Dennis McKiernan: Once Upon an Autumn Eve

“There is scrub below,” said Twk, “but little else.”

“It will have to do,” said Liaze, and struggling, she managed to get Luc to his feet, the chevalier barely of aid.

Liaze called Nightshade to her, and the black came trotting. Groaning, lifting, heaving, and shouting at Luc to help, and finally calling for Nightshade to kneel, Liaze at last got Luc across the saddle, bellydown.

“Princess,” said Twk, “would you mind carrying me and Jester back with you? I think my rooster is completely tuckered out.”

Liaze lifted the gold-shod chicken and Twk to Nightshade’s back, and then she packed away the decanter and took up the lantern and mounted behind the saddle and held on to Luc, and said, “All right, my boy, take us down,” and she turned the stallion toward the way below and gently heeled him in the flanks.

Liaze gave the black his head, and to the edge of the flat and onto the slopes of the glass mountain they fared, Nightshade sliding the first twenty or so feet where the glass was steepest, but thereafter his footing was sound, for on precious steps of gold he went.

And as they went down, Twk said, “It was a wild idea, my riding Jester up, for, even though they say a cock’s crow reaves power from witches and such, I thought it only true at dawn, as it was with Lord Fear. I didn’t know whether it would work at night. I didn’t know what was happening between you and the witch atop this mountain, but I thought if I could help, it might give you a chance to spit her with your long-knife, or to put an arrow through her heart.”

“Jester’s crow was just barely enough to let me speak,” said Liaze.

“I am glad you did, Princess, for that motion the witch made at me and Jester, well, I was beginning to feel numb all over.”

“No doubt ’twas sorcery,” said Liaze.

“Oh, my,” said Twk, “I’ve never been enspelled before, and I hope to never be again. Thank Mithras, you called Nightshade to attack.”

“I wouldn’t have been able if not for you and Jester,” said Liaze. “Yet how did you know to come?”

“Well, Gwyd and I saw the witch fly down on her besom, and Verdandi said I would be needed at a critical time, and this seemed a critical time to me. And Verdandi’s sister Urd said that it was a fine thing I had done to train Jester to crow on command; I think she was telling me then and there that a cock’s crow would do the trick.”

“It did, Twk, it did. But the gold on Jester’s feet, how did-?”

“Oh, Princess, back when Urd spoke her rede, I thought it only applied to you, but then I realized it could include me as well. ‘Precious steps will get ye there, / As up black glass ye steeply fare, / Do not dismount as ye try, / Else by fire ye will surely die.’ That’s what Urd said, and I was standing there when she said it, and I had Jester as my mount. Gwyd tied on the gold coins, and up my rooster and I started on our precious steps. Yet it was too slick, and I almost quit, but then Jester started flapping, and he flapped and flapped and flapped, and between precious steps and flailing wings finally we made it, almost too late it seems.”

“I heard you coming,” said Liaze, “but I didn’t know what I was hearing. Your arrival was a complete surprise to me.”

“A surprise to the witch, too,” said Twk, laughing. “Who was she?”

“Iniqui,” said Liaze. “One of Orbane’s four acolytes, though now but two remain.”

“Hmm…” mused Twk. “It seems those four are banes to you and your brothers and sister.”

Liaze nodded. “That’s exactly what Zacharie said.”

“Zacharie?”

“My steward of the Autumnwood.”

“Ah.”

Both Liaze and Twk fell silent, and Jester had tucked his head under one wing and was asleep, as on down the mountain they rode.

At last they came to the bottom, and Gwyd had a fire going and hot tea steeping.

The Brownie and the princess managed to get Luc down from the horse, and they placed him on warm blankets next to the fire and covered him with more.

Liaze accepted a cup of tea from the Brownie, and she slumped down next to Luc and said, “Oh, Gwyd, I am so weary my very teeth hurt.”

“Then sleep, Princess,” replied Gwyd. “I’ll make certain something warm gets in t’your Luc. You, m’lady, need sleep.”

The next morning Liaze was wakened by a gentle kiss, and she opened her amber eyes to look into eyes of indigo. “Oh, Luc,” she murmured, and reached up and embraced him and held him tightly and wept.

“Cherie,” said Luc, reaching for another biscuit, “when I awakened at the foot of this dark mountain, I knew not how I had gotten here, for the last I remember was being snatched out through the window, there at Autumnwood Manor. Yet Gwyd and Twk have told me some of the story, but neither one knows the full of it, and they said to wait for you to recount all.”

Along with Gwyd and Twk, they sat by the fire breaking fast; Luc was on his fourth helping of biscuits and honey and jerky and hot tea.

“It is a long tale, Luc, but first I must tell you this: I met your foster sire Leon, and he told me who your true parents are.”

Luc’s eyes widened in surprise, but he said nought.

“Luc, you are Comte Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle.”

Luc choked on his sip of tea, and after he had gotten control of his breathing: “What?”

“I said, you are Comte Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle. Leon was going to tell you just as soon as you had won your spurs,” said Liaze.

“My spurs,” said Luc. It was a statement and not a question.

“Yes, your knighthood, and I told him that you had more than won them in combat with the Trolls and Goblins in my demesne.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Your true pere was Comte Amaury, and your mere is Comtesse Adele. Your pere was slain in a skirmish when you were but a newborn. A year later, your mere wedded Guillaume, a vicomte with ambitions. He also had a three-year-old son whom Guillaume wanted to be heir to the title of comte after Guillaume had obtained it for himself. Guillaume had a henchman in his retinue-one Franck-and in the night Franck stole you away and took you to the woods to slay you.”

“Oh, my,” said Twk, “what a wicked stepfather.”

Liaze nodded. “That’s exactly what I said to Leon, Twk.”

“Go on, Princess,” said Gwyd. “What happened next?”

“Fortunately, Armsmaster Leon saw Franck riding away with Luc, and he followed on the would-be assassin’s heels into the nearby forest.” Liaze turned to Luc. “Just as Franck raised his blade to kill you, Leon spitted him with a dagger, and before Franck died he told Leon of Guillaume’s guilt, and that there were more men ready to carry out Guillaume’s order to kill the rightful heir.

“Leon knew that you would never be safe with the vicomte at the Blue Chateau, and so he fled away with you, Luc, far away, where he took on the guise of a woodcutter.”

“What of my mere?” asked Luc.

“Leon sent word to her by a former armsmate-a trusted courier-but by that time Adele on her own had discovered Guillaume’s perfidy, but she had no direct proof, and he had put his own men in key positions. Hence, she could do nought to bring him to justice.

“However, she is the one who-via the same trusted courier-provided the funds for your complete education. Oh, Luc, she wanted you to be raised to become a comte, and the teachers Leon hired have well seen to that.”

Luc frowned and gestured at Deadly Nightshade, and then at his arms and armor. “Is she the one who-?”

“Oui, Luc,” said Liaze. “She sent the horse and accoutrements for you on the day of your majority.”