Grail of Stars (13 page)

Their webbed hands reached for Alba’s hooves, making the little mare squeal in fright.

Rhianna took a deep breath. She was about to dive into the pool, armour and all, when she heard a shout and another squeal behind her.

Evenstar leaped past her with Cai clinging to his mane and swinging the Lance of Truth. “Stay there, Damsel Rhianna!” he called. “I’ll rescue your horse.”

She blinked at him in relief. Elphin’s horse must have remembered how Cai rode him last year, when they had galloped across Mordred’s flood to reach Camelot. She should have been angry the boy had ignored her order to get aboard the ship. But she was glad she did not have to fight the grey-cloaked guardians alone.

Cai yelled a battle cry loud enough to frighten a dragon and lowered his Lance at the fish-girls. They let go of Alba and dived in alarm. Their tails disappeared in a sparkle of stars, and Alba immediately misted and reappeared on the bank beside Rhianna.

Hurry,
the mare said, shaking her wet mane.
We go before fish-queen come
.

Rhianna did not need telling twice. She vaulted into Alba’s saddle, glanced back to make sure Cai was following, and headed the
mare down the steps towards the harbour at a reckless speed. Evenstar came down after her more slowly so that Cai would not fall off. The guardians’ arrows rattled uselessly after them.

Only when she and Cai were safely out of reach did Rhianna risk a look back.
Grey-cloaked
guardians lined the quay, staring in frustration after the disappearing ship. She halted Alba and waved Excalibur in the moonlight to catch their attention.

“The Grail doesn’t contain anything!” she shouted. “It’s a trick question. I drank whatever was in it, and now I’m taking it to Avalon to wake my father. Tell your queen
that
when you see her!”

Grinning with triumph, she sent Alba galloping across the waves to catch up with her friends.

A
s they left the Grail Castle behind, Rhianna kept expecting Lady Nimue to surface and challenge her with yet another riddle. Alba remained nervous too, snorting at every ripple. But when the mists closed around them, making Rhianna dizzy again,
she sheathed her sword. The last thing she wanted to do was drop Excalibur out here in the enchanted sea.

She trotted Alba alongside the ship, where Cai hung over the rail with a big grin on his face.

“That was fun!” he shouted. “I almost fell off, galloping down all them steps! But Evenstar’s really sure-footed. D’you think Lord Avallach will let me have a mist horse of my own when we get to Avalon?”

Tell the human boy no
, Alba said, with a disgusted snort.

“I’ll ask him,” Rhianna promised the squire with a smile. “Give me a hand, will you? I’m still feeling a bit dizzy from whatever Nimue gave me to drink last night.”

Cai helped her over the rail, where she
staggered with the roll of the ship. At once Arianrhod began to fuss over her. She let the maid spread a cloak on the deck for her, and sat gratefully against the mast while Arianrhod dug into her pack for herbs and ordered Cai to fetch water. Rhianna closed her eyes with a sigh and let their voices wash over her. Now that the excitement was over, she felt very sleepy.

She kept thinking of the potion she’d drunk from Nimue’s cup.
I drank it
. What if she really had been poisoned, like her friends thought?

“
Do not worry, daughter. I’ll look after you if you die
.”

With an effort, she opened her eyes. King Arthur’s ghost knelt beside her on the deck, his hair blowing across his eyes.

He smiled at Rhianna and pushed one
of her braids back behind her ear.
“I’ve been talking to young Gareth. He tells me you accepted the challenge of the Grail and drank Lady Nimue’s potion. That was a very brave thing to do, but you shouldn’t have done it for me
.”

“Father!” Rhianna said, turning warm inside. “You’re back!”

“
Do you think I would abandon my only daughter
?” The ghost’s fingers touched her cheek. They felt warm and strong, like the fingers of the living.
“I’m sorry I had to leave you on your own in the Grail Castle. I refused Nimue’s challenge when I was alive. A king has responsibilities to his people and can’t undertake such quests himself however much he’d like to. I expect that’s why they wouldn’t let me in even now I’m dead.
”

He gave her a wry smile.

“But you’re not dead! Your body’s healing in Avalon, and everything’s going to be all right now, because I’ve got the Grail of Stars! I think so, anyway…” She struggled to sit up, eager to show him the cup in Arianrhod’s pack.

King Arthur’s hand pushed her back down. “
No, daughter, you need to rest
.”

“I haven’t time to rest,” Rhianna said, trying to hold on to his ghostly fingers. “I’ve still got to rescue Elphin and get the four Lights to Avalon! Stay with me this time, please…”

But her father’s hand slipped out of her grasp. Rhianna sat up, blinked away the stars and looked quickly across the deck. Sir Bors stood near the rail with Cai, examining the Lance of Truth. Sir Galahad had taken the tiller again and was showing Gareth how to steer the ship. When Rhianna sat up, they all
stopped what they were doing and smiled at her in relief.

“Where did he go?” she called. “Did you see King Arthur just now?”

Sir Galahad shook his head sadly. “Your father does not belong on this ship, Princess. He never undertook a Grail Quest.”

“He was here just now!” Rhianna insisted. “Besides, Gareth’s here, and he never went on a Grail Quest.”

“I’m on one now, aren’t I?” Gareth muttered.

“Poor girl must be running a fever…” Sir Bors began. Then King Arthur’s ghost glimmered into view behind the big knight. Warmth returned to Rhianna’s limbs. Sir Bors looked round and stiffened. “My king!” he said.

Galahad stopped lounging at the tiller and went down on one knee. Gareth grinned.
Cai gripped his lance and straightened his shoulders.

“It seems my daughter has done better in the Grail Castle than all of my knights put together,” King Arthur said, turning his blue gaze on them all. “I thank you for helping her on her quest. Rhianna has carried Excalibur well. Are the other Lights safe?”

Arianrhod nodded. “Yes, sire. Cai over there’s got the Lance of Truth. The Crown’s still in my pack, and the, er… Grail’s here.” She lowered her gaze. “I’m afraid I dented it, I’m sorry.”

“The four Lights together at last!” King Arthur’s ghost touched the cup in wonder and raised Galahad. “Can this ship sail to Avalon?”

“Yes, sire,” Galahad said. “But there’s dark
magic guarding the gate, and I do not know the way through the mists.”

The king sighed. “Then you need to find Merlin’s pathfinder. I shall wait for you at the Lonely Tor. Be strong, my daughter.” He faded from view.

They glanced at one another. “We’d better hope Elphin’s still got the druid charm, then,” Gareth muttered.

Sir Bors looked at the dented cup and guffawed. “If that thing’s the Grail of Stars, then
I’m
King of Camelot! But at least we escaped with our lives, which is more than some did. And King Arthur’s soul is still around so we must be doing something right. Go back to sleep, Damsel Rhianna. We’ll wake you when we get back to the land of men, never fear. Then maybe we can find Lancelot
and the others, and work out what to do next.”

Rhianna lay down and pulled her cloak over her head, but she couldn’t sleep. If they had the four Lights, and her father’s soul was waiting for her at the gateway to Avalon, then she’d almost completed her quest. But they still had to find Elphin, and Sir Galahad seemed very nervous, for a ghost. When Sir Bors and Cai went below, she heard him mutter to Gareth about the fish-people thickening the mists so they couldn’t find their way back.

“Seems we’re lost,” Gareth grumbled, drifting over to Rhianna. “Told you we’d be in trouble if you took the fish-queen’s cup, didn’t I? So what are you going to do next? The Lights don’t work so good in the mist between worlds, do they?”

Rhianna pulled a face at him. “We’ve got other magic.” Remembering how they had found Cai and the others, she threw off her cloak and hurried to the stern. “Alba,” she called. “Evenstar!”

The two mist horses appeared at once, snorting in the spray behind the ship.

Rhianna leaned over the rail and untied Elphin’s harp from Evenstar’s saddle. She wiped off the salt and fingered the broken string.

Gareth watched her curiously. Arianrhod dozed on the deck, the stolen bow in her hand and her head resting on the quiver. The girl looked exhausted, but more determined than before. According to Galahad, who had been delighted to learn she was his little sister, Arianrhod had been sent to Camelot as a baby because her mother didn’t want her growing
up as a Grail maiden, unable to find love. Had Lady Elaine known that one day her daughter would be the Grail’s sole guardian on its way to Avalon? Could she even have planned it from the start?

Rhianna shook the thought away and rested the harp on her knee. It felt fragile, like an Avalonian’s bones. “Ask Evenstar if he can hear Elphin yet,” she told Alba.

Evenstar say he hear wings
, the mare reported.

Rhianna frowned up into the mist. She couldn’t hear anything, but it seemed to be getting lighter. Was that a green glimmer ahead, like the enchantments they had seen around the Lonely Tor?

She ran her fingers over the strings, avoiding the broken one. The harp wailed. Gareth put his hands over his ears and grimaced. Alba and
Evenstar cantered off into the mist, shaking their heads.

Rhianna set her jaw and tried again. She might not have six fingers like an Avalonian, but it didn’t matter how terrible the music sounded. If Elphin heard, he’d know they were looking for him and would use Merlin’s pathfinder to open the mists for them.

“Where are you, Elphin?” she whispered, playing a bit louder. “If you can hear this, send me a sign.”

Encouraged by the glimmering mist, she forgot to avoid the broken string. The harp shrieked in protest. Arianrhod jumped to her feet, bow in hand, and stared around wild-eyed. Feet pounded up the ladder, and Sir Bors stumbled out on deck with Cai at his heels. The ghosts faded from view.

Sir Bors shook his head at the harp. “What are you trying to do, Damsel Rhianna? Wake the dead?”

“You’re no bard, my lady,” said Arianrhod, trying not to giggle. “That’s even worse than Cai played it.”

“A string’s broken, and it’s out of tune after getting splashed with seawater,” Rhianna said with a scowl. “What do you expect? Elphin should recognise its music, though, if he can hear it. Here, you try.” She thrust the harp at Arianrhod. “Keep playing. I’m going to ride Alba again now it’s getting lighter.”

Arianrhod reluctantly took the harp. Before she could touch the strings, the Lance of Truth gleamed brightly in Cai’s hand. A shadow passed across the deck and they heard the flap of wings in the mist.

Sir Bors drew his sword. “Dragon!” he warned. “Get below—”

Everyone ducked as something zipped past Rhianna’s ear to land on the deck.

Rhianna snatched out Excalibur, her heart thumping. The Sword’s blade glittered bright green. Cai swung the Lance around wildly, looking for the dragon. Sir Bors ran to the rail and peered into the mist. Arianrhod crouched beside the mast with her bow and the harp.

“Alba!” Rhianna called in sudden fear for her horse. “Evenstar?”

We are safe
, came the mare’s faint whinny.

Rhianna looked to see what had nearly hit her. An arrow, she thought at first, waving Arianrhod to stay back. Then her heart steadied as a small, bedraggled falcon hopped across the deck and fluttered up to perch on the rail.

The bird eyed Excalibur blazing in Rhianna’s hand, the Lance gleaming in Cai’s grasp, and Sir Bors’ big sword that had nearly taken off its head. It shook itself dry and said grumpily, “Fine sort of welcome, I must say! What
are
you up to, Rhianna Pendragon? All the dead in Annwn must have been able to hear that racket.”

Rhianna tightened her grip on Excalibur. “Merlin!” she said, her relief fading a little as she remembered what Nimue had told them about the druid.

Everyone crowded around the merlin, which sat on Rhianna’s wrist preening its tattered feathers. It had lost a few, and others were singed as if the bird had flown through a fire. Just as well she’d pulled down the sleeve of her Avalonian armour, because the
little falcon’s talons gripped fiercely.

“Ask him if he’s seen Lancelot and the others,” Sir Bors said.

“Ask him if he knew Lady Elaine was my mother,” Arianrhod whispered.

“Ask him why the fish-lady tried to poison you at the Grail Castle!” Cai interrupted.

Rhianna waved her hand to shut them up. She could hardly think with everyone shouting at once. She had plenty of questions of her own – such as, did Merlin know he was Mordred’s father, and if so why hadn’t he told them?