Black Horses for the King
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Black Horses for the King». Краткое содержание книги:
After his father's death, young Galwyn Varianus is apprenticed to his uncle, who puts the boy to work on the high seas. But horses, not ships, are Galwyn's passion. Luckily, a passenger aboard, Lord Artos (later to rule as the legendary King Arthur), is bound for the great horse fair at Septimania. Risking his life, Galwyn abandons his uncle to serve the gallant leader. Galywn's calming way with horses quickly impresses Lord Artos and his men. But what no one expects is how crucial Galwyn will be to their upcoming battles--as he masters the secrets of the iron shoes that will protect the exotic horses' delicate hooves. . . .
Suddenly my shoulder was seized in a fierce and painful grip. Startled, I tried first to twist free, and then to see who had made me captive.
"I have you, Galwyn Varianus!" Dolcenus bellowed, and there was no escaping the grip of the big, burly port officer. "Scurrilous wretch! Runaway apprentice! You'll come with me, vile ingrate, and stay in the lockup until your uncle returns."
It was too late for me to rue my stupidity. I should have known that Dolcenus would arrive to see what manner of strange cargo was being hoisted ashore in his precinct. I would have been safe aboard the ship; now my brave adventure was at an end. I could almost feel the manacles of a galley slave tightening about my wrists.
It was in fact Bericus's huge hand that prevented Dol-cenus from hauling me summarily away. That and the now-frightened mare whose lead rope I still held. She reared and Dolcenus released me, shouting at the top of his lungs for me to be recaptured immediately, and yelling for help against this resistance to his authority.
"What goes?" I heard Lord Artos cry.
"If you harm one of those mares, Dolcenus …" Prince Cador roared.
And the mare reared again.
Fortunately, Bericus was beside me and together we calmed her, despite the cries and imprecations that colored the air. Her alarm had infected the stallion and the nickering pony. I had to dance out of the way of the foal, who was trying to get under his dam's belly for safety.
It took the combined authority of both prince and Comes Artos to restore order. Then they heard Dolcenus's charge against me while I stood, head down, too humiliated to look beyond the belts of the men encircling me.
"It was my understanding," Lord Artos said when Dolcenus paused in his litany of my sins to draw breath, "that Captain Gralior dispatched the boy to be of assistance in our journey. In truth, Galwyn had already been of great help. Knowing that Gralior was due to sail, I had asked if I might have the loan of the boy while Gralior was at sea. The boy has knowledge of so many barbarous languages. How was it, Galwyn, that you joined us?"
When I could not answer, Comes Artos put his hand under my chin and forced me to look at him. Unmanly tears trickled down my cheeks and I could not speak for fear of blubbering.
"He came on a pony, with a travel cloak and leggings," Bericus said stoutly. I felt his encouraging hand on my shoulder blade, one hard thumb poking me to speak.
"He's a thief as well?" cried Dolcenus. "Branded he must be!"
"Nonsense," Prince Cador said. "I knew the boy's father. Too honorable, too Roman a family to breed thieves. He resisted the temptation to flee to Armorica. Speak up, lad."
"Aye, speak, lad," and Lord Artos's voice was as kind as his eyes, when at last I dared glance up at them.
"I bought Spadix with the small gold ring Tegidus thanked me with."
"You see, Dolcenus, this boy's no thief!" said Bericus.
"And the cloak and leggings with the coins you were kind enough to send me, Lord Artos! Please, I want to serve you, Comes Britannorum." And I dropped to my knees in the dust, as much because my legs would no longer hold me up as to plead my cause with proper humility. "It is the horses of the land that I know, not the sea!"
"Is the boy a free man?" Lord Artos asked Dolcenus.
The man sputtered and stammered.
"Yes, my lord, I am free. I was only apprenticed to my uncle, not enslaved." I glared at Dolcenus to make him speak the truth.
"That is correct," Prince Cador said when Dolcenus still would not speak for frustration. "I remember the case of Decitus Varianus now. He acted honorably in his circumstances."
"The boy's too good with his tongue to be lost to a barge captain, Lord Artos," said Bericus. "And he's got a fine way with seasick horses!"
"Horses!" cried Lord Artos, grabbing me up from the ground. "We can just make the evening tide if we hurry. Bericus, I'll leave you in charge."
"He is my guest," Prince Cador said quickly, and Artos raised his hand, grinning, in appreciation of the offer. "There's a field not far"-and he pointed up the straight track that led from the harbor-"where the horses can be tended until you've brought the rest across the sea. My hostlers can help him with this lot."
"I'll count them every morning, Artos," Bericus said with a broad grin, "to be sure they're all present and accounted for."
Prince Cador laughed. "Oh, I can wait, good Bericus, until I'm offered one."
"You'll join me, then, to drive the Saxons from our lands?" Artos said, with a leap of relief in his voice.
"You couldn't keep me away, Artos," Cador replied. "Now, we'll just get these poor sea-wrecked creatures to a decent pasture and then we'll await your return."
Artos then placed his hand again on Cador's shoulder. "Good prince, make what provision is needed to salve the uncle's wounded pride, and give this port officer something for his attention to duty. Young Galwyn, you come with me!" He transferred his big hand to my shoulder and hauled me along beside him back to the captain. "Can we make the evening tide? You've taken aboard supplies?"
"Even as you ordered, Comes," the captain said staunchly, pointing to crewmen loading while others were hammering the deck boards back into place.
WE MADE A SWIFT PASSAGE back to Burtigala with both ships, but the next return voyage was rougher and took its toll on man and beast. One foal broke a foreleg and had to be destroyed. Lord Artos himself severed its jugular vein, not wanting anyone else to have such a sad duty. Then the foal was heaved overboard. Its mare was so miserable, desperately trying to keep her balance, that she was not aware of the loss of her foal. A sailor swabbed the blood off the deck within minutes.
I was far too busy looking after the mares and my lord Artos to have time to be seasick. When we reached the port on the Exe Biver again, there were messages awaiting Lord Artos such that he could not accompany us on the third trip.
"Galwyn," he said when we had the beasts safely on the shore, "had I more men like you, I'd be sure of driving the Saxons forever from our lands."
"I thought, Lord Artos, it was the horses you needed to do that," I said, so relieved that I hazarded an impudence.
"The horses need men to ride them, Galwyn: men such as you!" And he clamped his great hand on my shoulder, his eyes gleaming with his fervor.
"My loyalty, my heart, my soul are yours, Comes Artos," I replied, dropping to my knee and bringing the hem of his garment to my forehead in an act of fealty, "to do with as you will."
He raised me to my feet, his eyes fastened on mine. "With men such as you, Galwyn Varianus, on horses such as these, we will be invincible!"
I trembled, as much with relief that he accepted my oath as from weariness. And he saw that, too.
"Enough of talk. You men are all exhausted." To be called a man by the Comes? I straightened my weary self. He went on. "Come, I've rooms for you, Bwlch, and the others for the night. And here are Bericus and some of Cador's men to help with the horses. They will need to be rested, but Cador has put a field at our disposal until we have them all here. Then what a cavalcade they will make on the road to Deva! I can hardly wait to see old Rhodri's eyes when they light on these fine steeds."
Part Two
THE THIRD AND FINAL VOYAGE WAS THE best and the worst.
The best because Lord Artos put me in charge of the horses on one ship-Bwlch was on the other. I was both proud of the honor and fearful of failure.
The worst because we caught the brunt of a fierce autumnal gale for the first two days. Somehow we, and the horses, survived, though all of us were bruised and exhausted. The horses were barely able to drink water when it was offered them. With tattered sails, our two ships limped up the mist-covered Exe to the wharf.