The Knight

“I’m sorry, My Lord. I guess I haven’t been around barons very much.” He waved his hand like it did not matter and drank some wine, which gave me the chance to drink a lot of mine. My mouth felt like the inside of an old shoe, and the wine was cool and tasted great.

“You wish to go to the summit of my mountain and look over the countryside.”

I said, “Yes, My Lord. If it doesn’t put you to a lot of trouble.”

“It might be arranged, Sir ... ?”

The servingman had told him, but I said, “Sir Able of the High Heart.”

“So now you want to carry your heart high, and the rest of you, too.” Thunrolf laughed at his own joke. His laugh did not make me like him better, but pretty soon he said, “Have you supped?”

“No, My Lord.”

“You’re hungry? You and the man with you?”

“We sure are.”

“I see. You might sup with us, Sir Able, but if you do, two points must be settled before supper. The first is the rank of your companion. You told Master

Egorn that he was a friend.”

I nodded.

“Not another knight?”

“No, My Lord. Just a friend. Knights can have friends that aren’t knights, can’t they?”

“Not a man-at-arms?”

“No, My Lord. Pouk’s a sailor.”

“I see.” Thunrolf drank some more wine.

I did, too, but then I decided I had better stop. My lips felt funny. “Say, rather, that I don’t see. Your friend told Atl he was your servant. I sent

Master Aud to speak with him, and he told Master Aud the same thing. One of you is lying.”

I tried to smooth it over. “Pouk is afraid people won’t think I’m very important, My Lord, and of course I’m not. He wants them to think I am, so he says that. Maybe it would be true if I could afford to pay him, but I can’t.”

“You’re poor?”

“Very, My Lord.”

“I thought as much. Here is the other difficulty I mentioned. We have a custom here. I ought to say my knights do. Barbaric, if you ask me, but the custom is the custom.” Thunrolf belched. “A new knight—you are a knight?”

“Yes, My Lord. As I told you.”

“I know you did. I hadn’t forgotten that. A new knight must fight their champion. With blunted swords, on the table before supper. He must fight him—excuse it—for a wager of one ceptre. You look stricken, Sir Able. Are you afraid to fight?”

“No, My Lord. But ...”

“But what?”

From the way he was looking at me, I knew he thought I was scared and I did not like that, but there was not a lot I could do about it. I said, “Well, for one thing, I don’t have a ceptre, My Lord.”

He opened a drawer in the table and rummaged around in there and pulled one out. “I do,” he said. He held it up. “Should I lend it to you?”

“Yes, My Lord. Please. I’ll pay you back if I win, I promise.”

“And if you lose?” He was looking at me with his eyes almost closed. “Because you will lose, Sir Able. Never doubt it.”

“I won’t be able to.” Talking about bets like that, I remember the forfeits

Pouk and I had paid with when we raced. I said, “Maybe I could do you a favor instead, My Lord. I’d do just about anything you wanted.”

“Anything, Sir Able?”

I was pretty sure I was getting into trouble, but right then I did not care much. “Yes, My Lord. Anything.”

“Well and good.” He tossed me the ceptre. “I have been nurturing a little notion. We will have to go to the top of my mountain, which should suit you very well. A good plan, you see. Good plans fit together, like—oh, stones in a wall. That sort of thing. So you will get to go to the top of my mountain, as you wish, and I will have my plan, as I wish.” He poured me some more wine and made me clink glasses with him.

I drank a little bit more. “There’s another problem, My Lord, only I don’t think it’s as bad. You said blunted swords, and I won’t use a sword. Can I use this instead?” I took out Sword Breaker then and showed her to him. He held it for a minute and sort of waved it around the way you do, and gave it back. “I am afraid not, Sir Able. It’s a mace. You said so yourself.” I said okay.

“Which makes it much too dangerous. I don’t want to see anyone killed. I will find something else for you. Have you got a shield, by the way?” I said no, and he said he would see about that, too.

It was already time for supper, so we went down to the hall. There were a lot of people there already and a lot more coming in, and we were standing there watching them when Pouk found us. He said he had not found anything for us to eat or drink, either, but maybe somebody there would let us have something.

So I explained that we could eat with the others as soon as I fought up on the table like Thunrolf wanted.

Thunrolf pointed to a place and made Pouk sit down. Then we went up to the head of the table and he explained to me that knights sat up front close to him at the high table. A knight’s friend that was not a knight himself ought to sit at the far end of the high table with the men-at-arms, so that was where he had put Pouk. Servants sat at the low table that was close to the door, and did I want to change anything? I said no.