The Stolen Lake (29 page)

"Good old Multiple! Those diamonds came in real handy. I guess he got there too late to stop King Mabon sending back the lake; still, at least they knew about the princess. They'll be out after her by now."

"I daresay they will have encountered her by this time," said Captain Hughes. "When I met her—"

"You met her
too
? How in the name of Nodens did you do that?"

"If you would not keep interrupting me, Miss Twite, I might be enabled to recount a consecutive narrative," said Captain Hughes.

"Sorry, Cap! You go right on. Where'd you meet Elen? Was she all rug? Was she still riding old Lepper?"

"I was informed by Mr. Multiple," said the captain, "who had learned it by listening to the conversation of his captors, that your ultimate destination, and that of the princess, was the city of Sul, where you were to be thrown into the lake—a most disgraceful procedure; I shall write another memorandum about that to H. M. government. Since the matter appeared one of extreme urgency, I directed my course toward that location, having a very tolerable recollection of its whereabouts, due to my careful study of the map of New Cumbria."

"Yes? And then what?"

"I was steering a course northwestwards—one can direct these aerial floaters with admirable facility and precision hereabouts, owing to the abundance of volcanoes emitting convective thermal currents into the atmosphere—I daresay it may not be
quite so
easy in Britain," said Captain Hughes, a certain melancholy entering his voice as he recollected the scarcity of volcanoes on that island.

"You were steering northwestwards, Cap, yes? And then?"

"Why, then I observed a young lady scuddling across the countryside at a remarkably fast pace upon a snow leopard. This, as you may know, is a beast of considerable rarity and zoological interest, which, hitherto, has been believed to be resident only in the eastern hemisphere, especially in central Asia, where it is found in some profusion. Even young Mr. Darwin failed to discover its presence in these regions, so I shall take considerable pleasure in writing a report to the Royal Society—"

"You saw Elen riding on Happy Patchy? Did you talk to her?"

"Indeed yes. She, not unnaturally, was somewhat amazed at being hailed by a voice from the empyrean. And so was her mount; indeed, she had some ado in pacifying him—apparently he took me for an auroc, for which creatures, it seems, he has an intense aversion," said Captain Hughes, sounding a little ruffled as he recalled the episode. Dido chuckled; she wished she had been there to see it.

"You talked to Elen?"

"The princess of Lyonesse," replied Captain Hughes repressively, "was so good as to inform me of the practical sense and unselfishness—I may go so far as to say heroism, Miss Twite—which has distinguished your conduct; of how you planned this means of escape for her and urged her to avail herself of it. I shall certainly indite a note to H. M.—"

"Oh, bother the note! Do you suppose Elen got to Lyonesse all right and tight?"

"I should judge so," replied the captain, "since the foothills which remained for her to cross presented no particular hazards and were wholly unpopulated so far as I could judge from my aerial viewpoint. I was considerably exercised in my mind over conflicting duties at that point, I must confess; some would say that I should have escorted the princess to her father. But since she appeared perfectly capable of continuing unescorted, whereas
your
plight, so far as I could judge, was more perilous—"

"It was a right near squeak," agreed Dido. "I sure thought I was a goner. I'm real grateful to you, Cap'n Hughes; I'd never have thought I'd be so pleased to see you! And I'll never borrow your spyglass again without asking!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"So what's the plan now?" pursued Dido.

"Mr. Multiple also informed me—though I could hardly believe my own ears—that Holystone—that my own
steward
—has been acknowledged by several persons of repute, including King Mabon of Lyonesse, as the returned, or reborn, prince of these regions, Mercurius Artaius Ambrosius, and husband of Queen Ginevra of New Cumbria."

"Yes, that's so," agreed Dido sadly, wondering, however, if Captain Hughes would call the old guardian a person of repute.

"If this is so, it is certainly my duty to H. M. government to report on such a state of affairs, and discover what occurs when the personages concerned encounter one another."

"You mean, when Holystone meets the queen?"

"If a change of government is indicated," said the captain, "H. M. should know about it. After all, New Cumbria is our oldest ally."

"I daresay Mr. Holystone will go to Bath quite soon." Dido's tone was glum. She added, "But we better not get there before him, or dear knows what the queen'll do to us. I saw her a couple of days ago, Cap'n. She was in a real rum state—all trembly, and eyes like bits o' looking glass. You couldn't trust her not to fly right off the handle. The only person she seems to pay heed to is that there Bran, and he was over in Lyonesse."

"Well, I daresay that King Mabon, and Holystone—or Artaius, as I suppose one should designate him—will lose no time in sending an expeditionary force to Bath, once they are assured of the safety of the princess. I learned from the man Silver Taffy that in Lyonesse there are a large number of malcontents from the kingdom of Hy Brasil, escaped from the tyrannical regime there, who may well rally under the leadership of Holy—of Artaius. If you recall, he informed us that he was brought up in that country."

"He certainly better not go back to Bath without taking some pals with him," Dido said thoughtfully. "It's my belief that it was the witcheries of those old hags—Ettarde and the others—that made him sick when he went there before. I reckon they didn't want him back, because then the queen mightn't pay such heed to them. And when he does go back—you never know—the queen herself might take a dislike to him."

"The reality might disappoint her," agreed the captain. "Having cherished a figment in her imagination for so long—"

"What's a figment, Cap? Hey, look down there!"

They had come gliding round the shoulder of Mount Damyake, and were now floating, in icy darkness, above the stony upland saucer of plain that surrounded Bath Regis. Away in the distance Mount Catelonde glowed and coruscated; closer to hand, Mount Damask seemed to have caught the contagion, and was shooting a vertical stream of sparks up into the black heavens to join the cold, glittering stars that spread a spangled canopy there. And down below on the plain, like a reflection of the Milky Way, a brilliant procession of lights wound slowly in the direction of Bath.

"I bet that's King Mabon and Mr. Holy!" cried Dido joyfully. "Shall us go down and see?"

"We had better exercise considerable caution," said the captain. "Firstly, if they are coming from Lyonesse, they are taking a singular route; one would have assumed they would go through the Pass of Nimue and be approaching from the other direction."

"Ay, that's true."

(In fact, as they subsequently discovered, King Mabon's troop had made use of a secret smugglers' route through the silver mines, revealed to them by Bran.)

"Secondly, if we take them by surprise, they may open fire, believing us to be aurocs."

Fortunately, this misadventure did not occur; when, by the captain's skillful direction of his floater, he and Dido were hovering almost directly above the marching column, she was able to recognize the eagle standards of the Wandesborough Frontier Patrol, and she hailed them shrilly from overhead:

"Hey, Sextus Lucius Trevelyan! Have you got Mr. Holystone with you? I mean King Artaius? And the folk from the
Thrush?
"

Some natural surprise was caused by a voice apparently addressing them from heaven, and the more superstitious soldiers in Captain Trevelyan's troop fell flat on their stomachs. But Captain Hughes was now low enough to recognize the familiar face of Lieutenant Windward, riding with Mr. Multiple in the rear of the advance guard, and so he brought his floater to the ground, exclaiming briskly, "There you are, then, Windward! I'm devilish glad to see you again, sir! I have with me Miss Twite, who, I am pleased to say, I have been able to extricate from captivity."

The whole procession came to a halt amid cries of joyful recognition and congratulation.

"Miss Twite! Dido! Thank God you are safe. Who would have thought of encountering you here! Bless my soul, missie, we thought you was at Kingdom Come!" (That was Noah Gusset.) "Gadzooks, Miss Twite, I am delighted to find you at liberty—and Captain Hughes too!" (That was Lieutenant Windward.) Mr. Multiple fairly hugged Dido in his joy and relief.

"I'm real sorry about the diamonds," she whispered to him.

"Oh, never mind it! The princess got back safe to her father—here she comes now, in fact!"

King Mabon, riding in the rear, had sent forward to learn the cause of the stoppage, and, being informed what it was, now hurried forward with his daughter and Mr. Holystone. They were all mounted on Patagonian ponies, but Dido observed that Hapiypacha (whose devotion to the princess had apparently remained unimpaired despite being ridden by her across country) kept close at the heels of her pony, causing the latter no little uneasiness, and snarling if anyone chanced to come what he considered unsuitably near to his mistress.

King Mabon hopped off his pony and came to give Dido an unaffected hug. So did his daughter.

"Oh, I was so
wretched
about you!" said Elen. "All the way over the mountains I was thinking I should never, never have let you persuade me—"

"Anything you want, child, in the kingdom of Lyonesse—it's yours, indeed to goodness," said King Mabon.

"Oh, it weren't nothing," said Dido gruffly. "Arter all, what else was there to do?"

Mr. Holystone was standing quietly behind Elen. A whole ring of torches now surrounded the group, and in the flickering light Dido saw that he was very grandly dressed indeed in a red tunic, gold-bordered toga, sparkling diadem, and sandals with gold buckles. Caliburn hung at his side in a silver-studded scabbard. But he looked, surprisingly, much more like the old Mr. Holystone, and his voice, when he spoke, confirmed this.

"I am very happy to see you alive, Miss Twite. Pray, ma'am, from which tradesman do you obtain your tay?"

"Oh, Mr. Holy! You remembered me! Oh, that beats cockfighting!" Dido cried out joyfully. She was so happy that her spirits could hardly rise higher when Artaius, too, gave her a welcoming embrace and kiss on the cheek. Her delight was so profound that she thought, Now I don't care
what
happens.

"Well, well, well, Holyst—I mean, sir, King Artaius," Captain Hughes was saying, somewhat awkwardly. "This is a bit of a change, hey? Ahem!"

"I shall always remember, Captain, the kind treatment I received as your steward," Mr. Holystone said.

"When did your memory come back, Mr. Holy?" cried Dido. "When did it all come together?"

"Quite suddenly—about twelve hours ago. It was as if a shutter clicked open in my mind—I remembered the
Thrush,
and how you used to cut curls of coconut for me...."

"Some influence that had been blocking his mind was suddenly removed," said Bran, appearing with his usual unexpectedness.

"Yes, you old schoolmaster!" said Holystone, clapping him cheerfully on the back. "But what influence?"

"That we shall no doubt discover when we reach Bath."

As dawn was approaching, King Mabon now suggested that they should halt and take breakfast where they were, in order to arrive at Bath tolerably rested and refreshed, since nobody had any idea what kind of reception might be waiting for them there. Accordingly fires were lit, wine was mulled, yams thrust into the embers to roast, and sausages toasted on sticks. Dido, who was ravenous after her day's solitary confinement and starvation in the city of Sul, could hardly bear to wait for the food to be ready.

"Was he very angry—the old guardian? When he found I was gone?" inquired Elen, coming to sit by Dido on a folded toga.

"That he was! Poor old Whiskers."

"
When you are gone
I'll cry all day—
My tears will wash
My feet away—
"

sang Bran, coming to lower himself on the ground beside the girls.

"Mister Bran—why
do
you think Mr. Holy got his memory back?" Dido asked.

"I expect we shall discover that one of the people attempting to prevent his return suddenly lost the power to do so."

"Why should that happen?"

Bran shrugged. "In several ways. We shall see soon enough, no doubt."

When they resumed the march, Bran rode alongside the two girls. Dido would have liked a long conversation with Mr. Holystone—there was so much she wanted to ask him!—but she could quite see that he had a lot of important affairs to discuss with King Mabon and Captain Hughes. Bits of their conversation came floating back: "Dissident elements in Hy Brasil ... abolish practice of head shrinking ... joint action to exterminate the aurocs ... improved conditions in the silver mines..."

"Bran," said Dido, "do you think Queen Ginevra will
let
him do all those things? I reckon she quite
likes
those shrunken heads."

"Who can tell?"

"I'd a thought
you
could. Can't you tell the future?"

"After a fashion, yes, I can. But, if you recall, I can do nothing to affect it. Only continue to remind people that free will exists."

"What's free will, Mister Bran?"

"
In Bath's happy city
Where the girls are so pretty
How free was my will
As I freewheeled along
Why, even a sparrow
Can choose broad or narrow
And a man can choose daily
Between right and wrong...
"

sang Bran.

"You'll never get a sensible answer out of him," said the princess. "Not when he's in this mood."

"Bran," said Dido, "how come you knew Mrs. Vavasour so well?"