Mad Men (Part 13)

[Continued from here]

The afternoon was shaping up to be much like the morning, until Stan pulled his horse to a halt and called out.

“Do you hear that?”

They paused. Somewhere ahead of them on the road, they could hear other voices, and horses hooves getting closer.

“People!” Quinton yelped in delight. “Let’s go and meet the people. This quest gets jollier the more people we meet.”

Beranwen wasn’t so sure, but Quinton was already urging his horse forwards, so she let him lead the way around the next bend. There ahead of them were two men, one a-horse and one kneeling in the dirt, running his fingers across a soft patch of moss growing up the side of a large oak.

Several things happened at once. The man on his horse saw them and called out ‘Halt, travellers.’ Quinton gave a cry of excitement and leapt from his horse, calling ‘Derryl!’ And Stan took one look at the two horses, and cried ‘My legs!’

Suddenly, there was movement. The kneeling man had turned at the noise, to find Quinton running towards him. He grinned with pleasure, and the two men embraced warmly. The man on his horse, who was now clearly Derryl’s advisor, had half drawn a narrow-bladed sword from the battered sheath that hung at his waist, but was sliding it home again. And Beranwen was hanging onto the reins of her horse, trying to stop Stan running straight at the two young lords.

“My legs. They’ve got my legs.”

“Stan, please. Stay here. Just stay here!”

“Lord Quinton.” The advisor swung himself easily from his steed and approached. “And the young lady back there must be your new advisor. Master…?”

“Beranwen.” She called, finally calming Stan enough to let go of the reins. “Beranwen Tuple.” She tried to collect her thoughts, and walked over to Derryl’s advisor, hand outstretched. He grasped it, and they shook.

“A pleasure, Master Beranwen. I am Lucan. But I was not aware lord Quinton would be questing today as well.”

“He announced it over supper yesterday evening.” Beranwen replied, glossing over the reasons he had given for the quest, and hoping Quinton wouldn’t mention them himself.

“They I must congratulate you on being so well prepared with so little notice. Ah… you friend appeared to be somewhat troubled, Master Beranwen.”

Beranwen turned. Behind her, Stan was trying to undo the straps that held him in the saddle, and was slowly slipped down the side of the horse.

“Oh. Excuse me Master Lucan. I’ll just have to see to him.” With a quick bow, she ran to Stan’s aid.

“Look, Master Lucan.” Lord Derryl suddenly piped up. “That man has no legs. Do you think the legs we have belong to him?”

“Very observant, lord Derryl. Indeed, he has no legs. Good sir, are these perhaps your legs that you seem so eager to reach?”

Stan had, with Beranwen’s help, made it to the ground, and was pulling himself along with his arms.

“They are! They’re my legs. Thank you for finding them. My legs!”

“Then we had best reunite you with them.” Master Lucan pulled the pair of legs from his saddle where they had been strung, and carried them over to Stan.

There was too much mud caked to the bottom of Stan’s torso for the legs to be attached straight away. Quinton, without a thought for the fine clothes he wore, rushed in to help clean the dirt and leaves from the cogs visible below Stan’s shirt. While they worked, Beranwen examined the top of the legs that Master Lucan was holding.

“This is very fine work.” She muttered, spinning one cog slowly where it protruded from a metal plate. “I guess this slots into that gap on the underside of his torso… but the oil tube is broken. We’ll have to find something to secure it with.”

“Have you been travelling with this man long, Master Beranwen?” Lucan asked.

“We found him this morning. He hadn’t been without his legs for very long – you must have passed quite close by to him, to have found them. I’m surprised we haven’t run into each other sooner.”

“We were some way east of here, and we found them half way up a tree. It seems some sort of wild cat had tried to make a meal of them – there are tooth marks in one of the legs. The metal inside seems to have put them off,  luckily.”

[Part 14]