Gene Wolfe - The Wizard

Pouk said, “Sir Able’s th’ one I wants.” He seemed to be addressing an invisible being on Crol’s shoulder.

“Sir Able,” Crol remarked as Toug knocked, “is the one we all want. I wish we had him.”

Svon opened the door. “There you are! We’ve got people looking for you. Where’s the cat?”

Behind him, Idnn seconded his question. “Where’s Mani?”

“The king’s got him.” Toug stepped inside and added, “This way, Pouk.”

“Aye, mate.”

Beel was at the head of a huge table, sitting with feet drawn up in a chair several times too large. “I’m glad to see you, Squire. Is that one of the king’s slaves with you?”

“I’m Pouk, sir.” Pouk spoke for himself, touching his cap and looking to Beel’s left. “I’m a slave, sir, right enough. Only I was Sir Able’s man, an’

‘ud like to be again, an’ this lad says it might be done for me an’ Ulfa.”

“He’s blind, Your Lordship,” Toug explained. “They blind their slaves, just the men.” He had shut the door. Now he watched as Svon climbed agilely into one of the enormous chairs and bent to help Idnn climb into it as well.

“Furniture for the Angrborn, you see,” Beel remarked dryly. “They wish to make us feel small, presumably. We, on the other hand, are determined to show we are fully as large as they—in spirit.”

When Idnn was seated, Svon stepped onto the arm, and from it onto the arm of the neighboring chair.

“I don’t think they have much little furniture, Your Lordship,” Toug ventured. “I mean, tables and chairs and things for us. They gave Mani and me a room with furniture like this, too. I’ll tell the king they should have smaller things for us, and he might do it. He likes Mani.”

“He’s safe?” Idnn asked.

“I don’t think the king will hurt him, and the others will be afraid to as long as the king likes him.”

Beel said, “Take a chair yourself, Squire.”

The seat was as high as Toug’s chin, but he jumped and pulled himself up. Pouk climbed up as agilely as any monkey.

“We’ll be presented at court this evening. Though we’ve little finery left, we must wear what we have. I’m glad to see you’re better dressed than when last I saw you.”

Toug explained.

“Thiazi is the king’s chief minister?”

“I think so, Your Lordship. He said he was.”

Beel sighed and turned to Idnn. “You see where we are. We must ask information of that kind from Sir Svon’s squire.”

She smiled and shook her head. “You’ll know a hundred times more in a week, Father.”

“I had better.”

Garvaon said, “You and Wistan are to be clean and wear your best clothes.”

Toug nodded. “I will, Sir Garvaon.”

“Your master and I are to wear full armor. That was what we were discussing.”

“I’ll clean and polish everything,” Toug promised Svon.

Pouk offered to help.

Garvaon cleared his throat. “You squires will do your best, I know. But since when do knights wear mail to court?”

Idnn said, “This isn’t how things are at our own king’s, Toug. A knight at court wears ordinary clothes. The best he can afford, of course, and he wears a sword. But no armor. Armor’s for war or a tournament.”

“I think it may be because of things I told the king, My Lady.” He looked at the knights. “I meant no harm.”

Svon said, “I’m sure you didn’t. What did you say?”

“How brave you are and what a skillful knight, and Sir Garvaon, too. It was while we were with Ulfa—”

Beel interrupted. “That’s the second time I’ve heard that name. Who is she?”

“Me wife, sir.” Pouk sounded apologetic. “Only me wife, an’ a good woman.”

“She’s my sister, too, and she was with Pouk when they got caught and brought, here. They got married after that.”

Idnn said gently, “You mustn’t be ashamed of your sister or your brother-in-law, Squire. Fortunes rise and fall, and the best people are often in the worst straits.”

“I’m not!”

She smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. Glad, too, to hear you’ve spoken to the king. Was Mani with you?”

“Oh, yes, My Lady!” Toug tried to convey that Mani had spoken to the king as well.

“We must talk more about that—a lot more. But first, will you explain why you’ve brought your brother-in-law?”

Pouk touched his cap. “To serve you, ma’am. You don’t know th’ ropes, none o’ you. Was it your father said so?”

Idnn smiled again. “Yes. It was.”

“Well, ma’am, I do. Me wife, she does, too, an’ more from th’ woman’s angle, if you take me meaning. She cooks, she does, an’ serves an’ all. I scrubs floors an’ carries an’ does heavy work as needs doin’. An’ they don’t no more notice us than you’d a fly, ma’am. So we hears an’ knows, an’ knows th’ whole rig an’ could take you anywheres.”

“I see.”

Pouk laughed. “So does she, ma’am. You keep on doin’ it. I hope for th’ gentlemen here likewise.”

Beel said, “You’ll be a useful friend, clearly. What can we do for you?”

“Get us out’s all. Me an’ Ulfa.” Pouk’s voice became confidential. “Th’ lad’s goin’ to try, an’ him an’ me, we hope you’ll try too, sir. Like mebbe the king’d be in a mood to do a favor? You might ask him for us, sir, sayin’ you needed somebody to help. When you went home, why we’d be on board natural as anything.”

“I will certainly consider it,” Beel said slowly.

“I hopes you will, sir.”

Svon reached from chair to chair to touch Pouk’s arm. “What did my squire tell the king? Were you with him?”

“No, sir. That I wasn’t.”

“It was just Mani and me,” Toug lied, “and the king and Thiazi. The king wants Sir Able to fight for him. But I know Sir Able has this friend—she’s a friend of mine, too—who’d like him go somewhere else, and—”

“Where?” Beel inquired.

“I can’t say, Your Lordship.” It was hard to speak. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”

Beel raised an eyebrow. “You’re sworn to secrecy?”

Unable to meet his gaze, Toug let his own rove over the walls. “I can’t tell, Your Lordship. Or not now. If—if you could meet her. If you could, it might be different.”

Idnn’s voice was more gentle than ever. “She is here?”

“I don’t know, My Lady. Really, I don’t.”

“She might be here in Utgard at this moment, but she might not? Is that correct?”

“Yes, My Lady. That’s it.”

“She has been here? You’ve seen her here?”

Toug swallowed, his mouth dry. “Yes, My Lady.”

“Today, since you yourself passed the walls only today. Do you love her, Squire Toug?”

“Oh, no, My Lady! I like her, I like her a lot, and...”

Beel said, “You owe her a great favor.”

“No, Your Lordship. But...”

“She owes him one,” Idnn murmured, “and he’s as young as I, and finds her gratitude sweet. We’ll delve no further in this, Father, if you’ll take my advice.”

“I shall,” Beel declared, “after one more question. Would this friend enlist Sir Able against King Arnthor?”

“Oh, no, sir! It’s nothing like that.”

“Then we shall tease you no longer,” Beel declared. He glanced at Garvaon and Svon, and added, “Is that understood?”

Garvaon nodded, and Svon said, “Yes, Your Lordship.”

“Hoping that King Gilling would not wrest Sir Able from your friend, you praised my own knights? Is that correct?”

Something had stirred in the corner behind Toug’s chair. Afraid to look, he said, “Yes, Your Lordship.”

“I think you’ve done well,” Beel said. “We’ll find out tonight.”