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“Very good!” Schwartz put down his lantern and gave a mocking round of applause, although he still managed to keep his pistols aimed at us. “Now get over to that wall.” He pointed at me. “You, put those manacles on your friend’s wrists. If you hesitate, I’ll shoot her.” I did as I was told. “Now put one of your wrists in the other manacle.” I did so and Schwartz carefully secured my other wrist giving me no chance to struggle, let alone escape because each set of manacles was linked by a chain that ran through a ring fastened to the wall. Neets and I could move our arms, but that was small comfort.

  “I suppose you’re going to keep us down here as hostages with only bread and water,” said Neets, almost hopefully. “Our friends will come and when they find us they’ll go looking for you.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” said Schwartz as he walked back to the steps. “But by that time you’ll be learning to hold your breath under water.” The water in the cave had risen at least another three inches and was up to our kneecaps.

  “Just bread then,” I muttered, “no water.”

  “My Bryn will find us,” Neets shot back defiantly, “and when he does you’ll be sorry!”

  “You and the boy, is it?” Schwartz smiled. “Well I’m sorry to have to tell you that he will have met with two of my men and is probably examining his own insides by now. Sorry.”

  I was impressed for two reasons. Firstly because Neets didn’t burst into tears and secondly because she used a string of words that were seriously not ladylike and sounded like they could be worth looking up. It also occurred to me that Schwartz hadn’t actually said that Bryn was dead and a man like that would have gloated instead of just hinting. Besides, I knew the two men were trussed up like turkeys. I gave Neets a reassuring wink.

  “Sorry, Neets,” I said. “I was wrong. We’re not at sea level, we’re under it. I think this is the bottom of the Salt House and the tide’s got a few more feet to come.”

  “Quite right,” said Schwartz, “and now I must be going. I’ll even leave you a lantern so you can see the water level rising.” He climbed the steps and disappeared along the tunnel. No gloating and no clever witty repartee. He just went.

  “You reckon he’s really going to let us drown, Tersh?”

  “That man was going to destroy Camelot, plus he’s wrecked countless ships and drowned their crews. I really don’t think he’d give a second thought about getting rid of us, so it’s a good job I’m a clever little detective. I nicked this from one of Schwartz’s treasure storerooms.” I had a small jeweled knife in my hand that was probably worth a large fortune and began to gouge away at the rock around my manacle ring. The knife cut in deeply enough so that I reckoned I’d be able to free myself and then free Neets. Around three weeks would do it, but I wasn’t going to tell my cousin.

  The tide rose to our waists and showed no sign of stopping. Time and tide… as the saying goes, and it was bloody cold.

  “Tersh?” Neets’s voice trembled and she sounded like I felt. “I’m taller than you.”

  Not quite what I expected her to say, but I got her meaning. I was going to go under before her. “Yes, but you’re heavier than me, so I’ll float as long as you can stand on tiptoe.” We both giggled because being on the point of dying can do that to you and I should know because I’d been there three times in the past hour.

  “Tersh, do you think Bryn managed to get away?”

  “I know he did, kid. That boy of yours is quite a lad. In fact I’m banking on him escaping, because he’s just about the only hope we’ve got of getting out of this mess.”

  “What, you think he’ll double-back down the tunnel and rescue us?”

  “I hope not. He’ll only run into Schwartz and the bastard’ll kill him out of hand. No, I’m hoping he’s got a good memory and a bit of common sense.” The seawater was chest high now. “Within the next few minutes preferably.”

  I was beginning to feel numb as the cold ate into my limbs and I wasn’t sure if I could feel my legs any more or not. They still seemed to be supporting me and for the time being that was a bonus. As the water crept higher I started wondering whether the Leap of Faith with its two-second drop into certain death might have been the better bet, but I decided there wasn’t any such thing as an easier way to die. I was having too much fun as a living detective to become a dead loss.

  “Give us a song, Neets.”

  “What? We’re about to drown and you want a song?”

  “Yep. And the louder the better!” There was method in my madness. “Let’s give them a couple of verses of the Wizard’s Song. The naughty version.”

  “You’re going mad, Tersh. Give who, anyway?”

  “The people who are coming to rescue us. I would think they’re about fifteen-to-twenty feet away by now, so a good singsong will tell them where we are and that our spirits are still high. Either that or we’ve gone completely mad. Ready now?One, two, one, two, three, four. SING!”

  I launched into one of Camelot’s favorite songs giving it everything I could, and when I came to the naughty words of the Wizard’s Song, I screamed them at the top of my voice. Neets joined me on the second line until the small cave vibrated with our voices. The problem was I reckoned two more verses and the water would be up to our chins and I was already standing on my toes trying to keep the lapping sea out of my mouth.

  We finished the first verse and listened. As I spat out salt water I was sure I could hear what might have been voices, but it could just as easily have been the sea gurgling through the Salt House puddling chamber, or even the cry of a distant seagull. I wasn’t giving up yet and could see Neets mouthing what looked like come on, Bryn. It takes a lot to beat a Merl’s Girl.

  Verse two.

  Even Neets was having difficulty keeping the seawater out of her mouth, but we still managed to shout at the right points and gurgle at the rest, but as we finished the last line I knew verse three was going to have to wait for another day, or maybe another lifetime. Then…

  Ting! Ting!

  “Tersh, did you hear that?”

  I gurgled that I had.

  Ting! Ting! Clang! Clunk!

  “We’re in here,” Neets shouted alone, because I was now breathing through my nose as everything else was below the surface of the rising waters. “Hurry!” A bit unnecessary under the circumstances, I thought. Whoever was outside was hardly going for a tea break.

  The sound of hammer blows against the brick wall was getting louder and more urgent and the voices were definitely not seagulls anymore. Even better, the shouts included our names. Mortar dust began to drift into the cave and then I tried to cheer as a brick slid out of the wall and dropped into the water, but my mouth filled with sea water and I knew I only had seconds left. A second brick fell and then a third as I started choking on the salty water, then I heard someone shout and felt hands holding my head above the surface so I could cough out a lungful of brine.

  “Bryn, see to Unita,” shouted Lewis. “I’ll free Tertia.”

  I felt the manacles round my wrists loosen and then come away from the wall, but any strength I had in my arms and legs had gone and I flopped forward, drifting into Lewis’s arms. I managed to glance across at Neets and saw that Bryn had freed her and was carrying my cousin to the hole in the brick wall made by his father and him. I couldn’t help feeling Neets was making the most of things and to my mind clinging a little bit too tightly to Bryn, though he didn’t seem to be complaining. Lewis was my white knight in shining armor as he carried me through the hole in the wall and into the puddling room. I’d stopped coughing and was into the spluttering stage as he carried me up the stairs and into the cool night air. I lay on the grass next to Neets and gazed at stars I’d never thought I’d see again, then looked at my cousin. Bryn was kneeling cradling Neets’s head in his lap and looking stupidly happy, while Neets just looked happily stupid.

  “You okay, kid?”

  I got a grin and a wink in reply. “I knew my Bryn would rescue us, Tersh.”
/>   “Mmm, for a lad he’s not half bad. Mind you considering our only hope was that he’d remember the stories he told us about this place and what we told him about the guided tour Schwartz gave us.” I paused. “He may have realized where we were, but I had no idea whether he’d get to us in time.”

  Bryn looked sheepish and to his credit admitted that when he left the house he ran into Miss Jones and the schoolchildren and told her what had happened in the cellars. It was when Miss Jones told him she couldn’t afford to lose such a good teacher that Bryn realized the only place Schwartz could have taken us was through the tunnel to the Salt House. Knowing if they went back to the cellars he’d only run into Schwartz, he ran to meet his father and rode to the Salt House racing against the tide.

  It had almost been a dead heat.

  I could have lain where I was all night. I didn’t mind that the grass was soaking wet, because so was I, and I was even beginning to feel calm. Weird! When I did move to get up it wasn’t through any sense of duty, it was a rasping tongue like wet sandpaper slobbering all over my face. I tried to squirm away but Pedro was very persistent. Neets may have had her Bryn, but I had my donkey. Lewis helped me to my feet and Pedro helped me stay upright when I draped my arms round his neck.

  “We brought Pedro and your piebald horse, Unita, because I want the two of you to go home in comfort.” Lewis mounted his white stallion and was definitely not aiming in the direction of Port Eynon. Bryn reluctantly released Neets and started to follow his dad.

  “Where are you two off to?” There was an edge to Neets’s voice.

  “To find and stop Schwartz.” Lewis wheeled his horse to face us. “Now that he’s lost pretty well everything, he’s going to be ten times more dangerous.”

  “And you thought you’d go off without Tersh and me? You thought you’d send the two girlies back home for a nice cup of tea and a warm bath while you do the man’s work? Think again. We’re coming with you.”

  Bryn looked at Neets and with the sort of common sense that said one day he might just make a good husband, he kept his mouth shut.

  “Very well, but we need to ride fast or we’ll lose the initiative,” said Lewis, “and I really don’t have time to argue, so get mounted and keep up with me. Bryn, get Unita on her horse now.” I’d already climbed onto Pedro’s back and without wasting further words Lewis spurred his horse into a fast walk. We followed as best we could.

  I’d cheated death and Schwartz three times in the past few hours and there was no way I was going to tempt a fourth. I was staying with Lewis from now on. My White Knight.

  Chapter Twelve

  Death of a Knight and Some Explanations

  We arrived at the cliff overlooking the Crabart to find that the wreckers, or at least those that had surrendered, were sitting on the ground tied up hand and foot, while the redcoat captain and his men guarded them with their muskets cocked. Any small groups that tried to escape had been overcome without much of a struggle and brought back to join the rest of the thugs.

  “He’s definitely not with this lot,” said Lewis after making a quick check. “I’d hoped he might have put on a wig and be hiding here. He could be anywhere by now.”

  “We could start by looking at his house.” I reckoned any suggestion was better than none at all. “We know he went back there after leaving Neets and me in the cave.”

  “It’s not a bad idea,” said Lewis, “though I doubt he’ll still be there. He’ll have grabbed what he could and made a run for it. Blast it! He may even have used his Time Portal. He could be centuries away by now with a small hoard of treasure and a new identity. The only thing we know for sure is that he hasn’t been able to go back to Camelot. Merlin saw to that.”

  It took us less than ten minutes to get to Schwartz’s house and though we saw the odd wrecker, they stayed well out of our way and were mostly trying to avoid being caught by redcoat soldiers. Even the courtyard was deserted with the exception of two thugs, trussed hand and foot and pretending to be unconscious. After what they’d put me through I was tempted to give them a good kicking, but as we got nearer I noticed each of them had a dark red stain on his chest. They were unconscious and Schwartz had taken his revenge for their failure.

  There wasn’t a sign of anyone in the building and the only sounds were the creepy ones you might get at night in any old house. We searched all the rooms looking for some sort of clue as to where Schwartz might have gone, but there was nothing and eventually we ended up in the main dining hall. The dying embers of the fire gave out enough warmth for us to be grateful, but not enough to dry our clothes; however, it did keep us quiet for a few moments, which was enough for me to hear the muffled tapping.

  I put my ear to the wooden panel hiding the stone steps leading to Schwartz’s treasure caves. “Quiet.” I held up my hand. “There’s someone in the secret passage.” I started to pull the lever that opened the hidden door.

  Lewis drew his sword. “Careful, Tertia, it could be Schwartz. I’ll cover you.” He was obviously prepared to skewer anyone who came out, but luckily he lowered his sword just in time as the crush of cheering kids rushed into the room, while Miss Jones followed more sedately brushing dust off her dress. I looked behind her into the passage, but there was no sign of Schwartz.

  “He locked us in there, the pig,” said the head teacher. “While we were looking around his cellars he came out of a tunnel and nearly knocked me over, though to be honest, I think he was more surprised than me. He kept trying to get to a colorful machine in the corner, but my children let fly with their catapults and he ran up the stairs snarling like an animal.” Miss Jones looked proudly at the kids and so did I, because I reckoned they were mine too. “We tried to follow him, but he shut the door and locked us in here. I take it he’s gone?”

  “He’s gone, yes,” said Lewis, “but not before he murdered his two men in the courtyard.”

  “I’m sorry for that,” said Mrs. Jones. “We tied them up after they tried to kill Tertia, but maybe killing helpless people is the level Schwartz has fallen to.”

  “He never rose above it, my dear,” said Lewis. “Never.” I knew he was thinking about his wife as well as all the harm the man had done in Camelot as the Black Knight. “However, at least we know now he didn’t use his Time Portal to escape so he can’t be too far away. There’s still a chance we can catch him before the night’s out.”

  “So what are we doing standing here chatting?” I was all for action. “I want that man. He’s tried to kill me three times here as well as once on the church tower and it’s a habit I want to stop.” Neets and Bryn were already half way through the door to the courtyard; after all Schwartz had killed Bryn’s mother, though I thought it best not to point out to Neets that the man had also brought her and Bryn together, so to speak.

  Those of us who had horses, or in my case a Pedro, mounted up and trotted towards the headland coast path, while Miss Jones and the kids followed close behind. The moon was now full and high, giving everything a clear silvery color that made our ride so much easier than the walk to Schwartz’s house had been earlier. When we reached the path and dismounted I realized with a shudder that we were standing at the Leap of Faith, where on a whim Schwartz had let me live. Below us the sea still churned around the rocks and the white spray flew, and even though the storm had gone, The Leap still meant almost certain death.

  Something caught my eye and I looked along the cliff path towards the Worm’s Head. The wrecker was silhouetted in the moonlight, dark, evil and no more than a hundred yards away.

  Schwartz was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t see us blocking his path until it was too late. Lewis stared at his enemy and his smile was ice cold as he motioned the rest of us to back away, because this was his fight and ours to watch. There was no question of surrender on either side and the two men didn’t waste time on words with so many years of history fueling their hatred. They flew at each other snarling and clawing like animals. Schwartz tried to
gouge out his old enemy’s eyes as Lewis grabbed him round the neck, then slammed a fist into Schwartz’s face making his nose gush blood. The wrecker hardly seemed to notice as he used his knees, elbows and head to try to dislodge Lewis, making contact but without effect until one lucky kick made my old friend grimace in pain.

  They separated for a moment, circling each other like a pair of wrestlers, and I saw Schwartz pull out a long knife that had an edge he could have used to shave his head. He crouched, passing the knife from hand to hand and feinting lunges so Lewis wouldn’t guess how he was going to thrust. He drew the knife back and prepared to strike with all the pent-up venom of a lifetime of hatred. Even I knew he couldn’t miss.

  Twang. A slingshot stone smacked into Schwartz’s arm with the force of a bullet, causing him to drop the knife and howl with unexpected pain.

  “Miss Jones!” Lewis’s face broke into a grin as the children rushed towards him followed by their teacher. “How did you all get here so quickly?”

  Everyone was concentrating on Miss Jones and Lewis, so no one noticed Schwartz pick up his knife until he ran screaming at Lewis with the blade raised ready to kill. Lewis had little chance of escaping Schwartz’s attack as he crouched down to make himself as small a target as possible, and the anguished look on Bryn’s face told me he knew he was going to lose his father because of the wrecker, just as he had his mother. There was no time to do anything.

  A musket shot rang out and I swear I felt the wind from the ball as it flew past my neck before striking Schwartz on the forehead. It only stopped him for a couple of seconds as he gave a shout of fury, but that was enough.

  Someone shouted, “Duck!”

  The hailstorm of catapult and slingshot stones smashed into every part of Schwartz’s body before he could land a blow, making him scream with pain and stagger backwards off the path. A second and third fusillade hit their mark driving him farther towards the cliff edge and Schwartz’s look of hatred turned to one of surprise and then of horror as he teetered on the edge of the cliff. His feet slipped out from under him on the loose grass before he slid inch by inch over the precipice, his fingers desperately grabbing at crumbling earth. I stared into Schwartz’s eyes and saw nothing but empty hatred as the giant disappeared with a low moan into the dark void. Anyone else would have screamed.