Greenwode

by J Tullos Hennig

  Adam had not yet dismounted. His blue eyes swiftly took in Gamelyn and just as swiftly dismissed him, then strafed the camp, noting the tied and tacked-up horses, the cavern and clearing that showed signs of a lengthy habitation. Then they settled on Rob as he let his sister down and stepped forward, still holding Marion’s hand but the smile sliding from his face.

  “’Tis good you’re nearly ready to travel,” Adam said. Gamelyn had forgotten how deep his voice was. “We’ve come to take you home.”

  “I’M SURPRISED you didna bring Mam as well. We’ll be havin’ a fairing here in the Wode anon!” Rob sniped. “Why don’t we just set up a few cottages and a forge whilst we’re at it?”

  “Perhaps,” Adam said, “because we’re not t’ be staying here?”

  “Likely you’re not,” Rob agreed. “But I’m not finished with the job I was given—”

  “I gave you the work, son. Now I’m saying you are finished with it.”

  Marion watched Gamelyn rock, foot to foot, on the edge of the clearing as he watched Rob and Adam face off within the cavern like two angry bulls. Their voices carried, clear enough, and more than once he angled forward, obvious in his wish to say something, anything.

  Marion decided she’d better intervene when Gamelyn actually took a few steps forward, and grabbed his sleeve.

  “I wouldna, were I you.” As he turned to her, puzzlement and alarm both in his features, she gave a tiny shrug and resumed the chore she’d started when Adam and Rob had begun arguing—brushing her father’s chestnut gelding. “It’s been brewing, this.”

  “You’re here to take him back, too?” It sounded… desolate. Strangely enough, the very fact heartened her.

  It meant that boy in the barn, riding away from her brother, had been just as heartbroken. He was here, with Rob. Despite any odds including, it would seem, her father’s ire.

  Back to back, none can stand against you….

  “I’m here for several reasons. Probably the main one is me mam’s orders: make sure they don’t kill each other. As to takin’ Rob anywhere he doesn’t want to go?” She shrugged. “Wish me da luck with that one.”

  Gamelyn watched, shoulders slumping even more as Rob came to a stop in the entrance to the little cave, arms crossed and feet planted. All Rob lacked was a toss of that mane of hair… and he did. Adam wasn’t saying a word, glowering first at Rob, then past him to Gamelyn. The glower only increased.

  Gamelyn obviously didn’t have the same pigheaded arrogance with authority figures that Rob had. He dropped his gaze, turned away. Several times he started to speak to Marion, but hesitated. Finally, he murmured, “Are you against me, too?”

  “What do you think?” Marion snapped, then she relented. “I’m not ‘against’ anyone, Gamelyn. And if I’m ‘for’ owt, it’s that my brother’s happy. Is he?”

  Gamelyn met her gaze. “I… I think so.”

  “And you?” He blinked, and she shrugged. “If you’re happy, then you can make him happy. If you’re not, you’re better to ride away and never come back. Because you’ll break his heart but good, and then, mark my words, I will be against you.”

  He was silent, still peering at her.

  “Gamelyn?”

  “I… I can’t. Just ride away. And I don’t want to. When I’m here… this is where I want to be. Not only that, but he wants me here, and that’s….” He shrugged, gave her a tiny smile. “It’s like some dream. I mean, how did we get here? How in the name of Heaven did we all come to this place? But that’s the problem too, isn’t it? Here isn’t… isn’t real, is it? And the worst? I’m not sure I care anymore.”

  “Then maybe it’s more real than you think,” she said softly.

  “Maybe,” he repeated, very soft. “But the world has a way of crashing in anyway.”

  He seemed so abruptly miserable that she wanted to hug him, and she did. He was tense for a moment, then softened in her grasp, slung an arm about her, and gave a fierce hug in return.

  “And how long ago was it I told you to stay away from my sister?” Rob’s voice was a growl, but she heard the tease beneath it. Gamelyn must have also, for he didn’t release her as they turned to see Rob striding over to them. Adam was still in the cavern, back to them.

  “You’re just worried that you might have some competition for this great fair-haired hero,” Marion quipped back. “Tell me, how’s his longbow?”

  Rob gave a sound that was half laugh and nearly all snort, then came the rest of the way and put his arms around both of them.

  “Your father….” Gamelyn started to pull away, but Rob held firm.

  “I don’t care. This is nowt t’ do with him. This is mine. My place. You.” Moving his hand from Gamelyn’s nape to his chin, Rob’s fingers rubbed back and forth, a soft caress that made Marion’s heart ache gladly to watch. “And while you’re here, my lord, you’re mine. So have a care.”

  “I do,” Gamelyn murmured, his gaze taking in Marion, then Rob. “Every moment I’m with you.”

  Rob hesitated, grimaced. “I think you’d best go on without me.”

  Gamelyn’s eyes flickered from mere concern to apprehension.

  “Me da’s not about to give over easily. And you’ve been out long enough to have your guard dogs thinking on you. You go, and I’ll come before nightfall. Aye?”

  There was still a raw apprehension in Gamelyn’s eyes, and that told Marion more than any words could.

  Rob obviously saw it, too. “I’ll come,” he said, and leaned forward, gave Gamelyn a kiss. The open affection was obviously just as discomfiting as possible separation; Gamelyn almost backed out of it, but Rob curled fingers about his nape, pulled him, gentled him in. Marion leaned her head on Rob’s arm then stepped back, let them have the moment, fleeting as it would have to be.

  And when Gamelyn had bridled his horse and stepped up, he was the one who reached down and took Rob’s hand.

  “No more running, now,” Rob said. “I’ll come find you.”

  “You would, wouldn’t you?”

  “Wherever you go. I ent givin’ up easy, if the quarry’s worth the catch.”

  “Am I, then? Worth the catch,” Gamelyn added, hoarse.

  Rob merely slid sloe eyes to him, quirked a half-smile. “What do you think?” Then, to Marion’s surprise, he pulled Gamelyn’s long, fine dagger from the back of his belt, touched his lips to the blade, then held it up, hilt first.

  Gamelyn watched him, then gave his own small smile. Shook his head. “Keep it for me, ’til next time.”

  Rob seemed to consider both the words and the dagger, then nodded and replaced it in his belt as Gamelyn turned and rode off.

  “No fear,” Rob murmured, and there was no little desperation in it. “But I’m always afraid now. Afraid I’ll not see him again.”

  “There’s that,” she acknowledged, her own bitterness lacing the words. “It’s a chancy world. But it won’t be by his choice, if it did come to that.”

  He was still looking after, as if by some means he could still see Gamelyn. Perhaps he could, amidst the tangled, dim-lit recesses of the magic lying deep within him. “D’you think so?” It was still uneasy, and forlorn.

  “I do. His heart is often torn, but it is true.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “Have you never seen the way he looks at you?”

  “Sometimes, I’m afraid to open my eyes.” Rob snugged her close, kissed her temple. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For… looking.” He kissed her temple again, took in a deep breath and held it, then let it out in a long sigh. “I’d best go have this out for good. Face the old lion in my den.”

  “HE’LL BETRAY you.”

  “How do you know? Just tell me that. How do you know? You refuse to See owt but what’s of your own making, and so it’s left you.”

  “Cernun Saw it, long ago. Sweet Lady, son, do you have any idea of what Gamelyn represents?”

  “D’you really think I dinna know?” Rob snapped
back. “I’m ent that daft or blind. D’you think I’ve not Seen tynged spreading out before me, heard the Horned Lord whispering what I am, what Gamelyn is… what Marion is?”

  Adam slid his gaze over to Marion, who was leaning against the far wall, studiously avoiding both their gazes.

  “I don’t underestimate you, son, nor what you hold. But for all your power, you wield it more like an axe than any fine knife. You’re powerful, but you’re still awkward. And mark me, you must ’ware this much: your season will reap what you sow.”

  “You keep telling me things I already know, Da—” Things you should’ve told me before. Things I needed to know before….

  Before it all twined so tightly I couldn’t possibly step aside did I want to.

  “Rob, you aren’t listening.”

  “I’m listening. I canna help but listen, don’t you understand? Have you forgotten that, too? I mean, how long has it been since you’ve heard Him?”

  Adam shook his head. “I’ve never ‘heard’ Him.”

  Rob blinked. Then frowned. “Do you think I’m… lying about it all?”

  “I know you’re not.” It was soft. “I know you canna. Not about this.”

  “Is that why?” All of it, a cart headed for the edge of a cliff. “Is that why you’ve turned away?”

  “Rob, I haven’t done any such—”

  “You waint even look at me anymore, Da! And when I catch you looking, it’s more like you’re afraid. Is it because I do See what’s happening—not like I have a choice anymore, you’ve left it to unravel, and if I See more’n you, is it because I can, or because you waint? Even Mam canna See my future, so how can you come here, try to drag me back, tell me what is right or wrong?”

  “What we can See,” Adam said, “your ma and me, is the end of all we’ve worked for, and our children hung amidst of it! We found peace, and now anarchy looms—”

  “Maybe it has to!” Rob retorted. “Maybe ’tis time!”

  “That’s all too obvious, even for my Sight. The Horned Lord rides again, now t’ your will, and as you will, so will He be. As He wills, so must your tynged be spun, and this time He’s spinning it with blood, fed with fury and passion… even this!” Adam gestured to the cavern; it took in everything, including Gamelyn’s presence still vital and there. “I’ve not much of Sight about me, I was carrier, not wielder, but Cernun Saw what that nobleman’s son was, from the moment he stepped into the forest. He’s your rival, son, the Summering’s lord, your betrayal and danger and death and ’tis no game, here, no mummer’s play that Cernun and I have acted out, over ’n’ over, mimicry of the Great Dance, this is real! The play has come t’ life, the parts cast in this world as well as the others, and you… you lie with it, you flirt with your own destruction!”

  “If the Horned Lord wants me,” Rob said, “and He wants Gamelyn, then it’ll be on our terms.”

  Adam snorted, shook his head. “If you think to match wits with the Horned Lord, He’ll eat you and spit out the bones!”

  “How would you know? You’ve never even seen that aspect of Hi—!” The blow knocked him back several paces, so fast that Rob barely even saw it coming.

  “I thought you’d more the stomach for watching others knock me about!” Rob spat, and he raised his face in anticipation of the next blow.

  “Stop it!” Marion lurched in between them. “No more. Please, no more. It’s all been said, and done, and it’s done no good, any of it.” Her eyes were full of tears.

  Adam still had his hand raised, but the will to deliver it had deserted him. He looked at his hand, lowered it, looked down. He seemed… beaten. “I only ever wanted to protect you. Both of you.”

  Rob backed away, shaking his head. Looked down.

  Silence.

  “Rob. I want you to come home with me. Your mother wants you home.”

  Still, silence.

  “It’s not that I’ve no liking for the lad. It’s what he is—”

  “You dinna know,” it burst from Rob, shaking, “what he is.”

  “Rob, I just—”

  “You know what he represents, aye. But you ent knowin’ what he is. You canna know his… his heart.”

  A heavy sigh. “I only hope you do, son. Both of you.”

  This did make Rob look up. Marion had moved from where she’d stood between them, had crept to his shoulder, literally at his back.

  “There’s more than you know, here,” Adam said, desperate. “Even if you take your own way about the lad, you have to hear me on this much.”

  It was Marion’s hand, moving to his arm and gripping there, hard, that made Rob peer first at her then, captious, to his father.

  Adam caught his eye, held it. “You think you know, son. But not enough. Remember that. We never know enough, even when we think we do.”

  “Da—”

  “Belt up and listen t’ me, for this long and to honor George’s memory if nowt else—”

  It felt as if someone had punched him. Rob had figured George would be locked up for the rest of his life, but never did he think….

  Nay, better then. Better dead than rotting away in some gaol.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and meant it. No wonder his father seemed so… diminished.

  Adam shrugged, a pained and fleeting gesture. “He dint die for nowt. His son is free, and what he gave when they questioned him was what they wanted to hear, not important. But Nottingham is all bent on looking for our people, now. He and the Abbess of Worksop.”

  Rob gave a jerk and stared at his father, eyes wide.

  “Aye,” Adam whispered. “none other than the woman who is cousin to your young Oak. You Saw her cross, no’ so long ago, shadowing your steps, and oh, son, I fear you Saw it all too true.”

  “She’s here,” Rob said, wooden. “At Blyth.”

  Adam stepped forward, putting a hand on first Marion’s, then Rob’s arm. “D’you know why?”

  Rob shook his head, tried to shake off the sense of sudden alarm. “She comes regular, Gamelyn says, t’ hear his da’s confession since he’s so ill.”

  “You must take care, son. She will be the ruin of us, if she can find the way. You should come home.”

  “I will, Da. But not now.”

  “It’s nigh to Beltain. Would you forsake that too, all for a lad?”

  Rob shook his head. “And if I promise to be back? For Beltain? I canna just leave him, not now—”

  “What else do you possibly think you can do?” Adam protested. “Bring him to the croft t’ live? Live here on the edges of everything, amidst this half life you’ve cobbled together? ’Tisn’t real, Rob.”

  “In a world where gods walk and give us th’ magic, where babies die of hunger and people are whipped for doing justice, how can any of us say what’s real?” Marion said, low.

  And none of them knew how to answer.

  “So.” Adam shrugged. “I came for nowt.”

  “Nay, Da.” Marion went over to him and snaked an arm about his ribcage. “You brought me. I’m supposed to be here. I’ll bring ’em home.”

  His father didn’t catch the “them,” but Rob did, and he met Marion’s eyes, pondering.

  “DID YOU not hear a word Da said?”

  “Marion, don’t start wi—”

  “I’m starting, and I’ll finish it.”

  Rob rolled his eyes and went back to putting the bridle on Arawn.

  Take care, daughter. Your brother’s god will send him reckless, hot on the blood-trail. Surely by now you know better than to butt heads so blindly, doe against stag’s rack.

  How did Rob stand it? Marion wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to that little voice, like an itch behind her eyes that she could never scratch. “Look. I know you told Gamelyn you’d come. I know you have to bring the tallies. Just do it in a sensible fashion. With that Abbess bein’ there, surely you can just deliver them to th’ gate. Surely you don’t have to go before the mesne lord himself—!”

  “Gamelyn says h
is da has nowt but good to say of our mam and her potions. And Sir Ian made a firm request to see the forester who made the tallies so he could thank him.” Rob reached out, cupped a hand at her nape, and inclined his forehead to rest against hers. “Look. If I don’t go, it might be suspicious. And if I do go before him, I’ll look innocent as a bairn. I’ll be careful. I waint do anything daft—”

  “Aye, an’ that’s likely—”

  “I promise, Mari. I’ll bend the knee, be all obedient and proper, like, and once I’ve done th’ pretty, I’ll snag Gamelyn back here to us.”

  And the certainty of that last made the roiling of her stomach smooth easier. She’d told Rob what she had Seen at the mere, and it set him all the more determined to find some way to inveigle Gamelyn from the castle for good.

  “Just….” She leaned closer, kissed his cheek. “Be more than careful, little brother.”

  THE CASTLE was as bloody damned huge inside as it was outside. Banners hung along the balustrades, a huge table at the end on a dais; Rob half expected, when he was escorted into the great hall by a pair of mailed soldiers, to find the lord and his family up on that dais like he’d heard kings would do.

  And he sure didn’t like having those soldiers at his back.

  It was a wee bit disappointing to find Sir Ian waiting by the great fire, seated with his feet propped beneath a fur, all casual and comfortable. His family was about him—sort of, anyway, only the one brother, as swart as Gamelyn was fair, stood on the fire side of their father’s high-backed chair.

  Gamelyn was leaning against the opposite arm of the chair. He was trying to be casual, as well, but Rob saw the slight draw up and tension as the guards escorted him over to Sir Ian.

  And Sweet Lady, but Gamelyn was beautiful. All tarted up and scrubbed so clean his freckles even shone, and Rob was sure he’d never seen him in blue. Surely the sun had chosen that window to shine through just to gild him all in copper and gold….

  And now Rob was sure he was out of his sodding mind. Copper and gold?—gah!

  A shadow moved on the far side of the fire. The Abbess came across, holding a cup, which she offered to Sir Ian. Her eyes were intent upon Rob’s approach, however. There was a pleasant expression on that face, but those lovely eyes gave the lie, and his own Sight supplied the rest: