To Break a Curse

Chapter 9

'We have to what?' Oliver demanded.

'Find the son of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere!' said Will impatiently.

It was later that day, when Will and Rose had finally been able to get away from the stables.

They had burst into Gaius' chambers to see if Tom and Oliver were back from work, but to no avail. Gaius was also out, so Will and Rose had had to sneak around the back of the kitchens to the little room where Tom and Oliver were washing up and throw stones at the single high window until they noticed.

After Oliver and Tom had worked out how the window opened, Rose and Will took turns to scramble up a pile of logs that someone with a good sense of narrative had conveniently positioned outside.

'But how?' asked Oliver.

'Er...' Will wasn't sure. He looked down at Rose. 'Your turn.'

They swapped and Oliver asked his question again, 'how do we find the heir?'

Rose shrugged, 'not sure, I'll ask Gaius if he knows anything when we get back... Ah no-'

The log pile started to slip. Oliver managed to grab hold of Rose's hand just before she lost her grip of the windowsill. Dangling from Oliver's grip, Rose glanced down. As much as she liked Oliver holding onto her, she thought she had better tell him to let go.

'I think I can jump from here,' she suggested. Will kicked away any logs that she might land on just as Oliver said, 'sure?' and let go.

Rose landed nimbly and called her thanks to Oliver. Just as she and Will got out of sight, a voice behind Oliver and Tom made them spin around:

'Who was that?' Cara stood in the doorway, jealousy rife on her face.

'Just a friend,' said Oliver quickly. 

'One of our friends; Rose,' Tom butted in: he didn't like Cara.

Cara gave Oliver a poisonous look and flounced off.

Oliver put a hand over his eyes.

'You're well shot of her, mate,' said Tom, smirking.

Oliver looked at the hand he had used to catch Rose: when he had touched her, something that felt like an electric current had jolted through him. He had no idea why.

'Well, at least we're a little closer to breaking the curse,' said Tom, completely oblivious to this.

Oliver tried to pull himself together and rolled his eyes, 'it's all very well knowing what we have to do, but how do we find him?'

'I'm sure something will turn up,' said Tom. 'Anyway,' he added. 'We've got bigger problems to worry about; Torrent's teaching us to dance later...'

***

'Right.' Torrent took charge with practiced ease. 'Rose, you stand here-' he pulled her so that she was facing the boys. 'I'm afraid you'll have to stand in for the girl while the boys take it in turns to learn, but at least by the end of it you'll be a very good dancer.' Torrent then turned to eye the boys. They had cleared a space in Gaius' rooms after dinner that night and Torrent was clearly in his element. 'Who shall I pick to go first?'

Rose began to feel nervous and embarrassed about dancing with any of them. Yes, they were her friends, but it would still be awkward.

'Oliver, you can go first,' Torrent made him stand opposite Rose.

Oliver could see Tom grinning at him out of the corner of his eye and felt embarrassed. Rose was his friend, but that didn't make it feel less uncomfortable. He could see Rose blushing and avoiding his eye. That made him feel slightly better, knowing that he wasn't the only one to feel awkward, but he couldn't help but wonder if his hands were clammy.