"I have told it te no one. I will tell it to Philander Groot because he might be able to help me."

She nodded. "You'll trade him secret for secret, eh?"

"It seems so."

"He will be amused by that."

I inclined my head.

Sedenko burst out: "It's G.o.d's work he's on, Your Majesty. If he finds the Grail . . ."

I tried to interrupt him, but she raised her hand. "We are not to be persuaded or dissuaded, sir. Here we believe neither in Heaven nor in h.e.l.l. We worship no G.o.ds or devils. We believe only in moderation."

I could not disguise my scepticism and she was quick to notice.

She smiled. "We are satisfied with this state of things. Reason is not subsumed by sentiment here. The two are balanced."

"I have always found balance a nostalgic dream, Your Majesty. In reality it can be very dull."

She was not dismayed. "Oh, we amuse ourselves adequately, captain. We have music, painting, plays . . ."

"Surely such ideas of moderation require no true struggle. Thus they defeat human aspiration. What greatness have these arts of yours? How n.o.ble are they? What heights of feeling and intellect do they reach?"

"We live in the world," she replied quietly. "We do not ignore how it is. We send our young people out of the valley when they are eighteen. There they learn of human misery, of 134.

The Vfmr Hound and the World's Pain pain and of those who triumph over them. They bring their experience back. Here, in tranquillity, it is considered and forms the basis of our philosophy."

"You are fortunate," I said with some bitterness.

"We are."

"So justice requires good luck before it can exist?"

"Probably, captain."

"Yet you seek out experience. You tell your young people to search for danger. That is not the same as being subjected to it, w.i.l.l.y-nilly."

"No, indeed. But it is better than not searching for it at all."

"It seems to me, madam, that you yet possess the complacency of the privileged. What if your land were to be attacked?"

"No army can reach us without our knowing of it."

"No army can march by land, perhaps. But what, for instance, if your enemies trained those eagles to come through the Golden Cloud carrying soldiers?"

"That is inconceivable," she said with a laugh.

"To those who live with danger and have no choice," I said, "nothing is inconceivable."

She shrugged. "Well, we are satisfied."

"And I am glad that you are, madam."

"You are a stimulating guest, captain. Will you stay at our Court for a few days?"

"I regret that I must find Philander Groot if I can, as soon as I can. My commission has some urgency to it."

"Very weH. Take the West Road from the city. It will lead you to a wood. In the wood is a wide glade, with a dead oak in it. Philander Groot, if he pleases, will find you there."

"At what time?"

"He will choose the time. You will have to be patient. Now, captain, at least you will eat with us and tell us something of your adventures."

Sedenko and I accepted the invitation. The dinner was superb. We filled ourselves to capacity, spent the night ia good beds and hi the morning went by the West Road from the young Queen's towa.

The wood was easily reached and the glade found without difficulty. We made a camp there and settled down to wait for Groot. The air was warm and lazy and the flowers softened our tempers with then* beauty and their scents.

The War Round and the Vforid's Piin 135.

"This is a place to come home to when you are old," said Sedenko as he stretched himself on the ground and stared around at the great trees. "But I'd guess it's no place to be young in. No fighting, precious little hunting . . ."

"The lack of conflict could bore anyone under forty," I agreed. "I cannot quite get to the root of my irritation with this place. Perhaps there is a touch too much sanity here. If it is sanity, of course. My instincts tell me that this kind of life is in itself insane in some ways."

"Too profound for me, captain," said Sedenko. "They're rich. They're safe. They're happy. Isn't that what we all want for ourselves in the end?"

"A healthy animal," I said, "needs to exercise its body and its wits to the full."

"But not afl the time, captain." Sedenko looked alarmed, as if I was about to expect some action from him.

I laughed. "Not all the time, young Kazak."

After three days of waiting in the glade neither of us was so willing to rest. We had explored every part of the surrounding country, its rivers, its meadows, its woods. We had picked flowers and plaited them. We had groomed our horses. We had swum. Sedenko had climbed every tree which could be climbed and I had studied, without much understanding, the grimoires Sabrina had given me. 1 had also studied all the maps and had seen that Mittelmarch territories seemed to exist in gaps between lands where, in my own world, no gaps were.

By the time the fifth morning dawned I was ready to mount my horse and leave the Valley of the Golden Cloud. "I'll find my way to the Grail without Groot's help," I said.

And these words, almost magically, seemed to conjure up the dandy who sauntered into our camp, looking around him a little fastidiously but with the good humour of self-mockery. He was all festooned lace and velvet, gold and silver buckles and embroidery. He walked with the aid of a monstrous decorated pole and he stank of Hungary Water. His hat had a huge brim weighted down with white and silver feathers and his little beard and moustache were trimmed to the perfection demanded of the most foppish French courtier. His sword, of delicate workmanship, seemed of no use to him at all as he stared at me with a quizzical eye and then made one of those elaborate bows which I have never been able to imitate.

136.

The War Hound and the Wbrtd's The Wu1 Hound and the World's Pain 137.

"Good morrow to thee, gentlemen," lisped the dandy. "I am enchanted to make your acquaintance."

"We're not here to pa.s.s the time of day with men dressed as women/* said Sedenko, scowling. "We await the coming of a great sage, a hermit of the wisest disposition."

"Aha, forgive me. I will not keep you long, in that case. Pray, what are your names, sirs?"

"I am Ulrich von Bek, Captain of Infantry, and this is my companion Grigory Petrovitch Sedenko, swordsman. And yours, sir?"

"My name, sir, is Philander Groot."

"The hermit?" cried Sedenko in astonishment.

"I am a hermit, sir, yes."

"You don't look like a hermit." Sedenko put his hand on the hih of his sabre and strode forward to inspect the apparition.

"Sir, I a.s.sure you that I am, indeed, a hermit." Groot became polite. He was distant.

"We heard you were a holy man," Sedenko continued.

"I cannot be held responsible for what others hear or say, sir." Groot drew himself up. He was somewhat shorter than Sedenko, who was no giant. "I am the same Philander Groot for whom you were looking. Take me or leave me, sir. This is all there is."

"We had not thought to find a dandy," said I, by way of apologising for Sedenko's frankness. "We imagined someone in homespun cloth. The usual sort of garb."

"It is not my way to fulfill the expectation of my fellow creatures. I am Groot. Groot is who I am."

"But why a dandy?" Sedenko sighed and turned away from us.

'There are many ways of keeping one's distance from the world," said Groot to me.

"And many others to keep the world at a distance from oneself," I added.

"You appreciate my drift, Sir Knight. Self-knowledge, however, is not self-salvation. You and I have a fair way to go in that direction, I think. You through action and I, coward that I am, through contemplation."

"I believe that I lack the courage for profound self-examination, Master Groot," said I.

He was amused. "Well, what a fine man we should be, if we were combined into one! And how self-important, then, we could become!"

"I was told, Master Groot, that you might wish to hear my story and, that once you had heard it, you might wish to give me a clue or two to the solution of my problem."

"I am curious," admitted this gamec.o.c.k philosopher, "and will be glad to pay for entertainment with information. You must rely on me, however, to set the price. Does that go against your wishes?"

"Not at all."

"Then, come, we shall take a walk together in the forest."

Sedenko looked back. "Careful, captain. It could be a trap."

"Grigory Petrovitch," I said, "if Master Groot had wished to ambush us, he could have done so at any time, surely."

Sedenko pushed his sheepskin cap high on his head and grumbled something before kicking violently at a clump of flowers.

Philander Groot linked his elegant arm in mine and we began to walk until we reached the stream. At its banks we paused.

"You must begin, sir," he said.

I told him where I was born and how I had come to be a warrior. I told him of Magdeburg and what followed. I told him of Sabrina. I told him of my meeting with Lucifer and of my journey to h.e.l.l. I told him of the bargain, of Lucifer's expectations. I told him what it was I soughtor rather what I thought it was.

We walked along the bank of the stream as I spoke and he nodded, murmured his understanding and very occasionally asked for clarification. He seemed delighted by what I had to say, and when I had finished he tugged at my arm and we stopped again. He removed his plumed hat and stroked at his carefully made curls. He fingered his little beard. He smiled and looked at the water. He brought his attention back to me.

"The Grail exists," he said. "And you are sensible to call it that because it frequently takes the form of a cup."

"You have seen it?" I asked.

"I believe I have seen it, on my travels, sir. When I travelled."

138.

The War Hound and the World's Fata 139.

"So the legend of the Pure Knight deceives us?"

"It depends somewhat upon your definition of purity, I think," said Groot. "But suffice to say the thing is useless in the hands of one who would do evil with it. And as to the definition of evil, we can accept the crude, commonplace definition well enough here, I think. A certain amount of altruism exists in all of us and if properly maintained and mixed with appropriate self-interest, it can produce a happy man who gives offence neither to Heaven nor to h.e.l.l."

"I have heard that you refuse loyalty to either G.o.d or the Devil," I said.

"That's true. I doubt if I shall ever choose sides. My investigations and my philosophy do not lead me in their direction at all." He shrugged. "But who knows? I am yet a relatively young man . . ."

"You accept their existence, however?"

"Why, sir, you confirm it!"

"You believe that I have been the guest of Lucifer, that I am now His servant?"

"I roust accept it, sir."

"And you will help me?"

"As much as I can. The Grail can be found, I believe, in a place known as the Forest at the Edge of Heaven. You will discover it, I am sure, marked on your charts. It lies on the farthest border of Mine 1 march. You must find it in the west."

"And are there any rituals I must follow?" I asked Philander Groot. "I seem to recall. . ."

"Ritual is the truth made into a child's game, at best. You will know what is for the best, I am sure."

"You can give me no more advice?"

"It would be against all I believe should I do so. No, Sir Knight, I have told you enough. The Grail exists. You wilt find it, almost certainly, where I said it can be found. What more could you need?"

I smiled in self-mockery. "Rea.s.surance, I suppose."

"That must come from your own judgement, from your own testing of your conscience. It is the only kind of rea.s.surance worth having, as I am sure you would agree."

"I agree, of course."

We were now walking back towards the glade. Groot mused. "I wonder if any object can cure the World of its Pain. It must be more than that. Would you say that your Master is desperate, captain?"

"His layers of defiance and rationalisation seem to fall away," I told the hermit, "to reveal little else but desperation. But can an angel fall so low in spirit?"