Part 16 (1/2)

He sailed around the corner under full steam, with the guardsman a foot behind him, bent double, hand reaching, and another guard right behind him. Rod and Gwen kicked their feet out from under them, and they belly-flopped on cold stone with a shout. Magnus and Cordelia yanked their helmets off, and Rod and Gwen struck down with reversed daggers. A grace note of nasty double chunks! sounded, and the guardsmen twitched and lay still, goose eggs swelling on the backs of their heads.

”They'll sleep for an hour or two, at the least.” Gwen handed Magnus's dagger back to him.

”h.o.a.rstane? Ambrine?” A hoa.r.s.e voice called from around the corner.

Everyone froze. Rod's pulse beat high, with the hope that the third guard might follow the first two.

Unfortunately, he was a little too wary. ”h.o.a.rstane!” he snapped again. There was silence; then the guardsman snarled again. Metal jangled as he turned away, and the door boomed shut; then a bolt snicked tight.

”Back in, and the door locked.” Rod shook his head. ”Well, we hadn't expected any more. You said you could handle four, son?”

Magnus nodded. ”Without doubt.” His eyes lost focus; he became very still.

Rod waited. And waited. Four, he reminded himself, were bound to take a little time.

Finally Magnus relaxed and nodded. ”All sleep, Papa.”

”Okay. You go get Elidor ready, while we get the door open.”

Magnus nodded, and disappeared.

He'd started doing it when he was a baby, but Rod still found it unnerving. With people who were only friends, such as Toby, okay-but his own son was another matter. ”Well, teamwork starts at home,” he sighed. ”After you, ladies.”

They tiptoed up to the door. Rod kept a firm hold on little Geoff's hand, to make sure he didn't try to teleport away to join Magnus. Gwen watched with fond pride as Cordelia stared at the lock, and they heard the sound of the bolt sliding back. The door swung open.

They stepped into a scene out of ”Sleeping Beauty.” The third guardsman sat slumped in a chair, chin on chest, snoring. Beyond him, a half-open door showed a nanny in a rocker, dozing over her needlework. Rod stepped forward and pushed the door the rest of the way open. Elidor looked up from belting on his sword. His hair was tousled, and his eyes bleary from slumber, red and puffy; Rod had a notion he'd cried himself to sleep.

”Almost ready, Papa.” Magnus picked up a cloak and held it out.

Elidor stepped over; Magnus dropped it over his shoulders.

”G.o.d save Your Majesty.” Rod bowed. ”I take it Magnus has informed you of our invitation?”

”Aye, and with right good heart do I accept! But why art thou willing to take me from mine uncle's halls?”

”Because my sons have taken a liking to you.” You couldn't exactly tell a King that he triggered every paternal response you had. ”If you're ready, we shouldn't linger.”

”Ready I am!'.' The King clapped a hat on and headed for the door. Rod bowed him through, and waited as Magnus stepped through behind him.

He found Elidor staring at the snoring guard. ”Magnus had told me of it,” the boy whispered, ”but I scarce could credit it.”

”You're moving in magic circles.” Rod gave him a firm nudge on the shoulder. ”And if you don't keep moving, we'll wind up back where we started.”

Elidor paced on forward, pausing for a bow to answer Gwen and Cordelia's curtseys. Rod took the opportunity to dodge on ahead.

Magnus stepped up beside him, as pilot, and they padded silently through dim, torch-lit halls. Whenever Magnus stopped and nodded to Cordelia, she skipped on ahead, singing, to engage whatever unsuspecting person happened to be walking the halls at this late hour, in conversation, until Magnus could knock them out. After the fifth guardsman, Rod noticed the man was twitching in his sleep. ”Getting tired, son?”

Magnus nodded.

So did Rod. ”I'll take over for a while.”

Fortunately, there weren't too many more; the old-fas.h.i.+oned method is a little risky.

Elidor just followed along, his eyes getting wider and wider till they seemed to take up half his face.

Finally they crossed the outer bailey-it was really the only one; the castle had grown till it absorbed the inner. Rod's commando tactics couldn't do much about the sentries on the wall, so Magnus padded along, alert and ready; but the sentries were watching the outside, so they came to the main gatehouse without incident.

There they stopped, and Gwen gathered them into a huddle. ”Here's a pretty problem,” she whispered. ”A sentry stands on each tower, a porter by the winch, and six guardsmen in the wardroom-and thou art wearied, my son.”

Magnus was looking a little frayed around the edges. ”I can still answer for two, Mama, mayhap three.”

”That leaves six.” Rod frowned. ”What're they armed with, Gwen?”

Gwen gazed off into s.p.a.ce for a moment. ”All bear pikes, save the Captain; he wears a sword.”

”Could you and Cordelia bop them with their own pike-b.u.t.ts?”

”Aye, but they wear their helmets.”

”So.” Rod rubbed his chin. ”The problem is, getting them to take off their helmets.”

”Why, that can/ do!” Elidor declared, and marched off towards the guardroom before anyone could stop him.

Rod looked up after him, startled, glanced back at Gwen, then turned and sprinted after Elidor. What was the kid trying to do, blow the whole escape? But the boy moved fast, and he was hammering on the door before Rod could catch him. It swung open, and Rod ducked into the nearest shadow and froze. He could see through the open door, though, as Elidor marched in. The guardsmen scrambled to their feet. ”Majesty!” The Captain inclined his head. ”What dost thou abroad so late o' night?”

Elidor frowned. ”I am thy King! Art thou so ill-bred as not to know the proper form of greeting? Uncover, knaves, and bow!”

Rod held his breath.

The soldiers glanced at the Captain, whose eyes were locked with Elidor's. But the boy-King held his chin high, glance not wavering an inch. Finally, the Captain nodded.

The guardsmen slowly removed their helmets and bowed.

Their pikes leaped to life, slamming down on the backs of their heads with the flats of their blades. They slumped to the floor with a clatter.

All except the Captain; he didn't have a pike near. He snapped upright, terror