The Key & the Flame

by Claire M. Caterer

  Ben’s face was blotchy and starting to puff up. He’d been standing in the knight’s line for a long time. “I just took some medicine. I’m okay.”

  “Come on,” Everett said. “It’s not our turn till the end of the first round.”

  Several pavilions, which were like small brightly colored circus tents, had been erected for the knights to relax out of the sun. They walked inside the nearest one. Loverian went with them and sat on a low cot to take off his breastplate.

  “I was talking to the other squires,” Ben said. “First up is Gervase. He’s jousting with some guy from the northern end of the kingdom, called Adémar. Then it’s Pagett against Sir Somebody . . . ”

  “Sir Rocelin,” Loverian supplied.

  “Yeah, Rocelin. And then Tullian fights Anselm, I think it was . . . Anyway, there’s seven jousts ahead of you. Then whoever wins those is paired up again, so we’ll be down to eight guys in the second round, then four, and two in the end.”

  “Who’s my knight again?”

  “Jordain.” Ben sniffed. “Everyone says he’s easy. He was a squire last year, still pretty green. You won’t have any trouble with him.”

  Everett grasped the wand. He had the feeling trouble was exactly what he was going to have.

  Chapter 39

  * * *

  Lady in Waiting

  The morning of the tournament, Holly woke with the sun. All the cottage was asleep. Folded on a chair next to her bed were her original clothes, jeans and all, which had somehow been washed and dried. She slipped into them gratefully. Even her tennis shoes had been cleaned of mud. Around her waist she fastened the belt with the scabbard the Wandwright had given her.

  She had to look like a page or a squire, though. Over her ordinary clothes Holly slipped on the tunic and leggings she’d worn the day before. She wove her hair into a single braid and tucked it inside the tunic’s hood.

  Áedán blinked at her from the mirror’s reflection, half hidden beneath her tunic. Holly had gotten used to his warmth on her shoulder, but what would happen to him today? She couldn’t bring him home; her mother would, well, freak out. And he’d hardly make it through customs back home to the States. But the Wandwright had said he could hibernate until she returned—which she would, as soon as she could. She touched the cut on her palm. Bittenbender had seen to that.

  While Holly was picking over her breakfast, too nervous to eat, Hornbeak the falcon arrived to go over the plan with her and the others. She would need to lose herself among the boys at the tournament and try to fit in with them. Hornbeak had seen Ben and Everett just the night before being led to their room, which was on the lower level of the east tower. Jade, who had been to the castle before, could guide her, but the Exiles would need to do their part to draw the guards away from the prisoners.

  “I would expect the guards to be redoubled,” said Hornbeak, who had seen many a prison break. “These lads were near rescued once already.”

  “But if someone’s storming the castle, won’t everyone go to defend it?” Holly asked. They’d better, or she wouldn’t be able to get the boys out. Everything depended on the castle being thrown into confusion.

  “We shall have to hope ’tis so, my lady,” said Ranulf. And after that, there wasn’t much left to say.

  Almaric fitted a saddle and bridle to one of the Wandwright’s white horses. He gave Holly a new bow and quiver and helped secure them behind her backpack. Ranulf helped her to her mount. Jade and the falcon leaped up in front of her. “Hornbeak shall be your eyes and ears, as well as our own,” Ranulf told her. “He will signal us when you have gained the castle. And should any harm befall you, the Golden Salamander will protect you, my lady.”

  Holly remembered the ring of fire Áedán had conjured when he’d thought Ranulf was a threat, back at the Wandwright’s cottage. Her shoulder glowed with the salamander’s warmth beneath her cloak.

  Almaric embraced Holly briefly, then blushed and backed away, bowing. “Lady Adept, it has been an honor.”

  A tight lump grew in Holly’s throat. “But I’ll be seeing you before I go, won’t I?”

  Almaric glanced down and coughed, fiddling with his walking stick. “I had thought to await Your Ladyship in the wood, but Ranulf . . . ”

  “It will be for Almaric’s own safety to remain, Lady Holly,” said the centaur gently.

  “Yes, yes, best all round, should something go awry,” the magician agreed, wiping his eyes. “But in any case, my lady . . . Well . . . I would have you know how grateful we are to you.”

  “But I haven’t done anything. I’ve just . . . ” Tears pricked behind Holly’s eyes. “I’ve put everybody in danger.”

  “You have given us hope, Lady Holly,” said Ranulf, looking into her eyes. “That is no small feat.”

  “But I will come back,” she said. “I’ll see you all again.”

  “Let us think only of our task ahead,” said Ranulf. “It is enough to concern us.”

  —

  Holly’s white horse followed the path through the Northern Wood and out onto the meadow. Seeing the castle in the distance, Holly felt very small. They could be attacked at any moment. Her only comfort was that Hornbeak was keeping a lookout from above.

  “The knights will all be busied about the tournament, Lady Holly,” Jade said, reading her thoughts.

  As they approached the castle, she spied the grandstands set around the tournament pitch. The king’s banners flapped in the wind. “I hope you’re right,” she whispered.

  She entered from beyond the lists, and here a dozen different things took her attention. Clusters of blue-cloaked musicians piped tunes on recorders and strummed mandolins. Several men juggled bright flags, swords, and burning torches. Villagers competed in their own archery contests and horseshoe games. Winners took away mince pies and round cakes that smelled of honey. Children scampered every which way, waving toy wooden swords and burlap flags painted with the image of a raven. Village women clustered in groups, weaving on large wooden looms and selling some of their wares. Silversmiths hawked medallions and goblets.

  Holly led the horse along the fringes of the fair. “I don’t understand, Jade,” she whispered to the cat. “I thought the king was a tyrant. These people look happy.”

  “The king’s peasants are granted only a few days of gaming and feasting at Midsummer,” Jade said, looking straight ahead so as not to appear to be speaking. “But look more closely, my lady.”

  Holly peered into the crowd and her breath caught.

  “Let fly the arrow! Who of you can best the Adept?”

  The crier stood below a wooden scaffold heaped with hay and firewood. Standing on it was a kind of scarecrow in a long gown, a crude stick tied to one arm like a wand. As Holly watched, a villager stepped up and, after paying a coin, shot a flaming arrow into the heart of the scarecrow. The effigy smoked; another arrow flew. The straw woman caught fire and the crowd cheered.

  “Death!” chanted the people. “Death to the Adept!”

  Now Holly could see the true nature of the games. One woman sold pies said to be made of centaur meat. Children caught butterflies in nets and tore their wings, crowing that they’d killed a fairy. On a stage nearby, a man and his daughter demonstrated how the king had slain the Wandwright’s apprentice ages ago. The crowd cheered as the child clutched her belly and feigned death.

  “Their fear of the Exiles is as great as their fear of the king,” Jade told her. “But look sharp, my lady. We must secure the horse.”

  Holly nodded, feeling ill. She took a deep breath and walked the horse alongside the grandstand until she found an opening in the long banner covering it. They slipped inside.

  It was close and dark underneath. Quickly she tied the horse to one of the wooden posts. She and Jade returned, blinking, to the sunlight.

  “Look, there’s Hornbeak!” The falcon dipped lower and landed on her arm. Holly ducked back under the berfrois banner to talk to him.

  “I come with
news from the falconers, Your Ladyship,” said the bird. “They say the youth of the wood is to compete in the king’s tournament of skills.”

  “You mean Everett?” asked Holly.

  “Aye, my lady. The elder is to joust with the king’s knights, the lad to be his squire. The prince has offered the lives of the prisoners in exchange for a victory.”

  Holly and Jade stared at each other. “It sounds too good to be true,” said Holly. “Why would the king let them be in the tournament?”

  “His own amusement, Lady Holly,” said the falcon. “Of course, Reynard expects them to be killed in the contest. Perhaps he has even planned it so.”

  Holly gasped, but Hornbeak held up a wing to calm her. “It is not exactly a match of skills. The youth is to show a bit of sorcery meant to confound his opponent.”

  “Sorcery?” said Holly, confused. “How? Does the prince know magic too?”

  “Not as you know it, my lady,” said Jade. “The king’s court has kept mages for many a year. They use trickery and illusion to scoff at true magic.”

  So some kind of stage magician would be helping Everett? Holly couldn’t quite picture it.

  “Sir Everett competes late in the joust,” Hornbeak said. “I have seen it on the boards. Count the competitions, Lady Holly; his shall be the eighth.”

  Sir Everett?

  Holly turned to Jade. “If the boys are out in the open, all we have to do is let them know I’m here. Then we can all ride away to the wood together.”

  “With a full complement of the king’s knights after you,” said Jade.

  “Not if the knights are diverted by the Exiles,” the falcon said, taking flight. “I fly now to inform Ranulf and the others.” He disappeared through the slit in the berfrois covering.

  “Find yourself a seat on the lower benches, my lady,” said Jade. “I shall find your kinsman and his companion. Await me here.” He streaked out from beneath the berfrois, and Holly was left alone with Áedán.

  Chapter 40

  * * *

  Jade’s Message

  Inside the boys’ pavilion the air grew stuffy as the sun climbed, and Loverian opened the flap to admit the breeze. Everett could see a bit of the lists from their position. Gervase, the first to compete, easily unseated Adémar, who took a direct hit to the chest and lay still as death on the ground. The crowd roared in response.

  “I wouldn’t fancy my chances against him,” Everett said.

  Loverian glanced at him. “Gervase is not even the best jouster in the kingdom. That honor lies with Grandor, despite his lack of chivalry.”

  Everett pulled out his wand, studying the markings on it. Sol had not appeared yet to claim Holly. He still had the lady’s favor, and a lot of time before his turn.

  “Will we get through two rounds today, do you think?” Ben was asking.

  “Aye,” said Loverian. “One round, followed by luncheon and the lesser competitions. The day ends with the second round. The third round is reserved for the morrow, with the championship on the third day, afore the ceremonies.”

  And when would Holly get here? Everett wondered.

  “Oh no.” Ben held his handkerchief to his face. “They’re worse than horses.”

  “What are?”

  Then Everett noticed the sleek black cat who had walked in through the open pavilion flap. Loverian jumped up and edged toward the entrance, walking parallel to the cat’s path. “It bodes ill, Sir Everett,” he warned.

  “That’s just a superstition,” Everett said, forgetting who he was talking to. But a moment later the cat seized the wand in its mouth and raced off with it.

  “Hey!”

  Loverian drew his sword.

  “Let me go! I’ve got to get that wand back!”

  “I’ll get it!” Ben dodged Loverian and raced out of the pavilion. The knight cursed and glanced after Ben, then back to Everett. “You had best pray thy companion return.”

  “He will.” And fast, Ben.

  But several minutes slipped by, and Ben still had not come back. Loverian glanced outside the pavilion, uttered a curse, and took a chain and padlock from a trunk at the foot of his cot. “I shall search for the squire,” he said, taking Everett outside. He looped the chain around Everett, securing him to a nearby tree. “Stay fast,” he said, and disappeared into the crowd.

  A moment later Ben dashed up. “What’re you doing chained up?”

  “Loverian went looking for you. What happened?”

  “Lots of stuff! That cat—he’s Holly’s! And he talks!”

  “Where’d she find a talking cat?”

  “Never mind, I have to tell you what he said before Loverian comes back. Holly’s got a horse hidden at the north end of the bleachers—”

  “Berfrois.”

  “Whatever. Anyway, when you make your first run in the joust, that’ll be toward the south end. But don’t finish him off, okay? When you turn around to do the second run, you’ll be heading toward the north end.”

  “Right.”

  “So on your second run, ride past him and follow Holly—she’s on a white horse at the top of the hill. She’ll be heading for the forest.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll just have to jump up on Buttercup behind you. There won’t be much time.”

  “But Avery’s supposed to meet us, yeah?”

  “Forget about him!” said Ben. “The point is to get out of here.”

  Everett didn’t like the sound of that. Avery trusted him, and didn’t he need rescuing too, in a way? “He’s counting on us. We can’t just leave him, Ben—”

  “Do you want to get home or not? Let him find us. He’ll be up with the king and queen, and there’ll be a lot of confusion. Holly’s friends are going to divert the knights.”

  “Divert them? How?”

  “I don’t know, but we should be able to get a head start. And Holly can protect us. Jade said she’s got another wand and she’s learned all kinds of stuff.”

  Just as Sol had said. “Who’s Jade?” Everett asked.

  “The cat.”

  “Huh.” Everett paused. Sol had said nothing about a cat, nor any other friends of Holly’s.

  “Oh, and there’s one more thing,” Ben said, turning red. “They’ve changed the contestants around a little.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You were supposed to joust with Jordain. I don’t know how it got changed, or whose idea it was . . . well, but I bet I do know . . . ”

  “Ben! Who am I competing against?”

  Ben quieted, swallowing. “Grandor.”

  “What?”

  “Look out, here comes Loverian.” Ben stood at attention as the knight strode up, his face dark red. “Good fortune is thine, squire,” he said, unlocking Everett’s chain. He pushed them, none too gently, into the pavilion. “Ye shall keep your lives this day.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Ben, “but I had to get the wand back. Everett would be dead without it.”

  Loverian snorted, pulling his hand through his curls. “He shall be like to die in any case.”

  “I wish everyone would stop saying that,” Everett muttered. His heart dropped, settling around his belly button. Grandor: the best jouster in the kingdom.

  —

  When it was time for luncheon, Loverian led the boys outside and chained them to the same tree where he’d secured Everett before. He left them a platter of food and went to join the other knights for the midday feast. Between the high sun and the heavy food, Everett started to feel drowsy. Next to him, Ben had already dozed off. He closed his eyes.

  But at that precise moment, a bright light flew out of the tree’s canopy and onto Everett’s knee, startling him. “Sol!” His stomach tightened into a knot. She couldn’t know he was going to break his promise—could she? He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I—I didn’t expect you quite so soon.”

  “There is little time, my lord,” she said urgently. “I have heard the Adept’s plans tha
t the squire hath told thee. It is all to our greater good.” She smiled at him, her golden body glowing. “When the joust be finished, you must ride to the Adept’s side and seize her wand. I shall be with you. Ride with me into the forest; the Adept will follow you as the bee to the hive. But take care! We must arrive at the firenest. Only there can the Adept’s destiny be realized.”

  “Um . . . yes, right. Okay,” Everett said, wondering what destiny that might be. Sweat trickled down inside his chain-mail shirt. He glanced at Ben. “But what if Holly doesn’t want to go with you and get her . . . destiny? She might just want to go home.” In fact, he was quite sure of that.

  Sol gave a low hiss, baring two rows of very sharp teeth. “I have granted you power,” she said. “Do you wish to face the knight without it?”

  “No, of course not!” Everett said, feeling panicky. “I can do it, I can bring her!”

  “See that you do,” whispered the flaming creature. And with that, she vanished.

  Everett let out his breath in a shaky sigh. What would Sol do when she realized he had double-crossed her? Beside him, Ben shifted in his sleep. A bit of drool dribbled out of his half-open mouth. Maybe he should’ve told Ben about Sol from the very beginning. But it was too late now, and it was all up to Everett. He couldn’t let down Holly—or Sol. He would just have to work it out. Somehow.

  Chapter 41

  * * *

  The Joust

  For Holly, watching the jousts was a bit like sitting in the dentist’s office waiting to have a cavity filled. She couldn’t still her fluttery heart. She kept twisting a piece of her tunic in her hands. She had found a seat in the berfrois, close to the ground, and Jade sat in her lap. He kept turning to frown at her every time her legs jiggled nervously. At least he had found the boys. Knowing this, picturing Ben alive and well and chatting with a black cat (and sneezing, likely as not), filled Holly with a strange sort of pride. Her dorky little brother was making do, being brave, and she was going to get him out of here.