[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
your husband, and the other two at this table, must be taken back toLondon ,
to face judgment for treason, and my spoken orders required me to bring you as
well."
Angie looked slightly amused, but said nothing
He turned again to his men. "Make ready to travel," he said. "The Lady will
be allowed a maid and some clothes. We cannot take too great a care of them.
Prisoners are so apt to die on the way, and never arrive." He paused to smile
at Jim.
"To be sure, this often saves time and trouble in the long run, but I have
always thought it a pity, particularly when there is information to be got.
Elias, send a man to see what there is in the stable here."
Elias went off, another of his men following him. Out of the corner of his
eye, Jim saw one of the men-at-arms pick up a metal mazer standing at the far
end of the table and slip it into a sack on his back. He suddenly realized all
of them had such sacks and they were bulging.
There was no more time to waste.
"Hob," he called to the fireplace. "Tell Carolinus!"
There was no answer.
"Calling a Devil to aid you from the fireplace, were you, Sir James?" Simon
asked. "You should remember that the good Father, having blessed you, has
taken away your magick. I entreat you and Sir Brian to sit quietly a little
while longer, while my men make all ready for the trip back toLondon . It will
not be long. Will my Lady sit?"
But Angie had already done so.
"That reminds me," said Sir Simon. "Have you a particular servant woman you
would like to take with you, my Lady? I will have her fetched, and you can
give her orders as to what to pack for your journey. I am a knight-bachelor in
both senses, so I have no idea what a lady might require for such a journey.
Who shall I send to fetch?"
"Send for Enna," said Angie coldly. "She will know what to pack."
"See to it," said Sir Brian, nodding at a man-at-arms, who immediately turned
Page 234
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
and left, through a side-passage doorway.
"There," said Sir Simon, "you see how smoothly things go when we are all
agreed?"
He helped himself to more wine.
"Damme if I'd sit at table with you, if I had not been here before you," said
Brian.
"I believe Sir Brianis not yet fully understanding of the situation. Perhaps
we should put the shackles on them all now, to save time."
"Shackles!"Brian surged to his feet. Evidently he had been struggling with
the thongs about his wrist and either broken them, or wetted them with his own
blood to the point where the rawhide stretched. At any rate, his hands came
around free in front of him, with cord still dangling from one torn wrist, and
he went with hands alone for the throat of Sir Simon. It took five of the
men-at-arms to stop him before he could reach the other knight.
"Lack-a-dayl" said Sir Simon, shaking his head. He had not moved an inch.
"I am afraid the grief of being arrested has addled Sir Brian's wits. Shackle
him first, and well; but then the rest must be also fitted with irons even the
Lady when we are a-horseback, and whoever is traveling with her as maid. We
must not waste much more time here. There is still a full day before us.Move!"
The last word came out like the crack of a whip. Two men ran up the length of
the Hall and out the double doors into the courtyard.
Jim realized that for himself, Angie, Dafydd, and Brian, there was no more
time at all. Neither Hob nor Carolinus could help. He wondered what Sir Simon
had done with his Malencontri men-at-arms and the other servants. Notthat a
dozen men-at-arms could take on this troop. Even with some sent on errands,
there were still almost thirty of them in the Great Hall, all weaponed and
wearing the light armor of ordinary medieval foot-soldiers.
Jim was beginning to feel desperate. Usually, in a tight spot, his mind came
up with some idea or solution to the situation. He had never missed his magic
before the way he was missing it at this moment, in the Hall of his own
Castle.
Like him, Brian and Dafydd were tied up and helpless. No one could offer even
a hope of rescue
Or wait a minute!
There was still himself. A blessing took magic away only from humans; it did
not affect the limited, in-born magic of Naturals.
Only yesterday, down in the Throne-cave of the Gnarly King, he had been able
to use the power that let him change himself into a dragon, despite the fact
that he no longer had the magic power controlled by the Accounting Office. It
was more thanpossible, it seemed to him now, that that same power akin to the
in-born powers of such as Naturals might still be available to him.
But, he was thinking when he ought to be acting. If he changed into his
dragon form now, these bonds they had him tied with would snap like threads he
had lost whole suits of clothes in the early days when he had changed into a
dragon, before he got control of the change process magically. But in any
Page 235
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
case, once free as a Dragon&
No it was an attractive thought, but not practical. He might scare the liver
and lights out of the men-at-arms, though less possibly out of the knight; but
ifthat many-armed men really set about him in this small Hall where he had no
room to take to the air, they would be bound to win.
He wouldn't be able to rescue Angie and the rest immediately on changing. The
best he could hope for would be to get away, and then come back with enough
strength to handle them. What he needed was a plan that would take advantage
of his becoming a dragon after he had supposedly been stripped of his ability
to make magic.
He could certainly recruit the young dragons from Cliffside to come back with
him, once the men with their prisoners were out of the Castle and in the open
where they were approachable from all sides. Something might be done under
those conditions. The trouble was that the young dragons would go through the
motions of attack, but not actually fight for him and he dreaded to think of
what the parental dragons would say, if they heard that he had deliberately
taken their children into battle with georges which even the strongest of
adult dragons avoided nowadays.
He thought hard, but nothing else came to mind. Well, at least he could
probably make his escape, follow them from the air, and maybe find some other
help.
There were other possible sources of help for instance, in Brian's rather
tottery set of servants and few men-at-arms. Geronde had a solid group
atMalvernCastle , and there were also Giles o' the Wold and his men, off in
their forested lands. The problem would lie in finding them all and getting
them here in time to be of any use he himself could not afford to be gone long
enough that Sir Simon and his party could get away.
Asking any of those people to take armed action against the King'smen, would
be unfair and bloody. It would be better if he could find some way to scare
the men-at-arms into abandoning their prisoners.
Sir Simon would be a separate problem. Jim had been in the fourteenth century
long enough now to know that the other man whatever his other defects of
character would not be one to panic or run from a fight.
But that was enough thinking for now. He turned to look at Angie, only a
couple of feet from him, and moved his eyebrows up and down, slowly and
deliberately, several times. She nodded slightly and he knew she understood.
He looked back at the doorway, and judged its distance. Two long leaps, if his
wings helped him to be air-borne a little on each one, should see him to the
doorway. He was just about to make his dragon-change, when a roar stopped him.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]