Her Majesty's Wizard #1 (31 page)

   "Oh, very well!" Alisande breathed. "What a goodly place is this, Lord Wizard!"

   "Well goodly isn't exactly the word I'd choose." Matt looked around him. "But I think I know how you feel; 'high' is what we called it back home."

   "Nay, goodly! I feel as I have never felt this last twelvemonth, with calm, kind goodness filling all the air about me! 'Tis as if I curled again within my father's arm, as if--" Her eyes suddenly brimmed with tears. "-as if the good kind God himself looked down and smiled."

   Whatever she had, it was contagious; as Matt looked about him again; he suddenly realized the Ring's resemblance to a great church. A cathedral hush enveloped them; the sarcens seemed like great Gothic columns; the occasional fallen slabs seemed like side altars. Moonlight filled the air and plated every slab with silver.

   Alisande gave a little half laugh that caught in her throat. "Though I must own, if God has given shelter here this night, 'tis through yourself that he has given it! I had not known you could command a spirit of such vasty power. 'Twas most well done, Lord Matthew:"

   "Well, there was a lot at stake." Matt swallowed through a suddenly tightened throat.

   "What man are you, who can command such forces?" Alisande breathed, stepping closer, face shining up at him.

   Matt was tempted to launch into a lecture on science, out of sheer self-defense. He reminded himself he'd been wanting this. "I'm only a man, your Highness."

   "Nay, more than that! The title I accorded you, you've earned a hundred-fold this night!"

   Matt could see nothing but her eyes. They seemed dark blue in the moonlight, long-lashed, huge, and deep ...

   He pulled himself back from the brink. "I've got to be honest, your Highness-I don't know if I could have controlled the Demon if it weren't for the power of this Ring. It's flowing through me, here; I'm just a channel for it."

   Her face had softened, growing almost tender. "Aye, this Ring lends you its power-because you are, beneath all else, a very good and upright man."

   Matt felt a thrill of danger course through him. This was getting out of hand. "Well ... yes," he said slowly. "Aside from a few fleshly lapses..."

   "Aye," she said, with a low, throaty laugh, "but you are safe from them in this place. I cannot believe that vice could touch you here, where every particle of earth and air cries out to me of goodness, order, and all things well done! Oh!" She pirouetted away from him. "I could sing, I could carol for joy! My body trills, in every bone and fiber, and craves good works to do!" She looked back at him. "Do you feel so, too, Lord Matthew?"

   "Yes," he said, his eyes glued to her. "Right now, I do."

   Her eyes flew wide in surprise; she inclined her head, looking up at him through lowered lashes, suddenly coy and roguish.

   Then she turned away from him again, laughing with delight. "I have not known happiness this whole past year-and now I've that year's worth upon me in an instant!"

   She leaped away, dancing in whirling turns and soaring leaps, laughing joyously. Matt followed her every movement, unable to pull his eyes away from the sweet, clean line of her body showing through her gown as it whipped about her.

   At last she dropped to her knees, bowed over clasped hands for a moment, before she flung back her head, her closed eyes uplifted in prayer, bathed in moonlight, and Matt felt his excitement ebbing; the dance was done. Still he watched her, the peaceful rapture of her face framed in disordered golden hair.

   Then she was coming toward him, almost on tiptoe, face flushed with exertion, gleaming with perspiration, eyes still alight, full lips parted in exhilaration. The breeze molded her gown to the contours of her body, and the full force of her voluptuous femininity hit Matt like a shock wave. His whole body sizzled with the sudden heat of passion, and he was striding toward her, reaching out.

   Lust! the monitor mind yammered, and Matt realized that any vice let loose in here would feed back off the forces of evil lingering in the stones, fusing his mind into a mass of depravity. He slowed and stopped, sliding his reaching hand out to clasp hers, interlacing her fingers through his own. It sent a jolt up his arm into his chest, and he concentrated all his attention on the feel of her hand.

   She'd lost her smile for a moment, but now it returned, with a greater warmth than friendship. "For a moment, you had frightened me, Lord Matthew!" She lowered her head, looking up at him through long lashes. "'Twas scarcely gallant."

   Matt caught his breath, trying to ignore the thrumming along his nerves. "I rejoice to see you joyful, Highness."

   "You've never seen me truly so." She looked up, suddenly grave. "You met me at a somber time; yet this wondrous Ring undoes my sorrow."

   "Indeed it does," he breathed, and desire flamed in him again.

   She saw it in his eyes and dropped his hand with a little gasp, stepping away and burying her hands behind her. "Lord Matthew ... My most sincere regrets ... I had not meant..."

   "No," he said, managing to drown the desire under a flood of tenderness and smiling. "Of course not."

   She turned away, confused. "A princess cannot think of love. She marries whom she must, for purposes of state. So, as I grew, I hardened my heart and learned to think of men and women alike, as people only. I disdained in any way to attract the male eye -- until this night. For which, I repent."

   "I don't." Matt drew a long breath. "Not for a moment, Princess. I'm still whole."

   "You are," she said gravely; and, for a moment, there was almost awe in her eyes. "And I think I may begin to realize, Lord Matthew, what strength that required."

   Matt stared, poleaxed by the compliment.

   She turned to- him, lifting her head and throwing her shoulders back, once again every inch a queen. She took his hand, but the warmth in her eyes was only friendship again. "I thank you for that strength, Lord Wizard; for I think you could have used my playfulness, this night, against me."

   "Yes," he murmured, cursing his own gallantry. Idiot! Chump!

   You blew your big chance!

   She leaned closer, her voice lowered, husky. "But I thank you more for letting me know, this night, the taste of my own womanhood, by your gallantry-for I'll flatter myself to think it was sincere."

   "Oh, it was," Matt breathed. "Believe. It was."

   She laughed, leaning away, coy for a moment again, then sobered with a sudden completeness that spoke of will power. "I do believe it, and I thank you deeply; but we must turn away from each other now, to our cold beds of turf. Yet if you were tempted here, be certain I was, also, and you cannot know how sorely."

   "I might." Matt swallowed. "It will be a cold and lonely night."

   "I think not." Her face lit with sudden warmth again. "I'll have dreams for company, warm and comforting-for I know I'm a woman now."

   She leaned forward, reaching out almost shyly to touch his cheek. Then she was gone, gliding away over the turf toward her horse, to fetch her cloak and find some softer ground for sleeping.

   Matt sighed and turned away, trying to summon the self-anger to regret his self-control-but found he couldn't. In fact, he felt a pleasant glow of self-esteem.

   "What do you, Wizard?"

   Matt looked down at the singing voice and saw the spot of brilliant light hovering near him. "Hiya, Max."

   "Max?" The Demon sounded wary. "What has caused this foolishness?"

   "Women," Matt said, grinning. "I'll never understand 'em."

   "Why, how is this? They cannot differ greatly from you; they're of your species."

   "Uh, that's a bit of a misconception." Matt pulled up a rock and sat down. "There's a certain contrariness to them, Max, and even more to our relationships with them."

   "Indeed!" The Demon sounded extremely interested. "Explain this, Wizard!"

   "As far as I can." Matt grinned. "Let's take Alisande, for example. She's a princess, see, and I'm a commoner-but an interesting one. You see..."

   The Demon didn't, and Matt went on at some length, explaining the intricacies and ramifications of the situation, as far as he knew them.

   After an hour, the Demon declared, "I chose aright. You truly comprehend perversity."

CHAPTER 14

   "Awake."

   Matt swatted at the steel hand and rolled over on his back, glaring up at Sir Guy. "It's too early."

   The knight only pointed to the sky, and Matt realized Sir Guy was silhouetted against a brightening ceiling. Looking out, he saw the hellhounds still slavering and clawing at the force-field, without the slightest slackening of berserk ferocity.

   "They will flee with sunrise," the knight explained, "but we must be ready to ride when they do, to make as many miles as we can by daylight."

   Matt nodded. "So we have to start early." He clambered to his feet, sighing, and helped Sir Guy waken Alisande and Sayeesa. They breakfasted on journey bread, huddled in their cloaks and watched the dogs clawing at the eastern space between stone blocks.

   The sky grew rosy as they watched. They finished breakfast and saddled up. The hounds went crazy as they mounted and rode to the center of the Ring, watching the east.

   A sudden line of burning red bulged above the horizon. Scarlet rays stabbed out, flooding through the eastern portal.

   The dogs screamed, wheeled about, and fled out over the moor.

   But they'd overstayed; they seemed to grow thinner as they ran, translucent, and transparent, then ...

   "Gone." Matt exhaled a long, shaky breath.

   "Back to whatever lightless place gave them being." Sir Guy nodded heavily. "Now let us ride."

   They turned their horses, setting their backs to the sun, and rode out of the Stone Ring-quite reluctantly, with the possible exception of Sayeesa. She breathed a huge sigh of relief and slumped in her saddle as they passed between huge sarcens.

   They rode west, alternating between walk and canter again. Alisande rode beside Sayeesa, chatting; and there was nothing particularly royal about her manner. She seemed only a young woman, wanting a good gossip. Sayeesa was wary at first, but she thawed quickly.

   Matt kept trying to catch the princess's eye, but she always seemed to be looking the other way at just the wrong moment. After a while, he began to suspect it was more than coincidence. Finally, about midmorning, he managed to cut in between the two women during a canter and was next to Alisande when they slowed to a walk. "Good morrow, your Highness."

   "Good morn." Her neck was ramrod stiff, and she didn't quite meet his gaze. "Lord Wizard, I must ask you to forget any words that passed between us yesterday. You will understand that, due to the nature of the Stone Ring, I was not myself."

   It hurt. It stabbed in and twisted, letting anger spurt out. "Of course-I should have expected remorse this morning. After all, you'd never felt like a woman before."

   Her head snapped back as if she'd been slapped, and anger flared in her eyes-but beneath it, he could see the hurt. She inclined her head with cold courtesy. "I thank you for instruction, Lord Wizard. I assure you, I'm schooled-never to risk personal converse again."

   She straightened in her saddle with the dignity of a glacier and rode away, turning her back to him.

   Matt watched her go, cursing under his breath.

   A spark hovered near him, visible even in sunlight, humming, "You may understand perversity, Wizard, yet you cannot prevent it."

   "Oh, go make a hotbox," Matt growled.

   By late afternoon, they were out of the plains, into a rolling, hill-and-gully land. Sir Guy was in excellent spirits. "We shall not lack for shelter this night, praise Heaven! We shall be well-housed indeed, at the monastery of Saint Moncaire!"

   "Moncaire?" Matt frowned. "Hardishane's war wizard? What kind of monks live in his house?"

   "A warrior order." Sir Guy gazed off into the distance with nostalgia. "Worthy men, sworn to holy orders as well as to arms, devoted to the protection of the helpless against the wicked. For years they maintained themselves in readiness, with fasting, drill, and marches, as if the time of their need should come on the morrow."

   "And tomorrow's here." Matt chewed at his lower lip. "But isn't war a rather strange profession for a monk, Sir Guy?"

   The knight shook his head. "'Tis a matter of whom the arms are borne against, Lord Wizard."

   "Malingo." Matt nodded. "I keep forgetting that, in this universe, it really is possible to tell the good from the bad-and without much likelihood of rationalizing. Let's have a look at this monastery."

   The monastery was there. So was an army!

   It was a rather motley horde, falling into definite groupings by uniform color; but it surrounded the monastery on all four sides in a vast, sprawling circle.

   Sir Guy drew in a long, whistling breath. "We have been anticipated."

   "It is the army of evil," Alisande confirmed.

   Matt frowned, brooding. "How far from the mountains are we?".