Once Upon an Autumn Eve

38

“I didn’t know whether it would work, Princess,” cried Twk. “I didn’t know whether it would work,” the Pixie both weeping and laughing at one and the same time.

Liaze scrambled to her knees and looked at Twk. “Oh, Twk, you and Jester saved us, for I could not speak until the rooster crowed.”

And then Liaze’s eyes widened, for gold coins had been tied to each of the chicken’s clawed toes.

Liaze began laughing wildly even as tears ran down her face.

Twk joined her, the Pixie also weeping in joy and relief.

Jester ruffled his feathers and crowed once again.

To one side Luc groaned. Liaze, suddenly sober, spun ’round and scrambled to Luc’s side. His eyes fluttered and Liaze grasped his hand. “Oh, my love, waken. Please waken.”

Luc mumbled something in his semiconscious state.

Liaze said to Twk, “He is so cold, so very cold; we’ve got to get him down from this mountain. A fire, we’ll need a fire.”

“There is scrub below,” said Twk, “but little else.”

“It will have to do,” said Liaze, and struggling, she managed to get Luc to his feet, the chevalier barely of aid.

Liaze called Nightshade to her, and the black came trotting. Groaning, lifting, heaving, and shouting at Luc to help, and finally calling for Nightshade to kneel, Liaze at last got Luc across the saddle, bellydown.

“Princess,” said Twk, “would you mind carrying me and Jester back with you? I think my rooster is completely tuckered out.”

Liaze lifted the gold-shod chicken and Twk to Nightshade’s back, and then she packed away the decanter and took up the lantern and mounted behind the saddle and held on to Luc, and said, “All right, my boy, take us down,” and she turned the stallion toward the way below and gently heeled him in the flanks.

Liaze gave the black his head, and to the edge of the flat and onto the slopes of the glass mountain they fared, Nightshade sliding the first twenty or so feet where the glass was steepest, but thereafter his footing was sound, for on precious steps of gold he went.

And as they went down, Twk said, “It was a wild idea, my riding Jester up, for, even though they say a cock’s crow reaves power from witches and such, I thought it only true at dawn, as it was with Lord Fear. I didn’t know whether it would work at night. I didn’t know what was happening between you and the witch atop this mountain, but I thought if I could help, it might give you a chance to spit her with your long-knife, or to put an arrow through her heart.”

“Jester’s crow was just barely enough to let me speak,” said Liaze.

“I am glad you did, Princess, for that motion the witch made at me and Jester, well, I was beginning to feel numb all over.”

“No doubt ’twas sorcery,” said Liaze.

“Oh, my,” said Twk, “I’ve never been enspelled before, and I hope to never be again. Thank Mithras, you called Nightshade to attack.”

“I wouldn’t have been able if not for you and Jester,” said Liaze. “Yet how did you know to come?”

“Well, Gwyd and I saw the witch fly down on her besom, and Verdandi said I would be needed at a critical time, and this seemed a critical time to me. And Verdandi’s sister Urd said that it was a fine thing I had done to train Jester to crow on command; I think she was telling me then and there that a cock’s crow would do the trick.”

“It did, Twk, it did. But the gold on Jester’s feet, how did-?”

“Oh, Princess, back when Urd spoke her rede, I thought it only applied to you, but then I realized it could include me as well. ‘Precious steps will get ye there, / As up black glass ye steeply fare, / Do not dismount as ye try, / Else by fire ye will surely die.’ That’s what Urd said, and I was standing there when she said it, and I had Jester as my mount. Gwyd tied on the gold coins, and up my rooster and I started on our precious steps. Yet it was too slick, and I almost quit, but then Jester started flapping, and he flapped and flapped and flapped, and between precious steps and flailing wings finally we made it, almost too late it seems.”

“I heard you coming,” said Liaze, “but I didn’t know what I was hearing. Your arrival was a complete surprise to me.”

“A surprise to the witch, too,” said Twk, laughing. “Who was she?”

“Iniqui,” said Liaze. “One of Orbane’s four acolytes, though now but two remain.”

“Hmm…” mused Twk. “It seems those four are banes to you and your brothers and sister.”

Liaze nodded. “That’s exactly what Zacharie said.”

“Zacharie?”

“My steward of the Autumnwood.”

“Ah.”

Both Liaze and Twk fell silent, and Jester had tucked his head under one wing and was asleep, as on down the mountain they rode.

At last they came to the bottom, and Gwyd had a fire going and hot tea steeping.

The Brownie and the princess managed to get Luc down from the horse, and they placed him on warm blankets next to the fire and covered him with more.

Liaze accepted a cup of tea from the Brownie, and she slumped down next to Luc and said, “Oh, Gwyd, I am so weary my very teeth hurt.”

“Then sleep, Princess,” replied Gwyd. “I’ll make certain something warm gets in t’your Luc. You, m’lady, need sleep.”

The next morning Liaze was wakened by a gentle kiss, and she opened her amber eyes to look into eyes of indigo. “Oh, Luc,” she murmured, and reached up and embraced him and held him tightly and wept.

“Cherie,” said Luc, reaching for another biscuit, “when I awakened at the foot of this dark mountain, I knew not how I had gotten here, for the last I remember was being snatched out through the window, there at Autumnwood Manor. Yet Gwyd and Twk have told me some of the story, but neither one knows the full of it, and they said to wait for you to recount all.”

Along with Gwyd and Twk, they sat by the fire breaking fast; Luc was on his fourth helping of biscuits and honey and jerky and hot tea.

“It is a long tale, Luc, but first I must tell you this: I met your foster sire Leon, and he told me who your true parents are.”

Luc’s eyes widened in surprise, but he said nought.

“Luc, you are Comte Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle.”

Luc choked on his sip of tea, and after he had gotten control of his breathing: “What?”

“I said, you are Comte Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle. Leon was going to tell you just as soon as you had won your spurs,” said Liaze.

“My spurs,” said Luc. It was a statement and not a question.

“Yes, your knighthood, and I told him that you had more than won them in combat with the Trolls and Goblins in my demesne.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Your true pere was Comte Amaury, and your mere is Comtesse Adele. Your pere was slain in a skirmish when you were but a newborn. A year later, your mere wedded Guillaume, a vicomte with ambitions. He also had a three-year-old son whom Guillaume wanted to be heir to the title of comte after Guillaume had obtained it for himself. Guillaume had a henchman in his retinue-one Franck-and in the night Franck stole you away and took you to the woods to slay you.”

“Oh, my,” said Twk, “what a wicked stepfather.”

Liaze nodded. “That’s exactly what I said to Leon, Twk.”

“Go on, Princess,” said Gwyd. “What happened next?”

“Fortunately, Armsmaster Leon saw Franck riding away with Luc, and he followed on the would-be assassin’s heels into the nearby forest.” Liaze turned to Luc. “Just as Franck raised his blade to kill you, Leon spitted him with a dagger, and before Franck died he told Leon of Guillaume’s guilt, and that there were more men ready to carry out Guillaume’s order to kill the rightful heir.

“Leon knew that you would never be safe with the vicomte at the Blue Chateau, and so he fled away with you, Luc, far away, where he took on the guise of a woodcutter.”

“What of my mere?” asked Luc.

“Leon sent word to her by a former armsmate-a trusted courier-but by that time Adele on her own had discovered Guillaume’s perfidy, but she had no direct proof, and he had put his own men in key positions. Hence, she could do nought to bring him to justice.

“However, she is the one who-via the same trusted courier-provided the funds for your complete education. Oh, Luc, she wanted you to be raised to become a comte, and the teachers Leon hired have well seen to that.”

Luc frowned and gestured at Deadly Nightshade, and then at his arms and armor. “Is she the one who-?”

“Oui, Luc,” said Liaze. “She sent the horse and accoutrements for you on the day of your majority.”

Luc nodded and said, “And I am to become a comte.”

“You are already one,” said Liaze. “It is your birthright.”

Luc nodded and said, “Then it only remains for me to claim it.”

“Won’t that lead t’fightin?” asked Gwyd, “even t’war?”

“Not necessarily to war,” said Luc. “If Guillaume disputes me, I can challenge him to trial by combat.”

“What of his son?” asked Twk.

“Him, too,” said Luc, shrugging. Luc then turned to Liaze and asked, “Is Guillaume yet alive?”

“Oui,” she said, “or at least he was two moons ago, for he is the one who asked Iniqui to locate you.”

“Iniqui?”

“Oui. She is the witch who bore you away, and-” Of a sudden, Liaze’s eyes widened in revelation. “Oh, now I understand.”

“Understand what?” asked Gwyd.

“The meaning of Luc’s title,” said Liaze. “Luc, not only are you a comte, you are le Gardien de la Cle — the Keeper of the Key.”

“Key? What key?”

“You wear it about your neck, Luc. It is the key to the Castle of Shadows beyond the Black Wall of the World. That is what Iniqui was after, for with it she would set free her master Orbane.”

Gwyd sucked air in between clenched teeth, and Twk cried out in alarm. “She would loose that monster upon Faery again, lass?” asked Gwyd.

Liaze nodded. “She was one of his acolytes.”

“Dead and gone,” said Twk, glancing at Jester, the rooster scratching away at the cold soil. “Two are left.”

Luc sighed. “You need tell me the whole of this tale. But first I would ask this: where lies this blue chateau, this lake of the rose?”

“Ah, that,” said Liaze. “I know the way there from here, for I rode o’er it with Lord Fear and the Wild Hunt on the way to this black mountain. I marked it well, the way between, and I will take you there. But, heed me, Luc, you are yet weakened by your ordeal, and until you are fully recovered I would not have you face the one who seeks your death.” Liaze pointed back in the direction she had ridden to get to the mountain and said, “There is a town across the border yon, and there we will stay until you once more have your strength and are ready to face this usurper.”

Luc smiled and said, “As you will, my princess. As you will.”

Two evenings later they rode into the town, Liaze on Pied Agile, Luc on Nightshade, and Gwyd and Twk on two of the four geldings, for they had found the one that had been lamed-now fully recovered-placidly grazing on the shores of the lake near where they had left him.

They took two rooms at Le Renard Noir-the Black Fox-the single inn in town: Gwyd and Twk and Jester in one; Liaze and Luc in the other. They took warm baths, and Luc shaved, for he now had two days’ growth of beard; while he was enspelled on the black mountain, his whiskers had grown not at all. Afterward, they ate a sumptuous meal, and Gwyd and Twk both imbibed heavily of wine-Gwyd three bottles and Twk several thimblefuls-and they had to be borne to bed.

That night as well, though Luc yet felt the ordeal of his ensorcellment, he and Liaze made sweet and gentle love. “ ’Tis a bewitchment of a different kind,” said Luc.

They stayed at the Black Fox for an entire fortnight, and every day Luc took to the yard behind the inn and drilled with his sword-his movements like those of a dancer, or of a feral cat, graceful and powerful, whether measured or rapid, whether slow or swift.

And many of the townsfolk came to watch, for they had never beheld a true knight ere then, and they ooh ed and ahh ed to see him at swords and long-knives.

Some tried their hand at staves and quarterstaffs with the chevalier, but always they ended up in the tavern, holding aching hands and arms, ribs and heads, and drinking to his health and his prowess.

And for the full of the fortnight, they ate well, and drank good wine, and rested and recovered, though Gwyd was more likely to need his recovering every morning after an evening of imbibing.

On these eves as well, Liaze played Gwyd’s silver harp in the common room, and she sang the songs she had sung to the specters of the men of the Wild Hunt, and townsfolk came to hear those songs as well.

Gwyd, too, played his harp, and his nimble fingers made lively songs all the livelier, and townsfolk called for more, and some even thought to pay him, but he would accept nought, for such came perilously close to an expression of thanks, and he did not wish to leave the comforts of the inn. Instead, acting upon Liaze’s advice, the citizens would buy themselves a drink, and just happen to set it near the Brownie and then promptly forget about it, and not know whose drink it was when the Brownie asked.

And every night of the full of the two weeks, Liaze slept in Luc’s arms.

But at last Luc said, “Let us be on our way to Chateau Blu, for I am fully recovered.”

They tried to pay their bill, but the innkeeper would take nought, saying, “The extra trade while you were here more than made up for your keep.”

And so, on the dawn two days after the full of the moon, they set out for Luc’s demesne.

Some twelve days after, they rode to the outskirts of the village of Fleur Rouge, there on the Lake of the Rose, and Liaze led them to the Widow Dorothee’s cottage, for Leon had told the princess where it lay. As Liaze dismounted she said, “Let us see if she will take us in until we can execute our plan.”

A woman with dark copper-blond hair answered their knock, and her eyes flew wide at the sight of them, especially of the Brownie and a Pixie riding a rooster. Once they had introduced themselves, she smiled as if she held a secret and said her own name was Dorothee, and she welcomed them in, Jester included. Even as they stepped into the front door, and the widow bustled off to make tea, they heard a back door bang shut, and a heavily bearded man strode into the parlor, a load of wood in his arms. And it clattered to the floor in his surprise, and he exclaimed, “Luc!”

It was Leon.

“Armsmaster,” cried Liaze, just as surprised as he, “what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you, Princess. Waiting for you to bring Luc.”