The Dragon and the Gnarly King by Gordon R. Dickson

Author:Gordon R. Dickson [Dickson, Gordon R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780812562705
Google: 0P_lHAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0812562704
Goodreads: 315631
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 1997-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Twenty-Two

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The knight was apparently so deep in thought that he did not look up and turn his head in their direction until they were well out into the clearing. Once he did, however, he immediately reined his horse about to face them.

The visor of his helm was up; and the face it revealed, possibly because of a few spots where the "sunlight" did not touch it—utterly black shadows about his eyes and on either side of his nose—gave him a grim, angry look.

Brian reined his horse to a stop, and the others stopped with him.

"Fair sir!" called Brian—there was still a good twenty feet of distance between them and the solitary knight—"We pray pardon for intruding upon your solitude this way. But perhaps you would be kind enough to set some travelers on their proper path?"

The fierce-looking face of the solitary knight broke into a large smile. He lifted his reins and trotted forward toward them.

"Certainly! Certainly!" he said, pulling up before them. "Be glad to. Damned lonely out here in all sorts of weather all the time. But have to do it, you know. The Ancestor's about, but you can never tell where he'll show up; so someone has to ride the woods, and since I'm head of the family, there's no choice to it. Give you any aid I can!"

"That is a great kindness in you, Sir," said Brian. "May I name to you the Baron Sir James Eckert de Bois de Malencontri. I am Sir Brian Neville-Smythe, of a cadet branch of the Nevilles. And this is our Companion, Master Bowman Dafydd ap Hywel."

"I am honored. You could not have come at a better moment. I was weary of riding about by myself. I am Sir Dinedan."

"Sir Dinedan?" Brian's voice cracked in a way Jim had never heard before, as he repeated the name. "This meeting is great honor to us, Sir Dinedan. You are most gentle to speak so freely and so friendly to us, who—though we both are knights—are not such as someone like yourself might have heard of."

"Why, that is true," said Sir Dinedan, "but I would hardly have thought it otherwise. You are clearly not Cornish knights, as I see by your armor and weapons. Also, never have I seen such a magnificent warhorse as the one you ride."

"I am once more honored," said Brian. "My steed's name is Blanchard of Tours, fair Sir. In a sense, you might say he was my father's gift to me on his deathbed, for it cost nearly all of my patrimony to buy him."

"I can well believe it," said Sir Dinedan. "But you said that you needed, perhaps, aid from me to set you on your proper way through these woods? I would be failing in my duty to my Ancestor if I did not assist two such courteous knights. Whither are you bound?"

"As for that," said Brian, "we do not know exactly. We search for the lost ward of Sir

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