The Knight

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 incursions, 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 ambassador, 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 Jotunland after the deaths of their fathers. They may offer to serve his legitimate 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 pass 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 assigned 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.”

“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.”

“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 Lordship. 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 Lordship. 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 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.

“Exactly. I am no warlike man, Sir Able. While you were learning the craft of knighthood, I was learning to read and to write, history, languages, and the rest of it. If Sir Garvaon, let us say, and I were to come to blows, I should feel no shame about being beaten. But a servant? I would whet my sword and seek a second encounter.”

“I’m glad Svon didn’t, My Lord.”

“Are you? For Svon’s sake?”

“You shame me, My Lord. He was—he is—my squire. I’ve got a duty to him.” Beel nodded, making a steeple of his fingers. “I have told you this because I feel you are a man of honor. It may be that Svon will return to you. If so, you may be able to do something. I hope so.”

“I’ll try, My Lord. Just how it might be done ... Well, I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.” I got up.

Beel indicated the folding chair. “Since you chose to remain, we have other matters to discuss. I will try not to keep you from your bed too long.” I sat down again.

“Svon told me that you had set a demon on his track. Are you surprised?”

“I am, My Lord. I—I believe I know what he means by that, but I did no such thing. May I explain?”

“I invite it.”

“I have another servant, My Lord. His name is Org. He is no demon.” The thin smile returned. “One meets neither demons nor dragons in the worlds above Aelfrice, Sir Able. That’s one of the things I learned while you were being taught to manage a shield. I did not say Svon was pursued here by a demon, only that he had said he was, and said you had done it.”

“I didn’t, My Lord. But I have reason to believe that when Svon left, Org went with him. He might be an unpleasant traveling companion, My Lord.”

“Is this Org a large, strong man? Big shoulders?”

I sort of picked my way among words. “He’s big and very strong, My Lord.

He’s bigger than I am and his shoulders are wider than mine.”

“You did not set him on Svon?”

“No, My Lord. I wasn’t there when Svon and Pouk fought and separated.

May I try to guess?”

“Please do.”

“Maybe Org is afraid Svon will try to hurt me somehow, and he’s following him to stop him.”

Beel nodded. “That seems likely enough. Svon was going back to Sheerwall, so he told me. He dined with us, bought a mount, and stayed the night. It would have been a fortnight ago. Something like that.”

I nodded.

“That night one of our sentries reported seeing a very large man in the moonlight, some distance away. He called him a giant—an Angrborn. You know how those fellows are.”

It seemed a bad time to say anything.

“When he told his sergeant, the sergeant went to the place and looked around. He said he found a footprint in mud. A very large foot, he said, bare, with long toes. He said there appeared to be claws on the ends of the toes. You can see why I’m curious.”

“I sure do, My Lord.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

I nodded. “All I’ll say willingly, My Lord.”

“Very well. Svon has my sympathy. Don’t stand up again, please, Sir Able. I see you making ready to do it, but we are only just come to the matter I most wished to discuss.”

The steeple vanished. Beel leaned forward, anxious and thoughtful. “My daughter and I were both in that accursed declivity when we were attacked. I remained with her every moment. There wasn’t much I could do, but I was determined to protect her if I could.”

“Naturally, My Lord.”

Beel’s voice sank to a whisper. “She shall wed a king before all is said and done. She shall wed a king, and our blood will be royal again.”

“I understand, My Lord.”

“She is precious to me, and so I kept her under my eye. At no time was she up on the cliffs where our enemies were.”

“Naturally not, My Lord.”

“And yet, Sir Able, she talks almost as though she were. Those cliffs, she has told me, are littered with dead, hairy men of monstrous stature slain by you and your dog. I find it difficult to credit a dog’s slaying even one such man, let alone dozens, but that is what she says. You have boasted of your honesty in the past.” Seeing how I looked, Beel changed it. “Boasted is too strong a word perhaps, but you’ve laid claim to truthfulness. You told me that you had not lied to me or to Master Crol. Do you deny it?”

“No, My Lord.”

“Can you make the same claim today?”

“I can, My Lord. I do.”

“Then I would appreciate straightforward answers to a few questions.” Beel fell silent, studying my face, then his own hands. He had eaten nothing and drunk nothing.

“I like you, Sir Able. I like you more than any man I have met since I met His Majesty. I hope that you are aware of it.”

“I was not, My Lord, but I’m very flattered. May I say I know you’re a really good man, a loyal servant of the king, and the loving father of your daughter?” Beel nodded. “It’s my daughter who concerns me now.”

“I know it, My Lord. I haven’t hurt her, or tried to.”

“You see the curtain that divides our pavilion. She sleeps behind it, and I before it. I wash and dress here, she there.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Thus we cannot see one another. But we can hear one another perfectly.

The curtain is of silk, which has small weight and occupies but a little space. It blinds us, if you will permit the expression. But it offers no resistance to sound.” I nodded.

“Thus we often speak to each other when we lie abed. In the morning too, while her maid dresses her and Swert dresses me.”

“Okay.”

“This morning she spoke of the battle, and she spoke as one who had been on the cliff tops—of broken heads, and broken arms and legs, of men crushed and torn, too, as though by a lion’s jaws. She said that you had killed many of these men, Sir Able. Is that true?”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“May I ask what weapons you employed?”

I got out my dagger and laid it on the table, and drew Sword Breaker and laid it beside the dagger. Beel picked up Sword Breaker to look at it, and I said, “That’s not a sword, My Lord. I know it looks like one, but it’s a mace.” He felt the corners of Sword Breaker’s blade, tried to flex it, and laid Sword Breaker down again. “You are of low birth, I realize. But you are a knight, not a peasant, and a knight is entitled to wear a sword.”

“When I’ve got the one I want, I will, My Lord.”

“What sword is that?”

“Eterne, My Lord.”

Softly he said, “The perfect blade is a legend, Sir Able. Nothing more.”

“I don’t think so, My Lord.”

“Wizard, witch, or warlock.” He sighed. “Which is it? I have some knowledge of the art myself, although I boast no great power.”

I did not say anything.

“I confess it in order that you may know I am not your foe. You may confide in me as a fellow adept.”

“All I can confide is that I don’t know a thing about magic, My Lord.”

“Wizards never tell. It was a saying of my nurse’s, but I didn’t know there was so much truth in it. You’ve been on those cliffs, Sir Able? It was you who slew our foes there?”

“Yes, My Lord. Some of them. Most of them were killed by my dog. The arrows of your archers killed some too.”

“Did you take my daughter up there? After the battle?”

“No, My Lord.”

“Did you see her there when you were there yourself?”

“No. If she’s been up there, I know nothing about it.”

“This is the deed to the manor of Swiftbrook, Sir Able.” Beel held up the parchment. “Did you speak to her without my knowledge, telling her of the battle?”

“No, My Lord.”

“Who was with you on the cliffs? Anyone?”

“My dog and my cat, My Lord. You’ve seen them.”

“Who was it who told my daughter of the scene there? The men you slew, and the way they died?”

“It wasn’t me, My Lord. Don’t you think you ought to ask her?” He got quiet, and I knew there was not a lot I could say then without making it worse. Besides, I had things to think about myself. I buttered bread, laid smoked sturgeon on it, and folded it over. At last Beel said, “You’re hoping that I will send you off to find your servant.”

“That’s right, My Lord.”

“I won’t. You had better get some rest, if you’re to shoot against Sir Garvaon.” I nodded, stood up, and returned Sword Breaker and my dagger to their scabbards.

“You’re still willing to contest with him?”

“Any time, My Lord.” I did not say it, but my bowstring was putting me through hell every night. It seemed to me then that it was high time I got something for it.

“I will judge your contest.”

I nodded. “Sure, My Lord.”

“I will do my utmost to judge fairly, Sir Able. My honor is at stake in that.”

“I understand, My Lord.”

“You may go.” Beel sighed. As I was stepping out of his pavilion he added softly, “Yet I hope Sir Garvaon has the victory.”