The Knight

I said, “Okay, if this stuff burns good I’ll love it no matter what color it is.” I quit rubbing and got out my flint and firesteel. The first good shower of sparks got me a hissing, popping yellow flame.

“See?”

“I sure do.” I was picking up dead wood to throw on my fire. “You know, you’re a really nice cat.”

“You saw me?”

“Yeah, when you ran up into the loft. That was you.”

“You don’t hate us? Many men do.” The cat popped up out of some wild-flowers on the other side of the glade. It was awfully small for a person, and it was a darned big cat, maybe the biggest I ever saw.

“I like you,” I said. “I’d like to pet you. I mean, when I get my hands clean.”

“You could lick them, couldn’t you?” The cat did not seem very sure about that but was willing to try it on me. “My name’s Mani, by the way.”

“I’m Sir Able of the High Heart,” I said. “Pleased to meet you, Mani.”

By the time I had a good big fire going, Mani was rubbing up against my legs.

Chapter 47. Good Master Crol

“Rabbits. Best I could do.” Gylf dropped them near my head. “But I found it.” I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “You found the War Way?”

“Yep.”

“That’s wonderful!”

Gylf grunted and lay down. I could tell he was tired. “People, too.” I was cutting off the head and paws of the biggest rabbit so I could skin it.

“Nice people?”

“Tried to tie me up.”

“I see. Were they woodcutters or something?”

He took his time with that one. Finally he said, “Don’t know.” I was busy pulling off the skin.

“Cook for me?”

“Sure. The whole rabbit if you want it. You caught it, after all.”

From a limb about ten feet up, Mani said, “You might pass that head, if there’s no call for it down there.”

Gylf growled.

I picked the head up by the ears and tossed it into the leaves where Mani could grab it. “Mani’s our friend,” I told Gylf.

He just shook his head.

“I think you’d better get over this business of not talking while he’s around. It’s not like he’s a man or a woman or even one of the Aelf. He’s an animal like you, and he’s heard you already. In fact, you talked to him when I wasn’t there.”

“Right.”

“Thanks.” I rubbed his ears. “You’re the best dog in the world, you know that? You’re my best friend, too.”

From up on the limb, Mani said, “Do you know some Aelf? That sounded like it.”

“Yes, and when we met I thought you might be one. But there was a little sunshine while we were building the fire, and you didn’t dodge it.”

“I’m a cat,” Mani explained.

Gylf curled his lip.

“I get it. Gylf, how about if you tell me what you and Mani were talking about when I came into the cottage? Is it something I ought to know?”

He shook his head until his ears flapped. “Nope!”

“Are you ashamed of what you said? We all say stuff when we’re mad that we’re ashamed of afterward.”

He was quiet.

“We say it,” I said, “but it takes a big dog to admit it.” I felt kind of silly then, but to tell you the truth I would a lot sooner talk to animals than to most people.

“He’s ashamed of having spoken to me,” Mani explained, “exactly as I am ashamed of having spoken to a dog. You will recall the meat you left in front of our fire.”

That reminded me of the rabbits, and I got back to work.

“He was gobbling it,” Mani continued, “when I, being famished, skillfully snatched a piece from under his greedy nose.”

“I see.” I got up to cut a green stick.

“He called me names, dog fashion. Vile epithets. I pointed out that he himself was a mere vagabond who had entered my mistress’s home without the least invitation or exculpation in law. He informed me—I omit his insults—that he was the dog of a noble knight, giving your name.”

I put the rabbit I was going to cook for Gylf on my stick. “I notice that you didn’t try to steal any meat while I was cleaning this.”

“I hope to persuade you to cook some fraction of one of your remaining rabbits for me,” Mani said politely.

“But you’re still eating the head,” I said, positioning the rest of the rabbit over the fire.

“True. I thank you for that.”

“So Gylf gets the first piece. After that, I get a piece, because I’ve never had any yet. But I’ll give you another piece when we’ve gotten ours.”

“I am confident of your generosity.”

“Will you talk when there are other people around? Gylf won’t.”

“Good news! Let them come and silence him.” Mani let the rabbit’s skull fall. “As for me, it will depend on who they are, I suppose. How they feel about cats and so forth. I’ll have to see.” He began to wash his paws.

“So will I. Do you object to a test?”

He did not reply, and I took his silence for agreement. I called, “Uri! Baki! I need you.”

I was expecting one or both to step out of the darkness of the surrounding trees, but neither did.

“Uri! Baki!”

Mani coughed politely. “Yelling like that could bring us unwelcome guests, if I may say it without offense.”

“They’re mad at me for making them stay up here when the sun is out,” I explained. “Sunshine doesn’t really hurt them much unless they stand in it, but they don’t like it.”

“Uri and Baki are of the Aelf, I take it. Watch that meat of ours, please.”