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Chapter 13
"Yet wherefore have we gone south again?" Cordelia spoke to Puck, but her eyes were on the brace of partridge that Magnus turned slowly on the spit over the campfire.
"Aye," Gregory said, and swallowed before he went on. "We have journeyed northward thus far, Puck. Dost thou mean to take us home now?"
The elf shook his head. "I have an itch in my bones that tells me thou art right to seek thy parents. Whether thou wilt find them or no, thou art right to seek them."
"Yet rebellions commonly start far from Ru
"'Tis not a rebellion we face," Puck answered. "'Tis a host of rebellions, and their leaders do wish to topple the throne at first chance. They must, therefore, stay near the Royal Mere."
Geoffrey nodded. " 'Tis sound."
"I rejoice that I meet thine approval," Puck said, with withering sarcasm. Geoffrey watched the partridge turn, blithely unwithered. He swallowed, though.
"Yet surely we're amiss to go farther into the forest," Magnus said, frowning. "Will they not hold their center in the Capitol itself?"
"Nay," Geoffrey answered, "for no other reason than that we'd seek them there. Puck hath the right of it; they'll as likely be in the forest near Ru
"With modem communications, the 'center' can be anyplace—or many places," Fess explained. "Still, if there is a spies' nest, it would most logically be near Ru
"Fess agrees with thee," Gregory informed the elf.
"I have heard," Puck grunted. " 'Tis not witch-folk alone who hear thoughts."
"Art thou not pleased?"
"I cry his mercy," the elf said dryly.
"Have you any method in mind for locating this hypothetical headquarters?" Fess asked.
"Set a spy to catch a spy," Puck retorted, "and I've more of them than any mortal band."
Leaves rustled, and two fairies flitted up, close enough to be seen in the firelight.
"Summer and Fall!" Cordelia cried in delight.
The two fairies dropped dainty curtsies. "We have come to repay thy good aid."
"Who did summon thee?" Kelly snorted.
"Why, the Puck," Summer answered. " 'Tis our wood, do ye not see; we know who moves in it better than any."
"What doth move?" Puck asked softly.
Fall turned to him. "'Tis warlocks thou dost seek, is it not?"
"Warlocks, aye—or sorcerers, more likely."
"We know of them," said Summer. "They have a great house quite deep in the forest, at the foot of the mountains."
Puck looked up at Geoffrey. "'Tis but three hours' ride from Ru
"And I doubt me they would ride," the boy returned.
"'Tis two days' walk, though, for a mortal," Fall cautioned. "Thou art witch-bairns; can ye travel no faster?"
Magnus started to answer, then glanced up at Fess.
"Do not delay for my sake," the robot assured them. "I shall follow your thoughts, and will arrive not long after yourselves. The unicorn, I doubt not, will find Cordelia no matter where she goes. I ask only that you not risk any great hazards till I am with you."
"We will fly with winged heels," Magnus assured the fairies.
"Or broomsticks," Summer said, with a smirk.
It was a big half-timbered house with white stucco that had mellowed to ivory with age—or what looked like age; for "Who would ha' builded a house so deep in the woods?" Magnus asked.
A hut would have been understandable, maybe even a cottage—but this was a two-story Tudor house with wings enclosing a courtyard.
"Nay, none would have built here," Geoffrey whispered, with full certainty. " 'Tis Papa's enemies have made this place, and that not much longer ago than Magnus was born."
"If 'tis so big, it must be ripe for haunting," Cordelia whispered.
Her brothers looked at her in surprise. Then they began to grin.
The guard's eyes flicked from screen to screen, from one infrared panorama of the clearing outside the headquarters house to another, over to a graph-screen that showed objects as dots of light on crossed lines, then to a screen that showed sounds as waveforms, then back to the picture screens again. He was bored, but knew the routine was necessary—HQ was safe . only because it was guarded.
A long, quavering sound began, so low that the guard doubted he'd heard it at first, rising gradually in pitch and loudness to a bass, moaning vibration that shook the whole building. The guard darted a look about him, then whirled to the score of screens that showed views of the inside of the house. Finally, he stabbed at a button and called, "Captain! I'm hearing something!"
"So am I," a voice answered out of thin air. A moment later, the captain came ru
But as soon as he started talking, the sound stopped.
The two men looked about them, waiting. Finally, the captain said, "What in hell was that?"
"Right," the guard answered. Then he saw the captain's face and said, "Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood."
"I don't need light moods, I need answers! What did your screens show?"
"Nothing," the guard said with finality. "Absolutely nothing."
The captain scowled at the screens. "How about the oscilloscope?"
"Nothing there either."
The captian whirled back to him. "But there had to be! That was a noise—it had to show as a waveform!"
The guard shook his head. "Sorry, Captain. Just the usual night-noise traces."
"Not the outdoor scope, you idiot! The indoor one!"
"Nothing there, either." The guard glared at him. "And if we could both hear it, one of the mikes should have picked it up."
They were both silent for a moment, the guard watching the captain, the captain gazing about him, frowning. "What," he said, "makes a noise that people can hear, but microphones can't?"
"They are worried," Gregory reported, "and afeard, though they hide it."
"No mortal can fail to fear the unknown," Puck said, gri
They crouched in a dry stream-bed near the house; the stream had been diverted indoors to fill out the water supply. Bracken had grown up in it, enough to cushion the children as they lay against the side on their stomachs.
"Is that why we waited for night?" Geoffrey asked.
"It is," Puck answered. "Thy kind fears the dark, though some of ye hide it well."
"What shall we give them next?" Cordelia asked.
Puck turned to her with a smirk. "What wouldst thou fear?"
The captain sat in the watch officer's office, gazing out the window. What could that noise have been? Of course, old houses are always settling—but this house wasn't really old, it just looked that way!
Well, on the other hand, new houses settle, too—he knew what kind of shoddy workmanship they tried to pass off these days. But settling wouldn't make a noise that lasted so long!
Outside, something flitted by; he barely saw it out of the corner of his eye. He frowned, peering more closely. There it was again, just a flicker—but enough to need checking! He pivoted in his chair and pressed a touchpoint on his desk. "Check the visual scan, northeast quadrant, quickly!"
"Checking," the guard's voice responded.
The captain waited, glaring out the window. There it was once more—still a flicker, but lasting a little longer this time. He could almost make out a form…
"Nothing," the guard stated.
The captain cursed and whirled back to the window.
The shape danced between two tree trunks a hundred-feet
from the house, at the edge of the security perimeter. It was pale, glowing, and vaguely human in form. In spite of himself the captain felt the hairs trying to stand up on the back of his neck. He was a materialist—he knew nothing could exist if it couldn't be weighed or measured. If he saw it but the cameras didn't, it couldn't really be there; it had to be an hallucination. And that meant…