Part 55 (2/2)
”That is unnecessary. You may give me the full total of the exchange.”
Sir Pom-Pom tossed over his wallet. ”Take as you will.”
Madouc opened it and counted the coins. ”This surely is not all?”
”Bah!” grumbled Sir Pom-Pom. ”Perhaps I still carry a few odd pieces in my pocket.”
”Give them here-every last farthing!”
Sir Pom-Pom said with dignity: ”I will retain one silver form and three copper pennies, for incidental expense.” He pa.s.sed over further coins. Madouc poured all into her pouch, and returned the wallet to Sir Pom-Pom. ”We shall have an accounting later,” said Madouc. ”You have not heard the last of this, Sir Pom-Pom.”
”Bah,” muttered Sir Pom-Pom. ”It is no great matter. Let us be on our way. The bay mare shall be your steed. Her name is Juno.”
Madouc gave a sniff of disdain. ”Her belly sags low! Will she support my weight?”
Sir Pom-Pom smiled grimly. ”Remember, you are no longer a prideful princess! You are a vagabond.”
”I am a prideful vagabond. Keep this in mind, if you will.”
Sir Pom-Pom shrugged. ”Juno has a kindly gait. She neither jibs nor s.h.i.+es, though she will take a fence no more. My own horse is Fustis. He was at one time a war-charger of note; he responds best to a firm seat and a strong hand.” Sir Pom-Pom swaggered in his new boots over to Fustis; in a single brave bound he vaulted into the saddle. Madouc mounted Juno more deliberately, and the two set off up the Sfer Arct, into the hilly region north of Lyonesse Town.
Two hours along the way they arrived at the village Swally Water and here came upon a crossroad. Madouc read the sign. ”To the east is the village Fring; we shall travel this lane to Fring and there veer north, and so come into Old Street.”
”It is a longer route, by some miles,” noted Sir Pom-Pom.
”Perhaps so, but by keeping to the back lanes we will tend to avoid anyone sent out to impede our journey.”
Sir Pom-Pom grunted. ”I thought that His Majesty had ratified your quest, and with all his heartfelt blessings.”
”That is how I interpret his commands,” said Madouc. ”Still, I prefer to take nothing for granted.”
Sir Pom-Pom gave the remark careful thought, then said, somewhat glumly: ”I hope that I find the Holy Grail before we need to test your interpretation.”
Madouc deigned no reply.
At noon the two pa.s.sed through Fring and, finding no lane leading northeast, continued eastward across a pleasant country side of farms and meadows. Presently they arrived at the town Abatty Dell where a fair was in progress. At Sir Pom-Pom's urging, they dismounted, tethered their horses to a rail at the front of the inn, and went to watch the clowns and jugglers performing in the square. Sir Pom-Pom gave a cry of amazement. ”Look yonder! That man in the red hat just now thrust a blazing torch down his throat! Look! He does so again! It is a marvel! His gut must be iron, from top to bottom!”
”An unusual talent, indeed,” said Madouc.
Sir Pom-Pom's attention was caught by another performance. ”See there! It is finesse, full and true! Aha, did you see? That was a goodly thrust!”
Madouc, turning to look, saw a man and a woman lying on their backs about fifteen feet apart. With thrusts of their feet they propelled a small child back and forth through the air between them, lofting the child higher and even higher with each pa.s.sage. The child, undersized, and wearing only a ragged breechclout, jerked and twisted desperately in mid-air so that he might alight b.u.t.tocks-first on the coiled legs of the target-individual. This person, after catching the child with dexterous feet, thrust out legs to propel him back through s.p.a.ce the way he had come.
Upon conclusion of the display the man cried out: ”Mikelaus will now accept your gratuities!” The child ran among the spectators holding out his cap for coins.
”Ha hah!” exclaimed Sir Pom-Pom. ”That trick deserves a farthing!” He reached in one of his side-pockets and brought forth a copper coin which he dropped into the soiled cap extended by Mikelaus. Madouc watched with raised eyebrows.
The three performers went on to another feat. The man placed a flat board two feet long on top of an eight-foot pole; the woman lifted Mikelaus so that he crouched on the board. The man thrust the pole high, with Mikelaus precariously balanced on top. The woman joined a second pole to the first; Mikelaus was raised even higher, the man controlling the swaying pole with sidling movements. The woman added a third extension to the pole; Mikelaus was raised twenty feet into the air. Gingerly he rose and stood on the board, atop the swaying pole. The woman sounded a flourish of tones on a set of pipes and Mikelaus chanted a song in a reedy rasping voice:
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