We ate a fine meal of edible leaves stuffed with chunks of lamb and strange vegetables. After that Aglinda and Alisander insisted we play a game with glass tiles, a game that seemed arranged so that only Aglinda could win, unless she decided to donate a victory to her friend. So it was not until the ship was well underway, and the two young ones were sleeping together on a bed made up of colourful silk-covered cushions, that Palomina and I had a chance to talk properly. We sat close to each other on the benches fixed at the table.
‘They were so excited to see you that they could not sleep last night,’ she told me as she poured us both cups of wine. ‘Though I was surprised that Alisander agreed to come with us. When we arrived back on Britain he vowed that he would never again set foot on a ship.’
‘But where Aglinda goes, he follows.’
She smiled, her large eyes soft and warm. ‘It is true that they do not like to be apart.’ She lifted my arm around her and rested her head on my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head and breathed in the scent of her smooth, slightly salty hair.
‘What I don’t understand is why they’re still with you. Why didn’t someone take them back to their families?’
She took a sip of her wine. ‘Alisander has nowhere to go. We tried to get Aglinda back to her family, but things have been difficult. She is from the middle lands, and we have not been able to journey there. King Arthur has been consolidating his power in Britain by removing other kings from power. King Pellam of the Red Rock has fallen in the west, and Uriens of the Land of Gore has not been seen in several years. King Rience of the middle lands is no longer king; he agreed to become a duke in return for the safety of his family and his people. Only three areas are still ruled independently of Arthur: the isles of Orkney by Agravaine’s father in the far north, Cornwall by King Mark in the south, and the Lands of the Lake by your mother in the middle north and west. The rest of the island is controlled by Arthur, and knights loyal to him.’
I sat back in my chair. Her initial joy at seeing me was still on her face, but now I could also see the sadness that had lurked at the bottom of our kiss at the harbour. Outside, Safeer shouted something at his crew, and she flinched. I put my hand on her arm.
‘He is not here,’ she said, sensing the question I was trying to ask. ‘This is not our ship, but Safeer’s. Palomides has been a prisoner at Camelot for more than a year now.’
‘Oh,’ I said, not knowing what else to say.
‘Camelot is King Arthur’s new fortress in the south-west of Britain. They say it bubbled up out of the earth fully-formed, soon after we were taken away from Caerleon. Arthur moved the round table there not long afterwards.’
‘As Avalon built Castle Eudaimon for lady Bertilak.’
She nodded. ‘Epicene supposes that Camelot is Merlin’s work, but she has not been close enough to know for certain. Shortly after we returned to Britain Mordred asked my brother, Piers and Brunor –’
‘Brunor?’ I interrupted. I had seen a boy with that name in Mordred’s memory. ‘He was with Mordred when Merlin and Sir Tristan captured him. A dark-skinned boy – well, darker than you and Palomides, but lighter than Epicene? Wears a coat that doesn’t fit him?’
‘Yes. It is his father’s coat. Bellina calls him La Cote Mal Taille – which she says means the boy of the ill-fitting coat, though Melwas says she is not correct. Mordred asked the three of them to go to Camelot. Palomides was to pose as a merchant trading in fine silks – not a role he finds difficult to play, Brunor as his manservant, and Piers as a British man they had hired to do their heavy lifting. They were to spy out the fortifications of Camelot, and if possible form a plan to steal Excalibur from the king.’ She looked away. ‘But something went wrong.
‘The way Brunor tells the tale, Palomides was called from Camelot’s market square to go before Arthur. It seems that my brother was recognised, though possibly not as a May-child.’ She sighed. ‘In the throne room Sir Kay accused my father of failing to pay proper taxes and truage to Britain’s treasury. He had Palomides thrown into the dungeons, until such time as our father paid a punitive weight of gold for his release.’
‘And your father hasn’t paid?’
She shook her head. ‘Escalobor did not become the richest man in our homelands by paying an unfair ransom every time one of his captains is taken hostage. You must understand that this is not an unusual occurrence in our trade. Hostage-taking is a standard piece of business, and sometimes the negotiations take years. My father put me in charge of securing Palomides’ release.’ She glanced to the door. ‘That is one of the very many things Safeer holds against me. Chief in his mind at the moment is that I have diverted him from his planned route for almost two weeks in order to retrieve you, but he is also bitter that Palomides and I were given command of our father’s finest ship. He believes that ship was rightfully his, as he is eldest brother and our father’s heir. He is even less happy that our ship and cargo were seized when the round table knights captured us and took us to Caerleon.’
She put down her cup. ‘But I am sorry, I am telling you what is important to me, not what you need to know.’ She dipped her finger in her wine and reached for the back of my hand. ‘Let me show you.’
‘No!’ I exclaimed, wrenching my hand away from her.
‘It is fine, Drift. Melwas has told me how your gift works. You connect to my mind through water, and you see my memories.’ She gazed into my eyes. ‘I have nothing to hide from you, my love. You will not see anything in my mind that will hurt your feelings. I have been wholly true to you.’
I couldn’t bring myself to say that it was not her truth I was worried about, but my lies. I was scared that some of my falsehoods might leak into her mind if we connected properly, just as I had learned to suggest thoughts to the fish before I murdered them. ‘It’s just... the last thing I connected with in that way... I had to kill it. I saw what it is die through its own eyes.’
She wiped her finger on her shirt and put her arms around me. ‘Oh, my love,’ she said, ‘I am sorry that I tried to make you do that.’
‘J-Just tell me in your own words, as best you can,’ I said. ‘We can unravel the story together. Tell me, at what stage are the negotiations for Palomides’ release?’
She laughed sadly. ‘I have not negotiated. That is yet another cause of Safeer’s anger. He believes I have involved our family in a war we have no part in. An expensive war we are bound to lose.’ She rubbed her thumb against her first two fingers. ‘Safeer cares only for coin. Of the men in our family only my middle brother, Sagwarides, truly understands the decision I have made. Palomides would not understand it either, I know. But Sagwarides has always been more of a warrior than a trader. He took mine and Palomides’ ship back from the knights who stole it from us, and is no longer welcome in Britain.
‘We know that they knighted Palomides last year, though not why. The last we heard for certain came from Elia. She met a boy and girl who claimed to have met him; they said that he looked lost, and that he was concerned for me.’ She smiled weakly. ‘That was last year. Since then we have had no word of him from sources we trust. But I believe that if the worst had happened I would know of it somehow.’
She sipped her wine. ‘Piers is also angry with me. He does not understand that it is unlikely Arthur would harm a hostage, not as long as he believes my father will eventually pay the ransom. In the end the farmer became so angry that Mordred had to send him away to the villages, to tell our story in the hope of raising support among the peasants.’
‘Have many joined?’
She shook her head. ‘Brunor and one or two others who can fight. The rest are useful, but only to keep our camps running. There is a nursemaid for Christian, an old woman called Norma.’
My heart thumped in my chest. ‘The baby’s still with you too?’ The last thing I had asked Mordred to do was take Christian to Sir Lancelot. I had felt foolish when I looked back on that moment, but Hilda had been as certain that Lancelot was his father as that one of my sisters was his mother. The hermitess had also mentioned Camelot to Mordred – she’d called our leader a child of Camelot and the northern seas – so the appearance of that name in Palomina’s story made me more inclined to believe her words.
‘Melwas took him to Lancelot – she has fought him before, apparently –’
‘And she didn’t lose either. That was one of the things I saw in her mind. Sir Kay interrupted their duel before they could finish.’
‘But when Melwas found him, the pretty knight denied any knowledge of the boy,’ Palomina went on. ‘Christian is a very lovely, happy lad, with golden curls. He is well cared for. I have rarely seen such love between a child and his nursemaid.’
We heard a cry outside, Safeer giving orders to his crew. Night had fallen as we talked, and the room was now lit only by the lamps. Palomina glanced at the door. I knew she longed to be in charge of the ship. She stood, and began arranging another bed of cushions alongside Alisander and Aglinda. ‘The watch has spied the isles of Uist, which means we will drop anchor for the night,’ she said. ‘These waters are treacherous enough by day, and impossible to pass by night. Which means it is time for us to sleep.’ Satisfied with the bed she had made, she began to undo her padded shirt.
‘You’re sleeping in here?’ I said, shocked and nervous.
‘Safeer could hardly think any less of me,’ she grinned. ‘And I do not care what he thinks. Come and lie down with me.’
I removed my boots and did as she said. She pulled a warm blanket over us, and we lay there, our bodies touching all the way down their lengths. She kissed me for a long time, and through her kiss I felt the emotions of all she had told to me. As our tongues touched I also felt a guilty thrill within her, one that she was trying to press deep down in her brain: although she had been attracted to me as I was, she was secretly delighted by how handsome I had become.
I was glad of my glamour as she pulled my strong, false arm around her, and laid her head on my fine, broad chest; it had made her feel exactly as I hoped it would.
We lay together in silence, and I felt her warmth melting places within me that I had not realised were frozen. The silence was so reminiscent of the only other time that I had lain beneath a blanket with a girl that I began to cry. It was as if all those long months of loneliness were pouring out of my eyes.
‘What is it, my love?’ she said. ‘What is the matter?’
I could not speak for a while. ‘Thank you for rescuing me from that place,’ I said when I was able to control my sobs. Though what I really meant was: thank you for rescuing me from myself. She kissed me on the forehead, and soon fell softly asleep. I stared at the ceiling for a long time, remembering the terrible thing I had planned to do that day. Palomina could not know of that, not ever.
* * *
I dreamed of a storm – the storm – the storm that wrecked us on Avalon. The ground churned below me so I knew neither up nor down. I had Christian in my arms, just as I had that night. I saw his face and pitied him his fate. I saw the black rock smash its way through the side of the ship, wiping from existence the girl who had held the baby moments before. The water gushed through the hole the rock left behind, and once again I tasted for the first time cold and salty seawater.
I woke with a start. It was morning, and the ship was moving again. Palomina was no longer in my arms, but Aglinda and Alisander were sitting cross-legged by my feet.
‘We’ve been trying to figure out if you are you,’ said Aglinda, as soon as she saw I was awake. ‘’Sander thinks you are, but I’m not so sure.’ Alisander looked away from me shyly as soon as she mentioned his name.
‘Of course I’m me,’ I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
Aglinda turned to her friend and sighed pertly. She shook her head. ‘That’s an oracle’s riddling answer, that is. Of course you’re you; but are you Drift?’
It was too early in the morning for this. ‘I promise you, yes: I’m Drift of the Lake.’
‘Prove it,’ she snapped back, pleased with her reasoning. ‘Tell us something only Drift would know.’
I pushed myself up so I was sitting. I yawned. ‘If I must,’ I said, searching my mind. ‘Got one. You remember our first day on the island, when we were sitting in front of the castle, when Piers was hurt?’
She nodded, and then prodded Alisander until he did the same.
‘I took the two of you around the back of the fire, and you both thought I was called Sir Drift. That was when I told you that I wasn’t – that I’m not – a knight.’
Aglinda considered my answer. ‘Not good enough,’ she said. ‘Anyone could have told you that.’
An image flashed into my mind, the only memory of Aglinda’s I had ever seen: the face of our friend Margaret of the Marsh disappearing into the cold black depths of the sea. I pushed my blanket to one side.
‘I have another for you,’ I said. ‘But just for you, Aglinda. Come here and I’ll whisper it to you.’
Alisander shook his head.
‘’Sander thinks you’ll magic me if you speak in my ear. We remember how the big ones lie, like the lady who was really a monster, and the Accolon who wasn’t Accolon. We remember, even if the rest of you – them – have forgotten.’
‘I won’t put a spell on you, I promise.’
The little girl sighed, but shifted herself over to me. ‘Watch him, ’Sander,’ she told her friend. The boy’s eyes had avoided mine to that point, but now they swivelled and I was caught in his unblinking stare. I hoped he wouldn’t overhear my whisper; I was mindful of Palomina’s words about him vowing never again to step foot on a ship, and didn’t want to trigger his fright and a repeat of that oath.
I brought my mouth down to Aglinda’s ear. ‘Remember the storm, when we were on the ship?’
She nodded.
‘Just after Epicene lit her fire so we could see, I crawled over to you. Margaret had you, and I put her blanket around you both. Then I said do you swim? And she said of course I do, I’m from the marshes. Now I don’t think anyone could have overheard that other than you, given how loud the storm was.’
Aglinda moved her head away from me. ‘Where is it now?’
I felt momentarily guilty: it had been Aglinda who saved Margaret’s blanket from the waves, and given it to me just before they left. It had been the only thing to keep me warm during those weeks of my first winter, and I had left it back in my chamber in Castle Eudaimon. I should have brought it for the girl. Aglinda clearly thought the same thing. ‘Lady Bertilak stole it from me,’ I lied.
She turned to Alisander. ‘Hmm. Possibly it’s him,’ she told the brown-haired boy.
Just then the door of the cabin opened. We were hit by a blast of cold air, and the sounds of the sailors working on the deck.
‘Come on, you three,’ said Palomina, who stood in the doorway. Over her shoulder I saw that we were close to rugged red cliffs. She carried an unstrung bow and a quiver of arrows in one hand, and four knapsacks in the other, two large and two small. ‘We have arrived. It’s time to go.’
Aglinda and Alisander scrambled to put on their boots, while I contemplated the gifts Lady Bertilak had given to me, which I had left on the table through the night. Then I fetched my own boots. ‘You shoot?’ I said to Palomina, looking at her bow and arrows.
She was embarrassed. ‘Not as well as I thought I did. Melwas has taught me more, but it seems I have less skill in it that Palomides let me believe. This is a rather empty threat if we are challenged on the road.’
‘I’m a much better shot than ’Mina,’ said Aglinda matter-of-factly.
Palomina shrugged. ‘That much is true. Fetch your sword, Alisander.’ The boy went to the far side of the room and retrieved a short sword, which he belted around his waist, while Aglinda took a knife and another unstrung hunting bow. ‘Do you need a weapon, Drift?’ said Palomina. Her eyes darted to my hands: she’d once seen me summon a magical weapon out of thin air.
‘I’ll be fine,’ I said. ‘Are we likely to encounter much trouble on the road?’
‘We didn’t have any on our way to the ship,’ said Alisander quietly. Those were almost the first words I had heard the shy boy say since I came aboard.
‘I do not know,’ said Palomina. ‘Not if we are lucky again.’
Safeer appeared behind his sister, and began shouting something at her. His hands jabbed the air aggressively, and then he pointed at the cliffs. His meaning was clear: he wanted us off the ship, and quickly. She nodded us out of the door.
The other three left the cabin and went to the side of the ship that faced the cliffs, but I lingered in the room a moment. I removed the Magikos from inside Lady Bertilak’s tapestry, and shoved the book into my belt. When I left the cabin I went to the opposite side of the ship, the side that faced the open sea, and threw the tapestry over the rail. The tapestry opened as it fell towards the waves, and I saw the scarlet bloom over the black knight’s heart for the last time.
I turned to find Safeer standing close behind me. Although I was taller in my glamour than I would otherwise have been, he still towered over me. He talked angrily in his own language, prodding me in the chest. I shied away from him, worried that he was berating me for spending the night with his sister.
‘My brother says he would have given you a good price for such a fine cloth,’ Palomina translated from the far side of the ship. ‘And that there was no need to discard it.’
‘Tell him that it was mine to do with as I pleased,’ I said, finally summoning the courage to look Safeer in the eye.
But instead of translating, Palomina simply gave her brother a withering look, and disappeared down the rope ladder that had been lowered over the side. I pushed past him, and followed her to the rowboat waiting below.