Paladins II: Knight Moves by Joel Rosenberg

Author:Joel Rosenberg [Rosenberg, Joel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Fantasy, Epic, Fantasy Fiction, Historical, Alternative History, Knights and Knighthood, Arthurian romances, Imperialism
ISBN: 9781416555629
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2008-06-24T06:00:00+00:00

lyrics, and at a distance," he said. "It's sort of like a dead skunk—I actually find the smell somehow pleasant, if it's far enough away. Doubt that I'd enjoy it much if the skunk were hung out the window any more than I care for this."

He was slurring his words more than usual; Becket was thoroughly drunk, which Giscard noted without faulting him for it.

Becket turned back to Niko. "And you don't find that the dignity of the sacrament is sullied by this sort of drunken revelry?"

No pause this time: "No, Sir Martin," the boy said, meeting the older knight's eyes. "I do not."

Giscard hid his smile behind his napkin. One thing you could say about the boy: he was learning. Becket would upbraid him for the disagreement, no doubt, but he would have been far more severe with compliance. Perhaps Niko couldn't win with Becket, at least not in the short run, but he could minimize his losses.

"We'll speak onthat later," Becket said. "And without that blasted Fotheringay of yours to try to distract me."

The priest chuckled as he leaned forward, toward Becket. "You can speak tome later on it, if you'd like, Sir Martin, as I fully agree with the young knight. The singing, the drinking—none of it does any harm." The priest took a long pull at his own glass, and nodded, careless of the way that he was dribbling down his beard and onto his cassock. Anglians! "The sacrament, of course, remains untouched, and while it should be shown due respect, the respect was paid when it was performed, and while I think the groom was less than steady on his feet, that may have had more to do with the father-in-law than anything else I can think of. A celebration after, even a bit raucous of one, does the sacrament no disrespect, and no man can do it harm. Very standard theology, Sir Martin," he said. "As you should know."

Becket glowered at him. Being reminded that, as a knight of the Order, he was a priest as well, was the sort of thing that Becket would be certain to take offense at.

Time to say something. "I think the wine for communion was quite good," Giscard said, and not just to change the subject, but, so he hoped, to provoke a response from Grace. He had provided the wine, out of his own cellar here—a Burgundian claret that had aged very nicely, although perhaps a little too tannic.

Certainly expensive; at least arguably too expensive. She wouldn't quibble with the expense, but there was a time when she would argue about the necessity of providing a particularly good wine for Communion, it being a sacrament and all, and not possible of further ennobling.

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