Warlock and Son (27 page)

"Why, so I shall," he whispered.

"Go, now," she commanded, "and go without fear or doubt-for as I've taught thee to mend thine heart, I've taught thee to mend thy body also. If thou art wounded, thou wilt tell the smallest parts of thy body to cleave to one another; thou canst bid thy blood to cease to bleed, thy wounds to close. Nay, thou mayest yet be killed in a single blow, thou canst feel grievous pain-but thou shalt live, no matter what wounds are given thee, so long as thou dost wish to."

"Why, I shall wish so, now." Magnus reached out to touch her. "I shall wish to live, if for naught but the chance that I might someday see thee again."

But she caught his hand, though she kissed the fingers. "Why, then, court danger, in defense of others-and when thou hast given so much of thyself that thou hast naught left to give, find me again, and I'll replenish thee."

"I shall." She had just given him reason to kill himself trying to help other people. She looked into his eyes, a merry roguish glance, then commanded, "Go!" Fess turned and moved off. Magnus kept his eyes on her as long as he could, till his body's turning forced him to look away. Even then, he looked back once, to see her, a slender form in crimson velvet, hand upraised in farewell. Then a cloud crossed the sun, a shadow glided past, and she was gone.

13

While Gwen slept, Rod called Fess, via radio, and asked for a progress report; the robot told him that Magnus had found the healer and gone into her dwelling. When Gwen waked, Rod duly informed her, and they settled down for their anxious vigil.

They didn't have long to wait, though, before Fess assured them that Magnus was leaving the lake, alive and well-and looking far more cheerful than he had for quite some time. Half an hour later, Magnus's thoughts touched them briefly: I
am well, my parents. Prithee, await me by the lake where thou didst
find me.

May we not come to thee?Gwen asked.

Magnus considered, then thought,
At home, then. I shall teleport thence, and Fess will come as he
may. . . . He is agreeable.

I think I may be able to care for myself,the robot concurred.

Rod nodded, relieved.
At home, then.
He took his wife's hand. "Come fly with me!"
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Gwen smiled, and summoned her broomstick with a thought. It came arrowing to her; she reclined sidesaddle, and rose into the air. Rod concentrated on being beside her, and caught up. They landed in the courtyard-to find Magnus coming out of the keep with a backpack. Gwen threw her arms about him. "Praise Heaven, my son! That thou art well!"

"Thank also the Maid of the Lake." Magnus disengaged her with a gentle smile, stepping back. Rod caught his arm and clasped his hand. "We were worried."

"Thou hadst need," Magnus said gravely, "but Mother did direct me well. I am healed."

"And off again?" Gwen glanced at the pack. "How is this, my son! Whither dost thou wander?"

"Away," Magnus said gravely. "Far, far away. I can no longer stay on Gramarye, Mother." She cried out in protest, grasping him by the shoulders, searching his eyes-and his mind-but met only surface thoughts, and a stern resolve. She stepped back, composing her face. "So that is the way of it, then." She braced herself for Rod's fury.

But it didn't come. Watching Magnus, she saw that he was braced, too, and just as surprised. They turned to Rod, and found him grave and sad, but nodding. "Yes. You do have to go, son-as I had to leave my father's home. Only my father's eldest had to stay-and I wouldn't force that on a dog." He sighed and reached up to clasp the young giant by the shoulder. "I've known it had to come some day, so I'm prepared. Well, at least the apprehension is over."

Gwen and Magnus both stared at him, amazed.

Rod smiled, amused. "Go well-and write home often." Fess came trotting into the clearing. Rod turned. "You came fast enough!"

"I can move more quickly without a human to protect," the robot explained.

"And probably started another dozen local pouka legends, while you were at it. Good thing you hurried-we need your services."

"In what way, Rod?"

"It's time, Fess. Magnus has to leave the planet."

"Ah." The horse sounded sad. "The
Wanderjahr
Well, I shall be honored to accompany him." Gwen cried out in protest; so did Magnus. "My father! I could not deprive thee of thy boon companion!"

"How did you think you were going to get off planet?" Rod turned, with a sardonic smile. "Fly? You're good, son, but I don't think you could achieve lightspeed-and I would be very surprised to discover you could shift into H-space." He frowned. "Or maybe
not
surprised, come to think of itbut I'd rather you had a ship around you, in any event. And my ship doesn't fly without Fess to run it." Magnus was still, trying to correlate all the factors, trying to find another way. There wasn't any. Slowly,
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he nodded. "I thank thee, then, my father. And thou, Fess-though I regret the inconvenience."

"It will be no inconvenience, Magnus."

"You can send him back when you buy your own ship," Rod added. "You don't have to, though."

"I shall, my father."

"Come." Gwen set a hand on his arm. "There are some to whom thou must needs say farewell." She called by mind:
Cordelia! Geoffrey! Gregory!

Twin explosions signalled the arrival of the young men; Cordelia came out of the keep, frowning. "Aye, Mother?"

"Thy brother is bound away, for a space of years," Gwen said, in tones that brooked no disagreement.

"Tell him farewell."

With a wordless cry, Cordelia threw herself into her brother's arms. He held her gently, looking down at the crown of her head, stroking her back, his face carefully impassive. Rod left them to it, and led Fess around behind the keep. He knew there was plenty of time-Brom O'Berin would have to be summoned, and Puck, and Toby and Alain and Diarmid, maybe even Their Majesties. Whether he wanted it or not, Magnus was going to get a farewell party, however impromptu.

Rod opened the hatch in Fess's side, took out the silver basketball, and disconnected its cable. The black horse body stood stock-still.

Handle with Care,Fess's voice said behind Rod's ear.

"I always do. You don't really think I'd drop you just to keep Magnus home, do you?" Would I do you so grave an injustice?"I don't like the way you say `grave.' " Rod took Fess's "brain" down into the dungeons. There, he plucked a torch from a sconce, thought at it until it lit, and went down to the end of the passage. There, he set the torch in a sconce, pressed the third stone block from the right in the fifth row down, and stood back as a section of the wall grated open. It left a doorway that was a little lower and a little narrower than most, but was still quite usable. Rod took down the torch and stepped through, leaning against the door to push it closed. Then he set off down the tunnel.

The elves had dug it for him, right after the family had decided to move in permanently. Rod had flown his spaceship in by night, telling Fess to make it bury itself in the meadow just across the moat, and the elves had covered it over with dirt. The locals had thought the bare dirt circle that was left was a fairy ring, and they hadn't been too far off.

It was very convenient-there were times when Rod needed the ship's lab and library facilities. More importantly, though, his escape route was handy, if he ever needed it in a hurry. Not that he ever had-but ten years as a secret agent had left him with a very cautious set of mind. At the end of the tunnel was the rugged exterior of the spaceship. Rod pressed his thumb against the silver patch in the midst of the pocks and craters, and a larger-than-average crater swung out as a hatch. Rod stepped in, went to the control room, and connected the silver basketball to its cable in a niche. He
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clamped it in position and closed the panel. "Remember, now-you want to make an Appearance."

"My sense of the dramatic has not suffered from close association with you, Rod."

"Great." Rod smiled. "Take good care of the boy, huh?"

"I will, Rod. I have, for twenty years."

"True, Chiron. And see that he writes home a lot, okay?"

"If he does not, Rod, I will. You should rejoin the party, now." When Rod came back, he found that there were at least two dozen people circulating around Magnus, hugging him, shaking his hand, and wishing him well. There was at least as much weeping as there was laughter-and, sure enough, Their Majesties had somehow managed to drop what they were doing and come in time. Elves circulated with trays of food and drink, and whenever people left Magnus alone for a moment, Puck was cuffing his knee and detailing all the marvels and wonders he would encounter. Rod joined them, keeping his smile carefully fixed in place.

Suddenly, a deep thundering made the earth begin to shake. Everyone fell silent, turning in awe, and had just begun to think about screaming, when a fanfare of a hundred trumpets blared, followed by the theme from
The Ride of Koschei the Deathless, as
a huge, rugged spheroid rose into view above the walls. It was cratered and pitted from encounters with a hundred meteorites; it was an asteroid, come to ground. It glided over the courtyard and lowered itself gently to the ground. A final fanfare sounded as the hatchway opened and swung down to form a boarding ramp. "Very good, Fess," Rod muttered. "Thank you."

The crowd was silent. Magnus glanced quickly at Rod; his father nodded. The young warlock turned to the crowd and said, softly, "I thank thee, my friends. I shall never forget thee, nor my delight in thy farewell." He looked around at them, then saw the tears on his sister's cheeks and caught her to him for one more brief hug, then stepped back and forced a smile for all his friends. "God be with thee."

"And with thee, Magnus!"

"Farewell, young warlock!"

"Farewell!"

"Yet hold." King Tuan stepped forth, face suddenly grave, and drew his sword. "There is a ceremony overdue thee by many years. I have long awaited thy petition, but it hath not come, so I cannot now accord thee the Vigil and the Bathbut I may still give thee the accolade. Kneel, Magnus Gallowglass d'Armand."

Everyone was silent, knowing the significance of his use of Magnus's true family name. Magnus stepped forward and knelt before his king.

Tuan laid the flat of his sword on each shoulder, saying, "I, King of this Isle of Gramarye, dub thee Knight of the Realm, and charge thee ever to defend the weak and smite the wicked, wheresoever thou shalt go." He sheathed the sword, stepped forward, and struck Magnus on the cheek, saying, "Rise, Sir
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Magnus."

The crowd broke into wild cheering as Magnus rose and stood before his king. When the crowd could hear again, they heard Magnus saying softly, "I am thy man, henceforth and ever to be true to thee and thy queen, and the heirs of thy body, to defend thee in battle and serve thee in peace." Then Prince Alain stepped forward to clasp his arm, and stepped aside for his brother Diarmid. At last, Queen Catharine stepped forward and offered her hand; Magnus bowed and kissed it. Again the crowd cheered, and Tuan said, "Go now to thy father." Magnus bowed and turned away. Gregory caught up his pack and ran to give it to him. Magnus took it and clasped his youngest brother on the shoulder. Gregory turned a shining face up to him and fell into step beside him, but Brom O'Berin caught his wrist and pulled him back gently, saying, "Nay. Let him go alone with thy parents for the moment."

And so he did, while the crowd melted as quickly as they had come, and Cordelia and her brothers welcomed the royal family into their home.

Magnus turned back at the foot of the ramp and said, "I shall come again, my father."

"I know." Rod clasped his shoulder, eyes shining. "Don't wait too long though, okay? We're not getting any younger." He raised his voice. "Fess!"

"Aye, Rod?"

"Here is your new master. Obey Magnus as you have obeyed me, until his life ends or he gives you leave." Magnus's face suddenly drained of all expression as he heard the age-old formula.

"I shall, Rod."

"But remember what I said about making sure he writes home a lot." Magnus smiled, looking down at his father with affection. "I will, Rod." Now, at last, Rod reached up and hauled the young giant down for an embrace. "Be careful, son, and always do your homework about customs and crooks before you make planetfall. There're a lot of mean ones out there."

"I shall, my father. Fare thee well!"

"But there are a lot of good ones, too." Rod stepped back, his smile still in place. "There will be times when you're tempted to forget that-so don't, eh?"

"Aye." Magnus smiled.

Gwen stepped forward for her embrace, murmuring, "Fare thee well, my son! Oh, fare thee well! And come back hale and whole to me, in heart as in body."

"As whole as when I left," Magnus promised. He kissed her cheek, then stepped back.
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Fess gave him an out. "Traffic window assigned. Ship lifting." They laughed, and Magnus stepped back inside the hatch, waving as the door rose and sealed itself, hiding him from view.

But Rod And Gwen kept waving, as the asteroid rose into the sky and dwindled, becoming a dot, a speck, a mere nothing.

Then Gwen turned and wept on Rod's shoulder. He held her tightly, his own eyes rather misty. As they came back to the keep, Tuan and Catharine stepped forth. Without a word, Tuan embraced his vassal, and Catharine hugged Gwen, for the first time in their lives. Aboard the ship, Magnus sank back into his couch, glad that the cessation of acceleration gave him a chance to go limp-and was suddenly aware of the huge ache of emptiness that rose up within him. But as he sank rapidly down toward melancholia, a voice sounded in his mind.
Magnus!