Gene Wolfe - The Knight

“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 Idnn. “We’re not like the Aelf. We’re much more like Kulili, having been created, as she was, by the Father of the fathers of the Overcyns, the God of the highest world. Here, as there, he also created elemental spirits. As Sir Able says, they’re rather like ghosts. They are creatures both ancient and knowing, having the accumulated wisdom of centuries of centuries.”

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.”

Idnn declared, “I’ll attend you, Father. You can count on me.”

“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.”

Outside, the other pavilions had been erected as well. The kitchen fires were burning, although a dozen men were still fetching wood, and the ring of axes sounded from the mountain slopes. Muleteers led strings of braying, weary mules over the edge of the gorge and presumably down the precipitous path to the stream.

In Garvaon’s pavilion, three men-at-arms were setting up cots. Mine was up already; the blanket Garvaon had found for me had been laid on it, and Mani was seated on that. “Well, well,” I said, “where have you been?”

Mani gave the three men-at-arms a significant look.

“All right, you spoiled cat.” I sat down and pulled off my boots. “You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. Just let me lie down.”

Mani did, and laid himself so his head was at my ear. After that, I dozed off for a few minutes.

When I woke up again, Mani said, “I have news. Those Aelf girls found your dog. One of the giants has chained him up.”

I yawned and whispered, “Can’t they free him?”

“They’re trying. I wouldn’t, but apparently they think you’d want them to. At any rate, that’s what one told me, and she made me promise to tell you. She wanted to get back to getting the chain off your dog—or whatever the brute actually is.”

To give myself time in which to think, I asked, “Which one was it?”

“The ugly one,” Mani whispered.

I turned my head to look at him, and opened my eyes. “They’re both quite pretty.”

“You at least wear fur.”

“Clothes, you mean. They could wear clothes too, if they wanted to. But it’s warm in Aelfrice, so most of the Aelf don’t. Clothes there are for ...” I groped for a word. “For dignity. For kings and queens.”

“Every cat is royal,” Mani declared in a tone that said he would be mad if you argued. “I am myself.”

The last of the men-at-arms was leaving the pavilion as he spoke, and I noticed he was holding two fingers pointed at the ground.

“You were overheard, Your Most High and Catty Majesty,” I told Mani.

“Don’t mock me. I won’t tolerate it.” Mani sat up and spoke a little louder.

“I apologize. It was rude of me, and I’m sorry.”

“Then the incident is forgotten. And don’t worry about those fellows, nobody believes them anyhow. As for your Aelf girls, I admit the fire color is attractive, and they have fur here and there. When I say the ugly one, I mean the one who looks least like a cat.”

“That would be Baki, I suppose.”

“I’ll not dispute it.” Mani began to clean his private parts by licking them.

“Mani, I just had an idea.”

“Really, Sir Able?” Amused, he looked up. “You?”

“Maybe not, but I thought of something. You must have seen a lot of spells cast, a lot of fortunes told and so on.”

“I’ve watched my share,” Mani admitted.

“So you probably know a good deal about magic yourself. Tonight Lord Beel’s going to try to find Pouk by magic.”

Mani purred softly.

“I’ll be there, and so will Lady Idnn. I doubt that anyone will object if I bring you along. Will you come?”

He licked a large black paw, studied it, and licked it again. “I’ll consider it.”

“Good. That’s all I can ask. Watch what goes on, and if anything occurs to you, tell me.”

“I don’t know Pouk,” Mani said thoughtfully. “Does he like cats?”

“Absolutely. There was a cat on the Western Trader, and Pouk was very fond of it.”

“Really?”

“Really, I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that.”

“In that case, what was this cat’s name?”

“I don’t know, but Pouk—”

I broke off as Garvaon entered the pavilion. “Ready for your next lesson, Sir Able?”

“Absolutely.” I sat up.

“It’s nearly dark already.” Garvaon sat down on his own cot. “So I’d just like to talk about foining tonight. We won’t have a lot of time anyway. You can see the moon above the mountaintops.”

“What’s foining?”

“Stabbing with your sword. Pushing the point.” Garvaon gestured. “I have the feeling we may be fighting again soon. I could be wrong, but that’s the feeling I have.”

“I think so too.”

“Foining’s one of the best ways of taking down your man in a real fight. People don’t like to talk about it.”

I waited.

“I don’t myself, because quite a few of us consider it unfair. But when it’s you or him ...”

“I understand.”

“It’s not lawful in tournaments, not even in the melee. That’s where the business of unfairness comes from. But it’s not lawful because it’s so dangerous. Even if you grind the point off the sword, you can hurt somebody pretty badly by foining.”

I got up. “Can I show you my mace?”

“That thing that looks like a sword? Sure.”

I drew Sword Breaker and handed it to Garvaon. “The end is squared off. See?”

Garvaon nodded. “I do, and I think I know what you’re going to say.”

“I hit another knight in the face once with the end.”

“How’d it work?”

I had to think about that. “He was as tall as I am, as I remember. But he fell down, and I had no more trouble with him. He kept his hands on his face after that.”

Garvaon nodded and smiled. “You gave yourself a better lesson then than I could ever give you. You probably knocked some teeth out, and you may have broken bone, too. But if you’d had a real sword with a sharp point, you’d have killed him. And that’s better.”