Three hearts and three lions

21

EVENING FOUND THEM under the pass. It proved to be an upward gash through the cliff, covered deep with sharded rock, where the mountain had been faulted. The climb to the plateau next day would take hours. Thereafter, Alianora said, they would not lack many miles of their goal, and travel should be easy.

Easy as the descent to hell , Holger thought with a shiver. The agnostic engineer in him observed that so far the path had been more like the proverbial road to heaven. But the engineer’s world seemed infinitely far away, in time as well as in space, a dream he had once had, fading out of his memory as all dreams must.

Beneath the precipices they found a meadow, if that patch of soil was not too barren to rate the name, and established camp. In the center loomed a tall monolith. It might have been a pagan menhir, before the troll that Hugi smelled came to nest in some nearby cave and drive humans away. Darkness clamped down. The wind had resumed, and strengthened hourly. Orange flames streamed along the ground; sparks flew off like meteors and were as swiftly snuffed. Overhead lay a blackness where the gibbous moon was seen in rare glimpses, racing among monstrous cloud shapes. The night was full of whistlings, rustlings, and croakings.

The party were too exhausted to do more than swallow a little food and roll up in their blankets. Hugi took the first watch, Holger the second. By that time the night was absolute. Holger poked the fire, drew his cloak tightly about him against the cold, and looked down at his companions.

The blaze picked them out in guttering highlights. Carahue slept like a cat, as quiet and easy as when he was awake. Hugi had rolled himself into a cocoon of blanket from which only his lustily snoring nose projected. Holger’s eyes went to Alianora and remained there. The blanket had slid off her. She lay on her side, legs drawn up and hands clasped over the small breasts. Her face, glimpsed through a tangle of hair, was childlike, blind with sleep, a strangely helpless look. Holger stooped to tuck her in. His lips brushed her cheek and she smiled without waking.

He rose. A heaviness was in him, more for her than himself. If he had been snatched by irresistible warring powers, too bad, but he hated the thought of her being whirled along with him, he knew not whither. What could he do, though? What could he do?

He struck one fist into the other palm. “God damn it,” he mumbled, “God damn it,” and didn’t know if he cursed or implored.

“Holger.”

He jerked around. The sword leaped into his hand. Nothing met his glare but murk, out beyond the firelight. The wind blew, the dry grass murmured, somewhere an owl screamed.

“Holger.”

He trod to the edge of the charmed circle. “Who’s that?” Despite himself, he spoke softly.

“Holger,” said the voice. “Do not call out. You are the only one I would speak with.”

His pulses sprang. The sword dropped, as if grown too heavy for him. Morgan le Fay walked into the light.

It wavered, painting her red against blackness. Shadows caressed the body within the fluttering long dress. The fire touched her eyes and lit tiny flames therein. “What do you want?” Holger husked.

Her smile was slow and beautiful. “Only to speak with you. Come here to me.”

“No.” He shook his head violently, hoping to clear it. “Nothing doing. I won’t step beyond the circle.”

“You need have no fear. At least, not of any beings whom your symbols would halt. They are elsewhere, readying for battle.” She shrugged. “But do as you wish.”

“What have you got, then, to threaten me with?” he asked. “More cannibals?”

“Those whom you met today were under my command to take you alive at any cost,” she said earnestly. “You would have done best to yield to them. They would have borne you to me, unharmed.”

“And my friends?”

“What are those acquaintances of a few weeks to you, Holger? Why should you care? Remember, in any case, my dear one, that party whom you routed today have returned to the main army of their tribe. Their chief is crazed with rage at the shame you put upon him. Not I nor hell itself could stop him from seeking to kill, when next he meets you. His honor can only be regained by eating your heart. Come away with me, Holger, while you can.”

“With you, who helped teach those poor savages to eat men?”

She grimaced. “That was not I. Certain allies of mine, the demons and their prophets whom Chaos has used to bring the hillmen under our control... they have preached an uncouth religion. Not one that I would have taught. “ Her smile returned. “My belief is in joy, in the fulfillment of life, that which I taught you once and would fain teach you again, Holger.”

“That argument won’t work either,” he said. He looked past her, into night. This time, he suddenly realized, he meant it. He did not desire Morgan le Fay. When she reached out and took his hand, her fingers might have been any woman’s. An attractive woman, certainly, but no more than that.

“You are not the most constant person in the world,”, she said, still smiling. “Once you revolted against your own liege lord, Carl himself. He never had a fiercer enemy, before your own large-heartedness ended the feud.”

“But we were reconciled, I gather.” He withdrew his hand from her clasp.

She glanced at Alianora. Her sigh held an unfeigned sadness. “I perceive an older witchcraft than mine has ensorcelled you, Holger. Welladay, ’twas joyous once. Nothing can take that from me.”

“You took my past from me,” he said bitterly. “You made me into a child again and sent me out of my whole universe. It’s not your doing I’ve come back. Something else brought me, that neither of us understands.”

“So you know that much,” she said. “Would you know yet more? I can return to you those lost memories, if you wish.”

“At what price? The same you wanted last time?”

“Less. You need not even betray your friends here. I could see to it that they also prosper. Your present course will only lead them to destruction with you.”

“How can I trust your word?”

“Let me restore your memory. Come out of the circle that I may use a spell to dissolve the murk in you. Then you will recall what oaths are binding on me.”

He moved his gaze back to her. Tall and serene she stood, except for the dark hair that tossed under her coronet. Yet he sensed how she was drawn tense as a wire about to break. The full mouth had grown thin, the curved nose dilated, the fire reflections in her eyes leaped feverish. Slowly, her fists clenched.

And why should the world’s greatest witch fear him?

He pondered it, standing there in the windy night with sleep at his feet and blackness overhead. She had powers, yes, and she had used them against him; but he himself was charged with some other, opposing force, and there was that which said, “Thus far and no farther.” All the magics they had tried, in Avalon, in Faerie, in mortal lands, had failed to halt him. Now even her own beauty had been made impotent by gray eyes and brown tresses. She had no enchantments remaining that could stop him.

Of course, to something which was not hexed up by her but was supernatural in its own right—or to ordinary cold steel—he was still terribly mortal.

“In my world,” he said wonderingly, “you’re a myth. I never thought I’d fight a myth.”

“That was not your world either,” she said. “There, you too are a legend. This is your place, here with me.”

He shook his head. “Both worlds are mine, I think,” he answered stolidly. “Somehow I have a place in both.”

Nevertheless, excitement rose in him. He’d been too preoccupied to draw the obvious conclusion before this instant: that he himself belonged to the Carolingian-Arthurian cycle. Somewhere back in that other cosmos (how far from this night and this woman!) he might once have read of his own deeds.

But if so, he decided drearily, the forgetfulness had covered it. His name might be a household word at home; he might have been his own boyhood hero; but Morgan’s spell continued to work. The transition here had blanked out whatever recollections he had had of any stories about... about three hearts and three lions.

“Meseems, at least you like this world best,” said Morgan. “Beware lest you blunder back into the other.” She made a step closer to him, until they almost touched. “Aye, there is indeed a great hosting in both worlds, and you are the crux in both. I’ll confess that much. But if you go through with this crazy scheme, wielding powers you know nothing of, you’ll most likely fail and die. Or you will perchance succeed, and rue that you did. Lay down your burden now, Holger, and abide here happy forever. There is still time!”

He grinned with little humor. “You wouldn’t try so hard to talk me into quitting, if my chance of winning weren’t better than you let on,” he said. “I suppose you know where I’m bound. You’ve done your best to fool me, and capture me, and cripple me. No doubt you’ll try next to kill me. But I mean to keep going.”

What highfalutin words , gibed his inward self. A fellow would almost think you meant them.

He knew in an uprush of weariness that he only wanted peace. An end to this warring in the dark. A place to hide with Alianora from all the worlds and all their cruelties. But he couldn’t so much as ask for a rest. There were too many others who would get trampled underfoot, the moment he was out of the way. He was no damned hero, but Judas, a guy had to live with himself, didn’t he?

Morgan watched him for a long moment. The wind whistled around them. “There is fate in this,” she said at last, heavily. “Yes, I see that even Carahue has returned. The parts of the pattern are gathered. But do not be sure that the Weaver will complete it.”

Sudden tears glimmered in her eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him, not hard, almost fleetingly, but he had seldom felt a greater tenderness. “Good-by, Holger,” she said. She turned and walked out of sight.

He stood and shivered in the cold. Ought he to call the others? No, let them sleep, he thought vaguely. He didn’t want to talk about what had happened. Nobody’s damn business.

Time passed. The night hooted louder. He stirred from his reverie with a glance upward, to gauge from the moon if his watch was over. The sky was an inkpot of clouds. No matter. He might as well stay on guard. He wouldn’t sleep anyhow, after what had happened. Not to mention the noise. A real gale was blowing now, stones rattled, metal clinked—

Hey!

The cannibal chief bounded into sight. Beyond him flashed spearheads. There must be a hundred or more men, they’d lain doggo in the pass and now Morgan had sent them down to— “Wake up! Wake up, here they come!”

Hugi, Carahue, and Alianora scrambled to their feet. The Saracen’s blade snaked free. He sprang toward his startled horse and ripped the reins from the tethering stake. The girl jumped onto her mount. Two hillmen whooped and plunged at her. One thrust with a spear. Hugi dove between his legs, a tiny brown hurricane. They went down together. Holger pounced on the other. His sword rose and fell. A skull split hideously.

As the body pitched against him, he threw it back hard enough to bowl over the next man. A spear grated along his chain mail. He hacked out at the chief’s face. Dim in the firelight, filed teeth grinned at him. Arms closed around his neck. He kicked backward, making vicious use of his spurs. The savage yammered and let go.

Holger retreated till he had the menhir behind him. A tall man with a dragon painted on his stomach leaped to attack. Holger cut, sideways. The man’s head rolled from its shoulders. A ring of other men pressed close. Beyond their feathers and horns, he saw Carahue mounted, slashing downward with his saber. Papillon kicked, bit, stamped; mane and tail flew like black flames.

A hillman rose up, belly to belly with Holger. He had slithered under the Dane’s guard. The dagger in his hand spurted upward. Holger managed to take the slash on his left arm. Then Hugi appeared below the savage, grabbed his ankles and threw him. Man and dwarf rolled over, snarling and gouging.

The chief had been immediately behind. His ax smote Holger’s helmet with a thundercrack noise. Holger lurched. “God and St. George,“ he heard himself groan. The chief laughed and struck again. Somehow Holger parried the blows. Most of them. Others banged on his helmet and hauberk. He reeled. Two more men rushed in from the sides.

Carahue appeared behind them. The Saracen’s blade whined. A heathen clutched his own arm, stared stupidly as it came off in his hand, and went to his knees. Holger cut low and got the leg of the other, who stumbled back. The chief whirled to engage Carahue with his ax. They clanged about, cursing.

Alianora’s horse screamed. Hamstrung, it sank to earth. The white swan flew up, swooped down again to peck at eyes. Holger sobbed breath into his lungs. Someone yammered an order. Hurled spears flew thick around him. He forgot he was hurt and exhausted. He charged. His blade went like a scythe. Papillon reared inhumanly big, dashed out brains with his forefeet and overrode war cries with his neighing. Man and horse scattered the band of javelin throwers and returned to the stone.

Hugi rose from a body gone limp, dusted his hands, and joined them. Alianora turned woman again at the same place. A moment afterward Carahue cantered up. Holger put foot in stirrup and mounted Papillon. A savage rushed him. He kicked the fellow’s teeth in. Bending, he got his shield on his arm. His sword hand he extended long enough to help Alianora up behind him. Carahue gave a seat to Hugi. The two knights looked at, each other, nodded, and rode to battle.

For a few minutes it was slash and stab and hew. Then all at once the enemy was gone. Holger and Carahue returned to the menhir and gasped. Their swords ran red. Blood was spattered across clothes and arms and faces. The firelight gleamed off blood puddles on the earth. Bodies lay strewn, some moving and moaning, some altogether still. The hillmen were drawn into a sullen clump on the edge of vision; only their weapons could really be seen. Holger recognized the chief, whose war bonnet was gone and whose scalp was lacerated. The chief picked himself off the ground and hobbled toward his men.

Carahue’s grin flashed out. “Nobly, nobly done!” he panted. “By the hand of the Prophet... the Prophet Jesus, Sir Rupert, I thought only one man in the world could fight as you have done!”

“You’re no slouch yourself,” said Holger. “But I wish you’d been able to finish their boss. He’ll work them up to another attack in a minute.”

“Arrows’ll end us,” declared Hugi. “Had they any sense, they loons would ha’ made pincushions o’ us erenow.”

Holger looked back at Alianora. Blood ran from her left arm. The fear that leaped into him was horrible. “Are you hurt?” he cried, shrill as a woman.

“Nay, ’tis naught.” She smiled with shaking lips. “A dart did but wing me.”

He fumbled at the wound. A bad gash ordinarily, he’d have said; but not much considering the present circumstances. His bones seemed to melt. “I’ll build a chapel... to St. Sebastian... for this,” he whispered.

Her hands closed about his waist. “There’s a better way ye micht show gladness,” she said, low and close to his ear.

Carahue interrupted brusquely, “We’ll be in no state to build anything unless we escape soon. If we rush downhill, Rupert, we may elude pursuit.”

The moltenness in Holger congealed. “No,” he said. “That’s no good. This is the way to St. Grimmin’s. The other passes are beset, even if we had time to seek them out. We have to cross here.”

“Straight through them?” spat the Saracen. “Trying to climb that scree in the dark, with a hundred warriors attacking? Now your wits have boiled away.”

“You can flee if you wish,” said Holger, out of the ice within him. “I have to reach the church this night.”

Hugi stared at him, until he squirmed beneath those beady eyes and snapped. “Well, what ails you? We’ll probably die in the pass. I know it. Run off with Carahue. I’ll go alone.”

“Nay,” said Hugi.

They fell so still that Holger heard the blood beat in his own veins. The dwarf spoke low and harsh: “Sith ye be boon to mak’ a knichtly fool o’ yersel’, I can at least ease yer gowkishness for ye. Well ye know we canna get through yon pass. Yet there’s another way onto the wold, where they uns will ne’er follow. I can snuff our way to the troll’s burrow. ’Tis na far off, says ma nase. Sure ’tis he’ll ha’ more nor ane passage leading above the cliffs; and mayhap he’ll be abroad, or asleep, or far off in his tunnels, and willna grow ’ware of us. ’Tis a horrid chance to take, but methinks oor ainly chance. What say ye? Is ’t that big a rush to reach the haunted kirk?”

Holger heard a gasp at his back. “Carahue,” he said, “take Alianora and see if you can get her to safety. Hugi and I’ll have a go at that troll hole—”

The girl seized his belt. “Nay,“ she said angrily, “ye’ll no be rid o’ me so easy. I come too.”

“And I,” said Carahue after a gulp or three. “Never yet have I shirked an adventure.”

“Horse apples!” snorted Hugi. “Yer bones will be scattered in the troll’s nest. Ye’re no the first twa knights wha’ died because they had so bluidy much pride there was na room left for brains. I’m nobbut grieved that ye maun drag the swan-may doon wi’ ye. Noo, mak’ ready to gallop!”