The Wizard (4 page)

CHAPTER FOUR TOUG'S MIRACLE

"This is convenient," Mani said, "but not comfortable. Walk that way, toward the big barn. Would it be possible for me to get into your cloak with you, kind master?" I shut it around him. "I thought you were Idnn's now." "I am indeed," Mani explained. "Lady Idnn is a person of distinction. Thus I'm her cat whenever it's advisable. I'm your cat as well, however, just as I was. A cat can't have too many friends in these wild northlands." "I see." "Not my mistress's ghost, I hope, since I don't see it myself. But I did, earlier. She's been hovering around us ever since we left her house, hoping to do us some good turn. Now, having gained information she believes may be of value toAre you aware that your dog is following us?" "Of course." I turned to look at Gylf, who glanced behind him. "I know," I said. "Don't worry about it." Bracing his legs against my arm, Mani stood up to see over my shoulder. "Something's going on between you two." "Nothing important, but you said your mistress's news was. What is it?" "A friend of yours has been hurt." "I'm sorry to hear it." I stroked Mani's head with my free hand. "I don't have many." "And another friend, knowing you could help her, is refusing to ask you to." My hand shut on Mani's neck. "Is it Disiri? Tell me!" "It isn't, I promise you. Another friend." "A woman." I pulled the hood of my cloak up. "I've forgotten so much, Mani. Who is it?" "One of those red Aelf girls. I forget her name, but they're pretty well interchangeable anyway." The barn was as dark as the gut of a tar barrel. "This way," Mani said. "Up in the hayloft. There's a ladder." "I know. I slept up there. It seems so long ago." "Your dog will have to stay here, I'm sorry to say." Mani did not sound the least bit sorry. "He can make himself useful by watching for intruders. Don't worry about me, I'll ride on your shoulder." "I'm not worrying about you," I whispered. "I'm waiting for the intruder. Talk about something else." "In that case I'll go up." Mani climbed to my shoulder. "And make sure she's still alive." From the hayloft, someone called, "L-Lord?" I was listening to the squeaking of feet in the new-fallen snow outside, and did not reply. Slowly, almost silently, the big barn door swung, and a vertical bar of starlight appeared. Toug slipped through, and I caught him by the shoulder, making him squawk. "If you want to be a knight, you mustn't scare so easy," I told him. "It helps not to shut your eyes tight, too." "I didn't mean any harm, sir." "I never thought you did, and a talking cat's bound to make anybody curious." "It wasn't that. I knew Mani could talk. He talked to me, and I think he talks to Lady Idnn. It was you, talking about Skai. It sounded so wonderful. I wanted to stay with you and learn more if I could." Above, the voice whispered, "Please, L-Lord Able . . ." Mani leaped, hitting the logs of the wall with a thump. After a few seconds, he called, "I think her back's broken." "I can't help her," I told Toug, "but you can. This is why you were awake when you should've been asleep, and why you followed us. Go up and heal her." As Toug mounted the ladder I told Gylf, "I'm going back in for a minute. You can come with me or wait here." "I'll come," he rumbled. We returned to the house and found a cup, and a big lamp made for Bymir. Outside, its flame fluttered in the wind, and I had to shield it with my hand. "I want you up there," I told Gylf when we regained the shelter of the barn, "and the hole Toug went through won't be big enough. See the big one where they throw hay down?" "Yep." "Put your forelegs on the edge and jump a little, and you ought to be able to get up pretty easily." Gylf said nothing. "The giant who owned this place stuck his head through there. So it's around twice my height." To see it better, I held up the lamp. "Say half a rod and a bit more. Still, it won't be too hard for you." "Can't jump that high." Gylf would not meet my eyes. "Maybe if I go up first, and call you?" After a long moment, Gylf nodded. Climbing the ladder without spilling oil from the lamp was anything but easy; yet I managed it, mostly by balancing myself, releasing the rung I held, and grabbing the next. It was a relief when Toug reached down and took the lamp. "There's an Aelf up here," Toug said. "I know. It's Baki, isn't it?" Mani peered over the edge. "That's right, Sir Able, and she's suffering terribly. She's most grateful to my mistress and me, but we've done all we can." "She wants you," Toug added. "She can't have me," I told him as I climbed into the loft. "I was hoping you'd fixed her by now." "I don't know how!" Somewhere beyond the lamplight, Baki moaned. I found her and sat on the straw beside her. "She's in pain," I told Toug, "and you're wasting time. Kneel here." He did. "Run your fingers over her. Gently! Very gently." "I can't do this." "Yes, you can. That's the point. You're a god to her. Not to me and not to Mani. But to her you're a god. This world of Mythgarthr is a higher world than hers." Toug tried, and nothing happened. "Think her whole. Healed. Imagine her healthy and well. Jumping, dancing, turning cartwheels. She did all that before this happened. Think about how she used to be." Toug tried, eyes tightly shut and lips drawn to a thin hne. "Is anything happening?" "No. It won't happen gradually. When it happens, it'll be over before it starts, and you'll know. You'll feel the rush of power that did it." "L-Lord," Baki gasped. "I can't help you," I told her, "but Toug can and will. Have you got faith in Toug? You've got to, or die." "You . . . drank my blood, Lord." "I remember, and I'd repay you if I could. I can't help you now. Toug has to do it." "Please, Toug! Iworship you. They will kill me for it, but I will worship you. I will sacrifice, burn food on your altar. Animals, fish, bread." Baki gasped. Her upper half writhed. "Every day. A fresh sacrifice every day." "Who do you swear by?" I made it as urgent as I could. "By him! By Great Toug!" "Not Setr?" "I renounce him." Baki's voice had to a whisper. "I renounce him again. Oh, try, Toug! Try! I'll build you a chapel. I'll do anything!" "I am trying," Toug said, and shut his eyes again. I bent over Baki. "Renounce him by both names, now and forever. Believe me, he can't make you well." "I renounce Setr called Garsecg! I renounce Garsecg called Setr. Always, always, forever!" "Your mother is . . . ?" "Kulili!" I laid my hand on Toug's shoulder. "She's a thing in your mind, and you can trust me on this. She's a thought, a dream. Have you got a knife?" He shook his head. "Only my sword." "I do." I took out the little knife that had carved my bow, and handed it to him with the cup. "Cut your arm, long but not deep. I'll hold the lamp so you can see what you're doing. Your blood will run down to your fingers. Catch it in this. When it's full, hold it so Baki can drink it." Shutting his eyes, Toug pushed up his sleeve and made a four-finger cut. "Hold it for her. Say Baki, take this cup." I steered it to her lips, and she drained it. Toug's eyes opened. "I did! I did it! Sit up, Baki." Trembling, she did. Her coppery skin was no longer like polished metal, and there was a new humanity in her smile. "Thank you. Oh, thank you!" She made obeisance until Toug touched her shoulder and told her to stand up. "I wish Gylf had seen this," I said, "but he's heard it, and maybe that's enough." Rising, I went to the wide hole in the floor through which Bymir had poked his head. "Here, Gylf! Get up here." Something huge and dark sprang from below, leaving mules and horses plunging and squealing. When it gained the loft, its weight shook the whole barn. Swiftly it dwindled, and was a large brown dog with a white blaze on his chest. I scratched his ears and sat down again; Gylf lay beside me, resting his massive head on my knee. "I'm going to have to explain a few things," I said. "Most especially explain to Baki why I couldn't help her after what she'd done for me. I don't like explaining, so I'm going to make you do it yourselves as far as possible." Baki said softly, "I don't understand about Gylf, Lord." "I don't think Gylf understands either. Do you, Gylf?" Gylf shook his head, an almost imperceptible motion. "He doesn't, so I'll explain that. But you understand a lot that the others don't, Baki. You must explain it now." "Must I tell them of Setr, Lord?" "You must tell them a lot more than that." I waited for her to speak, but she did not. Toug said, "Who are all those people you talked about? Setr and Kulili, and the other one." "I don't believe we mentioned Grengarm," I said, "but we might easily have included him as well." "I renounce him, Lord." I shrugged. "I know you do, but he's dead so it hardly matters. Who made you?" "Kulili, Lord." Toug said, "Kulili made her?" I glanced at Baki, and Baki nodded. "I don't understand that at all." "Mani's mistress made him, too. Or I think so. Do you want to tell us about that, Mani?" "I would if I could," Mani declared, "but I can't. I remember being a kitten and nursing, but I doubt that helps." "Could you talk then?" There was a hush that seemed long. At last Mani said, "Of course I could." I nodded. "There are elemental spirits, spirits like ghosts, though they've never been alive. Can you see them?" "Certainly." Cloud spoke in my mind. So can I, Rider. The men who were here are coming back with lights. Do you care? No. Aloud I said, "Kulili's the group mind of creatures who are largely unaware of their individual existences. Does that seem strange, Toug?" "I don't even understand what it means." "Let it pass. You're a group mind, too, and it may be better if you don't think about it. Kulili was thousands of creatures, but she had no friends. She made the Aelf to keep her company, shaping bodies of vegetable and animal tissues and chaining elementals in them to speak and think. They're long-lived." Toug nodded reluctantly. "Much longer-lived than we are. But short-lived as we are, we're immortal. Our spirits don't die. It's not like that for the Aelf. Dead, they're gone completely." I spoke to Baki. "Is that why you embraced heresy?" "No," she said. "Why did you? You have to tell me that. I don't know." As Baki drew breath, Toug said, "I still don't understand about Gylf, and I'd like to." "You will. Maybe you know that there are seven worlds. This is the fourth." Toug nodded. "Mythgarthr." "Right. Baki, start with the creation of the worlds." "Do you think it is really . . . ? All right. The High God made them. First He made servants for Himself, as Kulili did later. Then He gave them their own world. It was a reward for things they had done for Him. There was some evil in it. I don't know why." I said, "It had to differ from Him. Since He's perfect, anything that differs must be wrong some way. Go on." "They did not like that, so they collected as much as they could and put it into a place He made under theirs. Now we call their world Kleos, the World of Fair Report, because it is so nice. The world under it is Skai." "Where you were?" Toug asked me. "It didn't seem evil. It sounded wonderful." "I spoke of the Giants of Winter and Old Night." "I said evil," Baki continued, "but I should have made it clear that much was merely badness, imperfection. It was all one thing at first, a giant named Ymir, alone, violent, and miserable. Some servants of the Highest God surrendered their places in Kleos and went down to kill him. They did, but they could never go back." For half a minute, perhaps, all of us were silent. The voices of muleteers floated up from below, with noises made by horses and mules. The flickering light of the muleteers' lanterns shone up through the hatch and the cracks in the floorboards. I got up and went to the hatch. "You're worried about the uproar," I called down. "You don't have to be. They're over their fright, and it won't happen again." "I don't understand," Toug said when I sat down. "What does killing a giant have to do with making her well?" "Baki?" "The servants of the High God have His ear in Kleos." Seeing he was expected to speak, Toug said, "All right." "Those who left no longer had it. They had to ask their brothers to intercede. They multiplied, and their children knew no other place. Their brothers became their gods." Mani touched my arm with a tentative paw. "What about the giants up there. Sir Able? Where did they come from?" "From the body of Ymir. When Ymir died, pieces of him still lived. Ymir was vast beyond our imagining." "The Highest God made another world below Skai," Baki told Toug. "It is where we sit talking now. Mythgarthr, the Clearing Where Tales Are Told." I said, "The Overcyns, by which we mean our own gods in Skai, needed a place to throw what remained of Ymir, you see. That was the plea they made their brothers, and they promised they'd cleanse their own world of evil as far as they could, casting it into Mythgarthr, with the rotting flesh of Ymir, his blood, and his bones. We call his bones rock, his flesh earth, and his blood the sea." "That's horrible!" I shook my head. "The living giant was horrible, as those parts that lived on are horrible still. A dead man is horrible. Have you ever seen one? Not a man newly dead, but one who has begun to decay?" Slowly, Toug nodded. "But a dead man returns as trees, grass, and flowers. So with Ymir. It's useless to condemn the evil he was. That is gone. The good he has become remains. If we won't bless it with our lips, we must bless it in our hearts every time we see a sunrise or a flowering meadow." "You said the Lady lived in a meadow," Toug reminded me. "A meadow where flowers bloom all the time." "So I did. We call those flowers stars." Baki said, "You know how our race came to be, but I do not know how yours did. If you want Toug to learn it, you must tell him." "I know," Mani declared. "The giantsnot those you talked about, but giants like the one who built this barnwere oppressing the cats. Men were made to help the cats." I smiled. "And where did those lesser giants come from, wise cat?" "From Skai." "Correct." Mani looked pleased with himself. "I knew that had to be right, because it's the only place they could have come from, and there were giants there already." "A long time after the death of Ymir one of the Overcyns coupled with a giantess." I spoke so softly that Toug had to lean forward to hear. "I don't know how long that time was, thousands of years for them, and I think it likely that it was more than thousands. The Overcyn was Lothur. Some say he's a son of the Valfather's." Mani said, "His father must have been some Overcyn." I nodded. "Unless he was one of the group that left Kleos, which some allege." Baki said, "Will you tell us the name of the giantess?" "You know it already. Angr's kids, the Angrborn, were not strong enough to resist the Overcyns, but the Overcyns didn't want to kill them, because they were their relatives. To rid Skai of them, they sent