Carack

Carack Ch14 p3

‘What is that?’ asked Euny gazing upward as Gerent, Meendhu and Brunnstan started dancing around in circles and jumping up and down.

‘He hasn’t left the castle!’ cried Brunnstan.

‘He’s still alive!’ shouted Meendhu.

‘What is it?’ shouted Euny and Meendhu told him about Sancret’s sawol, Euny listened in amazement, ‘I never knew.’ Euny said gazing in awe at the cloud.

As Meendhu was explaining to Euny what the sawol was, Gerent went back out into the long gallery, he looked at the mural, he was puzzling to himself, ‘where was Sancret’. He looked at the mural, somehow he felt the answer was here, in front of him, Meendhu joined him.

‘Where is he then?’ he asked in a low voice.

‘I don’t know but I think the answer’s here, look, what can you see that’s different.’ Gerent swept his hand across the mural, and Meendhu gazed at the painting saying, ‘Don’t know, I never really took much notice of it before.’

‘That man in the foreground,’ Gerent began,

‘The one who looks like you Lordling?’ asked Brunnstan.

‘What?’ Euny stepped forward and looked at the painting and back at Gerent, ‘you think he looks like him?’

‘A little,’ Brunnstan said quietly, Gerent looked at the man in the mural once more, he tried to think back to what he had seen in the picture when he had viewed it first.

‘He’s not holding the plans he had when I saw it first!’ Gerent burst out pointing at the raised glass of ginger beer.

‘Sancret’s banners are on the walls,’ said Brunnstan, ‘They weren’t there before.’

‘His banners?’ questioned Gerent.

‘Yes, you must have noticed them on the castle walls,’ Gerent nodded, and the Brownie continued, ‘well they’re the mage’s, just like the castle they are a part of him. If he is happy, thinking, working, you know forgetting meals for his work as usual, then they flap and crack in the breeze, if he’s sad or quiet, or asleep, they just hang there, didn’t you notice? But there they are on the walls of that castle and – and it’s finished! This used to be a picture of the castle being built, but it’s finished, the wooden frames have gone and there are people on the walls, they weren’t there before!’ Brunnstan was getting excited.

‘They are in the mural, he’s taken them all into the mural!’ said Gerent gazing at the scene wide eyed in amazement.

‘They’re safe, they’re safe!’ The Brownie began dancing around, dragging Meendhu with him in his excitement. Gerent was very excited but a heavy thought dragged at him, Sancret and everyone were in the painting, safe, but they were not. What should happen, he wondered, should they go into the painting and if so how? Should Sancret and the others come out of the painting and if so, how could they? Was this it, they all stayed as they currently were? Gerent felt tired, he didn’t know what should happen next, he looked at the image of the man in the foreground, Euny stood beside him.

‘That looks like my father, as well as looking like you,’ the knight said quietly, ‘it’s very similar to my father.’ Gerent considered the figure, the watch, its hands on eight o’clock, he stopped, looked again and the hands were definitely on eight, whereas they had been at half past seven earlier. The man seemed to wink at him, and there was now an empty glass in his hand.

‘It’s like a game, a game Hugh would be good at. I think he’s trying to tell us something. Get us to do something, like in a game there would be a keyword.’ Gerent said slowly, ‘a keyword to get us in, or them out. I don’t know which, a keyword.’ He thought as he looked at the painting.

‘A what? If you know this much Lordling, try something, anything.’ Said Brunnstan.

‘Widnbrea’ said Gerent, almost in a whisper but nothing happened. ‘Sancret, Brownies, oh I don’t know, grey!’

‘Try Carack’ said Euny, ‘It’s our name.’

‘If it was that, your saying it would have triggered whatever is to be triggered. But nothing happened, so it’s not that,’ Gerent leant back against the wall, perhaps he was wrong after all. His pains had grown much worse; he was feeling very tired, weak and thirsty.

‘Ginger beer’ he said weakly, looking at the glass in the man’s hand. It was was again now full of grey liquid. Gerent could swear that the man actually did wink at him then, but then he felt so tired he could have imagined it.

What he wasn’t imagining was the strong wind that sprung up, coming straight out of the mural and rapidly increasing in strength.

‘Get away from in front of the painting! Now!’ he yelled instinctively, falling back himself to lean against the entrance door of the long gallery off to one side of the mural. He saw the other three all stand back into the doorway of the sawol room on the opposite side. Then his view of them was totally obliterated by a huge horizontal hurricane that blasted out of the painting, rattled down the long gallery and ran screaming through the castle. It was dense and dark grey and seemed to carry solid objects within. It made his hair whip around his face and flapped his clothes. The wind almost seemed to be trying to suck him into it. Gerent closed his eyes and pressed hard against the door, spreading his fingertips wide on its surface, just to make sure he was still in contact with it. Gerent wasn’t sure how long the noise and rush lasted but at the end of it there was a sudden calm and he opened his eyes to see, standing beside him, Sancret, smiling. Meendhu and Brunstan immediately pounced on Sancret with joy and Gerent smiled as he watched the bear spin the warlock around as he had once seen him do before. Euny stepped forward to greet Sancret, the two stared at each other for a while and then hugged, patting each other on the back.

Gerent looked at the mural once more, the figure in the foreground was smiling and holding a shredded piece of clothing. The castle was as it had been, under construction with wooden scaffolding up against the walls.

‘How did you do it brother?’ asked Euny, as they all looked at the mural in wonder.

‘Never mind the tricks a warlock pulls out of his bag, let’s go down,’ said Sancret, ‘we have some celebrating to do.’ He put a hand on Gerent’s shoulder as he passed and squeezed it. ‘Well done you, father said you would know what to say.’ He said and went along the long gallery arm in arm with Euny, followed by a dancing Meendhu and Brunstan.

Gerent let them go, he ached and was too tired for celebrations, all he wanted to do was lie down and sleep. He felt his body was just about ready to give up and as there was nothing more he had to do, he was willing to let it. He slowly trudged upstairs to find his old room and opening the doors he found three Brownies busily tidying up, they had already rebuilt the bed.

‘Please leave,’ said Gerent, too tired to admire the speed at which they had set to work restoring the castle, ‘I want to rest.’

One of the Brownies protested, ‘Lordling, we have not yet had time to make the bed, we have no sheets, no covers for you, please allow us to-’

‘Go, just leave, pop off, the bed is made well enough for me, go and see to other rooms, come back in the morning but please go!’

The Brownie bowed and said:

‘As you wish Lordling, goodnight,’ and the three all promptly vanished. Gerent sank down on the edge of the bed, grateful to finally being able to rest. He held his head in his hands for a while and then stretched himself out on the bare mattress as he was, fully clothed and he lay looking at the ceiling. He listened to the sounds of music, cheering, laughter and celebrations coming from outside and inside the castle. The thought struck him that no one was missing him at the celebrations and then he remembered Hugh, he knew that Hugh would be missing him.  As he lay there in a delicious half awake, half asleep state he could hear, beyond and above the noises of celebration, the sound of banners snapping in the breeze. He sniffed the faint aroma of honeysuckle that somehow wafted across him; he smiled to himself and then let himself fall asleep.