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already holding his lance, was Sir Harimore, looking very motionless and
capable in his saddle.
The trumpet finally spoke. The horses leaped forward and rushed down their
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separate sides of the barrier at each other, Sir Harimore looked as he did at
all times and in all activities, as if he was perfection itself and completely
in charge of the situation. He sat his horse with ease and authority, his
lance balanced loosely in his grasp until the last moment, when he clamped his
grip tight on it and pressed it hard against his armored side with his elbow.
The sound of their meeting was if anything louder than the sound of the
previous meetings Mnrogar had been involved in were concerned.
Both spears flew into splinters. Mnrogar was carried on by the boar-horse,
seemingly unmoved. But Sir Harimore also was carried on by his, looking
equally untouched.
They returned to their respective tents.
"Oh, pretty. Very pretty I knew it!" exclaimed Brian, as soon as Mnrogar was
inside. "Or rather, I should have known it. Of course, Harimore would want to
ride two courses to make the most of the meeting. Also of course, as it must
happen in these matters, Mnrogar handled his lance the best he has today. Now
Harimore has him coming into a second meeting; and with our luck, the troll
will miss horse and rider completely."
"Well, maybe not," said Jim. "Look on the bright side of things, Brian."
"Hah!" said Brian. "Bright side!"
"At any rate," said Jim, "the boar-horse looks like he'll be all right. Maybe
he's getting used to these runs down the list against horses and riders he
doesn't know."
"It may be," said Brian, "for all that his training was only against dummies
and the creature conjured by the Mage."
"Well, tell me," said Jim, "is he at the top of his form today? Doing as well
or better than he's done before? Or is he worse?"
"Yes to any and all of those questions, James," said Brian glumly. "There was
never any predicting him. He would carry his spear almost in Christian fashion
for as many as three or four runs in a row, and then miss his foe entirely."
"But he must have improved as he went along, didn't he?" Jim insisted.
"Oh, he got better," said Brian. "But only up to a point. Look at him now "
Jim looked. Mnrogar was squatting on the floor with his helm off, as usual,
and looking at nothing in particular.
" He has nofeelingfor the jousting!"
"Yes," growled Mnrogar unexpectedly from the floor.
Both Jim and Brian stared at him. Mnrogar's face was no longer absent. A
savage look had come over his unlovely features.
"That other with the stick said something to me as he passed," said Mnrogar.
"Said? What?" demanded Jim.
"I don't know," snarled Mnrogar, his voice a little louder in the tent. "I
couldn't quite hear. Why should he say anything? He is on my land. And he says
things to me!"
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"Oh, that's just one of Harimore's little tricks," said Brian. "The other
rider isn't supposed to make out what Harimore says when he does that. So the
other man imagines something and he usually imagines the worst possible thing
that Harimore could say. That gets him angry; and an angry jouster is not a
wise jouster."
"Well, it seems to have worked with Mnrogar," said Jim.
"True," said Brian, suddenly thoughtful, looking down at the troll. "He only
said it to make you angry, troll."
"I am angry!" said Mnrogar.
"Well, don't be, Mnrogar," said Jim hastily. "He just made a noise to anger
you, so you'd make mistakes and he could win over you. You don't want him to
do that, do you?"
"Win? No one can win over me!" growled Mnrogar.
"But he may if he gets you angry enough so that you can't concentrate on your
jousting," said Jim.
"Jousting!" Evidently a troll's mouth, jaw and tongue were not built to allow
spitting; but it certainly sounded very much as if Mnrogar would have spat the
word out if he could. "I will smash him and eat his bones!"
"No you won't, troll!" snapped Brian. "You'll ride the best ride you can and
use your lance the best you can; and that's all you'll do! Now just think on
that, keep thinking on that until you are a-horse and going down the list!"
Mnrogar snarled wordlessly, looking past both Jim and Brian off in the
direction of the other tent, as if he could see through the cloth side of this
one to it.
Chapter 38
The trumpet sang at the far end of the list. Mnrogar put on his helm and
climbed on the back of the boar-horse without needing to be prompted. They
were led out together from the tent, and a moment later Jim and Brian were in
position, looking through the slit in the side of the tent, Jim stretching his
as much as he could to get a look at Mnrogar and his steed.
"I just hope the boar-horse doesn't break loose and do something wrong," he
said.
"Oh, it's not the horse that gives me concern," said Brian. "It's the troll."
"Mnrogar?" said Jim, taking his eyes off the list for a moment to glance at
Brian. "But you know his limitations. He shouldn't behave any worse than
usual, at any rate. On the other hand, the boar-horse is excited and looking
for a fight "
"So is the troll," said Brian. "And he wasn't before. It's that which is not
good."
Jim would have said something more; but at that moment the trumpet sang and
Mnrogar and Sir Harimore hurled themselves at each other. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]