The Incorporated Knight (9 page)

             
"No more than thou meritest, whelp," growled Emmerhard. "Now, Doctor, canst send me back to Kromnitch ere the damned ceremony be over?"

             
"There is a spell," mused the wizard, "but 'twill cost you a thousand marks—"

             
"Hoy! Art mad, old man?"

             
"Nay, my lord. This cantrip calls for my rarest ingredients and leaves me fordone for a sennight. Time presses; shall we begin?"

-

             
A puff of displaced air announced the return of Baron Emmerhard to the Great Temple of Kromnitch, just as the Supreme Pontiff lowered the royal crown, its great gems winking in the lamplight, on to the head of the kneeling Valdhelm. Since all eyes were fixed on the twinkling, many-hued gems, the only one to notice Emmerhard's materialization was the person standing directly behind him, in the front rank of the knights.

             
Sir Fredlin Yorgenson of Aviona, far to the north, blinked and stared in disbelief at the baron's suddenly visible back. When Emmerhard disappeared, over an hour before, Sir Fredlin assumed that he had dropped off to sleep on his feet and that he had only dreamed of a man who had stood before him. Now Fredlin was sure that he had not dozed; but he decided never to cast doubt upon his sanity by telling of this phenomenon.

-

             
That eventide, Baron Emmerhard sat in his suite at the inn, fuming. "A pox on that young extortioner!" he barked. "I ought to have snatched the damned parchments out of his hands and destroyed them. But, by the time I bethought me of that, Baldonius had already witnessed them, and the whelp had returned them to his scrip. Besides, he's a well-thewed youth, and I'm not so young as whilom."

             
"Why not see our counselor-at-law, Doctor Rup-man?" asked Gerzilda. "Surely he could find a way out of these legal gyves that Dambert's son has tricked you into."

             
"Nay, nay, puss," said Emmerhard. "Rupman's legal fees would exceed all that I owe Eudoric under my bond. And, forsooth, when I look at the matter with the eye of reason, that's the only one of the three instruments that truly hurts. 'Tis nought to me if Eudoric Dambertson strut about with 'sir' before his name. And whether he wed thee or not is, in fine, a matter for thy choice."

             
"If Eudoric's coach enterprise succeed, we may recover our coin," added Baroness Trudwig.

             
"A big 'if,' my dear," grumped Emmerhard. "I've lost faith in the scheme, what of the long delays. Nor am I fully convinced that such a partnership be meet for a nobleman, despite Eudoric's argument that anything to do with horses be a gentlemanly pursuit
ipso facto.
Still, 'tis not impossible."

             
"What said Count Petz when thou didst return his
coronet?"

             
"He thought it a splendid joke, albeit that little grasshopper of a wizard, Calporio, was vexed at the expenditure of his costly enchantment on such a sleeveless errand. But Petzi, between roars of laughter, said he was thankful that the spell had first been tested on his faithful vassal—me—'stead of on's fat and gouty self. A murrain on all magical mummeries! Now, my dears, ye'd best get on with your robing and primping, lest we be late for the royal feast and the coronation ball."

-

             
Feeling very tall and noble in his gilded spurs, Sir Eudoric handed the reins to Jillo and swung down from the driver's seat of his coach in the courtyard of Castle Zurgau. Baron Emmerhard sourly regarded the gleaming paint, as yet unmuddied and unmarred.

             
"Well, my lord?" said Eudoric.

             
Emmerhard jerked a thumb. "Thou shalt find her in the flower garden."

             
Eudoric left the coach in charge of Jillo. In the flower garden he came upon Gerzilda. "Darling!" he cried, spreading his arms.

             
"Darling me no darlings, sirrah!" she said, backing away.

             
"Why, what's the matter? Are you not my betrothed?"

             
"Nay, nor never shall be. Think you I'd wed a man who so entreated my poor father?"

             
"But, Gerzilda, it was the only way I could—"

             
"Talk all you please, but 'twill make no difference. Go! Your presence is hateful to me."

             
Eudoric went. In the courtyard, he and Baron Emmerhard traded looks. Eudoric said: "Knew you what she'd say?"

             
"Aye. Blame me not; 'twas her idea entirely."

             
Eudoric thought. "Has her head been turned by the attentions of the fops in Kromnitch?"

             
Emmerhard shrugged. "All I can say to that is, she cut a swath at the grand ball, with several young noblemen dancing attendance upon her. Some have requested permission to call upon her here.

             
"Now, if I may offer advice, Sir Eudoric, meseems a young fellow like thee, who cares little for distinctions of rank and hath the outlook of a tradesman, were happier with some tradesman's daughter."

             
"Oh? I'll think on't." Eudoric's melancholy visage brightened. He swung into the driver's seat, took the reins from Jillo, and waved cheerfully to Baron Emmerhard as he guided the vehicle out of the castle gates and towards the town of Zurgau, to pick up his first passengers for Kromnitch.

             
After all, he thought, while he was sorry to lose Gerzilda—a fine girl, whom he could have loved— that was not the only factor. For one thing, she was taller than he; for another, she had hinted at plans for making Eudoric over into her idea of a stylish, sophisticated young gentleman of leisure. And, while there were plenty of girls in the world, nothing could equal a good, trusty source of steady income.

-

             
The gilding had not yet begun to wear off Eudoric's spurs when he sat in Castle Zurgau with his father and Baron Emmerhard. They spoke of the recent holdup of Eudoric's stagecoach by a band of masked robbers as it made its weekly journey from Zurgau to Kromnitch. After taking the passengers' money and pretties, the bandits had waved the coach on its way.

             
"From what ye tell me," said Eudoric's partner Emmerhard, " 'Tis certain that this be Rainmar's doing. Ordinary outlaws would have slain the people and burnt the carriage to vent their spleen. But Baron Rainmar's a thrifty thief, not fain to kill the duck that lays the emerald eggs."

             
"That decided, sir," said Eudoric, "what's to do? I'm not more timorous than most; but I'm not fain to gallop up to Castle Hessel, ring my lance against his portal, and dare Rainmar to come forth and fight it out."

             
"Aye, certes, thou hast right," puffed Sir Dambert. "By the God and the Goddess, he'd hang thee in
stanter, heedless of the punctilios of chivalry. Time was when we'd saddle up, to raid and waste his robbers' hold in vengeance—"

             
"But no more," interrupted the baron, "now that the crown hath gathered so much power unto itself. Even Rainmar dare not openly raid his neighbors, as was his former wont. So, to sweeten's pudding, he doth these fribbling banditries."

             
"Well," said Eudoric, "couldn't you gentlemen lend me men-at-arms to escort my coach, where the road passes nigh unto Rainmar's domain? There were ten or twelve in his gang; so a dozen sturdy guards should suffice and a score be a plenty."

             
Baron Emmerhard shook his head. "The King hath called upon me for a draft of men, to help the Emperor quell the rebels in Aviona. Praise the Divine pair, he commanded not mine aging self to take the field in person. And the rest of my menfolk I shall need for the haying."

             
"The men of Aviona must be daft, to fight at the height of the harvest," observed Sir Dambert.

             
"Nay," said Emmerhard, "they live farther north and so have already finished their field work."

             
"How about you, Father?" asked Eudoric.

             
Sir Dambert shook his head. "Aye, certes, would that I could help thee; but 'tis the same with me. I lack enough men to guard the castle as 'tis. I dare not strip it of all protection, lest Rainmar essay a sudden descent in spite of royal bans. Moreover and besides, Rainmar hath a plenty of men, the which he feeds on the usufruct of's robberies. An we put on ten guards, he'll come at thee with a score; an we put on twenty, he'll summon up two score, eh?"

             
"A fine basket of grapes," snorted Eudoric, "when a harmless, law-abiding gentleman can't make an honest living. Let me think
...
I recall the saying of the soldier of fortune, Karal of Gintz: 'If thou canst not vanquish them, unite them with thyself.' "

             
Gruffly, Dambert laughed. "Tell me not, son, that thou think of turning reaver likewise!"

             
"Nay, nay. Methought a call upon the lord of
Hessel
and a friendly discussion might yield results. At least, it's better than driving the coach to Kromnitch empty of passengers, they being daunted by fear of another ambuscado."

             
Emmerhard said: "Have a care that he clap thee not up in's dungeon for ransom."

             
"Has he not a daughter?" asked Eudoric. "Me-seems I have heard of such an one."

             
"Aye," said Emmerhard. "A truly nubile daughter, whom Rainmar would dearly love to marry off. Trouble is, none of his noble neighbors will countenance a union with this caitiff rascal. So Rainmar faces the choice of, imprimis, leaving poor Maragda an unwed spinster; secundus, of wedding her to one of his scurvy knaves of low degree; or tertius, of reforming his evil ways."

             
"Well, sir," said Eudoric to the baron, "since your own lovely daughter jaculated me forth, I have been casting about."

             
"Eudoric!" cried Sir Dambert. "Thou shalt not marry into that clan of banditti! I forbid it!"

             
"Easy, Father. I have no intention of wedding the lass, at least so long as Rainmar pursue his larcenous course. But think: if Rainmar accept me as a suitor, he'd be less fain to rob his prospective son-in-law's coach, would he not? With a call at Castle Hesse
l
from time to time, we should be able to keep the pot on the boil until the Emperor settle his score with Aviona and our men-at-arms come home. Then we can do as we list."

             
Dambert gloomily shook his head. "Oh, thou art clever, son; cleverer than becomes a knight, forsooth. Thine estate of knighthood entails obligations—"

             
"Chide not the lad," said Baron Emmerhard. "In these degenerate days, when a stroke of the pen oft
outweighs a slash of the sword, we need all the wit we can muster."

-

             
Days later, Baron Rainmar of
Hessel
, a huge, red-bearded, broken-nosed man, stared suspiciously at his caller. Behind him, men-at-arms handled pikes and fingered crossbows.

             
"State thy business," he barked.

             
Eudoric allowed a smile to cross his normally serious face. Although a little shaken by the row of Rainmar's victims—hanged, impaled, or beheaded— beside the front gate, he hid his feelings. He said: