I nearly said "h.e.l.lo!" back again because he had a nice, cheerful face, but I waved instead and Moglet came to wipe her dusty fur clean on my ankles.
"Doing anything special?" asked Cheerful Face.
I shook my head and picked up Moglet, wary of an extra ch.o.r.e.
He glanced around, saw the courtyard was empty but for us two. "Hang on a minute: I"ve a favour to ask." The head disappeared, but a moment later it reappeared, attached to a small wiry body clad in the usual brown, rope- girdled sack, at the bottom of a small stairway set in the wall at the corner of the courtyard. "Come up for a moment, if you can spare the time-please, that is?" It was the honest smile as well as the words that made me decide: I put Moglet down, but the young Brother held out his hand. "Please bring your little cat: I like them."
"It"s all right," said Moglet. "He means it. He looks as if he has a comfortable lap. And perhaps milk . . ."
I followed the boy up the stairs, Moglet trotting just ahead of me.
She was disappointed about the milk, but there was a sliver of cheese. The room in which we found ourselves was obviously an annexe to the library proper, for an archway filled by a curtain separated it from the dusty main room, and here was a cheerful brazier burning, two candles, a large sloping desk, a table and two stools. On the table were quills, inks, brushes and tiny pots of different coloured liquids, tightly stoppered. On the desk was a partly written ma.n.u.script.
The boy followed my gaze. "That"s Brother John"s work: he has an ague at the moment so I"m on my own. I"m his apprentice and I have to finish the script on that page, but apart from the gilding I"m not yet allowed to make the ill.u.s.trations. I"m to practise on these sc.r.a.ps of vellum-see?-and while I"m pretty good on leaves and flowers, I"ve had very little practice on animals.
That"s why I"d like to borrow your little cat-such splendid colours she is, all the bars and stripes and splotches of autumn woods-that is, if you could persuade her to sit still for a little while? I hear you"re very good with animals," and he smiled ingenuously. "If you could manage to come two or three times-just before dusk is the best time, they leave me alone then-I could get some good sketches done. Please?"
I spoke to Moglet, who was agreeable so long as there was a t.i.t-bit and she could pose near the fire.
"She says yes," I translated. "For a piece of cheese or somesuch and a share of the fire for each sitting," and it was only when I saw the boy"s eyes round with shock that I realized I had broken my vow of silence.
"They told me you were dumb," he said after a moment, fiddling with a brush, but as he didn"t rush away to tell on me or shout for help, I made up my mind to trust him and, speaking very slowly, carefully, weighing each word, I explained.
"I-am-not-dumb. I-have-been-with-my-friends-so-long-I-find-it . . . it . . ." I wavered.
"Difficult," he supplied.
"Dif-fi-cult-to-speak-man-talk." I stopped.
But he had understood. "You know the words: it"s just practice, I suspect.
You"re not deaf, are you?" I shook my head. "Good. And you can understand what I say?" I nodded. "Fine! Tell you what: I"ll draw little cat-what"s her name? Such a pretty little thing . . ."
She bridled visibly, and the tip of her tail vibrated. "Nice man . . ."
"Moglet," I said.
"Moglet it is, then," and he bent to tickle her just behind her ears. "And if you can tell her what I would like her to do: stand, sit, lie down-you know-at the same time as I"m drawing her, I"ll teach you to talk properly. How"s that?"
I turned a somersault (easy with my humped back) and then had a sudden thought. "Keep-it-a-secret?"
"Of course! Half the fun!"
As it turned out, the fact that it took almost a month for our Rusty Knight to be anywhere near ready to continue the journey was a blessing in disguise, for in those four weeks Brother Jude-the-Less as he was called grew amazingly proficient at drawing cats, birds, toads and fish and my hands and feet (he was delicate enough not to ask me to remove my mask once I had explained) and I-I found I could speak human-talk. Not all at once, not every time, but day by day it grew easier to express myself so that others could understand. I suppose the most difficult was the radical switch from thought- pictures to word-symbols to describe the same thing. Apart from the more primitive sounds that normally expressed fear, pain, hate or desire, my animal friends usually presented most of their thoughts in visual gradations of fur, feathers, scales and so forth, in size and texture of touch, position of limbs and tail, att.i.tude, flicker of eyes and movement of whiskers, ears or mouth. Apart from that, when it was less a matter of immediate communication than of thought, they sent vibrations in the form of pictures into one"s mind, and I had become adept at receiving messages from their various eye levels, even through the distortion that Pisky"s waterbound existence gave him.
At first I thought the human way of expressing oneself a clumsy and longwinded one, especially as people didn"t always say what they really meant, but gradually I became used to it. I still sometimes got the order of words wrong, or missed out the, to me, unessential ones, but soon I found I could carry on a reasonable conversation with Brother Jude (the Less). We were undisturbed at our lessons because I would only creep back and forth by way of the side stair when the coast was clear, and at that time the monks were sitting down to break their daily fast before the first of the three evening prayer sessions. Brother Jude, being a lay brother, had a meal in the middle of the day and a snack in the evening.
I still performed my daily tasks of taking Snowy out to graze-although fresh gra.s.s was getting more difficult to find-fetching water, helping clean out the stables and sweep the courtyard, and I paid my daily visit to the Rusty Knight.
By now the fever was gone, the gash on his forehead had healed and he was all cleaned up and presentable. They had bandaged his ribs as well and these, together with his ragged breathing, appeared to be mending. He was often awake now when I went to visit him, but there was a blank look in his eyes as though he were still dreaming and he obviously didn"t recognize me, nor could he yet answer coherently the questions Brother Infirmarar or his a.s.sistant put to him.
But one day I had to face reality.
That day he was awake when I paid my visit, and not only awake but sensible and he recognized me.
"Sit down," he said. "There, on that stool. No, bring it nearer. I don"t want the whole world to hear our conversation."
We were chaperoned, but only by old Brother Timothy, who was deaf as a blue-eyed cat and spent most of his days nodding away happily in a corner.
Reluctantly I turned back to my inquisitor. Now that he was better and cleaned up and tidy I saw him properly for the first time, and I am afraid I ignored his first few words because I was listening to the lilt of them rather than the meaning.
" . . . remember it all. The monks have told me how I was brought here, but why did you give them the impression you were my servant?"
"I didn"t: they just a.s.sumed it. They think I am dumb." Between the words I was studying his face. His hair curled as I remembered it, the colour almost that dull red of hedgerow hips.
"How could you possibly be dumb, when I remember that torrent of words with which you and-and your animals overwhelmed me? I do recall some animals?"
"Yes. They are my friends. We are travelling together." He has a broad, high brow, I thought, and his dark eyebrows are straight when he frowns and a lovely curve when he doesn"t- "And where do you travel?"
"To find the answers to our problems . . ." He is very pale still, and his cheeks hollow beneath the bones. He has a very firm chin- Brother Timothy stirred from his stool and put a fresh piece of peat on the brazier, nodding and smiling over at us.
The knight lowered his voice. "Speak softly, now . . . What problems have you?"
"You see me: you called me hobgoblin, remember?" He had a firm mouth, too, under that curling moustache, but it looked as though it would curve upwards and transform his face if he smiled. "The others are deformed too.
We seek release from this bondage."
"But surely if you are deformed there is no cure?"
"Not deformed by nature, by a spell." His eyes were brown like peaty water, yet clear and sparkling too.
"A spell! Then-" The curtain at the end of the Infirmary opened and another of the brothers entered, bearing a steaming bowl. "Quiet, now. I"ll ask for you tomorrow, earlier maybe. Now, go!" I turned away but his hand shot out and caught my wrist. "Do you really talk with your animals, as the monks say?
And what is your name?"
I nodded. "We do talk, and-and the only name I know is "Thing" . . ."
Suddenly he grinned: it made him look five years younger.
"Perhaps you aren"t so daft after all . . ."
I reported back to the others.
"We can go, then, now he"s better?" said Corby.
"We could, I suppose," I said slowly. "But I had hoped . . ."
"That he would join us," said Snowy softly. "I think-I think we should give him the choice. You would be better with an escort, my little wandering ones.
You will do well enough here for the time being . . ."
This left me wondering how long the white horse would remain with us if the knight joined us. We still had no firm destination, but that we were on the right path towards the owner of the pebbles I had no doubt. Since the witch"s death our pains and cramps had been better, and once we had headed in the general direction of the southwest they had eased even more. Pisky was able to eat a little more, Corby"s crippled wing stretched farther, Moglet"s paw was less tender, Puddy complained less of headaches and I was standing at least an inch more upright, with only a stab now and again, as if I were pulling at st.i.tched leather.
Out of, perhaps, a general feeling of optimism and inner gratefulness for the knight"s recovery, I offered to comb out the tangles in Snowy"s tail and mane.
He was looking much sleeker and fatter since we came to the Priory, and he seemed calmer and less sad, so I thought it would be nice if he had to leave us sometime that he should do it looking tidy as well. When I offered he seemed to be surprised, and glanced round at his tail as if expecting it to be immaculate, then shook his head ruefully.
"You are reminding me that I have neglected myself . . . If you please, youngling; I would deem it a favour." He tended to talk like that, rather formally, but I supposed he had probably lived among courtly people at one time. A teasing thought about talking and speech touched my mind for a moment but was gone before I could identify it, so I started on Snowy"s tail: burrs, tangles, mud, nasty bits and all. It took the rest of the evening, but by yawning-time it was sleek, curled and oiled like even the best horses in our village had been-though they had been beribboned as well-for the feasts of Beltane or Lugnosa.
"I"ll do the rest tomorrow," I promised, as I blew out the lantern and settled to sleep, my head on his comforting flank, Moglet on my lap, Corby on his beam, Puddy and Pisky tucked up in their hay. My last thought was of the morrow, and seeing my-our-knight again . . .
But when I finally reached the Infirmary it was to disappointment. The knight was propped up in bed, but the Prior was there on a courtesy visit with his chaplain, and I was only allowed to join dumbly in the prayers before being dismissed. I did try to creep back later but Brother Matthew caught me and set me to replaiting and lashing some frayed rope-ends, which was a boring task that took till supper, which I always collected from the kitchen after six o"clock prayers. That evening, I remember, it was cold salt pork and black bread and, for once, a mug of ale, which I found sour but warming. Because of the pork, fatty from fingers, I had to go and rinse my hands at the well before starting on Snowy"s mane with my rather battered comb. I made him lie down and leant against his warm flank, pulling all the mane over to my side. It had incredibly long, soft, silky hair and as I gradually worked from withers to ears it began to shine like a rippling curtain. I only had to cut out a couple of the really tangled bits, and he began to look beautiful.
"You should take more care," I said, as I reached his ears. "It was a shame to get it all tangled like that. Now, just your forelock-What"s that?" For as I lifted the hair from his forehead my hand touched a k.n.o.bbled lump in the centre and he started violently away, rising to his knees and giving a little whinny of pain. I patted his neck. "Poor old fellow! Did someone give you a bad knock, then? I"ll be gentle, I promise . . ." But he pulled his head away.
"Come on," I urged. "It won"t hurt, I swear, and you look so-so beautiful now, almost like a faery horse-"
Snowy rose to his feet, and all at once he seemed to grow twice as large, and his hide shone like silver in the flickering lamplight.
"Oh wise young maid, wise for all your tattered clothes and crouched back- you have discovered what all others could not see . . ." He tossed back his forelock and stamped dainty cloven hooves on the straw. "See, maid; see, O wandering ones! See, and marvel, for this is probably the only time you will witness such again!"
I stared at the jagged coil of gold on his forehead, curled like a sh.e.l.l and rising perhaps an inch from the bone.
"Trotters and swill!" I breathed, my reverence in direct contrast to the words.
"A unicorn!"
At these words the others, hitherto in disarray because of our jumping up and down, crept closer and gazed up at Snowy.
"A unicorn!" breathed Moglet. "Magic!"
"Should have known," muttered Corby. "Evening, Your Gracefulness . . ."
"A unicorn without a horn," mused Puddy. "Unusual . . . Cloven hooves: obvious when you think about it."
"Want-to-see, want-to-look; can"t see a thing down here. Want-to-see, want- to-look!" So I lifted Pisky"s bowl to a level with Snowy"s head. "Hmm . . . My grandfather"s cousin mentioned unicorns, but I don"t see much more than a white horse here . . ."
"And that is all I am now," said Snowy quietly. "My precious horn is gone by the sorcery of a witch-your Mistress, little maid. You tell me she is dead and so there is no hope for me but to travel back to my once-kin and try to end my days, my now mortal days, in peace."
"But how?" I asked. "Why? And can"t you grow another?"
"The how and the why I will tell you another time, perhaps. Suffice it for now to tell you that the spell is unbreakable, as far as I know. Once, a drop of dragon"s blood, freely given, could reverse the spell, but there are no dragons any more that I know of. I had hoped . . ." He hesitated.
"Yes?" I encouraged.
"I thought maybe a wise man, a magician, could find a solution. There was one such, The Ancient, who lived the way we travel. But he must be dead a hundred years since . . . Then, when I heard your story, knew you had been cursed by the same witch, I had thought that some way we were bound together, might even find the answers-"
"Yes!" I almost shouted. "I am sure now there is someone, something that can help us all. Maybe not the immediate answer right away, but at least an indication of our next move . . . Don"t give up on us, Snowy dear: we need you!
"Er . . . Should we call you something more formal now?"
"Snowy will do," and his voice was gentle. "My secret name is not for you, I"m afraid."
"Well, Snowy then: where do your kin live?"
"The last I heard, they too were in the southwest, in the forests of the Old Land."
"A double reason for coming our way! Please . . ." For a moment the unicorn- without-a-horn laid his cheek against mine.
"You are very convincing, little maid. Very well: I will stay with you all for as long as you need me . . ."
I realized afterwards that I should have been quicker to recognize our unicorn for something special, even if not for what he was, for of course there had been that question of words and language that had been nagging me. I had become so used to only communicating with my friends, and they with me, that we had all forgotten that talk across different species was unusual; of course most birds could speak with one another, gull, owl or sparrow, but they did not communicate, except in the most superficial way, with felines, reptiles and fish and the same applied to the others, and of course humans were special: it took a long time to work out what they meant, even if you were one yourself.
We five had almost evolved our own language and were so self-orientated that it had never occurred to us to question how easy it had been to understand, and be understood by, the white horse. Of course, coming across him in a moment of crisis had meant less formality, but now that we had been formally introduced, as it were, I understood why we had always felt so safe with him and why his manners and way of speaking sometimes sounded so old- fashioned: magic ones couldn"t be expected to talk slang like we did.
Once again I was looking forward to my meeting with the knight, for there was now lots to tell him, but once again I was disappointed. For the second time it was other visitors, dumb attendance, lots of prayer, but on the next day we had the Infirmary to ourselves and he once more indicated that I should bring a stool close in case someone came in unexpectedly.
"Now," he said purposefully. He was propped up against high pillows, had on a clean linen shift open at the neck, and a little bulge-ended cross rested on a chain around his throat. "Now . . ." he began again, perhaps unnerved by my intent gaze. His skin was still pale but now there was a faint tinge of colour under the high cheekbones and his moustache was jauntier, the ends not drooping towards the corners of his mouth as it had before. No bandages now marred his head and a shaft of sun lit his russet curls.
"What are you staring at?" He glared at me.
"You," I said. "Very gratifying. Rather like picking up a stone and finding it an egg. Are you feeling better?" I had been practising my words, and they were coming out beautifully, though perhaps not exactly as planned: sometimes the thoughts better unsaid were coming out with the politenesses.
He had the sort of face that could scowl or smile, harden or become tender as if the expression had never been used before- "I want an explanation," he said and folded his arms. "Begin."
"Where?"
"At the beginning of course, er . . . Thingummy jig."
I had a new name: I was delighted, and did not attempt to enlighten him.
"Right," I said. "Once upon a time there were five of us living with a witch . . ."
It took some time to tell it properly, but when I finished he was staring at me as if he could not believe his ears.
"Take off that mask, Thingumabob," he commanded.
I wriggled: another name! "No," I said.
"Oh-please, then?"
"No," I said again, and explained why.
He gazed at me broodingly. "Shame," he said at last. "Shame . . ."