Stasheff, Christopher - Warlock 7 - The Warlock Heretical

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Christopher Stasheff

The Warlock Heretical

"One... two... three—shoot!"

Four small fists swept down into a circle—and changed form. One turned into a rock, one turned

into a pair

of scissors, and two turned into sheets of paper.

"I win!" cried Cordelia. "Scissors cut paper!"

"Nay, / win!" Geoffrey corrected. "Stone doth dull scissors!"

"Then we two do win, " Magnus pointed out, "sin that paper doth wrap stone. "

"Yet I then win, after all!" Cordelia maintained, "for my scissors will cut thy paper from off

this stone!"

"We all do win. " Little Gregory beamed. " Tis fine. "

"Nay, 'tis horrible!" Geoffrey's chin jutted out. "If all win, none win!"

"Thou wouldst think thus!" Cordelia snapped.

"Only a lass could ha' thought of so silly a game at the outset!" Geoffrey retorted. "Who e'er did

hear of

playing 'Scissors, Stone, and Paper' with more than two?"

"You must not let newness itself keep you from attempting new ideas, Geoffrey. " The voice was in

the

children's minds, not their ears, and it came from a huge black horse that stood nearby, watching.

"Still, in

practice it proves to have been less than effective. "

"Any could see it would not work, Fess!"

"Not that thou didst attempt it with any great effort. " Cordelia glared at Geoffrey. "I could see

thy fist through

thy rock. "

"Thou couldst not! Yet I did see two fingers on thine hand, with but the barest suggestion of

paired blades!"

" Tis a lie!" Cordelia squawked.

"Children, children!" Fess reproved. "Please limit your use of hyperbole. "

" 'Twill avail naught, Fess, " Magnus said wearily. "They persist, though they know full well that

Gregory doth

cast the best illusions of us all. "

"I know naught of the sort!" Geoffrey glared at Gregory, who shrank back wide-eyed.

" Tis true—thou knowest naught, " Cordelia agreed.

"Wilt thou not cease!" Magnus cried. "Art thou so desperate for summat to do that thou must needs

quarrel to

pass the time?"

Cordelia subsided, glaring, but Geoffrey only shrugged. "Wherefore not? Or wouldst thou prefer

combat,

brother?"

Magnus gave him a slow grin. "Assuredly, an thou art foolish enough to attempt it. Wilt thou

wrestle or box?"

"Nay!" Cordelia cried. "Thou knowest what Mama hath told thee of fighting!"

"We do but practice. " Geoffrey unbuttoned his doublet. "Let us grapple—'tis hot weather. "

"Let them go, Cordelia, " Fess advised. "It will channel their excess energy—and, to some extent,

boys need to

wrangle. "

Magnus grinned, pulling his doublet off. "I warn thee, brother, I've weight and height on thee. "

"Yet I have the skill, " Geoffrey retorted.

"Thou must needs stop!" Cordelia cried. "Even Papa would... " Her voice trailed off in despair as

her brothers

started circling each other, crouching. "Oh! Gregory, canst thou think of naught to stop them....

Gregory! Where

hast thou fled?"

Magnus looked up, startled, the match forgotten in a sudden surge of concern.

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Geoffrey saw the opening and dived in to catch Magnus's knee and pull hard with a yowl of victory.

Magnus

slammed down backwards. "Geoffrey!" Fess scolded. "Foul!"

Magnus scrambled up with blood in his eye. "How unfair canst thou be, to attack when I'm

distracted with

concern for thy brother!"

"Distracted thou wert, " Geoffrey agreed, "and combat is ever unfair. Even Papa doth say so. "

Magnus's face reddened, and the fight was about to become real, when Gregory appeared with a bang.

"Strangers!"

His brothers straightened up, their quarrel forgotten. "Strangers! Where?"

"In the meadow yon. " Gregory pointed. "I thought I sensed an errant thought, so I skipped aloft

to look—and I

did behold a great sort of cottage there, with men in brown robes who did till the earth!"

"But that meadow was barren only last Sunday!" Geoffrey cried. "We did picnic there!"

"Two Sundays ago, actually, " Fess corrected. " 'Tis filled now, " Gregory answered. "A score of

men can raise a

house of wattle and daub in a few days' time. " Magnus frowned. "Yet what are these brown robes,

brother?

Peasants wear smocks and biashosen!"

"What know I?" Gregory said, with wide-eyed innocence. "I am but seven. "

"Even so. " Magnus caught up his doublet and shrugged into it. "Let us go see—yet quietly!"

"No, children! There might be danger!" Fess warned. But Magnus was already in the air, arrowing

away between

tree trunks. Geoffrey whooped and flew after him, pulling on his doublet as he went.

"Do not go too close, " Fess cautioned, resigned. Cordelia caught up her broomstick from a nearby

tree. "Well

done, little brother! Thou hast most ably distracted them from bruising one another!" Gregory

smiled, pleased,

and darted off after her.

The house was everything Gregory had said it was—large, thatched, and mud-plastered, at

least on one

wall. The other three were still basketworks of twigs, with a couple of two-man teams busily

spreading more

mud over them. A fence stretched around a quarter of the acre surrounding it, with two more men in

brown robes

working at extending it. Their cowls were thrown back, and sunlight gleamed off the bald spots in

the middle of

their scalps. Around them a third of the meadow had already yielded its long grass to the two

teams of monks

with wheeled plows, each with one steering and two pulling, leaving the dark brown of turned earth

behind them.

"By whose leave do they take the whole meadow for themselves!" Geoffrey cried. Gregory shrugged.

"None said

them nay, brother." Geoffrey strode forward, pushing up his sleeves. "Thou wilt not!" Magnus

caught him by the

collar, then ducked aside from his punch with the ease of long practice. " Tis not thy meadow, to

say yea or nay

to it—'tis the King's!" "Yet it hath been our place of play all our lives!" "As hath the whole

wood, and every

grotto and clearing within it," Magnus reminded. "Surely we can spare one such place for the good

fathers."

"Fathers?" Geoffrey stopped swinging and frowned up at him. Then his eyes widened. "Aye! The

cowls, the

brown robes—how foolish I am not to have seen it!"

"Thou art," Cordelia assured him. "They are monks." Geoffrey turned back to the clearing, puzzled.

"Yet what do

they here? Monks dwell in the monastery, so far to the south. . . . Hist! What comes?"

"What indeed?" Magnus frowned, peering over Geoffrey's head at the meadow.

" 'Tis another band of strangers!" Cordelia exclaimed. "These are not goodly." Gregory's face

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darkened. They

certainly did not appear to be. They wore grimy clothes, untrimmed beards, and tangled hair, and

they came out

of the forest from several different directions, converging on the monks. Each carried a shield

and a quarterstaff.

One or two had swords.

One of the brown-robes saw them coming and shouted a warning. His fellows looked up, startled,

then leaped to

catch up steel caps and quarterstaves from the long grass. The other plow team did, too, and came

pelting across

the meadow, jamming their caps on their heads. The fencers and plasterers dropped their tools,

caught up caps

and staves, and came running to join the plowmen.

Geoffrey's face darkened. "What manner of monks are these, who bear weapons?"

"Is't not fair, then," Cordelia jibed, "for men of the cloth to defend themselves 'gainst men of

arms?"

Geoffrey turned on her, anger flaring, but Magnus clapped a hand over his mouth and hissed, "Be

still! Dost thou

wish them to turn upon us?" He saw Geoffrey's eyes light up, and bit his tongue.

"Indeed, be most cautious." Not being able to fly as easily as they did, Fess had taken a while to

catch up. "In

fact, children, come away—here is danger."

"We are far from them," Geoffrey protested, "and none can see us."

"There is no hazard, Fess," Cordelia pleaded. " 'Tis not as though we did attempt to fight them."

"Not yet," the

black horse muttered. "The bandits slacken their pace," Gregory reported. Geoffrey twisted out of

Magnus's hold

and stepped up next to his little brother. "Thou canst not know they are bandits!" "Who else would

dress so

slovenly, yet bear arms?" Gregory answered.

The bandits slowed, seeing the weapons, but still came on to surround the monks on three sides,

grinning. "Dost'a

truly think to bear weapons 'gainst us, men of God?" The tallest bandit made the last three words

an insult.

The lead monk stepped forward a pace. "We hope not to. Who art thou, and what is thy business?"

For some reason the bandits seemed to think this was hilarious. They broke into guffaws, and the

tallest one said,

"Why, we are gentleman, good friar—canst thou not tell by our comely appearance and costly

garments?"

"Thou dost mean thou art bandits." The lead monk let a touch of contempt show. "Well, I am Father

Boquilva.

What dost thou think thou canst have of us?"

The bandit's grin turned into a snarl. "Have? Why, only such goods as thou dost own, gentle

monk—all of them."

Father Boquilva shrugged. "Take all thou canst find that is ours, and welcome—Christ will provide

us with

more."

The bandits stared at him, not believing their ears. Then the leader's grin widened with a

chuckle. "The more

fools thou, then! Come!" He trotted off toward the house, beckoning to his men. "The sheep are

primed for

shearing!" The other bandits jogged after him. The monks watched them go. "I do not think they

will take my

breviary," said one.

An older monk shrugged. "If they do, what of it? I can pen it anew for thee, from memory."

"Wherefore do they

give way so easily!" Geoffrey hissed.

"They have staves and helms! How can they care so little for their goods?"

"They are men of the spirit," Gregory answered. "Things of wood and stone mean little to them."

"Who asked thee, wight!"

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"Then I'll ask thee." Gregory frowned. "How can men so godly take up weapons?"

"There is, unfortunately, precedent for it," Fess sighed. "Monks of every religion have, sooner or

later, learned to

fight—or taken weapons."

" 'Tis shields they take up now." Magnus's hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Mayhap they but

sought time to

arm."

Geoffrey spun to stare, then shook his head. "Only shields. There's not so much as a paring knife

among them."

"The bandits come," Cordelia said, with dread.

Indeed they did, boiling out of the house with yells of rage. "What mockery is this!" the biggest

bandit demanded

as he pounded up to Father Boquilva. "Hast thou naught but meal and pease?"

The priest nodded at another robber. "I see that thou hast found my missal. Take it, an thou wilt;

Christ will

provide."

The bandit threw it away with an oath.

Father Boquilva's jaw firmed. "There is naught more, save a little meat, some sacramental vessels,

and each

man's curios."

"Naught more, is it?" The bandit grinned and held up a dirty sack. "What of this?" He lifted a

golden chalice.

"One of the sacramental vessels I but now spoke of." The lead monk paled. "That is not ours—'tis

God's. I pray

thee, place it back upon the altar from which thou hast taken it!"

"Thou hast but now said Christ will provide. He hath, then, provided us with this bauble of His."

"Assuredly thou wilt not desecrate a chapel!" "Wherefore—would not God wish to share with the

poor?" "Thou

dost blaspheme. Give back that sacred cup—or wouldst thou violate the Lord's house?"

"Nay, but I'll steal from thine! What else hast thou hid here, eh?"

"Naught, though thou hast missed our glass cruets. Thou hast in thine hand such gold as we do

hold."

"I'll not credit thee," the robber snarled, "sin that thou hast already withheld this from me.

Nay, speak!" He

slashed a backhanded blow into Father Boquilva's face. The priest's head

rocked, and his face darkened, but he struggled against anger and won. The robber growled and

raised his hand

again, but as he swung, the priest's arm shot out, blocking the blow as he kicked the robber's

feet out from under

him. The bandit fell heavily as his men shouted, "Hold!" "Nay, now!" "Leave off!" and leaped

forward, swords

slashing and staves whirling. But the monks swung up their shields, and the swords clunked into

layers of

toughened hide. One bandit aimed a terrific double-handed quarterstaff blow at a monk's head, but

the holy man

swung up his shield, and the staff cracked into its covering. The bandit used the bounce to swing

it higher.

Another bandit reached out and yanked at a shield; the monk behind it stumbled, and the bandit's

staff swung in a

short, vicious arc. The blow rang off the monk's helmet, and he staggered, dazed.

"They do but ward off blows!" Geoffrey cried. "These monks have staves; wherefore do they not

strike back?"

"And there are half again as many bandits as monks!" Cordelia added, despairing.

The two swordsmen had wrestled their weapons free and were circling their target monks.

"Geoffrey," Fess said with sudden foreboding, "do not dare to—"

The boy shot out of the thicket, yowling before the horse could finish the sentence.

"Geoffrey!" Fess moaned in despair. "Nay, brother!" Magnus shouted. " 'Tis no quarrel of— Oh,

devil take it!

He's in the broil!"

Geoffrey had caught up the dazed monk's staff and was swinging at a bandit, enraged. The man

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leaped back in

sheer surprise; then his face darkened, and he advanced.

"Nay, thou fiend! Stand away from my brother!" Magnus bellowed as he, too, charged out of the

wood.

"Magnus!" Fess wailed. "Oh, children! How could you!" But he was thundering out of the brush as he

said it.

"What? Shall we alone stay quiet?" Cordelia cried. "Nay!" She leaped on her broomstick and darted

off into the

fray. Gregory prudently stayed in the shadows, but he stared at a fist-sized rock, and it stirred,

lurched, then shot

up off the ground to brain a bandit.

Geoffrey's robber swung his stick high to smash the boy— but Magnus leaped up, caught the staff on

the

backswing, and yanked hard, throwing all his weight into it. The bandit

staggered back and spun about, wide-eyed. He saw Magnus and bared his teeth, lifting his staff . .

. and Geoffrey

landed on his shoulders, yanking back on his head. The bandit roared and stepped back, and Magnus

hooked a

foot behind his heel. The man crashed down, arms windmilling.

One monk was down with a bandit standing over him, staff poised for a deathblow. Cordelia shot

into his face,

screaming, and the bandit leaped back with a yell of fright. Then he saw his attacker was only a

little girl, and

raised his staff with blood in his eye.

Fess reached out and caught the man's collar with steel teeth. He yanked and spun, and the man

went flying with

a howl.

"Spoilsport!" Cordelia shouted.

Father Boquilva saw her and stared, appalled. A quick glance showed him two more children in the

thick of the

fight. He bellowed, "Children! Brothers, ask not—protect them! Strike!"

The monks didn't turn to look, but their staves were suddenly whirling blurs. They lashed out with

hollow

knocks, and bandits cried out; two toppled. The staves whirled again. Four bandits jumped on

Magnus and

Geoffrey. Fess charged into their midst, screaming, and the men leaped back, yelling with fright,

as the steel

hooves lashed out at them. But behind Fess Geoffrey cried, "A rescue!" as the lead bandit yanked

him up above

his head to throw. Fess whirled to lash out at the man, and Geoffrey fell, flipping over to land

on his feet—but

the four bandits shouted with victory and pounced on Magnus. Fess spun about to counter them, but

suddenly

froze, poised in mid movement like a statue; then his forefeet thudded down and his legs spraddled

outward

stiffly as his head plummeted to swing between his fetlocks.

"Villain!" Geoffrey cried. "Thou hast caused our horse a seizure!" And he sprang at the nearest

bandit's face. The

man

stepped back, startled, then reached up to catch him—and a

hand from a brown sleeve grabbed his shoulder and spun him

about; a quarterstaff cracked into his skull. He fell, and Father Boquilva stepped over his

unconscious

body, face thunderous, to grasp Geoffrey's shoulder. "Bide

with me, lad! Stay close!" He thrust Geoffrey behind him and

turned to find another enemy. . . . But he was out of luck. His brother monks' staves had done

their threshing; the harvest lay on the ground, and the chaff

were running for the forest.

Father Boquilva looked at the half-dozen unconscious robbers, panting. " 'Twas ill done; men of

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file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Christopher%20Stasheff%20-%20Warlock%207%20-%20The%20Warlock%20Heretical.txtChristopherStasheffTheWarlockHeretical1"One...two...three—shoot!"Foursmallfistssweptdownintoacircle—andchangedform.Oneturnedintoarock,oneturnedintoapairofscissors,andtwoturnedintosheetsofpaper."Iwin!"criedCordelia."Scissorscutpaper!""Nay,/win!"Geoffreycorrected."Stonedothdullscissors!""Thenwetwodowin,"Magnuspointedout,"sinthatpaperdothwrapsto e.""YetIthenwin,afterall!"Cordelia...

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Stasheff, Christopher - Warlock 7 - The Warlock Heretical

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