Again she held up her hands and now every head was turned towards her.
‘My people,’ she began in a strong, measured voice. ‘I hope you do not mind a last-minute change of venue for our celebration today.’ She smiled. There was some laughter at the joke. Nervous and strained laughter, but laughter nonetheless.
‘The first thing I must tell you is that despite what seemed to be an attempt to slay me with an arrow – in fact, several arrows – I am unharmed.’ On the last word she raised her arms, almost conducting the cheer that arose from the crowd. She slowly lowered them and looked down at the bodies of the two guards in the square. ‘However, two of my guards took those arrows.’ Roderick saw Sir Drayshus appear at one end of the balcony. He strode towards the Queen and whispered urgently in her ear. She nodded gravely and continued, ‘And I have just been informed that they have been slain by them. Without their courage and sacrifice, I may have perished . . . and I thank them.’ She bowed her head.
When she raised it again, there was fire in her eyes. ‘Who is responsible for this attack?’
She let the question hang.
‘There has been more violence against us. The night before last, our village of Taroom, near the Nareean border, was attacked!’
There were shocked murmurings. While relations between Baronia and Nareea had never been friendly, there had been no acts of aggression for years.
‘People’s houses were set on fire, many were injured and . . .’ she paused dramatically, ‘. . . seven Baronians were killed.’
Gasps.
She looked around the crowd. ‘I ask again; who is responsible? This is what we know, my people. The Nareeans have been building up their forces and preparing for war. They have also been searching for the powerful sorcerer, Sir Ganfree Banfor, so that they can try to force him to help them invade our country. But in that, they have failed. Sir Ganfree has accepted our offer of protection. He is not only a great sorcerer, he is also a good man, and he has no wish to be used by the Nareeans. So let us welcome this good and great man, Sir Ganfree Banfor, back to Baronia. Thank you, Sir Ganfree, for your presence in our country. We are honoured and grateful.’
The crowd applauded enthusiastically. Banfor looked less than excited by it all.
‘Sir Ganfree is here only because our knights searched the entire land to find him. It was a difficult and for some, a dangerous mission. For one brave knight, Sir Worner, it was fatal.’ She left a long moment’s silence. Now Roderick knew who the bones in the cannibals’s cave belonged to.
‘Today’s parade was also intended to salute the courage and determination of all the knights who searched for Sir Ganfree. It was one of the most important missions our knights have undertaken, and they carried it out, as always, with courage, skill and determination. We thank them.’ The crowd applauded enthusiastically. ‘We thank especially the one who found Sir Ganfree. He is a young knight who faced and overcame many dangers on the way.’ The Queen turned to Roderick and motioned him closer. He stepped tentatively forward. ‘My people, I give you . . . the heroic Sir Roderick!’ She took his hand and held it aloft.
The roar of the crowd embraced him, lifted him up. He was floating on a sea of applause. He felt as if he was being hugged by thousands of people who all cared about him, appreciated him, liked him, even loved him. It was a high-grade, smile-making buzz. He loved it and wished the moment would last forever.
Now when people saw him they wouldn’t think, How did that guy ever become a knight? Or, I wouldn’t trust him to protect us against an invasion of caterpillars. Instead it would be, Isn’t that Sir Roderick, the knight who saved the kingdom?
The cheering gradually died down.
‘My people,’ said the Queen, ‘the Nareeans tried to find Ganfree Banfor to help them attack us. Now it seems that, even without him, they have decided to wage war. They have tried to assassinate me, they have destroyed one of our villages and they have slaughtered our helpless countrymen and women. Does anyone believe that they will stop at just one village?’ She looked slowly around the crowd. There was complete silence. ‘How should we respond? Can we let such unjustified aggression and violence continue?’
A few ‘no’s’ came out of the crowd.
‘Can we allow the Nareeans to strike once more against innocent, hard-working Baronian families?’
More ‘no’s’, this time louder.
The Queen’s voice increased its power. ‘Shall we ignore what has happened, and let it happen again?’
‘No!’ shouted almost every voice.
‘I have spoken before about my desire to avoid war. I still have that desire. No war is without victims. No war is without casualties. But if we do nothing, those unprovoked attacks will surely continue and escalate. By attacking Taroom, the Nareeans have left us with no choice. The skills of Ganfree Banfor, which we feared may be available to the Nareeans, will now assist us. We will prevail!’ She held aloft her gleaming sword. ‘Tomorrow,’ she shouted, ‘we march on Nareea!’
The crowd roared its approval.
CHAPTER 17
A PRIVATE AUDIENCE
Below, the crowd calmly dispersed. Banfor looked drained and leant on Chester as he left the balcony. The Queen was next to Roderick and he knew he might not get another chance.
‘Your Majesty,’ he said. ‘May I speak?’
‘Of course, Roderick. What is it?’ she said easily. The powerful, even fierce, tone she had used to address the crowd was gone.
Roderick glanced around. The balcony was still full of knights and guards. ‘It’s private. Important.’
She looked at him. ‘Follow me.’
They left the balcony, escorted by four guards, and followed the corridor to the main staircase. They walked up one flight, and then the Queen passed through guarded double doors to her private chambers. As Roderick followed her, a hand rested lightly on his shoulder.
‘Forgive me, sir,’ said the guard it was attached to, ‘but none may enter the Queen’s residence armed, except her guards.’
‘Of course,’ said Roderick, passing over his sword and knife.
They entered a sitting room so large it needed seven sofas, eighteen lounge chairs, five tea tables and three life-sized statues of former monarchs to make it look not quite completely empty. The Queen sat in the largest and grandest-looking armchair, and Roderick sank into a couch opposite so soft and deep that his knees ended up awkwardly higher than his lap. Servants instantly served them tea.
The Queen smiled. ‘What is this urgent business? I have much to do, as do you. Tomorrow we ride and I want you at my side, Roderick.’
‘Your Majesty.’ Roderick wasn’t sure where to begin. ‘My sister has been missing for more than two weeks now.’ He quickly recounted the main details of her disappearance and his attempts to discover what had happened to her. The Queen sat silently sipping her tea, occasionally asking for more information. Roderick deliberately did not mention that he had read the Queen’s letter to Banfor as admitting that he had committed treason didn’t seem like a good idea.
‘Your Majesty, the reason I am telling you about this is not simply to try to get help to find my sister, although that is part of it. It is because she was abducted by a knight.’
The Queen raised her eyebrows.
‘Sir Fromley has admitted to me that he abducted my sister,’ said Roderick, ‘and he says he did so under the orders of Sir Lilley. Your Majesty, regardless of my desire to find my sister, it is my duty to inform you of what these two knights have been doing. Why it was done and where my sister is now, I do not know.’
The Queen looked hard at Roderick and then moved next to him on the sofa. Her arm went around his shoulders. The strain of the last few weeks suddenly welled up and tears pushed past his eyelids.
‘My dear,’ the Queen said sympathetically. ‘How terrible for you. You have done the right thing
. Thank you. If we have rotten apples in our midst, we must find them and bring them to justice. We will discover what has happened to your sister and why.’ She squeezed his shoulder. ‘Do not fear. We will find her.’
She called to an impassive guard waiting by the door. ‘Gwynn, summon Sir Fromley at once. And, without alerting him, keep an eye on Sir Lilley. I want to know everything he does.’ Gwynn nodded and left.
‘Roderick, you may not be safe. Sir Fromley may tell Sir Lilley, or others who are involved, that you know what they have done and someone might think that the best way of keeping their enterprise secret is to kill you. Have you told anyone else?’
Roderick wiped his eyes, and shook his head.
‘Rest assured, I will get to the bottom of this,’ continued the Queen. ‘In the meantime you must stay somewhere safe.’ She turned to another guard, standing exactly where Gwynn had been. ‘Boris. Escort Sir Roderick upstairs to the guest chambers. Ensure that you retrieve anything he wants from his quarters and provide him with anything else he would like. Roderick, you must stay out of sight while I investigate. I will let you know as soon as I discover anything about Sonya.’
Roderick nodded. The Queen gave his shoulder a final squeeze and motioned for him to follow Boris. He was escorted along a corridor, up two flights of stairs and along another corridor to a door that Boris unlocked and ushered him through.
The suite was palatial, which wasn’t surprising because it was in the palace. There were four luxurious white couches, an oak table so ornate and detailed that it would have taken a team of carpenters weeks of twiddling and shaping to complete it, and huge glass doors that opened onto a balcony overlooking the city.
Off the main room was a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom.
‘The larder is stocked with food, sir,’ said Boris, ‘but if you require service of any kind, please just pull the cord hanging next to the door. There will be guards stationed outside your room at all times to ensure your safety. No one will be able to enter without the Queen’s permission.’
Boris bowed and departed. Roderick picked the biggest of the big couches and slumped into it. There was nothing to do but wait.
It took him less than a minute to discover the first truth of waiting. Waiting was horrible. Nothing happened while you were waiting, because that’s what waiting was. It was the bit between things happening, when nothing happened.
After six minutes he worked out the second truth of waiting. The more eager you were for the waiting to end, the slower time moved. The more you wanted something to happen, the less it did.
He explored the suite. That killed a minute. The view from the balcony was a good time eater. When he had lived on the fourteenth floor he’d had a great view, but only out a poky little window. Here he had a balcony he could sit on. So he tried to sit and not worry or run thoughts around in his head.
The only bit he succeeded at was the sitting.
At first he worried randomly. After a while, realising he wasn’t going to be able to stop, he resolved to at least try to worry in some sort of orderly fashion. So he went right back to the time the Queen had sent all the knights on the mission to find Banfor and sifted through everything that had happened since, trying to spot a clue he had missed.
Banfor, Ruby, Sonya, the Queen, Fromley, Lilley. They were all icebergs. He knew something about each of them, but so much more was hidden.
Eventually he dozed, and was woken by the sound of a knock and the door opening. The length of the shadows suggested it was late afternoon. He stood as the Queen walked in. She motioned him to a couch and sat opposite him.
‘Roderick, I have something to tell you.’ She gave him a long, serious look. ‘You may think I have done something terrible. If you do, I understand. But know this. My duty is to do what is best for Baronia and that is all I have ever tried to do.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Your sister is safe and comfortable. She is being taken care of. But she is not free.
‘She has performed a service of incredible value to Baronia. She may well have helped to save us from destruction. Sonya disappeared because we needed to get the help of Ganfree Banfor.’
Roderick had at least twenty-seven questions already. He opened his mouth to let some of them out. The Queen raised her hand. ‘The letter you gave Ganfree. Do you know what it said?’
Roderick felt himself turn red.
‘Well, er . . .’
‘You won’t get into trouble.’
‘I . . . well I happened to get hold of . . . a copy, so yes.’
‘You are full of surprises, aren’t you?’ she said, not angry. He let out a breath of relief.
‘I knew it was possible, even likely, that Ganfree would not agree to help us. He had deliberately chosen a quiet and solitary life removed from all duties and responsibilities. But I also knew that without his help we were doomed. I knew – from our spies in Nareea – that they were planning to attack us, and that their forces far outnumber ours. If we lost – if we lose – thousands of our people will be killed, and the rest enslaved.
‘I was desperate. I needed to find a way to . . .’ She searched for the right word. ‘To encourage Ganfree to help us. Because I was sure he would make a difference.’
‘What difference? What can he do?’ asked Roderick.
The Queen sighed. ‘You felt what happened on the balcony. A wave of calm. It was almost all him. I have some small powers.’ She waved her hands dismissively. ‘But they are nothing beside his. He caused thousands of panicking people to calm down in an instant. Imagine hundreds of Nareeans in a battle frenzy charging towards us. Now imagine a wave of restful calm flowing over them.
‘The wonderful thing is that when Ganfree does this, no one gets killed. The enemy just doesn’t want to fight anymore. They turn around and go home. And then, so do we. All the pain, all the suffering of war is prevented.’
‘But what has all this got to do with Sonya?’
‘Your sister is the leverage I used to make him come back. The letter I wrote to him said enough for him to know that she was in trouble.’
‘But . . . but if he doesn’t care about Baronia enough to come and help us, why would he care about some girl who lives on a farm?’ asked Roderick.
The Queen looked him in the eye. ‘Because he is Sonya’s father.’
Roderick’s head spun. He thought he had been as confused as he could get, but clearly he had been wrong. ‘Her father? But her father is . . . We already have a father. Or, at least, we did. Wait? Does that mean he’s also . . . my father?’
‘I will explain,’ said the Queen. ‘Many years ago Banfor spent some time here, helping my father defend Baronia against the Nareeans. During that time he fell in love with a woman, and they had a child: your sister, Sonya. Tragically, Sonya’s mother died in childbirth. Banfor was heartbroken. He left Palandan and disappeared, and nothing was seen or heard of him for many years. We now know he went into the Circle of Mountains. But before he left he sought out your father, Larn, who he knew well. Banfor knew Larn was a good-hearted and wise man, and he asked him to take and raise Sonya. Larn agreed. Soon after, Larn met your mother, and eventually they had you.’
‘But . . . why didn’t my parents ever tell Sonya any of this?’
The Queen shrugged. ‘Perhaps they did. Can you be sure that they did not?’
Roderick considered this. If his parents had told Sonya, would the three of them have kept it from him? His first thought was no, but then again, it seemed that every day was bringing new surprises. He tried to refocus on the present. ‘So, you arranged for Fromley . . . You ordered the kidnapping?’
The Queen nodded gravely.
Roderick tried to piece it together. ‘Then you told Banfor that his daughter was in danger to make him come back. But how did you know he would care? He never visited her. He’s never sought her out.’
‘I didn’t
know, but I had to try. It was the only thing I could think of. He may not have ever visited Sonya but perhaps his powers have allowed him to keep watch over her from afar.’
Something else occurred to Roderick. ‘You hoped that if Banfor thought Sonya was in danger he would come back. But she didn’t actually have to be in danger. You could have just written in your letter that she was in trouble. You didn’t actually have to kidnap her.’
The Queen shook her head. ‘Usually that would be correct, but not with Banfor. If Sonya had been safe at home, Banfor would have been able to detect that. The kidnapping had to be genuine.
‘Sir Lilley was just carrying out my orders,’ she continued. ‘He instructed Sir Fromley to befriend Sonya and then lure her away. She is now being held, safely and comfortably, but against her will.’ She wrapped her arms around herself and seemed to shrink a bit. ‘I have done a terrible thing. I have deprived a young woman of her liberty. Not forever, but for a while. Your sister.’ She seemed to be almost talking to herself. ‘But I did it because it was the only way to get this man to help us. Have I done wrong? I honestly do not know.’
Roderick suddenly got a glimpse of what it must be like to be Queen. Every day she had to make decisions that affected the lives of tens of thousands of people. Maybe some of those decisions were easy, but surely most of them were hard; rather than choosing between right and wrong, she would often be picking between ‘possibly mostly rightish’ and ‘perhaps a bit more wrongish’. It would be the hardest job in the world.
The Queen continued. ‘Even now that I have Ganfree here, I can’t let Sonya go. Do you understand why?’ She was almost pleading with him.
‘Because then he’d go home?’
‘I think he would. His concern for Sonya is the only thing that keeps him here. I promise you that as soon as the Nareean threat is dealt with, Sonya will be set free and, of course, very generously rewarded for the help she has provided Baronia.’
‘What will Banfor do then?’
The Adventures of Sir Roderick, the Not-Very Brave Page 17