[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
was
upon them, this late in the season. There was no telling when the first snow
and
real hard freeze were going to come along, and acquiring warm clothing and
boots
gave away no secrets.
Baldur privately remarked that it was fortunate that they would be able to go
most of the way to gnome's territory, downstream by water.
Meanwhile, Hal had been casually asking Holah and Noden for information about
gnomes, and the boys had been cheerfully telling him some ghastly stories.
These
tales, of human infants kidnapped and human miners suffocated in subterranean
blackness by gnomic treachery, had made Hal wonder if there were not some way
to
Page 67
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
avoid visiting Gnomeland at all. Now he asked his partner: "If we go there,
will
we be expected to descend into one of their mines?"
Baldur frowned. "No, probably only into their houses. Their dwellings, at
least
the ones I've seen, are hardly ever dug very deep below the surface. Actually
I
doubt they'd let us go into a mine, even if we wanted to."
Hal nodded sympathetically. "I can understand why they'd naturally want to
keep
their gold mines secret."
Baldur looked up at him, as if surprised. "Gold? No, I don't think they
really
produce much gold. Not any longer. Those diggings were all worked out a long
time ago. It's more that they have methods and tools they want to keep
secret.
When they're in a hurry, they can drive a tunnel through solid rock in no
time
at all."
"I see." Hal sighed. "So, tell me some more about this place we're going to
visit. Don't these holes you say they live in flood out every time it rains?"
Baldur said that in the course of his affair with Brunhild, he had heard her
more than once mention the name and location of the gnome settlement where
lived
the farrier, named Andvari, and his assistant, whose name Baldur did not
know.
Hal wondered what else the two lovers might have talked about apparently they
had done a lot of talking.
Then Hal and Baldur began their journey by taking a small boat down the local
stream, one of the Einar's tributaries, to the broad Einar itself, which
would
lead them directly to their secret destination.
Baldur's relatives seemed to accept, largely with indifference, the story he
and
Hal told them about going fishing. It was hard to imagine weather bad enough
to
Page 68
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
stop a fisherman. So the two men had little trouble in borrowing a cheaply
constructed raft from one of Baldur's distant relatives who lived nearby, and
who seemed really indifferent as to whether he got it back or not. At one
point
Hal turned down the offer of the loan of an uncle's trim little sailboat,
pleading a lack of knowledge of how to manage one a totally false plea, but
he
did not want to borrow any vessel that would be greatly missed if it did not
come back. If all did not go precisely well, there would be no use in having
an
extra set of pursuers on his track.
Baldur had not been entirely truthful with his family, before leaving them
this
time. His mother and most other members of the family seemed purely relieved
that he was undertaking what promised to be an utterly peaceful enterprise.
Holah and Noden, having several times volunteered to go with Hal next time he
went to war, swore they knew where the best fishing could be found, and they
wanted to come along on that trip if there was no prospect of fighting. But
they
were vigorously discouraged.
As they were poling their raft downstream, Hal said to Baldur heartily: "So,
tell me more about these people we're going to see. How well do you know
them?"
"I don't know that I would call gnomes people." The young man paused. "Though
some of them were very good to Brunhild and me."
Here was more news. "Good in what way?"
Now the young man, continuing his progressive series of revelations,
disclosed
that over the past few months some of the gnomes had actually connived to
provide a secret meeting place for Brunhild and her lover. A place
underground,
where Wodan and his agents were unlikely to discover them.
"Why do you suppose they were so helpful?" Hal asked.
Baldur lowered his voice, though it seemed unlikely that anyone was within a
Page 69
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
quarter-mile. "Perhaps I should not be telling you this. But it seems that
Brunhild had done the Earth-dwellers some good turn previously."
Perhaps you shouldn't. I may someday wish I didn't know it, Hal thought. But,
curious as usual, he continued: "What sort of good turn?"
"She never told me that."
Maybe that was the truth and maybe not. Baldur was consistently hesitant
about
revealing his secrets to Hal, but he kept leaking them out anyway, slowly but
surely. In concealing his affair with Hildy, he was also hiding the extent of
the knowledge he had incidentally picked up about the gnomes. Certainly no
one
in Baldur's family suspected that the youth had established any degree of
intimacy with certain members of the strange race that he and Hal were about
to
visit.
Hal's persistent curiosity was a good match for Baldur's need to talk to
someone
about his troubles. Baldur struggled against the need, but not with much
success.
The more Hal learned, the more genuinely interested he became. "So, the
gnomes
secretly found a way for you and Brunhild to get around old Wodan's rules
regarding Valkyrie behavior."
Baldur hesitated. "Yes, that's about it."
"Does the god expect all his flying scouts to remain virgins?"
"Well something like that, yes."
"Never mind, it doesn't matter. But you and she managed to meet underground,
by
courtesy of the gnomes."
The young man hesitated. "Yes."
"These Earthdwellers don't much care for the Great All-Highest, is that it?
Even
though he trusts some of them enough to let them shoe his Horses? And gives
them
Page 70
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
access to his supply of gold?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
was
upon them, this late in the season. There was no telling when the first snow
and
real hard freeze were going to come along, and acquiring warm clothing and
boots
gave away no secrets.
Baldur privately remarked that it was fortunate that they would be able to go
most of the way to gnome's territory, downstream by water.
Meanwhile, Hal had been casually asking Holah and Noden for information about
gnomes, and the boys had been cheerfully telling him some ghastly stories.
These
tales, of human infants kidnapped and human miners suffocated in subterranean
blackness by gnomic treachery, had made Hal wonder if there were not some way
to
Page 67
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
avoid visiting Gnomeland at all. Now he asked his partner: "If we go there,
will
we be expected to descend into one of their mines?"
Baldur frowned. "No, probably only into their houses. Their dwellings, at
least
the ones I've seen, are hardly ever dug very deep below the surface. Actually
I
doubt they'd let us go into a mine, even if we wanted to."
Hal nodded sympathetically. "I can understand why they'd naturally want to
keep
their gold mines secret."
Baldur looked up at him, as if surprised. "Gold? No, I don't think they
really
produce much gold. Not any longer. Those diggings were all worked out a long
time ago. It's more that they have methods and tools they want to keep
secret.
When they're in a hurry, they can drive a tunnel through solid rock in no
time
at all."
"I see." Hal sighed. "So, tell me some more about this place we're going to
visit. Don't these holes you say they live in flood out every time it rains?"
Baldur said that in the course of his affair with Brunhild, he had heard her
more than once mention the name and location of the gnome settlement where
lived
the farrier, named Andvari, and his assistant, whose name Baldur did not
know.
Hal wondered what else the two lovers might have talked about apparently they
had done a lot of talking.
Then Hal and Baldur began their journey by taking a small boat down the local
stream, one of the Einar's tributaries, to the broad Einar itself, which
would
lead them directly to their secret destination.
Baldur's relatives seemed to accept, largely with indifference, the story he
and
Hal told them about going fishing. It was hard to imagine weather bad enough
to
Page 68
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
stop a fisherman. So the two men had little trouble in borrowing a cheaply
constructed raft from one of Baldur's distant relatives who lived nearby, and
who seemed really indifferent as to whether he got it back or not. At one
point
Hal turned down the offer of the loan of an uncle's trim little sailboat,
pleading a lack of knowledge of how to manage one a totally false plea, but
he
did not want to borrow any vessel that would be greatly missed if it did not
come back. If all did not go precisely well, there would be no use in having
an
extra set of pursuers on his track.
Baldur had not been entirely truthful with his family, before leaving them
this
time. His mother and most other members of the family seemed purely relieved
that he was undertaking what promised to be an utterly peaceful enterprise.
Holah and Noden, having several times volunteered to go with Hal next time he
went to war, swore they knew where the best fishing could be found, and they
wanted to come along on that trip if there was no prospect of fighting. But
they
were vigorously discouraged.
As they were poling their raft downstream, Hal said to Baldur heartily: "So,
tell me more about these people we're going to see. How well do you know
them?"
"I don't know that I would call gnomes people." The young man paused. "Though
some of them were very good to Brunhild and me."
Here was more news. "Good in what way?"
Now the young man, continuing his progressive series of revelations,
disclosed
that over the past few months some of the gnomes had actually connived to
provide a secret meeting place for Brunhild and her lover. A place
underground,
where Wodan and his agents were unlikely to discover them.
"Why do you suppose they were so helpful?" Hal asked.
Baldur lowered his voice, though it seemed unlikely that anyone was within a
Page 69
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
quarter-mile. "Perhaps I should not be telling you this. But it seems that
Brunhild had done the Earth-dwellers some good turn previously."
Perhaps you shouldn't. I may someday wish I didn't know it, Hal thought. But,
curious as usual, he continued: "What sort of good turn?"
"She never told me that."
Maybe that was the truth and maybe not. Baldur was consistently hesitant
about
revealing his secrets to Hal, but he kept leaking them out anyway, slowly but
surely. In concealing his affair with Hildy, he was also hiding the extent of
the knowledge he had incidentally picked up about the gnomes. Certainly no
one
in Baldur's family suspected that the youth had established any degree of
intimacy with certain members of the strange race that he and Hal were about
to
visit.
Hal's persistent curiosity was a good match for Baldur's need to talk to
someone
about his troubles. Baldur struggled against the need, but not with much
success.
The more Hal learned, the more genuinely interested he became. "So, the
gnomes
secretly found a way for you and Brunhild to get around old Wodan's rules
regarding Valkyrie behavior."
Baldur hesitated. "Yes, that's about it."
"Does the god expect all his flying scouts to remain virgins?"
"Well something like that, yes."
"Never mind, it doesn't matter. But you and she managed to meet underground,
by
courtesy of the gnomes."
The young man hesitated. "Yes."
"These Earthdwellers don't much care for the Great All-Highest, is that it?
Even
though he trusts some of them enough to let them shoe his Horses? And gives
them
Page 70
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
access to his supply of gold?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]