The Kings of Clonmel

Chapter 17

The following morning, Halt and Horace were sitting around their camp fire when Abelard gave a snort of welcome. A few seconds later, Will and Tug rode into the clearing where they had made their camp. He glanced at the two small tents, barely a metre in height and two metres long. It had rained during the night and the canvas sides were beaded with moisture.

`Sleep nice and warm, did we?' he grinned.

Halt grunted at him. 'At least we weren't eaten to death by bedbugs.'

Will's grin faded just a little.

`Yes, I'll have to admit the Green Harper could do with a thorough spring cleaning. I do seem to have had one or two little visitors.' He scratched idly at an itchy spot on his side as he said the words. Halt looked down at the fire, hiding a satisfied smile.

Will dismounted, unsaddled Tug and set him loose to graze. He joined the others by the small fire, where a coffee pot sat in the coals to one side.

`Still,' he continued, 'they do a good breakfast at the Harper. Bacon, sausages, mushrooms and fresh bread. Just the thing to set you up on a cold morning.'

There was a low groan from the point where Horace sat, poking idly at the coals with a dead stick. Will wasn't entirely sure if the groan had come from Horace or from his stomach. Breakfast at the camp had been a frugal matter of flat, slightly stale bread, toasted over the fire and eaten with a ration of dried meat.

`Hard rations build character,' Halt said philosophically. Horace looked mournfully at him. Already the vast helping of lamb stew he'd eaten the previous evening was nothing but a dim memory.

`They also build hunger,' he said. Will waited a few seconds more, then relented and tossed a substantial bundle wrapped in a napkin down beside Horace.

`Fortunately, the kitchen girl saw fit to give me some food for my journey,' he said. 'Seems she's a music lover.'

Horace eagerly unwrapped the bundle, to reveal a pile of still-warm food inside.

He transferred a large portion to his plate, which was standing by the fire, and reached for his fork. He paused as he saw Halt moving to join him and take his own share of the bacon and sausages, ripping off a chunk of fresh, soft bread to go with it.

`I thought you said hard rations build character?' Will said, managing to stay straight-faced. Halt looked up at him with some dignity.

`I have character,' he said. 'I have character to spare. It's young people like you two who need their characters built.'

`I'll build mine tomorrow,' Horace said through a mouthful of food. 'This is excellent, Will! When I have grandchildren, I'll name them all after you!'

Will smiled at his friend and took a seat by the fireplace, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He added honey and drank appreciatively.

`Aaah!' he said. 'They may know their way around bacon and sausage at that inn. But their coffee doesn't hold a candle to yours, Halt.'

Halt grunted, his mouth too full to answer. He finished off the plate of food that he had taken and sat back, patting his stomach. Then he couldn't resist leaning forward and taking one more piece of crisply fried bacon.

`So, did you hear anything at the inn?' he asked as he finished off the titbit.

Will nodded. 'The main talking point was an attack on a place called Duffy's Ford – a small settlement by a river some ten kilometres from here.'

`Yes. We heard about that too,' Halt said. 'Did you hear any mention of a village called Mountshannon?'

Will drained his cup and tossed the dregs into the fire before answering.

`Yes. Quite a few people were talking about it. Sounds as if our friends have set up headquarters there.'

`We heard they were claiming to be able to protect Mountshannon from the sort of thing that happened at the ford,' Horace put in. Although he hadn't heard too clearly the night before, he and Halt had discussed the matter when they reached camp.

`I heard much the same thing. Opinion seemed divided as to whether there was any value to the claim,' Will said. Halt looked at him shrewdly.

`What did most people think? Did you get any idea?'

Will shrugged. 'I'd say it was two to one against. Most people I spoke to, or heard discussing the matter, seemed to think Mountshannon could look after itself. It's a big village, apparently. They talked about it quite a lot after I'd finished singing.'

Halt chuckled briefly. 'That's the handy thing about your being able to pose as a minstrel,' he said. 'People seem to think you're one of them. They'll talk far more openly about matters in front of you. Anything else?'

Will considered. He wasn't quite sure how Halt would react to the next piece of intelligence he had learned. Then he decided there was no way to sugar coat the message.

`General opinion is that King Ferris is a broken reed. There's precious little respect for him. Nobody seemed to think that he was capable of sorting out the mess that Clonmel's in. The ones who think the Outsiders might have the answer were particularly strident about it. And if anything was going to sway the others to their point.of view, it was the fact that Ferris is- weak and ineffectual. They all agreed on that.' He paused, then added, 'Sorry, Halt. But that's the way people see it.'

Halt shrugged. 'I can't say I'm surprised. For years Ferris has cared so much about just being King that he's neglected to act like one. He was like that from the beginning.' There was a note of bitterness in his voice and Will regretted having to pass on the negative information about his brother.

Horace checked the spread-out napkin to make sure there were no leftovers remaining. Then he shifted to a more comfortable position.

`Halt,' he said now, in a serious voice, 'I think it might be time you told us more about you and your brother.'

There was no trace of his former light-hearted tone when he had grumbled about breakfast. This was a serious matter. But there was also no trace of apology in his words. He was prying into Halt's past, he knew, but it was time he and Will learned all the facts about King Ferris, and his relationship with his brother. Will and Horace were in a potentially dangerous situation in Clonmel and Horace had learned that it was important to understand as much as possible about a situation like this.

Reflecting on that, he realised that it was his long association with the two Rangers that had taught him that lesson. He saw that Halt was watching him now, with those calm, serious eyes of his. And he saw that Halt agreed with him.

`Yes. You're right,' the Ranger said. 'You should know all the facts behind the current situation. For a start, there's one pertinent fact you should be aware of. Ferris and I aren't just brothers. We're twins.That's why the Outsiders' leader at Selsey thought I looked familiar. He'd spent some time in Clonmel and he'd seen Ferris several times.'

`Twins?'Will sat up at that news. In all the years he had spent with Halt, he had never had the slightest inkling that his mentor had any siblings, let alone a twin brother.

`Identical twins,' Halt said. 'We were born seven minutes apart.'

`And you were the youngest?' Horace said. He shook his head. `It's funny, isn't it? But for that seven minutes, you'd be the King of Clonmel now and Ferris would be…'

He paused, not sure how to continue. He had been about to say, 'Ferris would be a Ranger', but then he realised, from what they had heard about the vacillating, ineffectual King, he would never have become a Ranger. Halt regarded him, seeing the sudden question in the young warrior's mind.

`Exactly,' he said quietly. 'What would Ferris have become? But you're not exactly right there, Horace. I was actually the one who was born first. Ferris is my younger brother.'

Horace frowned as the implications of what Halt had said sunk in. But it was Will who asked the obvious question.

`Then what happened? Surely as the elder brother, you should have become King? Or isn't that the way it works here in Hibernia?'

`Yes. That's the way it works here, just like everywhere else. But I had a problem. My brother resented those seven minutes bitterly. He felt he had been cheated out of his birthright. Cheated by me,' he added.

Horace shook his head in disbelief. 'That's crazy. It wasn't your fault you were born first.'

Halt smiled sadly at Horace. So honest. So straightforward. So free of deceit and jealousy. If there were more men like Horace, and fewer like my brother, the world would be a better place, he thought. It saddened him but he recognised the fact that it was accurate.

`He made himself blame me,' he told them. 'That way, it was easier for him when he tried to kill me.'

`He tried to kill you?' Will's voice rose in disbelief. 'His own brother? His twin brother?'

`His older brother,' Halt added. He looked deep into the smoking embers of the fire as he recalled those long-agodays. 'You know, I don't really enjoy talking about this,' he began and both Will and Horace reacted immediately. `Then don't!' Will said.

`It's none of our business anyway,' Horace agreed. 'Let it go, Halt.'

But Halt looked up at them both now, letting his gaze move from one to the other. Both of these two I would trust with my life, he thought. But my own brother? He let out a short, bitter laugh at the thought, then continued.

`No. I think you need to know this. And I certainly need to face it. I've been running away from it for too long.' He saw their reluctance to hear more and reassured them.

`You need to know this, really. It could be important to you. So let me get it out of the way as quickly and painlessly as possible. Ferris believed the throne was rightly his. Why he believed that I have no idea. But he did. Maybe it was because he was the more popular with our parents. And that may have been because they felt he needed their attention more than I did. After all, I was going to be King and they possibly felt that he needed something in compensation for that fact. Plus he was open and friendly and cheerful and I was… well, I was me, I suppose.

`When we were sixteen, he tried to poison me. But fortunately, he got the amounts wrong and only succeeded in making me violently ill.' He grinned wryly. 'I still can't face the sight of a plate of shrimp.'

`But didn't your parents… do something?' Will protested.

Halt shook his head. 'They didn't know. I didn't know. I only found out later. I just thought the food had been spoiled and I was lucky to survive.

`The next time was six months later. I was walking in the castle yard when a pile of roof tiles hit the ground half a metre behind me. They smashed and cut my legs pretty badly. But they didn't land on me, which was the intent. I saw Ferris on the battlements above me. He ducked back out of the way but not quite quickly enough.

`Worst of all, I saw the expression on his face. You'd expect someone who had just witnessed his brother miss death by a few centimetres might look concerned. Ferris looked furious.

`Bear in mind, I had no real proof that he was trying to kill me. And at that time, my mother and father were arguing nonstop – they were never what you might call a happy couple. About the only bright thing in their lives was happy young Ferris. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to spoil that for them by accusing him. The only one who believed me was my younger sister. She could see what was going on.'

Horace and Will exchanged surprised looks. They were learning more about Halt in these few minutes than they had in the past five or six years.

`You have a sister?' Will said. But Halt shook his head sadly.

`I had a sister. She died some years back. I believe she had a son.' He paused a for a few seconds, thinking about her, then he shook himself and went on with his story.

`The final time was a year after the roof incident, when my father was close to death. Ferris knew he had to act quickly. We were salmon fishing and I leaned over the side of our boat to untangle my line. Next thing I felt a shove in the back and I was in the water. When I came up, Ferris was trying to reach me with an oar. At first, I thought hewas trying to help. Then, when the oar hit me, I knew what he was doing.'

Subconsciously, he rubbed his right shoulder, as if he could still feel the pain of that blow, all these years later. Will and Halt were horrified. But neither said anything. Both realised, somehow, that Halt had to finish this story, to purge his soul of the blackness that he had concealed all these years.

`He tried for me again but I ducked underwater and swam for the bank. Nearly didn't make it, but I managed to drag myself ashore. Ferris followed me in the boat, insisting that it had been an accident, asking if I was all right, trying to pretend that he hadn't just tried to kill me.'

He snorted in disgust at the memory. 'I knew then that he'd never let up. If I were to be safe, I had to do one of two things. Kill him or leave the country. Even if I were to simply stand aside, to abdicate, I knew he'd never trust me. He'd expect me to try to seize the throne from him at some time in the future. I guess it was just worth more to him than it was to me. It was worth his brother's life.

`That's what I told him. Then I left.' He smiled at the two concerned young faces opposite him now and added, `And the way things turned out, I'm rather glad I did.'

The two young men shook their heads. There were no words that could express their sympathy for the grim-faced Ranger who meant so much to both of them. Then they realised that Halt didn't need words from them. He knew how much they cared about him.

`You might have noticed,' he said, trying to lighten the mood around the camp fire, 'I've been left with a distinct aversion to royalty and inherited authority. The fact that a person's father is a king doesn't necessarily mean that he will be a good one. All too often he's not. I prefer the Skandian method, where someone like Erak can be elected.'

`But Duncan is a good king,' Horace answered quietly.

Halt looked at him and nodded. 'Yes. There are always exceptions. Duncan is a fine king. And his daughter will make an excellent queen. That's why we all serve them. As for Ferris, I confess I wouldn't be heartbroken if this Tennyson character dragged him screeching off the throne of Clonmel. But then Araluen would be in danger, so we need to prop him up.'

`Unpalatable as that may be,' Will said.

`Sometimes we act for the greater good,' Halt said. Then he stood up, dusting himself off, as if to disperse the cloud of melancholy that had settled over them as he talked. He continued in a brisker tone.

`Speaking of which, it's time we got moving. Will, I want you to go to Duffy's Ford and pick up the trail of these bandits. Track them to their camp and see what you can find out about them: numbers, weapons, that sort of thing. If you can get any inkling of their plans, that'd be good. But be careful. We don't want to have to come and rescue you. Don't underestimate these people. They may look like an untrained rabble but they've been doing this for some years now and they know what they're about.'

Will nodded his understanding. He began to gather his equipment together and whistled to Tug, who walked forward to be resaddled.

`Will I meet you back here?' he asked.

Halt shook his head. 'We'll meet at Mountshannon. Horace and I are going to take a look at this Tennyson character.'