The Dragon in Lyonesse

by Gordon R. Dickson

  "Well…" said Jim; and found that he had no words ready to his tongue.

  "Of course," went on the QB, "in magick there is also one more, who is Merlin. But he no longer uses his magick now; and would not, I think, even to save Lyonesse. But the trees altogether are not to be thought less of. When our great Arthur was a boy, his royal lineage a secret even from him, the trees would reach down to him as he passed; and if he stood before a fire, the smoke would curve toward him before going upward."

  "You see there, my Lord?" said Hob. "The smoke's never wrong. It never makes a mistake!"

  "James," said Brian, deeply and solemnly, "it is like you to so hide your true nobility that you do not realize it yourself. I have always been impressed by that in you."

  There was no point in explaining how wrong they all were, thought Jim hopelessly. He would never convince them, anyway.

  "Well, on other subjects," he said, to get them all on to something else, "I'm very grateful to the trees if they're the ones who rescued us from Northgales's castle just now. How can I thank them?"

  "They are already thanked by your thinking of it," said the QB. "But I, also, am glad you are safely away from there and from any other of the Witch Queens, who are each very dangerous and unpredictable—even to each other. It is strange, but the Old Magic has never seemed to set limits upon them."

  "Trees, and the Old Magic—how do they divide up their powers between them? I mean—which has what power?"

  "There is always power in trees and growing things, the running waters, the earth and rock, Sir James. The Old Magic is apart from those others and all that to them belong; but in its own way it fits with and works with them."

  "But you think," said Jim, "it wasn't the Old Magic but the trees that got us out of that castle just now?"

  "Does it matter?" asked the QB.

  "Yes, it does matter," said Jim. "Brian and I came here hoping to join whoever might be willing to fight the Dark Powers. But we can't seem to find any."

  "Do not think of the Old Magic as an ally, then. Accept its presence, only," said the QB.

  "You're not helping," said Jim.

  "It is better," said the QB, "to know you are unholden, than hope for help when there is none. But perhaps I can be of more aid if we talk further. What did you think to gain from the Queen of Northgales?"

  "You'd said earlier none of the Queens had forces of fighting men. I wanted to find out how they were able to keep their power without them."

  "Lyonesse lives because Arthur lived and because he and his Knights live on here, unforgotten. To this the Old Magic is agreed, and the trees and creatures also. Each in their own place. If fighting is to be done, it is the Knights' part to defend their ground; which is the ground of creatures and trees as well."

  "Seems a little one-sided to me," said Jim.

  "Have you never known a time when your last friend had been slain beside you; and you found yourself alone?"

  "I don't think so. No," said Jim cautiously.

  "I have," said Brian unexpectedly.

  "When someday you do—as I think all must, Sir James," said the QB, "you may be surprised. You will feel naked, and perhaps a certainty of life's end; but, strangely, also a great relief such as you never felt before. For death and all things now are in your hands, alone. Come what may, all decision is yours at last, and none can take it from you."

  "By all things good!" said Brian. "It is true, James!"

  Jim turned to look at him. Brian's eyes were shining.

  "You never told me," he said.

  Brian opened his mouth, hesitated, closed it again.

  "Someday," he said. "Not now. Mayhap it shall not be for some years yet, or until after you have known it for yourself. Then we may talk together, each of his own moment—but without that in common how will we know our words speak of the same thing?"

  There was a little silence. Brian broke it.

  "Ah, well," he said. "We could have saved ourselves a visit to Northgales by asking the Lord QB here instead. But we did not know that—and, indeed, I cannot quarrel with his words that Arthur's Knights should defend the land they hold. But that they should do so alone, though surrounded by magick that can, however, not fight by their side… it seems neither fair nor right."

  "It seems as if that's how things are, here," said Jim. "But I wanted to see Northgales, anyway, to see what other Witch Queens were like."

  "I must confess I wanted that, too—and damned odd this one was! But we missed an interesting lance meeting with that champion of hers."

  "Just as well we missed him," answered Jim. "But I admit it was the talk I wanted most. Only, I also wanted the Queen to want it as much as I did."

  "James, you should have told me."

  "I know I should, Brian; but there wasn't a chance." And just as well there hadn't been, thought Jim. Brian was the last person to play a part successfully. His instinctive habit of being straightforward about everything would give him away every time.

  "But after all, we learned nothing from her."

  "Not exactly," Jim said. "I learned something about the Queen herself. She let us in, hoping to learn what we knew about the Dark Powers; not only to check on what Morgan le Fay must have told her, but gambling she'd pick up something that would give her an edge over Morgan and the other Queens."

  "How can you be sure of that, Sir James?" asked the QB.

  "The fact she really didn't want us to leave, even when she told us to go. That's how I could force her to order us to stay. Once she did that, she'd effectively admitted she was interested in what we could tell her about the Powers. When I didn't give her much, she got ready to play rough. She was hoping one of us would help her up and be weakened enough by her heat-stealing so she'd have an excuse to keep us with her in the castle and work on us some more. She misjudged the way we stand by Hob."

  "Certainly, her request for aid from you in her own house was unlikely enough," said the QB. "Perhaps she thinks you have a magick which will work against that of the Dark Powers?"

  Jim became aware he was frowning, and stopped doing it.

  "Oh, I don't think she does," he said, sounding as confident as he could. "I don't believe the Dark Powers have any magic at all—in the sense we use the word. But also I have to think they're immune to magic, as we know it. Our magickians in the world above have always fought them off by guile, or by defeating their creatures, instead of any other way. If magic worked against the Powers, I'm sure the Collegiate of Magickians would have used it before this. No, our magic can't touch them; but their magic won't touch us directly, either. They've got to use their monsters or human allies to take anything by physical force."

  "Then you are telling me they must have fighters to take our Lyonesse?" said the QB.

  "That's right. They'll have to have a fighting force, men of some kind. I suppose Morgan could contribute the knight I met in the Dedale Woods—and some others; and Northgales could contribute that knight who was ready to fight me, and perhaps others, but that's not putting together much of a force compared to Arthur's Knights and their male Descendants. It beats me how the Powers are planning to do it."

  "Sir Dinedan—the current Descendant of the Sir Dinedan, that is—who we met the first time through Lyonesse—" volunteered Brian, "seemed a goodly knight to oppose villains… though somewhat given to fits of weakness and falling from his saddle."

  "But why fighting men, especially?" said the QB dubiously.

  "How else?" exploded Brian impatiently. "Only we can hold what we win. Ogres could not. Worms could not. Harpies could not. It takes unending wit and effort to hold. Le fort main, our Norman forebears called it when they came to England—'the strong hand'—it is continually needed to keep what you have gained against the rising of those conquered, or attempts by others to wrest it from you!"

  "I must bow to your superior wisdom," said the QB unhappily. "And if that is so, we have the Knights and their families—those that have them. And seemingly the Dark Power
s have none. But then, why the attention to you by the Witch Queens? Why would the Queens help the Dark Powers here in Lyonesse at all?"

  "Perhaps the Queens think we know where the Powers are going to get the army that's needed, and they don't," said Jim. "As for our concern, the Powers have never been known to show up or try to influence anything unless they had some way of getting what they wanted—"

  "Army," echoed the QB. "You are speaking then of a host of foemen?"

  "Yes." Jim was aware of a sudden chill in the back of his mind. If what he had just said always held true, why had the Dark Powers appeared at Malencontri as they had? To frighten him and his friends off from helping Dafydd and getting involved in Lyonesse? If so, it hadn't worked.

  Because Jim, Brian, and Dafydd had won against them before? Unanswerable questions. The Powers did not think like humans—if they thought in any real sense at all. They might be merely a great, complicated bundle of reflexes.

  Think about that later, he told himself firmly. The QB was talking again.

  "—for Lyonesse, we can add to the Original Knights not merely their Descendants, knights themselves, like King Pellinore's three famous sons, but as well many of the good creatures that live in our land. True, opposing them could be some of villainous breed from the borderlands between us and the Drowned Land—like those giant, black-furred, club-carrying creatures you were about to be assaulted by on your first visit here, had I not come by in time to order them back. But it is hard for me to believe that magick… particularly the Old Magick…"

  His voice trailed off.

  "… But I must take your advice on it," he went on, after a second, "since you are those who have fought and won against the Dark Powers before. But I must confess the idea of a host to oppose our Knights and conquer Lyonesse like some ordinary kingdom never occurred to me. How would such a host come here—and without our knowing of it?"

  "That's a question," said Jim. "But I've been thinking about it; and there'd be one way, at least. Remember when the Gnarly King that was had captured my young ward, he was hand in glove with Agatha Falon, half sister to my ward and someone out to get rid of the boy so that she, not he, could inherit the family wealth."

  "What has that to do with this, James?" Brian frowned at him.

  "Just that Gnarly messengers went back and forth between Agatha at Windsor Court and the Gnarly King. I saw one of them in a dungeon at Court. He'd come, apparently, by digging a tunnel to the dungeon from Gnarlyland—they're great diggers…"

  "That is true," said the QB. "We know that much of them."

  "All right," went on Jim. "So this one supposedly tunneled from Gnarlyland to the Court. But anyone with any knowledge of magic at all knows neither the Drowned Land nor Gnarlyland, nor Lyonesse, can be simply dug to from our land above. Somewhere along that tunnel, and probably not too far along, there had to be magic involved to make the far end come out in a place that otherwise couldn't be reached."

  "But is there indeed such magick?" said the QB. "In some hundreds of years I have never heard any, Merlin or other, speak of it."

  "There is," said Jim. "There's something called a Witches' Gate—you remember, Brian, how I mentioned that when we went from the sea into the Drowned Land?"

  "You did, James. But you said it was nothing of concern—something simple, I believe you called it, for witches only."

  "Right. It was developed by witches originally to let them into the houses of other people they wanted to reach. It's simply a little spell that can turn things inside out; so that the witch, instead of being outside the wall of a house, is then inside it. But it could be used just as well to move to such places as Gnarlyland, or the Drowned Land—to some spot inside them."

  "James, is this indeed true? For I have never heard of it happening to no man, woman, house, nor other what-have-you."

  "It is, Brian. Believe me. It's just that for some centuries now it's been all but forgotten; because any who hold to a faith, who suspect witchery coming against them, are able—by wearing or putting the symbol of their faith between them and the witch—to bar that small piece of magic from working. Any faith honestly held, any true symbol of it, blocks the powers of a witch as effectively as a shield blocks the spear strike or sword blow."

  "But could it be used to bring in many men against us?" asked the QB.

  "I think it could," said Jim. "But whether it could bring a large number in all at once, or just keep importing one or two at a time, I don't know. I'm only an apprentice magician, remember, and I've only picked up a few scraps of knowledge about Witchery. But an accomplished practitioner in the Art ought to be able to set up such a thing; and once set up in a particular spot, keep it in operation there, bringing in their men as they need. And certainly Morgan le Fay is accomplished, after all these hundreds of years of being a Witch Queen."

  The QB was wagging his snake's head slowly.

  "And where might we look for such a Gate?"

  "Somewhere in Lyonesse—or perhaps in the Drowned Land—those men will be gathering. The Gate itself would be camouflaged—hidden—of course, if only so that those who came through it wouldn't be tempted to use it in spite of being ordered not to. But it will be somewhere near where the men are. We'd be wise to look around for such a gathering place."

  The QB shook his head again.

  "It does seem wise, as you say," he said. "I can ask both the trees and the animals. But time means nothing to them outside of the present moment. We might not hear back from them for weeks, after it is found. But in any case, Queen Morgan le Fay may already know of such a host to use this strong hand you spoke of; and if she does, she is already before us. But how she found them I cannot guess."

  "I don't think Morgan would have gathered them," said Jim; "though she may have helped whoever did. Most likely, the Dark Powers were hand-in-hand with whoever did it. The danger is, though, that they're already here."

  "These Powers ordered these men here?"

  "No. They can't directly control humans. The best they can do is offer someone bait, or a bribe of one kind or another, to get whoever it is to work for them; then he or she locates men who will work without caring about the consequences. That's why I think their bait-taker in this case is Morgan. Who else could call together an army to Lyonesse?"

  "No one," said the QB promptly. "No one but our great King Arthur. But he would never raise a host to fight against his own Knights and this land. In any case he is not here—if he were, all Lyonesse would know it."

  Jim shook his head at this.

  "It doesn't make sense," he said. "The people of the Drowned Land, a land next door that Lyonesse ordinarily has nothing to do with, knew the Dark Powers were trying this. Even our own magicians in the land above know about it—that's why we're here, Brian and I. The Dark Powers just have to have that host, someplace; and someone in Lyonesse has to know where they are and how they were gathered. If it's not Morgan who's gathering one for the Powers, then who?"

  He looked hard at the QB.

  "It's true—I can think of none other," the QB said. "But it may be that answer to the whole matter is beyond us. It may be that the time of fire is on Lyonesse, when it will sink forever back deep under the sea, to be known no more. But it has always been believed that day would only come when Arthur and all of us who knew him are forgotten by those in the world above, where History lives." He stopped for a moment, then went on.

  "But I would caution you, Sir James, about asking such questions as you have just asked, here in Lyonesse. You, Sir Brian, and the small hobgoblin, I think, know nothing of how you escaped from the Queen of Northgales's castle. Best, perhaps, I tell you, after all. I did not plan to, since speaking of the Old Magic too much can be perilous."

  There had been a change in his tone of voice as he spoke; and he was looking very steadily and hard at Jim. .

  "I am right, am I not. You do not know?"

  "No," said Jim.

  "Then I will tell you, whether it brings us all
good or ill. Look at the sky of Lyonesse. Have you ever seen a cloud in it?"

  Jim looked up, instinctively. So did Brian and Hob—and so, startlingly, did the horses.

  "I don't remember ever seeing one," said Jim.

  "It would be strange if you had, for centuries have gone by, without one appearing. But there was one came into view above the castle of Northgales, but a short time ago; and when such a cloud comes, if it covers the sun, then for the time that the sun is hidden, darkness holds Lyonesse—a dark as of the night in which you spoke to Merlin."

  There was no good reason why a shiver should run down Jim's spine, but one did; and he found himself chilling all over as he had chilled holding Hob and warming him back to life.

  "When that cloud came, and covered the sun, there was the darkness I speak of—and in that particular darkness you, Sir Brian, the Hob, your horses, and all they carried left the castle in less than the thought of a breath, to find yourself here where you are now."

  Jim shook off the shiver.

  "Why tell us this just because I wondered who else besides Morgan le Fay could raise an army?" he asked.

  "I tell you to remind you that the Old Magic is powerful beyond imagining; and always with us. I said it only to warn you, because such a cloud is not likely to be seen again in your lifetime…"

  His sibilant voice died. He lifted his slit-pupiled eyes once more to the sky. The rest of them looked with him.

  A small, harmless-looking, fluffy cloud was over their heads, moving toward Lyonesse's sun. As they watched, it touched that white star, eating into it as the moon eats away the sun during an eclipse of earth's star. Rapidly, the light dimmed; until suddenly it was gone completely and each of them stood isolated in blackness.

  Just as suddenly, it was bright day again.

  "—But this is not Lyonesse!" cried the QB.

  Chapter Nineteen