The Wizard (29 page)

room, bar its door, and weep. To be at your court is glorious, but glory has no savor for widow's weeds and tears. May we go? And with Your Majesty's leave, may our father and his retainers give us escort?" Beel bowed again. "My heart implores me to accompany my grieving daughter, Your Majesty. Equally my duty demands it. Our king dispatched me to King Gilling. I must apprise him of King Gilling's death, and of the dawn of your splendid reign. Thus on my own behalfmay we depart?" Wistan and Toug had gone to ready our horses for a quick getaway, and to tell Master Egr to see to the baggage. While Beel talked, I could not help wondering how they were coming. "Before you go," Schildstarr said slowly, "we might give you gifts for your king. How say you, Thiazi?" He bowed. "I shall attend to it, Your Majesty." "Then we have your leave?" Beel took a short step back. "Words cannot express our gratitude, Your Majesty. May peace reign forever between these realms." Thiazi's staff thumped the floor, the signal that the interview had ended. At a whispered order from Garvaon, we knights faced about. When walking with lances, you have to keep step; otherwise the lance-heads hit each other, and the pennants get fouled. We had practiced half the morning, and did well enough. In the courtyard, I found Wistan, Toug, and Egr ready to depart. "There'll be gifts," I told them. "Gifts for King Arnthor, and we must wait 'til they're presented. Get those saddles off the horses, and get them back into their stalls." Wistan looked dismayed, Toug fatalistic. "Don't feel that you've wasted your effort. You've located everything and cleaned it up. We should be able to leave tomorrow with little delay, and that's good. Now step closer. I don't like having to shout at you." They gathered around me, even Lynnet. "You're to stay with the horses," I said, "all of you. You must be here to take charge of the gifts. Lord Thiazi will present them to Lord Beel, and Sir Garvaon and Sir Svon will bring them to you. You have to stow them and protect them once they've been stowed. Except for Lady Lynnet and her daughter, not one of you is to leave without permission. Everybody understand?" They nodded. "Etela, you and your mother sleep in Toug's room with Mani. If you're not there when we leave, you may be left behind. Is that understood?" Etela nodded solemnly. "If your mother insists on leaving" Lynnet said, "I won't." "Good. Thank you, My Lady. Etela, I was about to say that if she goesif someone comes and takes her away, for exampletell me no matter how late it is. Or how early." "Yes, sir, Sir Able. I will." "Vil? Is Vil here?" "Right here, Sir Able." He raised his hand. "Fine. If you can't find me, Etela, tell Squire Toug or Vil. Is there anyone who doesn't know what he's to do?" No one spoke. "Good. Queen Idnn has a diamond diadem, given her by her husband. King Schildstarr's gifts to King Arnthor will have to equal or exceed that, I think. The danger of theft will be'very great, and if anything is stolen it will go hard with all of youand very hard with the thief." Master Egr asked, "We leave in the morning, Sir Able?" "I have to talk with you about that." I drew him aside. Here I am going to have write more about things I did not see. Woddet and Hela told me most of it. Daybreak had found Marder's party in the saddle. The War Way lay broad before them, nearly straight and spangled with frost. A league ahead it passed between boulders and heaped stones where it looked as if a rocky hill had been leveled. Beyond this low defile, they saw the towers of Utgard, towers so big you might think them shorter than they were, if it were not that their tops were so near Skai. "We will eat our next meal in that castle," Marder told Woddet; and Woddet said, "Yes, Your Grace, if those who are there already do not make a meal of us." Hela, loping beside him, pointed with the short spear she had made for herself from a broken lance. "Seeing that, admit that my father's is no mean race." "I have never thought it was," Woddet told her. "Though I have never fought the Sons of Angr, I'm eager to. I'm told that in all Mythgarthr there are no foes more fell." "Wounded as you are, dear Lord?" "Wounded as I am," Woddet replied stoutly. "Now have you your wish." Hela pointed again. "See you those stones? Do you, Duke Marder? And you, Sir Leort?" The Knight of the Leopards said sharply, "They're in plain view, surely." "Why no." Hela grinned, showing big yellow teeth like knives. "Not so plain, sir knight. There is not a stone to be found there, for I have been this near Utgard and nearer. What you see are the Sons of Angr, crouching or sitting, with their heads covered by their cloaks, all sprinkled over with dust from the road." Marder reined up, his hand lifted so those behind him would stop as well. "They are waiting for us?" Hela made him a bow. "So does it appear, Your Grace." The Knight of the Leopards said, "I will ride forward and see how these matters lie, Your Grace." "And perish, if Hela's speaking truth?" Marder shook his head. "Do you serve Sir Able or Sir Woddet, Hela?" "Sir Able formerly," Hela replied, "and Sir Woddet presently, by Sir Able's leave." "Sir Woddet. Is she to be trusted?" Woddet smiled at her. "I would trust her with my life." "Then let us not distrust her to Sir Leort's death." Wheeling his mount, Marder gave orders; and when his archers had ridden within bowshot of the stones, they spread over the fields beside the War Way, dismounted, and let fly. Roaring, the Angrborn rose; and we, their intended prey, who had left Utgard before dawn at my urging, heard the sound of battle, and riding with all haste took them from behind. Not since I left Skai had I fought as I fought then, charging down screes of air to drive lance or sword into the upturned faces of the sons of the Giants of Winter and Old Night. The blows before Utgard, if I described them all, would fill a hundred pages. I will say only that once Eterne clove the skull of a Frost Giant to the jaw, and that though I tried to sweep the heads of Orgalmir and Borgalmir from their necks with a single blow, I failed, and that giant who had been two-headed fought on with one, though blood spurted from the severed neck as though to dye Mythgarthr. Upon that and other blood, the grim ghosts brought by Eterne's baring feasted, so that in the level rays of the morning sun they seemed no less than men, and their spectral blades rent palpable wounds, at which their owners grinned that cheerful grin we see in skulls, and slew again. I have been writing too much about myself. Let me write about others. First, Marder. No one who saw him could have guessed there was white hair and a white beard under his helm. A lance and horse better managed I have never seen. Beel fought too; and we who thought him dead found him under the corpse of Thrym, and gloried, laughed, and shouted to see him blink and gasp for air. Toug, who had sworn never to fight again, fought and fell, and would I think have died that day were it not for Gylfbigger than any lion, and more fierce who stood over him until Wistan dragged him to safety. As for the Knight of the Leopards, a leopard from his shield might have sprung to life. Lance broken and helm gone, he fought on; and I have rarely seen a brand fly that fast or cut that deep. Wounded more sorely even than Toug, Woddet fought with Heimir to his left and Hela on his right. Three Angrborn fell to them, which should be one for each; but someone who swears that he knows (and should, since he watched from my saddlebag) said one was Woddet's and two were Hela's. That I can well believe. The Lady stands shieldmaid to the Valfather, and I cannot compare Hela to her. But think of the goddess of a ruder nation, thick-limbed, tall as any rearing mare, with ravening mouth, flying hair, and blood-drenched spear. If I met Hela in battle, I might turn aside. Marder and the Knight of the Leopards surprised me. I hope I have made that plain. Idnn surprised me too, plying her bow like the best, and taking cool aim when the battle was hottest. But no one surprised me that day more than Garvaon. I knew him for an able swordsman. I had thought him a prudent knight, careful and perhaps a bit cautious. He fought as furiously as Hela, with helmet and no helm, as he and Svon had fought King Gilling's champions. Unhorsed, he fought all the harder, caught a horse whose rider had fallen, and charged into the thick of the fight once more. So we had our furious fighters; no doubt I was one. We had our rocks as well. The Angrborn would have killed Idnn and scattered her bowwomen a dozen times had it not been for Svon and the servingmen he led, and in all honesty I doubt that Toug would have gone into the fight without his example. It was, in short, one of those rare battles in which nearly everyone fought (although Berthold and Gerda did not, nor did the blind slaves, Etela and Lynnet, and the slave women), and in which everyone who fought, fought well. That said, it seemed to me that without Garvaon and the Knight of the Leopards we could not have won, and it was only through the Valfather's grace that we won with them. After the battle I took the rear guardthe Knight of the Leopards and his men, and ten of Marder's; thus I had no chance to speak with the rest until we camped. It was late, black night, for we had ridden far, fearing pursuit. Pouk helped me out of my armor and began to clean and polish everything while Uns (returned by Idnn as she had promised) cooked for us. Persuaded by Berthold and Gerda, I lay down, and half asleep heard the whisperings of my bowstring: the lives and deaths of many men and women, and children, toolives of toil mostly, of poverty and hunger. Perhaps I had just closed my eyes. Equally, I may have closed them an hour before. In any case, I was roused by Beel's valet, who shook my shoulder calling, "Sir Able? Sir Able, sir?" I sat up and asked what he wanted. "It's His Lordship, Sir Able. He'sHis Lordship would speak with you. His Lordship is far from well." Still half asleep, I stood. "Dying?" "Oh, no, sir! I hope not, sir. But hehe cannot walk far, Sir Able. I mean, he would try, but we won't let him. They won't, sir. He wanted to come here, sir. He wanted me to support him so he wouldn't fall. They wouldn't allow it, Sir Able. The Queen, Sir Able, and His Grace. And I had to agree. So I came." He paused, and cleared his throat. "If I give offense, sir, the fault is mine." Uns was trying to give me a bowl of stew and a spoon. The stew smelled delicious, and to silence him I accepted both and began to eat. "If you would come, Sir Able . . . ? II am aware you owe me nothing, but" "Nonsense. You spoke boldly in my defense, Swert. Do you think I've forgotten that?" "You recall my name, Sir Able? That isis . . . Well, sir, II confess" "Have you eaten?" "I? Why, ah, I don't think so, Sir Able. Not since we left that horrid castle, sir. I'vewe've been caring for His Lordship, and there's been no time." I gave him my spoon and what remained in the bowl, a bit more than half, and munched the piece of coarse bread quickly offered by Uns. Thus, both of us eating (and eating as fast as we could), Swert and I made our way through the discomfort and disorder of the camp to Beel's pavilion. I had hoped to find him asleep, but he was awake and propped in his folding bed, with Idnn on a stool at his bedside and Marder in a chair eating porridge. "Sir Able." Beel managed a smile, although I could see he was in a lot of pain. "Be seated, please. You must be tired. All of us are." I looked to Idnn, and received a glittering nod. Marder nodded as well. Swert brought in a folding chair, and I sat down. "To see you sitting up and smiling is worth hours of rest to me, My Lord. I imagine Her Majesty and His Grace might say the same." "I killed Thrym, the captain of the King's Guard." "So I heard. I congratulate you, My Lord." "I don't congratulate myself." Beel was silent for a moment, adjusting his position in his bed, his mouth twisted with pain. "You weren't present when he halted us outside Utgard, Sir Able. Neither was His Grace. But you may have heard of it. King Gilling had been toldthough I can't imagine who his informant may have beenof Her Majesty's cat. You gave her that cat, I believe." Idnn said, "We asked for Mani, Father, and he gave him to us." "Exactly. Exactly. He wanted to see the cat, and keep us waiting outside. I stood there in the road, in the wind, and talked with Thrym for an hour. Trying to get us in, you know. He was a monster, the largest of them all. I was terrified of him and tried not to show it." Idnn said, "Father, you weren't!" "Yes, I was. Shaking in my boots." He smiled. "If you had told me I'd have to fight him, I would have slashed my wrists. If you'd told me I would win, I'd have said that all prophesy is moonshine, even mine. You know me, Your Majesty. I bounced you on my knee and played hide-and-seek. Am I a man of war? A knight, or anything like one?" Idnn shook her head. "Now I've killed the captain of King Schildstarr's Guard. That wasn't what we wanted to talk to you about, Sir Able, though it may bear upon it. But I did it, and I can't keep quiet about it. Killing one giant, even the captain of the Guard, can't mean much to you. How many did you kill this morning? A score?" I shook my head. "I don't know, My Lord. I didn't count. Not as many as that." Marder said, "You rode through the air. I'd heard about that from some of my men, but I didn't believe them. Today I saw it myself. You galloped on air as though it were a range of hills and your arrowsI've never seen so strong a bow. Never." "It's my bowstring, Your Grace. I've had it since I was a boy, but I hope not to need it before long." No one spoke, so I added, "As for riding on air, please don't fall prey to the idea that I do it. It is my mount who does it. I have a good mount." Mani bounded into Idnn's lap, and she smiled. "And a good cat." "A very good cat, whenever he's not Your Majesty's cat." Marder dropped his spoon into his empty bowl. "I need to sleep. So does Sir Ablewe all do. The first thing we wanted to say, Sir Able, was that after what happened this morning Celidon and Jotunland are at war. Border raids can be blamed on unruly vassals. This can't." I nodded. Idnn said, "And we wanted to ask you whywhy King Schildstarr laid an ambush for His Grace's party." She gave me her old impish grin. "Knights aren't supposed to know much. You're to be fighters, and leave the thinking to us. We were teasing Sir Svon about it as we rode." "Your Majesty is as wise as she is beautiful." "Thank you, sir." She made me a mock bow. "We are Queen of Jotunland." (Some sound outside the pavilion told me we were overheard.) "But a queen without power is a queen without wisdom, we're afraid. Wise enough, however, to know who has it. Why did King Schildstarr want to kill His Grace and his knights?"