The Knight

Garvaon raised an eyebrow. “We?”

It was surely not the time to introduce Uri and Baki. I said, “My servant Uns and I. Uns was the crippled beggar one of your men-at-arms questioned. Separated from me, he’s been forced to beg.”

I waited for someone else to speak, but nobody did.

“Now I’m forced to beg for him, My Lord. He has no horse, and that’s what I came to see you about. Can you spare one? Or a mule—anything.”

“You found your servant’s camp,” Beel said. “Go on from there, please.”

“I found it, but they weren’t there. Neither my servant nor the woman I’d been told was traveling with him. Neither was Gylf. Or Mani, my cat, for that matter.”

“They had gone north?” Beel inquired.

“Yes, My Lord. They must have. There is only this one road, this War Way. If they’d gone south we’d have met them on the road. So they went north.”

Garvaon said, “Into Jotunland.”

Beel shrugged. “We ourselves are in Jotunland now. We entered it as soon as we left the pass and started down. No doubt we’re in more danger now than we were yesterday, but I can’t honestly say that it feels much different.”

Id

“Pouk certainly wouldn’t. What the woman might do, or might force or persuade him to do, I can’t even guess at.”

Garvaon grunted agreement. “Who knows what a woman will do?” Id

“I’m not quarreling, Father. I’m explaining something Sir Garvaon ought to have learned for himself. But I’d rather Sir Able explained a few things to me. Can I ask you questions, Sir Able?”

I sighed, sagging on my folding stool. “Yes, My Lady. You may”

“Then I’ll ask a very obvious one. This man of yours. Pouk? Would he have fought if the Frost Giants had tried to seize him and your horses?”

“I doubt it very much, My Lady.”

“What about the woman you said was with him? Would she have fought?” I smiled. “I was told she had a sword, My Lady. So possibly she would. You must tell Sir Garvaon and me.”

Garvaon said somberly, “Some women would.”

“Because there was blood,” Id

Beel sighed. “I’ve told my daughter not to ride with the vanguard. Apparently I must also tell the vanguard not to ride with my daughter.”

Garvaon said, “My Lady rode up while I was examining the campsite, Your Lordship. I’d dismounted, and no doubt she’d seen I’d found something. Naturally she was curious.”

Id

Beel’s attention was on me. “I saw the blood, of course. And the ashes and the rest. I found a foot-mark in those ashes, off to one side of the younger fire where it was somewhat hidden by the shadow of a stone. Did you see it?”

I shook my head, too discouraged to speak.

“The paw-mark of a very large wolf or dog. As for the blood, your servant may have resisted. It’s possible you misjudged him. Or the woman may have, as Id

I said, “I suppose so.”

“It’s also possible, unfortunately, that one or both may have been injured, although they did not resist. Or that the woman beat your servant, or that he beat her. We have no way of knowing.”

“My Lord ...”

“Yes? What is it?”

“This isn’t what I came for. I came hoping to get a horse for Uns. But you know something about magic. Would it be possible for you, somehow, to find out what happened to them?”

For a moment there was no sound in Beel’s silk pavilion except Id

At last Beel said, “Perhaps I should have thought of that. It may tell us nothing. Let me be quite frank with you, Sir Able. I fail more often than I succeed.”

“But if you succeeded, My Lord—”

“We might learn something of value. Perfectly true.”

His daughter smiled and leaned toward him, and he said, “You want the excitement. Mountebanks feign magic as a show, Id

She shook her head. “No, Father. But I’d like to, even if there aren’t any.”

“There are. What about you, Sir Garvaon? Sir Able? Do either of you know?”

Garvaon shook his head. I nodded.

“Then tell us.”

“There’s someone called Kulili in Aelfrice, My Lord. Maybe I should have said in the world we call Aelfrice, because it doesn’t really belong to the Aelf, it belongs to Kulili.” I paused. “I’m only telling you what I’ve been told, though I believe it’s true.”

“Go on.”

“All right. There were disembodied spirits in Aelfrice then, creatures something like ghosts, although they’d never been alive. Kulili made magic bodies of mud and leaves and moss and ashes and so forth, and put the disembodied spirits into them. If she used fire, mostly, they became Fire Aelf, Salamanders. If she used mostly seawater, they’re Sea Aelf, Kelpies.”

“Correct.” Beel looked from me to Garvaon, and from Garvaon to Id

Garvaon coughed and looked uncomfortable.

“They hope that we will someday do for them what Kulili did for the Aelf. Or at least that is how it seems to me. Then they may try to take Mythgarthr from us as the Aelf have wrested Aelfrice from Kulili. I don’t know. But in our own time, what is called magic consists of making contact with them and persuading them to help the magician, either for a reward, or out of pity—as the Overcyns help us at times—or simply to earn our trust.”

Garvaon said, “It can be dangerous. So I’ve heard, Your Lordship.”

Beel nodded. “It can be, but I’m going to attempt it tonight, if Sir Able will assist me. Will you, Sir Able?”

“Of course, My Lord.”

“We may find your dog, your servant, and even this mysterious swordswoman. If we do, we may learn things that will stand us in good stead in Jotunland. But the most likely outcome is that we’ll learn nothing at all. I want you to understand that.”

“I do, My Lord.”

“Sir Garvaon may attend me or not, as he chooses.”

Id

“I feared it.”

Garvaon said, “I’ll be at your side, Your Lordship. You may rely on me, always.”

“I know it.” Beel turned back to me. “I’ll talk to Master Egr about getting a horse for your beggar. Meet me here when the moon is high. Until then you’re dismissed.”

Garvaon rose too. “Get some rest. Maybe we can have a little practice before it gets too dark.”