A Good Beginning
Dani and Bart stood on either side of Edward, who sat in his newly designed wheeled chair. It was morning, and they were just outside the city gates, looking east along the road they had all travelled along when they had left the city several days earlier, and over the hills that rolled away towards Pirainia.
Gambon, who had pushed Edward’s chair from the castle, and on the way named it a ‘wheelchair’, stood behind it, holding its handles. Bart held the reins of Midnight, a gift from Edward, and Dani held the reins of another, smaller horse. She was slightly nervous about riding, but she knew that Bart would help her.
‘I need to make a fresh start with Pirainia,’ said Edward, ‘and to create a peace with them that is not based on threats or fear. I hope that when you two get there, you can help me.’
‘Of course,’ said Bart.
‘You know, Edward,’ said Dani. ‘I thought you would have been completely devastated by your injuries. The old Prince Edward wouldn’t have bounced back like this.’
Edward looked at his legs. ‘I’m not going to be doing much bouncing. It’s no fun being like this, but . . . well, I lost a lot, but I learnt a bit, too.’
‘A few days ago the thought of you ruling the kingdom would have filled me with horror,’ said Dani. ‘But now I think you’re going to be all right. Anyway, if you do anything bad Gambon will knock you on the head. Won’t you, Gambon?’
‘Definitely,’ said Gambon, and then suddenly looked awkward. ‘I mean, no, your Prince, I mean your Majestyness, I mean . . . um . . . what do I mean?’
The others laughed.
‘It’s all right, Gambon,’ said Edward. ‘If I ever start acting like I used to, you have my permission to knock me on the head.’
‘Goodbye, Edward,’ said Dani, and hugged him. Then she hugged Gambon, and Bart gave Edward a hug.
‘Wait,’ said Edward as they were about to mount the horses. ‘I . . . I want to thank you. Both of you. I mean, I learnt from you both. I leant how I wanted to live.’
As Edward watched Bart and Dani ride down the hill and away from the city, he wondered what he would have done on the castle roof if they had not appeared when they had. Would he have accepted Randling’s offer and joined him? Or would he have had the strength to refuse? He didn’t know. But when he had seen Bart and Dani up there, he had known that he could not betray them again.
He remembered with shame how, on the cliff, he had tried to bring himself to kill them both. At the time, he had thought that the reason he couldn’t do it was because he was weak, but now he wondered if perhaps the reason was that there was a part of him that was good. If there was, he decided, he would try to grow that part as big as it could get.
Down the hill, a warthog dashed out of the forest. His friends leapt off their horses and hugged it.
Edward smiled. It was time to go. He knew that he would miss them terribly, but he had work to do, and he wanted to make sure that he had time at the end of the day to practise drawing with his left hand. He still felt clumsy, but he had promised himself that he would work hard and improve.
‘Let’s get back to the castle, Gambon.’
Below him, Dani and Bart, once siblings, now friends, gave Flango another pat and remounted. Bart shut his eyes, a look of concentration on his face, and then both horses started to walk forward.
Bart opened his eyes and smiled. ‘There we go,’ he said.
Dani remembered the rush of energy she had felt when she had first escaped the city and walked down this road a few days ago. Back then it had been tempered by her worry about Bart, but now she was truly happy. They were together and free. She only needed one more thing to make it perfect.
She looked at Bart. ‘Will you do something for me?’
‘Well, if you add everything up, I think I still owe you, so yes,’ replied Bart. ‘What?’
‘Will you tell me a story?’
Bart smiled. ‘Sure.’
And so, as they rode away to discover more of the world with a warthog trotting beside them, he began his tale.
‘Once upon a time . . .’