The Red Knight

a little too hard.

She watched him.

‘Then we found the creature.’ He stared at her. ‘An adversarius. You know what they are?’ he asked.

‘Every person of my generation knows what they are.’ She covered her eyes with her hand for a moment. ‘Daemons. The Wardens of the Wild.’

He let another long breath go. ‘I thought they had been exaggerated.’ He looked out the window. ‘At any rate, there were two of them. I can only assume that the Jacks and the daemons are working together. If they are, this cannot be a random incident – I believe they’re the harbingers of an attack, testing your strength, and I assume that your fortress is the target. It certainly has immense strategic value. I need to ask you to let my troops in, close the gates, place yourself in a posture of defence, and victual the fortress – call in your people, of course. And send word to the king.’

She looked at him for a long time. ‘If you planned to take my fortress yourself . . .’ she said. And left it there.

‘My lady, I agree that it would be a brilliant stratagem. I even agree that I might try something like. I have fought in the East – we did such things there.’ He shrugged. ‘This is my country, my lady. And if you doubt me – and you have every reason to doubt me – you have only to look at what my archers are putting up outside the gates of our camp.’

She looked out the window.

‘You could tell me that there’s an angel of the Lord outside the gates of your camp, telling your archers that I’m the most beautiful woman since Helen, and I couldn’t see it well enough to believe you,’ she said. ‘But – I have seen you. I can smell the power on you. And – now I understand other things I have seen.’

‘You are an astrologer,’ he said. I am slow, he thought.

‘Yes. And you are very difficult to read, as if – as if you have some protection from my art.’ She smiled. ‘But I am no novice, and God has given me the power to look at souls. Yours is rather curious – as I expect you know.’

‘Oh, God has been very good to me,’ he said.

‘You mock and are bitter, but we face a crisis, and I am not your spiritual mother.’ Her voice changed, becoming sharper, and yet deeper. ‘Although I would be, if you would let me in. You need His spirit.’ She turned away. ‘You are armoured in darkness. But it is a false armour, and will betray you.’

‘So people tell me,’ he said. ‘Yet it’s served me well so far. Answer me this, Abbess. Who else was at that manor?’

The Abbess shrugged. ‘Later . . .’

The captain looked at her for a long time. ‘Who else was there?’

She shook her head. ‘Later. It is not the issue now, when I have a crisis of my tenure. I will not fail. I will hold this place.’

He nodded. ‘So you will put this fortress in a posture of defence?’ he asked.

She nodded. ‘This minute.’ She raised a hand bell and rang it.

The elderly nun came immediately.

‘Fetch the gate warder and the sergeant at arms. And ring the alarm,’ the Abbess ordered in a firm voice. She went to the mantel on her fireplace, and opened a small box of ivory carved in the Cross of the Order of Saint Thomas. In it was a slip of milk-white birch bark.

‘You’re sure about this?’ she whispered.

‘I am,’ he said.

‘I need to share your assurance,’ she said.

He sat back. ‘I could not make this up. You say you smell the power of the phantasm on me-’

‘I believe that you have met and defeated another monster. It is possible that you found a dead Jack.’ She shrugged. ‘It is possible I have a traitor inside my walls. But once I cast this summoning, the Master of My Order will come with all his knights. He will probably demand that the king raise an army.’

‘That’s is just about what is required here,’ said the Red Knight.

‘I cannot have them come to my aid for nothing,’ she said.

The Red Knight sat back. His back hurt, and his neck hurt, and he felt the dull anger of complete fatigue. He bit back a retort, and then another.

‘What will satisfy you?’ he asked.

She shrugged. ‘I believe you. But I must be sure.’

He nodded. Irrationally angry.

‘Fine,’ he said. He rose, and bowed.

She reached for his hand.

He stepped back. ‘No time like the present,’ he spat.

‘Captain!’ she said. ‘You are not a small child.’

He nodded, held onto his anger, and stalked out.

‘What did she say?’ Tom asked.

‘She wants us to find their army, not just the signs of it,’ the captain said.

Tom grinned. ‘That will be a mighty feat of arms,’ he said.

Ser Milus had the banner, and the rest of his entourage was ready to mount. But the sergeant at arms stood in the gate with only the postern open. They would have to walk their horses out the gate. Even while cursing this delay, the captain commended the old witch. She took his warning seriously.

‘Captain!’

He turned to see Amicia running barefoot across the courtyard.

‘Let’s go,’ Tom grunted. ‘I’ll get a convoy together.’

‘Twenty lances,’ the captain said.

‘Aye,’ said Tom. He winked as he left.

Amicia reached him. He felt her through the aether as she came up. He could smell her, an earthy, female smell, clean and bright, like a new sword. Like a taste of the Wild.

‘The Abbess sends this,’ she said levelly. She held out a small scroll. ‘She says she will take immediate steps, so you are not to think yourself ignored.’

He took the scroll from her hand.

‘Thank you,’ he said. He managed a smile. ‘I am tired and difficult.’

‘You have fought for your life,’ she said. Her eyes held his. ‘There is no fatigue like that of fear and war.’

He might have denied it. Knights don’t admit to fear. But her gentle voice held an absolute certainty. It was healing. It was forgiving.

It was admiring.

He realised that he had been holding her hand the whole time. She flushed, but did not snatch it away.

‘Lady, your words are a tonic to a tired man.’ He bowed and kissed her hand. It was a tonic. That or she had cast a spell on him unnoticed.

She laughed. ‘I am no lady, but a simple novice of this house,’ she said.

He tore himself away from her, or they might have stood far too long in the courtyard, with the first sun of the spring resting on them.

He read the scroll as he rode down the gravel path from the main gate to the Lower Town. Much of the path was walled, and some of it paved, making a fortified road, itself a defence.

Someone had put a great deal of money into this fortress.

He cantered through the town. His shoulder didn’t hurt at all. But his right hand tingled for another reason entirely, and he laughed aloud.

Harndon Palace – Desiderata

Desiderata led her knights and ladies out into the spring.

It was early days yet, and even the heartiest of her bold young friends would not slip into the river naked today. But it was warm enough to ride fast, and to lay a picnic out on blankets.

Lady Mary directed the laying out of the food. Spontaneity, with Desiderata, often involved careful preparation