Roderick stared at Ruby as the door closed behind him.
‘Exercising, then?’ he asked, continuing his habit of stating the obvious whenever he saw her.
‘Not much else to do, really.’
‘I came.’ There, he’d done it again.
‘Thanks. Seat? I can highly recommend the floor. After a couple of hours – or is it days, I’m losing track – your bottom will go totally numb and it won’t seem uncomfortable at all.’
Roderick sat, resting his back against the wall.
Ruby rested hers against the opposite wall, facing him. ‘Did you . . . ?’ she began and then stopped. Roderick realised she had been about to ask whether he had brought the herbs.
‘You told me you’d explain,’ he said.
Ruby sighed. ‘I’ll try.’
‘Are you a Nareean?’
She hesitated.
‘I can just go again,’ said Roderick, starting to rise.
‘No! No . . . Yes. I am.’
‘Why did you say you were from Danover?’
She looked about, as if for the truth. ‘The night before I saved you from the snake I was at your campsite and I heard Shamus tell you how devious and dangerous Nareeans were. I thought it would be easier to say I was from Danover. If I said I was Nareean you might have thought I was one of the ones looking for Banfor.’
‘Which would have been right. You were a Nareean who was looking for Banfor.’
‘Yes, but not for the reason you thought. I just wanted him to cure me.’
‘How do I know that?’ He stared at her, searching for signs of truth or lie. ‘I know you tried to talk Banfor out of coming back with me. How do I know you didn’t try to talk him into going with you back to Nareea?’
Ruby looked at her hands.
‘And why were you heading back into Baronia when Shamus and Fromley found you? You said you were going home. To Danover.’
‘I . . . I was concerned about Banfor. I wanted to make sure he was all right.’
‘Come on!’ Roderick scoffed. ‘How would you do that? I was taking him to the castle. You wouldn’t have been able to get near him. That doesn’t make sense.’
Ruby avoided his gaze. Roderick risked a bluff. ‘Banfor told me the truth about you.’
Her eyes flickered, anxious. ‘No he didn’t,’ she said quickly.
‘You’re right. He didn’t. But you just did. You’re not telling me the truth. Goodbye.’ He got to his feet.
‘Wait.’ She leapt up. ‘I’ll tell you! I will. I promise.’
They stared at each other. Roderick was trying to make himself holler for Hendrug, but his voice wouldn’t obey. Eventually he sighed and sat down again. ‘If any of this is a lie, I’m going.’
Ruby took a deep breath. ‘What I’m going to tell you could get me killed five times over in at least three different kingdoms.’
‘At least the last four times, it wouldn’t hurt,’ said Roderick. Quite witty, he thought, but totally wasted on Ruby, who pressed on as if he hadn’t spoken.
‘I’m Nareean. My father was a knight, one of the King’s advisers. We lived in the castle at Windorn. My two older brothers were educated inside the castle and learnt all that knightly stuff, but daughters of knights went to school in the city. So I had comfort, good food and servants in the castle, but I gradually realised how poor most of my school friends were. After a while I started to ask for bigger lunches so I could share with those who didn’t have enough.
‘When I was fifteen my best friend Ellen got sick. It started out as a cough, but soon she couldn’t get out of bed. Her parents couldn’t afford a doctor, so I asked my parents to help. My father had never liked me mixing with the townsfolk, and he refused. He said that Ellen’s family was trying to take advantage of me, and that if we helped her, soon everyone would be asking things of us. My brothers agreed. Every night I argued, pleaded, even begged my father as Ellen got sicker and sicker.
‘Eventually, in desperation, I tried blackmail. I told my father that if he wouldn’t help, I would leave. I was sure that would change his mind, but he just looked back at me and said, “So be it.”
‘I packed a bag and took what money I had. As I went to leave, my mother joined me at the door with her own bag. I had not realised how unhappy she was in the castle. We left together, found lodgings in the town, paid for a doctor and soon Ellen recovered.
‘Our money wouldn’t last forever, and my mother had always been a good seamstress, so we became dressmakers. She taught me, and we opened a shop.
‘But I couldn’t stop thinking about the contrast between the wealth of those who lived inside the castle, and the poverty of everyone else. It was so unfair. Ellen’s parents worked hard all their lives, and paid half of everything they earned in tax, and in return they couldn’t even get a doctor when their daughter was dying. Why should knights have the best of everything, paid for by everyone else? My mother agreed. So we started CAKE: Citizens Against Knightly Excesses.’
Roderick’s jaw dropped. ‘Wha . . . you?’
The prisoner sat back, looking smug, a sight not often seen in the dungeons of Palandan.
‘We didn’t plan for it to get so big,’ said Ruby. ‘The first meeting was just my mother and I and a few other shopkeepers. We had a cup of tea and talked about how the money we paid in taxes should be spent on doctors and schools, not on fattening up knights.’
Roderick shifted uncomfortably. ‘I’m not fat,’ he muttered.
‘Give it time.’
Unconsciously, he put his hand on his belly. There was a bit of a bulge there. Maybe it was just the way he was sitting.
‘Anyway, kingdoms need knights,’ he said. ‘What if there’s a war?’
‘When was the last war, Roderick? Fifteen years ago? Where does all that money go in peace time?’
‘Training. So we’re ready,’ said Roderick uneasily.
‘You don’t need to eat roast beef every night to be ready. You could just train for a few weeks every year, then spend the rest of the time doing something useful. And if there ever was a war, people could pay high taxes then, rather than all the time!’
Ruby took a few deep breaths. ‘Sorry. I get a bit carried away sometimes. So we started holding regular meetings and talking more about the changes we wanted. Soon hundreds were coming. I began travelling, setting up meetings in villages and towns across Nareea and before long there were branches everywhere. Lots of people bitterly resented what was going on and CAKE gave them a chance to talk or, more often, shout about it. People even questioned the role of the King: why should he have all the power, just because the old King happened to be his father?
‘That’s when the authorities started to get interested in us. Questioning the authority of the King amounted to treason.
‘Inevitably, the King tried to shut it down. Some meetings were raided, but they couldn’t drag off half a village’s population. They were after the leaders: they thought if they could stop us, everything would go back to normal. So we kept moving, and kept our whereabouts as secret as we could.
‘With CAKE thriving in Nareea, I visited Baronia and CAKE became just as popular here. Before long I was travelling every day, setting up new branches. Then one morning, all of a sudden I disappeared.’
There was only one word to say, so Roderick said it. ‘How?’
‘I wish I knew. One moment I was there, the next I was gone. It happened just after I had left a village in western Nareea.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I sat there staring at my hand for ages, trying to see it. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe I was gone. Then I headed home to my mother, as you do when something bad happens. At first I didn’t realise that I’d also lost my voice. Being invisible, I didn’t have any reason to use it. It would have just scared people. Each night I’d find a villag
e, tie up my horse somewhere out of the way, then tiptoe into someone’s house and try to eat their food.’
‘Try?’
‘When I first became invisible I could hardly lift things. I had become . . .’ she waved an arm about, ‘. . . insubstantial. I had to bring my mouth to the food because I couldn’t lift it. Then I’d sleep on their couch. One night someone came home late and sat on me. We both got the shock of our lives and ran screaming out of the house. Except when I screamed no sound came out.
‘I thought that when I got home I would be able to communicate with my mother by writing, but I couldn’t even hold a pen. So I spent the next few months sneaking around Windorn pinching food, trying to work out who might be able to cure me. Eventually I heard whispers about this great magician called Banfor, but no one knew where he was. It was a couple of months before I heard rumours that he may be in the Circle of Mountains. I stole a map, and off I went. The rest you know. I met you. I could hold things by then so I could communicate by stick. Then, when I found Banfor, he turned me visible again.’
‘Why? He seemed so reluctant to use his powers.’
‘Maybe because he saw the tragic injustice of it all. Or because he felt sorry for me. Or because he was curious to see what I looked like. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell with him.’
‘What about you telling me – and Banfor – that you were going “home” to Danover, but then turning around and heading back into Baronia?’
‘Ah, that.’ She sighed. ‘When I left you I was genuinely heading home. Not to Danover, of course. Nareea. I crossed the border and stopped for the night at a village called Rasten, where I knew some CAKE people. They told me my mother had died while I was away.’
‘Oh,’ Roderick said, the way people do when they want to convey sympathy and understanding, but aren’t quite sure how to do it.
‘Yes,’ she said flatly. ‘Some time after I went searching for Banfor, my mother was arrested. They didn’t kill her, but they did lock her in a damp cell like this one, and when she got sick they didn’t do anything to help her.’ She looked at her hands, turning them over and then back, as if playing a slow-motion game of jacks. ‘So in a way they did kill her. When I found out she was dead, there was no point going home. I decided to turn around and visit all the CAKE branches in Baronia, and maybe set up some new ones. There wasn’t anything else for me to do.’
She looked up at him and smiled. ‘So on that note . . . will you give me the herbs? Hard to say no after hearing about my dying mother, isn’t it?’
Roderick fidgeted at the bag in his jacket.
‘You brought them, then,’ she said.
‘What do you want them for?’
‘Haven’t you worked that out yet? Banfor taught me how to make myself invisible again.’
‘So you want to use them to escape.’
‘No, I want to be invisible again so I can play pranks on that lunatic gaoler. Yes! To escape.’
Roderick tried to think if there were any holes in Ruby’s story. ‘Who turned you invisible?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know. Obviously someone who is pretty good with spells. I asked Banfor if he had any ideas.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He smiled enigmatically. He did say that to make someone invisible for the first time is really hard. It takes a very strong spell or potion and can be done only by someone very skilful. But after that, becoming invisible again is relatively easy. So easy that if you can give me the herbs you have in your pocket . . .’ She beamed a smile.
‘And if you get out, then what?’
Ruby looked indignant. ‘Then I won’t sit and rot here for years.’ She took a deep breath, and clenched and unclenched her fists. ‘Should I lie to make it easier for you to help me? Shall I say that I’ll go home, settle down and make dresses? No. If I get out of here I’ll continue to work for CAKE. That’s all I have now.’
The last sentence pinched Roderick.
‘But what about the person who made you invisible? Won’t they just do it again?’
‘They might. But I can’t live my life differently because I’m afraid of that happening. And if it does, Banfor taught me how to cure myself.’
‘But aren’t you . . . afraid of what might happen? Next time it might not be invisible. It might be dead.’
‘You think I should forget CAKE?’
Roderick looked down. ‘I think that’s probably what I would do.’
This time they both examined their hands. Ruby broke the silence. ‘Look, Roderick, we’re all afraid of something. Remember me at the top of that cliff after you rescued me from the cannibals? I was frozen stiff.’
But Roderick was thinking about a different moment; when Ruby had farewelled Banfor on their way back from the Circle of Mountains. He stood up. ‘So that’s it. You’ve told me everything?’
Ruby spread her arms. ‘Yep.’
‘I’ll be off then.’ He stood and turned towards the door.
‘But the herbs. I need them!’
Roderick rounded on her. ‘I heard what you whispered to Banfor just before you left us,’ he said furiously. ‘You asked him to go with you, instead of with me. Back to Nareea, right? You were trying to get Banfor to go with you to Nareea. Just like the Queen said. Which means that you haven’t been honest with me, have you? So I’m leaving.’
Ruby jumped to her feet. ‘Roderick, please!’ she pleaded. ‘I wanted him to help CAKE! Let me explain!’
Roderick paused, and then nodded.
‘People know the system is unjust,’ said Ruby. ‘They want change, but you knights will never willingly give away power. The only way change will happen is if we make it happen. It’s easy for people to come along to our meetings and complain, but it’s a lot harder for them to decide to fight for change against their king or queen. No one really believed we could do that. Not even me. We lacked confidence, not to mention weapons, experience and training.
‘But if we had the great Ganfree Banfor with us – what a difference that would make! Perhaps then people would believe, and if they did, that’s half the battle won. So after Banfor cured my invisibility I tried to convince him to come and help us fight. He was, I think, considering my request.’ Her eyes searched his. ‘Then you came along and very quickly he agreed to return to Palandan with you, which effectively meant he was saying no to me.’
An uneasy silence fell. Slowly Roderick sat down again. Ruby sat against the opposite wall.
‘So why did he go with you, Roderick? What did you say to him that changed his mind?’
‘He came with me because he believed he was in danger from the Nareeans, and that we could offer him protection,’ said Roderick.
‘Is that really the reason? That letter you gave him. What did it say?’
‘I can’t tell you.’
‘I’ve been honest with you! I’ve told you enough to get me hanged.’
‘I can’t tell you because I don’t know.’
‘Oh.’ she said flatly. ‘Was it the letter that changed his mind?’
Roderick thought back to his meeting with Banfor by the river; at first the old man had told Roderick that he would not come with him. Then Roderick gave him the letter. Then Banfor said he would come. Pretty clear, really.
‘Yes.’
‘So there must have been something in the letter that changed his mind.’
They sat in silence, failing to figure it all out.
Ruby examined the wall, then fixed him with a look. ‘You need to find that letter.’
Suddenly Roderick wanted to be somewhere else. Partly because it was dark and cold and miserable in the cell, but mainly because it was all getting too confusing. His priority was his sister. He had wasted enough time. He stood up again. ‘Actually I’ve got a few other things on my plate at the moment.’
‘You can�
�t just walk out on this, Roderick. There’s something odd happening and you’re responsible. You brought him back. You need to find out what’s going on.’
‘No, I don’t! There are other things I need to do. My sister . . .’
He stopped. He wanted to tell Ruby about her, but he also didn’t want to.
‘Don’t go looking for excuses, Roderick. If anything bad happens because you brought Banfor back, then it’s your fault.’
‘I just . . .’ His mouth was stuck.
‘I know. You just followed orders. I remember that one from last time,’ she snarled. ‘You do what you want. I don’t care. But at least let me do something important. CAKE will make things better for people, but I can’t do anything if I’m stuck in this cage! So just leave me the herbs. That’s all I want!’
She stuck out a hand, demanding. They glared at each other. Finally Roderick found some words.
‘You know what your problem is, Ruby? You say you care about people, but you don’t. You use them and manipulate them. Everything you have ever said or done to me has been because you wanted something from me.’
He pulled the bag of herbs and threw them at her feet. ‘Hide them as best you can and don’t use them until at least tomorrow, so they don’t suspect I gave them to you. If there’s anything left over, make sure you take every last trace with you so no one will know what happened.’
She stared at the herbs, her salvation.
‘And promise me,’ he continued, ‘that you’ll leave Baronia immediately and you won’t come back.’ There was a pause, and then Ruby nodded once. ‘And one more thing,’ said Roderick. ‘Don’t ever ask me for anything again.’
Ruby tucked her tools of escape under her thin, dirty mattress in the corner of her cell and then turned back to him. Roderick knocked hard on the cell door. He felt his bottom lip start to quiver. He wanted to tell her about Sonya, and to ask her to help him solve the mystery of her disappearance, but all Ruby cared about was herself.
He heard the door swing open behind him, followed by Hendrug’s voice. ‘Lovely to see you again, sir. I trust you had a nice time. What a shame you have to be off!’
The Adventures of Sir Roderick, the Not-Very Brave Page 14