The Wizard (33 page)

met, and I saw the battle rage die in them as I felt it dying in my own. She sank beneath the sea, and I knew I must follow. In Skai I saw grander sights than ever Mythgarthr or Aelfrice can offer, but none so strange as this. The dragon melted as I watched, so that I might almost have thought the sea dissolved it. It had been a dragon, great and terrible. It became a cloud, white, shimmering, and ever-changing. And at last the face of Kulili. Will you spare me? I could not speak as men speak in air, but I formed my thought as I had so long ago when I was young. "I will spare you if you yield." We have not engaged. First you must follow me, and see the thing that I will show you. I agreed, and in the dark abyss we men call the bottom of the sea, I saw that of which I will not speakthough I shall speak of it in time, I hope, to one mightier than even the Valfather. Toug, young Etela, Lynnet, and Vil stood waiting for me on the beach at the foot of the Tower of Glas. Though Toug's left arm was in the sling still, that sling was crimson with blood, and Sword Breaker bright with blood to the hilt. Whom he had fought when they descended the tower I never inquired; but Etela let drop a hint now and again, as women will. It matters little to this tale of mineand yet I shall never forget Toug's face, the eyes that started from their sockets, and the clenched teeth. "They're coming!" Etela called, pointing. "We better hide!" Seven dragons black, gray, turquoise, blue, green, golden, and redflew stark against the luminous sky. I shook my head and called the ship nearest us to shore. When its keel ground upon the beach, I lifted her into it, and put Lynnet and Vil into it as well. Sir Hunbalt and I took Toug, who stood as if entranced, waiting to fight them all. When our words availed nothing, we lifted him bodily and carried him. The dragons flew low at times and high at others, swooping and diving, but never closed with us. They would have slain us all if they could, or so I believe; but something restrained them, and if it was no more than fear, then fear proved restraint enough. "They wanted to kill us before," Etela explained, "only the white one scared them. Are you scared of the white one?" I shook my head. "We were. I was terrible scared, and Toug, 'n I think Vil would of been more scared, too, only he couldn't see it, you know. But it got us 'n it carried us way up where they couldn't get us. I shut my eyes, only then it went away." "The claws shut 'round me," Vil muttered, and there was nothing of the showman about him then. Sir Hunbalt shook his head. "He's blind, isn't he?" "Yes, sir, I am," Vil said, "and it was better, maybe, to be blind just then. Little Etela was so affrighted me an' her ma thought she'd die. It was a hour I'd swear 'fore she stopped cryin'." "Well, you were scared, too," Etela said, and turned to me, holding on to me as the crew pushed our vessel free of the beach. "I'm still scared. They wanted to kill us, the bad dragons up there did, 'n they 'bout killed Toug. The white one chased them 'n said don't be scared ..." She hesitated, and I said, "You couldn't really hear her, could you, Etela?" "No, sir. Only she did. Then she grabbed me up, the first one. 'N she flew way up with me 'n I thought she'd drop me, 'n when we got way up there she did, only not hard, 'n then Toug said we had to go down where you was, and there was big snakes 'n Vil couldn't even see them, 'n a thingI don't know" She had begun to sob again. Toug comforted her. " 'N the nice one's gone, 'n the others are still here." She clasped Toug, trembling. Vil said, "You're takin' her someplace safe, ain't you, Master?" "I'm trying to," I told him. Our ship was going about, the rowers on one side pulling while those on the other backed water. Sir Hunbalt touched my arm and pointed. The dragons Etela feared so much were coming to earth, and three had resumed Aelf form. I nodded. Toug said, "I'll kill them." I was the first time he had spoken, and I was happy to hear his voice. Gylf, still guarding my clothing on the beach, clearly felt the same, standing and wagging his tail. I drew breath. "If I fight beside you? Sir Hunbalt and I, and the other knights?" Toug shook his head. "I just wish I had my big sword." "Alone?" "It doesn't matter." Sir Hunbalt nodded approvingly, but I said, "They would kill you, Toug. Setr alone would kill you." Toug only gripped Sword Breaker the tighter, freed himself from Etela, and went to the prow, looking out past the figurehead. "He's a knight," Sir Hunbalt whispered. I said that Toug himself did not know it. "A young one, but a knight." Sir Hunbalt paused, and his voice, when it came again, seemed to issue from the grave. "What a man knows hardly matters. It is what he does." He turned away, and did not speak again. Vil whispered, "Sick, ain't he?" "Dead," I told him. "So am I." "Not like him you ain't, sir." Etela clung to Lynnet, no longer having Toug to cling to, and Lynnet stroked her and calmed her. One of the crew brought a scrap of old sail, brown and having worked on it in white thread something that might once have been a feather. I tied it about my waist. Ashore, two knights came riding out of the wood, one leading a mount I knew at once. Gylf barked greeting. Garsecg called across the water. "Are these friends of yours?" Etela wiped her eyes. "That's Sir Svon, isn't it? 'N Sir Garvaon." That was; and when we had come nearer the mainland, I jumped from the gunwale, greeted them, learned that they had been searching for me for hours, and reclaimed my clothes and armor. Garsecg said, "You will wish to take your friends back to Mythgarthr. At a later time, Uri can bring you again. Then we shall discuss the crowns I plan to give you." I shook my head and spoke to Svon and Garvaon. "You come too late, both of you, for me to explain all that has happened here. Did you see dragons?" "One," Svon told me. "A blue dragon, very large. But it's gone now. I don't know what became of it." "It's here!" Etela burst out as she, Lynnet, and Vil followed Toug and Gylf ashore. "That's it!" "It is," I told Svon and Garvaon. "But certain other thingsthe ships and the knights you seeare not here." I sheathed Eterne as I spoke; and it was seen at once that the Knights of the Sword and the vessels that had borne them had been illusions born of the light that flashed from wave to wave. "Sir Svon." He looked nervous and a little frightened, but he nodded to show I had his attention. "You seek to prove yourself. Because you do, I promised to fight you not long ago. Queen Idnn is not here to watch. Do you want to prove yourself to her alone? Or to yourself as well?" "The latter." Svon stood very straight as he spoke, and I could see his hand itched for his sword. Garsecg turned to his followers. "This has nothing to do with you. You may go." One dove into the sea; two flew; the rest sauntered away grumbling, still in Aelf form. "You are courageous," I told Garsecg. "And hungry." His eyes were an emptiness into which whole worlds might vanish. I remarked to Svon that his wounds had not entirely healed; he said it did not matter. "As you wish. Sir Garvaon, you looked for death when we fought the Angrborn outside Utgard. You need not confirm or deny that. You know what you did, and I know what I saw." Garvaon did not speak; but Etela said, "He was really brave. Toug said so." "So was Sir Toug. We'll get to him in moment, Etela." Addressing Garvaon again, I said, "In a way, we come to him now. He has told me that when you led your men-at-arms out to take part in the fight that began in the marketplace, they appeared badly frightened. He thought it was because they were leaving the protection of the walls to war upon Angrborn. Yet they are brave men, they were led by a great knight, and they had fought Angrborn before and beaten them. I think they looked frightened because of something they had seen only a moment before." Garvaon still did not speak. "I haven't questioned them," I told him, "and I won't. What you did I judge to be no crime. Neither the first time nor the second." Garvaon did not speak, but there was hope in his eyes. I said, "When you left Lord Beel, did you offer to help Sir Svon search for his squire and his squire's slaves?" "Yes. We went out to look for them, found your camp, and thought it would be well to bring your horse along in case we found you, too. Your servingmen were packing your things, and did not object." "Thank you," I said. "I owe you a lot, and this is one thing more." I stopped to draw breath, not liking what I had to say next. "I must tell you that this blue man who speaks with us is called Garsecg. I dreamed of him, and you, once. In my dream he killed you. So it appeared." "Go on," Garvaon told me. "As you wish. If Sir Svon engages a dragon, and that dragon is Garsecg also, will you stand beside Sir Svon? You will have no, help from me." "I will," Garvaon declared. Etela whispered, "They haven't seen them." "They have," I told her. "They saw Setr as they rode up, and it is Setr they must close with. What about you, Toug?" I do not think he had expected to be asked; he looked surprised. "As the law would have it, you are merely Svon's squire. You have no duty to fight, only to save Sir Svon if he falls. You're wounded already, and the bone can't have knit in so short a time. Will you engage?" For the space of a breath, Toug's eyes met Garsecg's. "I won't fight," Toug said. "Never again if I can help it." "As you wish." I turned my back on him and pointed to Garsecg. "There is the dragon, Sir GarvaonSir Svon. He has been a friend to me, and I will not" Garsecg interrupted me; I think now that he spoke in order to have more time for the transformation, although I cannot be sure. "Did you fight Kulili? The white dragon? You swore you would." "I did." "Did you kill her?" I shook my head. "I never swore to take her life, and I could not have if wished to. I yielded, and she spared me." Just then Etela shouted, "Look out!" Garsecg had begun to change, his head lengthening and swelling. He dropped to all fours, and claws sprouted from his hands. He hissed, and fire and smoke wreathed his mouth and great leathern wings rose from his back. So swiftly did he strike that Svon had scarcely time to raise his shield. Setr's fangs pierced it even as his breath scorched it, and leather, wood, and iron were torn away. I held Gylf, who would have rushed into the fight if I had not. As if in a dream I heard Vil demanding that Etela tell him what was happening; and she, with a trembling voice, struggling to comply. Had either knight had time to mount, things might have gone differently. As it was, Setr went straight for Svon. Svon retreated, defending himself with his sword. As he did, Garvaon attacked Setr's left side, keeping his shield between Setr's head and himself. Twice his sword rang on Setr's scales. A thrust found softer hide behind a leg, and Garvaon drove the blade in. What welled forth might have been boiling pitch. Svon came straight for Setr then. I was proud of him, even as I knew his effort doomed. He thrust at Setr's eyes as Setr struck. His point missed by half a hand, slipping futilely along the bony plate that had been Garsecg's face, and Svon went down. Garvaon fought on as few men fight, cunning and bold. Setr was compelled to keep a forefoot on Svon, who struggled against it and stabbed beneath its scales with his saxe. Setr's weight was insufficient to crush him, and his hauberk saved him (largely, though not entirely) from Setr's claws. Setr's jaws closed upon Garvaon. That was a moment I would like to forget. At one instant, as brave a knight as woman has ever borne darted in to stab and slash, and out again before the dragon stuck. At the next, those terrible jaws had raised him high. Only to open at once, so that he fell dying to the ground. A monstrous figure to which I could put no name rode Setr's back. A moment more and that figure had broken, becoming Etela, who had slipped from Vil's broad shoulders and fled, and Vil, with a thousand hands about Setr's neck. No artist could paint it; but if one tried, he would show a chain of arms and hands, living and strong, that tightened until that scaly neck burst like a blasted tree. Setr reared in his agony, and Svon rolled from beneath his claw. Setr trembled, and fell dead. It was over. Rapture held me while sorrow groaned in a place too deep for words. But not for tears. I did not know I wept until I saw them fell on Garvaon's upturned face. "You knew," he said. "Tell her I loved her." Toug was bending over Garvaon too, and Svon, and Etela. Cloud came as well; and what she felt filled my mindthat a great and noble rider had passed, leaving all steeds the poorer. The air was as still as air can ever be; I heard a whistling wind nevertheless. Garvaon heard it, too. I saw his eyes turn upward. He smiled, that grim old knight. He smiled, and took the fair, white hand that had reached for his, and rose, leaving his stiffening corpse on the sand. Alvit helped him mount, for she had not yet kissed him and his wounds troubled him sore. I wished them good speed. Alvit, too, smiled at that, while Garvaon waved farewell. She mounted behind him, the white stallion leaped into the air, and in less than a breath all three had vanished in that bright mist that is our own Mythgarthr. "He's dead, sir." Vil knelt beside the corpse, his fingers on its wrist. Etela laughed; there was hysteria in it, and I urged Toug to comfort her. Svon said, "Sir Garvaon is dead, Vil, as you say. So is the dragon." Vil said nothing. "You went into battle with that child on your shoulders. You're a braver knight than I will ever be. So is she. I wouldn't have done what she did, not at her age or any age." Vil said, "She told me it was like to kill you, sir. We had to do something." "Without a sword and without armor." "What I had was better." Vil held out his hand to me. It was empty, but when he had passed his other hand across it, my bowstring lay coiled in it. "Here 'tis, Sir Able. I know you must a' seen it. I filched it. You know when. You want to sort me out, ask Master Toug. Only you got the right to do anything you want to, an' I'll tell him so." I took the bowstring from him and ran it through my fingers, feeling the lives of many, so very many, who dwell in America. I had passed beyond them, above or below them, and as they plowed and coded and traded, swept their floors and minded their children, we said our farewells. For a moment, my hands embraced them, and they embraced my hands. Perhaps Vil sensed that in some unimaginable manner; perhaps it only seemed so. However that may be, he said, "There are tricks you can do with a string like that, Sir Able, lots o' 'em. Making things that ain't there, soon's you move your hands, an' lettin' 'em cut it, only it's not really cut, you know. Only when you do 'em with that'n it's all different."
Although the air was warm, he shivered. "No," I said. "Hold out your hand again, Truthful Vil." He did, and I put the bowstring into it. "This was a gift, when I began, from a very great lady. Men name her Parka, and she dwells in our own place." "If you say it, sir." "But she is of the world above Skai, the second realm. She is thus higher than the Valfather, who serves her. Do you understand?" "I hope." Etela exclaimed, "Well, I don't understand at all!" She was standing beside Toug, her arm about his waist. Seeing them I understood that she was no longer Little Etela, and that in sober fact she had never been, in the short time that I had known her. I said, "Vil will explain it to you."