wings, Enid carried the wizard over the river and up to the top of the cliff.

Two of the new girls, Aldwith and Azura, looked uncertain. ‘That didn’t look comfortable,’ said Aldwith. Azura agreed.

But when the dragon came back, all the boys were eager to take their first ride on a dragon, and so was Esga.

Karli climbed on first. ‘It’s good,’ he called as Enid carried him aloft. ‘Her spikes don’t hurt, they’re kind of springy.’

Azura and Aldwith weren’t convinced. They waited for Timoken.

Night was falling fast and starlight cast few shadows. When all the children had been carried to the cliff-top, they stood looking down at the forest. The excited chatter that had followed their first experience of flying had been replaced by an awed silence. Below them, an immense sea of trees reached to the horizon; a dark world that merged with the infinity of a sky studded with distant mysterious stars. The children who had lost everything knew, without even looking at each other, that their lives had changed. They had taken an enormous leap into the unknown, into a life on the edge of enchantment.

‘Let us go beneath,’ the wizard said quietly.

‘This way.’ Timoken began to climb the pile of stones. ‘Be careful,’ he warned as he took light steps across the top of the ruin. ‘Ah, here it is!’ he exclaimed as his foot found the edge of the opening.

‘Don’t go too fast,’ said Elfrieda, ‘or you’ll be rolling over boulders all the way, like I did.’

As each one approached, Timoken took their hands and let them slide gently into the hole, and then down the stony slope into the room below. When they were all inside he bounded deftly over the ruin until he could see Gabar standing below.

‘D’you want to come up?’ Timoken called softly.

‘Dragon and I are staying here,’ Gabar replied.

‘Good night then, Gabar.’ As Timoken turned away, he suddenly remembered something. With one leap he was in the air and flying down to the camel.

‘I thought you had forgotten,’ said Gabar, as Timoken removed his saddle and the baskets hanging either side of him.

‘I had,’ Timoken admitted. He slipped off the camel’s head harness saying, ‘There, you’ll sleep better now.’

‘Mmm.’ The camel trotted into the trees where the dim shape of a dragon could be seen, her head lowered in sleep.

Timoken took the baskets and the hare-skin saddle back into the room below the rubble. They were all waiting for him. Most of them stood in a group, uncertain what to do next. Thorkil and Elfrieda had wandered to the far end of the room. Here, the soft light from the lamp played on the rich colours of the carpets hanging on the wall; Timoken remembered those carpets and he remembered the lamp, casting its glow on his parents’ smiling faces. But who had kept the light burning? Were his spirit ancestors still close?

The wizard walked over to the couch. He sat down, placed the plump silk cushions at one end and laid his head on them. Lifting his feet on to the couch he bid them good night, and closed his eyes.

The children stared at the sleeping wizard.

Karli said, ‘I’m hungry.’

Timoken took a handful of nuts from one of the baskets and began to multiply. Too tired even to talk, the others sat in a circle and passed the nuts round. The sound of cracking shells echoed through the golden room. Timoken wondered what his mother and father would have made of it all. He could sense their presence, feel their gaze upon him. Before the tears came to his eyes, he found himself smiling.

One by one, the children left the circle and found a place in the room where they could sleep. Timoken was the only one left awake. He took out the helmet that had belonged to the Ravenglass soldier and began to multiply. He worked on until he had two hundred helmets, then he began to multiply the spears. When he had completed one hundred and fifty-nine, he fell asleep.

Three hours passed before dawn light spilled past broken beams and down the sloping shaft of stones.

Timoken woke up. He could hear movement in the room behind him. He rolled over and saw the wizard tapping the row of helmets with his staff.

‘What’s all this, boy?’ Eri gave Timoken one of his disapproving stares. ‘Are you trying to make soldiers of these poor children?’

Timoken yawned and sat up. ‘No, Eri. But the Ravenglass soldiers might come back.’

‘Oh, they will. No doubt about that.’ Eri scowled. ‘They’ll want to know what’s going on here. If the king gets to know of a new castle in his realm, he’ll send an army.’

‘So you’ll make a spell wall for us,’ Timoken said brightly. ‘And no one will be able to see our castle – ever, unless you want them to.’

‘What d’you think I am?’ Eri said crossly. ‘It would take a week to make a place like this invisible.’ He waved his staff about and stamped his foot.

The children began to wake up. They gazed at their new surroundings, now becoming clearer in the morning light. Some had forgotten how they came to be there. When they saw the line of helmets and the pile of spears they became even more confused. The wizard’s angry voice unsettled them and they moved together for safety.

Thorkil woke later than the others. Immediately, he was on his feet and demanding to know how so many helmets had found their way into the castle. ‘Have you killed an army and hidden their bodies?’ he asked Timoken.

Timoken grinned. ‘Nothing like that!’ He told them where he had got the first helmet, and then explained why he had made so many.

Eri sat on the golden couch and listened with a disgruntled expression.

‘We must move the stones on the roof, so that they form a sort of wall,’ said Timoken. ‘A wall with openings, like the battlements on the conquerors’ castles. In every gap we’ll place a helmet with a spear beside it . . .’