Ides of the May (Children of the May 2 - updates weekly)

Chapter Fifteen: Natalie

For a while I knew nothing but what Bellina, Brunor and Petal knew. When they woke they found me with them. The rising water had lifted us almost at the top of the well. But the water was pouring from me so fast that the air, completely sealed in by the cap of ice, was heavy and difficult to breathe. They were so close to the cap now that they could touch it. Brunor struck the ice with his fist, trying to break it, or at least attract the attention of someone on the other side.

They could not wake me. Petal and Bellina were keeping my unconscious body afloat.

The water was inches from the ice now. In a moment there would be no air left for them to breathe. They would drown. Bellina screamed, and then the water covered her mouth. Brunor pounded at the icecap, but still it would not crack. They were drowning a second time.

A form appeared through the distortion of the icecap. The figure was standing on top of the ice. It brought a heavy implement down hard in the centre of the cover, and great white cracks formed in the seal. Another blow, and the pressure of the air in the well forced the broken bits of thick ice off the top in a great explosion, throwing our saviour to one side.

The first thing I knew again for myself was when Martha’s huge hand lifted me out of the well and put me on the floor. I felt the blessed release of silence in my mind, as the connections between me and the other three were finally broken. Their memories were wholly jumbled up, but within me now was everything they knew, or thought they knew; their whole lives to that moment. I knew about the murder of Brunor’s father by the Red Knight – or was it Sir Breuse Saunce Pité? Petal’s – or Bellina’s – tendency to fall in and out of love in moments; Bellina’s – or Brunor’s – many mothers, and their second mother in Queen Melody of Cornwall.

Martha hauled the other three out of the well. They were soaked, and Bellina wept at her ordeal, but they were otherwise unharmed. Brunor whooped his joy at being alive until Martha hushed him.

‘M-M-Martha,’ I said. ‘Y-Y-You came b-back.’

‘Aye, lad. Your mother rode past me as I was leaving, and I thought I’d better make sure you were well –’ she checked herself – ‘no pun intended. I mean: alive.’

‘Can I have a go of your hammer?’ said Petal. Martha had her huge silver sledgehammer by her side, it was this she’d used to break the ice.

‘Perhaps later, pretty one,’ said Martha. ‘But at the moment none of us are welcome here. We should quit this castle and the Lands of the Lake as quickly as we can.’

* * *

We crept through my mother’s castle, along corridors and up staircases, encountering only one maid on the way. Brunor caught her before she ran, stifled her screams with his hand, and locked her in a room with no other exits, leaving her to hammer on the door. We hoped her noise would attract the notice of the other servants before we did.

I don’t know what time it was when we made it to the courtyard, but it was deep into the night. The rain had stopped. Because of the barrier across her lands, my mother had little need to keep a guard, so the gates were open and the walls deserted. We crept across to the stables, and saddled our horses in silence. Martha had left her own steed by the hollow tree, and ran off to fetch her. I was concerned that the noise of the horses’ hooves would rouse Nerina, so I suggested that we mount as soon as we were out of the stable and ride hard to the gate. For that purpose I made Bellina harness her own horse with a normal saddle, which she found decidedly unladylike.

Soon we were ready to go. ‘R-R-R-R-Remember: out of the g-g-g-g-gates as quick as you c-c-can.’

Brunor led us – his horse was the fastest – followed by Petal and Bellina. I took a last look around the castle, determining never to return to the place ever again. I urged Tommy after the others, but as Bellina disappeared into the darkness beyond the gates I heard a gush and a creak. The gates were moving of their own accord: the water-engine that drove their locking mechanism had been set in motion. I urged Tommy faster, hoping that we could squeeze through the fast-closing exit, but with twenty feet to go I realised Tommy was in danger of being crushed between the heavy gates, and pulled him to a halt. I wheeled him around. Nerina was at the entrance that led through to the great hall, illuminated only by the moonlight, which beamed brightly from the now-clear sky.