The light was already leaving the sky. Soon it would be dark. Uncle Paton decided he would have to put out the streetlight if the giant wasn't to attract too much attention when he left the house.
The giant waited patiently on Uncle Paton's bed. He had fallen silent, and a mysterious half-smile touched the corners of his mouth. Was he thinking of the past? Charlie wondered. Or was he imagining the moment when he would see Amoret again? The house was very quiet. Grandma Bone had stopped screaming, just as Paton had predicted.406When the first star showed, Paton put on his black fedora and stepped down
into the street. With his hand on the lamppost, he murmured, "Let it happen then, but quietly, please."
There was a small popping noise; the lamp went out and Paton's fedora was covered in a silver dust. "Many thanks," he said, though he wasn't sure who or what he was thanking.
He removed his hat and shook the glass fragments into the street.
Watching from the window, Charlie saw his uncle open the back doors of the camper van and slide the carpet back into place.
"It's time to go," Charlie told the giant.
Otus stood up and stretched his arms, scraping his knuckles on the ceiling. He laughed and said, "This house would never suit me, Charlie Bone."
"No," said Charlie. "They don't make houses for giants anymore."
"They never did," said Otus.407The giant's heavy feet thumped on the stairs, as he followed Charlie downstairs. Maisie handed him a box of food and he made a low bow.
"Good luck, Mr. Yewbeam," she said. "I wish we could have spent a bit more time together."
"I agree, my lady," said Otus, tucking the box under his arm. "You are very gracious." He took her hand and planted a kiss on it.
"How chivalrous," said Maisie, blushing.
"Hurry up," called Uncle Paton.
Otus walked down the steps and then stood on the sidewalk, gazing at the passing cars, the streetlights, and the lit-up houses. An airplane passed overhead, its taillight twinkling among the stars.
"Oh," sighed the giant. "What a wondrous thing this new world is. I wish I had known it better."
Charlie took the box and put it in the back of the van. "It's time to go, Otus," he said quietly. "I'm afraid we'll have to travel in this machine again."
"I am not afraid." The giant took a large step into408the back of the van and Charlie closed the doors. Uncle Paton started the engine and Charlie climbed up beside him.
Maisie stood waving from the door as though she might never see them again. But Charlie's confidence didn't waver until they drove out of the city and into the night. And then a voice in his head began to ask, "What if I fail? What then?"409CHAPTER 20
AMORET
T he way to the Castle of Mirrors was long and difficult, but after his last journey there Uncle Paton had made a map of the route. The road followed the river for a while, and then at a crossroads five miles outside the city, they turned onto the coast road. Otus had never seen the castle though he had heard much about it.
"They said it was the finest castle in the world," the giant's voice rumbled softly from the back of the van. "Borlath, the eldest prince, envied Amadis in all things, and the shadow stoked the fires of his envy. Anything Borlath could not have, he destroyed."
After a long pause Charlie asked, "Where did you live, Otus?"
The giant chuckled. "I was born in a house of living yew trees. My father dug a pit in the center of an ancient grove. So wide were those yews it needed but a few beams driven between them to give us our410walls. Above we had a roof of hides, tied to the highest branches. We never touched the leaves or berries for they were poisonous, but they kept the wolves at bay."
"Yewbeam," Charlie murmured. "So that's how the name began."
"Aye," said the giant.
"Well, I never found that out," Paton declared, "in all my years of research. How very interesting. And did your wife live in this house of yew?"
"Mercy, no." Otus sounded quite indignant. "I built my Amoret a fine house from stone and pine with bleached walls and a floor of slate."
"Naturally." Paton gave a small apologetic cough.
After this they all fell silent and Charlie drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, they were driving through a valley. On either side, mountains rose, dark and sheer, into the moonlit clouds. A flash of white caught Charlie's eye and he looked into the side mirror. His heart missed a beat, for there, reflected in the mirror,411was a white horse. Behind the flowing white mane sat a knight in armor.
"They're here," said Charlie. "The queen and the Red Knight. They're following us."
"Are you sure?" Paton frowned at the mirror. "Ye gods, Charlie, you're right."
"The queen?" Otus heaved himself to the small window in the back door, and the van rattled and shuddered. "I see no queen; there is but a knight and his horse."
Charlie realized that, to Otus, a knight on horseback was quite an everyday sight. "It isn't an ordinary horse," said Charlie, and he explained how Ezekiel Bloor had unintentionally brought Queen Berenice back to life, in the body of her favorite mare. "He's not a very good magician," Charlie went on. "He meant to bring Borlath into the world again."
"Be thankful of the mistake," grunted Otus.
For the rest of the journey, Charlie drifted in and out of sleep, and in his waking moments, the knight412and his white horse were almost always there; if he couldn't see them in the mirror, he would hear the hoofbeats, not too far behind. When the moon was at its zenith, they parked beside a cliff and ate some of Maisie's food. Then Uncle Paton slept for a while before driving the last few miles.
They turned off the main road at dawn and parked on a path that led to the sea.
"I believe this is the place," said Uncle Paton. He climbed out of the van and stretched, breathing in the sea air,
Charlie got out and ran to open the doors for Otus. He found that the giant was still fast asleep. The big man lay curled on the floor, with his cheek resting on his hands.
"Otus!" Charlie shook the giant's foot.
Otus opened his eyes, sat up and gave Charlie a broad smile. "I think this day will be kind to us, Charlie," he said, levering himself out of the van. Then, seeing a faint blue line of water beyond the cliff, he ran to the edge, while Paton shouted at him413to be careful.
Otus was a heavy man and the cliff had already subsided in several places.
"Where is the castle?" cried Otus. "I do not see it."
Charlie came to stand beside him. A feathery mist covered the sea and Charlie remembered that this had happened before. "It is there, I promise you, Otus," he said.
"When the sun burns through the mist, we'll see it."
"It's happening." Uncle Paton had joined them, and in a few minutes, all three saw an island emerge half a mile out to sea. "The Island of a Thousand Blues," said Uncle Paton.
"Soon we'll see its crown."
The giant clutched his chest. His heart was beating so fast and loud, Charlie was afraid that it might stop altogether. Gradually, the mist evaporated and small patches glittered in the light. As the sun rose higher, the last traces of mist melted away and the castle of shining glass appeared.
"Ahh!" breathed the giant. "It is there." He began to stride down the perilous path to the beach while414Charlie and his uncle slipped and staggered in his wake.
"There is a boat, kept in a cave," said Uncle Paton, "but" - he looked at the giant - "I'm not sure that it'll take your weight, Otus."
The giant opened his mouth and let forth a great gust of laughter. "A boat? I do not need a boat, Paton," he roared, and without another word, he rushed into the sea. His joyful laughter echoed back to the beach as he strode through the waves, and then he was treading water, his white head bobbing among the seagulls that floated on the surface.
"We'd better get that boat," said Uncle Paton.
The boat was just where Charlie had found it before - at the back of a deep cave. They soon had it afloat and Uncle Paton, his back to the castle, rowed as fast as he could while Charlie gave directions. When they reached the island, the giant was sitting on the shell-covered beach, wringing water out of his shoes.