Chapter 2: The Lay of the Land

I looked at the sword touching my side. "May I stand up?" I looked at the man holding the sword.

"I think not; I find that you're easier to manage like that. Now, when my men arrive I will be taking you to see the king." He looked confident as he said this, but he'd shown me his cowardice.

"I see. So, as a brave captain, you send your men ahead and stay back in safety," I goaded him to see his reaction.

"I don't have to justify my actions to a common thief. You are under arrest. Declare yourself. Who are you?" The captain prodded me again with his sword.

"Al, can you change the inside of the helm? Make him think it's empty?" I whispered so that the Captain couldn't hear me.

"I can do better than that, boss." Al sounded smug when he answered me, and I smiled.

"Captain, do you know what this armour is?" I queried.

"I don't care. It's not tough enough to withstand my sword and that's all that matters."

"But it's important. This is the armour of power, and only a member of the Royal Household can wear it. I came back for it." I could see the captain's face whiten as my words sank in. "Shall I lift the visor so you can see my face?"

"You tell me lies to cow me, but that will not happen. Very well then show me your face." Sweat was on his brow and his sword was shaking slightly as he prepared himself.

I lifted up the visor on the armour, and the man gave a strangled scream and fainted away.

"Strange. Why did he do that?" I pondered.

"I dunno, boss. Maybe the skull was too much?" Al responded with a laugh in his voice. I had missed his humour over the years.

"Let's get out of here. The back door is closed and I don't think they'll open the front door..." I stopped myself as I realised what I had to do, "Well, it appears witchcraft is against the law, so let's break the law," I decided, and ran to the courtyard, near the main gate.

I heard voices from behind me as I ran.

"Stop him. Stop!"

But I paid them no mind. I was too busy concentrating.

"Err, boss, I hope you realise there's a thick wall in front of you." Al tried to warn me, but again I didn't listen to him.

We were within feet of the wall when I called out, "Permious, " and closed my eyes as I connected with the stone ... connected and passed through like a ghost. It had worked!

I emerged on the other side of the castle and ran towards the forest nearby. "Boss? I didn't feel an impact, so did we make it?" Al asked, his voice quavering in shock. As if a machine could suffer shock.

I smiled. "I think so, Al. Can you use camouflage again? I don't want them to fire arrows at us." I was panting as I spoke, and reflecting how out of practise I was at this.

King Harold stared at the screen watching the events in the passageway unfold, he couldn't see the barrier that was visible to the guards and so was annoyed that they were not closely checking the passageway or its entrance.

Harold got up from the table and went to the door shouting, "Guards, guards to me!" he grabbed a robe and strode from his chamber, leaving the maid in the bed looking bemused.

As they entered the courtyard, they were passed by the captain of the men in the passageway. He was yelling about ghosts but apart from that his words were incomprehensible.

Harold sent a couple of men to grab the man and to subdue him, and then they saw a shape running to the castle wall. "Stop that man. STOP HIM!"

The guards charged towards the man, who ran straight through the wall.

At this sight many of the men stopped and began to make gestures to ward off evil. Harold sneered at them.

"Fools, that wasn't a ghost, it was a wizard. Now open the gates and get him." He pushed at some of the guards to galvanise them into action. "I said, get him!" he repeated his order.

Not wanting to disobey their king and paymaster, they started to the gate, only to find that they were blocked from opening.

"Push it. Put your backs into it." The sergeant at arms encouraged the men, but they couldn't move the gate.

The sergeant went to Harold and saluted. "Sire, the gates have been magically locked. Maybe you could use some of your family's magics on it."

Harold looked at him coldly. "Forget it. The wizard is away by now. I want all the passageways guarded from now on. Nobody is going to get in that way again!" He stalked away from the bewildered guards.

"I don't understand. Why didn't he just open the gates?" The sergeant said to his captain.

That man wiped his brow. "He hasn't any magic within him. That's one of the reasons he didn't get on with his brother and sister — they had magic and used it, but he couldn't. I would advise you, Sergeant, if you want to get on in this army, that you never mention magic again." The captain followed his King.

I didn't hear any sound of pursuit, so as soon as I gained the forest edge, I turned back to see who was behind me.

Nobody? I had expected the castle guard to be right there.

A laugh from near the ground made me look there; a group of Fae were standing there and one looked up at me. "Well, Lord John, it's surprising what a few wedges of wood can do."

I was confused over that and so I asked him what he meant.

He removed his hat and wiped his brow. "Well you see y'honour; we put wedges in the gate, just by the hinges. When they tried to open the gates the wedges pushed the half's of the gate together, the more they pushed the tighter the join was. You should have seen their faces."

"So how are they going to get out? I know that the thought of keeping them in there is delightful, but we can't keep them there," I pointed out.

The elf shook his head as if trying to sort out the problem, "We can't? Why not?" He looked to me to give an answer.

"Release the door ... sometime tonight, but don't let them catch you." I instructed.

"Aye, Bran said ye'd be squeamish about this. Very well, we'll free the gate, so they won't ken how we did it." He looked despondent as he agreed.

I knelt down, but still had to look down to see his face. "I know you wanted to create fun and games in the castle, but we want them to be worried and the mysterious locking of the gate and then finding that there's nothing wrong at all will flash them completely." I explained.

He smiled. "Why, so it will; all their work and effort to find the gate just opens will make them wonder."

Another thought struck me. "Or how about if the banshees decided to dance along the battlements? I would think they'd not have time to worry about the gates if they don't sleep tonight," I suggested, and the Fae all laughed with the thought.

"Oh, that will be a good night for us, with your permission y'Lordship?" The leader gathered up the Fae and they all disappeared towards the castle.

I later learnt that before they entered it, they removed all the wedges from the gate and left it lightly tied.

I made my way back to the village, avoiding the random guards patrolling, without much problem. I found where Genius had pitched our tent, and then I found myself face to face with Saul.

"I managed to get the armour. We're moving out later on this morning. I need to get to Lake Town and the portal there." I said.

Saul nodded his head and then returned to his guard duty; while he grazed, his ears pivoted around tracing any noise that might mean a threat.

I looked in to see that Genius was back in her wolf form and tucked up with her, in the warmth of the fur, was Thomasina. She looked so peaceful that I ducked back out and spread out a blanket on the ground. As I lay down, Al activated a force field to protect me from the actual ground. It was just like sleeping on a mattress, and it kept me warm in the night air.

I was awoken by Saul nudging me with his hoof. He looked towards the forest, and his ears twitched.

"Trouble approaching?" I asked him. When he nodded his head, I commanded, "Al, change form to peasant clothing — male if you don't mind. I knew his little jokes. He would have given me a blouse and skirt if I hadn't made the distinction.

I got up and found several men — not guards, but peasants — running around. I stopped one of them. "What's been happening?" I asked him.

"Haven't you heard? The banshee was on the castle. The King's going to die. And if he does, what's going to stop the guards from killing us?" He said. "I'm trying to get out of here afore they do; I'm going to try for the portal."

"Don't panic, Goodman. The Banshee only foretells misfortune. The King is bringing this down upon the land. Trying to run won't stop it. Anyway, the portal doesn't work here anymore, so you'd go nowhere." I pointed out.

He looked at me and then sank to his knees, "Then it's all over for us!" He said despondently.

I smiled. "Nay, Goodman, you forget your family and your friends in your haste. What you can do is to remain here and try your best to thwart the guards in their efforts. Hide your gold and silver in the fields somewhere, and when you sow your crop just sow as much as you can use. Don't worry; Bran o'the forest will help you."

"B ... Bran? But he's just a myth. He isn't real."

I laughed. "Bran is as real as you or me. If you need his help you only have to call out and either he or one of his elves will be there." I could see from his look that he was doubtful.

"Fae, show this disbeliever I say the truth," I called out.

"Aye, man, we're here." the man jumped as we were surrounded by several elves.

"What be these?" He was scared of them.

"Peace, Roger Tregor. We're not here to harm you, but to tell you that this man speaks the truth," one of the elves said.

"Oh Supreme One, they know my name. They'll have power over me!" Roger cried out to the sky

"Oh, don't worry about that, Roger Tregor. We know the names of all the people here. We try to help you all when we can, but power over you? Nay, we have better things to do," Another elf said, laughing.

At Roger's blank look, the elf spoke again. "When you daughter went missing, we found her and helped her back to you. Remember that time?"

"Why ... she said that friends helped her, but we didn't believe her." Roger's face showed dawning awareness, "I'm sorry, I didn't thank you for that." He added and his tone was sorrowful.

"Why, no matter, mortal; we're only here to help ... and to have fun where we can. The drunken sots are fun to play with. So remain sober, Roger, else you fall afoul of us." The elf admonished, and then the group seemed to fade into the background.

Roger looked at me "But what can I do against the guards?" He held his arms out, appealing to me.

"That is up to you, but if it was me, I'd let my friends know of this and tell them to do the same. Passive action against the guards may be more productive that aggressive. What does your son do when he won't go to bed?" I asked.

"He screams and shouts, but it doesn't help, he still has to go to bed." Roger smiled as he said that.

"But if he just agreed but didn't move, what would happen?" I suggested.

Roger thought for a moment, "Well, he said yes, so I suppose he would get there eventually."

I laughed, "Roger, he'd just making you think he's obeying you; he's just giving himself more time out of the bed, but by him not shouting or playing up, you don't lose your temper, so in the end, he remains up later."