Chapter Four
The prince and his two companions soon came across a man who had dismounted and was running his hand down the back leg of his horse. When he turned and straightened up, they could see he looked greatly distressed. He was a prosperous-looking man, well-dressed, with a neatly trimmed gray beard.
"Having problems with your horse, are you?" Sir Gwaine asked.
The man seemed relieved to see them and looked them over carefully. Arthur was not wearing anything visibly identifying him as the prince although Tinsley recognized him anyway from the description given him by both Stiles and King Rufus.
"Yes, he's pulled up lame and I must deliver a, uh, package before nightfall. It's urgent."
"Can we be of assistance?" Sir Gwaine asked, continuing to act as spokesman for the trio.
Tinsley hesitated, appearing to be torn by indecision. "You are knights of Camelot?"
"We are," Gwaine replied.
"Then I must trust you."
Arthur started to look a little impatient, wishing the rather pompous man would get to the point. His irritation communicated itself to his horse, causing the animal to move restlessly beneath him.
"My name is Pelham," the sorcerer lied. "I'm a traveling merchant. Two days ago, my ten-year-old granddaughter, Rowena, was kidnapped from our cart. As her ransom, the men responsible demanded a valuable object from me, a rare black opal. I was on my way to deliver it just now when my horse pulled up lame."
Gwaine looked a little skeptical, not quite buying the man's story.
"May we see the stone?" Arthur asked politely, speaking for the first time.
"Certainly." The man took an object wrapped in a soft cloth from his saddlebag. He held it in his left hand and carefully and rather dramatically peeled each corner down in turn. The stone was indeed a black opal shot through with blue and green fire. Gwaine, Lancelot, and Arthur regarded it in silence. The sight of it went a long way toward lending credibility to the man's story. Had a certain warlock been with them, he would have been alarmed at the magic radiating from the stone.
"It's a straight exchange?" Gwaine asked. "Your granddaughter for the stone?"
"Yes, I'm to row to a little island on the lake near here. You're familiar with it?"
All three men nodded. They had frequently fished and hunted in the area. "We know it, yes." Gwaine said. "Will your granddaughter be on the island?"
"They said she would," Tinsley said, looking appropriately worried. "They told me to make a circle of rocks and to leave the opal in the center of the circle, and once I had done that, Rowena would be released." He wrung his hands. "I know you probably think I'm foolish for believing anything they said, but what choice did I have?"
"How many men were there?"
"Three, that I saw," the sorcerer replied.
Only three? Gwaine and the prince exchanged evil grins. Lancelot, less enthusiastic, had an uneasy feeling. He trusted neither the man nor his story.
"Oh, do let us make the exchange for you," Gwaine said, making it sound a rare treat.
After working out a few more details, Gwaine held his hand out for the opal. The sorcerer, pretending not to see Gwaine's hand, leaned across the knight and handed the stone instead to Arthur.
He knows who he is, Lance thought, with a flash of insight. As Arthur's hand closed over the stone, the knight watched the sorcerer's face. For just a fraction of a second, Lancelot thought he saw a gleam of triumph. Trap sprung.
A short time later
There were several small boats pulled up on the tiny beach. After a quick glance over his shoulder, Lancelot tried to talk his two companions out of rowing to the island. He told them of his suspicions regarding the man's story, but he might as well have been talking to a stone wall. Arthur was in a reckless mood, and Gwaine had been born reckless. After they both told him he didn't have to come, the knight fell silent. Wonder if Merlin will come to our funerals, he thought glumly.
The monster that slept at the bottom of the lake was reptilian in appearance. Related to the dragon, it had slumbered undisturbed for a thousand years. Now, drawn by the spell cast on the black opal, it awoke. At first it moved sluggishly, rising up from the depths through the layers of water. As it neared the surface, its speed accelerated. Momentum carried it into the air. Though it was some distance from the boat, the three young men got a clear view of its huge serpentine body, teal blue in color except for its bluish purple underbelly. There were winged fins on its body and alongside its head, and the frilled dorsal fin extending down its back was a phosphorescent aquamarine. Its tail ended in an arrow-like point.
"I've gone swimming in this lake," Arthur said in disbelief. "There are no monsters here."
"Sure about that?" Gwaine asked. He swore an oath.
"I told you we couldn't trust him," Lancelot said. "I doubt he has a granddaughter either." He quickly looked to gauge their position on the lake. The boat was two-thirds of the way to the forested island. "We can't make it back to shore."
"That narrows our options," Arthur said sarcastically in lowered tones, not realizing that it was the opal in his possession that drew the beast, not any noise they might be making.
Though the lake monster moved in wide easy loops, its body arching through the water, it soon became apparent it was moving in their direction. And it would reach them long before they reached the island.
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Tinsley sneered. That was almost too easy. He still wasn't entirely sure how the prince had survived the basilisk attack. According to Stiles, Arthur himself remembered nothing. He supposed it would remain a mystery. The sorcerer set the knights' horses loose and mounted his own which was - surprise - not lame at all. He regretted only the loss of the very valuable black opal, but as bait for a trap, it had been a spectacular success.