The Knight twk-1

by Gene Wolfe

  The toe of the black boot nudging Ulfa grew until it filled the bowl, which held only ashes floating on wine.

  “Listen!” Garvaon rose.

  I rose, too, and listened; but I heard nothing except the moaning of the wind—an empty moan, as if the thing that had come into it was gone.

  Idnn and the servingman were helping Beel to his feet. In another moment Garvaon was in the saddle and clattering away.

  “Our camp is being attacked,” I told Idnn; I got Mani off my shoulder and handed him to her. “I have to go. Stay here ’til I come for you.”

  She shouted something as I rode away, but whether she had pleaded for me to stay, or wished me good luck, or begged me to keep Garvaon safe, I had no idea. I wondered about it, and other things, as I spurred the stallion down the steep mountain road.

  * * *

  For a minute it seemed trees were walking where the camp had been. No fires remained, and no pavilions. My stallion shied as something large and loud hit the ground beside it.

  I got my bow and quiver from behind the saddle and slid off the stallion’s back. Somewhere in the darkness, another bow sang.

  A second stone flew, hitting the white stallion. He screamed with pain and galloped away. Bracing the foot of my bow against my own, I leaned my weight on the supple wood and fitted the looped bowstring into the notches at the bowhead.

  I pulled an arrow to my ear and let fly. A hundred paces off, the giant who had been stoning the white stallion bellowed, a noise like thunder.

  I sent a second arrow after the first, and a third after the second, guessing at eyes I could not see.

  The giant crumpled.

  * * *

  Dawn found two weary knights making their way back up to the pass. My white stallion was lame, and I walked more than I rode, giving my saddle (a big armored one that weighed as much as some men) to Uns to carry.

  Garvaon could have outdistanced us easily, but he seemed too tired even to urge his horse forward. The scabbard that had held Battle Witch hung empty. Then Idnn waved to us from a point of rock not far below the snow line, and he drove his heels into his horse’s sides and disappeared around the next bend.

  “Ah, love!” sighed an insolent voice not far from my ear; I looked around, surprised, and saw Uri on my stallion. “You’re back!”

  She grinned at me. “No, that is my sister.”

  “Aren’t you afraid Uns will see you up there? He’s not very far behind us.”

  “I care not a whit if he does, and I will leave anyway as soon as you are out of this shadow.”

  I stopped, biting my lip while I stroked the stallion’s muzzle. “I told Lord Beel about you and your sister. I had to.”

  “She is not really my sister. We just say that.”

  “Aren’t you angry?”

  Uri grinned again. “It will make a lot more trouble for you and for him than for us. Did you explain that my sister and I are your slaves?”

  I shook my head. “I called you my friends. I wanted him to come up here when he tried to see where Pouk was for me, and he promised to if I’d answer one question, a complete answer. I’ve forgotten the words he used, but that was what he meant.”

  “And did you?”

  “Yes. I kept my promise, and he kept his. He wanted to know why I couldn’t use my own powers to look for Pouk, and I had to explain that the only way I had to look for him was to send you two after him.” I paused. “I didn’t tell him your names.”

  “That is well.” Uri smiled.

  “I said I’d sent Gylf after Pouk and now you two were trying to find out what happened to Gylf.”

  “Nothing complicated. A giant had caught him and had his slaves chain him up. We know all about chains, but we had to go back to Aelfrice for tools, and then come back up here, and then find him again because they had moved him. Where’s your cat, by the way? Have you lost that, too?”

  “He’s with Lady Idnn.”

  “He isn’t.” Mani jumped to the top of a boulder. “He was with Idnn when she waved, but that other knight came running, and I thought the least I could do was come down here to meet you. She didn’t want me around right then anyway.”

  Uri said, “I am surprised you knew it.”

  “Meaning I’m intruding on a tete-a-tete between you and my own dear much admired master, the renowned knight Sir Able of the High Heart. He has only to ask me to leave, and I’ll vanish in a flash of black far lovelier than your own dingy whatever-it-is color. Master?”

  “You may remain if you choose.”

  “A lawful decision.” It was Mani’s turn to grin. “The law being that the cat may do whatever he wants. You are his slave, young woman? I believe I overheard you say that.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I’m his cat, a much higher post.”

  I motioned to Uri. “Uns is coming around that last bend, so unless you really don’t care if he sees you—”

  She slipped off the stallion and stood under its head. “Baki is returning our tools, and I came to tell you your dog is free.”

  “Is he coming back here?”

  “No thanks for a hard task well done? I told her you’d be ungrateful.”

  “I’m grateful. Very grateful. But I’d hoped to thank you both together, and we haven’t much time.”

  “I’ll run down and see to it that Uns falls over me,” Mani suggested.

  Uri sneered. “He cannot see two strides ahead. Just look at him.”

  I did, and he was bent nearly to the ground. “I’ll put the saddle back on the horse when he gets here.”

  “He is a true man, at least, just as I am a true Aelf.”

  Mani made a cat-noise of contempt.

  “But your dog is something more, Lord, and this cat is less natural than I.”

  “The Bodachan gave Gylf to me,” I said, “he says they raised him from a puppy.”

  “But was he theirs to give? They fear cold iron.”

  A hundred steep strides down the War Way Uns called, “Master! Sar Able! Wait up!”

  Chapter 60. What Did You See?

  H e had sounded out of breath, and it occurred to me that he might have been calling like that without my hearing him for an hour or more. “I’m waiting,” I yelled, “and we’ll put that saddle back on him when you get here.” I looked around for Uri.

  “She skedaddled,” Mani told me, “though I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s hanging around to spy on us.”

  “I wanted to ask her whether Gylf was coming back,” I explained. “As a matter of fact, I did ask her. She just didn’t answer.”

  “I can,” Mani declared. “Ask me.”

  “You can’t possibly—” I looked down the road again, but saw only Uns. “All right, I will. Is Gylf coming back here?”

  “Of course not. I know you won’t take my information seriously, but no, he isn’t.”

  I just stared at him.

  “You want to know how I know,” Mani continued. “Well, I know the same way you ought to yourself. I know because I know your dog. Better than you do, obviously. You sent him to find this Pouk?”

  “Yes. You were there.”

  “So was Sir Garvaon, so you two didn’t talk. But if you sent that dog to hunt Pouk, he’ll hunt Pouk ’til you tell him not to. Or until he loses the trail completely and has to slink back and report his failure.”

  Uns caught up with us soon after that; and I took the saddle from him, put it on the lame stallion, and mounted. Mani had jumped onto the saddlebow while I was tightening the cinch.

  “You need a rest,” I told Uns. “I’m going to join Lord Beel and his daughter, and Sir Garvaon, in the pass. After that, we’ll come back down. I want you to wait for us right here.”

  Uns shook his head stubbornly. “My place’s wid you, Sar Able. Be long quick’s I kin.”

  “As you like,” I told him, and touched my heels to the stallion’s sides.

  He made off at a limping trot; and when Uns was no longer in sight, I said
, “I suppose you think I’m mean.”

  “Well, he is crippled,” Mani conceded, “but I have a firm policy. Never feel sorry for birds, mice, or squirrels. Or for men, women, or children save for a few close friends.”

  “It’s because he’s crippled that I treat him as harshly as I do,” I explained. “He could have gone on living with his mother, and done little or no work, and his brother would have continued to take care of him when she was gone. That was why he left.”

  “I know the feeling,” Mani said. “Every so often you want to get outside and hunt for yourself.”

  “Exactly.” We were nearly at the pass, and I slowed the stallion to a walk. “He wants to be useful—to do real work, and sweat and strain and share his master’s fortunes.”

  Mani remained silent.

  “I’ve made myself a knight. That’s high up for a poor kid that lost his folks early. Uns is scared he may never have a spot at all. I’m trying to show him that he’s got one—that somebody wants him around for what he can do, and not just because they feel sorry for him.”

  “Over here, Sir Able!” It was Beel’s servingman. “His Lordship is waiting for you.”

  I neck-reined the limping white stallion, who picked his way reluctandy among the rocks.

  “Were you speaking to me before I hailed you, Sir Able? If so, I couldn’t hear you. I apologize for it most humbly, Sir Able.”

  “No. I was talking to my cat. You have nothing to apologize for as far as I know.”

  “Thank you, Sir Able. That is most gracious of you. They’re over there, Sir Able, by the rill. Perhaps you see the horses.”

  I nodded. “His Lordship didn’t want to camp where Pouk had, I take it.”

  “Pouk is the gentleman—?”

  “He’s my servant.” I had to touch the white stallion with my spurs. “He camped here to wait for me.”

  “Ah. I see, Sir Able. His Lordship felt it might not be wise for us to cook and sleep and—and to live, so to speak, Sir Able, in the area in which he had his vision.”

  Very softly and politely the servingman cleared his throat. “I myself was not privileged to witness it, Sir Able. From what His Lordship and Her Ladyship have said in my hearing, it was most impressive.”

  “It was,” I agreed.

  The servingman’s voice fell. “His Lordship is eager to consult you concerning it, Sir Able. You may wish to prepare your mind.”

  Beel was seated on a stone, as I could see by then. He seemed to be deep in some discussion with Idnn, seated upon another, and with Garvaon, who stood behind her holding the reins of his horse.

  A moment later Beel looked up, waved to me, and rose. “The horse I gave you was hurt in the fight last night. Sir Garvaon has told us. I wish I could give you another.”

  I dismounted. “I wish you could, too, My Lord. There are few horses and mules left, though, and a lot of those that are left are in worse condition than mine. He has a bruise and it’s tender and sore, but I don’t think the bone’s broken.”

  “You beat them, though.” Beel smiled.

  “We didn’t, My Lord. We fought them. That’s the most that can be said. Our men—I mean Sir Garvaon’s, and yours—are proud of that.” I paused to let him talk, but he did not.

  “It doesn’t hurt them,” I continued, “and may do good. But as for me, I don’t think it’s enough to have fought. I’d rather win.”

  Idnn said, “You killed four. That’s what Sir Garvaon just told us.”

  Beel added, “An amazing feat.”

  “Two knights and twenty archers and men-at-arms—”

  “Twenty-two,” Garvaon put in.

  “Thanks.” I nodded. “So six of us for each we killed. We should have done much better than that.”

  “That’s not fair!” Idnn exclaimed.

  “Of course not, My Lady. This was a battle. Nothing was said about fair.”

  “I mean you’re not being fair to Sir Garvaon and his men!” She looked angry.

  Garvaon started to lay a hand on her shoulder, but did not. “Sir Able slew one single-handed.”

  “Then he’s not even being fair to himself!”

  Beel said, “Did you, Sir Able? If you did, you deserve much more than that stallion I gave you.”

  “It was dark, My Lord. I couldn’t see how many of us were fighting him.”

  “Did you see any others?”

  “That isn’t the point. My Lord.”

  “Answer my question, Sir Able. Were you aware of anyone besides yourself engaging the Angrborn you slew?”

  “No, My Lord.”

  “There isn’t a knight in Thortower who wouldn’t preen himself on such an exploit, Sir Able.” Beel looked toward Idnn and Garvaon for confirmation, and got it. “Yes, by Holy Skai! And paint one of the Angrborn on his shield, too, with frost on his beard and a club in his hand.”

  “Then I’m glad I’m not a knight of Thortower, My Lord. As for my shield, Pouk has it. It’s plain green, and it will stay like that ’til I do something better than I’ve done so far.”

  Idnn rose, her hands on her hips. “Listen to me.”

  “I have before now,” I said, “and I’ll hear you gladly again.”

  “Fine! You were both away when they came. The men-at-arms and archers had to fight without you, but they didn’t run like the servants did, they fought as well as they could. How long did it take you to get down there from here? An hour, I swear!”

  “Less than that, My Lady.”

  “An hour, and riding fit to break your necks, both of you. But you plunged in, horse and man, and you did all two men could do, fighting in the dark against giants as tall as that rock.”

  “Not quite.” I sighed. “My Lady, I don’t want to argue with you.”

  Beel chuckled. “But you will, Sir Able, just the same. Before you do, I have one question for you. I have asked it of Sir Garvaon already, and he has answered. Will you answer too, fully and fairly, this time without a bribe?”

  “I didn’t ask for a bribe, My Lord.”

  “Without setting conditions. Will you?”

  “Yes, My Lord. If I can.”

  “Did you fight horsed, or on foot? Horsed, I’d think, since your horse was injured.”

  “On foot, mostly, Your Lordship. Mostly with my bow. May I ask why you want to know?”

  Beel’s smile faded. “The day may come, Sir Able, when I have to lead a hundred knights against the Angrborn. I hope it doesn’t, and in fact I’m resolved to do everything in my power to ensure that it doesn’t. And yet, it may. I’ll try to lead them bravely, but it would be well to lead them wisely, too—if I can.”

  Idnn said, “You knights care little whether you live or die. We have to care more than you yourselves do. I said we, but I mean men like my father and my brother.”

  “You,” Beel told her, “if ever you are a queen.”

  I saw Garvaon’s jaw drop when he heard that. As quickly as I could, I said, “I rode into the fight, My Lord, but it seemed like the Angrborn I was after could see my horse, so I got off. That was when my horse was hurt. After that I shot arrows, trying to hit his eyes.”

  Beel nodded thoughtfully.

  Idnn asked, “How many Angrborn were there? Does anyone know?”

  “I don’t, My Lady.”

  Garvaon said, “My men have told me there were a score or more. I’m not sure, myself, that there were so many. When I saw them in your father’s bowl they seemed fewer, though more than ten.”

  “You saw them in my bowl?” Beel asked eagerly.

  “Yes, Your Lordship. So did you, I’m sure.”

  “No—no, nothing of the sort. I’ve talked about this with Idnn, and it seems that each of us saw something quite different. Tell me exactly what you saw. Everything!”

  “My wife’s deathbed.” Garvaon’s voice was without expression. “She died in childbirth, Your Lordship.”

  Beel nodded. “I remember.”

  “Her bed, and me kneeling beside it. The m
idwives had taken my son. They were trying to revive him. I was praying for Volla when one came in to tell me he was dead, too.” The slightest of tremors had entered Garvaon’s voice; he paused to rid himself of it.

  “At that point Sir Able said we were seeing the past.”

  “Yes, I recall that.”

  “What I was seeing in the bowl changed. I saw our camp instead, and Angrborn coming out of the hills to attack it. More than ten. But not a score. Thirteen or fourteen, they might have been.”

  Idnn said, “Sir Able must have seen them, too, because he told me there was fighting down there.”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t. Sir Garvaon looked up and told us to listen, then ran for his horse. It wasn’t hard to guess what he had heard.”

  “What did you see, Sir Able?”

  Chapter 61. All Of You Must Fight

  “Nothing you would think important, My Lord. I saw myself receiving the accolade , then my servant and a woman I know beaten by one of the Angrborn ...”

  “Yes?” Beel said eagerly. “What is it?”

  “There was one thing then that may be worth telling you about, My Lord. A big building—a lot of thick towers with pointed roofs off in the distance. Maybe it matters, because the Angrborn who beat Pouk and Ulfa seemed to be going there. Do you know what it could have been?”

  For a second it seemed Beel would not reply. Then he said, “Utgard, I believe. Utgard is King Gilling’s castle. I have never seen it, or even spoken with anyone who has. But there are rumors. A mighty castle on a plain? A castle without a wall, guarded by a wide moat?”

  “I didn’t see the moat, My Lord. It was too far away for that.”

  “His Majesty has a plate with a picture painted on it. No doubt you’ve seen such plates?”

  “With pictures? Sure.”

  “It is supposed to have been painted by an artist who had spoken with a woman who had escaped from it.” Beel looked thoughtful. “I came here to make peace with the Angrborn, Sir Able. No doubt I have told you that before.”

  “You mentioned it, My Lord.”

  “Did I say that it was a last, desperate effort? No? Well, it was. We’ve tried to talk with them before. All those talks failed, perhaps only because we could not speak with anyone in authority. That was His Majesty’s thought, Sir Able, and I concurred. My daughter and Sir Garvaon have heard all this before. They will have to excuse me.”