Part 16 (2/2)
The elder boy looked up in indignation. ”Was not scared!”
”Yeah, sure, you were calm as a mill pond. Just go easy, honey.”
”Oh, Papa!” she said, exasperated. ”Can they not see I wish them no harm?” Before he could answer, she whirled away to the d.u.c.h.ess. ”May I play with them?”
The d.u.c.h.ess stared down at her. Then, slowly, she said, ”Why... an they wish it... certes.”
That they would wish it. Rod did not doubt; he knew his daughter. Already, the two boys were watching her with marked interest.
”Oh, good!” Cordelia spun back to the children. ”I have brothers, too. Thou mayst play with them also, an thou dost wish it.”
The two boys still looked wary, but Cordelia's friendli- ness was infectious. The younger opened the coach door, and stepped out. ”I,” he said, ”am Gaston.”
Rod turned away, quite certain the d.u.c.h.ess's attention would be fully occupied for a while, and went over to his wife.
As he came up, she sat back on her heels, gazing down at the knight and shaking her head. Instantly, Rod was alert.
”What's the matter? Is the hypnosis too strong?”
Gwen shook her head again. ”I have broke the spell, my lord. Yet I can bring him no closer to life than this.”
Rod turned, staring down at the knight. He saw a lined face and bald head, with a fringe of gray hair. His skin was gray, and covered with a sheen of sweat. Guilt swept through 706 Rod. He knelt beside the knight. ”But it was only 120 volts!
Only fifteen amperes! And I only hit him with it for a few seconds!”
Gwen shook her head. ”It may have as easily been the fall, my lord. His heart had stopped, and I labored to make it begin to beat again.”
”Heart attack?” Rod took a closer look at the knight.
”He's middle-aged-and he's let himself sag out of shape.”
He shook his head, looking up at Gwen. ”There was no way I could tell that. He had his helmet on, and the visor was down.”
”In truth, thou couldst not,” she agreed, ”and anything thou hadst done to stop him, might have hurt him this badly.”
She lifted her eyes, gazing into his. ”Yet, my lord, I mis- doubt me an 'twas any action of thine that did strike him down. He had ridden too many miles in harness.”
Rod nodded slowly. ”Whoever sent him out to lead a troop in full armor, at his age, must've seen him only as a thing, not a person. Who... ? No, cancel that. Of course- who else? Alfar.”
”We will tend him, milady.”
Gwen looked up, and saw the sergeant kneeling across from her.
”Sir Verin is old, but dear to us,” the soldier explained.
”How he came to this pa.s.s, we know not. We will tend him.” He lifted his head, showing haunted eyes. ”Lady- what have our bodies done, the whiles our souls slept?”
”Naught that is any fault of thine.” She touched his hand, smiling gently. ”Trouble not thine heart.”
Geoffrey darted up beside her. ”Mama! There are chil- dren! May we go play?”
Gwen looked up, startled. ”Why...”
”We've got company,” Rod explained.
A short while later, the parents sat around a hasty camp- fire while the children played nearby. The d.u.c.h.ess sat, s.h.i.+vering in spite of the sun's midday warmth. Gwen had fetched a blanket from Fess's pack and wrapped it around her, but the poor lady still s.h.i.+vered with reaction. She gazed at the children, who were winding up a raucous game of tag. ”Ah, bless them! Poor mites.” Tears gathered at the 107.
comers of her eyes. ”They know not the meaning of what hath happed.”
”Thou hast not told them, then?” Gwen said softly.
The d.u.c.h.ess shook her head. ”They know what they have seen, and no more.” She looked up at Rod, a hard stare. ”And I will not tell them until I know.”
Rod stared back, and nodded slowly. ”Why not? Your husband could still be alive. It's even possible that he's well.”
The d.u.c.h.ess nodded slowly, maintaining the glare. But she couldn't hold it long, and her head dropped.
Nearby, the children collapsed in a panting tangle.
”Nay, but tell!” Cordelia cajoled. ”Didst thou truly see the evil sorcerer?”
”Nay,” said the youngest; and ”We saw naught,” said the eldest. ”Naught save the inside of our keep. Mother penned us there, and would not even let us go so far as the window.”
”Yet thou didst come in a coach,” Magnus reminded.
”Didst thou see naught then?”
The boys shook their heads, and the youngest said, ”We knew only that Mother bade us follow her down to the courtyard, and placed us in the coach. Through the gate house, we heard the clash of arms afar off; yet she drew the curtains closely, and bade us open them not.”
The oldest added, ”We could hear the rumble of the wheels echoing about us, and knew that we pa.s.sed through the gatehouse. Then the portcullis did crash down behind us, and the noises of war began to grow nearer.”
Geoffrey's eyes glinted.
”Then they began to grow fainter, till they were lost behind us,” the eldest went on, ”and we heard naught but the grating of the coach's wheels.”
The youngest nodded. ”When at last we did part the curtains, there was naught to see but summer fields and groves.”
The d.u.c.h.ess pressed her face into her hands, and her shoulders shook with more than s.h.i.+vering. Gwen tucked the blanket more tightly around her, murmuring soothing in- anities. She glanced at Rod and nodded toward the children.
Rod took the cue. ”Uh, kids-could you maybe change the subject?”
708 ”Eh?” Cordelia looked up and took in the situation at a glance. ”Oh!” She was instantly contrite. ”We are sorry, Papa.” She turned to the other children, catching the hands of the d.u.c.h.ess's sons. ”Come, let us play at tracking.”
The fatuous look they gave her boded well for her teen- aged future, and ill for Rod's coming peace of mind. But they darted away, calling to one another, and Magnus hid his face against a large tree, and began to count.
The d.u.c.h.ess lifted her head, turning it from side to side in wonder. ”They so quickly forget such ill!”
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