Read Online The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris - Free Book Online Page B

fishing, Terence?" Tor asked. Terence grinned and gestured at a pile of fish behind him.
    Gawain squatted next to Terence. "Don't fish the stream out today, Terence. We may stay here for a while."
    "My horse?" Terence asked quickly.
    "Ay. We rode it too hard today after yesterday's mauling. It'll be better after a few days' rest, I hope."
    Tor grinned and sat next to Gawain. "I'm in no hurry to get back to court anyway. More pleasant here."
    "And it seems to me," Plogrun added pensively, "that this long meadow here might be made for a bit of jousting practice."
    "Do you need jousting practice, Plogrun?" Tor said, grinning.
    "No, sir. Beggin' your pardon, but I thought this might be a good time for you to learn how to brace your lance with your armor and not your body, since it was only by the grace of God that you didn't break your elbow, wrist, and all your ribs—and not just your lance—in the fight with Abelleus," Plogrun said woodenly. "Meanin' no offense, of course."
    Gawain gave a shout of laughter. Tor reddened but smiled crookedly.
    "Hush," Terence said. "I've got a bite."
    ***
    That began an idyllic two weeks of jousting and jesting and education. Plogrun taught Terence how to split a stout ash and shape it into a lance. Together they made eleven blunt practice lances—which, with a sharpened one that Tor had taken from Plogrun's former masters, made an even dozen—while Gawain and Tor sparred with swords in the clearing. Terence showed Plogrun, who had been astonished at Terence's way with trout, a few cooking tricks, and Plogrun, a skilled archer, gave Terence lessons with his bow.
    As soon as the new lances had cured in the sun, Gawain and Tor began to joust. This practice was much harder on Tor than on Gawain, but Tor bore his lumps with determined good humor. Plogrun would watch each pass critically and then, after his new master had hit the turf, would join Gawain in giving Tor advice and criticism. Even through this, Tor resolutely maintained his smile.
    After a few days, Terence began to notice something odd. The knights would practice all morning and then rest at noon, but whereas Tor would collapse in the shade, exhausted, Gawain seemed as fresh or even fresher than when they began. Only in the evening would he seem to grow tired. Terence spoke of this one evening, when Tor and Plogrun were out of earshot. Gawain looked startled, but after a moment, he said, "Ay, lad. You're right. At noon I feel I could fight an army." They looked at each other for a minute, and then Gawain said, "It's your hermit's gift, isn't it? That my strength would rise with the sun. I've not given it a thought since that day."
    Some days, Terence grew bored with the jousting and slipped off to the forest to practice archery or to gather herbs. One fine warm day he came across a fresh deer track. The prospect of fresh venison for dinner was tantalizing, and Terence followed the trail. Skirting a shallow, brackish pond, green with scum, Terence heard a voice. Silently, he sank to the ground and looked about, but though the voice continued, he could not see its source. At last, having looked all around and seen nothing, Terence glanced at the pond itself and caught his breath.
    Through the murky water, Terence could dimly make out an image. Two figures stood in a black and blasted forest. One was a knight, with his visor down, and the other was the most beautiful woman Terence had ever seen. The knight did not move, but the woman was carefully laying out thin twigs in an intricate pattern on the rocky dirt, chanting something in a strange language. As Terence watched, the woman turned toward him, and their eyes met. Terence saw her eyes widen, then grow hard, "Who are you?" she shrieked through the water.
    Leaping to his feet, Terence scrambled backwards, throwing himself over a fallen tree, where he almost stepped on a little green figure lying on the path, stretched out comfortably with his hands behind his head.
    "Oy! Watch your