The Knight

On the other side of my bed was a little fireplace, only there was no wood and I did not have any way to start a fire anyhow. I decided I would have to ask Modguda about that, or get Pouk to get me something when he came. After that I got back into bed and hunkered down under the blankets, hoping I would not have any more dreams like that last one.

―――

“Lord? Lord?”

This time I was back on the Isle. I looked around and saw a lot of trees and flowers and birds.

“Lord?”

There were no spiny oranges, though. I wanted to find one and let it thank me for planting it, but I knew it could not hear me, and there were not any anyway What there was, was big red snakes. They were wrapping themselves around my legs, but that was good because my legs were cold and they felt hot.

―――

“Bite me, Lord. Bite me and kiss the bite, and your kiss will make you strong again.”

That woke me up fast. The room was as dark as it could be. There was a really skinny woman in bed with me, sort of tangled up with me and holding on to a part of me that other people were not even supposed to see. Her hands were holding my head, too, and pushing my mouth against her neck. “Drink! Drink!”

“Drink! Drink!” The other hand sort of squeezed and slid around. That was when I caught on that there were two of them.

I really did not mean to bite her. That is the truth, and I will swear to it any time. Only something way down deep inside me took over and I did.

It was like I was starving hungry and here was a roast about one minute out of the oven. What I got in my mouth was steaming hot and sizzling. Greasy and dirty and hot as hell. It tasted wonderful.

“Enough.” One was pulling and one pushing to get my mouth away. Pretty soon they did it, and I just lay there panting and thinking how good it had tasted.

When I got my breath, I hit the blankets with my hand and said, “Stop that, you!” What she had been doing felt wonderful, but it felt too wonderful, if you know what I mean.

Under my blankets where I had hit her there was somebody a lot warmer than I was. She said, “I am Uri, Lord. I meant no harm.”

It was dark in there like I said, so that when the other one stuck her head up beside mine and kissed my cheek I could not even see her face. She said, “You have drunk of Baki, Lord.” And like she had just won the game “Who can take you from me now?”

“Drink of me, too!” Uri came up then, squirming in between us. “I have found you at last!”

I said, “Ash Aelf in the dark. Bold Berthold talked about this sometimes.”

“Fire Aelf!” One laughed. “Did he tell you how lovely we are? Or how lovely you are? Your skin has taken on all sorts of beautiful colors.”

“Those are bruises,” I said. “If there’s some way you can see them down there in the dark, isn’t there some way I can see you?”

They glowed then. It was like they were copper or maybe brass, with a fire inside. They were not hot enough to burn me, but they were plenty hot. Uri jumped out of bed and sort of posed. “Look at me! Am I not beautiful?”

“He prefers me,” Baki told her. Baki still had me wrapped up.

I guess I did, because I went to touch her face and she licked the tips of my fingers.

“I have sacrificed myself to you,” she explained when she was through licking, “to make you stronger, and my lord forever. Sit up and you’ll see.”

“I will too,” Uri told me. “Bite me. Anywhere!”

I sat up and found out Baki was right. I also found out I was sweating and the room was freezing. Or anyway it felt like it was freezing. It was still spring, and pretty early spring, too, and the nights were cold. So I asked them to bring some firewood and tinder, and when they said they would I said to bring my clothes, and Sword Breaker, and my bow and quiver too. After I told them what Sword Breaker was, they promised to look.

For just a minute it seemed like the room was full of bats. Then the door opened. I saw a little red light out there, and the door closed again pretty hard, and I got up out of bed and wrapped a blanket around me. I did not feel good, but I did not feel that bad, either, except that I sort of felt like I had gone crazy. I opened the door, and the red light that I had seen had come from what they call a cresset. I did not know the word then, but it means an iron basket you can burn whatever you have in for light. There was one next to my door, and I found out later that they were all over the castle. I was glad to see it, because it meant I could light my wood there if I got any. So I went looking and found a room that had a woodbox next to the fireplace. I picked up the whole thing and carried it back to my room, and by the time Uri and Baki got back I had a nice fire going.

Chapter 34 Being A Knight