The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight Read online

  "Fancy dress ball," Terence added, mild disdain in his voice.

  "Bagdemagus was one of those who began the tradition of the annual ball," Gawain explained. "It's the high point of his year. So, Arthur sent messengers to Logres to see if he was all right. They'd all been there before, knew exactly where it was and how to get there, but they couldn't find it. The whole land was just gone. That was just before the rumors about the fortuneteller's prophecy began to appear."

  "And Bagdemagus," Terence added, "has a son named Meliagant."

  "Is he one of King Arthur's knights, too?"

  Gawain shook his head decisively. "No. Never comes to court at all. I've only seen him once, in fact—at a tournament in Yorkshire." Gawain's face grew serious. "He was very skilled with his weapons." He glanced at Terence. "Are you ready?"

  Terence shook his head and returned to his unhurried scrutiny of the scene.

  Gawain turned back to Sarah. "You say your old woman told you to stay with us? For how long?"

  "She didn't say," Sarah admitted. "She just said after we got here."

  "I have to tell you, I'm not keen on it," Gawain said frankly. "Especially now that I hear Meliagant is behind this. I'm sworn to protect maidens, not to put them in harm's way."

  "I'm not afraid."

  "All the more reason you shouldn't go," Gawain replied promptly. "More people die of foolish courage than of cowardice. Besides, what about your family? Shouldn't you be back with them?"

  The time had come. "I have no family," Sarah said. "My mother and my guardian died three months ago. I have no one to go back to."

  "I'm sorry," Gawain said, after a brief pause. "But ... do you really want to go with us? Riding all day, sleeping on the ground, eating rarely and poorly?"

  "Except for the riding part, that's how I've lived since February," Sarah said. "Besides, the crone told me I was to go with you, and she's hasn't lied to me yet."

  "So far as you know," Gawain muttered, but after a moment he sighed and said, "All right. I suppose you're as safe on a quest with us as you would be left alone in the forest. You may come, but on one condition: when I say it is too dangerous or find a safer place for you, you must leave us."

  Sarah lifted her chin and said nothing.

  Terence returned to his horse and mounted. He glanced once at Sarah, then at Gawain. Then he shrugged.

  "You learn anything?" Gawain asked.

  "We're not the only ones on their trail," Terence said. "Another knight is ahead of us."

  Gawain raised one eyebrow. "Parsifal, you think? No one else should know what has happened."

  Terence shook his head. "I don't think it's Parsifal, but we'll see soon. He's not far ahead."

  ***

  Two hours later they found the unknown knight's horse, stripped of his saddle and gear and left free to graze in a field. Gawain examined it. "Exhausted," he said. "Maybe limping slightly, too."

  "It looks like one of Arthur's horses," Terence commented.

  Gawain glanced sharply at him, alarmed. "You don't think Arthur came on ahead of us after all, do you?"

  "I wouldn't have thought so, but he's been known to slip off incognito before," Terence said. "We should know soon now that he's on foot, though."

  They heard the knight before they saw him. An hour after finding the horse, as they rode through a cluster of buildings that was something more than countryside but something less than a village, they heard the sound of jeering laughter ahead. Topping a small rise, they came upon a group of children shouting and tossing clods at a knight who was riding in the back of a heavy farm wagon.

  "Whew!" Gawain said suddenly, wrinkling his nose.

  "Dung cart," Terence said.

  The knight wore his visor down over his face, which was a good idea considering that he was being pelted with stones and roadside trash, but by no motion or word did he indicate that he even noticed the taunting cluster of children.

  "Why are those children throwing things at that knight?" Sarah asked. "Aren't they afraid of his sword?"

  "I don't imagine that they've ever even seen a knight without a horse," Terence replied pensively, "let alone a knight riding in a cart that most peasants wouldn't use. It's easy to mock something new. Still think that might be Arthur, milord?"

  "Well, it doesn't look like his armor," Gawain conceded.

  "Armor? Call that armor?" Terence said with a sniff. "If I put something like that on you, milord, I could never hold my head up in the Squire's Court again. Looks as if the only thing holding it together is rust."

  The knight's armor did look sadly stained, and of course sitting in a cart full of manure didn't improve his appearance. Gawain led the others down the hill toward the dung cart. Sarah wrinkled her nose. She had never really minded the smell of manure—it spoke to her of strong animals and farms and growing things—but there could be too much of anything, and this foul cart piled high with steaming dung was certainly that.

  "Good borrow, sir ... ah, sir dight," Gawain said. He sounded as if he had a cold, and Sarah realized he was trying to breathe only through his mouth.

  "Good day, Sir Gawain," the knight replied.

  A rotten turnip bounced off of the dung-cart knight's closed visor, and Gawain turned sharply. "Here dow, you children. Stop that at once!" At his stern voice, the children dropped their projectiles and lapsed into a sullen silence. Gawain turned back to the knight. "You dow me, thed?"

  "Yes."

  "And, if I bay ask, who are you?"

  "No one of importance," the knight replied. He spoke softly, almost in a whisper.

  Gawain bowed his head slightly, as if acknowledging the other's wish to remain anonymous. Then he said, "Was that your horse that we passed an hour or so back?"

  "No," the knight replied hoarsely. "But it was the horse I rode to this land until it could go no farther."

  "Then you are in a hurry?" Gawain asked. "In this cart?"

  "The cart moves almost as fast as I can walk in armor, but is not so tiring," the knight replied indifferently. "It is not as fast as I would wish to travel, but it is as fast as I am able."

  "But where do you go in such haste?"

  "I go where you go, Sir Gawain, seeking the same two people you seek, to rescue them from the knight who stole them away six days ago." Gawain stared at the knight, but before he could reply, the knight added, "Do not let me delay you. Go ahead, and God be with you. Save them if you are able, and if you are not, I will come behind."

  "How do you know whom I seek?" Gawain asked. His eyes were bright and clear, and he spoke normally again.

  "It doesn't matter. Be sure, my friend, that I've told no one." Gawain hesitated, and the knight said, "Go!"

  "Very well, friend," Gawain said, inclining his head again. "I'll leave you. Best of luck to you on the quest as well."

  At that, the thick, dirty peasant who drove the cart burst into laughter. "A quest, he says!" the driver said with a chortle. "Best of luck! I'll give you luck, O noble knight!" With that, the driver leaned behind him, plunged his hand deep into the dung, and, pulling out a handful, flung it against the knight's back, where it hit with a wet smack.

  Gawain rode his horse up beside the peasant and drew back his gauntleted hand, but the dung-cart knight said, "You waste time, Gawain! I am much in this gentleman's debt. He has given me what I need, and as for his words, what care I? His abuse is to me nothing! Go, I say!"

  Gawain lowered his hand and started to reply, but Terence interrupted. "The good knight is right. Let's go."

  And so they went, but as they went over the top of the next hill, as if by prior agreement, they all stopped and looked back at the knight in the cart. The children had returned with new stones and clods to throw, but the knight still did not move.

  V

  The Dividing of the Ways

  "Maybe we're on the right road after all," Terence said suddenly, breaking the silence. "This looks promising."

  For several hours, Terence and Gawain ha
d been wondering aloud if they were going the right way. The eastward road that they had taken after leaving the knight in the dung cart had entered the forest and had become the narrowest of trails, winding tortuously through wooded areas that were already as dark as night and now that night was really approaching were almost pitch black. Terence had taken the lead as they entered the trees, and there he had stayed, since there wasn't even room for two horses to ride abreast.

  "What is it?" Gawain called from behind Sarah.

  "You'll see," Terence replied. "There's some open space ahead, where a little light still comes through."

  A moment later they were all in a tiny clearing—barely more than a hole in the tree cover—where there was a little more light and where they could sit on their horses side by side. From the clearing, the path split into two trails, both going on into the forest gloom, but Sarah barely glanced at the roads. Her attention was focused on the woman who sat at ease on a fallen log, just at the point where the road divided.

  The woman was slightly built and austere-looking, dressed in flowing blue-green robes that fell about her legs like silk but that somehow seemed finer, and here at dusk in this black, mossy, and mushroomy forest, Sarah could not imagine a more incongruous sight. The woman clearly was waiting for something or someone, but she did not move as the three of them ranged themselves in front of her. Only when Terence said, "We bid you good day, my lady," did the woman move her head to look at them.

  At once dimples appeared on the woman's cheeks, and her eyes lit up. Sarah realized that the woman was hardly more than a girl, perhaps only two or three years older than Sarah herself. The girl smiled happily and said, "But you're Terence! And Sir Gawain! No one said it was going to be you!"

  "Ariel," Sir Gawain said, bowing his head. "I should hardly have recognized you."

  "Everyone says that I've grown amazingly in the past year, so much so that I'm dreadfully tired of hearing it, in fact. But don't you think I look more grown up, too? Especially in this dress. It's supposed to make me look solemn and dignified. Does it?"

  "It did until you began to talk," Gawain said, smiling.

  "Oh dear, I'm doing it, aren't I?" the girl said, chagrined. "I was so determined that I was going to be serious and all that, and not going to talk too much, and I'm sure I would have done well, but then I saw that it was you, and I forgot myself. How is Piers? And Sir Parsifal? It seems like ages since I've seen them. Are you well? But you look well, so I'm sure I needn't have asked."

  "We are quite well, thank you," Gawain said, "except that we are anxious for missing friends."

  "Yes," the girl replied. "Queen Guinevere and Sir Kai. You know, I should have expected you to be the ones who came looking for them, now that I think about it, because of course you're Arthur's cousin and greatest knight, and it only stands to reason that you would want to go off to help him if you could. But"—the girl frowned suddenly—"Mother did say that I might not recognize the knight who came. Now why would she say that, I wonder, if she knew it was you? She must remember how we spent all that time together in the Castle of Women, when you were wounded."

  "Your mother sent you here?" Terence asked when the girl stopped for a breath.

  "Oh yes, she said that I was old enough to begin bringing messages to this world now, if I could remember to keep my dignity, which of course I haven't, but since it's only you, it doesn't matter, does it? Among old friends like this, you don't have to act all aloof and, you know, Other-Worldly, do you?" The girl's eyes rested on Sarah, and suddenly her cheeks flushed. "Except that ... oh dear, I should have..."

  She trailed off, and Gawain came to her rescue. "Ariel, this is Lady Sarah of Milrick, who has been accompanying us on our quest to this point. Sarah, allow me to introduce Ariel."

  Ariel smiled brightly and said, "I'm so pleased to meet you. I had expected only men to come along, so this is much better."

  Sarah nodded soberly. "How do you do?"

  Ariel's smile faded slightly. "Have I offended you, Sarah?"

  Sarah blinked. "Why no. Why would you think—?"

  "It's just that you looked so formal and dignified and you didn't smile when you greeted me," Ariel said. "I was afraid I had said something wrong. I do that sometimes, you know, without realizing it."

  "Sarah doesn't smile," Terence explained. Sarah glanced sharply at Terence but could think of nothing to say in response.

  "Never?" asked Ariel, wide-eyed.

  "I ... I smile sometimes," Sarah said, but even as she spoke she knew it sounded lame. When was the last time she had smiled?

  Ariel continued staring, as if seeing a strange beast for the first time. Terence took advantage of her momentary silence to say, "Do you have a message for us, Ariel? Something for our quest?"

  "Oh, yes, of course," Ariel said. She schooled her features back into the austere solemnity they had shown at first. "Welcome, Sir Knight," she said in an artificial and formal voice. "You have come to the Dividing of the Ways."

  "Actually, we had already noticed that, my dear," Gawain said.

  Ariel's formality melted in an instant, and her cheeks dimpled again. "It's what I was told to say, but it does seem silly. I mean, if you can't tell that the road divides here, you're rather an ass, aren't you? And what's the good of an ass on a quest?"

  "Why don't you just give us the gist of the message?" Gawain said patiently.

  "I had to memorize it so I could give it just right," Ariel said. "Now, pay attention and stop interrupting."

  "I beg your pardon, my lady," Gawain said meekly.

  "Welcome, Sir Knight," Ariel began again. "You have come to the Dividing of the Ways. You seek the Lost Kingdom of Logres, where the Queen of All England is now held in arduous durance, along with her escort, Sir Kai the Seneschal. Either of the roads you see before you will take you there, but both are fraught with peril."

  "Fraught," Gawain murmured.

  "Durance," added Terence.

  Ariel shot them a stern look, but continued. "The road to your left leads to the Great River of Logres, which may be crossed only by the Underwater Bridge. That to your right leads to the Great Gorge of Listinoise, which may be crossed only by the Sword Bridge. Dangers face you to the right and to the left, but know this, Sir Knight: once you have chosen a road, you may never return from the Lost Kingdom until you have achieved your quest."

  "I hadn't planned to," Gawain said calmly. "So, Ariel. Which road do you recommend?"

  "Me?" Ariel asked.

  "For instance, what is this 'Sword Bridge'?"

  "I haven't a notion," Ariel replied frankly. "I don't know anything beyond what I had to memorize. No one would tell me a thing!" She scowled briefly at this, but scowls did not suit her face, and a moment later her expression cleared and she added, "I don't even know what an Underwater Bridge is."

  "We've crossed through the water before, milord," Terence said suddenly. "I suggest we try that route."

  Gawain nodded, then said, "Very well, but it grows dark now, and there's room in this clearing to pitch the horses. Shall we stop here for the night?" He glanced at Ariel. "Would you stay with us this evening, my dear? I'm sure Sarah could use the company."

  Ariel shook her head. "No, I'm supposed to leave at dark. I was just about to take off when you arrived, in fact."

  "Then may I speak with you briefly before you leave? I would like to send greetings to your mother."

  Gawain went aside with Ariel and began speaking to her in a low voice. Sarah went to help Terence care for the horses and make camp. They were almost finished when Gawain returned and began whispering to Terence. Terence frowned, but said nothing. Sarah didn't care; Gawain could have as many secrets as he wanted, so long as she could get a bite to eat and a place to sleep. She looked about for a likely place for her bed.

  "Gawain?" she said suddenly. "Where did your friend Ariel go?"

  "She didn't say," Gawain replied.

  "But surely it isn't safe for her in this dark forest all by
herself."

  "Ariel will be all right," Gawain said reassuringly. "She's at home in the forest. Would you like to start gathering some wood for a fire? I'm hungry."

  So Sarah put Ariel out of her mind and set about gathering sticks. They ate silently, then rolled up in their blankets in a triangle around the coals and all went to sleep at once.

  When Sarah awoke, Gawain and Terence were gone. There were no blankets near the fire, no supplies stacked against the trees, and only Sarah's horse was still tethered to the ground at the edge of the clearing. A neat bundle of food lay beside Sarah's own saddle and saddlebags, but nothing else remained. They had left her behind. Furious, Sarah let out a scream of frustration.

  "I was afraid you wouldn't be pleased," said a timid voice behind her. Whirling around, Sarah saw Ariel seated again on the log where she had been when they first arrived.

  "Did you know about this?"

  Ariel nodded soberly. "Gawain asked me to keep an eye on you and see that you were safe. He said it was going to be too dangerous for you to go with him."

  "He might have asked me if I cared for the danger!" Sarah snapped.

  "He knew you would want to go, which is why he decided to go in secret, no matter what Terence said."

  "What did Terence say?" Sarah asked.

  "Terence didn't like it," Ariel explained. "Sneaking out like this. But he didn't want you along, either. He said they couldn't put you in danger when it wasn't really your quest, anyway."

  "Not my quest!" Sarah stamped her foot. "What do they know about my quest?"

  Ariel looked surprised. "They said you just chanced to see what happened to Sir Kai and the queen, but that you didn't really know them. He said you had just met them for the first time that morning, so the quest really had nothing to do with you." Ariel faltered again as she looked at Sarah's face. "Oh dear," she said. "Were they wrong?"

  "Yes, of course they were wrong! Both of them!"