Sir Mercyhale and Hasslevain

CHAPTER VI. Location of a tower.

In which the Knight and Dog discover a tower due to their bold and daring wit and will.

Mercyhale had not known such peace in his life. He closed his eyes and stood there for a long moment. Then it occurred to him that he ought to go back and retrieve the bag he had left on the ground. It might have been full of soggy, spoiled food by now, but it was still a nice bag. He opened his eyes and looked despondently behind him at all the distance he had run. But at least he wouldn't have trees laughing at him and wouldn't have to be holding Hasslevain. That last thought cheered him up instantly. So long as Hasslevain was gone, every moment was a good moment, and every day was a good day.

Mercyhale finally found the accursed bag, which was looking sad and wet on the ground. He picked it up, and it squelched and threw up a bit of soggy, moldy bread. Grimacing (though reminding himself of Hasslevain's absence), he turned out the bag and dumped its contents out into the trees. "Take that, you trees," he muttered under his breath, though he could already hear the excited chittering of the moss and trees as they greedily began to feast at the scraps. The wet matchbox fell out, and Mercyhale bent to pick it up.

Holding the sopping bag and the flimsy matchbox, Mercyhale considered what to do. He decided that the best course of action would be to wait for his things to dry out before continuing.

Though continuing to where? Now that Hasslevain was gone, Mercyhale wasn't entirely sure where to go. He ought to continue looking for the princess, though the trouble was that beyond being quite lost in this very large forest, he had never even seen her before, and would not even know if he had found her if she were right in front of him. But that really was no matter, he told himself. All he would have to do was ask.

Mercyhale hung up the bag on a tree branch. He smacked the tree a few times suspiciously, but it did not protest, so it seemed safe to use as a hanger. He sat down on a root and placed the wet matchbox beside him so it could dry too.

And what if Mercyhale did not continue on this path? Surely there were other knight-errants roaming this godforsaken forest who could take up the task, or perhaps they would just stumble upon the princess and the wizard all on their own. Perhaps at this very moment, Hasslevain was running off to do just that: find a new knight to pester for eternity. Mercyhale felt terribly sorry for whatever knight that might have been, but also very satisfied that the knight in question was certainly not to be him again.

A tree laughed, and Mercyhale started, opening his eyes. "Poor little knight," said the tree. "There is much you do not know. Do you know that to know is to have no reason as to doubt that you do not know..."

Mercyhale got up and walked deeper into the forest. At last, when he could hear the tree no more, he sat. All his troubles sat down with him.

It occurred to him that although Hasslevain, the terrible, terrible annoyance, was gone, there were many other annoyances in this forest, and if he wanted to be truly free of it all, he was going to have to find a way out of it.

But where to? Since jumping out of the palace window, he had completely lost his way. He was very unfamiliar with this corner of the woods and world. Back in the area he was familiar with, he had memorized many paths and roads, especially the ones that led to shops for meat and bread. And, unfortunately, the one that led home.

There were no paths and roads here that Mercyhale knew. If they even existed.

It made sense that a horrible wizard would bring his kidnapee to such a place.

Mercyhale thought, then, of the princess Honeysense. It must have been a terribly long time she had been gone, now, and every day Mercyhale and Hasslevain had delayed, another day she had been trapped. Mercyhale hoped he would be forgiven for having to chase his sanity with Hasslevain as much as he had to look for her. At least if she were trapped inside, she didn't have to be out in the evil light of the sun.