Universe Twister - Keith Laumer [23]
"Oh, beg pardon, milord. An honor!" He bowed and pounded his staff on the floor.
"Sir Lafayette of Leary!" he trumpeted. "The King's champion!"
"I'm not a sir," Lafayette started.
"Never mind." Nicodaeus took his arm and led him along toward the nearest group. "We'll see about an earldom for you at the first opportunity. Now . . ." He nodded casually at the expectant faces that moved in to surround them. "Ladies, sirs, may I present my good friend, Sir Lafayette."
"Are you really going to fight that horrid monster?" a cuddly creature in pale blue flounces breathed, fluttering her fan. A tall, hollow-faced man with thin white hair raised a bony finger. "Ride in fast, smite the brute in the soft under-parts and get out. That's my advice, Sir Lafayette! I've always found that boldness pays."
"Will you cut off his head?" a plump blonde squeaked. "Ooooh, how terrible! Will there be much blood?"
"I'd like to be riding with you, lad," a stout gentleman with an imposing nose and a walrus mustache wheezed. "Unfortunately, my gout . . ."
Lafayette nodded, offered breezy comments, accepted a drink from a tray after giving a moment's thought to the contents and feeling the slight jar that signaled successful manipulation. No use drinking cheap booze. He tested the drink: Rémy-Martin. He tossed the first shot down and scooped up another glass. The cognac had a pleasant, warming effect. He took another from a passing tray.
A sudden murmur ran through the assemblage. Horns tootled a fanfare.
"The princess," murmured the crowd. Lafayette looked in the direction toward which necks were craning and saw a cluster of women entering through a wide archway.
"Which is Adoranne?" He nudged Nicodaeus.
"She'll appear next."
A girl strolled into view, leading a tiger cub on a leash. She was tall, slender, moving as gracefully as a swan in a gown of palest blue scattered over with tiny pearls. Her hair—the color of spring sunshine, Lafayette decided instantly—was straight, cut short in a charming style that complemented the coronet perched atop it. She had a short patrician nose—at least it was the kind of nose that suggested that word to O'Leary—large blue eyes, a perfectly modeled cheek and chin line. Her figure was that of a trained athlete: trim, slim, vibrant with health. Lafayette tried to take a deep breath, his lips puckering instinctively for a long low whistle of admiration, but managed only a gasp.
"What's the matter?" Nicodaeus whispered.
"Now I know what they mean by breathtaking," he muttered. "Come on." He started through the crowd.
"Where are you going?" Nicodaeus plucked at his sleeve.
"I want to meet the princess."
"But you can't approach royalty! You have to wait for her to summon you!"
"Oh, don't let's bother with all that protocol. I want to see if she looks as marvelous up close as she does from here."
He pushed through between two bony dowagers just rising from creaky curtseys and smiled at the girl as she turned inquiringly toward him.
"Hi," Lafayette said, looking her over admiringly. "They told me you were beautiful, but that was the understatement of the year. I didn't know I could imagine anything this nice."
A big young man with curly dark hair and cigarette-ad features stepped forward, flexing Herculean shoulders that threatened to burst his royal blue gold-braid-looped tunic. He inclined his head to the princess, then turned to give O'Leary a warning look.
"Withdraw, bumpkin," he said in a low voice.
O'Leary waved a hand. "Go play with your blocks." He started around the man, who took a quick step to bar his way.
"Are you deaf, oaf?" he rapped.
"No, I'm Lafayette O'Leary, and if you don't mind, I'd like to—"
The young Hercules put a finger against O'Leary's chest. "Begone!" he hissed fiercely.
"Now, now, no rough stuff in front of the princess," O'Leary admonished, brushing the hand aside.
"Count Alain," a cool feminine voice said. Both men turned. Princess Adoranne smiled an intimate little smile at the count and turned to