The Wizard

Chapter 34. My New Sword

I slept in my cell that night, and wished (if the truth be told) that I had some means of locking it from inside. I was back on the Western Trader. (This was not the first time that dream had recurred since my return from Skai.) I saw the vicious, famished faces of the Osterlings and knew they meant to land on Glas and that my mother was there. I went to the captain and ordered him to put about; he did not hear or see me, and when I knocked the hourglass from his table, it returned of its own accord.

I woke shivering to find myself in the dungeon. Having no wish to sleep again until the dream lost its grip, I went looking for blankets.

At Sheerwall it was hard to get into the dungeon without going out into the bailey It was different at Thortower; earlier I had found a stair leading to a barred door of thick oak. Now I climbed that stair again, took down the bar, and stepped into the castle kitchen, where a score of cooks and scullions snored on pallets. Clearly, the prisoners’ rations were prepared here and carried down. I blew out my lantern, set it on a step, and shut the door as quietly as I could. A potboy woke and stared at me. I put a finger to my lips, and told him to go back to sleep; he nodded and slept, or at least pretended to. What he may have thought of a knight prowling the kitchen after midnight, I cannot imagine.

Beyond the kitchen was a hallway, by no means cramped, leading into the great banqueting hall in which I had sat with Arnthor, Gaynor, and Morcaine. It made me curious about the entrance they had used; I found it, and in it a mirror, the largest I saw in Mythgarthr. Here (I suppose) the king, the queen, and the princess checked their appearance before making their entrances.

It gave me an idea, and I filched a lump of hard soap from the kitchen, whittled a soap-pencil, and wrote on the mirror, “Your thoughts—our lives,” first in the character of Aelfrice, and up and down the sides in the runes of Skai. Returning to my cell with stolen blankets, I slept again; and if dreams haunted my sleep, they were the merciful sort.

Underground as I was, I had no way of marking the rising of the sun; but I heard new gaolers come, and heard them call and search for Fiach, and judged that it was morning. I rose and asked one for warm water and a towel. He hesitated but at last refused.

“In that case, I’ll get them for myself,” I said.

He laughed and hurried off to rejoin the search; when he was well away I went to the gaolers’ room, drew water from their cistern, warmed it on their fire, and carried it to one of the cells reserved for nobility. The gaoler’s room had yielded a clean tunic I used as a towel; I washed with these and with the soap that had served me for a pencil, returned to my old cell, and carried my clean straw to my new one.

My window was small and high. Yet what a difference it made! Fresh air and winter sunshine found their way in; and although it was cold, the whole dungeon was as cold if not colder. Wrapped in a blanket, I was not uncomfortable.

Furthermore, I could see out by standing upon the basin. There was little to see but frozen, snow-covered mud and an occasional pig, but I watched these with some interest.

Aside from Manasen’s servant, Uri was my first visitor. I called and she responded at once, standing very straight and meeting my gaze with frightened eyes. “You might be with Queen Disiri, Lord. Shall I guide you?”

I shrugged. “Equally, Queen Disiri might be with me.”

“She is a queen, Lord.”

“And I’m just an ordinary kid from America.”

She looked more frightened than ever. “You are a knight, Lord. A knight of Mythgarthr.”

“More than that. I am one of the Valfather’s knights.”

“I know n-nothing of that, Lord. As you say.”

“I thought that when I had delivered her message to King Arnthor, Disiri would come for me. I lay in my cell waiting for her, and I hoped to see her this morning. I washed, and dressed, all in the hope she’d come.”

“Y-yes, Lord.”

“Is there unrest in Aelfrice that might detain her? The rise of another like Setr?”

“I know of none, Lord.”

“I embraced her when I was at Redhall. It can’t have been long in the time of Aelfrice, a day or two at most.”

“Less, Lord. Come with me to Aelfrice, and we will see. I fear the queen but you will protect me, I know.”

I shook my head. “We played together as children, Uri. Disiri and me. I remember now.”

Her voice was tender. “Do you, Lord?”

“I do.” Until that moment I had not known I remembered. “I thought they wiped those memories away, Uri, but they only hid them under the message. She had a palace, and big trees were its towers. Her garden lay around them, a garden of wildflowers, mosses, little springs, and rivulets. I was stronger than she was, but I was careful to take no advantage of it, and she punished me when she was displeased, striking me with her little hand.” I laughed at the memory. “It was like being kicked by a bunny, but if I giggled she’d threaten me with her guards, Moss-men with swords who watched over us. They’d have killed me if she ordered it, but she never did.”

“You will not ask me to carry a message to her, will you, Lord? Baki could do it. They would not harm her.”

“I drank Baki’s blood once.”

“I r-remember, L-Lord.”

“She said it would heal me, Uri, and it did. How would my life had been different if I hadn’t drunk Baki’s blood?”

“I cannot say, Lord. These questions—you are wiser than I. If you called me to trouble me with questions, I must endure it. But is there no other way I can serve you?”

I told her then that I was concerned for Cloud and Gylf. I asked her to find them, to free them if they desired it, and report back when she had done it.

My next visitor came so soon after Uri had gone that I wondered whether Uri had not fetched her. It was Morcaine, but she did not appear from the shadows as at Redhall; she came as any other might, save that she was accompanied by men-at-arms. These were not dead, but hard-featured axmen in brigandines and helmets who feared her as much as the gaolers feared them.

She sent five to each end of the corridor, so neither they nor the gaolers could hear us. “This was none of my doing, Sir Able. No revenge of mine.”

I said I had never supposed it was.

“You refused me at Redhall. I’ve offered love to few men. Only two have declined.” She laughed; it was beautiful and empty. “Can you guess the other? Answer, clerk!”

“No, Your Highness.”

“You’re a miserable liar. He was much better. Do you imagine that resentment smolders and flares within this fair bosom?” She pressed her hand to her stomach.

From her breath and her flushed cheeks, it was brandy that smoldered and flared there. I said, “Your Highness is too good a woman for that.”

“You’ve no notion.” She paused. “You might overpower me, ravish me, and escape in my clothes. We’re of a height.”

“I would never do such a thing, Your Highness.”

“You’d rape a peasant girl—you all do it. What’s the difference? It might save your life.”

“No, Your Highness.”

“I’d have to lace you up in back, but I would if the ravishing went well. I’ve been told that many men fantasize about lying with a woman of royal blood.”

“As do I, Your Highness, though you are not the woman.”

Morcaine laughed. “Neither is she. You’ll find out.”

Not wishing to contradict her, I bowed.

“I’ll have you yet. You’ll see. When I’ve finished with you, you’ll crawl, begging me to take you back.” Her eyes shone. “Then I’ll remind you of this. I’ll make you bring me the head of the Man in the Moon, and when you do, I’ll refuse it and mock you.”

She took my chin in her right hand. “Unless the Aelf try to feed me to another dragon, the little sons of worms. Then I’ll scream oh-so-prettily and you’ll kill him for me and die again. You’re dead, you know.”

Although she still held my chin, I managed to nod.

“That Valkyrie’s kiss did it. Did you know that? It’s an act of mercy. They don’t take you unless you’re too badly hurt to live. And now—” Quite suddenly she kissed me, wrapping me in her long arms, her tongue gliding through my mouth and halfway down my throat. I fell to the straw, and she said, “Now you know how we feel.”

I managed to say that I did not think I was capable of making any woman feel the way I felt then.

“Stand up!” She motioned imperiously for me to rise. “I’m going to ask my brother to free you. That’s one of the things I came to tell you. I doubt he will. He doesn’t like being told what a twisted little scoundrel he is, especially by the Aelf. The Aelf were our nurses—but you know that.”

I was getting to my feet; she crouched beside me, surprising me again. “He caught little fish and killed them in ugly ways. Sometimes I helped him. They punished us for it, and he’s never forgiven them. You dead obey me, Able. I bring you all to heel, even you difficult cases.”

“I’m eager to obey, Your Highness.”

“But I doubt that he’ll free you, even for me.” She warmed my hand between her own, and seemed to want me to thrust it between her breasts, though I did not. “You may have to wait ‘til I’m queen. You’ll be grateful then. Very grateful, because this is a terrible place and I’ll make you mine, and lie with you ‘til no part of you can stand, and cast you away, and send you after the phoenix’s egg. You’ll bring it, and beg and crawl.” She belched. “And crawl, and beg, and in the end I’ll take you back and we’ll go where nobody knows us, young lovers forever.”

I said, “You are kind at heart, Your Highness. I think I’ve always known that.”

She nodded solemnly. “I’m a good woman, Sir Able. Fortunately everybody else is evil, so I get to treat them any way I want. It makes it much more fun. Help me up.”

I stood and helped her rise; I do not think she could have without my help. “I thought you’d like to know how all this is going to work out,” she said, “so now you do. Brush off my bottom, I think I got straw on it.” I pretended to.

“Harder, and say I’ve been a bad girl.”

Shortly after that she left, walking so well I might have thought her almost sober if I had not been aware of the effort she was putting into it.

One of my gaolers came in, bringing a basin of warm water, soap, and a towel. I laughed and told him to take them away. He did, locking my cell door behind him.

Hours passed. All the things I thought of then have filled this book, and might fill a dozen more.

At last two gaolers appeared. Addressing me through the bars as “My Lord,” they asked whether I knew what had become of Fiach, describing him. They had found boots as well as torn and bloody clothes; and although they were not sure they had been his, they were afraid they had been.

“Fiach refused to let me occupy this cell,” I told them. “That’s all you need to know. It is enough for you. Now leave me in peace and do your jobs.” I had been on the point of calling for Uri when they had come to my door.

They begged and flattered, and at last threatened. No doubt I should have smoothed things over, but I was half nuts with inactivity and told them what I thought of them.

They left, but came back not long after with a third gaoler, opened my door, and came at me with their keys. The roar of the waves filled my ears. I knocked the first one into the two behind him before he could strike, wrenched his key away, and broke the shoulder of the second and the head of the third with two blows.

It had ended almost before it begun. (They must have felt they had lost before they had begun to fight.) The two who were still conscious prostrated themselves. I put my foot upon their necks and made each declare himself my slave forever—at which point Uri appeared, laughing, to remind me that she and Baki been forced to swear the same way. She wore no disguise, but was a Fire Aelf plainly, with floating hair like flames, fiery yellow eyes, and skin like copper in a crucible. I doubt that the gaolers heard a word she said; but her appearance, with a slender sword in one hand and its jeweled scabbard in the other, reduced them to gibbering.

“I’m keeping this key,” I told them. “Since our king has seen fit to imprison me, I’ll stay in this cell when I’ve no reason to leave it. I expect you to serve me loyally and faithfully, and I promise that your first lapse will be your last. Now pick him up,” I used my key to point to their unconscious buddy, “and get him out of here.”

It was easy for me to say that, but not easy for them to do it. He was a big, heavy man, and the one whose shoulder I had broken could not help the other much. I wanted to talk to Uri; so after watching the efforts of the one whose key I had taken for a minute, I picked up the unconscious one and carried him to the gaoler’s room.

“I brought you a new sword,” Uri said as we were walking back to my cell, “and you have not even looked at it.”

I explained that I was a prisoner and was not supposed to have a sword.

“You can hide it under your bed.”

“I don’t have one. I sleep on straw, on the floor.”

“But you could get one. Those men you beat will bring you one as soon as you tell them to. We could sleep in it, and you would have something to sit on.”

I flexed the blade deeply between my hands; it sprang back straight and true.

“Do not cut yourself.”

“I’m trying not to. Is this your work?”

“Mine personally? No. How about the bed?”

“I’ll think about it, but you won’t be welcome to sleep in it. I know what I’d wake up to.”

She giggled, and I felt a sudden yearning for Aelfrice, for its crystal sea and the silent forest in which Disiri and I had run and shouted and tamed young squirrels.

There was no room to swing such a sword in my cell. I stopped outside the door, making cuts in air and thrusting between the bars. Its hilt of silver and snowy leather was simple, even chaste, its narrow blade written over in the character of Aelfrice with words too small and dim to read.

“I think it Ice Aelf work,” Uri said. “It is old, no matter who made it, and I did not get it there.”

“You stole it here?”

She looked at me sidelong. “I do not have to steal everything. You have seen this.” She smoked, and in a few seconds she was smaller and not quite so slender, and her glowing copper skin had faded to white and peach, although her nipples stayed bright and looked too hot to touch.

“I have,” I said, “and resisted temptation. Are you saying you sold yourself for this? I don’t believe it.”

“All right, I stole it.” She held out the jeweled scabbard. “I refuse to tell from whom. You would make me take it back.”

“If I could make you take it back, I could make you tell me where you got it.”

“Please do not, Lord. Listen. The man who owned it will never know it has gone. Never, I promise you. He had locked it in an iron chest bound with seven chains and seven big padlocks. Do you believe that?”

“No,” I said.

“Then you certainly will not believe he threw the keys into the sea, but that’s what my friend told me. I reached up from Aelfrice—you know how we do—and pulled it down. He will think it is still in there until the day he dies.”

I took the scabbard from her and examined it. I had expected turquoise, amber, and that sort of thing; but there were fine rubies, and the blue stones were sapphires.

“Soft wood, Lord, with thin gold over it.”

I nodded and added, “And a white gold throat. Gold and silver mixed, I suppose. It’s the only part that comes near to matching the sword.” I sheathed it. “Though it fits well enough.”

“The scabbard is your human work, I feel sure. You have better taste than we do.”

I looked around at her. “I’ve never thought so.”

“Neither have I, Lord, but you are above us.”

“I no longer have a sword belt,” I said, largely to myself, “the king took it.”

“You can push it through that belt you are wearing now. It is not a heavy blade.”

“I suppose so.”

“Besides, I thought you would hide it in our bed. I mean, when you and Her Highness were not using it.”

“You’ve been spying on me.”

Uri grinned. “Only the tiniest bit. She is not bad looking for such a big woman, is she? A powerful sorceress, too. There could be a dozen pleasant surprises.”

I went into my cell, shutting the door before Uri could follow; she slipped between the bars in her proper shape. “Unpleasant ones, too. Some sorceresses have teeth down here. You stick it in and they bite it off. Mani told me.”

I hid the sword under my straw next to the wall. “You wouldn’t know anything about that.”

“About sorceresses? Why no, Lord. Or very little, though I talked with Mani about them once.”

I sat and motioned for her to sit. “Morcaine and her brothers were reared in Aelfrice when their mother abandoned them. I’d think you’d know a lot.”

“I do not. Shall I tell you what I know, Lord? I will not lie or make fun of you unless you interrupt.”

I nodded.

“Whoever told you that deceived you. I was a Khimaira, but I have heard things, and know what makes sense. Their mother did not abandon all three. Setr was a dragon, so why should she? She kept him by her in Muspel, in Aelfrice, and here in Mythgarthr. He was her firstborn, and so the right king of this part of Mythgarthr, though I do not believe he tried to claim it.”

I said, “I suppose Morcaine must be the youngest.”

Uri shook her head. “Arnthor is, but males claim the throne first in this Celidon. Now stop interrupting;”

She took a deep breath. “Second, Morcaine and Arnthor must have spent most of their childhood here. Otherwise they would still be children. And third, the Sea Aelf raised them, not my clan. We were Setr’s slaves, remember? Loyal slaves, because we were terribly afraid. They were allies, or at least more nearly allies than we ever were.”

“I understand. Is there anything else?”

“Yes. You will distrust it, but I will say it just the same. Is King Arnthor afraid of his sister?”

I shrugged. “He doesn’t confide in me. Were you watching when I fought Morcaine’s dead knights?”

“No. But I would like to have seen it, Lord.”

“Nearly everybody fled. The spectators, I mean. But King Arnthor remained, and the queen, I think because Arnthor had her arm. And Morcaine herself, of course.”

“Did he look frightened?”

I cast my mind back. “No. Resolute, if anything.”

“Uh huh. You probably will not know this, either, Lord, but I must try. Is she afraid of him?”

“Yes, she is. Very much so.” I paused, remembering. “It may be why she drinks. She loves him, but she’s terribly frightened of him.”

“In that case he is a sorcerer, Lord, a most dangerous one. You may trust me, though you will not. An older sister with magic at her command? She would jerk him about like a puppet if he were not. Setr had magic, a great deal of it.”

I nodded agreement.

“So does Morcaine, from what I have heard, and you confirm it. Why should you think the youngest has none?”

“I shouldn’t, I suppose. Here’s another question. You stole that sword for me. A good one, made by Aelf long ago. Could you have gotten my own sword, Eterne, as easily?”

Uri shook her head. “I could not find it, Lord.”

“The king took it.”

“I know. Gylf told me. The king must have hidden it somewhere.” She sifted straw between her fingers.

“You couldn’t find it.”

“No, Lord.”

I reached out and touched her knee, I cannot say why. “That is a lie, Uri. You found it, but dared not take it. I’m glad you didn’t. Arnthor’s wrong, but Arnthor’s my king. You’ve talked to Gylf. Where is he?”

“I do not know, Lord, though I can probably find him without much trouble. They had chained him up. I freed him, as you ordered.”

I nodded. “He’s gone into the wild, I suppose. What about Cloud?”

“She is in the stable, Lord, and well seen to. I told her you might soon be free, and she will wait for you.”

“Have they tried to ride her?”

“Yes, Lord. Several of the grooms, without success.”

“She may be in danger.”

“There is a fat old nobleman who is interested in her, Lord. The grooms fear him. They dare not mistreat her.”

“Have you seen Baki?”

“Lately? No, Lord.”

I questioned her at length, but learned nothing more. If Cloud or Gylf had seen Baki, they had not mentioned it.