The Knight

I thought about how it would feel. “No, you can’t.” I dismounted. “But you may have the saddle to yourself. I’ll lead him.”

“I cannot ride while you walk!” She sounded indignant.

“Then you must walk with Uns and me.”

“I will climb the rocks,” she decided, “there is shade there.” For a time we saw her slipping into crevices like a shadow or springing from point to point like a goat, dodging the sunlight whenever the sun broke through the clouds; soon it seemed that she had faded into the wind.

“Dat’s a Aelf, Master,” Uns declared. “Her ‘n her sister come snoopin’ round couple times wilst I’se on da road, on’y I woun’t tell ’em nothin’.”

“It would have done no harm,” I said. “I’m glad they didn’t hurt you.” Uns chortled. “Oh, dey done wat dey might, Master, on’y ’twasn’t much.”

“It’s good that you can make merry about it, Uns. I don’t think most people could.”

He grinned; he had crooked, yellowed teeth. “Found ya, dint I, Sar? So aw’s fine, watever ’tis. Wat do I care fer dem Aelfs?”

“If you’re going with us,” I said slowly, “things are sure to be far from all right with you. We are already on the marches of Jotunland.”

Uns looked frightened.

―――

That evening we camped in the valley on the other side of the pass, in a place nearly level, where a tortuous path wound down a gorge to a foaming stream. I came to Beel’s pavilion there and found him conferring with Garvaon while Idnn looked on.

“Sit down,” Beel said when his servingman had fetched a folding stool. “Sir Garvaon and I have been discussing the dangers we face from this time forward. I was on the point of sending the sentry for you when he said you were waiting outside. You’re our best bowman, and that may mean a great deal.”

“But a poor swordsman.” I smiled wryly; I was tired, so tired that I was very grateful for the stool on which I sat and wished it had a back.

Garvaon shook his head. “Don’t you believe him, Your Lordship. He’s better with a sword than most, and improving every day. What about a little practice when we’re through here, Sir Able?”

“I’ll do my best.”

Idnn said, “Shame on you, Sir Garvaon. Look at him. He’s drooping like a lily.”

“Needs the fire to wake him up. Then he’ll be at me like a lion.”

I cleared my throat. “I’m tired, I admit. But I’ve had bad news today.”

Beel asked what it had been.

“I told you I’d leave you when we reached the pass where my servant waited, Your Lordship. I’m sure you remember.”

Idnn said, “I do.”

“Yet we’ve come beyond it, and I’m still here. I think I also told you that I’d sent Gylf ahead to let Pouk know I was coming.”

“Gylf’s your dog?” Beel inquired.

“Yes, My Lord.”

Idnn said, “May I borrow your cat again, Sir Able? I miss him.”

I spread my hands. “I’d gladly lend him if I had him, My Lady. Though he left you, he hasn’t returned to me.”

Beel said, “And your dog?”

“My Lord has run ahead of me. Gylf hasn’t returned.”

Garvaon said, “You’d better tell us.”

“I’ll be as brief as I can. My man Pouk seems to have thought the pass back there a suitable place for me to take my stand as I had pledged myself to do. He camped there, apparently for several days. We found the remains of two fires, and even the spot where he’d pastured the horses.”

Garvaon raised an eyebrow. “We?”

It was surely not the time to introduce Uri and Baki. I said, “My servant Uns and I. Uns was the crippled beggar one of your men-at-arms questioned. Separated from me, he’s been forced to beg.”

I waited for someone else to speak, but nobody did.

“Now I’m forced to beg for him, My Lord. He has no horse, and that’s what I came to see you about. Can you spare one? Or a mule—anything.”

“You found your servant’s camp,” Beel said. “Go on from there, please.”

“I found it, but they weren’t there. Neither my servant nor the woman I’d been told was traveling with him. Neither was Gylf. Or Mani, my cat, for that matter.”

“They had gone north?” Beel inquired.

“Yes, My Lord. They must have. There is only this one road, this War Way. If they’d gone south we’d have met them on the road. So they went north.”

Garvaon said, “Into Jotunland.”

Beel shrugged. “We ourselves are in Jotunland now. We entered it as soon as we left the pass and started down. No doubt we’re in more danger now than we were yesterday, but I can’t honestly say that it feels much different.”

Idnn said, “Do you think your servant—and this woman you say is such a mystery to you—would have gone north on their own?”

“Pouk certainly wouldn’t. What the woman might do, or might force or persuade him to do, I can’t even guess at.”

Garvaon grunted agreement. “Who knows what a woman will do?” Idnn shot him a glance. “Why, women do. Sometimes, at least.” Beel muttered, “This is no time to begin quarreling.”

“I’m not quarreling, Father. I’m explaining something Sir Garvaon ought to have learned for himself. But I’d rather Sir Able explained a few things to me. Can I ask you questions, Sir Able?”

I sighed, sagging on my folding stool. “Yes, My Lady. You may”