Battle of the Sun by Winterson Jeanette

Author:Winterson, Jeanette [Winterson, Jeanette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2009-12-05T05:00:00+00:00

THE KNIGHT SUMMONED

Jack and Silver could see his helmet. They could see his breast plate, his greaves, his iron feet. By his side was a long sword in a blue scabbard, and his hands were protected by chain-mail gloves.

The Knight did not hurry, nor did he pause. Nor did he speak, nor give any sign. He turned the final stairs and stood before Jack and Silver. He did not speak.

Then he kneeled down, and raised his visor. His eyes were deep and black.

‘I am the Knight Summoned,’ he said. ‘My name is Sir Boris of the Golden Bell.’

‘I didn’t mean to summon you,’ said Silver. ‘I didn’t know the bell was still working.’

‘The bell is the bell,’ said the Knight, and Silver thought this very enigmatic and difficult to follow, but she did not feel she could argue with a knight in shining armour.

‘Now that you are summoned,’ said Silver, ‘what happens next?’

‘I shall travel with you,’ said the Knight, ‘as your Knight, waiting upon the hour when I shall know what is to be known.’

Silver realised that talking to the Knight might be a challenge. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and looked at Jack.

The Knight stood to his feet. He was about seven feet tall.

Jack was slowly coming to his senses. He had been through a great ordeal, and it had forced him into a kind of trance. When he had slept he had dreamed that his mother had come to him, begging him to free her. He had woken at the sound of the bell, with his hand clutching the hard stone of the bed.

‘We must leave this place,’ he said, and once again, as when he had spoken to the Dragon, he had a feeling of something else speaking through him – a kind of knowledge that he did not yet understand.

‘But where are we going?’ asked Silver. ‘I mean, we’ve got to sleep somewhere.’

Jack didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer. Yet he knew what was to be done. He went down the stairs, Silver and Max following him, and behind them all, the heavy steady iron tread of the Knight.

Jack showed the Knight the stone boys in the antechamber behind the laboratory, and asked Sir Boris if he could carry them into the courtyard and load them on to a cart. But Jack said nothing about his mother.

‘Jack, we can’t leave if we have nowhere to go,’ said Silver, who wondered if Jack was all right in the head.

‘We cannot stay if we have nowhere to stay,’ said Jack. ‘This house is no more.’

Silver was hungry, and had been hoping to find something to eat before they set off.

‘And I must find the Magus,’ said Jack.

As Jack spoke he heard a familiar voice.

‘How so, Jack Snap, how so?’

It was the Dragon.

The Dragon was looking in through the window of the laboratory. His eyes were ancient and wily, yet not cruel.

‘You have summoned the Knight,’ said the Dragon.

‘That was me,’ said Silver, ‘and it was a mistake.’

The Dragon regarded her.

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