The Dragon Knight

by Gordon R. Dickson

  They had passed the Channel Islands during the latter part of the night. After that, the shipmaster had kept his vessel well out from land, although he was obviously one of those navigators—for all Jim knew all navigators at this time were that way—who preferred to see a coastline on the horizon at all times. But with the lightening of the sky, he was moving in closer toward a dark line that Jim finally identified beyond any doubt as land, rather than a bank of low-lying, dark clouds.

  Now, as the day broke cloudless and clear, Jim saw that they were quite close to a coast that seemed to stretch to the horizon on either side.

  He walked down the side of the boat until he came to the square, powerful shape of the shipmaster, who was standing with legs apart in the bow, staring ahead of him.

  "Where are we?" he asked.

  "Entering the Rade of Brest," answered the shipmaster, without taking his eyes off the water and land ahead. "God be with us now"—he crossed himself—"for this water is full of rock and I must—"

  He did not finish his sentence. There was a sudden, grating shock that ran all through the vessel and it stopped abruptly.

  "What is it?" demanded Jim.

  "Saints preserve us!" cried the shipmaster, literally wringing his hands, "we are caught, as I feared! We are held fast!"

  Jim stared at the man, for he made no move to do anything, simply stood where he was, twisting his hands together, with tears starting in his eyes. Behind Jim there was a quick thunder of feet and the half-dozen men who made up the ship's crew came running, crowding up to the bow to stand with the shipmaster, staring down into the water ahead. It was true that now the ship stood, solidly unmoving in spite of the taut single sail overhead.

  "Can you see anything?" Jim heard one saying.

  "Nothing," replied the man beside him, still staring into the water.

  "What's the matter?" Jim demanded of the shipmaster. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

  "There's nothing to be done, Sir Knight!" answered the shipmaster, still not looking at him. "These rocks are like iron. We are stuck fast here until we perish from lack of food and drink, or a wind finally blows us off and we sink through the hole surely torn in our bottom."

  "There must be something you can do," said Jim. "You've got that small boat on deck. Why don't you put it overside, tie a rope between it and this ship and see if you can't row us loose?"

  But the shipmaster merely shook his head wordlessly, the tears now streaming down his face.

  "What's amiss?" said the voice of Sir Brian in Jim's ear.

  Jim turned to find the other knight at his elbow.

  "We seem to have run onto a rock, Brian, an underwater rock," Jim said. "I’ve been trying to get the shipmaster to do something, but he seems to think it's no use."

  "Land no more than two or three miles away, and he thinks it's no use?" snorted Sir Brian. "What sort of poltroon is he, to give up so easily?" He raised his voice. "Here you—"

  He punched the shipmaster on the shoulder hard enough to rock the man on his feet, but the other still did not respond, He seemed lost in a frenzy of sorrow and despair.

  Brian continued to shout at him, but the seaman paid him no attention. Jim looked back over his shoulder. He put a hand on Brian's arm to attract his attention.

  "Where's Sir Giles?" he asked.

  "Damned if I know!" growled Brian, punching the shipmaster again. "Pay me some mind, you! Are you a man or some puking child to stand there and weep and do nothing?"

  He might as well have talked to a man in a trance. Jim, driven by a sudden curiosity, left him to deal with the shipmaster and walked back the length of the ship, looking for Giles. It was most odd that the other knight had not joined all the rest of them up in the front of the vessel where the excitement was.

  The deck of the small vessel, as well as its hold, was loaded with boxes and bales, all strongly tied down so that they would not shift as the vessel moved about. As a result, Jim had to thread his way among these goods, some of which were piled higher than his head, and look out that his feet did not get caught and tripped up on the anchoring ropes that held this deck cargo in place. The result was that he did not find Sir Giles until he was nearly to the back of the ship; and came on the other knight suddenly, around the corner of a large stack of kegs.

  To his surprise Sir Giles was just taking off the last of his clothing. He was very round and pink without it, so that he looked rather like a white-mustached cherub. Jim stared at him in surprise.

  "What are you up to, Giles?" he asked.

  "All right then, damme, watch if you want!" Sir Giles glared at him. "It's good blood, been in my family for generations. Not the least ashamed of it—just don't go around announcing it to any Tom, Will, or Hal. If you want to know, I'm going to have a look at the underside of this boat and see what it's hung up on!"

  Completely naked, he ran to the near side of the ship, clambered up on it, poised outwardly there for a minute, and then flopped off it to land with a resounding splash in the water below. Jim, who had followed him automatically in his dash, reached the side just in time to see Giles turn, on contact with the sea, into the sleek gray shape of a harbor seal. The seal righted itself, stuck its head out of the water momentarily to look up at Jim with the eyes of Sir Giles, barked once, then turned, dived, and was gone.

  Jim stood staring at the dark sea surface for a long moment. So—that was Sir Giles's particular virtue or talent. He was what was known as a selkie; someone who was, to quote the old definition, "a man upon the land, a seal upon the sea."

  Jim turned and hurried back up front, to find Brian literally cuffing the poor shipmaster about. The rest of the crew stood back and snowed no inclination to interfere. There were six of them; and a long knife hung in a scabbard from the belt of each. But because of either the sword at Sir Brian's side, or merely the fact that he was a knight—or possibly even the fact that they blamed the shipmaster for their running aground, so that they were not amiss to seeing him take a certain amount of punishment—they were being nothing more than spectators.

  Jim winced. In some ways Sir Brian was the gentlest and kindest of men; but he also lived by a hard set of rules that both Jim and Angie had had their greatest difficulty in adjusting to. Coming up to Brian, Jim caught the other's arm to stop him.

  "Brian!" he said urgently. "What are you doing?"

  Brian's head jerked around sternly, but his face relaxed when he saw it was Jim.

  "Why, James," he said, "this fellow has lost his wits. I'm merely trying to knock some sense back into him."

  "That won't do it," said Jim. "He's in deep emotional shock."

  "Deep…" Brian stared at him. "Er… James, is this something magical, you mean?"

  Jim had used the words that had come naturally to his tongue, without thinking how they would translate into whatever language he spoke on this world; or if, even if they did translate properly, they would convey any real meaning to Brian. For a moment he was tempted to explain; and then a number of occasions before this in which he had tried, and failed, to bridge the gap between a medieval society and a twentieth-century technological one, laid the finger of caution on his tongue.

  The chances were that nothing he could say would make Brian understand. From Brian's point of view it made perfectly good sense to knock a disturbed head around until its parts were jarred back into proper working order, the same way someone in Jim's original world might hit or kick a piece of machinery in the hope of jarring it out of a nonworking state back into a working one.

  Also, there were more important matters to discuss. Unreasonable as it seemed, this was one more case where it was simpler, simply, to lie.

  "You could call it that, Brian," said Jim, "but there's something more important at the moment. We must talk about it privily."

  "Quite right," said Brian, turning from the still unresponding shipmaster. "Let us step aside to a back part of the ship—hold!"

  The last word was a shout that came from him
with all the authority of someone in command over troops.

  "The first man who touches that small boat, without orders from Sir James or myself, will have his arm cut off!" snapped Brian.

  Some four of the crew members, who had begun to move in the direction of the little boat, which was designed to carry no more than three bodies ordinarily but could possibly have accommodated one more, checked immediately.

  "All of you, into the point of the deck there, with your shipmaster!" ordered Brian. "If I look back and see one of you not as close there as herring in a dish, the one I see shall be dealt with!"

  "Now, James," said Brian, turning back to Jim, "let us step aside."

  They headed back among the bundles and bales, Brian glancing, once or twice, over his shoulder to make sure none of the crew had moved away from the position to which he had sent them. He let himself be led by Jim around the pile of kegs to the spot where Sir Giles's clothes lay on the deck.

  "What's this?" said Brian, seeing them and bending over to pick up a doublet. "Where's Giles? And what are his garments doing here without him?"

  "That's what I want to tell you," said Jim. "He dived overboard to swim under the ship and see how stuck it is on the rock, or whatever is holding it."

  "Has he?" said Sir Brian, dropping the doublet and gazing over the near side of the ship. "Indeed, I had no idea the gentleman could swim so, almost like a fish to go down beneath the water to the depth to which this ship's bottom must lie."

  "That's what I wanted to tell you, Brian," said Jim. "Normally I'd respect Giles's confidence. However, you'll see for yourself; since I think—"

  He was interrupted by Brian turning and sticking his head around the edge of the kegs and shouting toward the bow of the boat.

  "Hah!" He stood staring where he was for a second, then turned back to Jim.

  "One of them looked as if he were trying to slip away toward the small boat after all. It will be sauve qui peut with them. And once several are in that boat and headed for the coast, it is not likely they will come back, as gentlemen might, to ferry the rest of us to safety. Now, what were you saying, James?"

  "I was about to tell you something about Giles," said Jim, "a sort of family secret of his. As I say, normally I wouldn't breach his confidence; but it'll take the two of us to throw him a rope and help him back board when he comes back. So you'll see for yourself, anyway. Brian, Sir Giles can turn into a seal when he dives into the sea."

  "Ah," replied Brian thoughtfully, "a selkie. When he mentioned the Northumberland seashore home, I half-suspected it. James—"

  He had turned and stuck his head around the corner of the kegs again. Jim could not see the expression on his face but he kept looking forward for a long moment before turning back again.

  "James, those rascally, fellows up there will be in that little boat and away unless we keep our eyes almost always on them," he said. "If we are both to be needed here at the rail, they may well have time to get it into the water and some of them get away; and we may need that boat. I can hold them where they are as long as I keep looking at them from moment to moment; but the minute they think I’ve forgotten them for longer than that, they'll bestir themselves and away."

  "Yes," said Jim. "What do you suppose we can do?"

  "I could simply stand over them," said Brian, "but as you say I'm needed here. It's you can put them in such fear that they will not dare stir. Show them your shield. Tell them you are a sorcerer and will put some spell upon them that will turn them into toads or somewhat if they move. Then we can turn our backs on them with safety. None will dare shift from where he is, to save his soul."

  Jim felt a touch of inner chagrin. Brian's innocent faith in Jim's ability to work magic of any degree desired, had made small troubles for him on previous occasions. Apparently, from Brian's point of view, you were either not a magician or you were a magician. If you were a magician, you ought to be able to do all the things a magician could do. This, in spite of the fact that Sir Brian had been fully informed that Jim had only a D rating with the Accounting Office, whereas someone like Carolinus was one of the three AAA + magicians in the world.

  Jim had not the first idea of how to turn people into toads, whether they moved or not to trigger off the change. On second thought, it occurred to him, if Brian so thoroughly believed in what he could do, the seamen would probably believe no less.

  "Excellent idea, Brian," he said. "I'll do just that. Meanwhile, do you want to watch for Giles over the side of the boat there?"

  He pointed.

  "Gladly," said Brian, hurrying to the ship's side and leaning over it to look at the water.

  Jim went back around the barrels, seeing a sudden uneasy shift of the fairly loose group in the bow back into a tighter one; located his own belongings on the deck, and dug out his shield. He uncased it and carried it forward to the seamen. The master was still weeping, still in shock.

  "Do you see this shield?" said Jim, giving the seamen his best scowl.

  They stared.

  "Do you know what the red on it means?" demanded Jim. "Answer me, one of you!"

  "You—you are a magician, m'Lord?" stammered one of them after a long pause.

  "Good!" said Jim. "I see you have some common understanding. Very well." He let go of the shield with his right hand and made several elaborate passes in the air between himself and them. They shrank away from him. "Urntay in-totay oadstay!" he intoned solemnly. "Now, the first one of you who stirs so much as one step from the bow in which you now stand will be turned forever into a toad. It shall remain thus until I come back and lift the enchantment from you!"

  Terror was obvious among the seamen. They seemed already about as close together as they could get; but now they huddled even closer. Jim turned and carried his shield back, recasing it as he went; and put it with the rest of his belongings. He could now hear Brian's voice shouting something from farther back. He hurried to reach his friend.

  Sir Brian was leaning over the rail as Jim rounded the corner of the kegs.

  "Wait but a moment until James gets back!" Brian was calling down to the water alongside the vessel. Jim came up with him just in time to see the seal down there swimming in place and looking at them.

  "You might have thought about how to get back aboard, before you went into the sea," said Brian to the seal. "If that's an example of Northumbrian sense—"

  Down below him the seal barked twice, and the barks did not sound complimentary.

  "Oh, there you are, James," said Brian. "Here is Giles. I've just been telling him you’d be back in a moment. Did you bring a rope with you?"

  "No," said Jim. "I didn't stop to think about it in the midst of putting a spell on those sailors up there to keep them in place. Would you like to look for one? I'll keep an eye on Sir Giles, meanwhile."

  "I'll be back in a moment," answered Brian, disappearing from beside Jim. "It shouldn't take longer than that. There are hundreds of the pesky things around the deck."

  "Are you all right, Giles?" Jim asked, leaning over the rail. "Did you find out anything useful?"

  The seal barked up at him. The barks were still testy, but did not carry quite as sharp-edged a tone as those which had replied to Brian. But they were still, at the very least, impatient.

  "Here we are," said Brian, reappearing at Jim's elbow. He was holding the end of what looked like a half-inch line.

  Together, they dangled it over the side to the seal, who lunged out of the water at it. As the seal emerged, it sprouted a couple of arms, with which it grasped the rope. As it pulled itself farther out of the water, it resolved itself back into the complete, naked Sir Giles; who with some struggle and swearing, half-climbed, was half-pulled, up the side of the boat and helped over the gunwale onto the deck.

  "Damn cold up here!" said Giles, shivering. "All of a sudden I'm chilled to the bone! Help me to somewhat wherewith I can dry myself."

  "I thought of that, too," said Brian. "Slashed open one of the bales. Here you
have a length of cloth in lincoln green that I cut off with my sword."

  Giles snatched it from Brian's grasp, his teeth chattering, and proceeded to rub himself dry.

  "Cold up here?" asked Jim. "It must have been freezing in the water, then."

  "Not at all. Quite pleasant, really," said Sir Giles, as he rubbed himself down. "But, of course, I was in my other body."

  Since the sea in this particular area was far from what an unclothed man might consider warm, Jim could well believe that wearing a seal body instead of a human one would be the only possible reason for finding immersion in it comfortable.

  "What did you find?" demanded Brian eagerly.

  "One moment, Brian," interrupted Jim. "Giles, Brian here, of course, now shares the knowledge of the—uh—talent in your family to which Sir John Chandos referred. You both know mine. I am a magician."

  "Indeed," said Giles humbly, "I learned as much back at the inn. If I have offended through my ignorance of your true rank, m'Lord Mage, I do most heartily beg pardon—"

  "Nonsense!" Jim cut him short. He had expected the other, being a selkie, not to take the fact of magic in Jim as seriously as Brian and others did. "I only have a D rating, which makes me a very junior sort of magician."

  "Nonetheless," put in Brian swiftly, "he was able to put a spell upon the sailors up front so that they should not escape with the small boat we have on deck, thus leaving us free to lift you from the water."

  "Hah?" said Sir Giles. "That's good. That's very good. If you would hand me my underclothing and hose, m'Lord—"

  "Giles," said Jim, handing the clothing to him, "to get back to what I was just saying, we were at the point of first names between us, if you remember. Please, let's stay on that level. You're a selkie. I'm a beginning magician. Sir Brian is simply a worthy and valiant knight. Nonetheless, we are all three equal here, and all good friends. Call me James, then."