All of the knights’ tents had now been pitched, and each knight had his own banners flying in his compound. Of course, the first one Noelle noticed was Nicholas’s. The red dragon snarled on the pristine white banner, and was quite impressive as it fluttered in the wind.
They didn’t stop there, but rode into the bailey where the stableman and grooms ran out to get the horses. Noelle slid to the ground. Remembering her ankle, she clung to the saddle so as not to land in a heap on the ground.
Immediately, Nicholas and Sir Gavin were by her side. However, Nicholas was two steps ahead of Sir Gavin, and he scooped Noelle up into his arms.
Sir Gavin gave Nicholas a quizzical look. “What is the meaning of this?”
Nicholas looked at him. “I neglected to mention that Noelle injured her ankle falling from the tree, and since she did it trying to save my falcon, I feel that I owe her the courtesy of seeing her safely inside.” Nicholas took two steps and twisted around to face Gavin. “Unless you object?”
“Nay.” Sir Gavin waved a hand. “Carry on—you seem to have things well in hand.”
Noelle was embarrassed and fearful that the entire castle would soon be gossiping about her. “If I but had a crutch, I could walk myself.”
Nicholas glanced down at her. “First, I shall get you inside, and then we will see about a crutch of some type,” he said as if he didn’t expect her to argue.
And to Noelle’s surprise, she didn’t. Truth be told she liked being carried in his arms. She liked it a great deal.
Guinevere and her ladies were in the Great Hall with the greenery and the red ribbons spread across the table. As soon as Nicholas entered with Noelle in his arms, Isabelle and Carolyn stopped what they were doing and scurried over.
“What’s wrong?” Carolyn asked.
“Why is he carrying you?” Isabelle inquired at the same time.
“It is a long story,” Noelle said as Nicholas set her on her feet. “Thank you for coming to my rescue, good sir.”
Nicholas’s brow raised a fraction as he looked at her just for a moment ... a moment that seemed to linger in time and warm her. Then the moment passed. “My pleasure,” Nicholas replied as formally as Noelle had. He turned and left the room.
“Why was he carrying you?” Isabelle asked again.
“I have twisted my ankle.”
Guinevere moved over to her. “We were all quite worried about you. Tell us what happened while we tie the bows on the greenery. That is, if you feel like helping.”
“Of course I do. It is only my ankle. I really do not feel bad,” Noelle said as she made her way to the table with Isabelle’s help.
Isabelle whispered, “And when we are alone, we want to hear the real story. You come waltzing in here in the arms of the most delicious man at court and you want me and Carolyn to believe that nothing happened?”
Noelle looked at both of her ladies and smiled that kind of smile that suggested she might tell them later. Or not.
“I am not that naive,” Isabelle whispered. “Something happened. I can see it on your face.”
As Noelle helped tie the bows on the greenery, she retold her story of hearing the bell and finding the bird.
“You fell out of the tree?” Isabelle said.
“Aye.”
“Well, thank goodness Sir Nicholas found you,” Guinevere said with a look of relief.
“Shall we start placing the greenery?” Carolyn asked.
“I know just the spot for the kissing ball,” Isabelle said with a smile.
“I will hand you the greenery since I cannot climb.”
“Nay.” Isabelle shook her head. “Stay and help Lady Guinevere tie bows. That way you will not have to be on your feet at all. Carolyn will be helping me along with a couple of knights, if we are lucky.” Isabelle winked at Noelle and then she left the room.
As Noelle and Guinevere finished tying the bows, Guinevere said, “You know,” she paused as she straightened the streamers on the bow, “it has been a long time since I have seen Sir Nicholas smile, yet he was smiling when he swept through the door with you in his arms. Perhaps you have been good for him.”
“Nay. I think not. He is simply easy to talk to.”
“Most do not see it that way,” Guinevere countered. “Sir Nicholas is a solitary man and avoids company.”
“What makes him that way?”
“It is a sad story that Nicholas should tell you, but I will tell you that Nicholas has known no love in his life. Not even from his mother or father.” Guinevere shrugged. “So I am afraid he doesn’t believe that love exists.”
Noelle didn’t comment. All she could think of was what she’d said to Nicholas—that love was all that mattered. He must have thought her the fool.
Guinevere took the bow Noelle held up. “I hope that one day Nicholas will find someone who can show him love and make him believe that there is such a thing.”
“I was told at dinner that he used to keep company with Lady Clarisse.”
“Keep company? That was what he was doing, indeed.” Guinevere chuckled. “He was simply using a warm body. And when she demanded marriage, he did as he usually does and walked away. I can tell you five such women who have had their hearts broken by our Sir Nicholas. Yet they knew what he was like when they allowed him to dally with them.”
Noelle sighed. “The heart is such a complicated beast.”
“Aye. It’s a shame we can do nothing to control it.”
Noelle looked at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“That there are times when you cannot control who you love,” Guinevere said in a dreamy kind of voice. “Love just happens. And it is the most magical feeling of all.”
“You sound like someone who has experienced such feelings.”
Guinevere looked at Noelle and smiled. “Aye. And I hope one day you will feel the same thing. Or perhaps, you already do with Sir Gavin.”
“Nay. He is not the one.”
Guinevere stopped straightening a ribbon she’d just tied and looked at Noelle. “What are you going to do?”
Noelle shook her head. “I know not,” she said with a sigh. “A Christmas miracle would be nice.”
Guinevere smiled. “There have been many miracles this time of year. We shall see what the future will bring.” She stood up. “You will be all right in here by the fire while we go and decorate the doors with greenery. I would ask for your help, but I fear you should rest your ankle for a couple of days more.”
“I will be fine. It is my own fault.”
Just then, the door of the Great Hall opened and Lancelot and Dirk, Nicholas’s commander, entered.
“You wish some assistance outside, milady?” Lancelot said as he bowed.
“Aye. I think we could use some help with the higher places.” Guinevere moved towards the door, her hands full of red ribbons.
Isabelle had come back to pick up an armful of greenery, and Carolyn retrieved the holly. Isabelle turned to look at Noelle and gave her a mischievous wink.
“It is so nice of you to help us,” Isabelle said with a smile that made Noelle smile, too, as she watched her friend move directly over to stand beside Lancelot.
As the group went to the door, it opened and a man with long black robes swept through.
Guinevere turned and looked over her shoulder at Noelle. “I think we have just found the very person to keep you company.”
CHAPTER 7
He stood in the Great Hall.
His white hair flowed down his back and mixed with his long white beard. Dressed all in black except for the silver trim about the edges of his full-length robes, he carried a scepter, which he leaned upon as if he were weary and needed a rest.
Guinevere stepped to the side, and Noelle could see that it was Merlin, the fabled wizard, who had finally made an appearance. Excitement bubbled in Noelle. She wished she could run to him, but she knew it was wiser to favor her ankle for now. Perhaps, he would keep her company in front of the fireplace while the other
s were outside.
Merlin’s wisdom and power were greatly appreciated by King Arthur, in spite of the sorcerer’s strange beginnings. The wizard was the son of a Cornish princess and an angel who had fallen out of favor with the gods. He had been reared by the Druids, and from them he learned astrology, spell-making, and how to change his shape when the need arose. But the most important gift Merlin received from his unknown father was the gift of second sight, and this was the gift that Noelle most admired. Though it would be wonderful to be able to change shapes at will, as well.
Merlin greeted Guinevere, then allowed his gaze to sweep the room as if he were looking for someone. Then he saw Noelle and smiled. “Excuse me, your majesty,” Merlin bowed his head to the queen, “I see an old friend whom I have not seen in a long time.” He started across the Great Hall toward the hearth.
“Is this the child whom I once dandled upon my knee that I now see before me?” Merlin smiled broadly in a grandfatherly sort of way. “You have grown into a lovely young woman as I knew you would,” Merlin said as he kissed her hand. He took a seat on a blue tapestry chair across from her and folded his hands across his middle before saying, “Tell me about yourself since I last saw you.”
Noelle smiled. “There is not much to tell. Cranborne was never the same after you left. I do see, however, that you have not changed at all. You are just as I remember, except your beard is a little longer.” She laughed, then added, “I have missed you.”
“As I have you, my dear. I still remember how you loved to sit and listen to my stories.”
“I was but a child, and your stories fascinated me. Especially the one where you told me I would find true love.”
Instead of commenting, Merlin changed the subject. “I heard you became lost yesterday. Have you partaken of any food today?”
“Nay.” Noelle shook her head. “So much has happened that I forgot about food,” she admitted, hoping that Merlin would probably have a servant bring something to eat.
Merlin reached into his pocket and pulled out three stones. He selected one and held his arm up in the air. He made a swirling movement with his other hand, and the stone turned into a loaf of newly baked bread, which he handed her. Then he waved his hand over the two other stones and they turned into two ripe peaches, one for her and one for him. Merlin handed her a peach and said, “This will hold you over until tonight.”
That was the most marvelous thing about Merlin—one never knew what he was going to do next, Noelle thought. “How do you make your magic?” she asked. Then she took a bite of the delicious, ripe peach and realized she was much hungrier than she’d thought as the juice dribbled down her chin. It was strange—she hadn’t thought of food at all when she’d been with Nicholas. She wiped the juice off her chin with her hand.
“It is something that I do,” Merlin said, shrugging. “Tell me, what do you think of Camelot?”
“Its beauty is far greater than anything I could ever have imagined,” Noelle said. She tore off a piece of warm bread and inhaled the aroma, then offered the rest to Merlin, who shook his head. “How did Arthur come to design something so grand?”
“It came to him in a dream ... a castle like no other with thick stone walls and many towers ... a fortress fit for a king. When you have had a chance to explore the castle, you will find that it has many rooms, instead of one large room with many fingers.”
“This I have noticed, although I have not had the privilege of seeing the entire castle. I have heard many stories of the Round Table, yet I have not seen it in the Great Hall.”
“It is another thing that Arthur has done differently. Upon seeing the beauty of the table, he decided that no food should ever touch the surface and mar the wood. Since he had not finished the castle, he had another Great Hall built, which he calls the Small Hall, on the back side of the fortress to house the Round Table. When Arthur holds council, no one enters the room except for the serving maid, Matilda.”
Noelle nodded as she took her last bite of peach. Arthur was a wise man in many ways, she realized. He saw beyond his years. After setting the peach pit on the small table beside her, she knew she shouldn’t put off asking Merlin any longer. She was frightfully curious, and needed answers to so many questions. “You once had a vision that I would find a man who I would love with all my heart.”
She took a deep breath. “I have held onto these dreams for many years. I have waited. I have hoped. But nothing has happened. No man has come to me.” Hoping to find an answer, Noelle searched Merlin’s black, sparkling eyes.
He sat silent for a moment, his brow wrinkled with thought. “So you doubt my words?” he asked as he arched a bushy white eyebrow. His gaze was sharp and assessing. “How do you know that you haven’t already met the man?”
Noelle tapped her chest lightly with her hand. “Because I would feel it in here,” she declared. “And I feel nothing for Sir Gavin.”
“Yet, I have heard that you are to marry him.”
She laughed bitterly. “That was not my doing.”
Merlin leaned forward in his chair and stared at the fire. “Sometimes the roads we travel are not clearly defined. We start the journey and think we see the destination for which we seek. Sometimes the harder we try to reach the end, the longer the road becomes. Then, suddenly the road turns and takes us in an entirely different direction.” He looked at her and asked, “Do you understand?”
Noelle thought for a moment. “I’m not sure,” she replied. “Do you mean that sometimes we travel a different road than we started out to take?”
Merlin nodded.
“But will I find the man that I can love and who loves me?” Noelle asked, completely confused. “Will I marry for love?”
Merlin chuckled. “I see you would like to have everything in order first so that you know that it is safe to proceed?”
“It would make it much easier.” Noelle smiled and then added in a serious tone, “I only want to do the right thing. I don’t know that Sir Gavin is the one for me, but if you say he is the one, then I will not fight the marriage.”
“Fate leads us in many different directions and sometimes in the wrong direction, so it is up to you to choose your fate wisely,” Merlin said steepling his fingers and propping his chin upon them. “I will tell you this. You have already met your destiny, and it will be up to you to figure your course. Choose wisely, my child. Remember, the greatest satisfaction in life is won and not handed to you.”
“If I have met my destiny, then I shall wait.”
“I know it is not the answer that you wish,” Merlin said with a slight smile. “But if you are fortunate and wise, all that you seek will be within your grasp. Now tell me, why are you in here talking to an old man when you could be making merry with the other ladies?”
“My ankle turned and it’s tender.”
Merlin sat on the edge of his chair and brushed his long sleeves back. “Let me see.”
Noelle turned her leg to show him. He reached down and touched the tender and swollen flesh, closing his long fingers around her ankle; heat shot up her leg while a swirl of sparkles swept around her ankle. Then Merlin let go.
“You can stand now,” he said with a nod.
Fearing the inevitable pain, Noelle hesitated. Finally, she pushed herself up to a standing position and tested her leg, slowly putting the weight on it. So far there was no pain. She smiled, then walked over to the hearth and back to her chair. “It is much better. I can walk normally again. Thank you.”
Slowly, Merlin pushed himself to his feet. “I made your ankle well, yet my own bones are stiff.” He shook his head. “Such an irony. Now, I must seek Arthur.”
“Will you stay in Camelot, so that we may visit again?”
“Aye. I will be here for Christmastide. We will speak again. I am most anxious to discover what you have learned.”
Nicholas realized he was very tired now that he was back in Camelot. The back of his neck felt as though a sword had been rammed down his ba
ck.
He made his way to the stable to make sure his horse had been properly rubbed down. There, sitting on a perch at the far end of the stable sat Boots, looking at Nicholas as if to say, What took you so long?
“You, my fine feathered friend, led me on a wild goose chase.” Nicholas shook his head. “Of course, I did like your choice of prey this time,” he added as the falcon flapped her wings as if he understood. Nicholas yanked out a brown bag. He pulled open the drawstrings, retrieved a small slice of meat, and gave Boots her treat. “Get some rest, my friend, as I shall do. Something tells me we are going to need it.”
Walking to his pavilion, Nicholas thought it probably would have been faster to ride since the tent was located several hundred yards outside of the castle walls, but the walk wouldn’t hurt him.
He had sat in a cramped position all night—not that it was unpleasant holding a beautiful woman— but still, his muscles reminded him with every step that he had slept in uncomfortable accommodations.
The snow crunched under his boots as the wind whispered around him. Nicholas realized that he still wore his damp coat. No wonder he was so damned cold. He needed some good ale and a place by the fire. Aye, that was what he needed: a fire to warm his arse.
Glancing across the field he noticed that the men were clearing the snow so they could continue to practice in case it remained on the ground several days.
That was good. This was one jousting match he meant to win. Then, he intended to win his wager with Arthur. It would be one fine Christmas.
Nicholas stopped to warm his hands when he reached the fire that had been built in front of his tent. He greeted his men as they gathered around and patiently answered their questions on what he wanted them to do today.
Nicholas put his hands on the small of his back and stretched back. He really couldn’t remember ever being so tired. After all, he’d spent many a night awake in the past.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder, so Nicholas turned to see who it was.
“Did ye have a good time chasing Boots, or did I hear that ye had other things to accomplish?” Dirk said with a wicked smile. “Something about a fair maiden who was lost?”
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