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And
Arnfinn was in a way as subject to her enchantment as she was subject to the
power of the
Sword he carried. Whenever he looked at her, with Sightblinder held tightly
in his own hand, he saw a mystery that seemed to him divine. This is, he
thought, the mystery of courtly love that minstrels sing about. And I, though
only a peasant...
When night fell, they quietly locked the trapdoor again, and then spent the
night together in one of the beds in one of the highest rooms. Whether it had
originally been
Ninazu's bed, or Kunderu's, Arnfinn had no idea.
The two of them were roused roughly in the hours before dawn, when the racket
of
Draffut's invasion awakened the entire castle. Jumping out of bed, the lady
and Arnfinn moved from window to window, trying to see what was going on
outside, where the sounds of battle were unmistakable.
Then there was a pounding on the locked trapdoor above.
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On the morning the battle had started, on a lower level of the castle, Wood
rejoiced to see the at-first-mysterious rout of Draffut. This eucatastrophe
was closely followed by another stroke of good fortune for the Ancient Master,
his griffin had returned, and could now be seen circling in the clear morning
sky above the aerie tower.
Wood's first elation at this sight was somewhat dampened by the fact that the
beast was riderless.
Running out of his tower, across a first floor roof in the gray light of a
clouded morning sky, Wood waved his arms in practiced gestures. The
eagle-eyed creature saw him at once, and came gliding swiftly down to land on
the low roof near him.
In a moment Wood had reached the griffin's side, and was rifling its
saddlebags, in search of a written message from Amintor, or at least some clue
as to what might have happened to the general. But there was nothing in the
containers, not even the small amounts of food and other supplies that Amintor
had had with him on his departure. The general might, of course, have fallen
to some kind of enemy action. Or deserted. Or he might have consumed his
supplies, Wood supposed, and then fallen from the beast's saddle at high
altitude. If so, that was that. Such an accident would not have been
impossible, though decidedly unlikely; the griffin knew that it was supposed
to return with the man who had ridden it away.
The griffin now turned its fierce impassive gaze upon its master, who glared
back at it in frustration. The beast was possessed of many valuable powers,
but those of speech or any other intelligent communication were not among
them. The poorest of the small flyers could do better in that regard. For
Wood to try to question this mount now would be about as profitable as
grilling a riding-beast on what had happened to its human rider.
But the discovery of Amintor's fate, and even that of the expected army of
reinforcements, would have to wait. Wood's main consideration at the moment
was that he now had the griffin back for his own use. Smiling grimly, he
vaulted into the saddle.
By the time Wood got back his griffin, Mark, Ben, and Yambu had changed places
with
Arnfinn and Ninazu. Mark and his people had gone down from the roof through
the trapdoor, meaning to take a more active part in the fighting for the
castle, at least to divert part of the defenders' strength.
Arnfinn, with Ninazu at his side, had gone out on the roof to see what was
happening, with a vague plan of using the Sword to create a distraction of his
own. He was ready to destroy Ninazu's real lover if he could.
There seemed to be fighting everywhere on the walls and in the courtyards
below, and as near as Arnfinn could tell, the invaders in green and gold were
winning. Before
Arnfinn could decide on what false orders he ought to shout, to do his rival
the most harm, there was a rushing in the air above him, as of giant wings,
and he looked up. He was just in time to see Wood on his griffin come
swooping down with intent to destroy the impostor and, if at all possible,
capture another extremely useful Sword for himself in the process.
In a moment the griffin had landed on the rooftop. But no sooner had its
master leaped from its back, than it flew away again, to circle the tower at a
little distance, ignoring his commands to attack the man who stood armed
across the diameter of the roof from him. The creature was as confused as any [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]