The Dragon in the Woods, part one: Study
I keep inching towards completing the Chronicles. Here's the first part of the next story.
"I'm glad you haven't been wasting your time," Chris said, puffing somewhat, as they put away the practise paddings and took the shielding off their sword blades.
"You need to drill every day," Lancyn said. Perhaps it was a trifle pompous, but Chris had been telling him so for years, and now here they were in a Tower, with proper practise facilities, and Chris was closeted away with Quest Master Toskyn all day long, working on the assignments. Lancyn had been drilling every day. He'd joined several of the senior classes, and learned some very helpful new tricks. Chris had been hard pressed.
"If Toskyn would only let me out," Chris muttered. "I get a little time in before breakfast, but it's not much, and I'd rather be here than sitting about all day discussing the abilities of people I don't even know. You enjoying the classes?"
"Mostly. They do a lot of the formal stuff here, though, and I still think it's pointless."
"Not so pointless with a class of twenty," Chris said. "That many squires in a row, you need some rules. They'll learn, soon enough, on the Road."
"We did have some fun yesterday. Ser Rufus paired swords against staffs." Lancyn had been somewhat put out to be sorted into the swords team. Swords were good weapons, true, but he was no longer enchanted by the romantic notion of sword-play now that he knew how much work it took, and besides, he much preferred his chances with a staff. But he'd very quickly worked out that he just needed to get in close and refuse to allow his opponent room to swing. Most of the sword-wielders had treated the staffs as though they were long wooden swords, kept back, and been well bruised as a result. Ser Rufus had been cheerfully brutal in his opinions, and the squires had done a great deal of muttering about the unfairness of it all, for which Lancyn had had no sympathy. He told Chris about it in some detail. "I won all my bouts," he added.
"Well, of course you did," said Chris. "Look who taught you to fight."
Lancyn rolled his eyes, but Chris clapped him on the shoulder and said he was pleased to hear it. They went along to the bath room-back to the regulation array of tubs once more-and got themselves clean in time for lunch, which, and this made a very welcome change, they ate privately in Chrisfer's room. Now that the Trials were over, they'd been able to move down to a less remote part of the Tower, and it was only a hundred and twelve steps up.
"With all these new knights being sent on quests," Lancyn said, as he selected some cold meat from the tray, "what about us? I mean... when will there be a new quest for us?"
"You bored?"
"No, no, it's very interesting here. The Library is... I never knew so many books had been written." In theory, Lancyn could perfectly well have joined any of the classes. He knew he had a great deal of learning to catch up on. These Tower-trained knights knew so much more than he did about so many things-it wasn't that Chrisfer had not bothered to teach him, some of it was familiar from long journeys and fireside meals, it was just that there was not much time, when you had the practical details of travel, and solving quests, and weaponsdrill every day... Lancyn wouldn't have changed a minute of his life. But. Sitting with others of his own age, studying statutes, or case law, or medicine, or history, he'd be lost. Lancyn hated the thought of being the only ignorant squire in the room. But how could he possibly sit among the seven year olds who'd just begun to learn this stuff? He couldn't do that either. Instead, he chose to join the senior classes for weaponsdrill, and spend the rest of his time in the Library.
Chris approved his decision. "You'll get on faster in there than in one of the classes."
"I think so. Though there is so much to cover! Ser Dorys is very helpful." The Library Keeper had told him it was nice to have a student who wanted to learn, rather than a bunch of thoughtless boys who just wanted to complete their assignments. "She keeps bringing me interesting books, but I don't think I'll be able to read them all if we stay here until Midwinter! And besides, the weapons classes take up most of the mornings."
"And they're paying off," Chris said, " judging from today."
"My slide bow accuracy has improved, too," said Lancyn, pleased.
"Couldn't have got much worse," Chris said.
"Well, you taught me," Lancyn pointed out. "But I was just wondering. This Tower life is... it's all right, but. Well."
"You'd rather be out there, doing something?" Chris sighed. "Me, too. I'm sure there'll be something a bit more challenging along soon enough. Most of the quests we're giving out are trivial stuff, compared to what you and I have already done. Don't worry, kid, we'll be out of here before much longer. I hope. Otherwise I'll be spherical from Maris's cooking and not enough time on the practise field."
"You need to be out there every day," Lancyn repeated with severity. "Otherwise, I'll beat you next time we spar, and then you'll be sorry."
Chrisfer eyed him thoughtfully. "Eh," he said. "That's how it's supposed to happen. How will I know if I've taught you well, if you never beat me?"
"How will you know you taught me well if I only beat you because you're fat and lazy?"
"Hey!" Chris said, indignantly. "I can see you haven't been going to the etiquette classes."
Lancyn looked at him very carefully. "I don't believe there are etiquette classes," he stated. "You never went to one in your life."
"You," said Chris, " are entirely too smart for your own good. So what have you been learning, apart from how to be cheeky to your knight?"
So Lancyn talked about his discoveries in the Library. It was fascinating stuff, and he was so relieved to have the chance to talk about it. Nobody here seemed very interested in discussing the things they were learning. The squires here didn't appreciate what they'd got, he thought, all those books, such a cornucopia of information. He was particularly fascinated by the stories of the first five knights-Vael and Mark, Rittenar, Solmar and Yeven-how they'd begun to regulate themselves and those who joined them. They hadn't had Towers full of books and training masters, they'd had to work things out for themselves. A bit, Lancyn thought, hopefully, like Road-trained squires. The first recruits had all been Road-trained, of course, and there hadn't been formal Trials, then. A recruit just needed the approval of five knights in order to take the Oath. But of course, it had grown much bigger, as the knights' reputations as mediators and problem-solvers grew, more and more people asked them for help, and they'd had to recruit and train more knights and dians, had to share knowledge and experience, had to work out how to communicate the requests for help.
Now, that was another thing that intrigued Lancyn-how the network communicated between the Towers, sharing the quests between them all no matter where they might be. Unfortunately the Quest Master here at Markfale was far too busy sorting and co-ordinating the newly-made knights to have any time to spare for a squire who just wanted to see how it all worked. Lancyn was hoping that Chris might be able to nudge the Quest Master, but before he could ask, Chris swallowed the last of his sugar fancy and stated that he'd better get back to business. The sooner the new-made knights were all dispatched, the sooner the two of them could get back on the Road.
*
Lancyn missed the other Road-trained squires, who would probably have been just as interested as he was in all this knowledge. Edge, Ser Ajander that now was, had been the very first of the new knights to leave. With his experience of the road, the Quest Master had had no hesitation in giving him what sounded like an intriguing quest, a complaint about forgery submitted by a jewelcrafter. Ser Alyssa had stayed two days longer; she and Lancyn had stuck close together during that time, two oddities in a Tower full of people who knew what happened next. Alyssa was good company, and shared his opinion of life on the road, but of course she'd been given an early assignment, too.
"They're sending me north-west," she told him, happily, as he watched her pack her belongings. "I'll be able to see my dian, she's probably had the baby by now."
"How does that work, when a dian has a baby? Will she go out on quests, or will she work in a Tower?"
"Mmm, Madena never really liked being in a Tower. I suppose she might, though, or she might serve a term or two as a local Magister. She won't be able to go out on the Road again, not with a little one. We talked about it a lot, when she and Gaidh became partners. Of course, she could just leave the baby with its father, since Gaidh isn't Elite, he has a business of some sort so he's quite stable, but she didn't want to do that. My guess is, she won't be out on the Road again until the child is old enough to go into a Tower."
"Seven years old?" The littlest boys here seemed so very young. Lancyn couldn't imagine being sent to a Tower at seven. Then again, the thought of being a parent boggled him, too. "What's that?" Alyssa was fastening a badge-or a brooch, Lancyn had never really understood the distinction-to her cloak. She stopped, and passed it across to him.
"From my dian. She sent it to Ser Henris when I said I was going to enter the Trials. She has one just like it, well, not exactly the same, but it has the same silver knotwork and three stones like those." Lancyn admired the badge, and helped her affix it to her cloak. "It represents our line. Madena has one, and Cherel, and the women before them who were trained by someone who was trained by Belenn. This one used to belong to Ser Sarava, she died four, no, five years ago. Ser Henris told me."
"Do dians all wear badges to show their line?"
"I'm not sure if everyone does, but quite a lot. It's-when I see someone wearing a brooch like mine, I know we have something in common. We're a select group." She grinned at him.
"I don't think knights have tokens like that," he said, thoughtfully. He didn't remember seeing Chrisfer wearing a badge of any kind.
"There's a lot more of you," she said, "and most knights are trained in Towers, anyway. It's not the same. Perhaps your knight will have a token for you, when you take the Oath. Right, that's me done." She hauled her pack onto her back and straightened. "May we meet again," she said, and they exchanged handclasps.
And he'd gone down to the stables with her and waved her off, and that had been almost a week ago.
*
Sometimes the weapons masters enrolled Lancyn as an assistant. He'd helped Ser Rufus with the staff lessons twice already. This morning, three long, hard (but satisfying) hours spent teaching these complacent Tower students about no-holds-barred weaponless fighting left Lancyn in need of a good, hot soak. He lowered himself into the tub and closed his eyes, doing his best to give off the air of one whom it would be imprudent to disturb. It seemed to work, and the others left him alone in his tub.
The other squires here seemed in many ways so young. Lancyn was on good terms with several of them, of course; they were, after all, his peers, and one day, they'd all be knights together. He supposed. So it was worth trying to make friends. At first, every conversation had started with, What's it like being on the Road? Lancyn had done his best to tell them, but when he'd asked, What's it like being in a Tower, nobody had seemed very interested in explaining. Like asking fish to explain the lake, he supposed.
Eventually he realised he was extremely hungry, and heaved himself out of the tub, rinsed off and went back to his room to dress. He headed straight for the dining room, where there should be something left of the usual lunchtime array, and with luck, most of the other squires would have finished eating and gone to their classes. He rounded a corner-and bounced off a sturdy form coming the other way.
"Ow-I'm sorry-Lans!"
Lancyn looked up into a familiar broad smile, and grinned. "Joel!" The big swordsmith flung his arms wide, and they hugged heartily. It had been more than a year since Lancyn had seen Joel and his family, but there was not an instant of constraint between them. Lancyn was greatly cheered at the sight of a friendly face from his own life, not this constrained place.
"It's a good while since I came to Markfale Tower," Joel said. "I told the doorkeeper I knew where I was going, but I think I'm lost. Can you show me where I find the Quest Master?"
"Of course. I think you must have turned right instead of left at the main corridor," Lancyn said, showing the way.
"What are you doing here in a Tower? Are you a knight now? Or-"
"No, not yet. We came for the Trials," Lancyn explained, "I'd never seen Trials before and Chrisfer thought it would be useful for me. But he's been helping the Quest Master with allocations, so we're still here."
"You weren't entered?"
"I did a couple of events," Lancyn said, wishing there were time to tell Joel about his fights. "Here's the Quest Master's room. I expect they're all in there conferring, there are still a few new-made knights who haven't gone out yet."
"I'm sure they'll find time for me," Joel said, rather somberly. "Thanks, Lans. I'll see you at dinner?"
"Of course." Lancyn resolved to be early at the dining hall today, and lurk outside if necessary so that he could be sure of finding Joel. He hurried back to the dining room just before the closing bell sounded, found himself some bread and cheese, wolfed it down, and returned to the Library.
He was writing a neat and careful note about the preparation and application of healing poultices when Chrisfer bounced into the Library and announced that it was time to put the book down and get packing.
"We're leaving?" Lancyn said, torn between delight and regret.
"Got a quest," Chris said, proudly. "Also, guess who's here?"
"Hmmm. I'll guess... Joel," Lancyn said, maintaining an innocent expression without difficulty.
"Hah! Nice guess, but wrong. It's Jesse. He just turned up, said he thought he might be needed, so we're taking him with us. I left him in the kitchen, Maris wants to get some food inside him before we head out. Oh, and Kevyn's coming with us," Chris added. "He needs something to do, with Ajander gone, and he's better off in company than out on his own, really."
"It must be quite a quest, if it needs two knights and an enchanter."
"And a very useful squire, I would say if I wanted you to get a swollen head, which I don't, so forget it. Yes, it's interesting. I don't know that we really need Kevyn along, I mean, we managed all right in Buggerall, didn't we, but it can't hurt, and Toskyn really doesn't need our help any longer, now practically all the new knights have been matched and dispatched."
"It'll be good to get back on the road," Lancyn said. He'd miss the Library, but not for long. It'd still be here next time they visited the Tower. "Um. Can we stay for dinner, or must we leave immediately?"
Chris looked at him in surprise. "What do you know that I don't? Is there toffee cake today?"
"I said I'd meet Joel and eat with him."
"Joel? Joel's here?"
"He is."
"In that case, we'll leave after we eat. I wonder what he's here for?"
"He came to see the Quest Master," Lancyn said.
Chrisfer looked startled. "Really! So we could be taking the quest he brought. Excellent. Well-"
"I might have known it would be you disrupting my nice, calm Library. I suppose you're taking away my best student." Lancyn looked at Ser Dorys in surprise. "Lancyn has been making good use of his time here. But you'll be ready for some adventure, I suppose."
Lancyn grinned at her. "Thank you for all your help," he began, and started to rise, but Chris pushed him back down onto the bench.
"If we're staying tonight, you have time before dinner to finish whatever you were working on," Chrisfer said, smirking down at him. "I'll tell Kevyn and Jesse we're going to start out first thing in the morning. You can pack before bed."
Dinner that evening was a merry meal, with Chris in high spirits, and Jesse with his crinkled smile, and Joel, large and friendly as ever. Lancyn was surprised-and then, surprised at his own surprise-to find that Kevyn already knew Joel quite well. But as Joel was an Elite swordsmith who lived not so very far from Rittenhold Tower, it would have been more surprising if he and Kevyn hadn't known one another.
At any rate, they got along very well. Chris and Kevyn told the other two all about the Trials, and Lancyn blushed at some of the things they said about his own bouts. Of course, Chris would talk them up, but Kevyn was most complimentary and it was not as though Lancyn had been a real candidate. And Joel told them about some of his unlikely customers, and moved on to the exploits of his rumbustious twin sons, and the daughter who already had them vying for her favour. And Jesse talked about a quest he'd followed in the far south, where two women had disputed which of them was the mother of an infant, and he'd had to settle the matter with a show of magic (although, he said, it hadn't actually been magic that settled the matter at all). They did not-and this was odd, Lancyn thought-discuss either the reason for Joel's presence here at Markfale, or the quest which would see Chrisfer, Jessy, Kevyn and himself departing on the morrow.
He didn't mind. Tomorrow would be soon enough to discover where they were heading.
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"I'm glad you haven't been wasting your time," Chris said, puffing somewhat, as they put away the practise paddings and took the shielding off their sword blades.
"You need to drill every day," Lancyn said. Perhaps it was a trifle pompous, but Chris had been telling him so for years, and now here they were in a Tower, with proper practise facilities, and Chris was closeted away with Quest Master Toskyn all day long, working on the assignments. Lancyn had been drilling every day. He'd joined several of the senior classes, and learned some very helpful new tricks. Chris had been hard pressed.
"If Toskyn would only let me out," Chris muttered. "I get a little time in before breakfast, but it's not much, and I'd rather be here than sitting about all day discussing the abilities of people I don't even know. You enjoying the classes?"
"Mostly. They do a lot of the formal stuff here, though, and I still think it's pointless."
"Not so pointless with a class of twenty," Chris said. "That many squires in a row, you need some rules. They'll learn, soon enough, on the Road."
"We did have some fun yesterday. Ser Rufus paired swords against staffs." Lancyn had been somewhat put out to be sorted into the swords team. Swords were good weapons, true, but he was no longer enchanted by the romantic notion of sword-play now that he knew how much work it took, and besides, he much preferred his chances with a staff. But he'd very quickly worked out that he just needed to get in close and refuse to allow his opponent room to swing. Most of the sword-wielders had treated the staffs as though they were long wooden swords, kept back, and been well bruised as a result. Ser Rufus had been cheerfully brutal in his opinions, and the squires had done a great deal of muttering about the unfairness of it all, for which Lancyn had had no sympathy. He told Chris about it in some detail. "I won all my bouts," he added.
"Well, of course you did," said Chris. "Look who taught you to fight."
Lancyn rolled his eyes, but Chris clapped him on the shoulder and said he was pleased to hear it. They went along to the bath room-back to the regulation array of tubs once more-and got themselves clean in time for lunch, which, and this made a very welcome change, they ate privately in Chrisfer's room. Now that the Trials were over, they'd been able to move down to a less remote part of the Tower, and it was only a hundred and twelve steps up.
"With all these new knights being sent on quests," Lancyn said, as he selected some cold meat from the tray, "what about us? I mean... when will there be a new quest for us?"
"You bored?"
"No, no, it's very interesting here. The Library is... I never knew so many books had been written." In theory, Lancyn could perfectly well have joined any of the classes. He knew he had a great deal of learning to catch up on. These Tower-trained knights knew so much more than he did about so many things-it wasn't that Chrisfer had not bothered to teach him, some of it was familiar from long journeys and fireside meals, it was just that there was not much time, when you had the practical details of travel, and solving quests, and weaponsdrill every day... Lancyn wouldn't have changed a minute of his life. But. Sitting with others of his own age, studying statutes, or case law, or medicine, or history, he'd be lost. Lancyn hated the thought of being the only ignorant squire in the room. But how could he possibly sit among the seven year olds who'd just begun to learn this stuff? He couldn't do that either. Instead, he chose to join the senior classes for weaponsdrill, and spend the rest of his time in the Library.
Chris approved his decision. "You'll get on faster in there than in one of the classes."
"I think so. Though there is so much to cover! Ser Dorys is very helpful." The Library Keeper had told him it was nice to have a student who wanted to learn, rather than a bunch of thoughtless boys who just wanted to complete their assignments. "She keeps bringing me interesting books, but I don't think I'll be able to read them all if we stay here until Midwinter! And besides, the weapons classes take up most of the mornings."
"And they're paying off," Chris said, " judging from today."
"My slide bow accuracy has improved, too," said Lancyn, pleased.
"Couldn't have got much worse," Chris said.
"Well, you taught me," Lancyn pointed out. "But I was just wondering. This Tower life is... it's all right, but. Well."
"You'd rather be out there, doing something?" Chris sighed. "Me, too. I'm sure there'll be something a bit more challenging along soon enough. Most of the quests we're giving out are trivial stuff, compared to what you and I have already done. Don't worry, kid, we'll be out of here before much longer. I hope. Otherwise I'll be spherical from Maris's cooking and not enough time on the practise field."
"You need to be out there every day," Lancyn repeated with severity. "Otherwise, I'll beat you next time we spar, and then you'll be sorry."
Chrisfer eyed him thoughtfully. "Eh," he said. "That's how it's supposed to happen. How will I know if I've taught you well, if you never beat me?"
"How will you know you taught me well if I only beat you because you're fat and lazy?"
"Hey!" Chris said, indignantly. "I can see you haven't been going to the etiquette classes."
Lancyn looked at him very carefully. "I don't believe there are etiquette classes," he stated. "You never went to one in your life."
"You," said Chris, " are entirely too smart for your own good. So what have you been learning, apart from how to be cheeky to your knight?"
So Lancyn talked about his discoveries in the Library. It was fascinating stuff, and he was so relieved to have the chance to talk about it. Nobody here seemed very interested in discussing the things they were learning. The squires here didn't appreciate what they'd got, he thought, all those books, such a cornucopia of information. He was particularly fascinated by the stories of the first five knights-Vael and Mark, Rittenar, Solmar and Yeven-how they'd begun to regulate themselves and those who joined them. They hadn't had Towers full of books and training masters, they'd had to work things out for themselves. A bit, Lancyn thought, hopefully, like Road-trained squires. The first recruits had all been Road-trained, of course, and there hadn't been formal Trials, then. A recruit just needed the approval of five knights in order to take the Oath. But of course, it had grown much bigger, as the knights' reputations as mediators and problem-solvers grew, more and more people asked them for help, and they'd had to recruit and train more knights and dians, had to share knowledge and experience, had to work out how to communicate the requests for help.
Now, that was another thing that intrigued Lancyn-how the network communicated between the Towers, sharing the quests between them all no matter where they might be. Unfortunately the Quest Master here at Markfale was far too busy sorting and co-ordinating the newly-made knights to have any time to spare for a squire who just wanted to see how it all worked. Lancyn was hoping that Chris might be able to nudge the Quest Master, but before he could ask, Chris swallowed the last of his sugar fancy and stated that he'd better get back to business. The sooner the new-made knights were all dispatched, the sooner the two of them could get back on the Road.
*
Lancyn missed the other Road-trained squires, who would probably have been just as interested as he was in all this knowledge. Edge, Ser Ajander that now was, had been the very first of the new knights to leave. With his experience of the road, the Quest Master had had no hesitation in giving him what sounded like an intriguing quest, a complaint about forgery submitted by a jewelcrafter. Ser Alyssa had stayed two days longer; she and Lancyn had stuck close together during that time, two oddities in a Tower full of people who knew what happened next. Alyssa was good company, and shared his opinion of life on the road, but of course she'd been given an early assignment, too.
"They're sending me north-west," she told him, happily, as he watched her pack her belongings. "I'll be able to see my dian, she's probably had the baby by now."
"How does that work, when a dian has a baby? Will she go out on quests, or will she work in a Tower?"
"Mmm, Madena never really liked being in a Tower. I suppose she might, though, or she might serve a term or two as a local Magister. She won't be able to go out on the Road again, not with a little one. We talked about it a lot, when she and Gaidh became partners. Of course, she could just leave the baby with its father, since Gaidh isn't Elite, he has a business of some sort so he's quite stable, but she didn't want to do that. My guess is, she won't be out on the Road again until the child is old enough to go into a Tower."
"Seven years old?" The littlest boys here seemed so very young. Lancyn couldn't imagine being sent to a Tower at seven. Then again, the thought of being a parent boggled him, too. "What's that?" Alyssa was fastening a badge-or a brooch, Lancyn had never really understood the distinction-to her cloak. She stopped, and passed it across to him.
"From my dian. She sent it to Ser Henris when I said I was going to enter the Trials. She has one just like it, well, not exactly the same, but it has the same silver knotwork and three stones like those." Lancyn admired the badge, and helped her affix it to her cloak. "It represents our line. Madena has one, and Cherel, and the women before them who were trained by someone who was trained by Belenn. This one used to belong to Ser Sarava, she died four, no, five years ago. Ser Henris told me."
"Do dians all wear badges to show their line?"
"I'm not sure if everyone does, but quite a lot. It's-when I see someone wearing a brooch like mine, I know we have something in common. We're a select group." She grinned at him.
"I don't think knights have tokens like that," he said, thoughtfully. He didn't remember seeing Chrisfer wearing a badge of any kind.
"There's a lot more of you," she said, "and most knights are trained in Towers, anyway. It's not the same. Perhaps your knight will have a token for you, when you take the Oath. Right, that's me done." She hauled her pack onto her back and straightened. "May we meet again," she said, and they exchanged handclasps.
And he'd gone down to the stables with her and waved her off, and that had been almost a week ago.
*
Sometimes the weapons masters enrolled Lancyn as an assistant. He'd helped Ser Rufus with the staff lessons twice already. This morning, three long, hard (but satisfying) hours spent teaching these complacent Tower students about no-holds-barred weaponless fighting left Lancyn in need of a good, hot soak. He lowered himself into the tub and closed his eyes, doing his best to give off the air of one whom it would be imprudent to disturb. It seemed to work, and the others left him alone in his tub.
The other squires here seemed in many ways so young. Lancyn was on good terms with several of them, of course; they were, after all, his peers, and one day, they'd all be knights together. He supposed. So it was worth trying to make friends. At first, every conversation had started with, What's it like being on the Road? Lancyn had done his best to tell them, but when he'd asked, What's it like being in a Tower, nobody had seemed very interested in explaining. Like asking fish to explain the lake, he supposed.
Eventually he realised he was extremely hungry, and heaved himself out of the tub, rinsed off and went back to his room to dress. He headed straight for the dining room, where there should be something left of the usual lunchtime array, and with luck, most of the other squires would have finished eating and gone to their classes. He rounded a corner-and bounced off a sturdy form coming the other way.
"Ow-I'm sorry-Lans!"
Lancyn looked up into a familiar broad smile, and grinned. "Joel!" The big swordsmith flung his arms wide, and they hugged heartily. It had been more than a year since Lancyn had seen Joel and his family, but there was not an instant of constraint between them. Lancyn was greatly cheered at the sight of a friendly face from his own life, not this constrained place.
"It's a good while since I came to Markfale Tower," Joel said. "I told the doorkeeper I knew where I was going, but I think I'm lost. Can you show me where I find the Quest Master?"
"Of course. I think you must have turned right instead of left at the main corridor," Lancyn said, showing the way.
"What are you doing here in a Tower? Are you a knight now? Or-"
"No, not yet. We came for the Trials," Lancyn explained, "I'd never seen Trials before and Chrisfer thought it would be useful for me. But he's been helping the Quest Master with allocations, so we're still here."
"You weren't entered?"
"I did a couple of events," Lancyn said, wishing there were time to tell Joel about his fights. "Here's the Quest Master's room. I expect they're all in there conferring, there are still a few new-made knights who haven't gone out yet."
"I'm sure they'll find time for me," Joel said, rather somberly. "Thanks, Lans. I'll see you at dinner?"
"Of course." Lancyn resolved to be early at the dining hall today, and lurk outside if necessary so that he could be sure of finding Joel. He hurried back to the dining room just before the closing bell sounded, found himself some bread and cheese, wolfed it down, and returned to the Library.
He was writing a neat and careful note about the preparation and application of healing poultices when Chrisfer bounced into the Library and announced that it was time to put the book down and get packing.
"We're leaving?" Lancyn said, torn between delight and regret.
"Got a quest," Chris said, proudly. "Also, guess who's here?"
"Hmmm. I'll guess... Joel," Lancyn said, maintaining an innocent expression without difficulty.
"Hah! Nice guess, but wrong. It's Jesse. He just turned up, said he thought he might be needed, so we're taking him with us. I left him in the kitchen, Maris wants to get some food inside him before we head out. Oh, and Kevyn's coming with us," Chris added. "He needs something to do, with Ajander gone, and he's better off in company than out on his own, really."
"It must be quite a quest, if it needs two knights and an enchanter."
"And a very useful squire, I would say if I wanted you to get a swollen head, which I don't, so forget it. Yes, it's interesting. I don't know that we really need Kevyn along, I mean, we managed all right in Buggerall, didn't we, but it can't hurt, and Toskyn really doesn't need our help any longer, now practically all the new knights have been matched and dispatched."
"It'll be good to get back on the road," Lancyn said. He'd miss the Library, but not for long. It'd still be here next time they visited the Tower. "Um. Can we stay for dinner, or must we leave immediately?"
Chris looked at him in surprise. "What do you know that I don't? Is there toffee cake today?"
"I said I'd meet Joel and eat with him."
"Joel? Joel's here?"
"He is."
"In that case, we'll leave after we eat. I wonder what he's here for?"
"He came to see the Quest Master," Lancyn said.
Chrisfer looked startled. "Really! So we could be taking the quest he brought. Excellent. Well-"
"I might have known it would be you disrupting my nice, calm Library. I suppose you're taking away my best student." Lancyn looked at Ser Dorys in surprise. "Lancyn has been making good use of his time here. But you'll be ready for some adventure, I suppose."
Lancyn grinned at her. "Thank you for all your help," he began, and started to rise, but Chris pushed him back down onto the bench.
"If we're staying tonight, you have time before dinner to finish whatever you were working on," Chrisfer said, smirking down at him. "I'll tell Kevyn and Jesse we're going to start out first thing in the morning. You can pack before bed."
Dinner that evening was a merry meal, with Chris in high spirits, and Jesse with his crinkled smile, and Joel, large and friendly as ever. Lancyn was surprised-and then, surprised at his own surprise-to find that Kevyn already knew Joel quite well. But as Joel was an Elite swordsmith who lived not so very far from Rittenhold Tower, it would have been more surprising if he and Kevyn hadn't known one another.
At any rate, they got along very well. Chris and Kevyn told the other two all about the Trials, and Lancyn blushed at some of the things they said about his own bouts. Of course, Chris would talk them up, but Kevyn was most complimentary and it was not as though Lancyn had been a real candidate. And Joel told them about some of his unlikely customers, and moved on to the exploits of his rumbustious twin sons, and the daughter who already had them vying for her favour. And Jesse talked about a quest he'd followed in the far south, where two women had disputed which of them was the mother of an infant, and he'd had to settle the matter with a show of magic (although, he said, it hadn't actually been magic that settled the matter at all). They did not-and this was odd, Lancyn thought-discuss either the reason for Joel's presence here at Markfale, or the quest which would see Chrisfer, Jessy, Kevyn and himself departing on the morrow.
He didn't mind. Tomorrow would be soon enough to discover where they were heading.
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