The Dragon and the George by Dickson Gordon R

Author:Dickson, Gordon R. [Dickson, Gordon R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure, Fiction, Science Fiction, Humour, Adult, General, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780345350503
Google: y2Qr-Ri99j8C
Amazon: 0345350502
Barnesnoble: 0345350502
Goodreads: 114936
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 1976-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Brian stared at her for a second longer, then turned back to look at the newcomers, who were already halfway across the open ground to the inn. Slowly he got to his feet. Dafydd rose also, casually, his hand on his quiver. Jim found himself getting to his feet as well, and Dick Innkeeper materialized in the inn door, stepping out to join them. Only Aragh stayed seated, his jaws laughing.

The man in the lead was a lean individual who looked to be in his fifties. The ends of hair seen escaping from under his steel cap were iron gray, and his short, curly, jutting beard was pepper-and-salt in color. Beyond his air of authority, he seemed little different from the men behind him, except that the weapon at his belt was not the short sword the others wore, but rather a longer, two-handed weapon like Sir Brian's.

He came up to the ditch girdling the inn, crossed its bridge and stopped before the knight.

"I'm Giles o' the Wold," he said. "And these are my free brothers and companions of the forest. I take it you're Sir Brian Neville-Smythe?"

"I am," Brian answered, stiffly. "Master outlaw, I wasn't the one who invited you here."

"I'm aware of that," said Giles. Above his beard, his face was tanned to almost the color of old leather and the skin had gone into small, shrewd wrinkles. "My daughter sent for me—"

He glanced past Brian for a moment.

"I'll talk to you later, girl," he said. "Now, Sir knight, what matters who sent for me? If you need assistance, here am I and my men, and the price of our aid's not so high as to be beyond reason. Shall we sit like reasonable men and discuss it, or should my lads and I turn around again and go?"

Brian hesitated a second—but only a second.

"Dick," he said, turning to the innkeeper. "Bring another jack for Giles o' the Wold; and see what his companions will have."

"Ale," answered Dick, in a somewhat grim voice, "is all I have in such quantity."

"Ale, then," said Brian, impatiently. "Bring it!"

He sat back down at the table. Giles took the other end of the bench that Dafydd had been sitting on.

Giles looked curiously at Aragh, and then at Jim.

"The wolf I know—by reputation, if nothing else," he said. "The dragon—My daughter's message said you were a knight under enchantment?"

"This is the good Sir James," Brian explained. "The bowman next to you is Dafydd ap—What's that family name of yours, Master archer?"

"Hywel," said Dafydd, pronouncing it with a lilt that Jim knew his own tongue certainly could not have managed. "I am in England to teach the English that the longbow, as well as the true blood of they that best use it, are from Wales alone; and it is also that I am going to marry your daughter, Master Giles."

"He is not!" cried Danielle.

Giles's bearded face parted in a smile.

"If you ever get her permission," he said to Dafydd, "come talk to me about it.

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