The Oath and the Measure

and again I lost him in the mist and the thicket. Finally I heard a shuffling, a cough, and I stumbled around a thick latticework of branches… and found myself face-to-face with old Grim himself.'

Boniface paused. He stood and began to pace the room as Sturm held his breath, listening.

'He was as shaggy as the bison of Kiri-Jolith, dripping with dew and mud and half-hidden in mist and evergreen. He looked like something from the legends, out of the Age of Dreams and the bardic tales. I remember thinking, right before he charged, that if Nature were to take on flesh and form, it would be this beast before me, in its unruliness and terror and its strange hideous indifference.'

Again the Knight paused, his hands clenching, grasping the air as though he were trying to clutch something or push something away.

'He… charged you, Lord Boniface?' Sturm asked finally. 'The great boar charged you?'

Boniface nodded. 'Had my sword out in a flash. But I never used it.'

A strange shadow passed over the Knight's face. Sturm waited expectantly, sure that the man was remembering that moment, the horrible charge of the boar.

'I never used it,' Boniface repeated. 'Angriff's spear passed neatly between Grim's shoulder blades, and the boar staggered and rose and staggered again. Believe me, I was well out of the way by the second stagger, but I saw it all unfold-your grandfather and Agion burst into the clearing, and Lord Emelin's sword flashed silver in the winter sunlight as the blade rose and came slashing home.

'For a while, we all stood there above the boar. The alans were baying somewhere outside the circle of trees, so distant in our thoughts that it sounded like we were only remembering them.

'Then Lord Agion spoke. A fitting end to our adversary,' he said. 'To Lord Grim, whose trophy shall grace the hall of Lord Emelin Brightblade, his slayer.'

'Your grandfather smiled and nodded, but your father stood pale and too quiet, and at that moment, I knew that something between them was about to unravel, perhaps beyond repair. 'But, Lord Agion,' Angriff protested, stepping into the matter as brashly and foolishly as he stepped into each hunt, each tournament. 'I expect that the history will show that I cast the first and telling spear.'

' 'Nonsense,' Lord Emelin protested. 'My sword struck the boar, and it died. There is no more to say in the matter.'

'Indeed there was no more to say. But I could see Angriff start to say it, nonetheless. He began to answer back and defend his honor. But Lord Emelin would have none of it.'

Lord Boniface paused and regarded the lad before him. Sturm gaped at him, his fists doubled. Imagine the injustice of Lord Emelin! Sturm thought angrily. Why, 'tis against the Code and Measure entirely!

'Not at all, Sturm Brightblade,' Lord Boniface corrected, as though he was reading the younger man's thoughts. 'The rules of the hunt are simple, as simple as Lord Emelin set them forth that morning in the Wings of Habbakuk. Angriff, though, was livid. There was something in this, he felt, that passed beyond rule and protocol, but rule and protocol said that the rest was silence. He withdrew his spear…'

Boniface paused and shook his head, a little sadly.

'And I sheathed my sword, and we mounted our horses. I watched my friend ride and fume,' he maintained, 'from the Virkhus Hills back to Castle Brightblade. As mute as a sheep before the shearer, he was, and he spoke not a word that afternoon and into the evening. For you see, defiance of one's father was more against the Code and Measure than anything Lord Emelin had done by the rules in the clearing.

'Agion teased young Angriff all the way back to Castle Brightblade, calling him 'bush-beater' and 'lyam-hound' and 'alan,' as though the lad's part in the hunt were simply locating the beast. Angriff stewed further, and still he was silent. But I knew we had not seen the end of the matter.

'It was at the banquet that night for Lord Emelin's triumph. All the principal families were there-the MarKenins, the Jeoffreys, the Celestes-and the talk was of hunt and ceremony.

'When dinner had been served and the guests had settled into the lull of food and wine, Angriff approached his father's seat. Agion, at the left of Lord Emelin, snorted as the lad approached and said, far too audibly, 'here comes the boy to ask for the hound's share.' '

Sturm gasped. At the hunt, when the beast was skinned and cleaned, the entrails, the hooves, and all indelicate parts were left for the hounds. Agion's words had not only been insulting, but they were also downright cruel.

'Emelin turned to Agion and said something sharp but inaudible,' Boniface said, 'but Angriff seemed to pay the big lout no mind. He stood silently before his father until Lord Emelin looked up from the exchange with his cousin. Then Angriff began, his speech soft and mild and overprepared, but as urgent as any words spoken in Castle Bright-blade before or since.

' 'My Lord Father knows,' he said, 'that sometimes the Measure and true justice are at odds. He knows also that, regardless of sword and stroke of grace, my spear dealt Lord Grim the mortal blow.'

'It was stilted and awkward, but it made its point. A murmur spread through the room, and Lord Emelin stood up angrily.

' 'Are you saying, Angriff,' he asked, 'that your father… that I have… stolen your kill?'

' 'Stolen is not my word for it,' Angriff replied, his own anger bursting through the calm and politeness. 'I prefer seized!'

'It was then that Lord Emelin reached over the table and slapped his son.'

'Slapped him?' Sturm asked, his voice rising in outrage.

'Among his fellows at a formal banquet? Why… there is no… no…'

'No answer to such indignity,' Boniface replied calmly. 'It would seem not. Yet Emelin had overstepped all bounds, had crossed the Measure's decree that 'though honor takes all shapes and forms, the father must honor the son as the son the father.' To strike his father back would be unthinkable, as would words harsh enough to answer the insult. Nor could he stand there and accept the blow and maintain his honor as a man.

'Emelin blushed in the aftermath. He knew he had overstepped, but he couldn't take back the gesture. It would seem that Angriff had no recourse. But listen.

'He stood in front of his father in a smoldering rage, the imprint of old Emelin's hand still pink and flushed on his smooth jaw. Then Angriff turned deliberately and crashed his fist straight into the bridge of Agion's nose.

'It was like the sound of a large limb cracking in a high wind. Agion went over backward and heavily, crashing to the floor, where he lay unconscious, awakening after a good half-hour, babbling about stockings and rhubarb pie.'

'My father hit Agion!' Sturm exclaimed, shocked and delighted. 'But why? And… and…'

'Listen,' Boniface said with a smile. 'For what your father said was this: 'Present this to my father the next time you wrangle. It will be as much my blow to him as his was to Lord Grim.''

Sturm shook his head admiringly. 'How did he think of it, Lord Boniface? How did he think of it?'

Boniface opened the bag at his feet and slowly, with some effort, drew forth the breastplate and shield. 'It was his way to think of things, Sturm. He thought to leave these with me… to give you when the time arrived.'

Breathlessly Sturm reached out for the shield.

'I am bound by Oath to give you these,' Boniface announced cryptically. 'But this sword is… my gift.'

He offered the broadsword lying in his lap. 'Your father, it seems, took the Bright Blade with him or hid it somewhere beyond even the knowledge and eyes of his friends. But Angriff Brightblade's son deserves a sword the likes of which I am giving you.'

He extended the weapon hilt first. It glowed obscurely in the lamplight of Sturm's quarters.

'Make it your own,' Boniface announced mysteriously. 'It is bright and double-edged.'

Boniface left Sturm with the sword resting on his knees. For an hour, or perhaps two, the lad polished the weapon. He could see himself in the gleaming blade, the reflection of his face distorted and foxlike on the angular edges of the armor. When Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan stepped into the room, Sturm scarcely heard him.

'You must be more alert in the Southern Darkwoods,' the High Justice observed as the startled lad leapt to his feet, the sword falling from his lap and clattering against the stone floor of the chamber.

'I was… I…'