The High King

The former giant consented to ride behind the Princess on Lluagor, and they set out once more. Llyan, however, had suddenly taken it into her head to be playful. She lunged forward on her huge padded paws and spun joyfully about while the desperate bard clung to her tawny neck. It was all Fflewddur could do to keep Llyan from rolling onto her back with himself astride her.

'She? seldom does this,' shouted the breathless bard, while Llyan, with great leaps, circled the companions. 'She's really been? quite well? behaved! No use? scolding her. Makes no? difference!'

At last Fflewddur was forced, with difficulty, to unsling his harp and pluck out a melody until Llyan grew calm again.

Soon after midday the bard heard the faint, distant notes of Taran's horn. 'They're worried over us,' Fflewddur said. 'I hope we shall soon rejoin them.'

The companions pressed on as quickly as they could, but the distance between the two bands increased rather than dwindled, and at nightfall they wearily halted and slept.

A fresh morning start brought them, according to Fflewddur's reckoning, less than half a day behind the others. King Rhun, more than ever eager to reach Caer Cadarn, urged all speed from the dapple gray; but the mare's pace was much slower than Llyan's and Lluagor's; Eilonwy and Fflewddur Continually had to rein in their mounts.

Midway through the afternoon, King Rhun gave a glad cry. Caer Cadarn lay only a little distance off. They saw Smoit's crimson banner clearly beyond the trees. The companions were about to hasten onward, but Eilonwy frowned and looked once more at the fluttering standard.

'How odd,' the Princess remarked. 'I see King Smoit's jolly old bear. But Gwydion surely must be there by now, and I don't see the banner of the House of Don. Queen Teleria taught me it is courtesy for a cantrev noble to fly the Golden Sunburst of Don when one of the Royal House visits him.'

'True enough in ordinary circumstances,' agreed Fflewddur. 'But I doubt, at this point, that Gwydion wants anyone to know where he is. He's told Smoit to put aside the formalities. A most sensible precaution.'

'Yes, of course.' Eilonwy replied. 'I shouldn't have thought of that. How clever of you, Fflewddur.'

The bard beamed happily. 'Experience, Princess. Long experience. But never fear. Such wisdom will come to you, in time.'

'Even so,' Eilonwy said, as they rode farther. 'It's curious the gates are closed. Knowing King Smoit, you might suppose they'd be flung wide open and a guard of honor waiting for us, with King Smoit himself ar their head.'

Fflewddur waved the girl's remark aside. 'Not a bit of it. Lord Gwydiom follows a path of danger, not a round of festivals. I understand how such things are done. I've been on a thousand secret missions? ah, well, perhaps one or two,' he added hastily. 'I fully expected Caer Cadarn would be buckled, bolted, and shut tight as an oyster.'

'Yes,' Eilonwy said, 'I'm sure you know more about such things than I' She hesitated, straining her eyes to take in the castle, which the companions were now rapidly approaching. 'But King Smoit isn't at war with his neighbors, as far as I've heard. Two watchmen on the walls would be more than enough. Does he need a whole party of bowmen?'

'Naturally,' replied Fflewddur, 'to protect Lord Gwydion.'

'But if no one is to know Gwydion's there?' Eilonwy persisted.

'Great Belin!' cried the bard, reining up Llyan. 'Now you make my head spin. Are you trying to say Gwydion's not at Caer Cadarn? If he's not, we shall soon find out. And if he is, we shall find that out as well.' Fflewddur scratched his spiky yellow head. 'But if he's not, then, why not? What could have happened? And if he is, then there's nothing to worry about. Yet, if he isn't…Oh, drat and blast, you've turned me queasy. I don't understand….'

'I don't understand, either,' Eilonwy answered. 'All I know? and I don't even know it? is that, well, I can't explain. I? I see the castle all crooked-wise? no, not see. Taste? No…Well, no matter,' she burst out, 'I've come all over chills and creeps and I don't like it. You've had experience, I don't doubt. But my ancestors were enchantresses, every one. And so should I have been, if I hadn't chosen to be a young lady.'

'Enchantments!' the bard muttered uncomfortably. 'Stay away from them. Don't meddle. It's also been my experience they never turn out well.'

'I say,' put in Rhun, 'if the Princess feels there's something amiss, I'll be glad to ride ahead and find out. I shall frankly rap on the gates and demand to know.'

'Nonsense,' replied Fflewddur. 'I'm quite sure all is well.' A harp string broke and twanged loudly. The bard cleared his throat. 'No, I'm not sure at all. Oh, bother it! The girl has put an idea in my head and I can't shake it out. One way, everything looks all right; the other way, it looks all wrong.

'Just to ease your mind? ah, my mind, that is,' Fflewddur told the Princess, 'I shall be the one to find out. As a wandering bard I can go and come as I please. If anything's wrong, none will suspect me. If not, there's no harm done. Stay here. I'll be back directly. We shall laugh over this at King Smoit's table,' he added, but without great assurance.

The bard dismounted, considering it wiser not to draw attention by riding Llyan. 'And you try no mischief,' he warned Glew. 'I hate to let you out of my sight, but Llyan will keep an eye on you. Hers are sharper than mine. So are her teeth.'

On foot, the bard made his way to the castle. After a time, Eilonwy saw the gates swing open and Fflewddur disappear within. Then all was silent.

BY NIGHTFALL THE GIRL had grown seriously alarmed, for there had been no further sign from the bard. The companions had concealed themselves in a thicket, awaiting Fflewddur's return, but now Eilonwy rose and anxiously faced the castle. 'It is all wrong!' she cried, taking an impatient stride forward

King Rhun drew her back. 'Perhaps not,' he said. 'Why, he'd have come back immediately to warn us if there was. No doubt Smoit's giving him supper, or…' Rhun loosened his sword in its sheath. 'I'll go and see.'

'No, you shall not!' Eilonwy cried. 'I should have gone in the first place. Oh, I should have known better than to let myself be put off by anyone.'

Rhun, however, insisted. Eilonwy refused. The heated, although whispered, dispute that followed was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the bard himself. Breathless and gasping, he stumbled into the thicket.

'It's Magg! He has them all!' Fflewddur's voice was pale as his face in the moonlight. 'Caught! Trapped!'

Eilonwy and Rhun listened aghast at what Fflewddur had learned. 'The warriors themselves don't know who the prisoners are, only that there are four with Smoit locked up for treachery. Treachery indeed! They've been made to swallow some kind of tale! The game goes deeper than that. What it is, I couldn't discover. I think the guards had orders to lay hold of everybody entering the castle. Luckily, those orders didn't seem to apply to wandering bards. It's so usual for a bard to drift in and sing for his supper that the warriors never gave it a second thought, though a they did keep an eye on me and wouldn't let me near Smoit's Great Hall or the larder where they've put the prisoners. But I caught a glimpse of Magg. Oh, the sneering, smirking spider! If only I could have run him through then and there!

'The warriors kept me harping until I thought my fingers would drop off,' he hurriedly concluded. 'Otherwise, I should have been back long ago. I didn't dare stop, or they'd have smelled a rat. And there's a rat to be smelled!' he cried furiously.

'How shall we rescue them?' Eilonwy demanded. 'I don't care why they're locked up. Ask later. First get them out.'

'We can't,' Fflewddur answered in despair. 'Impossible. Not with only four of us. And that's four counting Glew, who can't be counted at all.'

Glew snorted. Usually the little man took no interest in anything not bearing directly on himself; now, his face was agitated. 'When I was a giant I could have torn the walls down.'

'Bother when you were a giant,' snapped Fflewddur. 'You're not one now. Our only hope is to go farther into the cantrev, tell one of the cantrev lords what's happened, and have him rally an attack force.'

'It will take too long,' cried Eilonwy. 'Oh, do be quiet and let me think!'

The girl strode again to the clearing, and turned her eyes defiantly toward the castle which flung its own dark defiance against her. Her mind raced, but with no clear plan. With half a sob and half a cry of anger she was about to turn away. A movement against a nearby tree caught her glance. She halted a moment. Not daring to turn her