C. Dale Brittain_Wizard of Yurt 02

by The Wood Nymph;the Cranky Saint

  The tall prince smiled at last, a smile that transformed his face. He lifted her up and swung her far off the ground, so that her dress billowed out and she laughed breathlessly. He said loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Diana, I love you and always will, but you are the world's worst tease!"

  I looked quickly at Dominic. He was caught between relief and wounded dignity, but relief appeared to be winning.

  The constable pushed forward through the suddenly laughing and talking crowd to make himself heard. "If you would all like to proceed to the chapel for the wedding, I can promise you a fine feast afterwards!"

  With good-natured jostling, everyone made their way up the narrow stairs to the castle chapel. The kitchen staff were still desperately cooking and preparing, but the rest of the servants joined the knights and ladies.

  There was a brief hesitation over who should escort the bride to the altar. For a moment I was afraid the duchess would ask Dominic, but she seemed to decide that that would push her luck too far, for to my surprise she asked me.

  "So how did you finally decide to accept Prince Ascelin?" I asked in a low voice as we stood at the door of the chapel, waiting for everyone to settle down and for the music to begin.

  She squeezed my arm and smiled. "I'd always intended to marry him. I know you realized that all along."

  If she thought I had guessed far more than I in fact had, I was not going to disabuse her.

  "That's why I had my wizard make the great horned rabbits, of course, so I could have an excuse to invite him into the kingdom. After refusing him five years ago, I couldn't very well send him a message by the pigeons that I had changed my mind! I had to have a chance to see him, to hunt with him, to make sure his own heart hadn't changed.

  "When we'd known each other in the City, all I saw was someone extremely handsome, an extremely good dancer, who seemed to have a much too priggish moral sense for any young member of the aristocracy. He'd told me he was a renowned hunter, but I'd never even seen him hunt. I had to turn him down. But in the years since then . . . Of course, his seeking sanctuary, when Dominic wanted to kill him, I at first thought was cowardice. But then I realized it was both courage and good moral sense, and maybe I need more of the latter myself."

  She laughed up at me, then turned it into a frown. "There is one thing I still don't know. I'd had my wizard make the horned rabbits so Ascelin and I could hunt them together, but why did he appear in Yurt even before I'd had a chance to send him a message?"

  I smiled. "Once you're married, I'm sure he'll tell you."

  It was almost like a fairy tale, in which the handsome peasant boy woos and wins the lovely princess, except that Prince Ascelin had never been a peasant, and Diana had never imagined that he was.

  The chapel's brass choir began then to play, and I tucked her hand firmly under my arm and walked with her down the aisle. Joachim, looking sober, and Nimrod, looking overwhelmingly glad, waited for us by the altar.

  III

  The service was short but dignified. The duchess glowed, and Nimrod's rough clothes became trivial compared with his happiness. Dominic sat impassively throughout, but at the end he did step forward to be the first of the spectators to kiss the bride.

  In the talking and laughing that followed, I heard him say to young Hugo, "You know, I may indeed take you up on your offer to go back to the City with you."

  I slipped away from the knot of people around the altar with no attention to spare for Dominic. I had an idea.

  In the great hall the kitchen staff was still setting up the tables for the wedding feast. I went quickly by them with a nod for Gwen and into the room where we kept the magic glass telephone.

  It took me several tries, including a call to the wizards' school, before I was able to get the magic coordinates for the kingdom far up in the eastern mountains where Elerius was Royal Wizard. Then it took several minutes for him to come to the phone. I realized my heart was beginning to pound, as though I might have only a few moments before the monster was on us, and the time was almost gone.

  At first Elerius didn't remember me, although he tried politely to act as though he did. When he finally realized that, in spite of the white beard, I was the Daimbert, three classes behind him, who had always seemed so unpromising to the masters, he surprised me by congratulating me with apparently complete sincerity on the invention of the far-seeing telephone. But he then had trouble under­ standing what I wanted.

  "It's been made with the old magic," I repeated, willing the tiny figure in the telephone base to know the solution. His black eyebrows made triangles over his eyes, which were a light brown, almost tawny yellow, and which I had always found disturbing in spite of their inevitably helpful expression. "Something similar to the spells you taught in that course at the school this spring."

  "And you've already tried shooting it and paralyzing it?"

  "That's what I said. And nothing works."

  Elerius thought this over, looking troubled. He had always been very kind to the younger wizardry students and indeed seemed anxious, unlike most older wizards, to be friendly with everyone. If we hadn't always been so jealous of him, we probably would have liked him.

  "There isn't a single spell to give sticks and bones the semblance of life," he said at last. "Your predecessor's magic certainly falls into a certain category of spells, the same category I learned from the old magician here, but at a certain point every renegade wizard who tries to create a living being must go about it differently."

  "And there isn't a universal spell to dissolve such creatures?"

  "I don't think so, Daimbert, or if so I certainly don't know it."

  "How about the teachers at the school?" I asked urgently. "I heard—" I considered trying to explain about Nimrod and gave it up. "I heard that, some years ago, a renegade wizard made a whole army of creatures out of hair and bone, and the school was able to catch them and destroy them."

  "I'm afraid," said Elerius dryly, running a hand over his black beard, "that that was the old magician here in my kingdom. The masters of the school won't know any spells against creatures more complex than what young Evrard made. The magician had been in hiding ever since, until I found him up in the mountains only a month before he died. He knew he didn't have long, and he taught me the spells before he went."

  I closed and opened my eyes. "All right. Thank you. I'll see what I can improvise. Just promise me one thing."

  "Certainly."

  "If I fail, I'll telephone you again—or I'll leave word to have someone else call if the monster kills me. Should that happen, swear to me you'll get the best help possible, from the school or from any other wizards there may be who know the old magic. You've got to come to Yurt and stop this thing."

  He nodded slowly. "I promise to try. But I'm confident the creator of the far-seeing telephone will find a way himself."

  I leaned my forehead against the stone wall once he hung up, wishing I felt as confident. My predecessor was gone far beyond where I could ask his advice. If the best wizardry student the school had ever had, one invited back to teach a magic none of the older masters knew, didn't know any spells more complicated than those to make great horned rabbits, I had no idea how I was going to stop the monster. But somehow I had to.

  It sounded as though the wedding party was coming down from the chapel. I went to find Evrard, wondering if it would be more unsuitable to leave before the wedding feast or irresponsible to stay for it. But then a huge crash resounded in the great hall, followed by a scream.

  The scream was repeated. It was a woman's voice.

  In the chapel stairway I could hear the shouts of the knights of Yurt. But they couldn't help with what I knew I would find.

  I raced into the great hall as Evrard and the knights burst in from the other side. In the middle of the hall, between the rose-decorated trestle tables, stood Gwen, clutching her baby, a trayful of silverware at her feet and an overturned bench blocking her retreat. Before her was the monster.
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  "Good," said Evrard.

  "What do you mean, good?" I almost screamed at him.

  The great hall was instantly a scene of panic, as women and men both yelled, some fighting to retreat up the chapel stairs as others fought to get out, and those already in the great hall ran in all directions. Only Gwen stood frozen, and a creature as tall as a man but twice as broad slowly advanced toward her, its undead eyes staring fixedly at the baby.

  One of the royal knights leaped forward, but the monster lifted an arm, almost lazily, and dashed him to the flagstones.

  Evrard sprang between Gwen and the monster, and it paused, then shifted its eyes to him. "My spell's working!" he shouted to me. "Come on! It should follow." He darted by the monster and out through the tall doors into the courtyard. Turning its back on Gwen and the dazed knight, the monster lumbered after him.

  Evrard waited in the courtyard, but as soon as the monster came out he was off again, flying through the gates, across the drawbridge, and onto the grass beyond. Again the monster followed, and I flew behind. Out of the valley, it moved relatively slowly, which was a relief. But seeing it again brought back vividly the last time I had seen it, as it had raced away from killing the old wizard.

  "What did you do?" I demanded, dropping to the ground next to Evrard.

  "I improvised," he said, panting but looking inordinately proud of himself. "I know they purposely never taught us the summoning spell, but a few of us young wizards found it in the Master's books, one night about a week before I left the school."

  It was exactly what I had done myself. Maybe the Master had known all along what we were doing. The monster had stopped and was eyeing us, its head thrust forward between massive shoulders.

  "I decided you were right," Evrard went on, "that I couldn't very well summon something without a proper mind, so I altered the spell. You're not the only person who can improvise!"

  I had to admire his ingenuity, if not his good sense. I kept an eye warily on the monster. It moved slowly toward us, and we backed away. It moved again, slightly faster, and we backed up faster.

  "But how did you manage to put a spell on it?" I yelled to Evrard.

  "While you were all busy worrying about the saint, I went back into the cave after it, remember?"

  The monster was backing us down the hill toward the woods. Its eyes still seemed alive even without the old wizard looking through them. "You found it but didn't tell me?" I demanded furiously.

  "Well, no, I didn't actually find it. But I went far enough back to be fairly sure I was going the right way. So I set up my summoning spell and added a few touches to your magic marks, which I hoped would help draw the monster in the right direction. Once it was out of the cave, I didn't doubt it would be able to follow us back here if I'd made my spell strong enough. And it looks as though I did!"

  His spell was certainly working. The monster seemed fascinated by Evrard. Slowly and inexorably, it kept coming toward us.

  We flew at this point, down the hill to where the brick road from the castle entered the trees, and paused again. "Evrard," I said, speaking slowly and carefully, "would you like to tell me why you called the monster out of the valley and brought it here?"

  "You're not pleased with me?" asked Evrard in distress.

  So he'd figured it out at last.

  "And I'd thought you'd be impressed! If I hadn't summoned it, your Cranky Saint would probably have shipped it out of his valley and sent it after you anyway, since he seems to like you so much."

  I ignored this jab. Overcoming the monster would need both of us. Besides, he might be right. "But why did you bring it here?"

  The monster swung its arms as it advanced, more quickly now. It would have been frightening enough if it was some sort of enormous creature, like a bear, but the mindless stare made it horrible, a force of nature given separate volition and evil intent.

  "Well, I had to get it out the valley, of course," said Evrard, moving back into the woods. "It was able to move much faster there, so it was clear we didn't have the slightest chance against it. Since we were coming back to the royal castle ourselves, didn't it make sense to have it come here too?"

  "I wonder if it killed anyone on the way," I said grimly.

  "It shouldn't have," said Evrard. "I deliberately made my spell so strong that it wouldn't want to stop."

  He might be content to gloat over how well his spell had worked, but I could no longer stand the tension. "Come on," I said abruptly. "Let's take it down to the old wizard's cottage. He had it imprisoned there once; we may be able to bind it again."

  I had become aware of the knights, led by Prince Ascelin, assembling on the castle hill. I couldn't risk letting him be killed on his wedding day

  Evrard and I flew along the road into the woods, and the castle was lost to sight behind us. Almost immediately we had to pick up speed, as the monster pursued with a rapidity it had not yet shown today. It chased us with its arms extended, emitting a low roar.

  Evrard, I was sure, was now flying farther and faster than he ever had before. We darted back and forth along the forest path, avoiding overhanging branches, but behind us we heard snapping and crashing as the monster plowed straight through.

  We shot out into the clearing before the old wizard's cottage maybe a quarter mile ahead of it. Grabbing Evrard by the arm when he seemed to sag, I flew straight up and hovered twenty feet above the ground.

  "Try to distract the monster when it gets here," I said. "I've got to look at my predecessor's notes." I dropped to the ground and went through the green door into the wizard's cottage.

  The room was, if possible, an even greater mess than when I had seen it last. I looked around quickly, hoping wildly there might be something here to help. Most of the old wizard's books were dusty and appeared long-unopened, but a massive register was propped up on the table, ready if he ever came back. I glanced at the page to which it was open, then began to read. Here was the spell, written out in the old wizard's spidery hand, that had created his creature from dead bones. In the first three lines were two mentions of herbs of which I'd never heard.

  I flipped forward. The spell went on for fifteen pages.

  A wordless roar sent me diving for the window, which turned out to be locked. But the creature did not come in. In a moment, I looked cautiously out the door.

  It was in the clearing in front of the cottage, circling below Evrard and ignoring me, at least for the moment. Evrard remained twenty feet off the ground, concentrating on holding himself up. "Keep it looking at you," I said quickly, "but don't do anything to excite it. If you can hold its attention for another two minutes, I'll try to find the herbs for the spell to bind it." I shot behind the old wizard's cottage.

  My predecessor had always had an herb garden where he grew the most common magical herbs. I had thought I knew it well, but this summer over half the garden was given to a low, leafy plant I never remembered seeing here before. I plucked one, looked at it closely, and probed it with magic. This was the same herb the old wizard had found in the valley.

  I flew back to Evrard and the monster, my fingers already starting to glow blue. "I'm going to try to put a special binding spell on it, but this will only work if the creature is absolutely still. Let's go over to the tree." Trying to fly and cast a complicated spell at the same time was too much for me. We flew to the enormous oak tree that sheltered the old wizard's cottage.

  Evrard collapsed against the trunk, the sweat running down his face. In spite of my own greater practice in flying, I was not in much better shape. I wondered uneasily how well the monster could climb.

  At least at first, it seemed content to circle the tree, appearing and disappearing from our sight. Its search for life had not been blunted by killing the old wizard. I hoped the cat had had the sense to hide.

  I started trying to put the wizard's binding spell together, though if the monster kept on moving it wasn't going to do much good. In the cave, I had been able to bind it only with the
old wizard's help. I realized that I should have taught Evrard the spell immediately. Once again I had failed, this time in being too caught up the last two days in my own exhaustion and sorrow and sense of responsibility. I had neglected to look for help from someone who was, at least potentially, a perfectly competent young wizard and had, after all, once made a man-like creature himself. "Stop moving!" I muttered in the monster's direction. "Otherwise I'll never be able to bind you."

  In a moment, Evrard had caught his breath enough to sit up again. He turned to face me, his jaw set. "Well, Daimbert, I guess this is my problem, and there are two ways to solve it.

  "My calling spell has made it interested only in me. You said it was searching for life, and the life it wants is mine. Either I can leave Yurt, which would make it follow me—" I started to speak but he didn't give me a chance. "—or I can go down to meet it. While it does to me whatever it wants to do, you can try your binding spell."

  IV

  "Good God, Evrard," I cried, "you can't be serious! You certainly can't spend the rest of your life flying around the western kingdoms with it on your tail, but there must be a solution short of letting it kill you!"

  "Such as?"

  "If it would just stand still for a minute, I'd try this binding spell. It did work before."

  Evrard looked at me from behind lowered eyelids. "I've got another idea. How about if I try dropping things on it? I know I can't kill it that way, but with a boulder lying across it, it might be more susceptible to your binding spell."

  "Good idea," I said, taking him by the shoulders to look at him and urgently hoping he had not been serious a moment before.

  "As soon as I finish catching my breath, I'll go collect some rocks. The monster can't be stronger than a river, and I was able to block a river's course, even if only for a little while."

  In a minute, Evrard flew off toward the stream, and soon he was back, carrying a good-sized stone with magic. He dropped it in the middle of the clearing and went back cheerfully for another. The monster poked at the stone with its hand, then hurried after him. It pushed straight and unhesitatingly through the dense brush.