"I came back to the Castle as the Shaman, hoping to show him the right way by example. But he ignored me. Wouldn't even meet with me. So I went to see him in his rooms, my old rooms, and revealed to him who I was. I told him I hadn't come back to be King. I just wanted to help and advise him. I didn't want the Throne. Didn't want anyone else to know who I was. I had come back to save the Land. To save him.
"And he laughed at me. Laughed right in my face and told me I was a fool, and always had been. It was his turn now, and he knew what he was doing. I saw then that he could never change, never be what the Land needed, so I killed him, for the good of the Kingdom. It was my duty. I brought him into the world, so I had to send him out of it. One thrust with a hidden blade, right through the heart. He died so easily, but it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I've always known my duty. I've always done what had to be done. Just like you, Rupert. And Julia."
Hawk and Fisher looked at each other, and then looked quickly about them, and were almost shocked to discover that no one else seemed at all shocked or even surprised by the revelation. If anything they all seemed a little relieved they could finally stop pretending not to know.
"All right," said Hawk to no one in particular. "When did you know? Chance, did you tell them?"
"He didn't have to," said Queen Felicity. "Everyone here knew who you were the moment you walked in. It takes more than a few scars and a cheap dye job to hide faces as famous as yours. But we all decided that if you wanted to be here incognito, that was your right. So we all went along with it. Officially, Prince Rupert and Princess Julia were never here."
Hawk turned slowly back to face the Shaman. "I always hoped I'd meet you again someday, Father. I never really believed you were dead. But I never thought it would be like this. Why did you go away? Why did you let everyone, let me, think you were dead?"
"It was necessary," said the Shaman flatly. "How many times do I have to say it? I wasn't fit to be King. I left, so someone else could take the Throne. Someone more worthy. You, or Harald. I hoped it would be you, but you never did have the courage to be King. You never wanted it badly enough."
"I never wanted it at all," said Hawk. "I wanted a life of my own. So I went out and made one."
The Shaman looked at him and finally nodded, grudgingly approving. "You've grown up, Rupert."
"I had to. My father was dead." Fisher came to stand beside Hawk, and he smiled at her for a moment before turning back to the Shaman. "Harald spoke to me after his death. Told me to beware our father's legacy. It took me a while to work out what he meant, but once I realized you had to be the murderer, I understood. Might makes right; that was always your way and his. Using your power and position to enforce what you believed in, and to hell with everyone else. It lost you the Kingdom and it got Harald killed. I was starting to go that way myself in Haven, but I pulled myself back from the brink. There has to be law and justice for all, to protect the world from people like us. So, Father. What do we do now? I can't let you escape. Are you ready to face justice?"
"Justice?" asked the Shaman. "Who are you, any of you, to judge me? I am the King, and the King is the Land. I did what was necessary to save the Land. None of you have a right to judge or condemn my actions. I caused the problem by allowing Harald to take the Throne, and I put a stop to it in the only way possible. Now he's dead and the Land is safe, and I will go back into the Forest to be a hermit again. And let us all pray my duty never calls me back here."
"What for?" asked Hawk. "To kill again? Who would you kill this time if you didn't like the way things were going? Lament? Felicity? Stephen? You haven't changed at all, Father. You still believe might makes right."
"I may have given up my Throne, but I still have my responsibilities," the Shaman said fiercely. "I would have thought you of all people would understand what duty means. Now get out of my way, boy. I'm leaving."
"No," said Hawk. "I can't let you go, Father."
"What will you do, Rupert? Cut me down like you did the Astrologer? Can you kill your own father? I killed my son, and it nearly destroyed me. None of you understand what it cost me to do what I did. To do my bloody duty."
It began to rain, right there in the middle of Court. Great heavy drops of rain falling out of nowhere, faster and faster, quickly forming into a slim blue figure of living water. She looked around her, her wet mouth moving in a slow, gentle smile. Sir Vivian stepped forward, and knelt and bowed his head to her.
"Vivian?" asked Cally, one hand at her swordhilt.
"Sir Vivian?" asked Queen Felicity uncertainly. "Who is this… person?"
Sir Vivian looked up into the calm watery face, and she nodded. Sir Vivian rose to his feet and turned back to the Throne. "This is the Lady of the Lake, Your Majesty. An elemental formed around the ghost of a dead woman. She is the spirit of the Land, our ancient mother moving through the wet earth, the force that makes the green life grow, and nurtures us all."
The Shaman moved slowly forward, all the strength and arrogance gone from his face. The Lady turned toward him and he stopped abruptly, looking into her face, unable to approach any further. "Oh, dear God," King John said softly. "It is you. Eleanor…"
Shock and surprise moved through the whole Court as they looked numbly at the Lady of the Lake.
"Queen Eleanor?" asked Chance.
"Mother?" asked Hawk.
"Yes," said the Lady in a voice like a sparkling stream, smiling on them all like a benediction. "Or at least, I was. Eleanor died long ago, and what was left of an ancient Transient Being called the Lady of the Lake merged with her dying spirit so that she could continue. I am the last Transient Being in the world of men now, and with Reverie gone, I shall fade from the world as magic departs."
"Mother," said Hawk. He started toward her, but the Lady stopped him with a kind but implacable look.
"Your mother is dead, Rupert. I'm the Lady of the Lake now. The spirit of the Land. I remember you, but I have to be everyone's mother now." She turned her attention back to the Shaman, who actually shook under her gaze. "I am here to judge you, John. Who has the better right than the woman who was your wife, Queen to your King, mother to the man you murdered?"
The Shaman sank to his knees before her and tears ran down his face, cutting thick trails .through the clay and the woad. "Oh, God, Eleanor; I killed our son! And I killed you, too, through my jealousy. And I think perhaps I've killed all that was good and honorable in me. I'm not the man you knew, Eleanor, the man you married. There's so much blood on my hands, and not all the water in the world can ever wash them clean again."
"That's for me to decide," said the Lady of the Lake. "Will you accept judgment from me, John?"
"I would tear the living heart from my breast and give it to you," said the Shaman. "Do what you must, Eleanor. I deserve it."
"You committed a terrible crime, John," said the Lady. "Not for you the peace of verdict and sentence, and the balm of punishment. Instead, I sentence you to sleep in the Land, in my embrace, not to wake again till you are needed. To redeem yourself and the Land one last time."
"To make amends," said the Shaman. "That's all I ever wanted, really. I'm so tired, Eleanor."
"Then come to me, my love," said the Lady of the Lake. "And sleep the sleep of centuries."
The Shaman rose to his feet and looked slowly around him. He nodded to Felicity on the Throne, and Lament beside her. "Guard the Land, King and Queen. You have my blessing, for what it's worth." He turned to Hawk. "Good-bye, Rupert. It takes a wise man to know he's not a King, and a strong man to walk away from it. I have always been proud of you, son." He looked at Fisher. "Proud of you, too, Julia. You were like the daughter I never had. Watch his back, and try and keep him out of trouble." He turned to the Seneschal. "One last gift and command to you, my loyal servant. Go and see your grandmother, the Night Witch. She's currently the Mother Witch at the Academy of the Sisters of the Moon." He smiled as general consternation ran round the Court, touching everyone but Tiffan
y. "The Night Witch founded the Academy after the long night ended. I always knew, but I said nothing. She has the right to work out her own redemption. I thought you ought to know, Seneschal, before I left. Family is precious." And finally he turned to face the Lady of the Lake. "I'm ready, Eleanor."
She held out her arms to him, and water spilled from them like fountains. "The first Forest King was married to the Lady of the Lake. A true marriage of the Land and the King. Now the Cathedral is returned, the Castle is restored, and all things come full circle again."
King John walked forward into the embrace of the Lady of the Lake, and her liquid form closed around him, washing away his appearance as the Shaman as he faded away and disappeared within her. The Lady smiled around her one last time, perhaps especially at Sir Vivian, and then her watery shape exploded into a mist of tiny droplets that hung on the air and then was gone. The Shaman and the Lady of the Lake, King John and Queen Eleanor, not to be seen again for many, many years.
"It's time Isobel and I were leaving, too," said Hawk after a respectful pause. "We've done everything we came here to do. There's no need for anyone else to know who Harald's murderer really was. It would only complicate things. Blame it on the Magus. No one ever trusted him anyway."
"You could stay," Lament said suddenly. "The Throne is rightfully yours, by line of succession. Felicity and I would step down for King Rupert and Queen Julia."
"Well, yes," said Felicity. "Who are we, after all, to compete with legends?"
Fisher caught her eyes briefly. The Queen hadn't sounded all that enthusiastic. "No," she said kindly. "We could have been King and Queen long ago if we'd wanted."
"I always knew I wasn't the stuff Kings are made of," said Hawk. "And I'd always be worried about my father's legacy coming out in me. You'll make a much better job of it, King Jericho."
"Then stay anyway, as Captains Hawk and Fisher," said Lament.
"No," said Hawk. "I'd always be tempted to interfere. The Forest Kingdom needs a new start, with no reminders of its troubled past. The truth of our identities would soon spread, and I've never been comfortable being a legend."
"Right," said Fisher. "You have to watch your language all the time."
Duke Alric cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped forward. Fisher turned to look at him. "I was wrong," the Duke said flatly. "And there's not many people who've heard me say that. I'm sorry, Julia."
"For having your people beat us to a pulp, or for sending me off to die in the dragon's cave all those years ago?" asked Fisher, her voice cold as ice.
"I thought I needed to set an example," said the Duke. "You've done well, Julia. You could come back to Hillsdown with me."
"I don't think so," said Fisher. "We'd be at each other's throat in a week. We're too much alike to ever be close."
"Yes," agreed the Duke. "There is that. You always were your father's daughter."
Fisher looked at Felicity, sitting on her Throne. "So, Fliss…"
"So, Jules… Good to see you've gone blond again. Black never did suit you."
"Keep an eye on our father."
"Of course. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it."
They nodded, smiled, and looked away, glad that was over. They'd never had much to say to each other. Hawk made his good-byes to Sir Richard and Ennis Page.
"Give Jericho a hard time over Reform," said Hawk. "For the good of his soul."
"Of course," said Sir Robert. "You are sure he isn't the Wrath of God anymore? I'd hate to be hit by a sudden plague or boils. Or frogs."
"One last thing," said the Seneschal, stepping forward with a certain ceremony. "Not everything has changed for the better. The Darkwood is still with us, and still a danger to the Forest. Therefore, Captain Hawk, I must formally require you to leave the Rainbow sword with us."
Hawk slowly unbuckled his swordbelt and hefted the weight of the Rainbow sword in his hand. He knew the Seneschal was right, but it still felt like giving up an old friend, only newly recovered.
"And you left your axe in Reverie," said Fisher. "The High Warlock's last gift to you."
"Ah, hell," said Hawk, handing the Rainbow sword over to the Seneschal. "I've got both eyes again. I can always find another weapon."
"Precisely," said the Seneschal. "And so the Forest Kingdom grants you one last gift." He held out the sword and scabbard he'd brought into Court with him. "I found this in the Old Armory. It is the sword of the first Forest King. I'm sure he would want you to have it. So that wherever you go, part of the Land will always be with you."
Hawk smiled and buckled the old sword onto his waist. "Now I remember why I sneaked out of the Castle last time. I hate these drawn-out good-byes."
"So, Sir Seneschal, what will you do now the Castle's geography has returned to normal?" asked Fisher. "They'll be replacing you with maps and signs."
"And a good thing, too," said the Seneschal. "I got tired of chasing rooms round this dump long ago. I'm going to be heading a team investigating all the wonders and mysteries of the returned Cathedral. More than enough work there to see me out."
Hawk and Fisher stood together and looked around the Court one last time.
"Try and get it right this time," Hawk said finally. "I'd hate to have to come back and sort you out again."
"Right," said Fisher. "Being a legend's bloody hard work."
Sometime later, Hawk and Fisher rode away from Forest Castle on the horses they'd brought with them from Haven. They didn't look back. There were no crowds to cheer them on their way because no one knew they were going. Which was just what Hawk and Fisher wanted. It was mid-morning on a warm and pleasant day, with the sun shining bright in a clear blue sky. The air in the green woods was crisp and sharp.
"So," said Fisher. "Who do you want to be now? You've been Prince Rupert and Captain Hawk."
"I think I'll stick with Hawk. He's someone I chose to be. You still happy with Isobel Fisher?"
"I suppose so. But I'm definitely not going back to Haven."
"No," said Hawk. "We've burned our bridges there."
Fisher laughed. "Burned a hell of a lot more than that. They won't forget us in a hurry. In fact, I think it could truthfully be said that we did about as much good for Haven as that city could stand. Time for a new start. Again." She looked sideways at Hawk. "And there's always the children to consider…"
"Yes," said Hawk. "They seemed like good kids. There's no guarantee they're what we'd end up with, of course."
"Oh, of course. No guarantee of any kids at all."
"No. But we could have a lot of fun trying."
They grinned at each other and then rode on a way in companionable silence.
"Let's just go out into the world and see what's there."
Hawk said finally. "Go adventuring again. Help people where we can. Kick the bad guys where it hurts. Because that's what we do best."
"Sounds good to me," said Fisher. "Who knows? Maybe we'll win another Throne along the way."
"God, I hope not," said Hawk. They both laughed and urged their horses on.
And so they rode out of Forest history once again, and back into legend, where they belonged.
Beyond The Blue Moon Page 53