The girl was as good as her word. They dined on roast fish with chopped herbs and toasted bread. The raspberries provided a dessert.
Karay sucked on a fish bone. “That’s the last of the bread how far is it to Veron?”
“About six hours’ steady walking,” Dominic replied.
Karay piled more wood on the fire. “Good! If we set off at dawn we should make it about midday. Get some sleep now.”
Ben saluted her. “Aye aye, marm, right away!”
Ned stretched out and sighed. “Bit bossy, but a good cook!” Ben was surprised when Karay lay back and began singing. Her voice had the husky sweetness of a Spanish lady he had heard singing on the quay at Cartagena, soothing and melodic.
“I will search the wide world over,
By the sea or by land,
Like a dove I’ll soar the seasons,
‘Til I touch his hand.
Through the towns where folk gather,
O’er lone windswept hills,
I will never cease roaming ‘til
My dreams he fulfills.
And I’ll cry to the moon above,
Where oh where bides my true love?
Will I see his face at dawning,
Like a poor maiden’s prayer?
In some purple-shaded valley,
Will he be waiting there?
In the still silent waters,
Will his fond face I see?
Ever smiling, eyes beguiling,
And he’ll love only me.
Then I’ll cry to the moon above
Here oh here is my true love.”
Ben slept more peacefully than he had in many a long night, with the embers warming him and Ned stretched by his side, surrounded by the tranquillity and silence of enveloping woodland darkness. No nightmares of Vanderdecken steering the heaven-cursed Flying Dutchman across storm-torn seas of eternal damnation marred his dreams. Rose-hued mists tinted the boy’s slumber. From afar the angel spoke, soft, clear, but insistent.
“A man who has not children
Will name you as his son.
In that hour, you must be gone!
Turn your face back to the sea,
You will meet another one,
A father with no children,
Before you travel on. Help him to help his children,
As his kinsman would have done.”
All night the words echoed through Ben’s mind. He did not puzzle over them, knowing that he was unable to resist any destiny that heaven had already planned.
17
A FINE SUNNY MORNING reigned over all as they left the woodlands, emerging onto a hilltop. Ben stopped a moment to take in the pleasant panorama. Dominic explained where they were and whither they were bound. “We’re travelling souththose mountains you see ahead are the Pyrenees. It’s uphill and down dale from here. That third hilltop, ‘twixt here and the mountains, that’s Veron. Perhaps we can save a bit of climbing by following that stream around the hills and through the valleys.”
Karay set off, calling back to them as she ran alongside Ned, “Come on then, we’ll race you there!”
Ben watched them dashing downhill. “Let them go. She’ll get tired of running before Ned does. Come on, mate, we’ll walk like ordinary, sensible folk.”
He and Dominic set out at a leisurely pace. They found the girl sitting panting on a stream bank at the foot of the next hill. Ned was tugging at the hem of her dress. He looked up at Ben approaching and sent him a message. “Weak, fickle things human beings are. Look, she’s out of breath alreadya puppy’d have more stamina than this girl!”
Dominic winked at Ben, remarking to Karay as they strolled past her, “Good morning, marm. If you sit there all day you’ll miss the fair at Veron. I’m told ‘tis a good one!”
Both boys ducked as the girl splashed stream water at them. “Wait for me, you villains!” She had to run to catch up with them.
Veron was classed as a town, albeit a rather small one. It sat atop a gently sloping hill, with a meandering path leading up to its gates. Veron must once have been a fortress, for it was enclosed by stone walls, ancient but thick and solid. The fair was little more than a weekend market held once each month from a Friday midday to a Monday late noon.
Ben and his friends arrived early, taking their place behind a line of country folk waiting to be allowed through the town gates by the wall guards. They shuffled along with the motley crowd, their eyes roving with interest over the colourful scene. Carts piled high with fruit, vegetables and rural produce jostled behind rustic smocked drovers herding cattle, sheep, goats and horses. Wagons bearing disassembled stalls of painted wood and dyed canvas trundled uphill, hauled and pushed by entire families. Ducks and geese flapped between the wheels, honking and quacking, adding to the noisy cavalcade as the fairgoers, chiding youngsters and discussing prospects, all shuffled forward, eager to be inside the gates.
As they got closer to the entrance, Ned sent a thought to Ben. “Look, people are having to pay a toll to get in.”
Ben turned to Karay and Dominic. “Looks like it’s been a waste of time coming here. We’ve got to pay the guards to get in. I don’t have any moneydo either of you?”
Dominic’s face fell. “I didn’t know you had to pay admission. I haven’t got a single centime on me!”
Karay shook her head, stifling a scornful giggle. “What a pair of bumpkins! Money, huh! Who needs money to get past those gates? Leave this to me. You two just hang about and look as you do now, a real pair of yokels. I’ll do all the talking.”
Ben shrugged. “As you say, marm, we’ll follow the leader!”
The two wall guards were only ordinary town watchmen, each sporting a crested armband and a helmet that had seen better days. They carried long, antiquated pikes and barred the gates after each entrant in an overblown manner of importance.
Ben communicated an uneasy thought to his dog. “I hope she knows what she’s doingthat’s a long hill to be kicked down.”
The black Labrador nuzzled his hand. “Trust Karay, m’boy, she looks as if she’s done this before a few times!”
As the four of them approached, both guards lowered their pikes, barring the entrance. The bigger of the two held out his hand. “Two centimes each, an’ one for the dog. That’s, er …”
“Seven centimes,” the smaller guard said.
Karay looked puzzled. She directed her attention to the big guard, letting her hand rest on his arm. “But, Captain, didn’t our mother or father pay you?”
Being addressed as captain made the guard puff out his chest. He gazed down officiously into the pretty girl’s eyes. “I don’t know your parents, miss, and no one’s paid me extra to allow others in today!”
Karay fluttered her eyes and grasped the guard’s arm. “Oh, Captain, you surely must know them. Emile and Agnes? Our family has the pancake and honey stall. They left home hours before we did.”
The guard saw Karay’s lip quiver. He patted her hand gently. “Well, they mustn’t have arrived yet, miss. You an’ your brothers stand to one side now an’ wait for them, eh.”
Ben was amazed to see a tear spring unbidden to the girl’s eye. Karay was clinging to the guard’s arm now, gazing imploringly up at him, her voice all atremble. “Oh please, Captain, you must let us in. If our parents are not there, our stall space will be taken by someone else. I think the wheel must have come off the cart again. Father will be fixing itthey’ll be along any minute now, expecting to find us watching their stall space. We’re a poor family, Captain, but we’re honest. I’ll bring the money straight out to you, as soon as the stall is set up and we’re selling our wares.”
The guard began to soften. He murmured to his partner. “What d’you think?”