 Tristan waited for Mallos on the other side of the edge before following him in the direction of the wall. He could still hear the guards at their backs and the sound of heavy boots slapping against the stonework as a particularly flat-footed guard made him way along the top of the wall. The prince glanced over at his grandfather and was surprised to see that the Spaniard was gesturing for him to start climbing. Celidon cast his fairy a puzzled look which was followed by a little whine of complaint. Tristan, holding back a laugh, ignored the cu-sith and began to scale the ragged stones towards the ramparts. The shepherd dogs, realising that something out of the ordinary (and very exciting) was going on stopped playing with one another and scampered up to the wall. Caefall, the more adventurous of the two put his front paws on the wall as if to follow. Woof Celidon said, perking his ears and wagging his tail. The dogs glanced at him, their tails wagging and followed the cu-sith eagerly as he led them along the base of the wall back in the direction of the castle.
Climbing the wall was easier than climbing the tower; the bricks didn’t curve and sat more haphazardly against each other to provide convenient hand holds. Nevertheless, by the time he reached the top of the wall he was starting to sweat and his limbs were feeling a little heavy. Tristan ran across the guard’s walkway, sparing a glance for the flat-footed guard approaching from his left, and lowered himself down onto the other side. Inevitably the climb down was even easier. Tristan jumped free of the wall a few feet off the ground and landed on the grass with bended knees. He didn’t have long to wait before Mallos appeared at the top of the wall and began to climb down to him. Tristan couldn’t understand why, if his grandfather was able to run around and scale walls, he had been confined to the infirmary for weeks. He was missing something.
“Just a minute,” the prince said resting a hand momentarily on his grandfather’s shoulder and leading him a little way along the base of the wall. They had not gone far when Caefall collided with Tristan’s chest in an enthusiastic greeting. Hodain and Celidon were following along behind at a more sedate pace. “Good boys,” Tristan laughed giving all three of them an affectionate scratch behind the ear. He cast an amused looking in Mallos’ direction before straightening up, taking a sharp right, and leading the way across the meadow towards the trees.
They followed one of the hunting trails which weaved its way through the trees towards the little brook they could hear trickling in the distance, until the trees thinned into a clearing. Two fully tacked horses with full saddle bags were tied to the low-hanging branch of a sturdy looking elm tree. They glanced up and snorted as they saw the faerie’s approach and Tristan hurried over to them offering each of them a sugar lump from the pouch on his belt.
“I miss not being able to hear them think,” Tristan confided rubbing the horses’ noses as they crunched up their treats, “and I miss being able to talk to the dogs. I sometimes feel like they’re the only people who make any sense.” He sighed a little as he untied Hal’s reins from the branch and led him out into an open space where it would be easier to mount. “What do you miss most about magic?”
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