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"Thou'lt use thy 'sleep spell,' not thy cudgel," Magnus directed. "'Tis safer, and more sure. And I will stand guard over the sorcerer; he might yet give us a bad turn or two." He stepped over beside Lontar.
"Thou must needs sleep, soon or late," Gregory pointed out.
Magnus frowned. "'Tis true. Let us bind them more securely. Geoffrey, dost thou know that coil of rope Papa doth keep in the shed?"
Geoffrey nodded and disappeared with a bang. Air boomed out a moment later, and he was back, a huge coil of rope over his shoulder. He dumped it on the floor and straightened, exhaling. " 'Tis heavy!"
"Aye," Magnus replied. "Thy pardon; I should have gone."
"Oh, nay!" Geoffrey said, irked. "Dost thou think me a baby?"
"Never, brother," Magnus assured him. "Now, then—let us do the giant first, whilst we're fresh. Gregory, thou must bind the knots. Geoffrey and Cordelia, now—UP!"
They all scowled in fierce concentration. Slowly, Groghat rose three feet off the floor The top end of the rope darted toward him like a striking Snake, whipped about his body, and tied itself in a square knot.
'Turn, now," Magnus grated.
All three older children tensed.
Slowly, Groghat began to turn, then faster and faster, like a table leg on a lathe.
Gregory frowned at the rope, guiding it as it laid itself in a neat coil all along Groghat's body. When it reached his ankles, he stopped turning, and the rope whipped itself into another knot.
"Now, down," Magnus directed.
The giant's body lowered itself to the floor again.
Cordelia, Geoffrey, and Magnus all heaved a sigh of relief. Geoffrey stepped in to cut the rope with his knife, and stepped back. Then Magnus said, "Now the sorcerer."
They didn't even scowl; Lontar's scrawny body floated up off the floor easily; the rope tied itself; Lontar began to revolve.
When all three lay cocooned neatly side by side, Magnus and Geoffrey took up their stations again.
"Thou still must needs sleep," Gregory repeated.
"When we do, elves may stand guard; there will be time for us to waken, now that these three are so securely bound," Magnus explained. "They shall call us at the slightest sign of wake fulness. Will they not, Robin?"
"What… ?" Puck looked up from chewing his fingernails. "Oh, aye! Be assured, the Wee Folk will be most eager to aid thee in keeping these three from waking in the High Warlock's house! 'Tis bad enough as 'tis," he muttered, turning back to gaze into the cold hearth, chafing his hands.
Cordelia frowned. "What doth trouble thee, Robin?"
"Naught that need worry thee," the elf answered. " 'Tis for myself to answer, children. Do thou not be concerned."
Cordelia still frowned but, unable to figure out what Puck was talking about, shrugged and went to the shelves to take up her embroidery. "Well then, sin that it may be some hours or, nay, even days yet, I will seek to pass the time." And she went to sit down by Phebe's feet, keeping an eye on the milkmaid and plying her needle, singing happily.
For himself, Gregory drifted up to the mantelpiece and sat there cross-legged, tailor-fashion, back straight, hands in his lap, gazing down at his brothers and sister fondly, smiling.
Puck looked up at him with a grimace, knowing Gregory's mother had forbidden the mantelpiece, claiming that if it had been intended for sitting on, his father would have carved a chair in it. The High Warlock had instantly volunteered to start whittling, but his wife had vetoed it with a glare and a remark about soot on boys' clothes. Her husband had pointed out that a little soot probably wouldn't make much difference, but mother had been firm, and the mantel had remained a forbidden zone. Puck remembered that now, and started to say something, but caught himself and heaved a sigh. What was one peccadillo more or less? He went back to a glum contemplation of his fate.
Around them, the room darkened into evening. Finally, with an impatient snap of the fingers, Puck summoned some brownies who skipped to light the fire and a few lamps, then disappeared back into their cra
Magnus and Geoffrey each sent their prisoners back into sleep again. Phebe began to twitch, and Cordelia looked up at her, briefly. The woman went back to sleep.
Which is how matters stood when the door opened and the High Warlock and his wife came in, with glad cries upon their lips.
The glad cries froze as they saw the scene before them.
Puck took one look at their faces, moaned, and shot up the chimney with a wail of despair.
The children looked at one another wide-eyed, suddenly aware that their behavior might have been a little less than ideal.
Then Mama closed her mouth, and took a deep breath.
But Papa beat her to it. "And just what do you think you've been doing?"
Gregory's chin began to quiver. "We… we are sorry…"
"We will not do it again," Cordelia promised with tears in her eyes.
"We did not mean to…" Magnus explained, with trepidation.
But.Geolfrey squared his shoulders in defiance and stated, "Thou didst not say we couldn't!"