IV

 

 

 

THE SKYRE, A LONG BIGHT OF PROTECTED WATER, SEPARATED NORTH ULFLAND from the ancient Duchy of Fer Aquila, now Godelia, realm of the Celts.^* Two towns of very different character looked at each other across the Skyre: Xounges, at the tip of a stony peninsula, and Dun Cruighre, Godelia’s principal port.

In Xounges, behind impregnable defenses, Gax, the aged king of North Ulfland, maintained the semblance of a court. The Ska, who effectively controlled Gax’s kingdom, tolerated his shadowy pretensions only because an attempt to storm the town would cost far more Ska blood than they were willing to spend. When old Gax died, the Ska would take the town through intrigue or bribery: whichever best served practicality.

Viewed from the Skyre, Xounges showed an intricate pattern of gray stone and black shadow, under roofs of mouldering brown tile. In total contrast, Dun Cruighre spread back from the docks in an untidy clutter of warehouses, hostleries, barns, shipwright’s shops, taverns and inns, thatched cottages and an occasional two-story stone manse. The heart of Dun Cruighre was its noisy and sometimes raucous square, often the scene of impromptu horse-races, for the Celts were great ones at contention of any sort.

Dun Cruighre was enlivened by much coming and going, with constant sea-traffic to and from Ireland and Britain. A Christian monastery, the Brotherhood of Saint Bac boasted a dozen famous relics and attracted pilgrims by the hundreds. Ships from far lands lay alongside the docks, and traders set up booths to display their imports: silk and cotton from Persia; jade, cinnabar and malachite from various lands; perfumed waxes and palm-oil soap from Egypt; Byzantine glass and Rimini faience—all to be exchanged for Celtic gold, silver or tin.

The inns of Dun Cruighre ranged in quality from fair to good: somewhat better, in fact, than might have been expected, for which the itinerant priests and monks could be thanked, since their tastes were demanding and their pouches tended to chink loud with coin. The most reputable tavern of Dun Cruighre was the Blue Ox, which offered private chambers to the wealthy and straw pallets in a loft to the penurious. In the common room, fowl constantly turned on a spit, and bread came fresh from the oven; travellers often declared that a plump roast pullet, stuffed with onions and parsley, with fresh bread and butter, and a pint or two of the Blue Ox ale made as good a meal as could be had anywhere in the Elder Isles. On fine days service was provided at tables in front of the inn, where patrons could eat and drink and watch the events of the square, which in this boisterous town never lacked for interest.

Halfway through one such fine morning a person of portly habit, wearing a brown cassock, came to sit at one of the Blue Ox’s outside tables. His face was confident and clever, with round alert eyes, a short nose, and an expression of genial optimism. With nimble white fingers and an earnest snapping of small white teeth he devoured first a roast pullet, then a dozen honey-cakes, meanwhile drinking grandly of mead from a pewter mug. His cassock, if judged by its cut and the excellence of its weave, suggested a clerical connection, but the gentleman had thrown back his hood and where once his pate had been shaved clean, a crop of brown hair now once again was evident.

From the common room of the tavern came a young man of aristocratic demeanour. He was tall and strong, clean-shaven and clear of eye, with an expression of tranquil good humor, as if he found the world a congenial place in which to be alive. His garments were casual: a loose shirt of white linen, trousers of gray twill and an embroidered blue vest. He looked right and left, then approached the table where sat the gentleman in the brown cassock. He asked: “Sir, may I join you? The other tables are occupied and, if possible, I would enjoy the air of this fine morning.”

The gentleman in the cassock made an expansive gesture: “Be seated at your pleasure! Allow me to recommend the mead; today it is both sweet and strong, and the honey-cakes are flawless. Indeed, I plan an immediate second acquaintance with both.”

The newcomer settled himself into a chair. “The rules of your order are evidently both tolerant and liberal.”

“Ha ha, not so! The restrictions are austere and the penalties are harsh. My transgressions, in fact, have brought me expulsion from the order.”

“Hmm! It seems an exaggerated response. A sip or two of mead, a taste of honey-cake: where is the harm in this?”

“None whatever!” declared the ex-priest. “I must admit that the issues possibly went a trifle deeper, and I may even found a new brotherhood, devoid of those stringencies which too often make religion a bore. I am restrained only because I do not wish to be branded a heretic. Are you yourself a Christian?”

The young man made a negative sign. “The concepts of religion baffle me.”

“This inscrutability is perhaps not unintentional,” said the ex-priest. “It gives endless employment to dialecticians who otherwise might become public charges or, at very worst, swindlers and tricksters. May I ask whom I have the pleasure of addressing?”

“Of course. I am Sir Tristano of Castle Mythric in Troicinet. And yourself?”

“I also am of noble blood, or so it seems to me. For the nonce, I use the name my father gave me, which is Orlo.”

Sir Tristano, signaling the servant girl, ordered mead and honey-cakes for both himself and Orlo. “I assume, then, that you have definitely resigned from the church?”

“Quite so. It makes for a sordid tale. I was called before the abbot that I might answer to charges of drunkenness and wenching. I put forward my views in a manner to enlighten and convince any reasonable person. I assured the abbot that our merciful Lord God would never have created succulent pasties nor smacking ale, not to mention the charms of merry-hearted women, had he not wished these commodities to be enjoyed to the fullest.”

“The abbot no doubt fell back upon dogma for his rebuttal?”

“Precisely! He cited passage after passage from the scriptures to justify his position. I suggested that errors might well have crept into the translation, and that, until we were absolutely sure that self-starvation and tormented glands were the will of our glorious Lord, I proposed that we give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. The abbot nevertheless cast me out.”

“Self-interest also guided him; of this I have no doubt!” said Sir Tristano. “If every one worshipped in the manner he found most congenial, the abbot, and the pope as well, would find themselves with no one to instruct.”

At this moment Sir Tristano’s attention was attracted by a scene of activity across the square. “What is the commotion yonder? Everyone is dancing and skipping as if they were on their way to a festival.”

“It is indeed a celebration of sorts,” said Orlo. “For close on a year a bloody-handed pirate has been terrorizing the sea. Have you heard the name ‘Flary the Red’?”

“I have indeed! Mothers use the name to frighten their children.”

“Flary is a none-such!” said Orlo. “He has elevated cutthroat daring to a pinnacle of virtuosity, and always he has worn a lucky green pearl in his ear. One day he misplaced his pearl, but nevertheless launched an attack. This was his great mistake. What seemed a fat merchantman was a trap, and fifty Godelian fire-eaters swarmed aboard the pirate ship. Red Flary was captured and today he will lose his head. Shall we observe the ceremony?”

“Why not? Such spectacles assert the inevitable triumph of virtue, and we will be better men for the instruction.”

“Well spoken! I could wish that all men were so rational!”

The two made their way to the executioner’s platform, and here Orlo was prompted to chide a gray-faced little man who sought to rifle his pouch. “Fellow, your conduct is leading you directly up to the executioner’s block! Have you no foresight? I now must turn you over to the guard!”

“Pest take you!” The pick-pocket jerked free from Orlo’s grasp. “There were no witnesses!”

“Wrong!” spoke Sir Tristano. “I saw the whole thing! I myself will summon the guard!”

The pick-pocket uttered another epithet and, dodging away, was lost in the press.

“A thoroughly unpleasant incident,” said Orlo. “The more so since all hearts should now be gay and all faces radiant with joy.”

Sir Tristano felt impelled to add a qualification: “Save only the heart and face of Flary the Red.”

“That goes without saying.”

From the crowd came muted cries of anticipation as a pair of black-masked jailers pulled Flary up to the platform. Behind came a massive man, also masked in black, moving with a stately, even pompous, tread. He carried an enormous axe on his shoulder, and in his wake ambled a priest, smiling first to one side, then the other.

A crier, dressed parti-color in green and red, jumped to the platform. He bowed toward a construction of raised benches where sat Emmence, Earl of Dun Cruighre, with his friends and family. The crier addressed the throng: “Hear, all ye gracious gentlefolk, as well as all other classes of the region: low, high and ordinary. Hear, I say, and all will learn of the justice imposed by Lord Emmence upon the clapperclaw Flary the Red! His guilty acts are many and not in dispute; his death is perhaps too merciful. Flary, speak your final words on this world which you have so misused!”

“I sorely regret my capture,” said Flary. “The green pearl betrayed me; it harms all who touch it! I knew that someday it would bring me to the block, and so it has.”

The crier demanded: “Are you not awed as you stand here facing your doom? Is it not time to come to terms with yourself and the world?”

Flary blinked and touched the green pearl which he wore in his ear. He spoke in a halting voice: “To both questions, I reply in the affirmative, especially to the last. It is time and more than time that I think hard and deep upon such matters, and since there are many incidents and events to review, I hereby request a stay of execution.”

The crier looked toward Lord Emmence. “Sir, is this request allowed or denied?”

“It is denied.”

“Ah well, perhaps I have thought long enough,” said Flary. “The priest has put a choice to me. I may either repent my sins and be shriven, and thereby ascend to the glories of Paradise; or I may refuse to repent, and not be shriven, and thereby suffer forever the torments of Hell.” Flary paused and looked around the crowd. “Lord Emmence, gentlefolk, persons of all degrees! Know then; I have made my decision!” He paused again, and held his clenched fists dramatically high, and all the folk present leaned forward to learn what Flary’s decision might be.

Flary cried out: “I repent! I sorely regret those crimes which have brought me to my present shame! To each man, woman and child within my hearing I utter this advice: stray never an inch from the path of rectitude! Bear true faith to your earl, your father and mother and to the great Lord God, who I hope will now pardon my mistakes! Priest, come now! Shrive me my sins, and send me flying clean and pure heavenward where I may take my place among the angels of the sky and rejoice forever in transcendent bliss!”

The priest stepped forward; Red Flary knelt and the priest performed those rites requested of him.

The priest retreated from the platform. The crowd began to mutter and stir and everywhere there was a craning of necks.

Lord Emmence raised his baton and let it fall. The jailers thrust Flary to the block; the executioner raised his axe on high, held it poised, then struck. Flary’s head dropped into a basket. A small green object bounced free, rolled to the edge of the platform, and fell almost at Sir Tristano’s feet.

Sir Tristano jerked back in distaste. “Look, there is Flary’s pearl, red with his blood.” He bent his head. “Almost it seems alive. See how the blood seethes and crawls along the surface!”

“Stand back!” cried Orlo. “Do not touch it! Remember Flary’s words!”

From under the platform reached a long thin arm; thin fingers clutched the pearl. Sir Tristano stamped smartly down upon the bony wrist, and from under the platform came a shrill scream of pain and anger.

A nearby guard came to look. “What is this disturbance?”

Sir Tristano pointed under the platform; the guard seized the arm and pulled out a small gray-faced man with a long broken nose. “What have we here?”

“A thief and pickpocket, unless I am very much mistaken,” said Sir Tristano. “Examine his pouch and discover what sort of loot he carries.”

The pickpocket was dragged to the platform; his pouch was turned out, yielding coins, brooches, golden chains, clasps and buttons, which folk from the crowd came forward in all excitement to claim.

Lord Emmence rose to his feet. “I discover here an exercise in sheer impudence! While we rid ourselves of one thief, another circulates among us, stealing those valuables and ornaments which we have worn for the occasion. Hangman, your axe is sharp! The block is ready! Your muscles are in good tone! Today you shall earn a double fee. Priest, shrive this man and ease his soul for the journey he is about to take.”

Sir Tristano told Orlo: “I am sated with head-loppings; let us return to our mead and honey-cakes . . . Still, what shall we do with the pearl? We cannot leave it lying in the dirt.”

“One moment.” Orlo found a twig, which he split with his knife, then cleverly caught the pearl in the cleft. “In such matters, one cannot be too cautious. Already today we have seen the fate of two who have avidly seized the pearl.”

“I do not want it,” said Sir Tristano. “It is yours.”

“Impossible! Remember, if you will, that I am vowed to poverty! Or, better to state, I am reconciled to the condition.”

Sir Tristano gingerly picked up the twig and the two returned to the Blue Ox, where once more they sat down to their refreshment. “It is only just noon,” said Sir Tristano. “Today I had planned to set out along the road to Avallon.”

“I am of the same inclination,” said Orlo. “Shall we ride together?”

“Your company is most welcome, but what of the pearl?”

Orlo scratched his cheek. “Now that I think of it, nothing could be simpler. We will walk to the pier, and drop the pearl into the harbor, and that will be the end of it.”

“Sound thinking! Bring it along, then.”

Orlo squinted down at the pearl in distaste. “Like yourself, I am made queasy by the sultry gleam of the thing. Still, we are in this affair together, and fairness must be observed.” He pointed to a fly which had settled on the table. “Put down your hand beside mine. I will move first, then you must move, as much or as little as you wish, but you must always go at least beyond my hand. When the fly at last departs in fright, whoever moved his hand last shall carry the pearl.”

“Agreed.”

The trial was made, and each man moved his hand according to his best reading of the fly’s emotion, but eventually, the fly took alarm at Sir Tristano’s sudden move and flew away.

Sir Tristano groaned. “Alas! I must carry the pearl!”

“But not for long, and only so far as the dock.”

Sir Tristano gingerly lifted the end of the twig and the two crossed the square to a vacant place on the dock, with all the Skyre before them.

Orlo spoke: “Pearl, farewell! We hereby return you to that salt green element from which you originated. Sir Tristano, cast away, and with a will!”

Tristano tossed twig and pearl into the sea. The two watched as the gem sank from view, then returned to their table. Here, clean and wet, they discovered the pearl, directly in front of Sir Tristano’s place, causing the hairs to rise at the back of his neck.

“Ha ha!” said Orlo. “So the thing has decided to play us tricks! Let it beware! We are not without resource! In any event, sir knight, time has not come to a halt and our way is long. Take up the pearl and let us be on our way. Perhaps we shall meet the archbishop, who will be grateful for a gift.”

Sir Tristano dubiously looked down at the pearl. “You then advise that I should carry this object upon my person?”

Orlo held out his hands. “Would you leave it here for some poor wight of a serving boy?”

Sir Tristano grimly split another twig and took up the pearl in the cleft. “Let us be on our way.”

The two men procured their horses from the stables and departed Dun Cruighre. The road led first along the shore: past sandy beaches pounded by surf and, at intervals, a fisherman’s hut. As they rode they spoke of the pearl.

Orlo said: “When I reflect upon this strange object, I seem to detect a pattern. The pearl fell to the ground, where it belonged to no one. The pick-pocket seized upon it and so it became his. You stamped on the pick-pocket’s wrist, and in effect wrested away the pearl and took it into your own custody. But since you have not touched the pearl, it cannot work its magic upon you.”

“You feel, then, that it can cause me no harm unless I touch it?”

“That is my guess, inasmuch as such an act would represent your intent to partake of the pearl’s evil.”

“I expressly deny any such intent and I hereby state that any contact, should it occur, must be considered accidental by all parties to the incident.” Sir Tristano looked at Orlo. “What is your opinion of that?”

Orlo shrugged. “Who knows? Such a disclaimer may—or may not—dampen the evil ardor of the pearl.”

The road turned inland and presently Sir Tristano pointed ahead. “Mark the bell-tower which rises so high above the trees! It surely signifies the church of a village.”

“Undoubtedly so. They are great ones for churches, these Celts; nevertheless they are still more pagan than Christian. In every forest you will find a druid’s grove and when the moon shines full they leap through fires with antlers tied to their heads. How does it go in Troicinet?”

“We do not lack for Druids,” said Sir Tristano. “They hide in the forests and are seldom seen. Most folk, however, revere the Earth-goddess Gaea, but in an easy fashion, without blood, nor fire, nor guilt. We celebrate only four festivals: to Life in the spring; to the Sun and Sky in the summer; to the Earth and Sea in the autumn; to the Moon and Stars in the winter. On our birthdays, we place gifts of bread and wine on the votive stone at the temple. There are neither priests nor creed, which makes for a simple and honest worship, and it seems to suit the nature of our people very well . . . And there is the village with its grand church, where, unless my eyes deceive me, an important ceremony is in progress.”

“You are observing the panoplies of a Christian funeral,” said Orlo. He drew up his horse and slapped his leg. “A notable scheme has occurred to me. Let us look in on this funeral.”

Dismounting, the two men tied their horses to a tree and entered the church. Three priests chanted above an open coffin as mourners filed past to pay their last respects.

Sir Tristano asked in a somewhat anxious voice: “Exactly what do you have in mind?”

“I conceive that the holy rites of a Christian burial must effectively stifle the evil force of the pearl. The priests are uttering benedictions by the score and Christian virtue hangs thick in the air. The pearl must surely be confounded, absolutely and forever, when surrounded by such a power.”

“Possibly true,” said Tristano dubiously. “But practical difficulties stand in the way. We cannot possibly intrude upon this mournful rite.”

“No need whatever,” said Orlo in a jaunty fashion. “Let us join the mourners. When we reach the coffin I will distract the priests while you drop the pearl among the cerements.”

“It is at least worth a try,” said Sir Tristano and so the deed was done.

The two stood back to see the coffin lid closed down on corpse and pearl together. Pall-bearers carried the coffin to a grave dug deep into the mold of the churchyard; four sextons lowered the coffin into the grave and, amid the wailing of the bereaved, the coffin was covered with sod.

“A good funeral!” declared Orlo with satisfaction. “I also notice a sign yonder which betokens the presence of an inn, where perhaps you may wish to take lodging for the night.”

“What of yourself?” asked Sir Tristano. “Do you not intend to sleep under a roof?”

“I do indeed, but here, sadly enough, our paths diverge. At the crossroad you will bear to the right, along the road to Avallon. I, however, will turn to the left and an hour’s ride will bring me to the manor of a certain widowed lady whose lonely hours I hope to console or even enliven. So then, Sir Tristano, I bid you farewell!”

“Orlo, farewell, and I regret parting with so good a companion. Remember, at Castle Mythric you will always be welcome.”

“I will not forget!” Orlo rode off down the street. At the crossroad he turned, looked back, raised his arm in farewell and was gone.

Sir Tristano, now somewhat melancholy, rode into the village. At the Sign of the Four Owls he applied for lodging and was conducted up a flight of stairs to a loft under the thatch. His chamber was furnished with a straw pallet, a table, a chair, an old commode and a carpet of fresh reeds.

For his supper Sir Tristano ate boiled beef, served in its own broth with carrots and turnips, with bread and a relish of minced horseradish in cream. He drank two tall mugs of ale and, fatigued by the exertions of the day, went early to his chamber.

Quiet held the village, and a near-absolute darkness, with an overcast cloaking the sky, until close on midnight, when the clouds broke open to reveal a sad quartering moon.

Sir Tristano slept well until this time, when he was awakened by the sound of slow footsteps in the hall. The door to his chamber squeaked ajar, and footsteps told of a presence slowly entering the room, and approaching the pallet. Sir Tristano lay rigid. He felt the touch of cold fingers, and an object dropped upon the cloak which covered his chest.

The steps shuffled back across the room. The door eased shut. The steps moved away down the corridor and soon could be heard no more.

Sir Tristano gave a sudden hoarse outcry and jerked up his cloak. A luminous green object fell to the floor and came to rest among the reeds.

Sir Tristano at last fell into a troubled sleep. The cool red rays of dawn, entering the window, awakened him. He lay staring up at the thatch. The events of last night: were they a nightmare? What a boon, if so! Raising on an elbow, he scrutinized the floor, and almost at once discovered the green pearl.

Sir Tristano arose from his bed. He washed his face, dressed in his clothes and buckled his boots, at all times keeping the green pearl under close surveillance.

In the commode he found a torn old apron which he folded and used to pick up the pearl. With pad and pearl secure in his pouch he left the chamber. After a breakfast of porridge with fried cabbage, he paid his score and went his way.

At the crossroads he turned right along the road toward the Kingdom of Dahaut, which at last would take him to Avallon.

As he rode, he cogitated. The pearl had not been content with a Christian burial, and it was his until it was taken from him, by force or subterfuge.

During the early afternoon he came into the village Timbaugh. A pack of cur dogs, barking and snapping, raced out to warn him off, and only desisted when he alighted from his horse and pelted them with stones. At the inn he paused for a meal of bread and sausages, and as he drank ale an idea entered his mind.

With great care he inserted the pearl into one of the sausages, which he took out into the street. The dogs came out again to chide him, snarling and snapping and ordering him out of town. Sir Tristano cast down the sausage. “There it is: my good sausage which belongs to me and no other! I seem to have misplaced it. Whoever takes that sausage and its contents is a thief!”

A gaunt yellow cur darted close and devoured the sausage at a gulp. “So be it,” said Sir Tristano. “The act was yours and none of my own.”

Returning to the inn, he drank more ale, while turning over the logic of his act. All seemed sound. And yet . . . Nonsense. The dog had exercised a thieving volition. To the dog must now fall the problem of disposing of the pearl. And yet  . . .

The longer Sir Tristano pondered, the weaker seemed the rationale which had guided his act. A persuasive point could be made that the dog had thought of the sausage as a gift. In this case, the transfer of the pearl must be considered Tristano’s rather crude subterfuge, and not in any way a bona fide theft.

Recalling his previous attempts to be rid of the pearl, Sir Tristano became ever more uneasy, and he began to wonder in what style the pearl might be returned to him.

A tumult in the street attracted his attention: a horrid howling, wavering between shrill and hoarse, which caused his stomach to knot. From along the road came the cry: “Mad dog! Mad dog!”

Sir Tristano hastily threw coins on the table and ran out to his horse, that he might depart the village Timbaugh in haste. He took note of the yellow dog, at a distance of a hundred yards, where it bounded back and forth, foaming at the mouth, meanwhile roaring its opinion of the world. It launched itself at a peasant lad who trudged beside a hay-cart; the boy leapt up on the hay and, seizing a pitch-fork, thrust down to pierce the dog through the neck. The dog fell over backward, and shaking furiously as if it were wet, bounded away, still trailing the pitch-fork.

An old man trimming the thatch of his cottage, ran inside and emerged with a longbow; he nocked, drew and let fly an arrow; it drove through the dog’s chest, so that the point protruded from one side and feathers from the other; the dog paid no heed.

Glaring up the road, the dog took note of Sir Tristano, and fixed on him as the source of its travail. Moving at first with sinister deliberation, head low, one leg carefully placed before the other, it approached, then, halting and moaning, it lunged to the attack.

Sir Tristano jumped on his horse and galloped away down the road with the dog, baying and groaning deep hoarse tones, coming in hot pursuit. The pitch-fork fell from its neck; the dog closed in on the horse, and began to leap at its flanks. With sword on high, Sir Tristano leaned low, and slashed down, to split the dog’s skull. The dog turned a somersault into the ditch, quivered and lay watching Sir Tristano through glazing yellow eyes. Slowly it crawled up from the ditch, sliding on its belly, inch after inch.

Sir Tristano watched fascinated, sword at the ready.

Ten feet from Sir Tristano the dog went into a convulsion, vomited into the road, then lay back and became still. In the puddle it had brought from its belly the green pearl gleamed.

Sir Tristano considered the situation with vast distaste. At last he dismounted, and going to a thicket, cut a twig and split the end. Using the same technique as before, he clamped on the pearl and lifted it from the road.

In the near distance a bridge of a single arch spanned a small river. Leading his horse and carrying the pearl as far from his body as the length of the twig allowed, Sir Tristano marched to the bridge, where he tied his horse to a bush. Clambering down to the stream, he washed the pearl with care, then washed his sword and wiped it dry on a clump of coarse sedge.

A sound attracted his attention. Looking up, he discovered on the bridge a tall thin man with a narrow face, long bony jaw, high broken nose, and long sharp chin. The tall crown of his hat, wound with red and white ribbons, advertised the profession of barber and blood-letter.

Sir Tristano, ignoring the keen scrutiny from above, rolled the pearl in a pad of cloth and tucked it into his pouch, then climbed back to the road.

The barber, now standing by his cart, doffed his hat and performed a somewhat obsequious salute. “Sir, allow me to state that I sell elixirs against your infirmities; I will barber your hair, shave your face, cut the most stubborn toenails, lance boils, clean ears, and draw blood. My fees are fair, but not mean; you will nevertheless consider the money well-spent.”

Sir Tristano mounted his horse. “I need none of your goods nor services; good day to you.”

“One moment, sir. May I ask where you are bound?”

“To Avallon in Dahaut.”

“You ride a long road. There is an inn at the village Toomish but I suggest that you ride on to Phaidig, where the Crown and Unicorn is justly famous for its mutton pies.”

“Thank you. I will bear your advice in mind.”

Three miles along the road Sir Tristano came to Toomish, and as Long Liam the Barber had suggested, the inn seemed to offer no great comfort. Although the afternoon was drawing to its close, Sir Tristano continued onward toward Phaidig.

The sun sank into a bank of clouds, and at the same time the road entered a heavy forest. Sir Tristano looked frowningly into the gloom. His choices were two: he could either ride on through the ominously dark woods or return to Toomish and its uninviting inn.

Sir Tristano made his choice. Touching up his horse to a canter, Sir Tristano entered the wood. After a half mile the horse stopped short and Sir Tristano saw that a barricade of poles had been placed across the road.

A voice spoke to his back: “Arms on high! Lest you wish an arrow in the back!”

Sir Tristano raised his arms in the air.

The voice said: “Do not turn, do not glance aside, and offer no tricks! My associate will approach you while I watch down the length of my arrow! Now then, Padraig, about your work! If he so much as quivers, cut him deep with your razor, I mean your knife.”

A rustle of careful steps sounded in the road; hands pulled at the thongs which tied the wallet to Sir Tristano’s belt.

Sir Tristano spoke: “Stop! You are taking the great green pearl!”

“Naturally!” said the voice from a point close behind. “That is the whole point of robbery: to acquire the victim’s valuables!”

“You now have all my wealth; may I depart?”

“By no means! We want your horse and saddlebags too!”

Sir Tristano, assured that a single footpad had waylaid him, clapped spurs to his horse, bent low, and rode pell-mell around the barricade. He looked over his shoulder to see a very tall man shrouded in a black cloak, with a hood concealing his face. A bow hung at his shoulder; he snatched it free and let fly an arrow, but the light was poor, the target fugitive and the range long; the arrow sang harmlessly away through the foliage.

Sir Tristano galloped his horse until he had won free of the woods, and the threat of pursuit was past. He rode with a light heart; in his wallet he had carried, along with the green pearl, only two or three small silver coins and half a dozen copper groats. For protection against just such events, he carried his gold in his slotted belt.

Full dusk drowned the landscape with purple-gray shadow before Sir Tristano came to Phaidig, and there he took lodging at the Crown and Unicorn, where he was nicely accommodated in a clean private chamber.

As Long Liam the Barber had attested, the mutton pie was of excellent quality, and Sir Tristano felt that he had dined well. Casually he inquired of the landlord: “What of robbers in these parts? Do they often molest travellers?”

The landlord looked over his shoulder, then said: “We hear reports of one who calls himself ‘Tall Toby’ and his favorite resort appears to be the woods between here and Toomish.”

“I will offer you a hint,” said Sir Tristano. “Are you acquainted with Long Liam the Barber?”

“Of course! He plies his trade everywhere about these parts. He also is a very tall man.”

“I will say no more,” said Sir Tristano. “Save only this: the correspondence goes somewhat deeper than mere stature, and the King’s Warden might well be interested in the news.”