“Aye. Upon my knightly honor.”
“And upon mine.” Holger felt his decision had been good. Carahue would probably abide by the oath while the trip lasted; and once he, Holger, had Cortana in his hands, the Saracen would hardly be a menace. He said impulsively, “Bare is brotherless back.”
Carahue started. “Where did you learn that?” he snapped.
“Why, well, it just came to me. Why do you ask?”
“I knew a man once who used that saying. The man I seek, if truth be told.” Carahue’s eyes lay keenly on them for a moment before he turned. “Well, let’s dine and then make ready to depart. I think tomorrow dawn were best for that, eh?”
He was entertaining company at lunch, with jokes and songs and somewhat risque reminiscences. Afterward he and Holger checked what equipment they had. His armor was a steel corselet, flaring at the shoulders and elaborately arabesqued; a spiked helmet with chainmail earflaps; greaves atop boots of tooled leather. His shield bore a six-pointed star argent on a field azure, border gules fleury or; his weapons included a bow and arrows; he rode a slim white mare. Alianora’s dun gelding he declared to be good horseflesh, but added they had better acquire a mule, on which Hugi could ride with ample food supplies. He spent most of the afternoon talking down the prices of these items.
They went early to bed, but Holger lay awake for an hour. Despite every precaution, he knew Morgan le Fay would learn where he was bound, if she didn’t already know—and would do something about it.
18
FOR TWO NIGHTS they stayed with peasants. Holger, who was not quick enough in the tongue to invent plausible details on the spot, must say as little as possible lest he betray himself to Carahue. The Saracen made conversation enough for both, sprightly, gallant, and aimed increasingly at the girl. This drove Holger still deeper into glum silence. He tried to push down his jealousy—what claim did he have on her?—but it bounced right back.
The third day they left roads and fields and houses behind them. That night they stayed in the hut of a shepherd, who told some grisly tales about savage raiders, worse ones about the trolls who sometimes ventured this far toward the valley. His was the last human habitation on their route, except for the cannibal villages.
Again they climbed mountains, steeper and higher than those to the east. Alianora said they were in the foothills of the titanic Jötun range. “And beyond is nobbut cold and dark and ice, lit by northern lights, for ’tis the home o’ the giants.”
Their goal was not quite that far, on a plateau short of the ultimate heights. But it was at least a week’s journey, through a land harsh enough.
They rode between glacier-scarred boulders and wind-gnawed crags, up and up the long slopes, over razorback ridges and through ravines so narrow they were almost lightless. The woods thinned out into rare clumps of twisted scrub oak; grass grew sparse and stiff ; the air was chilly by day and cold by night, with clouds scudding over the pale sun and the bitterly brilliant stars. Often they had to ford streams that torrented from the peaks. It was all their animals could do not to be yanked away to drowning. Hugi, whose short legs hardly came below the packs on which he rode, was the only one who didn’t get drenched. He would shout jovial remarks like “Ship ahoy!” and “Stow the mizzenmast!” which got little appreciation. Carahue snuffed and sneezed and swore imaginatively at the weather (he denied that this land had climate), but he stuck with the others.
“When I get home,” he said, “I shall lie under orange blossoms in the sun. Slave girls will play me music and drop grapes in my mouth. To keep fit, I shall take exercises: twice daily will I twiddle my fingers. After a few months I will weary of this and set forth on a new knightly quest: let us say, as far as the nearest coffee shop.”
“Coffee,” sighed Holger. He was even running low on Unrich’s tobacco, or whatever the stuff was.
Alianora turned swan from time to time and flew ahead to check their course. When she was gone from view, the fourth day in the wilderness, Carahue regarded Holger with unaccustomed sobriety. “Despite her taste in clothes,” he said, “that is a girl whose like is rarely found.”
“I know,” nodded Holger.
“Forgive my impudence in asking, but God did give me eyes to see with. She’s not your leman, is she?”
“No.”
“The more fool you.”
Holger couldn’t quite resent that. It was probably correct.
“’Tis wha’ I ha’ been telling him and telling him and telling him,” rumbled Hugi. “Yon knichts be an eldritch breed. They’ll cross the world to rescue a maiden, and then dinna know aught to do wi’ her but take her home and mayhap beg a bit o’ hair ribbon to wear on their sleeve. ’Tis a wonder their sort ha’ no died oot erenoo.”
Alianora came back toward dusk. “I’ve seen the kirk from afar,” she reported. “I saw also, closer to us, two strongholds o’ the wild men, wi’ skulls on poles all around, and the folk in a bustle as if readying for war.”
“They are.” Holger nodded.
Alianora frowned. “I’ve scouted a way for us through one pass, up onto the wold. No settlements lie near, belike because a troll dwells in some cave thereabouts. Yet the widely ranging huntsmen may spy us e’en so, and bring a party to capture us for our flesh.”
“Ha, a sad end to a valiant knight, barbecued in his own armor,” said Carahue. He grinned. “Though methinks Sir Rupert and Hugi and I would prove tough steaks, nothing like your tender pretty limbs.”
Alianora smiled in a confused way and blushed. Carahue took her hand. “Come worst to worst,” he said gravely, “you must fly and not heed us. The world can well spare our sort, but would become dreary indeed without you to light it.”
She shook her head, tongue-tied, and did not quickly withdraw her hand. This boy, thought Holger, is an operator. He couldn’t find any words of his own, and couldn’t stand to listen. So he rode ahead, his mood thickening by the hour. Carahue was not poaching, he told himself; but himself paid scant attention. Didn’t the guy have any sense of decency or whatever? Didn’t Alianora have any sense, question mark? . Well, how could she? She’d never been exposed to this sort of thing before. She’d take the most worn-out flatteries for wit and honest sentiments. Blast his soul, Carahue had no right to shoot a sitting swan like that. Besides, on a trip as dangerous and important as this, no one had a right to—to—Oh, damn it all, anyway!
At evening they found themselves in a slight dip. Ahead bulked the slopes they must climb tomorrow, rock piled on rock till a distant ridge stood back and saw-toothed against the sky. But in this dale a cataract foamed over a slate-blue cliff, into a lake tinged red with sundown. Closer at hand, the shore was low and still. A flock of wild ducks clattered off as the humans neared, to settle near the opposite bank, a mile away. The hush returned.
“I hoped we could reach this loch,” said Alianora. “If we leave some fishlines out o’ernicht, we can make a better breakfast than salt pork and hardtack.”
Hugi shook his big shaggy head. “I know na, lassie. This whole land smells evil, but here’s a stench I ne’er met.”
Holger inhaled a breeze tinged with damp green odors. “Seems okay to me,” he said. “Anyway, we can’t get around the lake before nightfall.”
“We could go back uphill and camp above,” said Carahue.
“Retrace our steps two miles?” Holger sneered. “Do so if you wish, sir. But I’m not afraid to sleep here.”
The Saracen flushed and bit back an angry retort. Alianora hurried to break the silence by exclaiming, “See, yon’s a good dry spot.”