The Wizard (12 page)

that I was on Alvit's steed, charging up a mountain of cloud; I felt Alvit's lips on mine, and learned that death is both bitter and sweet. Then that I was on the griffin's back and springing from it. My fingers slipped, and I fell into the sea. Garsecg swam with me, and Setr was in Garsecg's mouth. I knew the battle was coming, and knew Setr knew it too; but this was not the time to think on battles; we gloried in the waves, the scour of the tides, and the strength of the sea. I was a boy in a garden that stretched very far, searching for a girl who had hidden, and I searched trees and grottoes, looked behind bushes and in the waters of a hundred fountains. At last I turned and saw her behind me, and she was small and green and sweet, with eyes of laughing fire. I woke at her kiss, and saw Woddet sitting beside me. "You're better," I said. "I'm not the man I was." Woddet grinned. "But I think I will be in a month or so." I sat up (for I had seen that the sun was high) and rubbed my eyes, saying that I had slept long and had many dreams. As I spoke, I heard a shout, and Uns came running to me, and Yond, Valt, Heimir, Hela, the Knight of the Leopards, and many others until at last Gerda and Berthold came, he with a hand on her arm, and there was a great babble of talk. "What's this?" I said. "What news is there? Why didn't you wake me?" Berthold rumbled, "I wouldn't allow it." Gerda seconded him. "Let him sleep, I said." "Your friend said the same," Berthold continued, "the other knight." "Sir Leort?" "Me," Woddet told me; and Uns, "Sar Woddet." Gerda said, "You've slept three days," and I goggled at her. There was a lot of talk after that; I slipped out of the center of it, went to the stream, and bathed in icy water. When I left it, blue and shivering, I found Gylf waiting on the bank. "Scared," Gylf said, and kissed my hand as dogs kiss, and that was best of all. "I've failed," Woddet told me after the two of us rode out, saying we were going to hunt. "Have you ever failed?" "You came to kill me?" "No! To best you and bring you back to Sheerwall, but you would not yield." "I remember." A narrow cleft grew narrower still, and at last ended. We turned our mounts and began the ride back; and I said, "I remember you, and your sword over me." "I should've struck." Woddet turned his head and spat. "I'd rather we were friends." "So would I!" I smiled. "It's a long way from Sheerwall to these mountains." "It's longer through the Mountains of the Sun," Woddet said, "but I went there and fought the Osterlings." "And gained much gold by it." Woddet nodded. "As you say. We looted Khazneh. Want to hear the whole story?" "If you'll tell it." Woddet dropped his reins on his horse's neck and looked at the rocks above us and the steel-blue sky above the rocks. "Well, it was only a day or two after you left. The king asked Duke Marder for five knights and fifty men-at-arms to help against the Osterlings, loaned for two years or 'til victory. Everybody was mad to go. You know how that is." "I can imagine." "So His Grace got us together and said he knew all of us wanted it, but any knight who went would naturally want the other four to be men he could trust with his life. He was going into the Sun Room, he said. You know the Sun Room?" I searched my memory. "I'm sure I should." "It catches the light from the east, and there's a hanging with the sun on it. We were to stay where we were and talk it over. Each of us was to decide on one companion he'd want with him, and go into the Sun Room and tell the duke. Only he wasn't to tell anybody else who he'd chosen." I said, "Then I won't ask you." "Anyway, I decided." Woddet cleared his throat. "I was one of the last, ninth or tenthsomething like that. His Grace was sitting at the table with a parchment before him. He'd drawn devices on it for all of us. Mine was a menhir with a spear through it then. Maybe you remember." I nodded. "There was a gazehound couchant for Sir Swit, pards for Sir Nopel, and so forth. Everyone who was fit to go. His Grace had a cup of barley. When I came in, he told me he wouldn't have to put my seed where most of them were already, and he showed me his parchment. My menhir had four on it." Woddet paused, embarrassed. "None of the rest had more than two, and some didn't have any." "Had I been there, I would have named you myself. You have good reason to be proud." "Anyway, I namedthe knight I'd decided on, and Duke Marder put a grain down, and then he had two. What His Grace did afterward was take the knights who had the most grains. The king had asked fifty men-at-arms, but we brought seventy, counting bowmen. "The king had marched when we got to Thortower, but we hurried after him and came up in time for the Battle of Five Fates. We beat them there." A light had come into Woddet's eyes that told me more than any description. "Their horsemen were like wasps, but the longbows would drop a score every time they came. Those little horsebows don't have the reach of ours. We herded the Golden Caan and his elephants into the angle between two canals and charged him. He had the elephants out front, and they killed a score of us and took that many lances before they fell. I lost my sword and used my mace, and before you could saddle up . . ." I said, "The men you killed would have killed you." "I know." We rode in silence after that, until I said, "Does your wound pain you?" "Only if I move my arm." "Could you wield your sword with your left hand?" Woddet smiled, a little bitterly. "Not against you. Why do you ask?" "Against someone like Heimir? To the Angrborn, these are the Mountains of the Mice, and there are many men here as large as he. I just saw one." I had taken my bow from the bowcase as I spoke; I chose an arrow. "I told you I used my mace," Woddet said. "Yes." "I'd been practicing ever since I was a boy. Hacking away at a stancher of soft wood and so on. Sword, mace, ax, and war hammer. I suppose we all have." "It isn't easy for a boy to become a man." "I thought I'd become one a long time before that." I said nothing, scanning the cliff tops. "It was like practice. Blow after blow after blow. The head, the shoulder, the head again. Twice the sword arm. My mace had spikes on itlittle ones as long as your thumb. I don't have it anymore." He reined up. "I won't leave you here." "You can if you want," Woddet said. "I can take care of myself." I watched the cliffs; and when I did not speak, Woddet said, "That's when you understand what the practice means. That's when you grow up, and afterward you can't go back." It seemed to me that I heard Disiri's laughter echoing from rock to rock.

CHAPTER TWELVE BY COMBAT

Toug asked, "In here, Master Crol?" Crol nodded. "With His Lordship and Lady Idnn, and Sir Garvaon. I can't tell you what they're talking about, but there's no reason you shouldn't knock. If they don't want to hear your news, they'll tell you so." Pouk said, "Sir Able's th' one I wants." He seemed to be addressing an invisible being on Crol's shoulder. "Sir Able," Crol remarked as Toug knocked, "is the one we all want. I wish we had him." Svon opened the door. "There you are! We've got people looking for you. Where's the cat?" Behind him, Idnn seconded his question. "Where's Mani?" "The king's got him." Toug stepped inside and added, "This way, Pouk." "Aye, mate." Beel was at the head of a huge table, sitting with feet drawn up in a chair several times too large. "I'm glad to see you, Squire. Is that one of the king's slaves with you?" "I'm Pouk, sir." Pouk spoke for himself, touching his cap and looking to Beel's left. "I'm a slave, sir, right enough. Only I was Sir Able's man, an' 'ud like to be again, an' this lad says it might be done for me an' Ulfa." "He's blind, Your Lordship," Toug explained. "They blind their slaves, just the men." He had shut the door. Now he watched as Svon climbed agilely into one of the enormous chairs and bent to help Idnn climb into it as well. "Furniture for the Angrborn, you see," Beel remarked dryly. "They wish to make us feel small, presumably. We, on the other hand, are determined to show we are fully as large as theyin spirit." When Idnn was seated, Svon stepped onto the arm, and from it onto the arm of the neighboring chair. "I don't think they have much little furniture, Your Lordship," Toug ventured. "I mean, tables and chairs and things for us. They gave Mani and me a room with furniture like this, too. I'll tell the king they should have smaller things for us, and he might do it. He likes Mani." "He's safe?" Idnn asked. "I don't think the king will hurt him, and the others will be afraid to as long as the king likes him." Beel said, "Take a chair yourself, Squire." The seat was as high as Toug's chin, but he jumped and pulled himself up. Pouk climbed up as agilely as any monkey. "We'll be presented at court this evening. Though we've little finery left, we must wear what we have. I'm glad to see you're better dressed than when last I saw you." Toug explained. "Thiazi is the king's chief minister?" "I think so, Your Lordship. He said he was." Beel sighed and turned to Idnn. "You see where we are. We must ask information of that kind from Sir Svon's squire." She smiled and shook her head. "You'll know a hundred times more in a week, Father." "I had better." Garvaon said, "You and Wistan are to be clean and wear your best clothes." Toug nodded. "I will, Sir Garvaon." "Your master and I are to wear full armor. That was what we were discussing." "I'll clean and polish everything," Toug promised Svon. Pouk offered to help. Garvaon cleared his throat. "You squires will do your best, I know. But since when do knights wear mail to court?" Idnn said, "This isn't how things are at our own king's, Toug. A knight at court wears ordinary clothes. The best he can afford, of course, and he wears a sword. But no armor. Armor's for war or a tournament." "I think it may be because of things I told the king, My Lady." He looked at the knights. "I meant no harm." Svon said, "I'm sure you didn't. What did you say?" "How brave you are and what a skillful knight, and Sir Garvaon, too. It was while we were with Ulfa" Beel interrupted. "That's the second time I've heard that name. Who is she?" "Me wife, sir." Pouk sounded apologetic. "Only me wife, an' a good woman." "She's my sister, too, and she was with Pouk when they got caught and brought, here. They got married after that." Idnn said gently, "You mustn't be ashamed of your sister or your brother-in-law, Squire. Fortunes rise and fall, and the best people are often in the worst straits." "I'm not!" She smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. Glad, too, to hear you've spoken to the king. Was Mani with you?" "Oh, yes, My Lady!" Toug tried to convey that Mani had spoken to the king as well. "We must talk more about thata lot more. But first, will you explain why you've brought your brother-in-law?" Pouk touched his cap. "To serve you, ma'am. You don't know th' ropes, none o' you. Was it your father said so?" Idnn smiled again. "Yes. It was." "Well, ma'am, I do. Me wife, she does, too, an' more from th' woman's angle, if you take me meaning. She cooks, she does, an' serves an' all. I scrubs floors an' carries an' does heavy work as needs doin'. An' they don't no more notice us than you'd a fly, ma'am. So we hears an' knows, an' knows th' whole rig an' could take you anywheres." "I see." Pouk laughed. "So does she, ma'am. You keep on doin' it. I hope for th' gentlemen here likewise." Beel said, "You'll be a useful friend, clearly. What can we do for you?" "Get us out's all. Me an' Ulfa." Pouk's voice became confidential. "Th' lad's goin' to try, an' him an' me, we hope you'll try too, sir. Like mebbe the king'd be in a mood to do a favor? You might ask him for us, sir, sayin' you needed somebody to help. When you went home, why we'd be on board natural as anything." "I will certainly consider it," Beel said slowly. "I hopes you will, sir." Svon reached from chair to chair to touch Pouk's arm. "What did my squire tell the king? Were you with him?" "No, sir. That I wasn't." "It was just Mani and me," Toug lied, "and the king and Thiazi. The king wants Sir Able to fight for him. But I know Sir Able has this friendshe's a friend of mine, toowho'd like him go somewhere else, and" "Where?" Beel inquired. "I can't say, Your Lordship." It was hard to speak. "I'm sorry, but I just can't." Beel raised an eyebrow. "You're sworn to secrecy?" Unable to meet his gaze, Toug let his own rove over the walls. "I can't tell, Your Lordship. Or not now. Ifif you could meet her. If you could, it might be different." Idnn's voice was more gentle than ever. "She is here?" "I don't know, My Lady. Really, I don't." "She might be here in Utgard at this moment, but she might not? Is that correct?" "Yes, My Lady. That's it." "She has been here? You've seen her here?" Toug swallowed, his mouth dry. "Yes, My Lady." "Today, since you yourself passed the walls only today. Do you love her, Squire Toug?" "Oh, no, My Lady! I like her, I like her a lot, and . . ." Beel said, "You owe her a great favor." "No, Your Lordship. But. . ." "She owes him one," Idnn murmured, "and he's as young as I, and finds her gratitude sweet. We'll delve no further in this, Father, if you'll take my advice." "I shall," Beel declared, "after one more question. Would this friend enlist Sir Able against King Arnthor?" "Oh, no, sir! It's nothing like that." "Then we shall tease you no longer," Beel declared. He glanced at Garvaon and Svon, and added, "Is that understood?" Garvaon nodded, and Svon said, "Yes, Your Lordship." "Hoping that King Gilling would not wrest Sir Able from your friend, you praised my own knights? Is that correct?" Something had stirred in the corner behind Toug's chair. Afraid to look, he said, "Yes, Your Lordship." "I think you've done well," Beel said. "We'll find out tonight." "Lord Beel!" Thiazi's voice was like a great drum. "His daughter, Lady Idnn!" His golden staff pounded the floor; and Master Crol sounded his clarion as Beel and Idnn marched arm-in-arm into a banquet hall so vast it might have held the entire village of Glennidam, with half its kitchen gardens, barley fields, and meadows. There was suppressed laughter as the Angrborn seated at long tables to left and right caught sight of them. Gilling, enthroned upon a double dais at the far end of the room, was a colossus in the smoky firelight. Beel addressed him boldly. "Your Majesty, my daughter and I come in friendship. In more than common friendship, for we bring to you across forest, mountain, and plain the friendship of our royal master Arnthor. He salutes you, a fellow monarch, and wishes you peace in a reign of countless years crowned with every success." Gilling spoke as a distant avalanche might speak. "We thank King Arnthor, and welcome you to Utgard." Idnn's lilting voice filled the hall as larks fill the sky. "Our king entrusted us with your gifts, Your Majesty, many gifts and rich. We proved unworthy vessels. We were robbed, and saved only a pittance of the precious cargo." That was the signal. Garvaon and Svon entered side by side in helm and hauberk, leading laden mules. Behind them, Wistan and Toug leading two more, and after them Crol, Egr, and Papounce, with the fifth, sixth, and seventh mules. The voice from the throne roared again, filling Toug's imagination with boulders that leaped like stags and trees smashed to kindling. "Come nearer. Are these the intrepid knights we've heard so much about? Who's the little fellow with the tree on his shield?" "That is our senior knight, Sir Garvaon, Your Majesty," Beel replied. "What about the other one, with the swan?" "Sir Svon, Your Majesty." Mani appeared on Gilling's barrel of a knee, grinning. "These little animals, these ponies or whatever you call 'em, are they carrying stones?" "Your Majesty's penetration astounds us," Idnn answered. "Many of these things are indeed set with precious stones." "Really?" Gilling leaned forward, his perspiring face touched by a smile that made Toug like him less than ever. "Diamonds? Pearls? That sort of thing?" "Yes, Your Majesty." Idnn had smiled in return, and Toug saw Svon and Garvaon stiffen as dogs do when they wind a partridge. "Not only diamonds and pearls, Your Majesty, but rubies, moonstones, wood opals, bloodstones, sapphires, fire opals, emeralds, jade, jet, cat's-eye, and many another." Gilling's smile broadened. "Two cat's eyes you've given us already, fair lady. We confess we like him almost as much as he likes you. Though now we come to think on it, his description of you was something wanting. Are you veracious as well as beautiful?" Idnn curtsied in acknowledgment of the compliment. "We women are not famed for it, yet I strive to be." Beel said, "If I may speak to my daughter's character, Your Majesty, her honesty rivals that of her patroness, and her wisdom the Lady's. Pardon the partiality of a father." Thiazi's gold staff thumped the floor. "Neither that false slut nor the witch her sister find favor among the sons of Angr, Southling. Remember where you are!" The color drained from Beel's cheeks. "Your Majesty, I had forgotten. Slay me." Gilling chuckled. "Do we need your permission for that, little man?" The Angrborn roared with laughter, and Toug (who would have liked to think himself too brave for it) trembled. "Let us turn to safer topics," Gilling roared when the laughter had subsided. "A safer speaker, too. One safe from our royal self. Are you prepared to uphold the reputation for honesty your father gives you, Lady Idnn?" "I'm glad Your Majesty asks no wisdom, for I've scarce a thimbleful of that." Idnn, who had smiled the whole time, was smiling still. "But honesty I have in good measure, full cup and running over, whenever Your Majesty has need of it." Gilling's finger, as wide as Idnn's hand, stroked Mani's sleek sable head. "First we'll have you prove what you say. Diamonds and pearls. Jade. Let us see what you bring." Idnn went to Svon's mule, and Svon hastened to assist her in opening the pack it bore. "A ring, Your Majesty." Idnn held it up; its flashing stone was the size of a cherry, and the ring would almost have made a bracelet for her. "It is woven of wire drawn from pale eastern gold, with your royal name worked in our own red sea-gold, a ring so cunningly wrought as to swell or decline to fit the finger on which you choose to wear it." "Very pretty. What is that pink gem?" "Rhodolite, Your Majesty. Or rosestoneso many call it. No woman can long resist the man who wears it." Idnn had advanced toward the dais as she spoke. Gilling held out his hand, and she slipped it onto a finger. "You are a woman, Lady Idnn. Tell us, is it true?" "I scarcely know, Your Majesty." Several of the watching Angrborn laughed. "I never met a man who wore that stone 'til now." Gilling was holding up his hand to admire the rosestone. "It's darker than we thought." "It reflects the strength of the wearer, Your Majesty. Red if he is a full-blooded man of great strength, gray or white if his nature is cold." Gilling chuckled again. "We should give it to Thiazithat would test it." The onlookers roared. Idnn's presentation of gifts continued, with assistance from her father and the knights: a great platter, of pewter edged with gold; a gold basin; an oversized silver spoon, its handle rough with gems. "Enough!" Gilling raised the hand that wore the ring. "My thanks to King Arnthor, who has been as liberal to me as his country has ever been to our people." The merriment of the Angrborn shook the rafters. "But we will see the rest of these fine things another time, when we in turn shall make gifts of them to those I find deserving. We would have livelier entertainment. Your knights have been described as masters of war. It made us catch our breath, for we had thought to find the masters of war here among the bold sons of Angr." The bold sons of Angr cheered, and pounded their tables until Toug feared they would break them. "So we'll have a trial of arms tonight. Your own king does it often, we hear, pitting one of his knights against another. Is that not so?" Idnn answered bravely. "It is, Your Majesty. Our knights compete in tournament and joust, one with another." Gilling smiled tenderly, stroking Mani's head. "You yourself have witnessed these tournaments, Lady Idnn? Your father likewise?" Beel replied for both of them. "We have, Your Majesty, and can tell you much of them." "But you will not." Gilling smiled again. "We'll tell you, for we are king here. Our first thought was to have these knights fight two of our champions. Schildstarr" A huge Frost Giant leaped to his feet with such violence that he sent his enormous stool spinning across the floor. "Schildstarr is ready!" "And Glummnir" Another Angrborn jumped up with a wordless roar. "But I soon saw that would not be fair. You agree, I hope, Lady Idnn?" "Certainly, Your Majesty." For the first time, Idnn's voice held a slight tremor. "As do I. Suppose King Arnthor were to send us two champions. We might then oppose Schildstarr and Glummnir to them, and no one could call it unfair. Agreed, kitty?" Gilling looked down at Mani, but Mani gave no sign of having heard him. "This case is rather different. We have knights chosen not by King Arnthor but by chance. We must oppose them with champions we ourselves choose by chance. Your acquaintance with the sons of Angr cannot be great, Lady Idnn." "No, Your Majesty. It isn't." "We thought not." With a grunt of effort, Gilling rose, depositing Mani upon a shoulder that might as readily have held a panther. "Our magical