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full fourteen inches of height; and he stamped one small foot noiselessly on
the neck of the sumpter horse, who turned her head to look at him in mild
surprise.
You have not answered me! he shouted. He was clearly beside himself with
anger-the first time Jim had ever seen him so. His voice had gone up a good
three notes, and rang with a strange, artificial rhythm.
How dare you, Hob continued, threaten Sir James and bar his entrance to
the castle of the Queen of Northgales, when he has come this great distance to
talk to her? Lo, he is no mere knight like yourself; but a great Magickian,
come to speak privily with your Queen. How dare such as you offer to fight
him-the most manly man in armor to abide-and scorn Sir Brian, the Paladin who
rides with him? I pray you, show him some of your terrible magick, my Lord,
that his ignorance may be informed!
It was a very peculiar speech to come from Hob; and it threatened to put Jim
on the spot. Happily, however, he had been through this sort of thing before-a
well-meaning ally, without warning, demanding a demonstration of Jim s powers.
There was always one trick available because of his first appearance in this
world having taken place in the body of a presently living dragon.
It was the bit of instinctive magic that had been, effectively, a gift to
him, completely apart from all else he had learned since he met Carolinus. It
could be used without breaking his ward, and he could turn it on or off. But
otherwise he had no control over it. It was exactly the same as the innate
magic of Naturals, such as the troll-light of the trolls, and Hob s ability to
ride a waft of smoke to other places halfway around this world.
He swung down from his saddle-and turned himself into a dragon.
The large knight was evidently not given to making noises, jumping, or
otherwise showing alarm; but he became very still where he sat on his horse,
lance in hand; and remained that way without sound or movement for so long
that Jim was beginning to get concerned-when the man abruptly broke into
movement, wheeling his horse brutally around and galloping for the gate to the
castle.
It opened for him and immediately shut behind him.
Jim turned himself back into his human form, armor and all.
Hob- he began sternly, turning to the hobgoblin. But Hob, still standing on
the neck of the horse, thin shoulders squared and arms folded adamantly,
interrupted.
Damme, m Lord! he said, looking down at Jim from the height of his own
stand on the back of the sumpter horse, are we to brook such insults from any
man in armor, who has not even the courtesy to name himself before offering
battle to you, who are so far above him? I say. NO!
Jim stared. Off to the side, he could see Brian staring also. Hob s language
had suddenly become as extravagant and ornate as could be imagined even among
the actual knights of this time in the land above. These words and phrases
were more than high fashion; they were an exaggeration and burlesque.
That last thought brought a possible explanation for this startling change in
his hobgoblin.
Hob, he said, has someone been telling you stories?
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One has, my Lord, indeed, Hob said, with a graceful bow. But then he
relaxed and his voice became natural again-and confidential. The ballad
singer who came to the castle has been giving me lessons on how to speak with
the gentry.
What ballad singer?
You remember, m Lord. The ballad singer who came to Malencontri at the time
we were just about to bring the summer in. He gives me a lesson twice a week,
and m Lady has been teaching me things, too. I can sign my name- H-O-B -just
like that... no other Hob in all the land can do the things that I can do. Not
only do I understand the way to polish swords-
The light of complete understanding broke in on Jim. In his last sentence,
Hob had begun to misquote The Knight Whose Armor Didn t Squeak, a poem by E.
E. Milne, the writer of the Pooh stories-a poem that no ballad maker in the
fourteenth century could possibly know. Hob had to have learned that from
Angie. What had gotten into her?
But Hob was already explaining that.
-M Lady said I could tell the children stories, now, to keep them quiet at
banquets, instead of making faces, twisting myself about and standing on my
head, getting them all excited the way I did at the great feast after Mage
Carolinus was rescued.
Well, there was the explanation for Angie s involvement. He could hardly say
anything to Hob about that. But the other influence was still not as it should
be.
Are you telling me that ballad singer who came at midsummer s stayed with us
at Malencontri ever since then? He glared at Hob, who was maintaining his
pose on the sumpter horse s back. How could he have been in the castle all
this time-
Jim broke off. He did not need an answer to that. The castle servants, if
they wanted-and when they all wanted something, they went after it as
effectively as the most powerful labor union-they could keep an elephant in
the castle for years and he would never see or hear anything to suggest it was
there. For the first time he wondered what else they had hiding down in their
ground-level servants quarters.
A sound of trumpets took his eyes and his thoughts back to the castle. Both
the great doors in its curtain wall not only opened but were thrown back, now.
The large knight on his large horse came back outside, with all his arms and
armor, but did not approach them. He sat his horse to one side of the gate,
while a half-dozen figures in white-and-gray livery laid out a black carpet
from inside the curtain wall out over the drawbridge.
We are all at once honored guests, James, murmured Brian. He had ridden
back to sit Blanchard side by side with Gorp, turned toward the castle.
Yes, said Jim, and remounted; and began to feel a touch of uneasiness. What
would the Queen of Northgales expect of him, after this kind of a welcome? But
he was forgetting Hob.
Hob, he said, without turning his head.
Yes, m Lord?
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You evidently said just the right thing at just the right time.
I kiss your feet in gratitude, my Lord.
No you don t, said Jim. Not now or ever. Forget everything that ballad
maker s been teaching you-for the moment, anyway. Just talk like yourself.
Besides, from here on in I ll do the talking.
Yes, m Lord. There was a moment of silence, and then a very meek voice.
Are you angry with me, m Lord?
No, said Jim. It s just that you were lucky once, but we don t want to
stretch that luck too far.
Oh.
Yes.
I won t say anything unless you tell me to, m Lord-my Lord.
Good.
The carpet was laid now and the knight was riding toward them, no slower or
faster than he had come out originally, but with a certain stiffness in the
way he sat his saddle that signaled a formal rather than a punitive approach.
My Lady the Queen of Northgales requires your presence. Messires, would you
of your grace follow me? I will lead you to the presence of our Queen.
Jim nodded. Neither he nor Brian said a word. Formality was catching. The
knight turned back toward the castle and they followed him, Jim pondering
whether his quick acceptance of this invitation would help or hinder him with
Northgales.
Beyond the great doors, there was the expected courtyard, with more
fire-prone wooden utility buildings-cookhouse, blacksmith shop, and the
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