Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools (12 page)

'It does. You know, my mother always told me that beauty . . .
true
beauty, lies within a person. It's not what you see. It's what you
sense
about them. The elvish people have an ability to detect it. I may have inherited a little of that skill from my mother, but my powers are not as acute as hers. So it takes a while for me to get a clear picture. A while ago I told you that the outer princess was beautiful; and indeed she is, as any fool can see. But now I have realized that there is another person inside the one that I first met. And I can tell that this inner princess has everything that a queen needs. She has compassion enough for ten people. She is sensitive and intelligent and caring and she has a lot of love to give. She only needs to learn how to free her inner self and then everyone will know what I know now. That she is a very special person indeed.'

There was a long silence. Princess Kerin sat there looking at him, her expression doubtful. Then she smiled.

'It did get better,' she said. 'And I see that as well as a jester, you are something of a poet, Mr Darke.' She reached out and took his hands in hers. 'We will be friends, you and I. I have spoken to you of things I have never told anyone.'

'I'm glad,' he told her. 'I feel privileged to have heard them.'

She smiled bewitchingly. 'Now,' she told him, 'there is one more question that I must ask.'

'Ask it,' he told her.

'What's for supper? I'm absolutely starving!'

He laughed at that. 'Well, your highness, we can offer you roast fowl, which even now is sizzling over the fire. It won't be very grand, I'm afraid, but—'

'Lead me to it,' she said. 'My belly thinks my throat's been cut!' She got up off the couch and they moved to the curtained doorway.

As they stepped through it, they could smell the mouth?watering aroma of meat roasting over the fire. They descended the stairs and walked side by side towards the campfire, where Cornelius and Max were waiting for them. Sebastian almost laughed out loud at the look of relief on Cornelius's face as they approached.

'Everything is well?' he asked anxiously.

'Yes, indeed. The princess has agreed to join us for supper,' announced Sebastian and, for an instant, the little warrior's face split into a delighted grin; but then suddenly his expression changed. A hard look came into his eyes and his mouth compressed into a thin, tight line. He was staring towards Sebastian and Princess Kerin with a look of cold hatred.

Sebastian was perturbed enough to stop in his tracks. 'Cornelius?' he whispered. 'What's wrong?'

The little man made no reply. Instead, he came to his feet and, in one lithe movement, snatched the big-bladed knife from his belt. He grasped the tip of the blade between thumb and forefinger and flung it with all his strength, straight at Sebastian's head.

Sebastian froze, stunned by the suddenness of the transformation. Why was Cornelius trying to kill him?

He had a brief glimpse of the deadly knife, spinning end over end as it flashed towards him. Then, in an instant, the glittering arc of steel whooshed past his left ear and buried itself with a thud in something that was approaching from behind. There was an eerie, high-pitched yelp and something crashed heavily to the ground at Sebastian's feet, nearly knocking him over. He looked down in dull surprise to see a huge, furry creature lying dead at his feet, the handle of the knife standing out from its chest. Its mouth was open and a huge purple tongue lolled out from between rows of yellow, razor-sharp teeth.

Sebastian glanced at Princess Kerin. She was staring down at the beast, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in terror. It wasn't necessary to say the word, but Sebastian said it anyway.

'Lupers!'

He heard the howls from behind him and, spinning round, he saw their lithe shapes flitting silently through the trees. He counted six or seven of them, sinewy grey creatures that ran upright on their powerful back legs, their heads improbably large on their long, lithe bodies. Their front legs were extended in front of them, displaying the huge, curved claws that could do so much damage to their prey: and their mouths were open, powerful jaws dripping saliva. The smell of the roasting fowl had drawn them to the clearing but now they were intent on bigger game.

'To the fire!' roared Cornelius, jolting Sebastian out of his daze. He willed his limbs to work, but his muscles were jittering and he was weak with terror. 'The knife!' he heard Cornelius yell. 'Get the knife!'

Sebastian dropped instinctively into a crouch and, grabbing the handle of the knife protruding from the luper's chest, gave it a powerful tug. As the blade slid free of its fleshy sheath, suddenly, shockingly, the creature moved, lashing out with its paws and snarling like something insane. Sebastian felt razor-sharp claws tear through the fabric of his sleeve, even as he scrambled away from what must have been the creature's death throes. He sprang upright and pulled Princess Kerin across the clearing towards the fire, aware as he did so that the nearest lupers were almost on his heels. As he came to the fire, Cornelius threw his sword to him. He caught it one-handed, flung the knife into the ground at Cornelius's feet and, turning back, unsheathed his weapon.

A terrifying sight filled his vision. The nearest luper was springing straight at him, claws extended to rend and tear. Sebastian only just had time to get the point of the blade between himself and his assailant. He felt the powerful jolt in the muscles of his arm as the ravening beast connected with the tip of the blade; then a heavier impact as the beast's body slid down the sword and came crashing into him.

He was thrown backwards with the creature sprawled on top of him, and the thud of his shoulders against the ground drove the breath from his lungs. He found himself lying on his back, looking up into the luper's snapping jaws, which were inches from his face. He lay there, dimly aware of the creature's warm blood spurting over his hands, which still held the handle of the sword. The luper's jaws inched closer, closer, and saliva splashed onto Sebastian's face. Then its eyes bulged horribly and a shudder rippled through its body. The great jaws snapped shut as death came sweeping in on dark wings and, quite suddenly, the creature's muscles went slack. Sebastian was able to push it aside.

He kneeled to pull the sword out of the luper's chest, then got back to his feet, looking desperately around at a vision of

chaos lit by the flickering light of the campfire. Cornelius was fending off two of the beasts, sword in one hand, knife in the other. The creatures were trying to drive the manling away from the fire, which they obviously feared, but he made sure that he kept stepping back towards it, the twin blades slashing deadly arcs at his assailants.

A short distance from him, Princess Kerin was waving a burning branch she had snatched from the fire at another luper. It was doing its best to lash the weapon out of her hand.

And further away still, Sebastian caught a glimpse of Max, bucking and kicking frantically beneath the onslaught of two more lupers, which were attempting to drag him to the ground.

There was no time to think. Sebastian ran to Princess Kerin's side, telling himself that she was the most vulnerable one here. He stepped between her and the luper and brought the curved sword down in a tight arc, slicing one of the beast's front paws clean off. The creature threw back its head and howled in agony. A moment later the howl was cut short as Sebastian's blade slashed across its throat and it span aside, to fall writhing and shuddering on the ground.

Sebastian pushed Princess Kerin behind him. 'Stay with me,' he told her. He began to edge towards Cornelius and she moved with him; but in that same instant the manling despatched another of the creatures, a great brute of a beast. Mortally wounded, the luper pitched sideways and slammed into Sebastian, knocking him backwards into Princess Kerin. All three of them went down in a tangle of limbs and Sebastian found himself pinned beneath the weight of the dead luper, unable to move the arm that held his sword. He struggled to push the carcass off himself, then froze at a deep rumbling growl inches from his head.

He saw to his horror that another luper was crouched low to the ground, ready to lunge at him. Sebastian was afforded a grandstand view between the dripping fringes of the creature's jagged teeth and deep into the dark maw of its throat. It was not a pretty sight. He renewed his efforts to struggle free but could not release his arm, and the luper was tensing its muscles to spring—

And then Princess Kerin stepped in front of Sebastian and plunged the burning branch straight into the luper's open jaws. It jolted in its tracks and reared up on its hind legs, snapping the branch in two and flinging burning embers from its open mouth. It turned its attention to Princess Kerin, its eyes blazing with feral rage. She stood her ground, holding the broken branch in front of her as though it was still a useful weapon. Sebastian thought that he had never seen a braver act but was sure that she was about to die.

'Run!' he screamed, but she ignored him. She waited calmly for the attack that would claim her young life.

And then there was a sudden bellowing sound, so loud that everything seemed to stop for an instant. A thing came somersaulting through the air above the luper's head; something small that was spinning around in a blur of motion. And it was making this unearthly racket. The noise was so strange that the luper grunted and lifted its head to stare up at the strange thing wheeling in the air above it. A thing that held two points of razor-sharp steel in its fists.

One moment the luper's head was still attached to its body. The next, the head was falling through the air towards Princess Kerin, who made an expression of disgust and fended it away with the broken branch. The head went tumbling towards the campfire, where it came to rest, the blank eyes gazing sullenly into the flames. The spinning thing dropped to the ground and landed on its short legs. It was only then that Sebastian realized it was Cornelius.

'What on earth . . . ?' he gasped.

The manling bowed. 'Golmiran death leap,' he said. 'Only to be used in extreme circumstances.' He gestured at the severed head. T think that just about qualifies.' He moved across to Sebastian, and he and Princess Kerin helped lift the dead luper off him. Sebastian struggled free and got back to his feet. The three of them looked anxiously towards Max and saw to their relief that one of his attackers lay crushed and broken in the grass while the other was limping away though the trees, howling in pain.

'And don't come back!' shouted Max emphatically. 'Not until you've learned some manners.'