‘Now you’re starting to make some sense,’ Althalus said approvingly. ‘I thought I might have to rattle your teeth a little bit before you started to get the point.’
‘I’m a good soldier, and I follow my chief’s orders. I don’t have to get any points or understand anything. I just have to do what I’m told to do.’
‘I think we’ll get along just fine’, Althalus said. ‘Hold out your hands. Let’s get rid of those silly chains.’
Eliar held out his wrists, and Althalus freed him.
Eliar stood up, stretching and yawning. ‘I didn’t sleep too well,’ he said. ‘Those stupid chains jingled and rattled every time I moved. What am I supposed to call you? Sergeant, maybe? I won’t call you “Master”, no matter what you do to me.’
If you ever call me “Master”, I’ll braid all your fingers and toes together. My name’s Althalus. Why don’t you call me that?’
‘Is that really your name? There’s an old story in our clan about a man named Althalus.’
‘I know. Chief Albron thought it was just a coincidence, but he was wrong.’ Althalus made a wry face. ‘My name’s about the only part of the story your people got right. The rest of it’s the biggest lie I’ve heard in my whole life – and I’ve heard some very big lies in my time. Let’s get it right out into the open, Eliar. I am the one who robbed Gosti Big Belly about twenty-five hundred years ago, but Gosti didn’t have any gold in his strongroom, just copper and a little brass. He wanted people to believe that he was the richest man in the world, so he spread some wild lies about how much gold I’d stolen from him. You wouldn’t believe how much trouble that caused me.’
‘Nobody can live that long,’ the boy scoffed.
‘I didn’t think so myself, but Emmy cured me of that. Let’s stick to the point here. Can you read?’
‘Warriors don’t waste their time on that nonsense.’
‘There’s something you have to read.’
‘I just told you that I don’t know how, Althalus. You’ll have to read it to me.’
‘It won’t work if we do it that way.’ Althalus took the Knife out from under his belt and held it out to Eliar. He pointed at the complex engraving on the blade. ‘What does this say?’ he asked.
‘I can’t read. I told you that.’
‘Look at it, Eliar. You can’t read it if you don’t look.’
Eliar looked at the leaf-shaped blade, and he jerked his head back, startled. ‘It says “Lead”!’ he exclaimed. ‘I can actually read it!’ Then he shrank back as the song of the Knife touched him.
‘Pretty, isn’t it?’ Althalus said.
Emmy had been sitting nearby, watching. She rose and came over to where they were seated. She looked very closely at Eliar, who was still staring at the Knife with a befuddled expression. ‘Tell him to do something, Althalus,’ she suggested. ‘Let’s make sure that you can control him before you give him the Knife.’
Althalus nodded. ‘Stand up, Eliar,’ he said.
The boy immediately scrambled to his feet. He swayed a bit and put one hand to the side of his head. ‘It made me a little dizzy,’ he confessed.
‘Dance,’ Althalus told him.
Eliar started to jig, his feet pattering on the ground.
‘Stop.’
Eliar quit dancing.
‘Put both hands up over your head.’
‘Why are we doing this?’ the boy asked, raising his hands.
‘Just making sure that it works. You can put your hands down. Did you notice anything peculiar just now?’
‘You kept telling me to do things that were sort of silly,’ Eliar replied.
‘If they seemed silly, why did you do them?’
‘I’m a soldier, Althalus. I always do what the man in charge tells me to do. If he tells me to do silly things, he’s the one who’s silly, not me.’
‘That sort of takes a lot of the fun out of this, doesn’t it, Em?’ Althalus said aloud. ‘Did the Knife force Eliar to jump around, or was it just his training?’
Eliar gave Emmy a surprised look. ‘How did your cat get away from Andine?’ he asked curiously.
‘She’s sort of sneaky.’
‘Andine’s going to be very angry about that. Maybe we should leave in sort of a hurry – right after breakfast.’
‘Are you hungry?’
‘I’m always hungry, Althalus.’
‘Why don’t we eat, then?’ Althalus held the Knife out to the boy. ‘Here. You’re the one who’s supposed to carry this. Tuck it under your belt and don’t lose it.’
Eliar put his hands behind his back. ‘You should probably know that I was planning to kill you last night before we got to know each other. You might want to think it over a little before you just hand me back my knife like that.’
‘You aren’t going to try to kill me now, though, are you?’
‘No. Not now.’
‘Why not?’
‘You’re the man in charge, Althalus. Your arrangement with Chief Albron sort of makes you my sergeant. A good soldier never tries to kill his sergeant.’
‘Then I haven’t got a thing to worry about. Take the Knife, Eliar, and let’s eat.’
‘What a great idea,’ Eliar said enthusiastically, tucking the Knife under his belt.
‘Bacon? Or maybe ham?’
‘Whichever one you can make the quickest.’
Althalus made some ham and a loaf of black bread. Then he produced a very large cup of milk.
Eliar started to eat as if he hadn’t had anything for a week.
Althalus made more. ‘How long can he keep this up?’ he silently asked Emmy.
