Grail of Stars (20 page)

The Lady of Avalon had sent a beautiful green and gold gown for her to wear. The long
skirt and low-cut bodice reminded Rhianna of the dresses her mother made her wear at Camelot. Thinking of her mother dressing for the feast in another part of the palace, she wondered what Sir Lancelot and Guinevere would do when King Arthur returned from the dead to reclaim his queen.

Two of the Avalonian girls brought wild-flower crowns for her and Arianrhod. They ran their fingers over the dented cup Rhianna had set carefully on the bed.

“Is that really the Grail of Stars?” one asked in a disappointed tone. “It looks so ordinary.”

“I can’t feel any magic in it,” said the other.

“Bet she’s brought the wrong cup – how would a human with no magic know?”

“Leave that alone!” Arianrhod snapped. “Lady Rhia…
Princess
Rhianna’s gone to a lot
of trouble to get it. You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oooh, we’ve no idea about magic, have we?” the first girl said in a teasing tone. “Would you like us to show you some?” She wriggled her six fingers and smirked at the maid. “Hand me Elphin’s harp and I’ll give you a lesson.”

“It’s got a broken string,” Rhianna reminded them, too tired to play their games. “I only came back here to wake my father, and then we’re leaving again.”

“Oh yes?” The girls grinned at each other. “You’re leaving with Prince Elphin lying in our crystal caverns? We’ve seen the way you look at him, and that’s before he followed you to the land of men and nearly got himself killed for you. We know why you came back,
Princess
… and it’s not for your father’s sake!”

Her thoughts spinning in confusion, Rhianna rested her hand on Excalibur. “Go and see if my mother needs anything,” she said. They ran off, giggling.

Arianrhod bit her lip and picked up one of the flower crowns. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wear one of these tonight, Rhia,” she said, “since the shadrake took the Crown of Dreams.”

Rhianna unclenched her fist. “That’s all right,” she said with a smile. “They’re pretty, and I want my father to see me looking like a princess when he wakes up.”

Arianrhod smiled back. “You must look beautiful for Prince Elphin when he wakes, too!” she said, braiding Rhianna’s bright hair around the scented petals.

Again, the confusion. Rhianna couldn’t think of a suitable reply. She strapped Excalibur
over the gown and told Arianrhod to bring the Grail.

“Let’s get this over with,” she said.

Lord Avallach’s palace glittered with the light of a thousand candles. Dancers whirled under the crystal dome, while deer grazed outside the crystal walls, flickering in and out of the trees. At the far side of the hall, Queen Guinevere sat on a flower-wreathed dais with the Avalonian lord and his lady, looking around in a daze.

Rhianna watched impatiently as the stars came out one by one. She felt sick with nerves as she watched the dancers circling to the Avalonian music. The harpists reminded her of Elphin. She should have gone down to the crystal caverns with his body, instead
of coming to the feast. What if she couldn’t get past the enchantments, even carrying the fourth Light? What if her father’s body had not healed properly?

Worse, what if she did something wrong and the magic did not work at all?

The knights stood awkwardly near the tables, keeping an eye on their queen and watching the Avalonians dance. They had taken off their armour in honour of the feast, but still wore their muddy boots with the rather short robes Lord Avallach had provided. They reminded Rhianna of Merlin before he lost his human form, when he’d brought the dying King Arthur from the battle and attended Lord Avallach’s feast in borrowed clothes too small for him. She’d been angry with her father’s druid at the time. She had grown up a lot since then.

Sir Bedivere brought her a skewer of mushrooms dripping with butter. “You have to eat something, Damsel Rhianna,” he said, pushing it into her hand. “You haven’t had a proper meal since Camelot.”

The thought of eating made her feel sick. She shook her head. “I’ll have to go down to the Moon Pool soon. It’s nearly time.” She checked Arianrhod still had the Grail safe, and glanced at the dais where her mother sat.

“I’m sure King Arthur will wait a bit longer,” Sir Bedivere said with a smile. “He’s waited this long… Er, is his ghost here now?”

Rhianna frowned. She must be tired. She’d forgotten to check on King Arthur’s soul again. Where had it gone after they reached Avalon? He had ridden behind her on Alba while she played Lady Nimue’s riddle game.
But she hadn’t seen him since he’d left her to meet the Hunt on the beach. He’d promised to meet her tonight, but she couldn’t see him in the banqueting hall. Had he followed the Avalonians, when they took Elphin down to the crystal caverns?

“Where are Sir Galahad and Sir Percival?” she asked.

“They stayed with the ship,” Sir Bedivere told her. “Said they couldn’t come to Avalon, something to do with the Wild Hunt taking their souls.”

Rhianna smiled, remembering what her father’s ghost had said about not tempting Lord Avallach’s hunt. “He might have stayed with them, I suppose.”

“Maybe he’s already waiting down with his body, Rhia?” Arianrhod said.

Cai nodded. “She’s right. That’s where I’d go, if I was a ghost. Can we come down to the crystal caverns with you, Damsel Rhianna? The other boys back at Camelot will never believe half of this, when I tell them.”

“They’re not going to believe their eyes when King Arthur returns from the dead, that’s for sure – though Gareth’s friends seem happy enough with the idea,” Sir Bedivere said with a smile, looking at the squires who were devouring the food at the far end of the hall. “Enjoy yourselves for a bit. Lancelot’s got some kind of plan for our return home, and he wants to talk to us all before King Arthur wakes up.”

Rhianna frowned as Sir Bedivere rejoined the others. If the knights were having a meeting about her father, she ought to be there – but she could not miss moonrise at the pool.

Cai eyed the dripping skewer in her hand. “Are you going to eat that?” She passed it to him, distracted, and he grinned at her as he slurped off the mushrooms. “So when do we go?” he asked, licking his lips.

“Now,” she decided. “We’ll go now.”

“Hadn’t you better tell Lord Avallach and the queen?” Arianrhod said, glancing at the crystal thrones.

She shook her head. “Lord Avallach will know. He always knows what’s going on in his own land. And I don’t want my mother there when I use the Grail.”

It was easy enough to slip away from the feast. Rhianna remembered the palace better than she’d hoped. She paused to collect her boots,
then led Arianrhod and Cai out through a back door and down a winding path through the orchard, past the mist horse stables.

The moon was rising by the time they reached the pool. Stars reflected in the clear water. A waterfall rushed down the cliffs from the palace, shimmering with silver light. Rhianna thought of the waterfall that guarded the shadrake’s lair where Mordred had held her captive last year, and stared at the foaming curtain, her heart quickening.

“What’s wrong, Rhia?” Arianrhod whispered.

“Nothing. I just realised there might be another way into the crystal caverns, that’s all. We won’t have to go back up to the palace.”

Cai followed her gaze and grinned. “Like in Dragonland, you mean? I think you’re right
– there’s a path behind the waterfall! I can see it from here.”

“Shouldn’t we take a guide?” Arianrhod said.

“No,” Rhianna said firmly. She took Nimue’s cup from the maid and dipped it into the pool. As she lifted it out, dripping, the Grail glittered silver too.

“The Grail of Stars,” Arianrhod breathed. “It’s true what the song says… look, it holds all the stars in Heaven!”

“They’re just a reflection of the sky, silly,” Cai said. But as he stared into the cup as well, a strange expression came over his face.

Rhianna felt dizzy. She shook her head to clear it, and quickly handed the full cup back to Arianrhod. Then she hitched up her skirts and led the way around the pool, on to the
path behind the glimmering wall of water. Her heart beat faster. A tunnel led deep into the hill beneath Lord Avallach’s palace. But rather than being dark rock, like the shadrake’s lair that led to the gate of Annwn, this tunnel had a high roof that glittered with rainbows. Deep inside the hill, they could hear faint echoes of music from the feast above.

“It’s so beautiful, Lady Rhia!” Arianrhod breathed. “When I die, I wouldn’t mind being buried in here.”

Rhianna gritted her teeth as sweat broke out under her dress. Beautiful or not, they still had to go underground, and this time Elphin was not here with his harp to chase away her terror. But Mordred was not waiting inside to chain her in the dark as he had been in Dragonland, she told herself firmly. His spirit
was on its way to Annwn with the shadrake, hopefully this time for good.

“Bring the Grail, Arianrhod,” she ordered. “Don’t spill any of the water – we might need all of it. Cai, you stay out here and keep watch.”

“But—” the boy protested.

“Stay!” Rhianna insisted. “Make sure nobody follows us inside. The last thing I need is an audience when I wake my father.”

Cai scowled. “How come Arianrhod gets to see your magic caverns, and I don’t?”

“Because she’s a Grail maiden, and you’re my champion,” Rhianna said. “Arianrhod can’t fight off the shadrake if it returns and tries to follow us in here. You’ve got the Lance of Truth, so you can.”

Cai pulled a face and muttered something about there being nobody left to fight. But he
took up position behind the waterfall with the Lance of Truth, guarding the entrance to the caves.

Rhianna drew Excalibur, made sure Arianrhod was following, and stepped into the tunnel.

“
S
tay close behind me,” Rhianna said, glancing round to check Arianrhod still had the Grail. “Don’t look at the rainbows.”

This was easier said than done. The colours rippled around them, shimmering at the mouths of hidden tunnels. The music echoed strangely
as they ventured deeper into the caverns, and the sweet air made Rhianna dizzy. The tunnel they were following twisted and turned until she lost all sense of direction. Her skirt kept snagging on rocks, and she wished she’d stopped to change before they left the palace. She hoped they would be able to find the way out again afterwards with her father. He was sure to be weak and confused when he woke up.

“There are ghosts in here, Rhia,” Arianrhod whispered, her voice tight with fear. “They’re watching us.”

“Don’t look at them,” Rhianna advised, raising Excalibur to light their way.

She too had noticed the faces shifting and blurring in the crystal walls. They reached out to her and Arianrhod as they passed, wailing, “
Me! Choose me!
”

Rhianna shuddered. But at least these caverns weren’t dark, and they didn’t smell as bad as the shadrake’s lair. Gradually her sweat eased. She looked more closely at the ghosts in the walls, searching for her father’s face. But she didn’t recognise any of them.

“They must be waiting for their bodies to heal,” Arianrhod said. “I wonder how long they’ve been down here?”

Rhianna hated to think. She paused again to listen to the music. “Come on, I think we’re beneath the palace now. Let’s try this way.”

They took another turn, and the tunnel emerged halfway up a huge cavern filled with glittering crystal caskets from floor to roof. These appeared to be floating in midair. Magical walkways twisted between them, drifting about the cavern – ribbons of light
that reminded Rhianna of Merlin’s spiral path. She looked down past her toes and watched one of the pathways rise up slowly from a haze of rainbows to join the end of their tunnel. She sucked in her breath and stepped quickly back into the tunnel to make room for it as it closed the gap. Arianrhod trod on her heels, and cold liquid splashed across Rhianna’s neck.

The maid gasped. “Oh, I’m sorry my lady!”

While the pathway settled into place, Rhianna anxiously checked the grail, her heart thumping. Half of the precious Moon Pool water had spilled.

Arianrhod held the cup out to her, shaking. “I nearly dropped it,” she whispered. “You take it now, Rhia, please. I can’t carry it out
there
.”

“I can’t carry the Grail as well as my sword,” Rhianna said firmly. “You’re doing fine.
My father’s body must be in here somewhere. Follow me, and don’t look down.”

Taking a deep breath, she hitched up her skirt and stepped carefully out on to the shining pathway. It swayed a little, but she gripped Excalibur tighter and strode confidently down the gentle slope through the maze of caskets, peering through the crystal lids. She heard Arianrhod’s frightened breathing close behind her. But as they slowly descended, the maid gained courage and ventured along more of the magical paths to check on the other caskets. Each time, she returned shaking her head.

Rhianna wondered if they would have to search the entire cavern. The moving pathways made her dizzy, and she had no idea how they were going to get back out again. But as they neared the floor of the cavern, she saw
a shadowy ghost sitting on a large casket below. He looked old and tired and strangely familiar, though he wasn’t her father – at least not the way she remembered him. She put a finger to her lips. Excalibur’s blade gleamed brighter as they crept down the rest of the way. She and Arianrhod stepped off the path, and it vanished behind them in a glitter of stars.

She pushed Arianrhod behind her as the ghost rose to his feet and shuffled across the polished floor to meet them, leaning on a ghostly staff. He had falcon feathers braided into a long silver beard and pale blue eyes.

“You took your time, Rhianna Pendragon, I must say!” he grumbled. “Put that sword away – there’s no one to fight in here. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Merlin!” Arianrhod gasped, slopping more water from the Grail.

“Don’t drop that thing, girl!” Merlin told the trembling maid. “We’ve all been through enough trouble to get it here.”

Rhianna kept Excalibur in her hand and watched the druid warily. “How did you get out of the shadrake’s body when Mordred took it over?” she asked.

Merlin’s eyes twinkled. “Same way I got into it, of course. The spirit transfer is not difficult for a druid. When you told the creature to take Mordred to Annwn, I knew it was time for me to leave. The problem can be finding another convenient body, but it wasn’t too hard this time – I hitched a ride here with Elphin’s horse.”

“Evenstar!” Rhianna said, remembering the
little horse bucking on the beach. “No wonder he was so panicky when he galloped past me.”

“Mmm,” Merlin said. “Mist horses don’t take kindly to being spirit-ridden. But he’ll forget his experience soon enough, and in this place I can take my original form to talk to you. My old body is down here too somewhere. Nimue’s people rescued it from the Summer Sea and brought it here after I was forced to abandon it, but I’m afraid it’ll be some time before it recovers from Morgan Le Fay’s mischief.”

It seemed a lifetime since Mordred’s mother had ambushed Rhianna and Elphin as Merlin guided them through the mists at the start of her quest. Did that mean the druid would return to his old body one day and rejoin King Arthur at Camelot, like in all the songs?

She peered hopefully through the rainbows at the glimmering pathways, but could see nobody using them, living or dead. “Where’s my father’s soul?” she asked. “Is he down here with you?”

“He’ll be here soon enough now the Grail has arrived, not to worry.” Merlin frowned slightly and peered into the cup Arianrhod held. “I just hope it’ll be enough,” he muttered, dipping his finger into the water and licking it. “You could have stolen a bigger cup.”

Thinking of Lady Nimue’s warning about the magic only working once, Rhianna snatched the Grail from Arianrhod before Merlin could taste any more of its contents. She scowled at him.

“Where’s King Arthur’s casket?” she demanded. “Because I brought this Grail to
wake my father, not you. What have you done to him?”

She looked around the cavern again, suddenly suspicious. Merlin and Mordred had been in the shadrake’s body together plenty long enough to plot a final betrayal.

“Nothing Mordred didn’t do,” Merlin said. “In this place, we take the form closest to our original bodies, and Arthur was mortally wounded at Camlann as you know. But he’ll be fine when you use the Grail to wake him. I expect he’s keeping an eye on Guinevere and Lancelot up there – our two love birds will need to be a bit more discreet when Arthur returns.” He chuckled. “Besides, whatever makes you think I want my old body back? I, Merlin, last of the druids, who has flown with dragons and seen the world through the keen eyes of
a falcon! No thank you, Rhianna Pendragon. You’re not getting me back into that creaking old carcass that needs a staff just to walk! I’ve a mind to hang around these pretty caves of Avallach’s for a while, until something better comes along.”

Rhianna wondered what ‘something better’ might be, after spirit-riding a dragon. Then she saw her father’s druid smile and had another chilling thought. What if he meant a younger, stronger body? One that could work magic better than his old one?

“Have you seen Elphin?” she asked, wary again. “The Avalonians brought him down here, earlier.”

But Merlin shook his head. “Don’t get distracted, Rhianna Pendragon. Your father’s body is this way. Come.” He led the way back
across the cavern towards the casket he had been sitting on.

She hesitated.

“I’ll look for Elphin’s casket, Rhia,” Arianrhod whispered. “You go ahead and wake your father. I’m sure King Arthur won’t want to see my ugly face when he opens his eyes.” She touched her scarred cheek self-consciously.

“You’re not ugly, Arianrhod,” Rhianna said, frowning. “That scar Lady Morgan gave you only makes the rest of you look prettier.” But she gave her friend a grateful smile as she hurried after the druid.

As they approached the large casket, Rhianna saw its crystal lid had been inlaid with gold. Around it, several other beautiful caskets formed a circle – some of them empty, the rest occupied by her father’s slain knights.

Rhianna’s heart pounded as she joined the druid. Her palms began to sweat. She clutched the Grail tighter, afraid it would slip through her fingers.

Beneath the crystal lid, on a bed of white silk, her father’s body lay exactly as she remembered it from Merlin’s boat, when the druid had brought the dying king to Avalon straight from the battlefield. The king’s chestnut hair, streaked with grey, fanned out around his head. His strong hands were folded on his breast, over the death wound Mordred had dealt him, and his boots still had mud on them, crumbling now to dust.

Tears filled Rhianna’s eyes. The mud might have dried. But what she could see of his wound looked just as bad as before. Blood spotted the white silk of his casket, and his skin was deathly pale.

Anger filled her. “I thought you said these caverns would heal him?” she said, rounding on Merlin. “He looks worse than he did when you brought him here after the battle!”

Merlin grunted. “It takes time to heal a body wounded as badly as Arthur’s. Much of the initial healing happens on the inside. I think he’ll recover enough for our purposes, once you use the Grail to restore his soul. We only need him to sit on his throne to show the Saxons and northern tribes that Camelot has a king again. He doesn’t have to fight.”

“But I can’t send my father’s soul back into
that
!” Rhianna said in horror, looking at the body in the casket. “He’ll suffer when he wakes up!”

“Probably,” the druid agreed. “But he’ll be alive. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Rhianna looked into the cup she held. The water in the bottom seemed less bright than before.

She frowned. “I want my father to carry Excalibur again and ride back to Camelot beside my mother! I want him to protect everyone from the dark knight…” she paused, remembering that she’d already defeated Prince Mordred, then finished, “… I want him to help me bring peace to the land of men.”

Merlin was watching her. “So open your father’s casket and give him the water from that grail you hold,” he said. “I can’t open it for you. I’m just a ghost in this place.”

Rhianna set the cup down carefully on the cavern floor. She ran her fingers over the gold lettering on the lid. “What does it say?” she whispered, ashamed she still hadn’t
found the time to learn to read.

“It says,
Here Lies Arthur, Once and Future King of Men
,” Merlin told her.

Rhianna swallowed. Once and future king. Then her father
would
wake and be king of men again one day.

She bit her lip and looked round again for King Arthur’s ghost. “Father?” she said. “Are you here? Are you ready to go back into your body now? Would you like me to wake you?”

A soft breeze blew through the caverns, rippling her skirt and making the magical pathways swirl overhead. But King Arthur’s ghost still did not appear. Rhianna couldn’t really blame it.

“Will the Grail heal his body, when his soul is restored?” she demanded of Merlin.

The druid shook his head. “I do not know, child. Give him the cup to drink from, and we’ll find out. The fourth Light has the power to command any man’s spirit back into its body, even an unwilling one.”

“But what if the magic doesn’t work?” she whispered.

“Rhianna Pendragon!” Merlin drew himself up to his full ghostly height. “I didn’t teach you how to walk the spiral path, help you find the four Lights, and humiliate myself before Morgan Le Fay, to have you go all soft on me now! Do it quickly, before Lord Avallach comes down here and—”

“And what, Merlin?” an amused voice said from the rainbows behind them.