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“May. Name it.”
I took a good, deep breath. “I want you to teach me swordcraft. I’m flunking there, and I know it.”
“Is that all?”
“I think it’s a lot. Will you? We could start tonight, once we’ve made camp.”
Gylf got up, laid a paw in my lap for a second, and trotted away. “Now I’m supposed to ask a boon, too,” Garvaon said. “Only I don’t really need it anymore. All right if I tell you what it was going to be?”
“Sure. I’d like to know.”
“I was going to ask what made Lord Beel so sure you were going to win. Only I know now. Can I reserve mine?”
“Absolutely.”
“He wants to see you before we go, by the way. I was supposed to tell you.”
Beel and Id
I bowed. “You wanted to see me, My Lord?”
Beel inclined his head. “Yesterday you promised you would speak with me later.”
“I tried to, My Lord.”
“You left the camp.”
I nodded. “So I could come back without being seen, My Lord. I waited too long, and you had gone to bed. I thought I’d better not disturb you.”
Id
“Not into your half of it, My Lady. I would never do such a thing.” She smiled. “What? Never?”
Beel jumped in. “This was after dark, I take it.”
“Just at moonrise, My Lord.”
Id
“He does,” Beel told her. “Look at his face. You went outside in your nightdress, didn’t you?”
It was hard to talk after that, but I did it. “You were looking at the moon, My Lady. I thought it would be better if I didn’t interrupt you.”
Mani gri
“No, My Lady.”
Beel frowned. “You crept past them?”
“Yes, My Lord. Past the sentries at this pavilion anyway. I knew they’d delay me.”
“It should not be possible.”
I said, “It isn’t too hard for one man, My Lord.”
“In armor.”
I tried to change the subject. “Yes, My Lord. But without a helmet, because I had none—I have one now, thanks to your generosity.”
Beel ate a coddled egg without saying another word, while Id
When his egg was gone, Beel said, “The black cat suits you. Your dog would suit me better, I think. Where is he?”
“I sent him to Pouk, My Lord.”
“Refresh my memory, please. Who is Pouk?”
“My servant, My Lord. He went north to wait for me in the mountain passes.”
“The servant who beat Svon.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
“Will your dog do that? Go to someone whole leagues away, just because you told him to?”
“I don’t know, My Lord, but I think so.”
Id
“I know, My Lady. He probably hopes Gylf will get into trouble. I hope he doesn’t.”
“Will you ride with me today, Sir Able? I should be delighted to have your company.”
I shook my head. “I’m deeply honored, My Lady. But I have to ride ahead to make sure we don’t get dry-gulched by the Mountain Men again.”
“Please, Sir Able? As a favor to me?”
Beel cleared his throat. “I want to ask you about your bowmanship. Yesterday ...”
I nodded. “I understand. But I could explain how I got past your sentries a lot easier than I could explain how I missed the target as badly as I did with my third shot.”
Id
Chapter 54. Id
The morning sun had driven off the last chill of the night long before we broke camp. The mountains in which we had been ambushed gave way to a considerable valley, mostly wooded, through which a swift river flowed. Beyond it the War Way rose and rose as far as my eyes could trace its winding curves, which vanished at last among peaks whose summits were lost in cloud.
“Pouk will be there,” I whispered to the white stallion Beel had given me, “and Gylf with him.” I wanted to gallop then, but I was forced to settle for a quick trot. Tomorrow, I thought. Tomorrow we will be at the first of the high passes; but tonight, almost certainly, we will camp in the valley, where there is open ground and water.
Had Gylf crossed the river already? It seemed likely.
The trees, which had appeared a solid forest when I had looked down on them from the heights, were scattered groves when I reached them, too open at first for anyone to mount an ambush. I halted at the first such grove and waited until I saw the sun glint on Garvaon’s helmet, then turned and rode again, trotting for a long bowshot before I reined up and paused to listen.
A score such pauses got me nothing more notable than the wind’s sigh and the rustle of leaves, with a birdcall or two; but at the next my ears caught the steady tattoo of galloping hooves. Thinking someone was hurrying forward to speak to me, I remained where I was. Instead of growing stronger, the sound faded away altogether.
I thought then of stringing my bow; but I shrugged, loosened Sword Breaker in her scabbard, and rode on.
The road wound about a huge gray boulder topped with stunted trees, the moldy skull of a hill, with more trees huddled around it. Beyond, the War Way ran nearly straight for a league and more; and there, in the middle distance, a rider waited.
It was an excuse to gallop, and I took it.
Id
“You shouldn’t risk yourself like this, My Lady.”
Id
I took a deep breath, half minded to offend her for her own good. “By—by ... Oh, never mind.”
“You wouldn’t ride with me, so I decided to ride with you.”
I nodded.
“I lagged behind, back among the mules where I belong, and then when we got into the trees I went off to the left far enough that they wouldn’t see me when I passed. This is a lovely wood to gallop through. You knew who I was as soon as you saw me, didn’t you?”
I nodded again.
“Because you didn’t draw that sword thing. You just hurried to me. Now you’re going to send me back.”
“Take you back, My Lady.” It was hard to say, although not as difficult as the thing I had not said.
“Because you don’t trust me to obey your orders.” There was something heartbreaking in her smile.
“I’m a lowborn boy, My Lady. My father was in trade, and my grandfather was a farmer, what you’d call a peasant. People keep reminding me. Your greatgrandfather was a king. I’ve no right to give you orders.”
“Suppose we were married? A husband has the right to give his wife orders, no matter who her great-grandfather was.”
“We’ll never be married, My Lady.”
“I didn’t say I’d obey, you’ll notice.” She stretched out her hand; and when I ignored it, she caught the strap that held my quiver. “Are you really going to take me back?”
“I’ve got to.”
Mani said, “But you don’t want to, do you? Doing things you don’t want to do always ends in trouble.”
Id
“He’s right,” I told her, “doing what you don’t want to do generally brings trouble. But there are times when you’ve got to, and face the trouble.”
Id
I tried to pull free, but she kept her sweating gelding beside my charger.
“That was what you were going to tell me to do, wasn’t it? Go home to Kingsdoom. Just a minute ago, before you lost your nerve.”