The Quest of the Fair Unknown (12 page)

"How many hermits live in that forest anyway?" Ellyn asked.

"Heaven only knows," Basil replied. "They go on for as long as the path continues. Did you enjoy meeting my fellow hermits?"

Gawain snorted, Ellyn rolled her eyes, and Beaufils replied, "They haven't been very helpful. Are you really a hermit too? You don't seem much like them."

"Yes, I'm really a hermit, too," Basil replied. "There's more goat's milk if anyone wants it."

Gawain and Ellyn quickly covered the tops of their cups, but Beaufils said thank you and took some more. "Then if we had just stayed on the path," he said, "we would have come to you eventually, right?"

"No," Basil replied. "There is one way in which I'm different from the others. To find me, you have to leave the path."

"Then I wish we'd just gone around the forest and skipped the path entirely," muttered Gawain.

"There's no way around it either," the hermit said.

"Sir," Gawain said suddenly, "may I ask a question?"

"You may ask anything, Sir Gawain."

"You said that a friend told you we would be coming this way. Who was this friend, and how did he know?"

"Was it a vision?" asked Ellyn.

"Oh, no," Basil replied, chuckling to himself. "I don't see visions myself. You'll have to leave that to some of my fellow hermits. Did you meet Brother Denys? He could see a vision for you."

"We met him," Gawain replied.

"Did you cry for him? I hope so." Beaufils shook his head, and Basil sighed. "Poor Denys. He feels awful when his visitors don't cry. No, my friend is as real as you are, but I couldn't say how he knew you'd be along. I'm only a simple man; I don't understand how Scotus knows what he knows. But I've learned to trust him."

"Scotus?" Gawain repeated.

"That's the enchanter who cursed my father," Ellyn said indignantly.

Basil nodded. "Yes, Lady Ellyn," Basil said. "I don't understand that either, but I was glad to hear that your father is better now." He glanced up at the darkening sky and said, "Forgive me for leaving you, but it is time for evening prayers. Excuse me."

While the hermit said his prayers, the three friends decided that they would stay the night with Basil—"Even if it means we have to drink more goat's milk tomorrow," Gawain said—and then leave the forest and head north again. By the time Basil returned, Ellyn had already rolled up in her blankets and gone to sleep. Gawain was getting his bed ready, but when Basil appeared, the knight addressed him.

"Excuse me, sir," he said, "I forgot to ask earlier. We're looking for something called the Holy Grail. I don't suppose you've heard of it, have you?"

"Yes, Sir Gawain. I know the Grail," Basil said.

"Oh," Gawain said, surprised. "That's helpful. Can you tell us where to find it?"

"Oh, dear me, Sir Gawain, you will never find the Grail," Basil said.

"What?"

"Didn't you know? The Grail is someone else's quest. The best you can do this time is to help others along, the way you've been helping Le Beau Desconus and Lady Ellyn."

Gawain took a moment to digest this, but he didn't seem to be disappointed. "Very well," he said at last, "and in which direction shall I help them tomorrow?"

"Oh, they don't need you now," Basil said. "Good night, Sir Gawain."

Basil went inside his hermitage, leaving Gawain standing uncertainly by the fire. At last he said, "I guess I can ask him in the morning what that means. You going to bed, Le Beau?"

"In a while," Beaufils said. Though his muscles were weary, he was oddly wakeful. Gawain went to his blankets and almost at once was breathing the deep, calm breaths of sleep.

"Gawain is a good man," said a voice at Beaufils's elbow. "I'm glad you've had a chance to travel with him."

Beaufils smiled, recognizing Scotus's voice. "Yes," he said.

"How have you found your journeying?" Scotus asked.

"I enjoy meeting new people," Beaufils replied simply. "Even people who don't seem to enjoy meeting me."

"That's a very good way to approach a quest."

"Am I on a quest?" Beaufils asked.

"Aren't you?"

"I suppose I am. This thing about the Grail. But I didn't say I would come because I wanted to find the Grail; I just thought it would be nice to ride with Galahad some more. Then Galahad went off, so I came with Gawain." Beaufils frowned, thinking, then said, "The Grail isn't really my quest, I think."

"Then do you have another quest?"

Beaufils thought about this. "Well, there's the thing about looking for my father, as my mother said to do. But if that's what I'm doing, then should I be out here hunting the Grail with Gawain?"

"Your father's as likely to be here as anywhere else, isn't he?" asked Scotus.

"I suppose," Beaufils said, but he was still troubled.

"Don't worry, son," Scotus said. "I've come to help. You've done all you can for Gawain, getting him through the forest, and now he has to go off alone. You're to go with Ellyn now for a while." Then Scotus was gone.

Gawain protested vehemently the next morning when Basil told him he had to go on alone. Arguing that he was responsible for Lady Ellyn's safety and that he couldn't leave her in the care of an untried youth like Beaufils, Gawain grew so mulish that Basil had to speak to him very sternly.

"Sir Gawain," he said. "You still seem to feel that this is
your
quest, and that you shall have the ordering of it, but you are very much mistaken. I'm thinking about Lady Ellyn's quest. I know that you've sworn to protect fair womanhood, but protection is exactly what Lady Ellyn does not need. Le Beau Desconus is the only companion she requires."

"But what if—?" Gawain said.

"You can trust her to the Fair Unknown," Basil said with finality.

At last, obeying with ill grace but submitting nonetheless, Gawain mounted his great black horse and rode off alone. Beaufils watched until he was out of sight, then turned to Ellyn. "So which way do you want to go?"

"Me?"

"You know as well as I do," Beaufils said.

Ellyn smiled, closed her eyes, whirled around twice, and then pointed. "That way," she said. And they set off to the southeast.

It was a pleasant journey, the two of them riding side by side, talking about everything that came to mind and being comfortably silent when nothing did. They stopped to admire flowers and watch deer and cool their feet in streams. Often they dismounted and walked, saying they were resting the animals but knowing it was really just for the fun of walking. They were on foot, in fact, when they came upon the knight.

They had just gone up a hill and were starting down the other side when there he was, fully armored, in the middle of a field. He was on his knees, hands clasped and head bowed. They stopped in their tracks, staring, and then Beaufils recognized the knight's armor. "Sir Bors!" he exclaimed joyfully.

The knight raised his head, lifted his visor, then said, "Beaufils? And a lady?" Then his eyes lit up. "And a horse!"

"What happened to Sir Lionel?" Beaufils asked. "And where's your horse?"

"Lionel and I separated a few days ago. We've joined a quest, you see, and we agreed that we could cover more ground separately."

"You're on a quest?" Beaufils asked, mildly interested. "It seems as if everyone's looking for something or other."

"This isn't just any quest, lad," Sir Bors said, lifting his chin. "It is a high and holy quest of great spiritual import. Lionel and I met some of Arthur's knights two days ago, and they told us about a miraculous vision that appeared in Arthur's court. Everyone's off seeking it."

"Oh," Beaufils said, nodding. "You're after the Grail."

"Er, yes," Sir Bors replied. "How did
you
know?"

"I was at the court when it appeared," Beaufils explained. "It was very pretty."

"Then you must have been sent to me as a guide!" Sir Bors exclaimed.

"Happy to help any way I can," Beaufils murmured.

"And this horse, too!" Sir Bors said excitedly. "You may not believe this, but I was just praying for God to send me a horse when you rode up! Isn't that amazing?"

"Except that this is
my
horse," Ellyn pointed out.

"Sir Bors, this is Lady Ellyn of Carlisle," Beaufils said. "And her horse."

"
Your
horse, my lady?" Sir Bors said.

"That's right."

"You wouldn't want to give him up?"

"No."

"Sell him?"

"No."

"Lend him?"

"No."

Sir Bors frowned with puzzlement. "I don't understand. I prayed and everything."

Ellyn's face was growing stormy, and Beaufils thought it time to intervene. "Perhaps the two of you could share."

"I wouldn't mind that," Ellyn said slowly. "But Sir Bors hasn't asked."

"Oh," Sir Bors said. "Um ... could we share your horse for a bit?"

"Of course," Ellyn said. Beaufils wondered why her eyes had begun to twinkle. "You climb on first, and then I'll get up behind you."

Sir Bors thanked her graciously, then put his foot in the horse's stirrup and swung his leg over. "Ouch!" he said.

"Uncomfortable?" asked Ellyn, suppressing a smile.

"This saddle! It's poking me right in the ... I mean..."

"It's a sidesaddle, you see," Ellyn explained. "Was that not what you prayed for?"

"I can't ride like this! This pommel goes right up ... I should say ... Why, every time the horse jumped it would ... um ... hurt."

"Don't you have armor on?" Ellyn asked sweetly.

"Not down there!"

"I wonder why not," she mused.

Sir Bors swung his leg back over and dismounted. "You can have your horse back."

"Would you like to ride Clover?" Beaufils asked. "I don't mind walking."

Sir Bors looked at the mule distastefully, then said, "Thank you, Beaufils, but no. No, I don't think so."

"Well, at any rate, we can travel together," Beaufils said. "We don't mind traveling slow." This being agreed to, they started off again, all three walking. Beaufils glanced at Sir Bors and said, "But you never said what happened to
your
horse."

Sir Bors scowled. "It was stolen from me!" he said fiercely. "Just after Lionel and I parted, three knights came on me and attacked. I was driven from the saddle and almost killed!"

"You seem all right. I suppose the knights spared your life?" Ellyn asked.

"Not by choice!" Sir Bors exclaimed. "I'm sure they meant to finish me off, but I was rescued by a strange knight with silver armor who galloped up on a white horse. I promise you, I've never seen his like. Sword here, shield there, and in a trice all three knights were on the run. Then the silver knight rode away. The thing is, though, the three knights took my horse with them."

"White horse and silver armor?" Beaufils asked. "Did his shield have a red cross on it?"

"Yes, it did!"

"Oh, that was Galahad," Beaufils said. "Good for him."

"Who's Galahad?" Sir Bors asked. "I've never heard the name."

"He's Sir Lancelot's son," Beaufils explained.

"What?"

"Didn't the knights who told you about the Grail tell you about Galahad? It seems that Sir Lancelot fathered Galahad many years ago and never knew he had a son. The same as my father must have done."

Sir Bors blinked, then, in an apologetic voice, said, "I had forgotten your quest, Beaufils. Did you ever find your father?"

Beaufils sighed. "No, not yet. Sir Lionel was right: it seems it could have been nearly anyone."

Sir Bors lapsed into silence, and they trudged on together without speaking. Beaufils didn't mind this. Birds were singing, and he saw several flowers that he'd never seen before. Sometimes, he reflected, it was nice to talk, but other times it was nice to let the world talk back.

The world's speech was brief, however. A few minutes later, Sir Bors emitted a deep sigh, then groaned, "I cannot keep it within!"

"Are you feeling queasy, Sir Bors?" Beaufils asked, concerned. "Something you ate?"

"I should have told you when I first met you, but I was afraid. I hoped another knight would prove to be the one. But now I must speak. Beaufils, I ... I may be your father myself."

Beaufils smiled. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

Sir Bors didn't seem to hear; he was intent on his next words. "It was nearly eighteen years ago. My father wanted me to be a knight, like my brother Lionel, but I was inclined toward the priesthood. My father thought that a visit to court would cure me of my religious ideas, so he sent me to Camelot. And, in truth, he was right. As soon as I arrived there, I was carried away by worldly pleasures!"

Not sure what was expected of him, Beaufils nodded and said, "Yes, I enjoyed my visit to Camelot, too."

"I don't see anything so bad about a holiday at court," Ellyn remarked. "I'd love one myself."

"You don't understand," Sir Bors said. "There was this servant girl..."

"Ah, I see," Ellyn said. "What happened to the girl?"

Bors looked up, surprise on his face. "I left the court shortly after that, but a year or so later I heard that she married one of the smithies and moved away. So you see, Beaufils! I may well be your father!"

Ellyn snorted and commented, "I don't know what Beau was expecting from his long-lost father, but I doubt it was such a gloomy reception as this. You look more like you've just lost a son than found one."

Sir Bors looked struck by this. "Forgive me, Beaufils. I wasn't thinking of you."

"No, you weren't," Ellyn said. "You might try it now."

Sir Bors looked solemnly at Beaufils. "Can you forgive me, lad?"

Beaufils smiled. "I wish I could, if it would make you happy, but I'm afraid I've nothing to forgive."

"Eh?" asked Sir Bors, confused.

Beaufils explained. "The girl you remember couldn't be my mother. You said that she got married and moved away a year or so after the two of you had your meeting, didn't you? Well, I don't know how long a woman will carry a child before—"

"Nine months," Ellyn said.

"That long? That must be a bother. But you see what I'm getting at, don't you? My mother left Camelot before I was born, so she couldn't have hung about for a year or so. I'm afraid you aren't my father after all."