The Knight

“So put them away. If you leave them on the table, I’ll take them, I swear.” He hesitated, then nodded and picked them up. “They tried to get me into th’ search party, sir. Second did, sir. Nur’s his name.”

“What search party?”

“Searchin’ th’ ship, sir. I dunno if they found anythin’.”

I thought I knew what they had been looking for, but I asked just the same.

“A dog, sir.” Seeing my face, Pouk backed away. “Just a big dog, sir. Lookout seen it swim out to th’ ship, sir, an’ climb aboard. Last night it was, sir.”

“But you don’t know if they found it?”

“No, sir. Like I said, sir. Second was after me to help look, only I was movin’ cap’n’s things out so I could put yours in, sir. Food’s in that ’un, sir, an’ beer’s in th’ corner there, an’—”

I held up my hand. “Just a minute.”

“Aye aye, sir. Only I want to say, sir, that’s another reason you need me, sir. Crew’ll come in an’ pinch it, sir, when you’re not in here, sir. Food, particular. Only I’ll be here an’ they can’t, sir.”

“And you won’t?” I tried to smile.

Pouk looked shocked. “Course I will. Only feedin’ one’s not like feedin’ twenty.”

“I suppose not. And you may find that you can steal less than you think. They haven’t found the dog, Pouk. I know that. But I want you to ask about him just the same. Find Megister Nur, or whatever he’s called, and tell him I want to know.”

“Aye aye, sir. Only I was wonderin’, sir. When we was ashore an’ you seen that big dog, sir, you—”

“Forget that.” I felt tired and I wanted to be alone, even if it was just for a minute or two. “Go ask Megister Nur like I told you, and tell me what he says.”

When Pouk had gone, I took out the foreign mace I had bought in Irringsmouth and looked it over carefully. The four corners of the blade were as sharp as broken glass. The end was cut off square, a diamond-shape that somebody had painted red. I thought I would file it sharp, like a spike, and went out and found a sailor. He said the carpenter might have a file, so I sent him to borrow it. He did, but when I tried to reshape the end of the blade the file would scarcely scratch it; so I told myself that if it were sharp the whole thing would be too much like a sword anyway. Disiri was going to bring me a sword, I thought, because I did not have one; and when she did, I would see her again. So I gave the idea up.

After that I barred the door, took out my gold, and stacked the coins on the table, all while wondering what I had stopped Pouk from saying. That the brave knight Sir Able had turned pale when he saw a half-bred mastiff? That he had started as if he had seen a ghost?

That big black shape I had seen when Gylf killed the outlaws, a dog as big as horse, with dripping jaws and fangs half as long as my arm, had been the Valfather’s dog. One of the Valfather’s dogs, and he had a whole pack of them. Nine or ten? Fifty or a hundred? For a minute I wondered about the Valfather. What was he like, what could he be like, if he had dogs like that? I still wanted to get to his castle in the sky. In Skai. It was crazy, but I did. I wanted to go there and take Disiri with me.

I still do.

After that I looked at all the coins, counting them and really looking at them, comparing one to another. They were gold ceptres, and when I had finished I still thought they were all the real thing. When we divided up the money, I had given Ulfa and her father the copper and brass and all the silver. All the foreign coins, too; there had been a good many of those, and a lot had been gold. I had kept only the gold ceptres for my share, and I was not sorry I had, either.

Some were a little worn, but a lot were new or nearly new. I took one of the new ones to a window where I could see it clearly in the sunlight. There was a big mace on one side, not like mine but a fancy club with a crown. On the other was the king with his face turned sidewise, just like that man on the quarter. There was writing underneath his picture, probably his name, but I could not read it. It was just a bunch of marks to me. I looked at the king and tried to think what he might be like because I knew that even if I worked for Duke Marder, Duke Marder worked for him. He was young and handsome, but he looked tough and maybe a something out past tough. Like he would do whatever he wanted, and if you did not like it you better get out of his way and keep your mouth shut.

After that, Pouk knocked on the door, and I put my gold away and let him in. He said they had not found the dog, and “Second” said it had probably jumped off the ship again, or else the lookout had been seeing things. Pouk said, “It’s your dog, ain’t it, sir?”