Enchanted Pilgrimage (17 page)

He stopped and waited for the answer.

Cornwall heard a commotion behind him and swung hastily around. Beckett had broken loose from Hal and was running up the slope to one side of the house, toward a pile of boulders. The bow was still looped around his neck. Hal was racing after him, with others of the crew whooping along behind. Suddenly Beckett swerved and appeared to dive headlong into the earth. He disappeared; the earth appeared to have swallowed him.

The witch, hobbling painfully along, let out a screech. “Now,” she screamed, “there'll be sheeted hell to pay. He dived down the ogre's hole.”

“Answer me,” yelled the giant. “Give me now your answer.”

Cornwall swung back to face him. “We are simple pilgrims,” he shouted. “We came to carry out a sacred trust. We have no wish to cause any trouble. We only seek the Old Ones.”

The messenger guffawed. “The Old Ones,” he roared, “if you find them, they will put you to the knife. You must be daft to seek them. And no one goes into the Blasted Plain. It is forbidden country. Thus far you have come; no farther will you go. Give up the prisoner and turn back. If you do, we will not harm you. You have safe passage to the Borderland. On that you have our solemn promise.”

“We won't go back,” yelled Cornwall. “We haven't come this far to turn tail and run. And we'll not give up the prisoner. He has answered sufficiently to you; now it is us he must answer to.”

“So be it,” bellowed the giant. “Your own blood is now on your hands and not on ours.”

“There need be no blood at all,” yelled Cornwall. “No blood on any hands. Simply let us through. Once we find the Old Ones, we'll return to our own lands.”

“What about the prisoner? He has many miles to run. Much more screaming he must do. The end of agony is not yet for him. He defiled our sacred soil with a marching army. Once, Sir Scholar, that would have meant war to the very hilt. But these days we grow soft and mellow. Be glad we do, and give us back our plaything.”

“If you would kill him quickly. Horribly, perhaps, but quickly.”

“Why should we do that? In these boring times there is slight amusement, and we must grasp it when we can. Surely you do not begrudge us that.”

“If you do not kill him, then I shall.”

“Do that,” screamed the giant, “and you will take his place.”

“That yet is to be seen,” said Cornwall.

“You refuse, then, to give him back?”

“I refuse,” said Cornwall.

The giant turned about in a lumbering fashion and went clumping up the hill. The row of Hellhounds on the ridgetop did not move.

Up the hill behind Cornwall another commotion erupted. Cornwall spun about. The trolls and goblins and other little people were fleeing in all directions, and a living horror was emerging from the ground beside the boulders.

The witch was screaming, thumping her broomstick on the ground. “I told you there'd be hell to pay,” she shrieked. “He went down the ogre's hole. There isn't anyone can play footsie with the ogre.”

The ogre by now had backed entirely from the hole and was tugging at something, pulling it from the hole. Galloping up the hill, Cornwall saw that the thing the ogre was hauling from the hole was Beckett, who was mewling faintly, clawing at the earth, resisting being drawn forth.

The ogre gave a mighty tug, and Beckett popped out of the hole like a cork from a bottle. Hal's bow, somewhat the worse for wear, was still looped around his throat. The ogre flung him contemptuously aside.

“Have you no respect?” the ogre shouted, not at Beckett alone, but at all of them. “Is not one secure in his own habitation? Must the world come pouring in on him? Why are all of you standing there? Tell me what is going on.”

“Sir Ogre,” said Cornwall, “we regret this exceedingly. It was a happening furthest from our thoughts. Under no circumstances would we willingly have disturbed your rest.”

The ogre was a squat beast, almost toadlike. His eyes were saucers, and his mouth was rimmed with pointed teeth. His body seemed neither fur nor flesh but an earthy filthiness that fell from him in little patches as he moved.

“Such a thing,” the ogre said, “has never happened. The people here know better. It would take an outlander to do what this creature did. Although once, long ago, there was a little minx who delighted in dribbling bark and clods of earth and other sundry items down into my burrow. What pleasure she might have gotten out of it I do not understand.”

His saucer eyes swiveled around to fasten on Mary. “And if I am not mistaken,” he said, “there is the little minx, quite grown now, I see, but the self-same one.”

The witch raised her broom. “Back off,” she shrilled. “Do not even think of laying your filthy hands on her. She was just a little tyke and she meant no harm. She was only playful and full of brimming spirits, and there is little enough of good-natured playfulness in this land of ours.”

Mary said, “I am truly sorry. I had no idea it would disturb you so. You see, we pretended we were afraid of you, and we'd drop in the sticks and stones—as I remember it, very little sticks and stones—then we'd turn and run.”

“You,” said the ogre, “and that fiddle-footed brownie and Bromeley, the crazy troll—but, then, all trolls are crazy. You thought I did not know, but I did know and chuckled often over it. I suppose you find it hard to believe that I could ever chuckle.”

“I did not know,” said Mary. “If I had known that you could chuckle, I'd have come visiting and introduced myself.”

“Well, now,” the ogre said, seating himself on the ground, “you do know now, and this is as good a time as any. Let's do that visiting.”

He patted the ground beside him. “Come over here and sit and we'll do some visiting.”

The witch made a little shriek of happiness. “You do just that,” she said to Mary. “I'll go and get the pot and we'll have some tea.”

She turned and scurried off.

Cornwall saw that Hal and Gib had tight hold of Beckett, who lay quite passively on the ground.

“What are we going to do with him?” asked Hal.

“By rights,” said Cornwall, “we should chop off his head. Either that or return him to the Hellhounds, an action I find most repulsive.”

“I plead mercy,” Beckett whined. “As one Christian to another, I most sincerely plead for mercy. You cannot abandon a fellow Christian to this heathen horde.”

“You are at best,” said Cornwall, “a very sorry Christian. I would choose ten heathens over a Christian such as you. As a man who tried his best to have me killed, I have slight compunction over whatever happens to you.”

“But I never,” cried Beckett, struggling to sit up, “I never tried to kill you. How could I? I have never set eyes on you. For the love of God, messire …”

“My name is Mark Cornwall, and you did hire men to kill me.”

Oliver, popping up beside Cornwall, yelled at him. “You tried to kill him because of a certain manuscript found in the library at Wyalusing. And you would have killed me, too, if you could have managed. There was a certain monk named Oswald, who ran bearing tales to you. He was found, come morning, with his throat slit in an alley.”

“But that was long ago!” howled Beckett. “Since I have repented …”

“Repentance is no good,” said Cornwall. “Make your choice now. The Hellhounds or the sword. A bastard such as you has no right to live.”

“Allow me,” said Gib. “It is not right that you should stain the good steel of your blade with the blood of such as this. One stroke of my ax …”

A pair of claws grabbed Cornwall by the arm. “Hold this talk of killing,” screeched the witch. “I put my claim on him. It would be a waste of good man-flesh to kill such a lusty specimen. And I have need of him. Many cold nights have gone by since I've had a man to warm my bed.”

She thrust herself past Cornwall and bent to examine Beckett. She reached out a claw and chucked him beneath the chin. Beckett's eyes went glassy at the sight of her.

“He isn't worth the trouble,” Oliver said to her. “He will be running off as soon as he has a chance. And there are the Hellhounds …”

“Hah!” said the witch, disgusted. “Those little puppy dogs know better than to get gay with me. I'll take my broomstick to them. And as for running off, I'll put a spell on him, and I guarantee there'll be no running off.
Aiee
, the darling,” she keened, “I'll make good use of him. Once I get him under covers, I'll break his lovely back. I'll give him loving such as he's never had before.…”

“It seems to me,” Cornwall said to Beckett, “that your choices now are three. The Hellhounds or the sword or this.…”

“That is utter nonsense,” screamed the witch. “He has no choice. You heard me say I lay a claim on him.” She made a gesture with her hands, and gibberish flowed from out her mouth. She did a little dance and clicked her heels together. “Now turn him loose,” she said.

Hal and Gib let loose of him, and Cornwall backed away. Beckett turned over and got on hands and knees, crawling forward to fawn against the witch.

“Like a goddamn dog,” said Cornwall, flabbergasted. “If it had been me …”

“Look at the darling,” the witch exclaimed, delighted. “He likes me already.” She reached out and patted him on the head. Beckett wriggled in ecstasy. “Come along, my dear,” she said.

She turned about and headed for the house, with Beckett gamboling at her heels, still on hands and knees.

While all this had been going on, the others, excited at the tea party, had paid slight attention to it. The witch, assisted by many willing hands, had brought tea and cakes, which had been placed on a table set before the boulders, underneath which the ogre had his burrow.

Cornwall looked about. There was no sign of the sloppy giant or of the Hellhounds. Quite suddenly the place assumed a happy look. The gentle sun of an autumn afternoon shone down on the knoll, and from far below came the murmuring of the stream as it flowed beneath the bridge.

“Where are the horses?” Cornwall asked.

Hal said, “Down beside the stream, in a little meadow, knee-deep in grass and doing justice to it. Sniveley is there, keeping close watch on them.”

Coon came scampering three-legged, one front paw clutching a tea cake. Hal reached down and picked him up. Coon settled contentedly in his arms and munched blissfully at the cake.

“I guess it's all over now,” said Cornwall. “Let us join the party.”

“I keep wondering,” said Gib, “how the Hellhounds will react when they find Beckett is beyond their reach.”

Cornwall shrugged. “We'll handle that,” he said, “when we come to it.”

23

The ogre stuffed a cake into his mouth and leered at Cornwall.

“And who,” he asked of Mary, “is this down-at-heels milksop who is acting as your escort?”

“He is no milksop,” said Mary, “and if you continue in your pleasantries, you'll feel the full weight of his arm.” She said to Cornwall, “He doesn't really mean it. He's only trying to be pleasant. It is a way he has.”

“If this is being pleasant,” said Cornwall, “I should hate to see him being nasty.”

“Well, don't just stay standing there,” the ogre boomed at Cornwall. “Here, sit down on the other side of me and have a cup of tea. I would say have a cake as well, but I fear all the cakes are gone. I never in my life have seen such a ravenous assembly. They descended on the cakes as if they were half-starved.”

“They couldn't have been,” said Mary. “Not after the big feast of last night.”

“They are gluttonous,” said the ogre. “It is the nature of them. Despite their pretty faces and the winsomeness of them, they are nothing but maws attached to enormous guts.”

Cornwall sat down beside the ogre, and a fairy handed him a cup of tea. The cup was tiny, and his large hands had trouble handling it. The cup was only half full; the tea was now in short supply as well.

“The ogre,” said Mary, “has been telling me of my parents. It seems he knew them quite well.”

“Especially your father,” said the ogre. “We found in one another much of common interest. Many an evening we sat here, as the three of us sit now, and talked many hours away. He was an intelligent and perceptive human, and it was a delight to talk with him. He was at once a scholar and a gentleman. He held a vast respect for this land of ours and the people in it, and he held no fear of them—which is an unlikely quality to be found in humans. Although I saw less of his lovely lady than I did of him, I grew quite fond of both, and this sweet child of theirs I loved almost as if she were my daughter—although it is ridiculous to think I might have had such a daughter. I'd lie in my burrow while she threw down stones and dirt and, envisioning in my mind how she then would scamper off in simulated childish terror, I would shake with laughter.”

“Somehow,” said Cornwall, “it is hard to imagine you shaking with laughter.”

“That, my dear sir, is only because you do not know me. I have many excellent, I might say endearing, qualities which are not immediately apparent.”

“One thing,” said Mary, “that has been sticking in my mind ever since yesterday is whether my parents might have come from the same world Mr. Jones said that he is from.”

“I do believe,” the ogre said, “that they may have. Not from anything they ever said or did, but since the advent of your Mr. Jones, it has seemed to me I could detect certain similarities—little quirks of temperment, the way in which they looked at things, a certain gentle self-assurance that could, at times, verge on arrogance. Not that they came with all the magic machines that Jones packed along with him; as a matter of fact they came as humble pilgrims, with packs on their backs. I happened to be out sunning myself when the three of you came down the hill together and crossed the bridge, and it was the sweetest sight these old owl-eyes of mine have ever seen. They carried in their packs only those things that might be possessed by a human who lived beyond the Wasteland, and I have wondered since if this were done by deliberate design, so that they would seem what they actually were not.”