Well, that probably wasn’t a clue that would be useful.
I picked up the last of the spilled things. The Black Knight hadn’t touched the spices, the money, anything I’d brought from the future. All this wealth must have been tempting, but he hadn’t taken it. Which must mean that he was honest and not greedy.
I stood up and brushed off my dress, unable to clean a couple of spots of mud that had found their way to my skirt. I tried to think of more clues to the Black Knight’s identity, but my mind kept dwelling on our kiss, on the electric intensity I’d felt when his lips had touched mine. I glanced at Tristan, at his concerned blue eyes. If he kissed me would it be as passionate?
I blushed as though he could read my mind and looked away from him.
Tristan walked back over to the horse. “Was the Black Knight angry when he found out you were trying to help defeat him?”
“I’m not stupid. I didn’t tell him that.”
“How did you get around not telling him?”
I didn’t want to talk about it. I tied the satchel around my waist and joined him next to the horse. “Tristan, what do you really know about the Black Knight? I mean, you’re trying to defeat him and I just helped you, but what if it isn’t the right thing? What if he’s not supposed to be defeated?”
Tristan’s eyebrows drew together like he had no idea what I was talking about. “You helped me? I told you to stay away from the Black Knight, but no, you wouldn’t listen. So he carried you off, and I’ve spent the last hour out looking for you, worried sick that I’d find you somewhere in tiny pieces. When I did come across you—amazingly intact—the Black Knight threatened to cut off my hands if I ever lifted a sword to him again. So exactly which part of all of that was you helping me?”
I scanned the forest to make sure we were alone, then lowered my voice to a whisper. I couldn’t tell him that I’d switched enchantments with the Black Knight, but I could tell Tristan part of the truth. “I took the Black Knight’s enchantment from him. He’s not invincible anymore.”
Tristan gave me a look of frank disbelief, so I added, “Okay, granted he may still be an excellent swordsman. In fact, he cut the ties from my hand without giving me so much as a scratch. It was amazing.”
Tristan took up the horse reins. “Yes, he’s an amazing swordsman. I think that fact has already been established.”
He turned his back on me and led the horse toward the river. I followed after him, hurrying until I was side by side with him. “The point is, he’s not invincible anymore. You could beat him at something.”
“Like a friendly game of poker, perhaps?”
“I’m being serious.”
Tristan finally stopped and gave me his complete attention. “And just how did you take his enchantment away from him?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.
“Not even the royal court, which has access to wizards, could break the Black Knight’s enchantment. How could you do it?”
“The royal court may have access to wizards, but they aren’t using them. I met a wizard coming out of the castle and he helped me do it.”
Tristan tugged at the horse’s reins and walked the rest of the distance to the river. The horse took a couple of steps into the water and lowered his head to drink. Tristan no longer seemed concerned with my story. In fact, he only seemed to be asking me questions to prove what an idiot I was. “And why would a wizard help you?”
“I paid him well enough. I gave him matches, some silverware, and a bottle of Tylenol.”
Tristan’s head swung around to face me. “You gave him all of that?”
“It was worth it. I mean, it was worth it if the Black Knight is really a villain—which suddenly I’m not sure about.” I walked to Tristan with my hands held out. “What if he was supposed to be some sort of great hero like King Arthur or Hercules and I just betrayed him?”
Tristan shrugged, seeming more amused than worried. “Then I guess it would be doubly ironic, wouldn’t it?”
When he saw I didn’t know what he was talking about he added, “Hercules and King Arthur were both betrayed by women.”
Hearing this felt like a bad omen. “They were?”
“Didn’t you ever pay attention in school?”
“Okay, that’s not the point. The point is I don’t know if I’ve done a good thing or a horrible one.”
Tristan folded his arms. “I doubt you’ve done anything but lost a few things and caused us both trouble. Enchantments are very hard to break, you know.”
“I didn’t break it, I took it.” I remembered the mirror and opened up my satchel. “Here—I can prove it.” I sifted through the contents. “The wizard’s assistant let me take his magic mirror for the week. When you put it over your hand, it tells you what enchantments you carry.” I kept sifting through the satchel but didn’t find the mirror. I looked through the contents again, feeling Tristan’s disbelieving gaze on me as I did. Finally I took items out, handing a few of them to Tristan. I knew I had put the mirror in the satchel, and yet even after I’d pulled almost everything out, I didn’t find it.
“It isn’t here,” I said, my voice tinged with outrage. “He said I could have it for a week and now it’s disappeared.”
Tristan put the items he held back into the satchel. “Savannah, have you ever gone to a big city and seen the guys on the street corners selling Rolex watches for twenty dollars? Or the sleazy-looking guys who say they can get you a cut-rate deal on designer purses?”
“It was real magic.”
“I’m sure it was. It was a mirror that told you whatever you wanted to hear and then disappeared along with a good chunk of your wealth. You can buy that sort of magic from a lot of wizards, so from now on let me do the bargaining, okay?”
The horse finished drinking and walked back over to Tristan, flicking its ears. Tristan patted his neck. “You ready to go, boy?”
I shoved the rest of the things back into the satchel, biting back my disappointment. I didn’t want Tristan to be right, but suddenly I wondered if he was. Thus far my dealings with magic—fairies and leprechauns—had been less than successful. Perhaps wizards were the same.
The apprentice had told me I’d have the mirror for a week and it had disappeared in just hours. If he hadn’t told the truth about that, what else had been lies?
I should have felt relieved at the idea that the Black Knight’s future wasn’t my responsibility, but I just felt cheated, unsure of myself, and small.
Tristan helped me up on the horse and then got up in front of me. I put my arms around him in order to hang on. It felt oddly intimate but at the same time comforting. When I’d ridden with the Black Knight I’d felt nothing but armor, heard nothing but my own frightened breaths. Now I could feel the warmth coming through Tristan’s tattered wool tunic. It smelled of smoke, dirt, and sweat, but mostly smoke. With only fire for warmth, most people smelled of smoke. It was the pervading smell of the Middle Ages.
It suddenly struck me that the Black Knight hadn’t smelled like smoke, or dirt, or anything.
I thought of this as the horse plodded along. I listened to Tristan breathing in a rhythm that almost matched the horse’s hoofbeats and had to fight the impulse to lean forward and rest my head against his back.
What was wrong with me? How could I kiss one guy so passionately I started to have feelings for him and then only minutes later be fighting the desire to lean my head against another guy’s back? And all of this when I still had feelings for Hunter.
Hunter. I thought of his name, pictured his face, and waited for emotion to clench around my heart. Only it didn’t. Everything about Hunter seemed so far away, like someone I’d only dreamed about once. The modern world was beginning to fade away and everything here—the smell of grass and horse and smoke, the way the sun warmed the top of my head, the smudges of dirt on Tristan’s hands—all of this felt much more real. It was hard to concentrate on Hunter and I found I simply didn’t want to.
I wan
ted to lean into Tristan. I wanted him to put an arm around me and say I didn’t have to worry because everything would work out all right. I wanted him to tell me, like he had back in the inn, that I was smart. I wasn’t sure he thought so anymore, though.
This thought, oddly enough, made my heart clench.
Chapter 15
Without saying much of anything to each other, Tristan and I rode back to the castle. After we entered the courtyard, several people came out to stare at me and to congratulate Tristan on rescuing me. They seemed genuinely impressed that Tristan was in one piece and I wasn’t weeping.
They insisted that we stay for dinner at the castle so we could tell the tale of our escape. Tristan accepted, even though I was already shaking my head no. He twisted his head around to face me. “The horse needs to rest so we might as well stay. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the story.”
He dismounted, ignoring my protests. “You’ll never eat a better meal than at the king’s table. It’s an honor to be asked.”
After I dismounted, he took the horse’s reins in one hand, my arm in the other, and walked toward the stable. “Besides, I still need to finish up with the armory and you’re coming with me this time. I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
I walked beside him feeling like an errant child. “I wasn’t planning on trying to contact the Black Knight again.”
“Good,” he said with false cheerfulness. “I’m glad it only takes you one abduction to figure out who your enemies are.”
I didn’t argue the point. Instead I said, “I can’t tell everyone at dinner what happened between the Black Knight and me. I can’t let people know I tried to steal his enchantment. He’ll find out and be angry about it.”
Tristan only shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t planning on telling the truth. There’s not much of a good story to that, is there?”
“Then just leave me out of it all together.”
He smirked at me, enjoying my discomfort. “That would be hard to do since you are the main point of the story, but don’t worry, you can get up afterward and give a rebuttal. Tell them all how you saved me.”
“I can’t lie—,” I started, but then realized if the enchantments had actually switched, I could.
Tristan shrugged again. “Everyone gives their own glorious account of their deeds at the king’s table. This is like the TV of the Middle Ages. They don’t care about it being true as much as they care about it being exciting—” Tristan looked at me, understanding filling his eyes. “Oh, you mean in case the Black Knight is there. Good point. For all we know he’s one of the men in King Roderick’s court.”
I stopped walking and Tristan turned to see why. The horse swished his head impatiently but I couldn’t take another step. I let out a nervous breath. “The sky is purple.”
Tristan’s gaze shot upward. He looked from one end of the sky to the other. “No, it’s not.”
I didn’t feel anything. I touched my tongue. “Nothing happened.”
Tristan tilted his head, examining me. “Savannah, you know I’m not the Black Knight. You saw us together.”
I nearly told Tristan about my lying-equals-toads-and-other-gross-things-in-my-mouth enchantment, but stopped myself. That was as good as telling him I’d switched enchantments with the Black Knight and if he knew that, he might be able to learn how I’d done the rest. I couldn’t let him know that if he kissed me he could go home.
“Right . . . ,” I said, “I know you’re not the Black Knight. I was just . . . well . . .” The horse had decided to find something to eat and he nuzzled my satchel. I pushed his head away. People were milling all around the courtyard so I stepped close to Tristan. On my tiptoes, I put my lips to his ear and whispered, “I did take the Black Knight’s enchantment. He’s not invincible. I am.”
Tristan whispered back to me, but I could tell he was just humoring me. “Because the sky is purple?”
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you.”
Tristan folded his arms and regarded me with amused interest. “Okay.”
“Try to hit me.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled the horse forward toward the stables. “As tempting as that offer is, no.”
I followed after him. “Why not? It won’t hurt me, you’ll see.”
“Call me old-fashioned. I don’t hit girls.”
“I’m asking you to.”
He shook his head and laughed. “You know, after what you’ve put me through during the last eight months, you really shouldn’t push your luck.”
Which was when I knew I was right not to tell him anything about switching enchantments.
• • •
Our trip to the armory was noisy, boring, and cost most of the things I’d brought with me. I sat on a hard wooden bench by the door while Tristan stood, arms out like a scarecrow, having his measurements taken. The armorer walked around Tristan holding up a piece of string to different parts of his body, and then yelling out numbers to his assistant. In between the numbers, the armorer kept throwing out little compliments like, “You’re nicely tall, just as a well-bred lad should be.”
I fluttered my eyelashes at Tristan and mouthed the words “well bred.” He rolled his eyes, then pretended he didn’t see me.
When he’d finally finished with his measurements, we walked slowly across the castle grounds. Tristan didn’t take my arm like he had before, and I found that I missed it. The space between us seemed too large somehow. My hands swung awkwardly at my sides.
They hadn’t rung the bell for dinner yet but it wouldn’t be long. The sun wasn’t too far away from setting. “So what should we do until dinner, Monsieur Well Bred?”
He cast me the barest of glances. “You are so twenty-first century.”
“And that’s a good thing.”
He didn’t answer, which made me think he’d meant to insult me. I tilted my chin down. “Do you like that whole property-rights view of women? We should keep in our place and all that?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“What then? You think the peasant look is hot? After all, on their diet of porridge, they’re naturally as skinny as super-models.”
He slid me an exasperated glance. “See, that is exactly what I mean. I never realized how sarcastic modern girls were until I came here. No one back home even tries to be ladylike or demure.”
“I might if I knew what demure meant.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
How could I argue about it when I didn’t know what the word meant? This is why it totally sucks to argue with smart people. You’d think after all my years of living with Jane I would have picked up a huge vocabulary, but no. I took several steps, prickled by this fact, and planned to come up with a really good comeback just as soon as I got hold of a dictionary.
Tristan headed to the orchards, and the noise of the castle yard slowly faded behind us as we walked through the trees. Layers of fallen white blossoms covered the ground so that they almost looked like snow.
I could have changed the subject. The setting was so relaxing that I didn’t want to argue, but still, as we strolled among the trees I said, “Modern girls have their own benefits. We may be sarcastic but we’re clean.”
A smile picked up the corner of his lips. “Modern girls don’t come with dowries.”
I put my hand out, brushing my fingers against low-hanging branches that we passed. “Maybe, but modern girls have access to supermarkets for cooking. Besides, what are your chances of getting a girl with a decent dowry?”
Our conversation died because Princess Margaret and another young woman, probably a lady-in-waiting, came through the trees on the path heading toward us. The princess wore a different dress than I’d seen her in when I was Cinderella, but her elegant looks and her arrogance were still the same.
In the moment before she saw us, the princess’s face flashed with anger. She looked at the woman walking beside her, but her voice, low and piercing, carried down the lane to us. “He c
an send all the gifts he likes, it is not his place to make me wait. I shan’t wear it if he thinks so ill of me that he asks for a meeting and then doesn’t come.” She pulled a ring off her finger, gripped it in her palm, then looked up and saw us. Her eyes flew open in surprise and it took her several steps to compose her expression back into a hard mask of self-importance.
Tristan was right. I was too twenty-first century. I didn’t even think about bowing until I saw Tristan do it. Then I gave a hurried curtsy and waited for her and her lady to pass by us.
But Princess Margaret didn’t. She sashayed up to Tristan, her skirts swishing about her ankles. A smile slid across her lips. “Ahh, it’s one of my would-be suitors.”
She still held the ring tightly in one fist, but she put her other hand out in front of her. Tristan took her hand in his own, brought it to his lips, and murmured, “Your highness.”
My mouth dropped open and I stared at them. Would-be suitor? Exactly what did she mean by that? Since when did a storytelling page court a princess? I didn’t ask, which probably didn’t matter since neither of them took any notice of me.
While the lady’s maid eyed me suspiciously, Princess Margaret leaned closer to Tristan. “I hear you challenged the Black Knight and lived to tell of it.”
He let go of her hand with a nod. “It shall be my pleasure to share the adventure with all of your father’s household at dinner.” As though just remembering me, he turned his hand in my direction. “May I present Lady Savannah to you? She came from my land to bring me the funds to buy armor and weapons.”
Princess Margaret’s gaze shifted to me like a cold breeze and she held out her hand to me. “How nice of you to come.”
I couldn’t kiss her. In fairy stories princes and princesses were the most frequent recipients of enchantments. If Princess Margaret was about to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and sleep for a hundred years, I did not want to volunteer to do it for her. But I couldn’t explain my refusal without insult. I stared at her openmouthed, then shut my eyes, swooned, and hoped Tristan would catch me.
He didn’t.