Swan Knight's Sword (Moth & Cobweb Book 3)

by John C. Wright

  Gilberec said, “Hounds and horses of the elfs! In King Arthur’s name I greet you! In my veins is the blood of Adam, first of man, who named you. I speak with his authority. Will you promise not to track me, you hounds, nor follow me, you horses and steeds?”

  One voice barked, “You are not including me in that, are you?”

  Gil said, “Vertifran? Is that you?”

  5. Riddle Me This

  Not long after, Gil was seated on his horse beneath the frost-touched black trees. Sunlight shined on each tiny twig, which was coated as if with diamond, and shined shadows of white light on the snow. A dozen red cardinals, red as holly berries, were perched along the swan wings of Gil’s helm, or on his shoulders, saddle horn, or horse’s head. Rabicane seemed not to mind. Every now and again a cardinal would land on Gil’s shoulder and give him a report of where the nearest elf knight hunting for him was, and how their horses and hounds were leading them astray, or into what brakes and briars, thorn bushes, frozen ponds, or other troubles and turmoils.

  Ruff said, “I did not figure out your last two riddles. What did they mean? Why did King Brian laugh?”

  Gilberec said, “He was laughing at the May Queen because I insulted her.”

  Ruff cocked his head to one side, one ear up, the other dropping.

  Gilberec said, “Do you remember the question?”

  Ruff said, “Four things have eyes but can never see: one in the tailor’s hand is found, one in sky and one in ground, the final one in thee.”

  Gil said, “Four eyes see not and never will: the eye of the needle threaded with thread; the eye of the storm where the air is still; the eye by which potatoes spread; the eye of the fool who will not relent made blind by a heart which will not repent.”

  Ruff said, “So you called Ethne the Fomor a fool? That is kind of harsh, you know.”

  “Not harsh. Just truth.”

  “How so?”

  Gilberec looked grim. “Ethne offered me gold when my mom is working her last shift at a wine bar out of the mere kindness of her heart for a boss that cheats her. Should I be less than my mother? She offered me glory when I serve King Arthur of Camelot. She offered me women when I have a girl. It was a foolish temptation to offer someone who survived the Green Knight. Practically an insult.”

  “And why did King Brian turn pale? I thought he was going to puke. Wait! Wait! I remember your line: Ever more and ever more at end of days you have of me. The more you have, the less you see. What am I?”

  Gilberec said, “That is a child’s riddle. I thought everyone knew it.”

  “What’s the answer?”

  “Darkness.”

  Ruff nodded sagely. “So you were saying the Darkness is eating up the elfs in the Night World, right?”

  Gilberec nodded, and there was a grim look in his eye that had not been there before. “I wonder if, in years to come, a way can be found not just to overthrow the elves but…”

  “But what?”

  Gil shook his head. “You’ll laugh.”

  “Maybe. But we’re friends, so tell me anyway.”

  “Can elves be saved?”

  Ruff just blinked and scratched himself. “I don’t know that riddle. What’s the answer?”

  Gilberec said nothing.

  “Gil? Gil…?”

  6. Green Knight’s Squire

  Vertifran, once again bright green and in his shape as a horse, eventually came trotting through the trees, neighing. On his back, wrapped in a golden lion’s pelt and wearing a lion’s skull for his helmet, was Sir Bertolac.

  He halted. Vertifran stomped his hooves in the snow.

  Vertifran said, “Younger brother!”

  Ruff said, “Hey. You are bigger and greener than the last time we met. What is the idea of running off with my boy and leaving me alone? Do you know how nerve-racking it is to drive full speed down a human highway in a stolen dogcatcher’s truck, with all these Americans on the wrong side of the road? I am law abiding, so I stayed to the left, like in civilized countries.”

  Vertifran said, “I just got a better disguise kit than yours. Fooled you. So shut your yap!”

  “My yap! Your yap!”

  “Yap! Yap!”

  Bertolac dismounted, and took out an iron nail, and touched it to the green steed. Immediately, the beast shrank and changed into a large white dog with red flanks.

  Rabicane said, “That is disturbing.”

  Bertolac said, “Vertifran! Guard!” And the white dog, with the black form of Ruff following after, still yapping and arguing, loped over the snow, to make wide circles and warn of anyone approaching.

  Bertolac said to Gil, “My dog gave me your message, Swan Knight. But what service can I do you?”

  Gil said, “Prove to me you are in King Arthur’s service so that I will know to trust you.”

  Bertolac said, “The suspicion is a fair one to have. Will this do?” And out from his pouch he took a diamond shield inscribed with a red cross. Across the top were the initials of the Special Counter-Anarchist Task Force, Heterodoxy Enforcement Division. Along the bottom, it read: THE LAST CRUSADE.

  Gil said, “The Faceless Man in the Black Room told me he was recruiting a new member. I assume that is you.”

  Bertolac shrugged and put the badge away. “If you like. I can think of one task of training you would be wise to ask of me, a man who is twice your height and more, whom wounds do not wound, and mortal wounds do not kill. You wish to learn to fight giants.”

  Gil said, “The Faceless Man spoke of recovering the Grail.”

  Bertolac said, “You have much training, training hard enough to break you, if you let it, waiting before you, young knight. I will train you as my squire, but only on your promise to obey me in all particulars, as a squire obeys his knight, until such time as Arthur wakes and commands us to some other war.”

  Gil said, “Before I promise, answer me this: Will the elfs ever be overthrown?”

  Bertolac said, “Christian men never know the outcome of their battles, but in return they never need doubt the rightness of their cause. We know that on Earth, during this life, evil is both more seductive and more powerful than good, strong and cruel and even brave. Devils also have their martyrs.”

  Gil said, “Your words give me small hope.”

  Bertolac now touched the iron nail he held in his glove to his nose. Apparently, it had to touch his flesh to work. Tiny lights flickered over his body and vanished as the spell keeping him small began to dissipate. His lion skin and armor, lance and shield and sword grew with him.

  He drew in a deep breath, and by the time he was done, he was twice the height of a tall man. In a booming voice now he spoke, “Put no hope in horse, swords, or strength of arms. Put no faith in princes. Even Arthur failed at last, and no kingdom was ever closer to Heaven’s good grace than his and David’s. The sea will rise, the darkness fall, and the gates of Hell will open. But we Christian knights are assured of final victory, not through our strength, but through our faith in the strength of the Almighty, of whom all kings of Earth are mere shadow and reflections. In Doomsday our victory is certain. Ere then, were are in a fallen world, and all hands are set against us. If you are afraid, flee now. Go live below the sea, and you will escape the worst of what is to come.”

  Gilberec said, “Whenever you like, you may cease to tempt me, Green Knight. I will work for the downfall of the elfs and the liberty of man until I fall or the quest is achieved. Do I pass this test as well? I tire of them.”

  The giant nodded. “I have asked Alberec to send me to the Tower Dolorous in Terregaste—ah! Pardon me!—the Tower Joyous, and look for you there. It is a simple enough matter for my art to make the tower seem deserted and empty from without and well adorned and furnished within, and I can return to Alberec and report I saw no sign of you.”

  Gilberec said, “I don’t know the way.”

  Bertolac said, “I know. I have been the guest of Alain of Corbenec for many a joust and feast. Summon
the Swanskiff, and we can pass over the wide waters. In that wasteland, no one will see our drills and exercises and mock battles. You have much to learn, and the lessons will not be easy or pleasant.”

  Gilberec, without a word, dismounted, and knelt, and put his sword at the feet of the giant. He clasped his hands together, and Bertolac put his huge, warm palms, one to each side, and clasped Gil’s clasp within his clasp.

  When they were done exchanging oaths, they called the dogs back and went down to the waterside. Gil put one foot in the water. He said, “When I blow the horn, the elfin knights and searching creatures will hear. Elfs, Cobwebs, I do not know how many people are looking for me.”

  Bertolac said, “I must dwindle to enter your skiff, but when we come to land again, I can call my ax to my very hand even from a distant land. Once it is known that the Green Knight kills any creature of the Night World or Twilight World who meddles with his squire, such spies and huntsmen will find more entertaining prey. Elfs are too long lived to be serious creatures, too craven to take serious risks.”

  A red cardinal said, “Son of Ygraine, we birds shall speak to the trees. In this season, oaks are weak and pines are paramount. All the paths of those who seek you will be bent away from your true route, and not a single footprint in the snow shall point the way to you.”

  Gil thanked the red birds, and they flew in each direction.

  Ruff said, “I talked with Nerea. Now that you are no longer a secret, she told her dad about you. Glaucon Moth. He can raise a storm on the sea to throw off any pursuit, without the storm touching you or your boat. You have a lot of relatives hidden here and there in the world who can help you in small ways.”

  Gil rubbed the dog behind the ears. “Good thinking!”

  Ruff wagged his tail. “I am a smart dog! A good dog!”

  Gil raised the horn. The clear voice of the horn blast rang out and echoed from sea and sky. When the red swan boat arrived, Nerea was holding the silken reins, and the sea-winds were beginning to blow, promising storms to come.

  Nerea said, “How’d it go? Are you an elf lord now? Or will you return to the world of men?”

  Gilberec said, “I am a Moth, at home in no world. And finally, finally, I know exactly where I fit in.”

  And he kissed her.

  Rabicane, Bertolac, Vertifran, and Ruff embarked. Gilberec put his arm about Nerea, and took the silken reins in his other hand, and called out to the swans.

  The hunting horns, soft and silvery, of the pursuing elfs sounded dimly from the slopes of the black mountain behind them. The storm winds and whirling snows gathered to the left and right, but, as promised, the path before was clear.

  East they fled and sought the rising sun.

  * * *

  Here ends GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE

  The Tales of Moth and Cobweb continue in

  WINGED VENGEANCE’S SIDEKICK

  Fiction

  An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity by J. Mulrooney

  Brings the Lightning by Peter Grant

  Loki's Child by Fenris Wulf

  The Missionaries by Owen Stanley

  Fantasy

  One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright

  The Book of Feasts & Seasons by John C. Wright

  Iron Chamber of Memory by John C. Wright

  Moth & Cobweb 1: Swan Knight's Son by John C. Wright

  Moth & Cobweb 2: Feast of the Elfs by John C. Wright

  Moth & Cobweb 3: Swan Knight's Sword by John C. Wright

  A Magic Broken by Vox Day

  A Throne of Bones by Vox Day

  The Wardog's Coin by Vox Day

  The Last Witchking by Vox Day

  Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy by Vox Day

  The Altar of Hate by Vox Day

  The War in Heaven by Theodore Beale

  The World in Shadow by Theodore Beale

  The Wrath of Angels by Theodore Beale

  Science Fiction

  Awake in the Night by John C. Wright

  Awake in the Night Land by John C. Wright

  City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis by John C. Wright

  Somewhither by John C. Wright

  Back From the Dead by Rolf Nelson

  Big Boys Don't Cry by Tom Kratman

  Hyperspace Demons by Jonathan Moeller

  Mutiny in Space by Rod Walker

  Alien Game by Rod Walker

  QUANTUM MORTIS A Man Disrupted by Steve Rzasa and Vox Day

  QUANTUM MORTIS Gravity Kills by Steve Rzasa and Vox Day

  QUANTUM MORTIS A Mind Programmed by Jeff Sutton, Jean Sutton, and Vox Day

  Victoria: A Novel of Fourth Generation War by Thomas Hobbes

  Military Science Fiction

  There Will Be War Vol. I ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. II ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. III ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. IV ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. V ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. VI ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. IX ed. Jerry Pournelle

  There Will Be War Vol. X ed. Jerry Pournelle

  Riding the Red Horse Vol. 1 ed. Tom Kratman and Vox Day

  Non-Fiction

  4th Generation Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind and LtCol Gregory A. Thiele, USMC

  A History of Strategy: From Sun Tzu to William S. Lind by Martin van Creveld

  Equality: The Impossible Quest by Martin van Creveld

  Clio & Me: An Intellectual Autobiography by Martin van Creveld

  Four Generations of Modern War by William S. Lind

  On War: The Collected Columns of William S. Lind 2003-2009 by William S. Lind

  MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again by Mike Cernovich

  Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth by John C. Wright

  Astronomy and Astrophysics by Dr. Sarah Salviander

  Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting by David the Good

  Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening by David the Good

  SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day

  Cuckservative: How “Conservatives” Betrayed America by John Red Eagle and Vox Day

  On the Existence of Gods by Dominic Saltarelli and Vox Day

  On the Question of Free Trade by James D. Miller and Vox Day

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