The Knight

Ulfa nodded. “I see.”

“You remember Svon—you told me how well dressed he was. He said one time that a charger like Blackmane costs as much as a good field. Svon didn’t always tell the truth, but I don’t think he was lying about that. And besides the three horses, I ought to have mail, a good shield, and five or six lances.”

Ulfa nodded again. “A manor for your lady.”

“My lady has her own kingdom. But you’re right, I don’t own enough land to grow a turnip.” It was not hard to smile that time, because I was thinking how nice it was to have two friends to talk to and something to eat after all that had happened that day “A dagger like the ones knights wear would be nice, and maybe a battle-ax.” That brought back Disira with her hair full of blood. “No, a club. A club with spikes would be good. But as for a manor or anything like that, I can’t even think about it. If you were to sew me a new shirt, that would be more than enough to make me happy.”

“I’ll try. What about a sword? When I made your other shirt, that was what you said you needed.”

I shook my head. “Someone’s seeing to that. I don’t think it would be smart for us to talk about it.”

When we had finished the second rabbit, we lay down to sleep; Ulfa and old man Toug were soon snoring, but I was still awake when Gylf returned with a hind in his jaws, and I lay awake another hour listening to him breaking the bones.

Dawn came. The light woke me, and I sat up rubbing my eyes. The Gylf who lay beside me seemed an ordinary dark brown dog, just bigger than any other dog I had ever seen.

We went to the outlaws’ cave, walking very slowly because old man Toug could only limp along leaning on the shaft of his spear. Ravens had already been at the bodies of the dead outlaws we found, but Ulfa had brought a leather burse and she dropped such silver and gold as she could get from them into it; it was not a very large burse, but by the time we reached the cave it was heavy. I suppose I could have done that if I had to, but I would not have liked it. I did not even like to look at them.

“I see now why people turn outlaw,” I told her when she showed me how much she had, “but if people can get that much by stealing from the kind of people you see around here, how much could a knight get from a good war?”

She smiled. “A manor house, Sir Able, and twenty farms.”

The elder Toug snorted. “Pike head though the gut.”

At the mouth of the cave you could see the ashes of a lot of fires; bones, spoiled food, and empty wineskins were scattered all around. Farther in we found some heavy winter coats wrapped up in oiled parchment, and some other clothes that had just been thrown down and walked on. There were blankets, too, mostly rough forest wool, but thick and tight.

Beyond those there was a big jumble of silver platters and tumblers, some really good saddles and saddle blankets, harnesses of the best leather with copper or silver bosses, daggers (I took one), forty or fifty pairs of embroidered gloves, a hunting horn with a green velvet strap, and last of all, very hard to see because it was so dark back there and it had fallen between a couple of stones, a broken sword. It was Ulfa who found that, but I was the one who carried it out of the cave to look at in the light. There was a gold lion’s head on the pommel, and up against the guard the blade was stamped Lut.

When I saw that, I cried.

Chapter 15. Pouk

I need to get to Forcetti,” I told a sailor. “Do you know if any of these ships are going there?” I had already gone to Scaur’s house, but he was out on the boat, and Sha had not recognized me and was afraid to talk to me.

The sailor looked at me for a minute, then touched his cap. “You try th’ Western Trader, sir.”

When he looked at me like that, I saw he was blind in one eye; the eyeball was still there, if you know what I mean, but it looked like the white part of a fried egg. What was more important, I liked the other one, and how it looked. He was not scared of me, but he did not want to fight me or cheat me. I do not think anybody had looked at me like that since I had left the forest.

I said, “You’re sure it’s going to Forcetti, to the town where Duke Marder is?”

“I du

I thought about that, and finally I said, “I need your advice. If I give you a scield for it, will you give me the best advice you can?”

He touched his cap again. “An’ carry your bags aboard, sir. What do you want to know?”

“How much I ought to pay to get this ship to take me to Forcetti.”

He scratched his head. “Depends, sir. Think I could see th’ color o’ that scield?” I got out a scield and showed it to him. “Goin’ to sleep on deck, sir?”

I had slept outside a lot since I got to Mythgarthr, sometimes with a fire and sometimes without, and I would have two blankets from the cave; so that would not have bothered me if I had not been carrying so much money. But Ulfa and old man Toug and I had sold things from the cave and split what they brought among us. My share was a lot. So I said I would have to have a room of my own, with a door that locked.

“If you was, I’d say three o’ them like you showed me ‘ud do it, sir, if you bargained ’em hard. Since you ain’t, you got to find a officer what might share his cabin, sir, an’ take a look at it.”

I asked if they really had cabins on the ships, because I was thinking of our cabin back in America; then I thought I saw one and pointed it out to him.

“That there’s a deckhouse, sir. Cabins is what you’d call rooms ashore, sir. Officers has ’em. Only sometimes there’s two or three sleeps in one. Depends on th’ vessel, sir.”

“I see. If I could find an officer who had a cabin by himself, he might share it?”

“Aye, sir. If th’ price was right.”

“How much, would you say?”

He looked thoughtful. “For a good ’un, a couple o’ ceptres ‘ud do it, most like, sir. For a bad ’un, mebbe eight, ten scields, dependin’. Between ’em,” he shrugged, “a bit more or mebbe a ceptre. Goin’ to bring your own rations, ain’t you, sir?”

“Should I?”

“I ‘ud. Even if they say they’ll feed you right, sir, it’s good to have a bit over, ain’t it? An’ you can always eat it after if there’s any left.”

I saw the wisdom in that. “Maybe you could tell me what I ought to take.”

“Go with you an’ help you pick it out, sir. Carry for you, too, like I said. You a fightin’ man, sir? You look it.”

“I’m a knight,” I said; I always said that, because I knew I could never get people to believe me unless I believed it myself. “I’m Sir Able of the High Heart.”

He touched his cap. “Pouk Badeye, sir. At your service.”

We joined hands the way they do here, not shaking them but just squeezing. His hand was as hard as wood, but mine was bigger and stronger.

“A fightin’ man can get a better price, sir, ’cause o’ his helpin’ protect th’ vessel,” Pouk explained. “Only I’d get a sword first, sir, if it was me.”

Thinking of Disiri, I shook my head.

“Got ’un already back where you’re stayin’, sir?”

“No,” I said. “I’m not going to get one here, either. An ax, maybe.” You know what I thought of as soon as I had said that, so I said, “Or something like that.” I knew how dumb it sounded.

“There ain’t none but Mori that’s a good armorer in Irringsmouth these days, sir. I can show you.”

“Then let’s go. I’ll need food, too.”

“Dried stuff, sir, an’ smoked. Apples is good, an’ we should be able to get ’em this time o’ year. Small beer to drink. That don’t spile in th’ cask like water, sir.”

“Wine?”

“Crew’ll snaffle it, sir, ‘less you watch it day an’ night.” Putting his thumb to his mouth, Pouk pretended to drink.