Free The Wizard by Gene Wolfe Page B

he's old. I thought. . ." "They burned his eyes out. They do it to all the men." Something frightening came into Svon's face. Toug gulped. "They've got my sister. I told you." "Yes. But your sister won't have been blinded, will she? The women at the farm were all right." "They weren't all right, they just weren't blind. We're supposed to free Sir Able's servant, and find his horses and baggage, and send them to him. My sister was with Sir Able's servant, and he will have been blinded by now." "It may be impossible. I hope it isn't, but it may be." "Sir Able . . . He knew about these things, Sir Svon." Reluctantly, Svon nodded. "He knew you could do it. I told Lady Idnn after the battle, and maybe I" Svon had raised a hand for silence. "You told Lady Idnn? Did she ask about me?" Toug nodded. "She wanted to know a lot about you. She likes you, Sir Svon." "We'll have no more such talk as that!" "No, sir. I'm sorry, Sir Svon." "I'd be a landless man, if it weren't for her father's generosity. As it is, I own a manor I've never seen. She's the daughter of a baron, and you might circle Celidon without finding a fairer woman. She'll wed the heir to a dukedom." "There can't be many of those around here," Toug said practically. "Her father, and all of us, will return to the king when we've delivered his gifts, I'm sure." Toug nodded, hoping Svon was correct. "She was interested in me? She asked about me?" Toug nodded. "She likes you, Sir Svon. I know what you said, but she does." "An unproven knight." "Can I say something? You won't get mad?" Svon's smile was grim. "Try it, and we'll see." "When Lady Idnn looks at you, she sees what the rest of us see, not what you see when you think about yourself." "Which is?" "A noble knightone whose father's a nobleman. His mother was noble, too. A handsome knight with blue eyes and yellow hair and the kind of face women like." "A knight dependent on her father's pity." "Nobles reward knights," Toug insisted. "That's what they're for. You earned that manor fighting giants. You say you're a untried knight, I guess because you've never fought another knight. But which is harder, fighting another knight or fighting a giant? I know which one scares me most." Svon smiled. "My nose buttresses your argument. Though I was no knight when you broke it, I admit." Up ahead, Angrborn had blocked the head of the column, where Beel and Idnn rode. They had spears taller than many a tree, bare bellies like hairy sails, and beards as long as Toug was tall. Garvaon rode back to join Svon and Toug. "The king's guards, did you hear that? No armor, and turn as quick as four yoke and a plow. His Lordship wants them to take us to their king. They want to kill us and take the mules. Or so they say. I'd like to see them try." A richly dressed man who had followed Garvaon exclaimed, "Utgard! That's Utgard up there. I've heard about it all my life, but I no more expected to set eyes on it than the bottom of the sea. I'm going to make sketches." "It's big all right," Garvaon conceded. "Big, and full of Frost Giants. Seriously, sir knight, if you were to kill those up ahead, a hundred more would be on us before we'd gone half a league." Svon said, "You're right, of course. Have we met?" "Only briefly, I'm afraid. I know you've been meeting a great many people. I'm Master Papounce." They shook hands, Svon stiffly. "Toug is my squire" Like an echo, someone farther ahead called, "Toug!" "The only retinue I possess, at present." Toug shook hands too, and Papounce said, "You've a good, strong grip. Going to be a knight yourself before long." "I hardly know how to be a squire yet." Garvaon edged his mount near enough to touch Toug's shoulder, a quick rough slap. "Somebody wants you." "Here's a serving girl to fetch you, I believe," Svon added as one of Idnn's maids clattered up on a coarse pony that had begun the trip in the baggage train. The maid did her best to curtsy in the saddle. "It's Lady Idnn, Sir Svon. I mean, not her