The Knight

“You don’t.”

“Because he was, I found it less humiliating than I would have otherwise. Perhaps I said that I cared nothing for his thoughts. That seems likely enough.

“Able flung your sword as a man flings dung, or any such object. I believe I said that. He merely cast it from him, in other words, making no effort toward great distance or force. If you were to cast a hurlbatte so, I would chastise you. With my tongue, I mean.”

Svon spoke then, but I could not hear what he said.

“It may be so. My point is that your sword ca

Three or four strides, I would think. Five at most. Yet I didn’t hear you searching for it in the dark, and I expected to. I was listening for it.”

“I stepped on it,” Svon said. “I didn’t have to look for it at all.”

“One resolves not to lie, but one always resolves to begin one’s new truthfulness at a later time. Not now.” Ravd sounded tired.

“I’m not lying!”

“Of course you are. You stepped upon your sword, four strides southeast of where I sit. You uttered no grunt of astonishment, no exclamation. You bent in silence and picked it up. You would have had to grope for the hilt, I believe, since you would not wish to lay hands on a sharp blade in the dark. You then returned it to its scabbard, a scabbard of wood covered with leather, without a sound. After that, you returned to our camp from the west, tripping over something with such violence that you almost fell into the fire.”

Svon moaned like one in pain, but spoke no word.

“You must have been ru

“Something caught me.”

“Ah. Now we’re come to it. At least, I hope so. What was it?”

“I don’t know.” Svon drew breath. “I ran away. Was your churl chasing me?”

“No,” Ravd said.

“Well, I thought he was, and I ran right into somebody. Only I don’t think it was really a person. A—a ghost or something.”

“Interesting.”

“There were several.” Svon seemed to have taken heart. “I can’t say how many. Four or five.”

“Go on.” I could not tell whether Ravd believed him.

“They gave me back my sword and brought me here, and they pushed me at our fire, hard, just like you said.”

“Saying nothing to you?”

“No.”

“Did you thank them for returning your sword?”

“No.”

“Perhaps they gave you a charm or a letter? Something of that kind?”

“No.”

“Did they take our horses?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Go now and see to them, please, Svon. See that they’re well tied, and haven’t been ridden.”

“I don’t—Sir Ravd ...”

“Go!”

Svon cried, and right then I wanted to sit up and say something—anything that might make him feel better. I was going to say that I would go, but that would just have made him feel worse.

When he stopped crying, Ravd said, “They frightened you very badly, whoever they were. You’re more afraid of them than you are of me or our guide. Are they listening to us?”

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“And you’re afraid that if you confide in me they’ll punish you for it?”

“Yes!”

“I doubt it. If they are indeed listening, they must have heard that you didn’t confide in me. Able, you are awake. Sit up, please, and look at me.”

I did.

“How much have you heard?”

“Everything, or nearly. How did you know I was awake?”

“When you were truly asleep, you stirred in your sleep half a dozen times, and twice seemed almost to speak. Once you snored a little. When you feigned sleep, you moved not a muscle and uttered not a sound, though we were talking in ordinary tones within two strides of you. So you were awake or dead.”

“I didn’t want Svon to feel worse than he did already.”

“Admirable.”

I said, “I’m sorry I threw your sword, Svon.”

“Who caught Svon and returned him to us? Do you know?”

I had no idea. I shook my head.

Svon wiped his nose. “They gave me a message for you, Able. You are to be sure that your playmate is looking out for you.”

I suppose I gawked.

Ravd said, “Who are these friends of yours, Able?”

“I think ...”

“The outlaws?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Couldn’t it be the Aelf?”

Ravd looked thoughtful. “Svon, did you intend Able’s death?”

“Yes, I did.” There were no tears now; he drew his dagger and handed it to me. “I was going to kill you with this. You may keep it if you want to.”

I turned it over in my hands. The tip was angled down to meet a long straight edge.

“It’s a saxe.” Svon sounded as if we were sharing food and passing the time. “It’s like the knives the Frost Giants carry. Of course theirs are much bigger.”

I said, “You were going to kill me with this?” and he nodded.

Ravd asked, “Why are you telling us this now, Svon?”

“Because I was told to give their message to him as soon as he woke up, and I think they’re listening.”

“So you said.”

“I was hoping you’d go to sleep. Then I could have awakened him, and whispered it. That was what I wanted.”

“You’d never have had to tell me what happened.”

Svon nodded.

“I don’t want it,” I said. I gave him his dagger back. “I have a knife of my own, and I like mine better.”

“You may as well tell us everything,” Ravd said; and Svon did.

“I didn’t run into them like I said. I ran into a tree, and hit it hard enough that I fell down. When I could I got up again and circled around your fire, keeping it only just in sight. When I was on the side where Able was, I got as close as I dared, and that was pretty close. You said you would have heard me if I had found my sword. I don’t think so, because you didn’t hear that. I was waiting for you to go to sleep. When I was sure you were sleeping, I was going to kill him as quietly as I could and carry his body away and hide it. I wouldn’t come back until tomorrow afternoon, and you’d think he had simply run away.

“They grabbed me from behind, making less noise than I had. They had swords and bows. They took me to a clearing where I could see them a little in the moonlight, and they told me that if I hurt Able I’d belong to them. I’d have to slave for them for the rest of my life.”

Ravd stroked his chin.

“They gave me that message and made me say it seven times, and swear on my sword that I’d do everything exactly the way they said.”

“They had your sword?”

“Right.” The kind of sarcasm I was going to get to know a lot better crept into Svon’s voice. “I don’t know how they got it without your hearing, but they had it.”

Recalling things Bold Berthold had told me, I asked whether they were black.

“No. I don’t know what color they were, but it wasn’t black. They looked pale in the moonlight.”

Ravd said, “Able thinks they might be Aelf. So do I. I take it they didn’t identify themselves?”

“No, but—It could be right. I know they weren’t people like us.”

“I’ve never seen them. Have you, Able?”

I said, “Not that I remember, but Bold Berthold has. He said the ones who bothered him were like ashes or charcoal.”

Ravd turned back to Svon. “You must tell me everything you remember about them, just as truthfully as you can. Or did they caution you not to?”

Svon shook his head. “They said to give Able their message when he woke, and never to hurt him. That was all.”

“Why is Able precious to them?”

“They wouldn’t tell.”

“Able? Do you know?”

“No.” I wished then that Ravd had not seen I was awake. “They want me to do something, but I don’t know what it is.”

Svon said, “Then how do you know they do?”

I did not answer.

“Our king was born in Aelfrice,” Ravd told me, “as was his sister, Princess Morcaine. Since you didn’t recognize his face on a scield, I doubt that you knew it.”

“I didn’t,” I said.