I knelt beside my faithful old pony and closed his eyes. Then I yanked the knife from his skull and showed the hilt to Master Glebus.
“Aye, Cornovian design,” he agreed. Then he put a consoling hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry about this pony.”
“Where was Cornix?”
“Lord Artos called for him not long ago, to greet some prince or other and show him off,” Glebus said. “A lucky happenstance.” When I sighed, he added quickly, “Unlucky for little Spadix. Cornix will grieve for him, too, I shouldn’t wonder.”
Eoain now pushed through and gasped to see Spadix dead in the hay. Tears sprang to his eyes as he dropped to his knees and began to stroke the pony’s neck.
“I should have been here. I should have been guarding him, too. Who did such a vile thing?”
“Iswy, a Cornovian who held a grudge against him, and Cornix, and me.”
“Oh!” Eoain looked up at me, tears flowing down his cheeks. He sniffed. “There’s a princeling looking for you to put sandals on his horse and he’s got Bericus with him. They’re both very annoyed.”
“Let them be!” I cried.
“Nay, Smith Galwyn!” Master Glebus said, his round face kind but his tone firm. “We go to war, and you’ve a skill that’s needed. Many a man and many a horse will fall before this fight is over. There are many ways of serving Lord Artos.” He turned me around and pushed me toward the door.
I did not wish to go to sandal the horse whose owner had kept me from saving my pony. But Master Glebus eyed me more sternly now.
“We’ll do what’s necessary here, Smith Galwyn.” And with that use of my title, he reminded me that I had duties that must be honored.
“You will guard Cornix?”
“With my life,” answered Eoain, one hand on his knife hilt, his expression resolute.
BERICUS AND THE PRINCELING met me halfway across the stableyard.
“Galwyn,” Bericus began. He was frowning and his manner reproving. “What meant you-”
“Iswy has been here. He killed Spadix because he couldn’t kill Cornix.”
“What?” Bericus rocked back on his heels, his expression altering to concern. “Is that why the gates were closed? Iswy? Here?”
“In Cornovian colors,” I repeated once again, and continued to stride toward my forge and this princeling’s needy horse.
“I know his face,” Bericus said. “I’ll help in the search. He must be found. Lord Artos needs Cornix.”
“Oh, he’ll be guarded well enough,” I said in such a savage tone that Bericus gave me a sharp look. I didn’t care. “If Iswy had ridden Cornix to Deva, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Bericus paused, then said in a kinder tone, “But Iswy couldn’t ride the stallion.” He turned to the princeling. “Galwyn’s news requires urgent action, Prince Maldon. You must excuse me. The smith will tend your horse now.”
I did, for that was my responsibility; and the horse had immediate need of my skills, his off-fore so badly worn by travel that I had to build up the outside edge of the sandal to compensate. Prince Maldon said nothing, and he walked off shortly, leaving his groom to hold the warhorse. Borvo and Maros, two of Master Ilfor’s apprentices, appeared not long after. From the quick look I gave them, I could see by their expressions that they knew about the killing.
i WORKED THROUGH THE NIGHT. Borvo and Maros, who had been among those watching my first display for Master Ilfor, now forged sandals that I then fit to hooves.
Bericus stopped by to say that a full search for Iswy was under way in Camelot and in the main Cornovian encampment down below.
“Iswy will not escape us,” he promised me. “And Cornix and all the other war stallions are being close guarded.”
I nodded and went back to work. Iswy had already escaped or was hiding where he was unlikely to be found. Of that I was certain.
But somehow I would find him. I didn’t believe he would rest until he killed Cornix, too. I had no doubt that he would try again.
As the cock crowed that dawn, I had the feeling that I must have shod half the horses in Lord Artos’s army. I hadn’t, but before I could, Master Ilfor entered my forge and hauled me off to my bed. A soldier followed and took a position at my doorway. So the shoer and the shod were all being guarded.