Free The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf by Gerald Morris

him something that would help Sir Gawain find him."
    Roger shook his head and said nothing.

    "Cheery place, this," Roger commented. "Lovely spot for a funeral, I'd think."
    They were traveling on a narrow path through the closest, darkest, most ominous-looking forest Lynet had ever seen. The sun was almost completely obscured, and ivy and mistletoe hung low over their
heads. Then, as if the natural gloom were not enough, someone had hung long strips of black cloth over some of the branches, and they fluttered gently in the breath of wind that penetrated the trees. Lynet felt the darkness of the path as a chill in her heart.

    "What's that?" she asked. On a low branch ahead of them hung something round and dark.
    "Looks as though someone's hung a shield up there," Roger said, riding closer. "And there's a lance beside it. Both of them black, of course. Not very imaginative decorations around here. Old Griflet would be appalled."
    At the thought of the brightly dressed courtier back at Camelot, Lynet's spirits lifted, and she allowed herself a smile.
    "That's the dandy, my lady," Roger said softly. "Don't be cast down by someone's decorations. Any fool can paint a shield black. And look, just past the shield there's a clearing."
    It was true; a gap in the trees ahead allowed in a bit more light. "Thank heaven," Lynet muttered.
    "Who's there?" came a gruff shout. Lynet took a quick breath, and then they were out of the trees in the clearing, facing a large man in armor as black as coal.
    Lynet could only stare, but Beaumains, who had been quiet all day, spoke. "We are travelers seeking a way through this forest."
    The man in black smiled with a fierce delight. "A knight!" he exclaimed. "How splendid! Ready your armor for battle!"

    Lynet shook off her wonder and said, "Oh for heaven's sake! Why should he? All we want is to pass through."
    The Black Knight laughed harshly. "No one passes through here unless they pass through me. If you are a commoner, you pay me a toll. If you are a knight, you fight." He laughed again. "But if you fight, you do not pass. For here you die."
    "What a stupid custom!" Lynet protested. "What good can it possibly do you to fight and kill strangers?"
    The Black Knight frowned at her, then grinned. He was missing several teeth. "A spirited lady, now! You need taming! Is this knight by your side able to break you to halter as I could?"
    Lynet felt suddenly cold inside as she looked into the leering eyes of the huge man, but she forced herself to be calm. "This? This is no knight! This is a kitchen boy who's put on someone else's armor. You'll gain no manly glory by fighting this one. Why don't you let us by and wait for someone more worthy of you?"
    The knight stepped closer with an insolent swagger. "A kitchen boy, eh? I ought to thrash him for pretending to be his better. Well, if you have no knight to fight me, then you must pay a toll. I'll take
the boy's armor and horse, of course." He paused. "And the lady."

    Lynet gasped and edged backwards. From the corner of her eye, she saw Roger's hand steal back and rest on the haft of his sword, but then Beaumains spoke.
    "You'll take no toll from us, cowardly knight! Either surrender your arms to me at once, or prepare to fight!"
    The knight laughed coarsely. "Ho! A kitchen boy with grand ideas! Very well. I'd as soon kill the child first anyway." Turning toward Lynet he said, "Watch closely. Observe your new master, the Knight of the Black Woods."
    Beaumains drew his sword and dismounted, and the battle began. It probably took no more than fifteen minutes, but to Lynet it seemed hours. The Black Knight was a skilled and experienced fighter, but every thrust, every attack that he made was somehow parried. Far faster than his opponent, Beaumains was everywhere, here slipping away from a heavy swing, there flashing a quick blow to an unprotected place on the Black Knight's armor. Some of these blows must have hit home, for soon Lynet saw smears of blood on