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Napolitanian Empire, which lettered men spoke everywhere. They stopped at inns where inns were to be had. For the first fortnight, Eudoric was too preoccupied with dreams of his beloved Lusina to notice the tavern wenches. After that, his urges began to fever him, and he bedded one in Zerbstat, to their mutual satisfaction. Thereafter, however, he forebore, not as a matter of sexual morals but as a matter of thrift. When benighted on the road, they slept under the stars-or, as befell them on the marches of Avaria, under a rain-dripping canopy of clouds. As they bedded down in the wet, Eudoric asked his companion: "Jillo, why did you not remind me to bring a tent?" Jillo sneezed. "Why, sir, come rain, come snow, I never thought that so sturdy a springald as ye be would ever need one. The heroes in the romances never travel with tents." "To the nethermost hell with heroes of the romances! They go clattering around on their destriers for a thousand cantos. Weather is ever fine. Food, shelter, and a change of clothing appear, as by magic, whenever desired. Their armor never rusts. They suffer no tisics and fluxes. They pick up no fleas or lice at the inns. They're never swindled by merchants, for none does aught so vulgar as buying and selling." "If ye'll pardon me, sir," said Jillo, "that were no knightly way to speak. It becomes not your station." "Well, to the nethermost hells with my station, tool 'Wherever these paladins go, they find damsels in distress to rescue, or have other agreeable, thrilling, and sanitary adventures. What adventures have we had? The time we fled from robbers in the Turonian Forest. The time I fished you out of the Albis half drowned. The time we ran out of food in the Asciburgi Mountains and had to plod fodderless over those hair-raising peaks for three days on empty stomachs." "The Divine Pair do but seek to try the mettle of a valorous aspirant knight, sir. Ye should welcome these petty adversities as a chance to prove your manhood." Eudoric made a rude noise with his mouth. "That for my manhood! Right now, I'd fainer have a stout roof overhead, a warm fire before me, and a hot repast in my belly. An ever I go or' such file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harr...%20Best%20of%20L%20Sprague%20De%20Camp.txt (134 of 149) [2/5/2004 12:29:04 AM] file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/L%20Sprag...De%20Camp%20-%20The%20Best%20of%20L%20Sprague%20De%20Camp.txt a silly jaunt again, I'll find one of those versemongers-like that troubadour, Landwin of Kromnitch, that visited us yesteryear-and drag him along, to show him how little real adventures are like those of the romances. And if he fall into the Albis, he may drown, for all of me. Were it not for my darling Lusina-" Eudoric lapsed into gloomy silence, punctuated by sneezes. They plodded on until they came to the village of Liptaf, on the border of Pathenia. After the border guards had questioned and passed them, they walked their animals down the deep mud of the main street. Most of the slatternly houses were of logs or of crudely hewn planks, innocent of paint. "Heaven above!" said Jillo. "Look at that, sir!" "That" was a gigantic snail shell, converted into a small house. "Knew you not of the giant snails of Pathenia?" asked Eudoric. "I've read of them in Doctor Baldonius' encyclopedia. When full grown, they-or rather their shells-are of ttimes used for dwellings in this land." Jillo shook his head. "Twere better had ye spent more of your time on your knightly exercises and less on reading. Your sire hath never learnt his letters, yet he doth his duties well enow." "Times change, Jillo. I may not clang rhymes so featly as Doctor Baldonius, or that ass Landwin of Kromnitch; but in these days a stroke of the pen were oft more fell than the slash of a sword. Here's a hostelry that looks not too slummocky. Do you dismount and inquire within as to their tallage." "Why, sir?" "Because I am fain to know, ere we put our necks in the noose! Go ahead. An I go in, they'll double the scot at sight of me." When Jillo came out and quoted prices, Eudoric said, "Too dear. We'll try the other." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |