Victory Keep: Chapter 15

Fipp spent a few moments wondering whether or not to take John's advice and wander around the market stalls, fearful as he was of attracting attention.  Then he noticed that he was getting a lot of funny looks already, and tried to imagine himself from someone else's point of view.  A young man on a horse, just waiting outside someone's cottage, must have looked peculiar; so he took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the reins and trotted out into the road, trying to behave as much like a horse from the waist down as possible.

Most people were travelling on foot, crowding round the market stalls or trying to push their way past each other as they walked down the road, but there were plenty on horseback as well.  Fipp saw that the horses all stared blankly ahead, many of them blinkered, not bothering to snort or toss their manes or do anything at all.  He began to feel a little better; at least Chestnut, with his head made from stuffed old clothing, was not much more passive than his fellows here in the town.  Fipp noticed as well that the horses were not fouling these busy streets as much as they did the narrow, dusty roads away from the hustle and bustle.  Perhaps, he thought, they had some sense of propriety after all.

Fipp trotted on a little way, then realised he was leaving Madam Fay's cottage behind, and so turned back.  He thought he would look strange if anyone caught him to-ing and fro-ing like that, so he slowed his pace, and began to look round at the market stalls.  He saw nothing unexpected: fruit and vegetables; meat and fish; some things that he could not identify, but he thought nothing of them.  In the grounds of Victory Keep, the humans used all kinds of tools that he did not care to wonder about.  He thought of taking a closer look at some of the wares, if only to appear occupied, but thought better of it when he remembered John's advice not to get too close.  Then something caught his eye: a man on horseback, close to one of the stalls and accepting goods as they were passed up to him.

The man was dark-haired, and on a brown horse, holding an apple to his nose and inhaling deeply.  Fipp's eyes dropped to the fellow's legs, as if by instinct, and he saw that this man was - just like himself - a centaur in disguise.  Granted, it was an excellent disguise - far better than Fipp's own.  The centaur was swishing his tail, as Katrina had advised that Fipp should do, and occasionally moving his hooves as though beginning to get impatient.  The human half of the centaur seemed totally separate from this, only sometimes pulling on the reins, or glancing down at the horse's head to speak to it.  Astonished and intrigued, Fipp made his way towards the centaur, trying to listen to what he was saying to the fruit seller.  As it turned out, this was not difficult.  His voice was loud and clear and, despite the chatter of the crowd, it carried.

'Come now, sir,' the centaur was saying.  'These apples will be rotten before the day is out.  Have you nothing better?'

Fipp could hear the anger in the stallholder's reply, and he saw it on his face, though he could not catch the words.

'Ah well, this is what comes of trying to buy apples out of season,' said the centaur.  'It isn't your fault, good man - I'm sure you have preserved them as well as you were able.  Still, I don't think I'll have any, thank you very much.  Now then, what can one buy around here that's decent?  Come along, Strider, there's a good fellow.'

He stepped away from the market stall and turned round with all the clumsiness of a horse, making all the correct movements with the reins, Fipp was sure.  His own reins were hanging limp in his hands as he stared with such an expression of amazement that it caught the other centaur's attention at once.  He looked away as the stranger caught his eye, and felt his gaze slide down to his own crude horse's head.

'Good day, young sir,' the other centaur said, as he trotted past Fipp with an expression of amusement on his face.  It was a handsome face, Fipp thought, somewhere between youth and middle age.  He thought of all Katrina's talk about the centaur who disguised himself in this way, and felt a sudden urge to turn round and go after the stranger, and to ask him whether he knew Xorie.

'Phillip!'

It was the voice, not the name, the made Fipp turn.  He saw Katrina trying to push her way through the crowd, red-faced and disgruntled.  He walked towards her.

'How did it go?' he asked, when they met.

'It was stupid,' said Katrina, clambering onto Fipp's back, with a little help from him, and attracting a few fleeting looks.  'She said she wouldn't teach me magic.'

'Did she say anything else?'

'Oh… a couple of things.'

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and Fipp turned to make his way back towards Victory Keep.  As he did so, the other centaur caught his eye again, this time wearing a look of great interest as his eyes travelled from Fipp to Katrina and back again.  Fipp began walking, hoping that Katrina would not notice the stranger looking at them, but she did.

'Who's that?' she asked.  'Why is he staring at us?'

'It doesn't matter,' said Fipp.  'He's no one, I'm sure.  He's probably just seen through the disguise and thinks I look ridiculous, just as I said would happen.'

'Or he could be an enemy of the King's who wants to kidnap me.'

'He probably isn't, Trina.  Anyway, he's not going to kidnap you with all these people around, is he?  Just ignore him.'

He wished she would stop looking at the centaur.  If she kept her eyes on him, surely she would spot his disguise, and then she was likely to want to talk to him.  Perhaps she would want to ask the same question that had come to Fipp's mind: did this centaur know Xorie?  It might not have been such a terrible thing for them to get involved with him, but then again it might have led to something - to anything - when all Fipp wanted to do was get himself and Katrina home.

As he began to walk, neither centaur made any attempt to speak to the other, and the older one even turned away to look at a display of fish.  Even as Fipp rounded the corner that led back to John Smith's workshop, he heard the other centaur's clear, rich voice carrying clean across the air: 'Now then, good sir, did you catch these yourself?'

---

Prince Arthur stood in a corridor on a high floor of the castle, staring at the grounds below him.  He had taken to doing this a lot lately, Thomas realised, when he happened upon the young prince.  He hesitated a moment, then decided to approach.

'Are you quite all right, Your Highness?' he asked.  'Is there anything I can do for you?'

Arthur span round, gave Thomas a fleeting look and then turned his attention back to the window.

'That centaur has been out all morning,' he said.  'And so has Lady Katrina.  I am quite sure they have gone off somewhere together.  It isn't right.  She should not be leaving the palace grounds, and certainly not with him.'

'Quite so, Your Highness,' said Thomas.

'I suppose they intend coming back,' said Arthur.

'Oh, I should imagine so, Your Highness.  They are only children, after all.'

'That's true enough.  Well, Thomas, how go the preparations for Prince Henry's visit?'

'Perfectly, Highness,' said Thomas.  'There can be no question of the Prince being impressed by your father's palace.'

'And what about my sister?  Will she impress him?'

'I have no doubt that His Highness will be captivated by Her Highness's beauty, Your Highness.'

'My sister is not beautiful,' said Arthur, still staring through the window all the time he spoke.  'But she must make the Prince believe that she is.  Girls can do that, can't they?  If they act as though they are beautiful, then people believe they are beautiful.  I understand that my mother is teaching Victoria how to win hearts.'

'I believe Her Majesty is preparing the Princess for her suitor's arrival, Your Highness.'

'Well then, we shall just have to wait and see what happens.  It should be fine, as long as the centaur is kept out of sight, and Katrina behaves her- good heavens!  Thomas!'  Arthur stepped back from the window, pointed to something on the ground below and said, in tones of utter incredulity, 'Do you see that?'

Thomas looked, and saw Fipp and Katrina just inside the palace gates, returning from their trip into town.  Katrina was still on Fipp's back, but as they watched she dismounted clumsily, and would have fallen if Fipp had not caught her.

'What a ridiculous disguise,' said Thomas.  'He can't think that's going to fool anyone.'

'The audacity of it!' said Arthur.  'And what on earth does Katrina think she is doing, riding around on that beast as though she were a common peasant?  If she wants to ride out in public, she goes on a royal horse with an armed guard!  I'll just see about this.'

With that, Arthur turned and swept away down the corridor.  Thomas took a step closer to the window, and watched as Fipp and Katrina removed the disguise, the former working with great vigour and looking relieved.

---

Two floors above Thomas, Edgar and the King were looking down at the same scene.

'Hilarious, isn't it?' said the King.

'I don't know, Your Majesty,' said Edgar.  'I hope they didn't run into any trouble.'

'I shall ask Katrina when I see her.  In fact, you can go down and send for her.  I feel I must remind her of how she is expected to behave during Prince Henry's stay here.  The preparations are still going smoothly, I am sure.'

'They are indeed, Your Majesty.'

'I know I can trust you, Edgar,' said the King.  'Unlike some people.  I hope you're keeping an eye on that poisonous little man I demoted not so long ago.'

'Thomas has been behaving impeccably, Your Majesty.'

'Good,' said the King.  'Funny, isn't it?  So often we seem to be standing here, looking down at the young people going about their business all over the palace grounds.  It doesn't seem so long ago that I was out there doing things myself, rather than standing up here watching them.'

'Come now, Your Majesty is young yet,' said Edgar.

'Flatterer,' said the King, smiling.  'I thought better of you, Edgar.  Look, Katrina is about to come inside - go down and intercept her, will you?  If you're not quick about it, Lady Malcolm will catch her first, and probably subject the poor child to some misery for leaving the grounds.  After I have finished with Katrina, I wish to see my son and then my daughter.  Think you can arrange that, old chap?'

'Certainly, Your Majesty,' said Edgar, bowing before he turned and went from the room.

---

'I wish you'd be careful with it,' said Katrina, not being very careful herself as she snatched the torn left leg from Fipp's grasp.  'We might need this disguise again some day.'

'No we jolly well won't!' he said.

'Oh, don't be grumpy - it went much better than you expected,' said Katrina, as she arranged the whole disguise in her arms as carefully as she could.  'You'll be keeping those clothes, won't you, for the winter?'

'Yes, if I may.'

'Of course you may.  At least if you do anything to them I can easily find new ones - it isn't like making a horse's head or a pair of man legs.  Now, I'm taking the rest of this stuff inside to keep it safe.'

She began making her way towards the castle, moments before Edgar began making his way downstairs to fetch her, while Fipp turned in the direction of the stables and his hut.  Katrina would have got inside long before Edgar found her, and perhaps eluded him, had it not been for Arthur meeting her in the doorway.

'Centaur!'  He stopped Fipp with a word, and Katrina with a firm hand on her shoulder.  'Come here.'

Fipp obeyed.

'Take your hand off me, Arthur,' said Katrina.

'That's Your Highness to you, My Lady,' said Arthur.  'Now, I want a word with you both.  All this messing about together was all right when you were children, but you are not going to be a child for much longer, Katrina, and it has got to stop.  You need to keep your place inside the castle, and centaur, you need to keep to your work and not trouble us and our servants.'

'His name is Fipp,' said Katrina.

'I do not care what its name is.  I am heir to the throne, Katrina - I need hardly trouble myself with beasts.'

'I'm not going to stop playing with him,' said Katrina.  'You can't stop me.  No one can stop me - not even the King, and anyway he doesn't want to, because he appointed Fipp my champion himself.  Fipp, aren't you going to say anything?'

'What can I say?' asked Fipp, knowing that he could never change the Prince' mind, and that Katrina would do as she pleased anyway.

'The creature knows its place,' said Arthur.  'That is something, at least.'

'Don't call him things like that!'

'Things like what, Katrina?'

'Like beast and creature and things!  He is a centaur, called Fipp, and he is a he!'

'You shouldn't talk to me like that,' said Arthur.  'You aren't as important as you think you are, you know.  The only reason you're anything is because my father took you in.'

'How dare you?' cried Katrina, her face reddening and her fists balling at her sides.  'You're just… you're just… a horrible snob!  I hate you!'

'I should have you punished for talking to me like that.'

'I'd like to see you try!  What are you going to do - tell Lady Malcolm?  Tell her, then!  I don't care!  I hate her, and I hate you!'

So saying, Katrina kicked Arthur in the shin as hard as he could.  He stumbled, and cried out in pain.

'Baby,' said Katrina.  'I hardly touched you.  Do you want to see what it's like when I really try and hurt someone?'

She took a step towards him, fists raised, but found herself restrained by a strong hand on each of her wrists.

'Trina,' said Fipp, struggling to hold her as she flailed her hands about.  'Please don't.'

'Insolent creature!' said Arthur.  'How dare you address her so?'

It was at this point that Edgar arrived in the doorway.  Taking in the scene at a glance, he positioned himself with surprising speed between Arthur and Katrina.

'Now then,' he said, 'what's going on here?  No, don't tell me - it's none of my business, besides which, I have far too many other things to worry about.  Katrina, the King wishes to see you, and Your Highness, he wishes to see you afterwards.'

'The King wishes to see me before you, Arthur!' said Katrina.  She was still being held by Fipp, but no longer resisting him.  'That's because he loves me more, and he thinks you're a slimy little maggot!'

'My Lady, really!' said Edgar.  Then he turned to Arthur.  'Your father also wishes to see your sister after you, Highness.  Please will you tell her?'

'Edgar!' said Arthur.  'Your impertinence astounds me!'

'I am sorry, Your Highness, but I am asking you please to save me the walk,' said Edgar.  'I am very old, and very tired.  Besides, I wish to speak to Fipp alone.'

Arthur gave him a fleeting look of disdain, then turned and went back into the castle with an air of great dignity.  Edgar gave him a few moments, then turned to Katrina and said, 'The King is waiting for you in the study, My Lady.'

Fipp finally let go of Katrina's wrists and she, red-faced and frowning, stalked through the door after the Prince.  Edgar watched her go, then turned to Fipp and said, 'She looked very angry.  No trouble in the town, I hope.'

'She didn't find exactly what she was looking for,' said Fipp, 'but it was all right.  At least she got to see me make a fool of myself in that stupid disguise, just like she wanted.'

'Didn't people fall for it?'

'Well, actually, I think most of them did.  A blacksmith saw through it, but that hardly matters - I thought it would be much worse.'

'A blacksmith knows horses, of course,' said Edgar.  'It sounds to me like a remarkable success.'

'There was another centaur there,' said Fipp.  He was not sure what made him say it, but he supposed that if he was going to tell somebody, of course it had to be Edgar.  'He was in the same sort of disguise.'

'Goodness, was he really?' said Edgar.  'What an extraordinary coincidence.  Or perhaps it is more common than we imagine.'

'Or perhaps he was the centaur who gave Trina the idea,' said Fipp, 'via my mother.  If he was, he must have known her.  I thought about asking him, but… well, with Trina there, I didn't want to get into anything.'

'I can understand that,' said Edgar.  'But how are you these days, Fipp?  I haven't been able to come and see you as often as I'd like.  You must miss your mother.'

'I do,' said Fipp, 'but the stable hands are good to me, and Sarah.'

'And the Lady Katrina, of course.'

'Yes, of course.  She might have made me go to the town looking completely stupid, but… well, I wouldn't be without her.'

'Wouldn't you?' asked Edgar.  'What if your mother returned and said she'd found a nice place for you both to live?  What would you do then?'

Fipp considered this for a moment.  Then he said, 'I don't know.'

'Oh dear,' said Edgar.  'Life never is easy, is it?  I do want you to be happy, Fipp, because if ever you're not, it'll be my fault, as I was the one who brought you here.  I wonder what your life would have been otherwise.  You and your mother were just… well, standing in a field.  I don't know whether she had any plans for you.'

'Since she agreed to come here,' said Fipp, 'I suppose she didn't.  It did used to irritate me, you know, when she tried to tell me not to be too much like humans or too much like horses.  She brought me up among them, so what did she expect?  I'm almost grown now - it's much too late for her to try and raise me among my own kind.'

'Your mother is proud,' said Edgar, 'and she loves you, and when she followed me here she was thinking only of your safety.  I am sure that now, she's trying very hard to find the best place in the world for you.  But what if she finds it?  You will have a choice to make.'

'Well,' said Fipp, 'that might be a long way off yet.  There are other things to worry about first, like this Prince Henry coming to meet the Princess.  What should I do while he's here, Edgar?  Just stay out of sight?'

'We'll have to wait and see,' said Edgar.  'The Prince may like to meet a centaur.  Heir to a kingdom though he is, he may not be of our Prince Arthur's way of thinking.'