The birds didn’t distract the old woman for long, but it was long enough for Rissa to grab the chair. Now all she needed to do was get under the window.

Her first step towards the window was fine, but she couldn’t take a second. When Rissa looked at the old woman, she was staring at Rissa again. “Put down the chair, girl, and get in the cage.”

Rissa unwillingly put the chair down, but she didn’t give up. Rissa repeated the same trick to escape being stuck in the cage; the badger was the next animal she freed. The woman had to concentrate on the badger while she stuck it back in the cage; Rissa used the time to free the goat.

The goat made things easier, because it decided it wanted to headbutt the woman. Rissa had just grabbed the chair again when the door to the hut was flung open from the outside.

“MIM!” An older man - probably the same age as the woman - shouted from the doorway. He had the same salt-and-pepper gray hair as the woman, though his hair seemed to have been a darker color when he was younger. He wore a knee-length robe over his clothing; Rissa could see that his pants were tucked into boots below the robe.

The old lady took on a sickeningly sweet smile for a moment. “Emrys, this is a bad time. Do you have to intrude now?”

“I wake up from a nap to find out you’ve kidnapped not only my familiar but also my apprentice? Yes, I’m afraid it has to be now.” Emrys turned his gaze from Mim to Rissa. “Well, come on. We don’t have all day.”

Rissa let go of the chair. She wasn’t certain she wanted to get near anyone right this moment, but at least the man hadn’t tried to cage her, and going out the door would be easier.

As she turned towards the door, the goat’s rear knocked the chair into the fire and dislodged the pot hung above it. The pot emptied directly onto the fire, putting it out and spreading nasty-smelling steam.

Rissa chuckled as she hurried over to Emrys; he let her past, blocking the door against Mim, then slamming it behind the two of them.

“Hurry, Ari. The blocked door won’t hold her for long. Let’s get you home.” Emrys ran quickly for a man of his apparent age; Rissa had to hurry to keep up. As they passed the gate, the owl she’d released from a cage earlier fluttered in front of Emrys and started leading the pair of them forward.

Well, it seemed to be leading Emrys; Rissa was simply following him.

Behind them, a raven settled on the pinkish-purple gate and watched the owl and the two humans hurry away. None of them saw it.

It wasn’t long before Emrys slowed to a walk. “Ari, what were you doing there of all places?”

Rissa wasn’t sure if she was supposed to know the man or not; he seemed to know her name and called her his apprentice, so she supposed she must. “I - Kay sent me to pick apples, but I didn’t find any apple trees and I got lost. Wait, my apples!”

Rissa slowed to a stop and scolded herself. She’d left the basket back at Mim’s. She couldn’t remember if she’d set it down before she entered the hut or not, but either way it was gone.

“Those apples?” Emrys pointed next to her feet; when Rissa looked down, there was a basket full of apples next to her. It looked like it might be the same basket; not only that, she could see a corner of the pamphlet she’d stuck in the basket sticking up along one side.

How had it gotten here? She was sure she hadn’t walked up to it or been carrying it when she was running around the cottage opening cages. “Yes?”

“You left it next to the gate. Be more careful next time. Let’s get you home; you seem tired. It’s been a while since I visited Ector anyway. Though I’m sure he’d prefer it to be longer.” Rissa thought she saw Emrys wink at her.

“Ari! Aaaaarriiiiii!” Kay’s voice carried through the forest as Emrys led Rissa back where she’d entered from.

“Is that someone you know?” Emrys asked Rissa. At her nod, he changed direction slightly to follow the voice and Rissa continued to follow him, carrying her basket.

When they were closer, Rissa called back, “Kay! I’m over here!”

“Ari!” Moments later, Kay rounded a tree and saw them. “You’re safe! And… who’s that?”

Emrys chuckled. “I’m Emrys; I know your father, so I thought I’d bring Ari back when I found her in the woods. Why don’t we head inside? I’d like to talk to your father anyway.”

Kay glanced at Ari, back at Emrys, then back at Ari. “You found apples?” He sounded like he didn’t believe it.

“Yes, I did. You sent me into the forest for apples, so I found apples.” Rissa stared at Kay. Had his request been a prank?

“Yes, there are apples in the forest. Now shoo, shoo, both of you. Get on inside.” As Emrys spoke, they passed the last of the trees and Rissa could see what lay before them.

It was huge. Rissa’s first thought was that it was a mansion, but she quickly noticed the small details that said it was something else; there was a short dirt berm with a fence on it surrounding a grassy area before the “house”. Each of the corners of the building had a tower that was higher than the palisade, and there was a fifth larger tower at the center of the building.

It wasn’t a mansion; it was a castle.

While she stood there in shock, Kay raced ahead of her. Emrys waited on her with an amused smile. “Go on ahead. I’m sure Kay is letting everyone know you’re home.”

Why was she shocked? This was a story, not reality. She was probably a poor kitchen girl or something; that would explain why she’d been sent off to get apples. She paced towards the building.

Rissa found herself sneaking through a darkened corridor. She had a vague memory of walking into the castle, having dinner, and going to bed; there’d been no kitchen work. Once she’d “gone to bed,” she slipped back into her clothes and snuck to a room next to Ector’s. They didn’t connect, but it was possible to hear what was said, and she wanted to know.

Why did it - of course. It must be story-relevant.

Rissa put her ear to the wall and listened.

“Why are you here, Emrys? I accepted your bastard and have been treating her as my own, but I expected you to take some responsibility. This is only the second time you’ve visited since you left her here.” Even though she hadn’t seen him, Rissa knew that was Ector. Who could he be talking about?

No, it had to be Ari. It was a story, after all. A bastard, left with another family? Or not a bastard at all, simply a hidden child? Who was Emrys, then?

And more importantly, who was Ari? What part was she playing?

“I’ve been too busy trying to hold what I could of the kingdom together, Ector, you know that. Raiders from one direction, bandits in another, a kingdom or two slicing off small pieces … it’s been a bad time for everyone. That’s why I left Ari here. She’s safe here, or she should have been. Do you know where I found her today?”

“Out in the courtyard, or maybe just past the gate? She likes the shade.”

Emrys chuckled. It sounded surprisingly cheerful. “In Madam Mim’s cottage. She was making a right mess of the place, too; I think she’d’ve been able to get out even if I hadn’t found her. Mim was never very good with animals, and I think the goat was rather ticked with her.

“Mim?” Ector sounded shocked. “But that’s deep in the forest. No one goes there.”

“Kay sent her to pick apples, and the first apples she found were near Mim’s cottage as best I can tell. She was completely lost; I had to lead her back here.”

Ector sighed. “Kay’s almost old enough; just a couple of months to his birthday. There’s a celebration in London for the New Year right after his birthday, with a tournament. I thought I’d take him there then. He’ll need the experience if he’s to be a knight. I’d thought of making Ari his squire; he’ll need one, and she’s the right age to start learning the sword.”

There was a pause before Emrys spoke. “Go ahead. I’ll tutor her as well, try to get her a better understanding of what’s going on than that one-sided, pompous letter she was reading. I can teach Kay, too, if you want.”

“No no no, that’s fine. I can handle Kay. I want him to concentrate on fighting, not get involved in all that…” Ector trailed off.

Rissa didn’t remember leaving the hidden spot, but that was all she remembered of the conversation later.

She also remembered a vague training montage. She learned to care for weapons and armor from Kay, while Emrys taught her about the local area. They’d do everything from walking in the forest, with Emrys pointing out the useful plants and animals, to sitting down and memorizing the names and coats of arms of the local nobles, along with their alliances and long-standing enmities.

They avoided the part of the forest that held Madam Mim, but Rissa sometimes saw a raven. When she pointed it out to Emrys, he would always calmly move on to another part of the forest. It rarely followed them back to the keep.

When she got tired, Emrys would tell stories. They all seemed to either have a moral or to tell something about the history and current events she was supposed to be learning, but they were a lot more fun.

She didn’t learn how to fight. She remembered bugging them all about it; if she was to be a squire, she needed to at least start learning! Ector was insistent, though; Kay would teach her once he was knighted, and Ector wouldn’t knight him before his birthday. It wasn’t long to wait, but it felt like a long time.

The trip to London was cold. It turned out that there were wolves in the forest, but they were easily driven off by Ector and Kay. It was a good thing Ector had a house in London; Rissa heard a lot of complaining about high inn prices and low inn availability.

More hands. They’d gotten more common again. Most of the recent ones were drunk as well as proud and greedy. Serenity was beginning to wonder if he was actually supposed to choose one of them based on the almost nonexistent information he got when another hand touched him.

This hand was different. It touched only a pair of fingers to his pommel instead of wrapping around his hilt, and the dominant feelings it gave were worry and hope. Serenity decided not to shock it immediately; it was different.

Surely different was good?

“She’s coming, Caliburn. You only need to wait a little longer. I’d put it off longer if I could, but that’s no longer possible. We need a new High King before the tournament starts, or Artura will be fighting someone acknowledged as High King. I’ve convinced the necessary people to hold the opening here, with people attempting to pull the sword. Only after no one succeeds will the tournament start. So hold out until you feel her hand.”

High King?

Artura?

Caliburn?

“Pull the Sword”?

Had he really been cast as the sword Excalibur in The Sword in the Stone?

In that case, who was talking to him? If he remembered the story correctly, Merlin set everything up … so this had to be Merlin.