فصل 7

7

CHADDICK

The Liege and the Lady

He had been stabbed twice in the back and once in the flank, but he was still alive.

Concealed behind a white wall, Chaddick listened for his attacker, but all he heard was a faint crashing of waves. Blood leaked through his shirt into his lap. He felt no pain, just cold, prickly shock.

It had happened so fast.

Five minutes ago, he’d been riding his horse on the snowy shores of Avalon, searching for the entrance to the Lady of the Lake’s castle. He’d bought a map of the island from a nosy beaver, but the map only seemed to take him round in circles. At last, when he was frostbitten and ready to give up, he’d found it: towering iron doors as high as a mountain, guarded by two stone lions, concealed in shadow on either side.

He didn’t expect the gates to open for him. They opened for no man except Merlin and the King of Camelot. The stone lions would devour anyone else who tried to enter.

But Chaddick hadn’t come to enter the gates. He’d traveled long and hard across the Woods for only one reason: to make sure that these doors were still sealed tight. That no one had breached the Lady of the Lake’s realm. That his fears were unfounded.

But as he’d approached, he’d seen his fears had come true.

The doors weren’t sealed.

One was hanging off its hinges, the other splintered into pieces.

Who could splinter iron?

He’d gazed at the stone lions, motionless and piled with weeks of snow. If someone had broken in recently, they’d done so untouched.

Why would the lions let an intruder through?

Moving quicker, Chaddick had dug an iron shard into the snow and tied his horse to it before he’d cautiously stepped between the lions and onto castle grounds, scanning the towers and cliff rock for signs of Evil— His attacker had come from behind.

Chaddick had tried to turn but his assailant jammed his cheek to a rock with one hand, the other on the boy’s back. Even in his wrestling matches against Tedros, Chaddick had never felt such strength.

“Who—are—you—” Chaddick had choked.

But his attacker just hissed in his ear.

Dead calm, he’d slipped Chaddick’s sword out of his belt and stabbed him in the back while Chaddick screamed with pain. As he’d stabbed again, Chaddick kicked with primal instinct, his boot connecting with bone. His attacker buckled and Chaddick broke free, limping past Avalon’s towers until he’d found a place to hide.

It had all happened in five minutes.

Now he waited behind that white wall, listening to the echo of waves, stab wounds soaking his shirt red. Panic set in, his muscles slacking. He was losing too much blood.

Chaddick tensed.

Footsteps.

Coming down the path.

Crackle, crackle, crackle against the snow.

They stopped.

Chaddick held his breath.

He squinted up at the circle of pearl-white towers, coated in snow, for it was always winter in Avalon. The towers had no windows or doors to sneak through. The best he could do was dart from wall to wall like a hunted deer.

Rising from his crouch, he saw zigzagging staircases ahead leading from the towers down to a calm lake.

He had to get to the water.

The Lady of the Lake would hide him.

Just like she’d done for Guinevere and Lancelot.

Run for it?

He’d be in the open for his attacker to spot him. The stairs were slick with snow. His bloody shirt would be like a flag to a bull. And he didn’t have his sword.

Chaddick stripped off his shirt. The frigid air flayed his skin as he tried to wipe clean. But the gash in his ribs kept gushing and he didn’t even know where the blood on his back was coming from. Shock wore off, giving way to soul-crushing pain. Hands shaking, he scraped snow off the ground and packed it into the wounds to staunch them. It didn’t work. Pain throttled from every direction now. He couldn’t breathe— Crackle, crackle, crackle.

The killer was coming.

Without thinking, Chaddick darted from his hiding spot and sprinted to the next tower, diving behind its wall.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then a soft, hissy laugh.

Crackle, crackle, crackle.

Tears stung Chaddick’s eyes.

Two weeks earlier, he’d sent Dovey a note by crow: he’d been seeing strange things in the Woods. Ever and Never kingdoms attacked . . . unrest and fear spreading everywhere . . . classmates’ quests sabotaged . . .

Something was happening.

He knew he was supposed to be collecting knights for Camelot. But he was Tedros’ liege and a knight himself. If he could find out why things were going wrong in the Woods, maybe he could find out why Tedros’ sword had gotten stuck too. . . . Maybe he could help Tedros free Excalibur and seal his crown. . . . Tedros would be so grateful to him. It would be Chaddick’s first step to becoming a legendary knight, as precious to Tedros as Lancelot once was to Arthur . . . well, until a girl had come between them.

He’d be better than Lancelot, then.

Except Dovey had appeared via her crystal ball. “I received your note, Chaddick. And I see from my Quest Map you’re already deviating from your quest without my permission,” she’d declared through a wobbly bubble in the sky. “Go back to your quest. Do you understand? Leave the rest to me and Merlin.” Chaddick had ignored her. It didn’t matter that Dovey had assigned his quest. A knight’s first loyalty is to his king. That’s why he’d spent the last two weeks following clues in the Woods. That’s how he came to discover everything.

It was all connected.

Tedros’ trapped sword.

His friends’ failed quests.

The attacks.

It was all the work of a new villain. More powerful than the School Master. More powerful than anything their world had ever seen.

Each new attack was part of a bigger plan.

A plan to destroy Camelot and its king.

A plan to take down Good and Evil.

A plan to rule the Endless Woods.

Chaddick heard footsteps get closer.

He’d tracked this villain all the way to Avalon.

He thought he could vanquish him on his own like a real knight.

He didn’t know the villain was tracking him too.

Chaddick wiped his eyes. He couldn’t go down like this. Not when his friends needed him. Not without a fight.

He focused on his fear . . . his loyalty to Tedros . . . his love for his fellow Evers and Nevers . . .

His fingertip glowed silver—

Now.

He leapt out of his hiding spot to face his attacker and shot him with a stun spell, not waiting to see if it hit before he dashed for a staircase thirty feet away. Chaddick hurtled down the steps towards the lake, slipping on snow and tumbling to the next landing, almost knocking himself out. Bleary with pain, he could hear his attacker’s hissy laughter, his footsteps descending the stairs. . . .

Wheezing, Chaddick lurched to his feet, leaving a smear of blood in the snow, and continued to limp down. The lake . . . I have to make it to the lake. . . .

He staggered off the last steps and slid through icy mud on the shore— “I need the Lady of the Lake!” he choked, dripping blood.

The clear, gray surface stayed still.

He looked back and saw a shadow moving down the stairs in no hurry at all.

Chaddick swiveled to the water. “I’m Camelot’s knight!” Now the lake changed. It spun into a whirlpool, mirroring the circle of towers above. The waters churned faster, faster . . . so fast that a thick foam spewed from the pool’s eye, coalescing into human shape. . . .

A ghostly, silver-haired nymph in white robes floated out of the lake. She had pale skin, a long nose, and big black eyes that honed in on Chaddick.

Smiling with relief, he rushed towards the water, but the instant his foot touched it, it repelled him, flinging him to the ground.

The Lady of the Lake’s expression didn’t change.

“What are you waiting for!” he cried. “You have to protect me!” “I protect those most loyal to Camelot,” the Lady of the Lake replied.

“I am loyal! I’m Tedros’ liege!”

Again he crawled for the water—

Again it repelled him.

“What . . . what are you doing . . . ,” he gasped.

But the Lady of the Lake wasn’t looking at him now. She was looking past him.

Slowly Chaddick turned to see his assailant coming off the stairs, dressed in black, his face covered by a scaly green mask. He was holding Chaddick’s sword, coated with Chaddick’s blood.

Chaddick dropped to his knees and clasped his hands towards the nymph. “Don’t you see? He’s going to kill me! Help! Please!” But she didn’t.

Instead she did something that made Chaddick sick.

She looked back into the eyes of his green-masked killer . . .

And smiled.