“Nothing happens?” said Borel, wide-eyed in astonishment. “I suppose you mean nothing happened when we escaped the Trolls and wrecked the raft, or when we freed Hegwith the Gnome from the crack, or when the unseen creature of the swamp came, or when we found Roulan’s vale turned to stone, or when we came across Lady Wyrd, or when you met Fleurette, tracked the Pooka and found three hairs, got your epee, helped subdue the Pooka, met the Riders Who Cannot Dismount, shared a dream, routed the spotted beasts, and saw a caravan with a great tusker. Is that the ‘nothing happens’ you meant?”
Flic sniffed. “Well, I didn’t really meet the Riders Who Cannot Dismount. They bore iron, if you recall.”
“But you saw them.”
“Oui, yet those things you listed, they’re not what I meant when I said ‘nothing happens.’ ”
“Well, just what did you mean?”
“That we seem to be no closer to finding Chelle and setting her free.”
Borel’s features fell, and now his own words were morose. “Believe me, Flic: I am frustrated, too. I would that we were closer than we seem. Yet Lady Wyrd set us on this path, and we simply need to go on, for, given that aid, I am certain that we will succeed. And, as you once said, there yet seems time to do so.” Borel glanced at the spangled sky and said, “A fortnight and three remain ere the moon rises full again.”
“Well, I would have your lady free now,” said Flic, peevishly.
“As would I,” declared Borel, and then more softly, “As would I.” Then he sighed and said, “Come, let us sleep. The morrow will see us in better spirits.”
And so they bedded down, and the wind slowly strengthened, and far out to sea dark clouds crept over the horizon.
“Ah, Borel,” said Chelle, “you remembered.”
“My lady?”
“I see you have brought your bow,” said Chelle. “Have you one for me?”
“Ah, yes, archery,” said Borel. “And I know just the bow for you.”
“I could use yours,” said Chelle.
Borel smiled. “Perhaps, though you might find stringing it difficult and the pull a bit arduous. Yet even if not, my arrows are fitted to my draw, and I think my reach exceeds yours somewhat.”
He spread his arms wide, and Chelle laughed and did the same and pressed up against him and raised her face toward his and smiled. Clearly his span outreached hers by a good foot, but neither of them was thinking of such.
Borel swept her up in his arms and kissed her deeply, and she clutched him tightly and returned his kiss with fervor. At last they broke and Borel looked into her face. “My lady, methinks you a Vixen.”
“And you, Sieur, a Fox,” she replied. But then she grinned and said, “But I would challenge you to a contest: bow and arrow at fifteen paces.”
“Your paces or mine?” asked Borel.
“Why, mine, of course,” said Chelle. “-But only if you find me a suitable bow… and, naturally, arrows to fit.”
“Very well, ma cherie, but I ask you, what be the prize?”
“Name it, my love.”
“Ah, a dangerous suggestion, that,” said Borel.
“It is?” said Chelle, a smile at the corners of her mouth.
“Indeed,” replied Borel. She knows not that we are in a dream, at least not at the moment, for peril is absent.
“Where be this contest?” asked Chelle.
“I have just the place in mind,” said Borel, and he offered her his arm.
They stepped through the door and — found themselves on the thick, grassy lawn of Summerwood Manor, where stood haycocks with a target pinned to each. And though but a fingernail-thin crescent of a moon and the stars in the slow-turning sky illumed the land below, still they could see that one target bore the outline of a buck, while another haycock held the silhouette of a Redcap Goblin, and the third sported a conventional bull’s-eye.
“My bow, Sieur?”
“Here on this bale with your arrows, sweet demoiselle,” said Borel. “ ’Tis the bow used by Lady Saissa-my mother-when she comes to game at Alain’s estate.”
Chelle took up the bow and strung it and pulled. “The draw suits,” she said. She nocked an arrow to string and again drew. “The arrow fits,” she said, then she turned and let fly at the bull’s-eye target. The shaft struck just inside the center ring.
“Hmm…” said Borel, reaching for an arrow of his own, “it seems I have my hands full.” The shaft he pulled from his quiver was fitted with a flint point. Borel replaced that arrow and paused a moment in thought, and picked another shaft, this one with a proper head of bronze. He nocked and drew and loosed. His arrow struck just inside of hers.
“My, do you have Fairy arrows, Borel?” asked Chelle. “ ’Tis not fair if so.”
“Fairy arrows?”
“They are magique, my love, and only miss should a greater spell come along to deflect them.”
“Non, sweet Chelle, my arrows are plain and simple, lacking magie altogether.”
“Neither Fairy arrows nor those of Elves, you swear, eh?” said Chelle, grinning.
“Elf arrows?” said Borel. “This is another kind, I take it.”
“Indeed, Sieur. Have you not heard of being Elf-shot?”
“Yes, though I think it but ill-founded rumor. Elves are for the most part quite honorable, whereas to be Elf- shot means to be afflicted with a spell or disease delivered by an Elf arrow.”
“I know what it means, my love,” said Chelle. “Nevertheless, Elves have arrows that fly exceptionally true, and so, Fairy and Elf shafts are outlawed in the contest we play.” She laughed and took up another arrow and turned and drew and let fly. Her shaft struck inside Borel’s.
Shaft after shaft they loosed, and it became clear that Borel was the better archer, yet Chelle’s own shots were quite excellent, for the palm of Borel’s hand would cover her spread, but the smaller palm of her hand would easily cover his.
As they vied with one another, the gentle breeze became a wind, and clouds rolled in, and lightning flashed afar. “It seems we are in for a storm,” said Borel. “Mayhap we had better call it a night.”
“While you are winning, my love?” said Chelle. “Ah, you are a Fox indeed, or perhaps I should say a Wolf.”
“Would you settle for a tie?” asked Borel.
“Nay, my lord, you have won fairly and squarely,” said Chelle. “Name your prize.”
He took her in his arms and said, “If any be Elf-shot ’tis I, enspelled in the heart by you.”
Of a sudden they were lying unclothed in the soft grass and clasped tightly in each other’s arms. Their lips sought one another’s, and fire ran through their loins and their hungry kisses as well. Rain came, yet they took no heed of it, and lightning flared. And still Borel kissed her as if he would consume her, and his hands caressed her body, and Chelle moaned in response, and CRKK! lightning struck BOOM! thunder roared SHHSSSHHH…! cold rain came drenching And Borel — awakened in the downpour. And he blundered to his feet, and took up his weatherproof cloak and wrapped it ’round himself. Then he grabbed up sputtering Flic and groggy Buzzer and shoved both under his wrap.
40
Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed, and the wind roared, and rain hammered across the cedar grove in horizontal sheets. The drenching downpour quenched the fire, and, with Buzzer and Flic safely within his cloak, Borel dragged his goods and himself under the shelter of the cedar boughs. But then water began running into the dip in the land where stood the trees. And as it started rising around Borel’s boots, “I’m going to have to find better
