The Starkin Crown

by Kate Forsyth

  King Merrik laughed. ‘What, no more dungeons, Lord Goldwin?’

  ‘I’ll have the finest suite of rooms prepared for you and your lovely wife,’ he said, snapping his fingers for a servant. When nobody responded, he looked around, raising a haughty eyebrow in surprise. The servants were all too busy laughing and celebrating, though, to pay him any attention. ‘My sister and I shall make everything ready for you with our own fair hands,’ Lord Goldwin assured the king. ‘Grizelda!’

  Grizelda swept the king a graceful curtsey, saying sweetly, ‘I am so glad that the House of ziv Zadira shall be the first to welcome you, your Highness’.

  ‘Father, she tried to poison me!’ Peregrine cried. ‘She ordered her dog to kill Jack and she was the one who marked the secret entrance to Stormlinn Castle. And her servant shot Stiga!’

  Liliana went white, tears springing to her eyes. ‘Oh, no! Stiga? Stiga is dead?’

  ‘She tried to poison you?’ King Merrik said. ‘And she marked the entrance?’

  ‘An unfortunate misunderstanding,’ Grizelda said through stiff lips.

  King Merrik stepped towards her and she flinched at the look on his face. ‘Hundreds of my people are dead, murdered in their sleep or cut down as they tried to defend their home. Hundreds more are hurt and wounded. You broke bread with us, you shared the Yuletide feast with us. How could you do such a thing?’

  ‘I … I …’ Tears rose in Grizelda’s eyes. She looked around at the crowd of cold, implacable faces. ‘I didn’t know what would happen. I swear it! How was I to know?’

  She saw Peregrine and took a step towards him, her hands flying up in appeal. ‘Robin! Tell them!’

  ‘Don’t call me that,’ he answered, arms folded across his chest, his face stony.

  ‘Please, Robin … Don’t be angry’.

  ‘Don’t be angry? You tried to poison me! Your dog almost killed Jack. You blinded me!’

  ‘You must understand how hard it was for me,’ Grizelda said. ‘I was all alone. I didn’t know what to do. Nothing had gone as I planned’.

  ‘Hmmph,’ Molly said and gave the broom she still held a little shake, as if wishing she could give the starkin girl a good whack. The pug darted forward and tried to bite the pointed toe of Grizelda’s shoe, and she kicked him away so she could come and stand close to Peregrine, smiling up at him. The sweet scent of her perfume drowned out the smell of smoke and sweat and blood.

  ‘I did warn you about the soldiers, didn’t I, Robin? I put myself in danger to warn you. And I could have poisoned you a thousand times. I put it off as long as possible’.

  ‘What’s the starkin punishment for a poisoner, Molly?’ Peregrine asked.

  Molly looked at him in sudden horror. ‘To be boiled alive in a giant iron cauldron’.

  Grizelda took a step back. ‘You wouldn’t!’

  ‘No, of course I wouldn’t!’ he said bitterly. ‘We don’t boil people! Or rip out their tongues, or cut off their hands’.

  King Merrik said in an icy voice, ‘I think, though, that we may offer Lord Goldwin and Lady Grizelda the same accommodation they offered us. Take them to the dungeons’.

  ‘No!’ Grizelda screamed. ‘No, you can’t do that! How dare you?’

  The two enormous hobhenkies lumbered towards her, happy grins splitting their faces.

  ‘Get your filthy hands off me! I won’t go, I won’t, I won’t!’ Grizelda kicked at one hobhenky’s ankle but only succeeded in bruising her toes. Hopping on the other foot, she screeched and cursed and shouted, but the hobhenky simply picked her up and tucked her under his arm, carrying her away towards the castle, both her legs kicking wildly behind her.

  ‘Noooooo!’ she howled. ‘Rooooobin!’

  ‘Don’t call me that!’ Peregrine repeated softly. ‘Only people I love can call me that’. He glanced at Molly and she blushed as red as a wild rose.

  ‘King Merrik, I must remind you that I am Lord Goldwin, the Count of Zavaria, and that this is my castle!’ Grizelda’s brother said rapidly, backing away from the second hobhenky.

  ‘Which is why you simply must spend a little time getting to know it better,’ Queen Liliana said. ‘My guess is you really have no idea what a horrible, filthy, stinking place your dungeon is’.

  ‘If you did, you would have cleaned it up long ago,’ Queen Rozalina said, smiling.

  ‘It’s cold down there,’ Lord Zedrin advised him. ‘Luckily, though, we left you a pile of animal skins. They help keep out the cold—a little, anyway’.

  ‘I must protest … you have no right …’ Lord Goldwin cried.

  ‘No right? If I remember correctly, the penalty for treason is being hanged, drawn and quartered,’ King Merrik said coldly. ‘So which would you prefer? Your so-called queen’s justice, or mine?’

  ‘Yours, your Majesty, of course,’ Lord Goldwin said with an exaggerated bow, before sweeping grandly after his struggling, squealing sister, the hobhenky trotting behind him, looking rather disappointed he did not have a struggle on his hands.

  ‘Whatever are we to do with them?’ Peregrine asked, staring after the odd little procession.

  ‘There’s a lot of work to be done now Vernisha’s gone,’ Molly said. ‘Children left without parents, poor old people left starving, the sick and wounded to care for. There’s plenty they could do to help’.

  ‘Good idea, Molly! Really, you are a very useful person to have around’. Peregrine gazed at her with warm admiration. She blushed.

  Peregrine heaved a deep breath and took her hand. ‘It’s over,’ he said.

  ‘Not yet,’ she answered, gesturing at the crowds of people still milling about the courtyard. ‘Look at them all! What on earth are we to feed them?’

  CHAPTER 28

  Twelfth Night

  ‘THEN YOU DROP IN A GOLDEN COIN,’ PEREGRINE SAID, MIXING the batter for the Yuletide cake in a bowl with a wooden spoon, ‘and whoever finds it is the Lord of Misrule’.

  ‘I haven’t got a golden coin,’ Molly said. ‘Have you?’

  ‘No’.

  ‘Well, you’d better hurry up and find one, because this cake is almost ready’. Molly wiped her brow with a floury forearm.

  ‘Jack will have one,’ Peregrine said. ‘I’ll find him in a minute’. He passed the bowl to Molly, who began to scrape the currant-studded dough into a deep floured pan while he sat on the edge of the table, falling into a moody silence. Molly glanced at him once or twice, but Peregrine did not notice, frowning as he stared at the glowing coals of the fire.

  ‘Are you … are you upset about Grizelda?’ Molly asked diffidently.

  Peregrine glanced at her in surprise. ‘Well, I could wish she hadn’t tried to kill me! And that she and her brother had really been on our side. We need some allies among the starkin lords. But otherwise, no. I’m too glad at the way everything has turned out to hate her’.

  ‘It was a terrible thing she did, playing a double game like that!’ Molly said indignantly.

  ‘Yes, but if she had not come to Stormlinn Castle I’d never have set out on this adventure,’ Peregrine said, turning towards her. ‘And I’d never have met you’. Taking all his courage into his hands, he leant forward and kissed her on the mouth.

  ‘Well, we can’t exactly boil her in oil for that, can we?’

  Peregrine smiled at her and shook his head. ‘No, though I do hope Mam sends her to work in a hospital a long, long way away’. He kissed her again.

  ‘Mmm-mmm,’ she agreed, lifting one hand to push his hair behind his ear.

  Just then Jack came bounding in. He looked more handsome than ever, the scar on his throat giving him a rakish, dangerous look. ‘What’s this? Canoodling in the kitchen?’

  ‘I’m helping to cook’. Peregrine picked up the wooden spoon and waved it to prove his point, sending cake batter flying.

  ‘Well, your father wants you,’ Jack said. ‘That looks good, can I lick the spoon?’

  ‘Do you have a gold coin?’

  ‘Well, yes
,’ Jack said in surprise. ‘Do I need to pay to lick the spoon?’

  ‘We need it for the Yule cake,’ Molly said, laughing, as Jack tossed her the coin.

  Peregrine gave him the dripping spoon, mouthed an apology to Molly and went back up to the banqueting hall.

  All his family were there, bathed and dressed in clean clothes, and busy trying to bring order to the chaos. King Merrik and Lord Zedrin were deep in conversation with the Erlrune and the leaders of the hearthkin villages, including the Marsh King and his council, who had been experimenting for some time with the use of marsh gas as a way for propelling horseless carriages and had found, to their surprise and joy, that their invention worked quite well. They were all rather wind-blown, with blackened faces and singed beards, but overjoyed to see Peregrine with the spear of the Storm King thrust nonchalantly through his belt.

  ‘Where’s my Molly?’ the Marsh King demanded after he had shaken the prince’s hand so vigorously Peregrine was afraid his arm would be jerked off.

  ‘Cooking,’ Peregrine said with a shrug.

  ‘That’s my girl! We’re mighty hungry, aren’t we, lads?’

  A roar of approval met his words.

  Hobhenkies were blundering everywhere, moving tables around in an effort to fit everyone in. Wood-sprites flew about, draping evergreen wreaths from the rafters. Tom-Tit-Tot was excitedly turning somersaults midair, changing shape from an omen-imp to a black rat to a weasel to a cat, which made all the hobhenkies scream and run in terrified circles. Liliana, Rozalina and Lisandre were sitting by the fire, deep in conversation with a small, thin woman with short grey curls and shrewd hazel eyes.

  Peregrine recognised her at once. ‘Grand-Mags!’ he shouted.

  His grandmother turned and grinned at him. ‘Leeblimey, Robin, what’ve you been up to? The tales I’m hearing!’

  Peregrine ran to embrace her. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘You expected me just to wring my hands and weep when I heard that old hag had hold of my boy Merry? Hayhead! Of course I got here as fast as my skinny old legs could carry me. I brought my men with me,’ she waved one hand at a group of tall, bearded, rough-looking men who had been among the hearthkin to storm the castle, ‘and we were trying to figure out a way to get into the castle when we saw you a-coming! Leeblimey, but it was a sight to freeze your blood!’

  ‘I’m so glad to see you,’ Peregrine said happily.

  ‘Me too, laddie. But come! We all want to hear about your adventures’. Mags cupped both hands about her mouth and yelled, ‘Hey, Merry-me-lad! Come talk to Robin’.

  Merry and Zed and the Erlrune at once came to join the family group around the fire, bringing chairs and stools to sit on. Peregrine gazed around in great satisfaction. He could not remember the last time he had had his whole family together in the one place.

  ‘Now, Robin,’ his mother said, waving one finger at him in mock exasperation. ‘You have some explaining to do. You were meant to be safe and sound at Briony’s, not galloping off on some wild adventure. How did you end up in the fenlands instead of at Evenlinn?’

  The Erlrune smiled at him with eyes as warm and green as a forest pool. ‘When you didn’t arrive, I looked for you in the Well of Fates. Oh, but I saw such terrible things! I saw you blind and lost and betrayed …’

  ‘Well, yes, all that happened’. Peregrine nodded.

  ‘What! How? What happened’. his family demanded.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ Peregrine began.

  Everyone laughed. ‘It always is,’ Pedrin said, ‘but we’ve all the time in the world, my boy’.

  ‘Thanks to you,’ Merry said. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sight of you riding through the storm with Lord Grim’s Gallop!’

  ‘You arrived just in the nick of time,’ Rozalina said. ‘Another second or two …’ She shuddered.

  ‘Tell us how you found the spear,’ Zed said. ‘I bet you a bag of gold coins you’ve had some wild adventures’.

  ‘Let the poor boy talk,’ Lisandre said, reaching forward to pat his hand.

  So Peregrine found himself sitting on a stool in the centre of a circle of eager, fascinated faces, describing all that had happened in the past twelve days. As he spoke, he felt the giddiness of his relief and joy passing into something much warmer and deeper. His family was safe, the future was bright, the land at last had a chance of true and lasting peace. He had found the Storm King’s spear, won the starkin crown for his father, and had a new phoenix ring wrought for him, symbol of the cycle of life and the new world that might be made from the ashes of the old. He dug in his pocket and found the bog oak ring to show his parents, and they marvelled at the exquisite workmanship.

  ‘Molly made it,’ he said proudly.

  ‘Is that the girl who rode with you and the Wild Hunt?’ his mother asked at once.

  He nodded. ‘I couldn’t have found the spear without her, Mam. I was lost and blind and in despair. She gave me the courage to go on, and then guided me through the bog. She was lame, you know. I was blind and she was lame’.

  ‘I must thank her,’ Liliana said quietly. ‘Where is she now?’ She looked around, but the banqueting hall was so crowded with wildkin and starkin and hearthkin it was impossible to see anyone.

  ‘She’s cooking supper. There’s a lot to do, to feed so many, and most of the servants are too busy raiding the castle’s cellars and celebrating’.

  ‘Well, thank heavens someone thought about food,’ Zed said. ‘I’m starving!’

  ‘Me too,’ Merry said. ‘I can’t remember the last decent meal I had’.

  ‘Well then, let’s go down to the kitchen,’ Liliana said. ‘We can’t let the poor girl do all the work!’

  Everyone jumped up. ‘Great idea!’ Merry said. ‘I want to meet this girl myself’.

  ‘Don’t overwhelm the poor thing,’ Rozalina said anxiously. ‘Does she really want to meet everyone all at once?’

  ‘Just Robin and I will go,’ Liliana said firmly. ‘The rest of you can meet her at the feast. She can sit at the high table with us’.

  She drew Peregrine’s hand through her arm as they went slowly down the steps to the cavernous kitchen at the back of the castle. ‘Oh, Robin, I was so afraid for you when I saw Lady Grizelda here at the castle. I can’t believe she wore a poison ring! And that she actually tried to murder you’.

  ‘We should have listened to Stiga. She told us Grizelda carried venom in her hand’. Peregrine’s voice was bleak. ‘Maybe if we’d listened to her, Stiga would still be alive’.

  Liliana nodded. ‘But we searched Grizelda and found nothing. And she was so young! How could any of us suspect her capable of murder? We’re not to blame, Robin’.

  ‘I suppose so,’ he answered. ‘If only we hadn’t ridden out! It was all a trick, Grizelda saying the starkin had fusillier fuel, Mam. They didn’t use it against us, not once’.

  ‘No, they didn’t,’ Liliana agreed. ‘Not even against the grogoyle’.

  ‘If we’d stayed inside the castle, Grizelda could never have shown the soldiers where the secret entrance was. Her dog piddled on the entrance, you know, and the sleuth hounds tracked his scent. That’s how the soldiers knew how to break in’.

  Liliana shook her head in amazement. ‘So … so clever. So cold-blooded’.

  ‘She was both of those things,’ Peregrine replied. ‘She looked me in the eye and lied to me, Mam. And I believed her. And then she set her dog on Jack and tried to poison me’. His tone was incredulous.

  ‘It’s all my fault,’ Liliana said. ‘It’s because I sent you away. I should’ve kept you close’.

  ‘It was Grizelda who lied to us and tried to murder me, it’s her fault and no-one else’s,’ Peregrine said. ‘Besides, if I hadn’t ridden out I’d never have found the spear. So, even though I’m very sorry about Stiga and everyone who died at the castle, in the end I’m glad Grizelda came to Stormlinn Castle and tricked us into fleeing. Because otherwise we wouldn’t have found the spear or
roused Lord Grim or won the starkin crown. It was all worth it, Mam!’

  ‘In the end, it was!’ Liliana hugged him close. ‘I … I’m sorry, Robin. I was afraid for you. I wanted to keep you safe. The lightning in your head frightened me, upset me’. She hesitated, then plunged on bravely, ‘Yet it is who you are. Look at what you’ve achieved! You found the spear of thunder, you won the crown for your father, you … you saved us all from a horrible death. I … I was wrong, I should’ve trusted you’.

  ‘That’s all right, Mam. Just don’t do it again!’

  Liliana laughed ruefully.

  They came into the warmth of the kitchen where Molly was busy stirring a great pot of soup. Her freckled face was flushed, her brown hair was in disarray, and there was flour on her cheek.

  Peregrine grinned. ‘Hey, Molly. This is my Mam. Mam, this is Molly’.

  Molly looked up, gasped in dismay, and at once dropped into an awkward curtsey. ‘I’m sorry, your Highness …’ she began.

  Liliana swept forward and embraced her warmly. ‘Thank you!’ she cried. ‘Robin has told me all you’ve done. Come, take off your apron, put down your spoon! I’ll send the hobhenkies to finish up, they love to cook. Come and meet the family!’

  It was nearly midnight on Twelfth Night, and everyone was having as good a time as it was possible to have.

  Wildkin were dancing with hearthkin, starkin with wildkin, and hearthkin with starkin. On Twelfth Night, tradition demanded that servants were on an equal footing with their masters, and so the fat cook was dancing with a starkin lord, a farmer with a lady’s maid, the Erlrune with a hobhenky, Queen Rozalina with a shyly smiling pot-boy, and Peregrine’s grandmother Mags with Tom-Tit-Tot. A radiant Princess Adora was whirling in the strong arms of the Marsh King, while Hal and Hank and Fred and Frank and Bill and Bob and Will and Wat and Gus and Ged and Ty and Ted had all found dancing partners, ranging from goose-girls to grand starkin ladies.

  King Merry, Lord Pedrin and a motley orchestra were playing their instruments as well as they could for laughing at the sight.