The Quest of the Fair Unknown (21 page)

"But hang on," Gawain said. "Where's Galahad?"

"We've separated," Beaufils replied.

"That much my powerful intellect had surmised," Gawain said. "But why? Why isn't he helping you look for Ellyn?"

Beaufils thought for a moment. He didn't want to criticize Galahad, which made answering tricky. "He had his own quest, I guess."

"What quest was more important than Ellyn?" Gawain demanded indignantly.

"He went after the Grail, you see."

Gawain rolled his eyes. "That Grail again. I know I won't ever find it, but I'm beginning to wonder if anyone will."

"Actually," Beaufils said, almost apologetically, "we did."

They both stared at him blankly. "You found the Grail?" Terence asked.

Beaufils nodded. "Yes, after Lady Synadona's castle disappeared. I chased Galahad onto a boat, which took us to an island castle where ten old men met us and showed us the Grail. They fed us a very nice banquet, then invited us to drink from the Grail and stay forever. Galahad drank."

"And you didn't," Terence said.

"I couldn't. I had to find Ellyn." Then he added, "But I'm sure the Grail is a wonderful thing. When Galahad drank, he seemed happier than I'd ever seen him, so I can't say
he
made the wrong choice. It's just that I couldn't do it."

Gawain looked thoughtful, but Terence gave Beaufils a warm smile. "We'll find her," he said. "In this world, you always find what you really seek. Maybe in every world. Do you know where to look?"

"Lady Synadona's castle was by a river," Beaufils said. "Do you think if we followed this stream it would lead us to her?"

"We'll leave in the morning," Terence said.

Gawain looked sharply at his squire. "Terence, we can't go with Le Beau."

"He needs our help," Terence replied. "He's alone and on foot."

"Yes, I see that," Gawain said. "But we have to get our information to Arthur."

Terence only shrugged, and Beaufils asked, "What information?"

Gawain replied, "I told you once, didn't I, why Terence wasn't at Camelot when you first came? He had gone to ask his father about some rumors of rebellion. Terence's father, I ought to explain, is a man of some knowledge."

"Yes," Beaufils said. "Ganscotter the Enchanter. I know."

Terence looked surprised. "You know my father?"

"I met him back in the World of Men," Beaufils replied. "But there he called himself Scotus."

"Then you understand why I went to him," Terence said. "He sees things that the rest of us don't. I couldn't find him at first—perhaps he was back in the World of Men meeting you—but I finally caught up with him. Even then he wouldn't tell me anything until I had done a chore for him."

"What chore?" asked Beaufils.

Terence grinned. "Can't you guess?"

"Oh, yes," Beaufils said, nodding suddenly. "He sent you to help Ellyn and me make the crossing to this world, didn't he?"

"That's right. He has some particular interest in you, Beaufils. Anyway, after I'd done that for him and gone back, he told me that there really is a plot."

"Against King Arthur?"

"Yes," Terence said. "Not a revolt or a battle, at least not at first. Father says this plot will work from the inside, by corrupting and dividing the Round Table itself."

"I can't see it, myself," Gawain commented. "We're all loyal to the king."

"Father says the plot will come through a young man whose heart is so filled with hate that it's like a stone. He couldn't tell us who this young man is, though."

Beaufils let his breath out slowly. "Mordred," he said. Gawain and Terence looked at each other, then back at Beaufils, who explained, "The young man's name is Mordred. I recognize him from your father's description."

Gawain eyed Beaufils speculatively. "You know, Le Beau, you're a curious case. Just a few weeks ago you came out of the woods as innocent and ignorant as a kitten, but now ... I can't help feeling that you, like Ganscotter, see things I never will."

Beaufils shrugged. "I don't know about that, but I
have
seen a lot." He smiled reminiscently. "The first man I ever met, before I left home, told me I should stay in the forest because I would only find wickedness in the world. Well, I
have
found wickedness—greater and deeper wickedness than I ever imagined. I've even been to the place of death. But it hasn't all been so bad. I've also seen people like you two and the hermits and Bors and Galahad, people who set their face against the Evil and try to stand against it." He hesitated, then added, "Sometimes they try in really stupid ways, mind you, but the trying counts for something."

Terence touched Gawain's arm. "We can tell Arthur about this Mordred soon enough. First we'll help Beaufils."

They set off shortly after dawn, with Beaufils riding behind Terence. Gawain apologized for this arrangement. "You really ought to ride behind me. My Guingalet is stronger and can hold two better than Terence's mare. Unfortunately, he's getting short-tempered in his old age and won't carry a second rider."

"Oh, yes," Terence murmured. "Poor horsie's not sweet-tempered and gentle, like he used to be."

"Your horse is named Guingalet?" Beaufils asked.

"It's an old Orkney name," Gawain said. "Half my ancestors have names that start with Guin-, so it makes him almost part of the family."

Beaufils was conscious of a wistful stirring within. This huge black horse with the baleful eyes had a name and a family, while he himself still had neither. But he only said, "Shall we go?"

Gawain scouted ahead on Guingalet while Terence held his mare to a moderate pace, conserving her strength. "I suppose your mule is at Lady Synadona's castle, too?" he asked.

Beaufils nodded. "I hope so. We left our animals by the front door when we went inside." After a few minutes, Beaufils asked, "Tell me about
your
family, Terence."

Terence smiled. "To say truth, you and I have a lot in common. Like you, I grew up not knowing my father—or mother, for that matter. She died when I was a baby. I was raised in a hermitage in the World of Men by a holy man named Trevisant. I didn't find my father was until I was about your age."

"What about your sister?"

Terence turned in his saddle and stared at Beaufils. "You know my sister?"

Beaufils nodded. "Lorie helped me find you last night."

Terence whistled softly. "Father really does have an interest in you, Beaufils. What did you think of Lorie?"

"I loved her," Beaufils replied simply. "She's what beauty ought to mean—all goodness."

Terence nodded at the distant figure ahead of them that was Gawain. "I know one who would agree with you. Gawain is Lorie's husband."

Beaufils blinked. "What?"

"I won't tell the whole story, but they met some fifteen or sixteen years ago. Gawain was a brash young knight, eager to prove himself by winning tournaments and battles, and just as eager to prove himself with the ladies, I might add. Then Lorie came to court and called us on a quest that changed us both. That was when I found my family, and Gawain found a love to be faithful to. They were wed a few years later, but they've lived in their different worlds ever since, both waiting for the day when they can be together forever."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know. Father says that Gawain has more to do in the World of Men. We don't know what, but it has to do with Arthur." Terence smiled at Beaufils over his shoulder. "It's hard on Gawain, but you understand," he said. "You also turned your back on a world in order to help a friend."

At that moment, Gawain, who had been riding ahead of them, topped a hill, then stopped abruptly. Wheeling his horse, he galloped back toward them.

"This must be it," he called when he was near. "A huge marble palace with cupolas on towers and statues all around."

Beaufils nodded, and Terence booted his mare into a gallop. They rode together up the hill, and looked down on Lady Synadona's castle. Beaufils could even see Clover and the horses, quietly grazing by the river. He slipped down from behind Terence. "Let's go."

The others dismounted and followed him down the hill, along the avenue of the two-sided statues. As before, when they came to the front door, it swung open as if by itself, but this time the figure that stood across the threshold was no towering magician in long robes but a rather shriveled old man swathed in a black garment much too big for him. "Go away," he wheezed at them. "No visitors on weekends."

Beaufils's mouth dropped open as he stared into the old man's face. It was changed, but there could be no mistaking it. This was the Necromancer.

The Necromancer recognized Beaufils too. "You!" he shrieked suddenly. "Get out of here! Go away, I say!"

"I can't," Beaufils replied. "I've come for Lady Ellyn. But don't worry. I don't mean you any harm."

"Be quiet!" the old man snapped, covering his ears with his hands. "Don't say that!"

Beaufils was puzzled. "Say what? That I don't mean you any—?"

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"But why?"

The withered figure scowled at Beaufils. "It's a lie, that's why! How can you say you mean me no harm? Look at the harm you've done me! You did this! You did this!"

"
I
made you like that?" Beaufils asked, bewildered. "But how? I really didn't mean to—"

"Will you shut up about that? Just rubbing it in, you are! Oh, I know your type. You've come to gloat over me, haven't you?"

"I don't understand," Beaufils said. He couldn't help feeling sorry for the shriveled specimen before him.

"Don't understand, do you? Well, let me explain it, if it will give you so much pleasure, you loathsome insect! I was once the greatest enchanter in all the world."

"Which world?" Beaufils asked. "Because in this world there's Ganscotter the—"

"Will you please shut up?" the old man snapped. "I was the
greatest,
I tell you, and the reason I was the greatest was because by my own arts I had discovered the most fearsome power dreamed of! All dominion was mine, and I was about to take it, too. I would have been the most powerful ruler in all the world, but then you came along! Why did you have to come here, anyway?"

"It was nothing personal," Beaufils protested.

The Necromancer began to hop up and down, screaming, "I said to shut up about that!"

"Why don't you want me to say anything nice to you?" Beaufils asked.

"That's the whole problem! Don't you understand, you pock-bottomed toad? That's what you did to me! The power I had gained—at great personal sacrifice, I might add—was to use other people's fear and hatred against them! All I had to do was wave my wand at someone, and all the fear and hate that he felt for me would turn right back on him! It was perfect, because everybody hated me! So I bounced their hate right back at them, and it destroyed them! It was foolproof!"

The Necromancer was almost raving now, and flecks of foam had appeared at the corners of his mouth. Hoping to calm him, Beaufils said soothingly, "That certainly
was
very clever of you, sir."

"Don't patronize me! Shut up, shut up, shut up! You're just trying to make it worse than you already have!"

"But what did
I
do?"

"Don't you remember? I cast my spell on you, right after your friend had beaten my guards, and
it bounced away!
"

"Yes, I remember that, except that I didn't know what spell you were casting. Why did it bounce off, anyway?"

"
Because-the-spell-would-only-work-on-people-who-hated-me, you looby!
"

"But I don't hate you."

The Necromancer turned purple and couldn't speak for a moment, and when he did, his voice was shaking with passion. "I'm well aware of that, thank you! And because you didn't hate me, all my work, the work of a lifetime, has been destroyed! My power began slipping at that moment! Within a day after you left, even my invisibility curse faded and the castle reappeared."

Beaufils nodded with comprehension. "Ah, now I see," he said.

"
I know you see!
" the man squealed. "
Didn't I just say that? Didn't I?
"

"Yes, you did," Beaufils said. "I'm sorry."

"And don't apologize either!"

Beaufils took a breath and glanced over his shoulder at Gawain and Terence, both of whom were grinning broadly. He let his breath out and said, "Look, it's very sad that you lost all your powers, but as I said, I really didn't come to see you at all. I want to see Lady Ellyn and Lady Synadona."

"You didn't come to see me?" Beaufils shook his head, and the Necromancer's eyes began to bulge. "You destroy the greatest enchanter of all time, and you don't even care to see what you've done?"

"No," Beaufils said. "But look, if there's anything I can do to help you—"

"Nooo!" the man shrieked. "It needed only that! You want to
help
me, do you? How cruel can a person be? You ... you're
despicable!
"

With that, the Necromancer turned and stalked away, taking up a broom from beside the door. As Beaufils led Gawain and Terence into the great entry chamber, he was vaguely aware of the old man halfheartedly sweeping the flagstones behind him.

Following the same route that Ellyn had chosen on their earlier visit, Beaufils led his friends through the maze of corridors to Lady Synadona's chamber and pushed open the door. There, in the armchair by the fire, sat Ellyn, with the gleaming, serpentine body of Lady Synadona coiled about her. As the door opened, Ellyn looked up quickly. "Beau!" she said, her tone a mixture of relief and anger. "Whatever has taken you so long?"

Beaufils stepped into the room. "Galahad didn't want to come back," Beaufils said apologetically.

"How did you convince him?" Ellyn asked. Beaufils only shook his head. "Beau, you
did
bring Galahad back, didn't you?"

"No, Ellyn."

"Oh, Beau!" Ellyn said, her eyes filling with tears. "Now what are we to do? Synadona's dying! I've done everything I can think of, but the wound Galahad gave her won't heal."

Terence and Gawain stepped into the room behind Beaufils and stopped, both staring at the scene before them.