Gene Wolfe - The Wizard

And so on for an hour. I was impatient at first, but soon found much of interest in the Earl Marshal’s questions, comments, offers, and suggestions. He was a formidable negotiator who if he had not been a nobleman might have made his fortune as a trader—subtle, patient, and ingenious. He was portly and gained advantage from his size, more from his jowls, the great pale dome of his head, and his eyes, which were perhaps the shrewdest I have ever seen.

At last the stallions were settled. For a moment those eyes were on me, and I expected him to talk to me or tell one of his bustling clerks to do it. An elderly woman was led before him instead. Seeing her infirmity, he asked whether she would not prefer to sit, and a chair was brought.

Her first husband, it transpired, had been a knight; it meant that she was formally addressed as “Dame.” He had died in some long-ago skirmish and she had remarried, choosing a draper. Now he too was dead; she wished to resume her title, but her neighbors would not accord it to her.

“There is no question,” the Earl Marshal declared, “that you ask no more than is yours by law. None but the king may expunge these honors, and I recall no case in which the loser was a lady. No doubt it has occurred, but the time would be prior to my birth and yours. If you require a declaration of your right, I make it—and publicly. If you ask a written one, a clerk can prepare it and I’ll sign it.”

Humbly the old woman said, “They know they wrong me, My Lord. They delight in it.”

“And you,” the Earl Marshal inquired, “do you yourself honor Sir Owan?”

“In my heart, My Lord. Daily.”

“Harrumph!” The Earl Marshal’s eyes rolled. “Hearts I leave to Skai, Dame Eluned. I cannot look into them. You are of means—your dress proclaims it. Are Sir Owan’s arms displayed on your house?”

So soft was the old woman’s reply that the Earl Marshal had to ask her to repeat it.

“No, My Lord.”

“On the liveries of your servants—your manservants, if not your women?” There was no reply.

“The favorable ruling you ask of me lies in your power, Dame Eluned, not in mine.” The Earl Marshal made a gesture of dismissal, and at once his servants helped the old woman to her feet and removed the chair.

“I will have the knight next,” said the Earl Marshal, indicating me.

The crowd parted, and I came forward.

“Do I know your mail, or does that but imitate it?”

I replied, “You know it, My Lord.”

“It has been said to lie no longer within this world.”

I made no answer, since no question had been asked. “Was it in Mythgarthr that you obtained it?”

“No, My Lord.”

For a moment his court was silent, a silence he himself broke by clearing his throat. “Harrumph! I move too quickly for reason. Your name?”

“I’m Sir Able of Redhall.”

“Your allegiance is to His Grace Duke Marder, is that correct?”

“It is, My Lord.”

“Yet you do not go to His Grace for justice?” The Earl Marshal raised a hand. “Peace. We shall come to that by and by. You ride a fine barb, Sir Able. One of my clerks called me to a window to see him. I will examine him more nearly when I have leisure.”

“I will be honored to show her, My Lord.”

The Earl Marshal’s eyes opened a little wider. “Did I hear you say that animal is a mare?”

“She is, My Lord, though often taken for a stallion.”

“I should like to see a stallion of her line.”

“I’ve none to exhibit to you, My Lord.”

“Has she been bred?”

“No, My Lord. She’s still young, nor would the coupling be easy.”

“She has not attained full growth?” He was skeptical.

“No, My Lord.”

He passed a hand across his face. “I should like to see her grown. I’d like to see that very much. We will speak of this after.”

“I’m at My Lord’s command.”

“You are one of His Grace’s knights. He bid you hold a mountain pass for some months. Such was the last I heard of you, Sir Able. He has given you Redhall since, and so thinks highly of you. You held the pass?”

“I did, My Lord.”

“Against how many?”

“Three, My Lord.”

He chuckled. “Your fellows think well of you, too, or more would have come against you. You overthrew all three?”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“Admirable. How may we serve you?”

“I need an audience with His Majesty, My Lord.”

“And have no friend at court. I see. You wish to be presented?”

“We must talk, My Lord. I have a message for him.”

“I see. From?”

“I’ll keep silence on that, My Lord.”

“I—see.” The Earl Marshal motioned to one of his clerks. “Take Sir Able to the Red Room.”

Wistan hurried forward to join me.

“Make that my library. You wish your squire to remain in your company, Sir Able? We will find entertainment for him elsewhere if you do not.”

“I’d like him to stay, if it won’t be too much trouble.”

“Very well. You will desire refreshment. Tell Payn.”

The Earl Marshal’s library proved a snug room with a fire and a hundred books or more on shelves and tables. Payn (young and bald, with eyes nearly as shrewd as his master’s) bid us sit and cautioned us about the books. “All these are priceless. You understand, I hope.”

Wistan said we did.

I was looking at them, and took one from its shelf. “Can you read, Sir Able?”

“No,” I said.

“No more can I read that one. It’s of Aelfrice, and the letters are very different from our own.”

Wistan asked how the Earl Marshal had gotten a book from Aelfrice; the matter was complex, but Payn explained it at some length, ending with, “It’s a history of the place, with an explanation of their laws.”

I had been reading while he spoke. “They have none, and it’s mostly a chronicle of the kings of the Stone Aelf. But this,” I showed him the place, “is a spell to turn ghosts visible. ‘By Mannanan and Mider, by Bragi, Boe, and Llyr, by all you hope from Bridge of Swords, I conjure you, appear!’”

The hag at the fire laughed, and by her laugh I knew she had been there the entire time. I heard the door slam, but I thought Payn alone had fled.

“Greetings, mother,” I said. “I didn’t really mean to conjure you. I’m sorry for my carelessness.”

“You don’t like having me around.” She tittered. “What have you done with my cat?”

Hearing that, I knew who she was and said, “I left him behind me, mother, and I miss him a lot. As for you, you showed me hospitality once when I was in need of it. You’re welcome to mine, whenever you choose.”

She scooped coals from the fire, shook them together in her hands, and cast them onto the hearth. For a few seconds she bent over them, blowing on them to brighten their glow. “You fear the sister,” she told me. “Fear the brother.”

“Garsecg? He’s dead.”

She laughed, and vanished as the door swung back and the Earl Marshal came in, followed reluctantly by Wistan. “I was told there was a ghost here.” The Earl Marshal smiled.

I bowed. “If there is, My Lord, we cannot see her.”

“Just so.” He pulled out the largest chair. “Won’t you sit down, Sir Able? This is no formal hearing.”

I thanked him, sat, and motioned for Wistan to sit.

“Payn rushed up to me with this young fellow. They said you had raised a spirit. I feared for my books and came.” I said I felt sure she had taken none. “You did call up a ghost, Sir Able?”

“Unintentionally, My Lord.” I closed the book, rose, and returned it to its place upon his shelves.

“Could you do it again?”

“I don’t think that would be wise, My Lord.” I went back to my chair.