The Lioness and Her Knight Read online

  "I see," Rhience said softly.

  "It's Malvolus who rules the castle now. I suppose he always did, behind the scenes, but now it's out in the open. He's the one who kept track of Ywain's six months, and when Ywain didn't show, he convinced Laudine that Ywain had never loved her but was only after Sir Esclados's castle. He said it was all a plot hatched by Ywain and his wicked ally."

  "You?"

  Luneta sighed. "Who else? What else was Laudine to believe? It all fits together. First Ywain kills Sir Esclados, then I persuade her to marry him, and finally it turns out that we're cousins. I think at heart she knows I wouldn't do her harm—we've grown a little closer the past few months—but she's not strong enough to contradict Malvolus."

  "And so you were sent to deliver Laudine's rejection to Ywain," Rhience said. "To punish both of you at once."

  Luneta nodded. "I think, though, if I can just persuade him to come back, I might be able to talk Laudine into—"

  "Haven't you done enough persuading?" Rhience asked with a hard edge in his voice. "Why don't you leave it be, Luneta? It wasn't your fault that Ywain broke his promise, you know. Let him face the results himself."

  "Let his life be ruined because he forgot a date?" Luneta asked. "Anyone can forget a date. I forgot it myself. So did Laudine. She doesn't even have a calendar and would never have known that the time had passed if Malvolus hadn't told her. If you're so good with dates, why didn't you remind Ywain?"

  "I told you, I've been trying," Rhience said. "I've been hanging about for weeks now, but you can get an audience with the king more easily than with your precious cousin these days. Except in the tournament arenas, I've barely been able to catch a glimpse of him, he's been so surrounded by guards and fainting women."

  "Fainting women?" Luneta repeated. Then, a bit fearfully, she asked, "He hasn't ... he hasn't found another—"

  "Another love? No, as far as I can tell from the gossip, he's been faithful to Lady Laudine. But that only makes it worse. He's called 'The Unattainable Knight' or some such rot. It gives him an air of mystery, and every lady in the land imagines how famous she would be if only she could be the lady who finally wins his heart. He's had to hire some men to keep all his admirers at bay."

  "Then how am I to ... but I have to speak to him! I've been riding almost without a rest for two days."

  "How did you know to look for him here, by the way?" Rhience asked.

  "I just asked around until I heard of a tournament," she said. "Isn't there any way to get to him? Could Gawain get me in?"

  "Sir Gawain's not here. Nor is King Arthur, if that's your next thought. I gather they don't go to many tournaments themselves."

  "Well, I have to get to him somehow," Luneta said.

  "You can try, but you won't succeed," Rhience said.

  By noon the next day, Luneta was nearly ready to admit that Rhience was right. She spent all that morning pushing through the crowds that encircled Ywain's tent, tramping in puddles of old snow and being pushed about by the flocks of women (and quite a few men) who gathered wherever Ywain went. She succeeded once in getting to the front of the throng and even handing a note to one of Ywain's guards, but a moment later she saw her note, crumpled into a ball, tossed into a dirty snowbank. Not once did she even glimpse her cousin.

  "No wonder he lost track of the days," she moaned to Rhience over a meager luncheon. "With all those ladies and courtiers screaming his name all day and night, he probably hasn't slept in months. By the way, why do you suppose those men are out there with the ladies?"

  Rhience looked uncomfortable, but after a moment he replied. "Well, there are some who have suggested that there's a private reason that Ywain has never shown any interest in the ladies," he said.

  "Oh."

  "I believe it was your uncle Agrivain who first proposed this theory," Rhience added. "I hesitate to speak ill of your family, lass, but—"

  "What a toad he is," Luneta said, but she was too tired even to work up a good anger at Agrivain. "Isn't there any time when Ywain is alone?"

  "Only when he's jousting," Rhience said. "And I'm not sure you can call that alone, since there's a crowd watching."

  Luneta looked up, then lowered her eyes quickly so that Rhience wouldn't see that her interest had been caught. "Then there's nothing to be done," she said, with studied despondency. "When is the final joust for the tournament anyway? This afternoon, isn't it?"

  "Yes," Rhience said. "You want to watch?"

  Luneta shrugged and said, "I suppose."

  The final event of the weeklong tournament was to take place at midafternoon, but Rhience and Luneta went as soon as they had eaten. Though it was still hours early, they were lucky to find a place in the rough wooden benches behind the palisade that ringed the jousting area. Luneta scanned the arena closely and soon found what she was looking for: a small gate in the fence, by which the servants who cleaned up after the horses went in and out. Having found this entrance and marked how to get there, Luneta sat demurely beside Rhience, talking with him about all the places he had visited over the past six months.

  The crowd grew more dense around them as the time for the final joust approached. It became much harder to move and see, but in one important respect the crowd was a good thing: it made it easy for her to slip away from Rhience. A few minutes before the joust was to take place, she ducked into the press and began moving toward the gate.

  She almost didn't make it. She was still ten yards from the entrance when she heard a roar from the crowd, the pounding of horses' hooves, and the clang of lances on shields. Fortunately for Luneta, though, neither Ywain nor his opponent was unhorsed, and by the time they had drawn back for a second pass, she had reached the door and stepped into the arena. The first thing she saw was Ywain, still using the same armor (though it was polished to an astonishing degree) and riding the same horse she had come to know on the journey from Scotland months before. The knights were just beginning their second pass, so she moved quickly. Picking up her skirts, she ran to the middle of the field, right into Ywain's path. She heard shouting and glimpsed figures leaping over the fence and coming after her, but she was able to intercept Ywain and halt his charge. His horse reared abruptly, and Ywain shouted, "Get back, girl! You'll be hurt!"

  "Ywain!" she called back. "It's me! Luneta!" But Ywain was busy calming his mount and didn't hear. Hands grasped her arms and started pulling her away, and Luneta screamed, "I've come from Laudine!"

  Ywain had already started moving again, head down and lance leveled, but when Luneta called Laudine's name, he jerked his head around sharply and pulled up. His opponent hit him square in the chest, and Ywain flew from the saddle and landed in a shiny heap in the dirt. The crowd roared with angry disapproval, and wrenching herself free from the hands that held her, Luneta ran to his fallen figure.

  Ywain was already climbing to his feet, unhurt but indignant. Jerking his helm from his head, he glared furiously at Luneta. "You made me lose the tournament!" he shouted.

  Luneta met his anger with a boiling anger of her own, too long suppressed. "You've lost more than that, you stupid gapeseed! You've lost Laudine!"

  "Laudine?" Ywain repeated, his furious expression fading to a haughty indignation. "What do you mean? Why, you're Luneta! What are you saying? Lost Laudine? Do you mean that she's been unfaithful? I will never believe that she could—"

  "Shut up, blitherwit!" Luneta snapped. "No, she hasn't been unfaithful. If anyone's been unfaithful, it's you!

  "No!" Ywain cried. "Never!"

  "Don't you have any idea what month it is? You stupid, foolish peacock—strutting around in your shiny armor! 'The Unattainable Knight'! You promised Laudine you'd be back within six months, promised it as a pledge of your love!"

  Ywain's mouth dropped open, and the color drained from his face.

  "That was six months and one week ago, Ywain. Six months and one week."

  "Laudine," Ywain whispered.

  Luneta's own fury faded, and a
ll she felt was a horrible sadness. In a quieter voice, she said, "I've been sent to tell you that you needn't come back now."

  Ywain fell to his knees, his chin on his chest. Then he raised blank eyes to the heavens and emitted a long, fierce, wrenching howl of despair that echoed eerily over the tournament field, then died away. He sounded like a wounded animal, and Luneta took an involuntary step back. Ywain leaped to his feet, screamed once more, and ran wildly from the field. Then he was gone, and Luneta was alone under the gaze of hundreds of amazed eyes.

  "While I have your attention," came a voice from her side, calling loudly to the crowd, "would you like to see me juggle?" It was Rhience. "No? Well, then, we'll just be off." Taking her arm, Rhience led her briskly away.

  Ywain's armor was found at the edge of a nearby forest, his sword driven deeply into the trunk of a tree, but no one could locate Ywain himself. A few search parties went out looking for him, led by Sir Lamorak, the knight who had defeated Ywain in the tournament and won the prize, but there was no sign of him. Luneta found herself very popular immediately after the tournament, as everyone was agog to know what she had said to Sir Ywain to cause such a display, but when she refused to tell details, her fame swiftly became notoriety. Having no explanation for Ywain's shocking behavior, people began to make up their own stories, usually with Luneta in the role of the villain.

  "The way I hear it," Rhience said on the fifth day after Ywain's disappearance, "you're in love with Ywain yourself, but he wouldn't look at you, so you found out who his secret ladylove is and murdered her. Not very clever of you, lass," he added disapprovingly. "I mean, having killed his true love, how could you possibly expect him to fall in love with you?"

  Luneta nodded glumly. "That explains some of the looks I get when I go out."

  Rhience dropped his bantering tone and asked, "Bad, is it?" Luneta nodded. "Do you know, Luneta," he said, "I've begun to wonder if I could escort you somewhere."

  "Where?"

  "Anywhere but here," Rhience replied.

  Luneta nodded again. He was right. "I need to go back to Laudine as soon as I'm able," Luneta said. "I can't just leave her in Malvolus's power. But I'm also worried about Ywain. I've stayed this long only to see if the searchers find him."

  "Then we can leave anytime," Rhience said. "No more search parties are going out. I heard Sir Lamorak say that it was useless."

  "They're giving up?" Luneta exclaimed. Rhience nodded. "But he's out there somewhere with no horse or weapon or armor!" She scowled angrily at the ground for a moment, then looked up. "They all called him the greatest knight in England! He was their hero! What happened to the admirers of 'The Unattainable Knight'?"

  "Ah, that," Rhience said. "Well, that's gone off a bit. You see, he was unhorsed, which always takes the shine off a knight. You can't deny that it looks rather silly. Then there was all that screaming business. Not very courtly at all. And finally, it turns out that Sir Lamorak—who defeated him—is also unattainable. He's told everyone that he, like Ywain, loves an absent beauty and can never look at another woman. So you see? From the court's perspective, they've just traded even up. Some of the ladies are already swooning when Lamorak walks by."

  "Ladies can be so stupid," Luneta said.

  "Your words, not mine," Rhience said.

  "I've got to go find him," Luneta said. "It's partly"—she cast a look of warning at Rhience—"partly my fault that he's in this mess."

  Rhience raised one eyebrow but kept his lips tightly closed.

  Luneta met his gaze squarely. "Will you go with me?" she asked.

  Rhience smiled. "Sure," he said. "I'll get our horses."

  They started where all the other search parties had begun, at the edge of the forest where Ywain's armor had been found. It had been snowing earlier but now was just cold and dreary. Rhience looked into the trees. "Most of the searchers have gone right into the woods," he said. "The idea is that he took off his armor so as to climb more easily over tree trunks and so on. They haven't found anything, but that's hardly surprising. You could lose a village in this forest."

  Luneta stared glumly into the shadows. Looking for one man's trail in those woods did seem futile. Ywain had been missing almost a week and could be in the next shire by now. She was about to say so and to suggest going home when a movement within the trees caught her eye. She squinted at the spot where she had seen the movement and made out a vaguely human shape—but it was much too small to be Ywain. She cocked her head and listened intently, the way that she had trained herself to listen at the fireplace at home. A soft voice said, "I don't suppose you can hear me, can you, Luneta?"

  Luneta sat bolt upright in her saddle. The voice continued, "Good heavens, you can, can't you? Fascinating!"

  Luneta's mouth dropped open, and she glanced involuntarily at Rhience, who was examining the trail. He clearly hadn't heard anything. The voice, really more like a whisper that sounded right in her left ear, spoke again. "Do you know, my dear, I'm acquainted with some full-grown elves who can't use their inner ears like that. Full-grown as elves go, of course. Most of us don't grow all that—"

  "What's wrong, Luneta?" asked Rhience.

  "Nothing," Luneta said, rubbing her left temple. "Something in my ear. Maybe a snowflake fell in it."

  "It stopped snowing an hour ago," Rhience pointed out.

  "But you aren't interested in elves, are you?" the voice in Luneta's ear said. "You're looking for your witless cousin. And let me assure you, I don't mean 'witless' as an insult. The fellow's really lost his wits."

  Luneta stared at the woods, but the small figure she had first seen had disappeared. Only the voice continued. "If you want to find Ywain, you need to go south a bit, just past a frozen stream, and there you'll find a cow path. Follow that path to the east, except of course when it doesn't go directly east. Sometimes it goes more southeast, and once or twice it actually goes due south. When that happens, you'll want to stay on the path and not keep going east. Or maybe not directly on the path itself. Beside the path is just as good, and considering some of the things that are in the path itself, maybe beside the path is better. You know, I've never understood cows, the way they don't even step aside out of the path when they have to unload. Do you understand what I mean by 'unload'? I don't want to be indelicate."

  "I know what you mean," Luneta said.

  Rhience said, "I didn't say anything."

  The voice in Luneta's ear broke into a merry giggle. "Got you!" it said.

  Luneta reddened and said to Rhience, "I'm sorry. I was thinking of something else."

  "Were you thinking about calling this off?" Rhience asked. "Because if you were, I agree. We have no hope of finding one man in that forest five days after he disappeared."

  Luneta glanced once more at the woods. She licked her lips, hesitated a moment, then said, "Let's try going south."

  "South?"

  Luneta nodded. "Er, which direction is that?" she asked.

  Rhience blinked, then pointed to their right, across a meadow. "That's south. Why that way?"

  "Because ... no one else has looked in that direction?" Luneta said hopefully.

  Rhience raised one eyebrow and said, "Do you know something I don't?" just as the voice in her ear said, "You sound like an absolute clodpate, Luneta!"

  "I don't either," Luneta snapped.

  Rhience threw up his hands in mock surrender. "All right, so you don't."

  The voice began giggling again and Luneta said hurriedly, "I didn't mean you, Rhience." Rhience only stared at her, so she said, "Here, let's go south for a while and see if we find a cow path or something that Ywain might have followed."

  Rhience continued to look at Luneta curiously, but he turned his horse and headed across the meadow. A few minutes later, when they crossed the frozen stream and came to a clear cattle trail, he looked at her even more curiously. "Which way now?" he asked.

  "East along the path," Luneta said.

  "Whatever you and your snowflake sa
y," Rhience replied, turning his horse left and following the path.

  The voice laughed. "What a clever fellow! But Brother Matthew was always clever. It was one reason he didn't fit in at the monastery. He's already figured out that you have a friend."

  "Are you my friend?" Luneta whispered under her breath. "Who are you?"

  "Didn't you hear Brother Matthew? Call me Snowflake." Then the voice disappeared in an explosion of mirth.

  They followed the cattle trail for two hours, and when that trail ended, Snowflake directed Luneta around a field of bracken to a small stream and told them to follow that stream. Rhience asked Luneta no questions but turned wherever she said to turn. At last, when the sun began to set, Rhience pulled up and said, "Here's a good place to camp. Are we almost there, or should we stop for the night?"

  "How should I know?" Luneta demanded.

  "Ask, why don't you?"

  Luneta felt herself turning red, but she said, "Well?"

  "You'd best camp," Snowflake replied in her ear. "You won't come up on Ywain for a day or two yet."

  Luneta looked up to Rhience's patient gaze. "Er, I think ... he says we should camp."

  Rhience nodded and dismounted. For the next half-hour they were both occupied in rubbing down their horses, building a fire, and opening the packs of dried food that Rhience had brought with them, but when at last they were seated by their fire, eating, Rhience said, "You want to explain this to me?"

  Luneta nodded, but she felt very self-conscious as she said, "It's a voice, right in my ear. Do you think I'm mad?"

  "I've thought so for months," Rhience replied. "But hearing a voice isn't necessarily a sign of it. What does your voice tell you?"

  "He says that we won't come up on Ywain for another day or two."

  "Does your voice have a name?"

  Luneta reddened again and, in a small voice, said, "He says to call him Snowflake."

  Rhience began to laugh. "Ah, a spirit with a sense of humor. My favorite sort."

  When Rhience said "spirit," Luneta looked up sharply. "It is a spirit, isn't it? Do you think it's leading us to our death or something?"