The Knight. Part 38

"Hundreds, Lord, the way you're going." I told them to follow me. When the fight was over, the dead horses and mules had to be unloaded and their loads put on the ones we had left. Then we had to put the dead people on top of the loads. We got going again around midnight, and we traveled until it was light, with Garvaon out in front and Gylf and me out in front of Garvaon maybe a hundred or a hundred and fifty paces. The sun came up right about when we came out of the gorge and onto a mountain meadow that had thick green gra.s.s and even wildflowers. It slanted like the deck of a s.h.i.+p with the wind hard abeam, but it looked really good to us by then anyway. We stopped and unloaded the animals and put up the pavilions. Most of us went to sleep then, but Garvaon and a dozen men-at-arms stood guard, and Gylf and I went back to where the battle had been. Mani went with us, riding on my saddlebags.

We stayed in that meadow all day and all night. The next morning Beel sent for me. The table was up, just like before, and there were two folding chairs. "Sit down," he told me. "Breakfast should be here in a moment or two." I said thank you.

"You climbed the cliffs to fight the Mountain Men. So I've been told, and 342.

once I caught a glimpse of you up there myself. Or so I believe." I nodded. "I'm gratified, My Lord."

"Great stones fell among us." Beel sounded like he was talking to himself.

"And bodies, too. The corpses of our foes. While the mules were being reloaded I amused myself, and Sir Garvaon as well, by examining them by lantern light. Perhaps you did the same, Sir Able?"

"No, My Lord. I had to go back for my horse." I would have pa.s.sed on breakfast just then if I could have gotten up and gone out of that pavilion.

"I see. Normally I breakfast each day with my daughter, Sir Able. She is not here today. You will have observed it, I feel sure."

I nodded. "I hope she's not sick."

"She is well and uninjured. Thanks to you, in large part, I believe."

"I'd like to believe that too."

Beel made a steeple of his fingers and sat looking at me until the food came.

"Help yourself, Sir Able. You need not wait on me." I said I would rather wait, and he took a smoked fish, and some bread and cheese. "I like to breakfast with my daughter."

I nodded like before. "She must be good company, My Lord."

"It gives me an hour or so in which to speak with her. I am busy, often, all day."

I said, "I'm sure you are, My Lord."

"There are many of my rank, and of higher rank than I, who do little work, Sir Able. Little if any. They lounge about at court, and lounge equally on their estates. Their stewards manage their estates on their behalf, just as mine does for me. Should the king try to persuade them to fill some office, which as a sensible man he seldom does, they beg off on one excuse or another. I have endeavored to be a man of a different stamp. I will not trouble you with all the o ffices I have held under our present Majesty and his royal father. They have been varied, and some have been onerous. I was First Lord of the Exchequer for near to seven years, for example."

"I know it must have been a hard job," I said.

Beel shook his head. "You may think you do, Sir Able, but you really have no idea. It was a nightmare that seemed it would never end. And now this." I nodded, trying to look sympathetic. 343.

"Breakfast gives me one hour a day in my daughter's company. I have tried to be mother and father to her, Sir Able. I will not say I have succeeded. But I have tried."

Beel sat up, straightening his shoulders. He had not eaten a bite. "I sent her off this morning to breakfast with her maids. She was surprised and pleased." I said, "She can't really have been pleased." I had not eaten either up to then, and I decided I might as well start.

"Thank you, Sir Able. She was, however. I sent her away because I wanted to speak with you. Not as a knight, but as a son, for I wish with all my heart that the Overcyns had vouchsafed me such a son as you."

I did not know what to say. Finally I said, "That's a great honor, My Lord."

"I am not trying to honor you, but to speak the truth." Beel paused; I think to see how I felt about what he had said. "Men like me, n.o.blemen high in His Majesty's councils, have no great reputation for truth. We are careful about what we say and how we say it. We must be. I have lied when my duty demanded it. I did not enjoy it, but I did it to the best of my ability." I said, "I've got it."

"Now I am going to tell you the truth, and only the truth. I ask to be believed. But I ask more. I ask you to be as honest with me as I am with you. Will you do it?"

"Of course, My Lord."

Beel got up and went to a chest, opened it, and took out a roll of parchment.

"You have a manor, Sir Able? Where is it?"

"No, My Lord."

"None?"

I said, "No, My Lord," again.

He sat back down, still holding the parchment. "Your liege sends you to take your stand in the Mountains of the Mice. For half a year."

"I hadn't heard them called that. But yes, he does."

"It is the designation the Angrborn use. We name them the Northern Mountains for the most part, or merely instance some individual range. Why do you think the Angrborn speak of them as they do?"

I put down the slice of bread I had been about to eat. "I can't imagine, My Lord, unless it's because there are many mice here."

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"There are no more than in most places, and fewer than in many. They name it as they do because of the men that you fought last night. They are the sons of the Angrborn--sons that the Angrborn have fathered upon our women. I see that I have surprised you."

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CHAPTER 50.

WHO TOLD MY DAUGHTER?.

I took a bite of bread, chewed it, and swallowed. "I hadn't known such a thing was possible, My Lord."

"It is." Beel paused, his fingers drumming the table. "I suppose it must be painful for the women, at first at any rate."

I nodded.

"The Angrborn raid our country for women as well as wealth. It is my task to stop those raids if I can. If I cannot, to diminish their size and frequency. King Gilling is not always obeyed, and the more remote his people are from Utgard the freer they think themselves. But if it is seen that he disapproves of their i ncursions, we will be subject to fewer, and they are apt to bring less strength."

"I wish you luck," I said, "and I mean that."

"King Gilling has indicated that he will accept me as His Majesty's amba.s.sador, at least. But I was speaking of the Mice, as the Angrborn call them--of the huge men who attacked us. They are born into the households of the Angrborn, the sons of their masters by their slave women. Often they try to remain in J otunland after the deaths of their fathers. They may offer to serve his legitimate 346.

sons, for example."

I nodded to show that I understood.

"Sometimes they succeed for a while. They are then slaves like their mothers, swineherds or plowmen. The pigs and cattle of the Angrborn are no larger than our own, as I understand it."

"For a time, you said."

"Eventually they are driven out. Or killed. A king's son, the son of a free woman, would not be treated so; but these are. Those who live pa.s.s from place to place, hunted like rats, or like the mice whose name they bear, until they reach these mountains, where the Angrborn themselves do not dwell. There are many caves--the Angrborn call them Mouseholes. The Mice live in them like beasts, and are less than beasts. What do you intend to do today, Sir Able?" I was taken aback. "Travel north with your party, I suppose, My Lord." Beel shook his head. "We will not travel today. We're all tired, and we must discard some supplies so the mules will not be overburdened. The responsibilities of men who died must be a.s.signed to others, and we must find a way to carry our wounded that will not give them too much pain."

"Then I'll sleep this morning, and go looking for the source of the Griffin this afternoon."

"You got little sleep last night, I imagine. Few of us got much." I had slept, but by the time I turned in it had been a day, a night, and a day. I was still groggy and I said so.

"I see. Would you be willing to do me a favor, Sir Able?"

"Of course, My Lord. Anything."

"Then sleep this morning as you had planned, but give up your hunt for the source of the Griffin for one day at least. It would be a hazardous undertaking in any event. Have you given thought to the dangers you might encounter, wandering alone through these mountains?"

"I have, My Lord." I smiled. "Also to the fact that they would encounter me."

"That is well said. Nevertheless, I ask you to abandon your hunt for my sake. Will you do it?"

"Of course, My Lord. Gladly."

"You are a good bowman?"

"Yes, My Lord."

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"No beating around the bush. I like that." For the first time that morning, one of his thin-lipped smiles tugged at the corners of Beel's mouth. "Master Papounce has been after me to stage a match between you and Sir Garvaon. Garvaon is a famous bowman."

"Everybody says so, My Lord."

"He is seconded by Idnn, who hunts. She shoots well for a woman." The thin smile turned bitter. "I refused because I felt our time might be better spent in travel. But we will not move on until tomorrow, and such a match might lift our spirits. The men who attacked us--it may suit giants to call them mice, but would seem ill from me--were high above us on the mountain. They hurled great stones down on us, and we shot arrow after arrow up at them, often seeing no more than a moving shadow. The need for expert archery can rarely have been made plainer."

I drained my flagon and refilled it from the pitcher.

"You will do it?"

"Of course, My Lord. I said I would."

"If you lose by but a narrow margin, no harm will be done. But should you lose badly, you may be ridiculed. It might be well for you to prepare yourself for that."

"It might be well, My Lord, for those who would ridicule me to prepare themselves for me."

"We cannot afford the loss of a single man, Sir Able. Please bear that in mind."

"I will, My Lord, provided they do."

"I see. Well, I've told Papounce and Garvaon that I would do this, so I suppose I'll have to go through with it. Try to restrain yourself."

"I will, My Lord."

Beel gnawed his lips while I finished a piece of smoked sturgeon. When I wiped my mouth, he said, "You may depart, Sir Able, if you've had enough to eat."

I shook my head. "You didn't send Lady Idnn away so we could talk about shooting at a mark, My Lord. What is it?"

Beel hesitated. "I nearly raised this topic when we first met. When Crol brought you in. You remember that day, I'm sure."

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"Sure."

Beel sighed. "I spoke of Svon then. He is a distant cousin of mine, as I said." I nodded, wondering what was coming.

"He seeks to become a knight. No higher distinction lies open to him." Beel left his seat to go to the doorway of his pavilion and look out at the rocks and snow-mantled peaks. He was still holding that roll of parchment. When he turned back, I said, "I have never stood in his way, My Lord."

"He quarreled with your servant. He told me so. Your servant beat him and drove him off. Did I tell you that?"

"I knew it, Your Lords.h.i.+p. I don't believe I learned it from you."

"Perhaps you learned it from Svon himself?"

I shook my head.

"You learned of it from another traveler, then."

"Yes, My Lord."

"This is awkward, and I am by no means certain I can do justice to it. You have seen my daughter Idnn."

"Yes, Your Lords.h.i.+p. A beautiful young lady."

"Precisely. She is very young, and delicate of form as of feature. Could your servant beat her? If he chose?"

I had to think about that one--not about the answer, but about where he was going with it. Finally I said, "I hope he would never do such a thing, My Lord. I know Pouk well and he's got his faults, but he's not cruel or brutal."

"He could do it if he chose?"

"Of course, My Lord, if I were not there to prevent him. Pouk is twenty or so, and strong and active."

"Just so. Let us suppose it has occurred. My daughter would feel deeply shamed at having been beaten by a churl. But she would feel no shame at all because the churl had been able to defeat her. No sensible person would suppose that a delicate girl like Idnn could enter the lists with an active man of twenty."

I nodded.

"When Svon was a boy of ten, he might have felt the same way and been justified in his feelings. What troubles me . . . One thing that troubles me is that Svon appeared to feel so now. He would be a knight. If Duke Marder were to 349.

offer him the accolade, the golden spurs and the rest of it, he would accept at once. How would you feel if this servant of yours were to beat you?" I tried to talk. It seemed like I was choking.