The Warlock is Missing (7 page)

Phagia was singing, some odd, irregular tune that slid up and down from one off-key note to another. Pots and pans rattled, and he heard a long creak of an unoiled hinge. He remembered the sound from supper—it was the oven door. He heard the scratch of flint and steel, heard the gentle gusting of the bellows, heard Phagia's giggle. "Warm, yes. Nice and warm, for the poor chilled children. And sauce. Young ones never like any meat, if it hath not a good sauce." And she broke off into the weird humming again, as liquid poured and a wooden spoon knocked against the side of a pot.

Her sarcasm chilled Magnus, the words and tone of a kind old granny contrasted with what she meant to do. He understood the evil sorcerer's curse suddenly and clearly—exactly what disgusting form of death Phagia's friends had met!

Cordelia. Gregory. He couldn't let them be killed, shoved into an oven for an old witch's gluttony!

Or an ancient sorcerer's revenge
. It was Gregory's thought, so faint Magnus could barely understand it—and, in a sudden wave of understanding, he realized the youngest was right.
She knoweth not what she doth
, he thought as hard as he could.

Aye, certes
, came Cordelia's faint thought.
That glazed look in her eye
—
her soul's asleep
! ■ -
Only her body wakes
, Gregory agreed.

'
Twill suffice to make mutton of us
, Geoffrey thought— harshly, to mask his fear.
What can we do
?

A shadow blocked the light from the kitchen, and Phagia came back in, crooning, "Ah, the poor wee lad! So chilled in his bed! Nay, he must be wanned ere the others." And she went across the room, to scoop Gregory up in her arms.

Sheer terror cut through the fog of drug, and Gregory howled through his gag as his mind shouted,
Magnus! Cordelia! Geoffrey! Aid me
!

Fear and rage galvanized his brothers and sister, and they thought blows against the old witch—but the drug dimmed their powers; Phagia only wavered as she stood up and turned, cradling Gregory in her arms. "Dizziness! Oh!" She stood still for a moment, eyes squeezed shut. Then they opened, and she smiled. "'Tis past. Now, lad—let us prepare dinner." And she hobbled toward the kitchen.

Magnus thought mayhem at her again, but she tripped on something more substantial—and, just as she tripped, something small and dark shot through the air and slammed into her shoulder blades. With a scream, she toppled…

And Gregory sailed out of her arms, straight toward the open oven.

His thoughts screamed as he stared at the oven in terror.

As one, his brothers and sister reached out with their minds to pull at him.

He slowed, coming gradually to a halt, mere inches from the oven door.

Magnus breathed a sigh of relief, then thought,
Down, now, and slowly
.

Gently, carefully, they lowered the little boy to the floor.

In the bedroom doorway, Phagia struggled to lever herself up off the floor. A small shadow loomed up by her head, slamming downward with a miniature hammer. It connected with a dull
CLUNK
! and Phagia slumped, with a tired sigh.

The small shadow chuckled, then looked up at Magnus. It was Kelly—and he sprang up to Magnus's bed and yanked the gag out of the boy's mouth. "Well, lad! Ye're safe, then— but 'twas a near one."

'Too near by half," Magnus agreed. "My deepest thanks, Kelly." He turned to the larger shadow. "And thou, Robin. Great thanks for fair rescue!"

"Great welcome," the elf replied, but his face was severe. "What could I have said to thy parents, had I brought thee home roasted? Yet, now!" He glowered at Magnus, then turned his head to glare at Cordelia and Geoffrey as the gags pulled themselves out of the children's mouths. "What have happed to thee, hadst thou not had thine elf nearby?"

"Death," Cordelia answered, round-eyed.

"True death." Puck nodded. "Not children's play, from which thou couldst arise and walk. Now, when next thine elf bids thee retreat from danger, what wilt thou do?" And he turned his glare on Geoffrey.

"We will heed thee." The middle boy gazed back at Puck with the weight of realization. "I will own, now—there be perils that be too great for children—even we four!"

"We will obey thee," Magnus agreed. "We will heed even thy doubts, Robin."

Puck glowered at them—but he couldn't maintain it; his seriousness frayed, and mischief gleamed through.

The children saw, and relaxed with a shaky sigh. "Eh, Puck!" Magnus cried, "we feared thou wert
truly
enraged with us!"

"Which did no harm, I warrant." Puck turned and went over to Cordelia. "What is this stuff that muffled thy thoughts, child? Doth it wear thin?"

"Let me try." She stared at the rope that bound her wrists. The ends twitched, then began to draw back out of the knot— but slowly, so slowly! "We do recover."

"Not quickly enow." Puck seized the rope and whisked the knot loose. "Unbind them, Tacky!"

"I'll thank ye to remember yer manners, Barkface," the leprecohen retorted. "If ye ever learned any, that is," but he poked long fingers into Geoffrey's bonds and untied him in a trice.

Magnus wrenched his hands loose and seized his dagger. He cut through the rope that bound his ankles and leaped up to go to his little brother—and stumbled, nearly falling; but he caught the door frame in time., He yowled at the pain of the tingling in his ankles.

"Aye, the blood is angry at having been dammed from its normal course," Puck agreed. "Patience; it will return."

"There's scant time for patience." Magnus hobbled over to Gregory. "She may wake at any moment."

"No fear," Kelly assured him. "I've still a hammer."

But Magnus had untied Gregory, and the little boy flung his arms around his big brother's neck. "There, there, lad," Magnus crooned. " 'Twas horrid, but 'tis done."

"Hammer or not, 'twould be well to be gone," Puck said. "I hate all housen in clear weather—and this one reeks of evil. Come, children!"

He turned away to the door, and Geoffrey and Cordelia followed him with a very good will. But Magnus sent Gregory after them with a pat on the bottom, then turned back toward Phagia, frowning.

Puck turned back too, nettled. "Nay, lad! Come away!"

"She's but stunned," Magnus answered. "I bethink me we need her to be senseless for a longer time."

Cordelia looked up, alarmed. "What dost thou, brother?"

But the eldest was staring at the witch.

"What doth he?" Geoffrey demanded.

Gregory touched his shoulder. "Peace. He pushes thoughts of sleep into her mind."

Geoffrey's face hardened with envy. Magnus had been able to project his thoughts for a year now, but Geoffrey still couldn't. He had better sense than to make a jealous fuss at a moment like this, though.

The witch's eyes suddenly snapped open in surprise. Then they blinked, several times. She stiffened in alarm, realizing what was happening to her—but Gregory and Geoffrey caught hold of Magnus's hands, channeling their own strength into him; and slowly, Phagia's eyes closed. Her body relaxed, and her bony chest rose and fell with the slow rhythm of sleep.

"Well done, my brothers," Cordelia murmured.

"Softly," Magnus cautioned. "Her sleep is not yet deep."

"Come, now," Puck urged. "It doth behoove us to leave, and let her sleep."

"All away, then." Magnus stepped back to wave the others past him. "Whiles we may, without unpleasantness." He looked up suddenly, then whirled back to the bedroom. "Gregory!"

The youngest hovered above old Phagia, sitting cross-legged in midair, frowning down at the sleeping witch's face. "Big brother… there's something odd within her mind…"

Puck and Cordelia looked back over their shoulders, and both his brothers stilled. "Odd?" Magnus breathed. "What oddity is that?"

"Nay, I catch his meaning!" Cordelia leaped back to the old witch. " 'Tis some manner of compulsion, buried!"

"Cordelia!" Magnus cried in alarm.

Phagia stirred in her sleep, muttering.

Magnus instantly lowered his voice. "Beware!" he called in hushed tones. "Have thy broomstick by thee!"

"Oh, fuss not so!" Cordelia hissed back. "There's no danger—and were there, thou couldst lift me away right quickly. Now—leave me be a moment, the whiles I peek within her mind." And she knelt stock-still, staring down into the sleeping woman's face.

"Thou wilt heed thine elf this time!" Puck said by her shoulder. "Away, child! There is danger, deep in people's minds!"

"I misdoubt me an 'tis so deep as all that," Cordelia murmured. "Dost'a not recall, Puck, that Northern sorcerer who didst cast compulsions on all soldiers who came against him? Mama taught me then, how to break such spells."

"Well… mayhap, then…" Puck frowned and watched.

Cordelia gazed at the sleeping witch. Her brothers gathered around, watching silently. After awhile, she shuddered. " 'Tis vile! That foul sorcerer must needs have a gutter for a mind!"

"What did he?" Magnus asked softly.

"He tied friendship through her childhood urges in her nether parts to her need to eat—they merge at our ages. And those she loved—her mother and father—had denied her sweets when she wanted them, as all parents must, if they do not wish their children to fall ill—and she'd grown angry at that denial, as all children do. Since she loved them, that anger turns against all who befriend her, and she eats to gain revenge on her mama and papa."

"Doth she know any of this?" Geoffrey cried in indignation.

"Shhh!" Cordelia cautioned, and Phagia stirred in her sleep.

Magnus clapped a hand over Geoffrey's mouth.

"She knoweth naught," Cordelia whispered, "even as we thought. He cast a spell into her mind, in that way Papa calls 'hypnosis.' When she waked from the trance he made, she remembered naught—but in her sleep, the spell comes on her again, whene'er she's near a friend. Her deeds tonight were like to sleepwalking."

"Canst thou break the spell?" Magnus asked.

"Aye. 'Tis deeper than the sorcerer Alfar's, but not so deep that I cannot find its roots. Come, nubbin, lend me power." She caught Gregory's hand and gazed at Phagia. Gregory frowned, too, in intense concentration.

Geoffrey and Magnus were silent, watching. Puck's face was screwed up with worry, and he stood tense, ready to leap to aid if he was needed.

Phagia stirred in. her sleep, muttering a stream of words that the boys couldn't quite understand. Her body twitched a few times, stiffened, then suddenly relaxed. She breathed a deep sigh.

So did Cordelia, leaning back and going limp. "'Twas a sore trial, that."

"There was danger!" Puck accused.

Cordelia shook her head. "Only in that I might tire—but Gregory's strength was enough to lean on. And he sensed weakened points that I could break. 'Tis done; she'll not seek to bake another. She'll wake well rested, and with a greater sense of well-being than e'er she's had." She dropped her face into her hands, shuddering. "But, oh! That any could be so evil as to wreak such havoc in a person's mind, as that fell Lontar did!"

"Doth he still live?" Geoffrey's face had hardened.

Cordelia shrugged, but Kelly said, "He may. Word of such an one doth run through fairy gossip, now and again. Yet none know where he dwelleth."

"Well, we are warned." Magnus turned to Puck. "An we come near him, Robin, we'll be fully on our guard. This magus, at least, is naught to trifle with."

"And merits death." Geoffrey's eyes glowed. "An we encounter him, brother, take no chance. We'll smite him down, ere he can know we're by."

"Nay, surely thou wilt not!" Puck glared up at the boy, his fists on his hips. "Thou wilt not encounter him, be certain! For thou wilt now march home right quickly! Out the door! Off down the path! At once!"

Geoffrey glowered down at him in rebellion.

Magnus touched his shoulder. "Be mindful… webbed feet…"

Geoffrey looked up, appalled. Then he sighed and capitulated. "'Tis even as thou sayest, Puck.
Anything
thou sayest."

"Home," Gregory chirped.

They hurried on down the path, unnerved and shaken. Gregory glowered his darkest. "How could a man be so vile, Puck? 'Twould have been foul enow to weigh his greater strength against a woman; she had scant enough hope of fighting him even had she known she was beset—but to cast so horrid a spell on her, unawares!"

"'Tis, foul, I know," the elf agreed. "And men have done worse, lad."

"But to rend her whole life thus!" Cordelia cried.

Puck shrugged. "What cared he? So long as he felt the satisfaction of revenge—of what concern was her life to him?"

"'Tis the most vile of Sassenaches," Kelly muttered, face thunderous. "An we can find him, we must slay him!"

Gregory shuddered.

"That may not be true," Fess said quickly. "The wrong he has done, will not necessarily be righted by the equal wrong of his murder."

"Mayhap not—but it will surely prevent him from harming any others!"

"How now, brother," sneered Geoffrey, "thinkest thou to imprison a warlock?"

Magnus turned to scowl at his impertinent younger brother. "Wherefore not?"

"Why, for that he'll disappear clean from any cell thou mayest find for him!"

Gregory's eyes lost focus. "Mayhap there is a way…"

Geoffrey eyed him warily. "Dost think to craft a gaol that will hold a magic-worker? 'Ware, brother—ere thou dost find thyself imprisoned within it!"

"An he doth, he'll discover a way to come out," Magnus assured him, "yet no other would. An we can catch this vile sorcerer, I doubt not we can hold him."

"And how shalt thou catch him?" Cordelia scoffed.

"Why, thus!" Magnus cried, and he swatted at Geoffrey. "Tag!"