The Wizard (11 page)

kettle, with a gray winter sky behind him and the winter wind ruffling his fur. "Bravo!" Mani repeated, and sprang from the windowsill, and then, with a bound that would have done credit to a lynx, onto Toug's shoulder. "I bear glad tidings." He looked at the women with satisfaction, his green eyes shining. "You shall have them in a moment, but first I'd like to hear the rest of this." "Yes." Toug reached up to stroke him. "What's your heart's desire, Baki? You've heard ours." "Do you really wish to hear it, Lord? Recall that you have sworn to help me get it. He waited for Ulfa to speak, but she was gaping at Mani, and he said, "We can't, unless we know what you want." "Not consciously, perhaps. The politics of Aelfrice are complex, but I must talk about them if you are to understand my heart's desire. My race, whom some of you worship, was brought into being by one we name Kulili. She created us to love her, but we came to hate her and rebelled against her, and at last drove her into the sea. We are of many clans, as perhaps you know." Mani said, "I do." "I am of the Fire Aelf, and we Fire Aelf hated Kulili more than any. We led the advance, and we were the last to retreat. When she disappeared into caverns beneath the sea, it was we, more even than the Sea Aelf, who urged that she be extirpated to the last thread. This though we saw her no more, and our land no longer spoke with her voice." Toug, who could not imagine a being of threads, opened his mouth to ask a question, but closed it without speaking. "We and others followed her into the sea and fought her there, when she could retreat no longer. I am a maid and not a man. Will you believe that I, too, fought?" Mani said, "Yes," and Ulfa, "If you say it." "I do. I did. 'Spears of the maidens!' we shouted as we joined the melee. 'Spears of the Fire Maidens! Death to Kulili!' I can voice those cries, but I cannot tell you how faint and weak and lonely they sounded under the dark waters. We charged her sharks as we had been trained to charge, and after a moment or two we few who still lived fled screaming. You, Lord, would not have fled as I did." Toug said nothing. "You would have died." "Continue." For once Mani seemed subdued. "In the days after that terrible day, our king tried to rally us. Many would not come, fearing we would be asked to fight again. It was a year before the assembly was complete, and it was complete then only because it was inland. There were manyI was onewhose spirit would have failed if they had been asked to venture within sight of the sea. "Our king spoke of those who had died, first praising his bodyguard, of whom three-fifths had perished, then our clan in general. We had been one of the most numerous. We were fewer than any, and he told us so. 'We cannot fight her again,' he said; and we whispered when he said it, and sighed deep, and few cheered. Then he revealed his plana plan, he said, by which we might yet triumph. "We no longer paid reverence to this world of Mythgarthr and you who dwell in it. You, we felt, were dull and sleepy and stupid, unworthy gods who no longer credited us even when we stood before you. There was no help to be had from you, he said. I doubt that there was anyone who did not agree." Ulfa looked at Toug, her eyes full of questions. Mani smoothed his whiskers with a competent paw. "We're their numina, you see. I am a tutelary lars in animal form myself, a totem. My images confer freedom, and what's always essential to freedom, stealth." "Yet there were others who would help us gladly," Baki continued. "He had summoned them. Among them was Setr. For a time our king continued to rule, relaying the commands of Setr. With Setr and the rest to lead us, we stormed Kulili's redoubt again, and were defeated even as we had been defeated before. Not all our tribes fought, and some sent only a few score warriors. Such were the Bodachan and others. Setr said this was the reason for our defeat, and we believed him. We would not fight again, he promised, until every clan was ready to fight as we had." Baki paused, and Mani asked, "He would compel them?" "Exactly. He set out to make himself ruler of all, and to that end built the Tower of Glas, so lofty that its summit is an isle of Mythgarthr. He built it, I said, because that is how we speak. But we built for him, and he drove us like slaves." Baki held out her hands. "You would not credit me if I told you half what these have done." "I would," Ulfa said. "Our king was no morecrushed between the jaws of a monster of the deep, Setr said. He would not permit us to choose a new king, then said we had and that we had chosen him. When the Tower was complete he made us Khimairae to guard it. Have you ever seen a Khimaira, any of you?" "I haven't," Mani told her, "and I'd like to." In a moment, the old gray gown was off and lying like dirty water on the floor, and Baki wreathed in smoke. Her flesh darkened as if in fire, hard and cracked; her ears spread, her mouth grew and her teeth with it, becoming hideous fangs. Her feet and hands turned to claws, and she spread leathern wings. Mani stood on Toug's shoulder with every hair erect and hissed like two score serpents. The Khimaira hissed in reply; the sound was ice on ice, and held the chill of death. "Thuss I wass, and thuss I sstayed. I hated my form, yet did not wish to change. Such was Setr's hold on me." Again smoke poured from her eyes. When it retreated, it left a long-limbed Aelfmaid with coppery skin. An Aelfmaid, she snatched up the gray gown. When it had passed over her, she was a human with flaming hair, fair to look upon. "Sir Able made me renounce my oath to Setr," she said, "and returned me to the lithesome shape you saw. Yet my oath bound me still. First, because my rejection had been forced. More signally, because I feared him. I served Sir Able, and called myself his slave. This I do even now." Toug nodded. "And yours, for gratitude and love of you. Setr I fear, but I shall strike the thing I fear. You would be a knight. Learn from me." "I'll try," he said. "And so my heart's desire." The sound of horses' hoofs drifted up from the bailey, and Mani sprang to the windowsill to look. "It is simply said," Baki continued, "but will not be simply done. Or I fear it will not. I would bring Sir Able to Aelfrice and have him lead us against Setr." Mani turned to stare at her, his green eyes wide. "And you and your sister are sworn to aid me." Toug looked to Ulfa (for he felt his heart sink), and Ulfa to Toug; but neither spoke. "Little cat, you wished to see a Khimaira. You have seen one. Are you satisfied?" "The Khimaira," Mani told her, "has seen me. That is what I wanted, and it has been accomplished. I knew you were no common girl. Now you know that I'm no common cat." Baki made him a mock bow. "My good news has been taken from me," Mani continued, "and my fate has supplied only bad news to replace it. Which would you hear first?" Ulfa said, "I have no hold over Sir Able." "Then you must gain what hold you can," Baki told her. Toug said, "He doesn't owe me anything." "He sees himself in you, and that may be enough. Cat, you have taken no oath, and I know cats too well to imagine you will submit to one. But will you help us?" "I've strained every sinew at it already," Mani told her sourly, "and there isn't an Overcyn in Skai who could say why. Will you hear my news? I myself greatly like the good, but you'll want to spit my ill news from your ears." "It said the good news wasn't true anymore," Ulfa muttered. Wearily, she rose from her stool. "Not so," Mani told her. "I said that it was no longer news. It was that King Gilling has graciously consented to Lord Beel's embassy. He and my mistress and all the restyour master, Toug, and so onhave entered this castle. You heard their horses, if any of you were paying attention. You can see them now by looking out this window." Toug went to window to look, and Ulfa joined him. "It's very grand," she whispered. "You should have seen it before it was looted," Mani told her complacently, "as I did." She stared at him, and then at Toug; and her expression said very plainly, Cats can't talk. He cleared his throat. "Some can. It varies. I mean, Mani's the only one I know, but he can." "He's going to use that power," Mani said, "to remind you that we've gained your heart's desire. Our mission was to get His Prodigious Majesty to admit our company, and we have done it." Slowly, Toug smiled. "I include you because you accompanied me, and because I am large-hearted and generous to a fault. In my wanderings, I chanced upon the king and his great clumsy wizard." "Thiazi." "Exactly. I spoke, and they were amazed, the king particularly. Do you think you've heard me talk? You haven't heard me talk as I talked then. I was eloquent, diplomatic, and persuasive. Most of all, I was forceful, concise, and succinct. Gylf used to say I had a thin voice. Used to upbraid me for it, in fact. You recall Gylf." Toug nodded. "He should have heard me when I spoke to the king. I doubt there's a courtier in Thortower who could hold a candle to me. I explained that King Arnthor had sent us not as enemies but friends, to help him govern" "Toug . . ." Ulfa gripped his arm. "Ithe cat's really talking, isn't it? I haven't gone crazy?" "Sure he is, and he wouldn't talk with you around unless he liked you. Don't get all upset." She pointed. "I saw aa thing. Just now. Just for a moment. All those grand people down there were getting off their horses and it was over by that wall, and it was almost as big as the giants, only it wasn't one. It was horrible and the same color as the wall. It moved and disappeared." "His name's Org." It was the best Toug could think of. "I'll protect you from him," Mani told Ulfa. "You need not fear Org while I'm around. He's a simple sort of fellow, though I admit I don't much care for him myself. Simple and good, once you set aside his appetite for human flesh." "You persuaded the king to let Lord Beel and his party into Utgard," Baki prompted Mani. "That is your good news, good because it was the desire of Toug's heart. You said you had ill news too. What is it?" "Ill for you," Mani told her. "Ill for Toug and his sister, and not only because they've promised to help you. With your consent, I will say something else first, something cheering. I think it will gladden their hearts." Baki nodded, and Mani spoke to Ulfa. "You're the king's slaves, you and your husband? You belong to him?" She nodded wordlessly. "One who's already persuaded the king in a large matter might well persuade him in a small one too, don't you think? When the opportunity is ripe, I shall suggest to King Gilling that you and your husbandwith the horses and so forthwould make a trifling but entirely welcome gift to Sir Able. Wouldn't that get you your heart's desire?" "Youyou'd do that?" "Mani." His voice was firm. "My name is Mani." "You'd do that for us, Mani? For Pouk and me? We'd be in your debt forever." "I know. I would. I will, at the appropriate moment." He surveyed the two human beings and the Aelfmaiden, his eyes half closed. "This brings us to my ill news, which you had better hear. King Gilling contemplates engaging an army of bold menhuman beings as opposed to his Angrbornwho would serve the throne beyond the southern borders. Beyond the present borders, I should say. These men, these stalwart soldiers of fortune, if I may so characterize them, would not be slaves. Far from it! They'd be liberally rewarded, and heaped with honors when they were successful. In time their commanders, having proved their loyalty to His Prodigious Majesty, might even hold fiefs south of the mountains." Mani waited for comments, but none were forthcoming. "In short, they would conquer Celidon for him. It would become a vassal kingdom, paying an annual tribute in treasure and slaves. His Majesty hopes to enlist Sir Able to organize and lead this army."

CHAPTER ELEVEN THE SECOND KNIGHT

"Nobody wid him!" Uns reported, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Not nobody a-tall 'cept fer his horse, sar!" "But he's a knight?" the Knight of the Leopards asked. He glanced at me, expecting me to show more interest; but I was fitting a head that had been a dagger blade to the short lance I had shaped, and did not look up. "Gold armor, sar!" Uns shaded his eyes to peer down the pass. " 'N a gold sun onna shield, sar!" "This I must see," the Knight of the Leopards muttered, and scaled the rocks as Uns had. Heimir came to sit by me. "You don't like me." I shook my head. "You're wrong." "I'm too big." "How can a man be too big? He can be too big for this or that purpose, perhaps. Too big to get through a narrow door or too big to ride a donkey. But nobody can be too big or too small in general. It would be like saying a mountain is too small, or a tree too tall." "You like my new father better." It was a challenge. "I love Bold Berthold, and I love your mother because he does. Loving is different. Do you like me, Heimir?" "Yes!" "And I like you. Why should we quarrel?" I offered my hand; Heimir took it, and though his was twice the size of mine he did not try to crush it. "I'll fight him for you," Heimir said. "You can't." "Yes, I can. I'm not a good talker." Heimir nodded his own affirmation. "Hela says so. But I'm a good fighter." "He's alone, Heimir. There may come a time when I'll need you to fight for me, but this isn't it. This is my time, the time I've waited for." Heimir was silent; then, as if uncertain of what to say, he muttered, "I'll get your horse." "Cloud is getting herself," I told him. A long bowshot above us, Uns knelt and caught the hand of the Knight of the Leopards, helping him up. Panting, the Knight of the Leopards thanked him. "Glad ta, sar." Uns pointed. "Thar he be, sar. Not trottin' like wen I first seen him." "He doesn't want to tire his charger," the Knight of the Leopards murmured. "It may mean that he knows Sir Able's here, or at least that he knows someone's here. But what's a lone knight doing riding into . . . ?" The words trailed away. "How'd he know, sar?" Uns peered as if the answer were on the pennant fluttering at the end of the newcomer's lance. "We see him, surely he sees us. He's wearing his helm." "Yessar. Dem do make hit hard ta see, I be bound." "I didn't mean that. Did you see him put it on, Uns?" Uns sucked his teeth. "Don't hit go da regular way?" "I'm sure it does." The Knight of the Leopards looked thoughtful. "Have you seen his face at all?" Uns shook his head. "Had hit on first he come, sar." "Sir Able has a helm." "Yessar, he do, sar." Uns was more puzzled still. "You must have handled it, cleaning it or taking it when you unsaddled his horse. Was it heavy?" "Oh, yessar. 'Twas dat heavy I like ta dropped hit." The Knight of the Leopards nodded. "So is mine. That's why we don't wear them constantly. When danger's constant, we wear the little helmthe helmet, as it's called. It's generally an iron cap with a cape of mail to defend the neck, and we wear it because it's much lighter and still gives a good measure of protection. The helm, weighing three or four times as much, is put on just before battle, and only then. You say this knight's worn his since he came in view?" "Yessar. I'se dead sure a' dat, sar." "Because he doesn't want us to see his face? It's the only reason I can think of, but who could he be? And why's he trying to hide it?" "Wal, sar, dat's sumpin else p'cular 'bout him, ain't hit? 'Sides bein' alone like he is." "He's not alone. Look down there, just coming into view. Isn't that man leading another horse?" Uns studied him. "Got a spear, ta, I'll be bound, sar. Ain't he one a' dem squires? Like ta ya Valt? Dere's more behind, ta, mebbe." "This is going to be interesting," the Knight of the Leopards muttered; and more swiftly than he should have, began the climb back down. "Know ye!" his herald proclaimed, "that this pass is held by two right doughty knights. They are my master, Sir Leort of Sandhill, and Sir Able of the High Heart." He stood in the middle of the War Way with his clarion positioned to display the seven leopards of its pennon; and if the Knight of the Golden Sun or his great fallow horse impressed him, there was nothing to show it. That knight leaned forward in his war saddle. "Am I to choose the one I engage?" His golden helm rendered his voice hollow and almost sepulchral. "That is your right, Sir?" "I choose Sir Able," the Knight of the Sun declared, and wheeled his mount to make ready. I was in the saddle before the Knight of the Sun reached the point from which he would charge. The Knight of the Leopards caught Cloud's bridle. "Do you know who he is?" "No. Do you?" The Knight of the Leopards shook his head. "It might be well to refuse until he names himself." "What if he refused, and rode forward?" "We'd engage him together." "Winning much honor." I shook my head, and spoke to the herald. "He waits your signal. So do I." The silver notes of the clarion sounded. I couched my new lance and readied my shield, things I had done in Skai a thousand times. In the momentthe empty split second before the head of my opponent's lance struck my shieldI wondered whether the Valfather watched. Certainly he would know of this before an hour passed. My lance struck the golden sun, and the shock seemed an explosion. Cloud staggered under the impact, and the knight to whom that shield belonged fell horse and all. I turned Cloud, reined up, and removed my helm. The herald was bending over the Knight of the Sun. "Yield you, sir knight?" "No." He struggled to free his leg from the weight of his charger. "I claim gentle right. Let me rise and rearm." "It will be accorded you," the herald said. The fallen charger regained its feet and limped away. Its owner adjusted his helm. That done, he rosea man of great sizeand appeared to search the ground for the lance he had dropped; the herald motioned to Hela, near whom it lay; she picked it up like a straw and returned it to the Knight of the Sun. He bowed. "Fair maid, thank you. It was kindly done." Hela colored but said nothing. His charger came at his whistle; he mounted, vaulting into the saddle with the help of his lance. I had returned to the point from which I had charged. "I myself rode a lame horse to battle once," I called, "but having no other I had no choice." "Nor have I any," the Knight of the Sun told me. "Your squire will be here soon." I pointed with my lance. "It appears he's leading a second charger." "He has a second mount for me, as you say." The hollow voice from the golden helm was without inflection. "I have no choice but to ride this one." The Knight of the Leopards joined us. "You've engaged Sir Able. If you will not yield, you must engage me." "I have engaged Sir Able," the Knight of the Sun said. "When he yields, I will engage you if you wish it." Catching his bridle, the herald drew the Knight of the Leopards aside. After a moment he shrugged and nodded. I watched the herald while readying lance and shield. The fallow charger would be slower; its rider might be slower, too. If my lance found his chest, he would die. The notes of the clarion echoed from the rocks, and Cloud was off like the wind. We met as a thunderbolt meets a tower. The golden lance shattered on my shield. The point of my lance passed over the right shoulder of the Knight of the Golden Sun, and its shaft dashed him from the saddle. With Hela's help, he rose, nearly as tall as she. "Yield you?" The herald posed the formal question. "Not I." He whistled again for his charger. The herald glanced at me. I nodded and made a slight gesture, and the herald said, "You are accorded gentle right. Sir Able will wait until your squire arrives with a fresh mount and another lance." "I thank Sir Able," the Knight of the Sun replied. "He is a true and a gentle knight, one whose courage and chivalry are not in question. My squire will not come. I will meet Sir Able's lance with my sword." The herald looked at me again, and I motioned to him. In half a minute more, the herald was mounted and galloping south along the War Way. "I have ordered my squire to come no nearer," the Knight of the Sun said. "Yet he will come," I said, "with a sound mount for you, and a lance." The Knight of the Leopards joined me, with Valt and Uns scarcely a step behind. "You understand this," the Knight of the Leopards whispered, "and I would understand it too." "If I understood it, I might tell you. I understand only a little more than you do." "His squire will come at your word?" I nodded. "Might it not have been wiser to have my herald fetch horse and lance?" "He'll come," I said. Uns looked at Valt, and Valt at Uns; but neither spoke. The Knight of the Leopards persevered. "You know this knight. So much is clear from his own words." "I do, though he didn't have this much gold the last time I saw him." At length the Knight of the Leopards said, "Does he fear you'd slay him if you knew him?" I shook my head and answered no more questions. Excited, Uns scrambled to the top of a boulder and stood, bent still but as straight as he could manage. "Dey's comin', sar! Him 'n him 'n more. Oh, ain't hit da sight!" Gerda tugged at my surcoat. "You ain't off my Hela for what she done, are you, sir? She don't mean no hurt." I smiled. "He's a very big man, isn't he?" Whether it was my smile or my words that reassured Gerda, I cannot say; but she smiled in return. It was indeed a sight, exactly as Uns had said. Two heralds rode in front, each with his silver clarion, the left with a blazing sun on his blue tabard, and the right with the leopards of Sandhill on his. After them, the squire of the Knight of the Sun, a clear-eyed youth with flowing hair and a jerkin of black leather spangled with gleaming gold studs; he carried two golden lances, from each of which floated a blue pennon blazoned with the golden sun. Behind him, a dozen men-at-arms rode single file, grim-looking men in gambesons of quilted leather and steel arming caps, some with bow and sword and some with lance, shield, and sword. Liveried body servants rode behind them, and behind the body servants, muleteers leading laden sumpters. I watched as the Knight of the Golden Sun spoke with his squire, accepted a new lance, dismounted, and mounted the unwearied charger his squire had led. Then (as I had hoped) he removed his helm. "You know me." He said it loud enough for me to hear, though we were separated by a half bowshot. "Greetings, Sir Woddet!" I called. When Woddet did not reply, I added, "It's good to see you again, and Squire Yond, and good of you to come so far to try me." "I have not come to try you," Woddet answered, "but to prevail." He resumed his helm. Our mounts met with a crash that shook the earth; both fell. My helm was lost, and I was pinned by the weight of Cloud's side. Woddet had been thrown from the saddle, and was first upon his feet, sword in hand. "Yield!" he cried. He stood over me with sword upraised. "Now I claim gentle right in my turn," I said. "I've been downed. I claim the right to rise and rearm." "Refused! Yield or die!" As Woddet spoke, Cloud sprang up. Her flailing forefeet knocked him flat and would have killed him. I rose and offered Woddet my hand. "You'd claim gentle right again, I know. And I'd accord it. Hela, give him back his sword, if you will." Woddet accepted my hand. "On my honor, I've no wish to kill you, but you must yieldlance, horse, and sword." Hela had dropped to one knee. Kneeling so, her head was below Woddet's own. She held out his sword. Woddet grasped the hilt. "I beg it," he said. His voice was a whisper. "Yond and I saved you when they would've killed you, and I was your friend when you had no other. Yield to me now." "I cannot," I said. "I have sworn to hold this pass 'til there's ice in the Bay of Forcetti. I will hold it." "Sir Able . . ." I shook my head and stepped back. "Listen to me." There was despair in the voice from the gold helm. "Nothing I've ever done was harder than refusing gentle right to you. I pray that if I fall again you'll kill me." "Not even those who see the face of the Most High God grant all prayers," I told him. I drew Eterne, and eight phantom knights stood around me, four to my right and four to my left; the wind carried the thunder of hooves and the snapping of flags. Woddet removed his helm and cast it aside. "You told Agr you'd been knighted by the Aelfqueen. I believe it now. Will these knights engage me too?" "No," I told him, "but like Sir Leort and his men they will stand by to see that our fight is fair." We met sword to shield and shield to sword; the first stroke from Eterne split the blue shield, the next struck the sword from Woddet's hand, and at the third he fell. Hela came to stand over him with her cudgel poised and death in her eyes. I wiped Eterne with a rag Uns brought before I sheathed her. "He won't die," said the Knight of the Leopards when the moon was high and we sat side by side before the fire. "He may," I said; and Gylf, who knew me better than I knew myself, groaned and laid his head in my lap. "That was a grievous cut you made," the Knight of the Leopards continued, "and he's lost a lot of blood. But if the loss were going to kill him, he'd be dead already. Then the giantess would kill us both, or try." I smiled at that. It surprised the Knight of the Leopards, and he said, "Would you fight her? What honor in fighting a woman, even a woman as big as she?" "Her mother's human," I told him. "The old woman? I know it." "The Angrborn are not loved. They hold no spirits." The Knight of the Leopards shrugged. "Do we? Yes, I suppose we do. I saw them." "When I drew Eterne?" "When I did. I try not to think about it." Some time passed, during which we listened to the wind whistle among the rocks. At last I said, "I may not heal Sir Woddet, but I may implore those who still dwell in Skai to heal him. Will you help me build an altar?" We labored far into the night, piling stone on stone. Uns, Hela, two servingmen belonging to the Knight of the Leopards, Yond, and some of Woddet's men-at-arms helped. Heimir, awakened by his sister, went into the mountains, broke stunted pines, and brought the wood. We sang then, a song of praise for the Valfather, and another for the Lady (whose name may be sung, although it may not be spoken); and when the last song was done, I cut the throat of the lame charger that had been Woddet's, hewed the head from the neck, and hewed the body to pieces while the shades of a score of fell knights watched sorrowing. We fed the whole to the flames. When that was done the rest slept; but I sat with Woddet to see if he would be healed, and heard the gasps of one near death, Hela's sobs, and the whistling of the winter wind. Then I slept, the first real sleep since I had returned from Skai, and in a dream it seemed I was in Skai still, and the Lady smiled upon me. Then