Sword of Light (3 page)

While the others gaped at her in astonishment, the druid’s lip twitched. “I’m sure there’s something you can think of to do with it. Maybe you can use it to stop the tree hitting you next time?”

2

Merlin Sings

R
hianna took the shield from the druid and held it awkwardly. It was round, with leather straps at the back for fixing it on to her arm. This battered shield with its red dragon had belonged to her father. It had stopped blows from his enemy’s sword – though not all
of them, obviously. Some old splinters were stuck in the dragon design. She tried to pull one out, but it wouldn’t budge.

Everyone was looking at her as if they expected her to cry. But she hardly ever cried, and she had difficulty thinking of the dead man in the boat as her father. She had no memories of either of her parents. Lord Avallach had been more of a father to her than this dead king…
Arthur Pendragon
! Her head spun. No wonder they hadn’t told her the truth. She felt a bit angry they’d waited until he was dead before letting her see him, but she still couldn’t find any tears.

Merlin had not moved. The Avalonians were still watching her, whispering uneasily. She didn’t know what to do next. Then she realised this could be her chance to see the world of men
and find her mother. Queen Guinevere. That made her a princess and Elphin’s equal. Nobody could keep her here against her will now. Excitement shivered through her.

“Oh please get up,” she said to Merlin, embarrassed. “My father’s body can’t stay there in your boat like a sack of apples! Elphin, your father should know about this… Does Lord Avallach know who I am?” she asked the druid. She looked forward to seeing the Avalonian lord’s face when he found out.

Merlin got up stiffly, wincing as his knees cracked. He gave her an impatient look. “Of course he does! Why do you think old Avallach’s looked after you so carefully all these years?”

“I thought it was because I was human and didn’t have any magic to stop myself getting hurt,” Rhianna said.

To her annoyance, Merlin laughed. “The lord of Avalon has more things to worry about than humans getting hurt,” he said. “He merely agreed to hide you. If you’d been a boy, things might have been different. But it’s my fault. I should have told you the truth long ago. I’ve been distracted by Mordred’s plots, and time passes so quickly when you get to be as old as I am. I’d still hoped for a son of Arthur’s… but it wasn’t to be. Ah well, I suppose we’ll just have to work with what we’ve got. The shield’s all I have to give you at the moment, I’m afraid. His idiot knights threw Arthur’s sword into the lake to stop Mordred’s men getting their hands on it, and a dragon stole away his crown.” He sighed. “Not that a sword would do you much good, anyway. In your father’s world, girls don’t fight.”

Rhianna’s jaw clenched. She was trying to think of a suitable reply, when Elphin cleared his throat and said, “Actually, I think they do. There’s a song we sing about women warriors who came to the aid of a great city long ago in the world of men.”

Rhianna gave him a grateful look. She didn’t remember that one. They couldn’t sing it very often. Or maybe Lord Avallach just didn’t let them sing it in her presence in case she got dangerous ideas from it? She could believe that. If they had their way, Elphin’s parents would wrap her up in enchanted spider webs and never let her out of the palace. “There!” she said. “So I can easily learn to fight, once I’ve got my father’s sword back. Where is this lake? We’d best get going before this Mordred person finds it.”

For a heartbeat, Merlin’s ice-blue eyes bored into hers. She felt a strange burning inside her head.

Then he laughed again and pointed out into the mists. “The lake that swallowed your father’s sword is currently in the middle of a Saxon war camp, out there in the dangerous world of men, far from these calm shores of Avalon. It’s no place for a girl, particularly a child of the Pendragon blood. Arthur’s body must be taken to the crystal caverns as soon as possible so the process of rebirth can begin. Then maybe we can think what to do about Mordred. The sword will have to be found too, of course, if we’re to deal with the dark knight… But we’ll discuss this later, when I’ve had a wash and something to eat. Some of your healing songs wouldn’t go amiss, either, Elphin my lad.
The enchantments were difficult this time.” He rolled his shoulders and pulled a face at the boat. “Reduced to rowing! I, who once parted the Summer Sea for Arthur and his knights to gallop across and rescue his queen from the Lonely Tor! I’m getting too old for all this gallivanting around between worlds.”

Still grumbling, he ordered the Avalonians to make themselves useful and carry Arthur’s body to the palace. Then he pulled his staff out of the boat and marched up the beach, the silver spiral at its top glinting as he stabbed it into the sand.

Rhianna and Elphin exchanged a glance. Despite the dead king in the boat and the shock of what Merlin had just told them, they both giggled.

Because of all the songs in the air, news travelled
fast in Avalon. By the time the mist horses reached the palace with their burden, everyone knew of Arthur Pendragon’s death and how his own nephew, the dark knight Mordred, had killed him. People lined the path and bowed their heads in silence as the king’s body was carried past. Inside the crystal gates, little groups whispered together in the courtyards and gardens. Their songs of sadness made Rhianna’s skin prickle. She still couldn’t quite believe she was a princess and the daughter of Arthur Pendragon. She kept expecting someone to tell her it was all a big joke.

Merlin and the Avalonians took Arthur’s body deep into the underground caverns thick with magic, where no living human foot had ever trod. Elphin hurried after them. Rhianna tried to follow, but as usual found her way
blocked by a shimmering rainbow wall that made her feel sleepy just to look at it. She set her jaw and forced herself to step into the shifting colours, determined to see where her father’s body was being taken… only to find herself standing in another crystal corridor at the far side of the palace, staring out at an orchard, while some of the boys who had taken part in the race grinned at her. “What’s the matter, freckle-face?” they teased. “Lost your way again? You’d think a princess would know her way around a royal palace!” They playfully tugged her braid and ran off.

Cheeks flaming, Rhianna escaped to the stables to groom Alba. The tree she’d galloped into had left a small cut on the mist horse’s chest – she’d have to remember to ask Elphin to sing it better later.

“Poor little mare,” she whispered, as she energetically brushed the silver coat. “I didn’t look where I was going, did I? I promise I’ll be more careful when we go to find my father’s sword.”

Alba nibbled the end of her braid.
I should not have misted. I forgot you are only human
.

Rhianna felt a surge of love for the mare. She put her arms around the silver neck and buried her face into the sweetly scented mane. All at once, everything Merlin had said on the beach caught up with her in a rush. Her father was dead. Murdered by the evil Prince Mordred. She hadn’t even known who he was, until too late… Why hadn’t they
told
her? Now she would have to wait until his soul was ready to be reborn, and he probably wouldn’t recognise her when he woke up. The tears that had not come earlier wet Alba’s coat.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Rhianna Pendragon,” said a bell-like voice behind her. “
Careful
won’t get you very far in the world of men.”

She wiped her eyes before she turned. Elphin’s father, Lord Avallach, stood outside the stall, his black hair shadowing his face. She had the feeling he had been there for some time, watching her.

“Hay seed in my eye,” she explained quickly. She knew he didn’t believe her, though. Not much got past Lord Avallach in his own palace. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and gave him her brightest smile. “Please tell Merlin to let me help him look for my father’s sword. I’m not afraid.”

Elphin’s father came into the stall and picked a twig out of her hair. “I know you’re not afraid,
my child,” he said. “That’s what worries me.”

She blinked at him in surprise.

“It’s true Arthur’s sword must be returned to Avalon as soon as possible so we can keep our shores safe from the dark, and only a mortal of the Pendragon bloodline can handle it safely. As far as we know, with Arthur’s soul gone from his body, that leaves just two of you – you and Prince Mordred – and for obvious reasons we’d prefer it to be you. Merlin has told me Mordred’s gone to ground to lick his wounds, so that gives us some breathing space. But as soon as you leave Avalon, he’ll be after you as furiously as my own Wild Hunt goes after the souls of men. You’re human. You have no magic, and you’ve had no training in the arts of war. We’ve done our best to teach you our ways, but only men can teach you how to fight.”
The purple flash in his eyes said the Avalonian lord did not approve of fighting of any sort.

“All the more reason to let me go,” Rhianna said, though his words made her stomach flutter. “You can’t keep me here, not any more. I’m heir to the throne of men.” It still sounded strange, like being in a song.

Lord Avallach sighed. “I know. Which is why I told Merlin he can take you with him when he returns to Camelot. I can’t do much to help you once you leave these shores, but I can at least give you a little of our magic to take with you.” He snapped his fingers. “Elphin! Bring it in here now.”

Rhianna’s eyes widened as her friend slipped into the stall, his arms full of silvery material that looked like thousands of tiny moons all folded up together.

He smiled at her as he held it out. “Avalonian armour,” he said proudly. “Father’s smith made it when he forged Excalibur.”

Rhianna frowned, distracted by the glittering tunic. “Forged what?”

“Your father’s sword, silly,” Elphin said. “Excalibur is its name. All magic swords have names. It was forged here in Avalon to give the Pendragon power over men. That must be why your evil Prince Mordred wants it so badly.”

She gave him an irritated look. He seemed to have learned a lot more than she had since they’d returned from the beach. But what did she expect? He was a prince of Avalon and had helped take her father’s body to the crystal caverns, whereas she’d only got her hair pulled by stupid boys who did not understand what it felt like to be human.

“Try the armour, child,” said Lord Avallach. “I think you’ll like it.”

Alba sniffed the silvery moons and curled her lip.
It smells funny
.

Rhianna smiled in spite of herself. She raised her arms and crouched so Elphin could slip the armour over her head. It fell in a silvery shower to just above her knees, making a shimmering skirt over her riding leggings. It weighed no more than one of her Avalonian dresses and made no sound when she moved.

“You could dance in that,” Lord Avallach said, giving her an approving look. He picked another twig out of her hair and coiled her braid on top of her head. “Mmm, we might make a princess of you yet.”

Rhianna flushed. “Thank you,” she mumbled, fingering the silver material. “It’s perfect.”
She picked up the shield, which she’d leaned against Alba’s stall, and looped it over her right arm. Twirling on one foot, she clenched her left fist and bared her teeth at Elphin. “But do I look like a
warrior?
”

She laughed as Elphin ducked.

Lord Avallach laughed, too. “Very fierce! But the armour isn’t the only magic I’m sending with you. My other gift is standing in front of you.”

Rhianna gave Alba a confused look. She’d assumed she would ride her mist mare when they went to look for her father’s sword – was that what he meant?

“Me, you idiot,” Elphin said, flashing her a bright smile. “Didn’t think I’d let you have an exciting adventure in the world of men on your own, did you?”