Not that locking him in his cell proved they intended to imprison him, and not let him see the rest of Gramarye. In fact, the Abbot might be delighted to have him visit Rod Gallowglass.
But he also might not.
So Father Al charitably decided to avoid putting him to the test. Accordingly, he waited two hours, after which all the Brothers must certainly have been snoring on their cots. Then he took out his vest-pocket tool-kit, picked the huge old lock, and slipped down darkened hallways, as silently as a prayer. He drifted through the colonnade like a wraith of incense, found a ladder and a rope, and slipped silently over the wall.
They were such wonderful monks. It was so much better to remove temptation from their path.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
All sleep, except Elidor,” Magnus said, glowering.
He sat on the edge of a massive four-poster bed opposite a fireplace as tall as Rod. Tapestries covered cold stone walls; Rod paced on a thick carpet.
“He was…” Cordelia burst out; but Gwen clapped a hand over her mouth, and stared at Magnus. He looked up at her, surprised, then nodded quickly, and closed his eyes, sitting very straight. He held it for a few minutes, then relaxed. “I’m sorry, Mama; I was carried away.”
“No great harm is done,” Gwen assured him. “They heard only that one sentence, and they cannot do so much with that.”
“Spies?” Rod frowned. “How many of them were there?”
“Only the two,” Gwen assured him. “One there, behind the knight on the tapestry o’er the hearth—thou seest that his eye is truly a hole? And one behind the panel next the door, where there’s a knot dropped out.”
Rod nodded. “Milord Foidin likes back-up systems—no doubt so he can check them against each other, and make sure no one’s lying. Well, it kinda goes along with the rest of his devious personality; I think he’s in the process of inventing the police state.” He turned to Magnus. “How long are they out for?”
“Till dawn,” Magnus assured him, “or after.”
Rod shook his head in amazement. “How does he do it so fast?”
Gwen shook her head, too. “I know not how he doth it at all.”
“Oh, that’s easy! It’s just projective telepathy. You just think ‘sleep’ at ‘em, right, son?”
“Not really, Papa.” Magnus frowned. “I just want them to sleep.”
Rod shook his head again. “You must ‘want’ awfully loudly… Well! Can you tell what Duke Foidin’s thinking?”
“I shall!” Cordelia said promptly.
“No, thou shalt not!” Gwen pressed her hands over her daughter’s ears. “Thou shalt not soil so young a mind as thine; that man hath filth and muck beneath the surface of his thinking that he doth attempt to hold back, but ever fails!”
“Oh.” Rod raised his eyebrows. “You’ve had a sample already?”
“Aye, of the things he doth yearn to do to the folk in his part of Tir Chlis, but doth never, out of cowardice, and, be it said to his slight credit, some lingering trace of scruple. This I read in him, whilst he did speak of Lord Kern’s ‘foul rule!’ ”
Rod nodded. “If you could get him talking about one thing, all the related thoughts came to his mind, just below the surface.”
“Thou hast learned the fashion of it well, mine husband. Almost could I believe thou hast practiced it thyself!”
“No, worse luck—but I’ve learned a lot about the human mind, from books.” He surveyed his children. “I hope none of you were peeking into the Duke’s mind.”
All three shook their heads. “Mama forbade us,” Magnus explained.
“One of those little telepathic commands that I couldn’t hear.” Rod sighed philosophically. “Speaking of things I can’t hear, what’s the Duke doing right now?”
Gwen’s eyes lost focus. “Speaking to Elidor…” Her voice suddenly dropped in pitch, in a parody of the Duke’s. “I was so very glad to find thee well, unharmed—believe, ‘tis true!” Her voice rose, imitating Elidor’s. “I do believe it, Uncle.”
“Then believe it, also, when I tell thee that thou must not wander off again, alone! ‘Tis too dangerous for an unfledged lad! There be a thousand perils in this world, awaiting thee! I own I have been harsh with thee, from time to time—yet only when thou hast tried mine patience overly, and ever have I repented of mine anger after! Stay, good lad, and I’ll promise thee, I’ll try to be more moderate.”
Very low: “I’ll bide, good Uncle.”
“Wilt thou! There’s a good lad! Be sure, ‘tis chiefly my concern for thee that moves me to this protest! Oh, I will not hide from thee my hatred for Lord Kern, nor have I ever sought to hide it—or my abiding fear that he may somehow seize thee from me, and use thee to gain power over me! For thou dost like him more than me, now dost thou not?… Dost thou not!… Answer!”
“He and his wife were kindly,” Elidor muttered.
“And was I not? Have I never treated thee with kindness? Nay, answer not—I see it in thine eyes. Thou dost remember only cuffs and blows, and never all the sweetmeats I did bring thee, nor the games that we did play! Nay, thou didst not wander off for mere adventure this day, didst thou? Thou didst seek to join Lord Kern! Didst thou not? Now answer to me!… What, wilt thou not?” Gwen’s whole body shook; she shuddered, and her eyes focused on Rod again. Trembling, she said, “He doth beat the lad. Most shrewdly.”
Rod’s face darkened. “The animal!…No, son!” He clamped a hand on Magnus’s shoulder; the boy’s body jolted, his eyes focussing again. “You can’t just teleport him away from the Duke; you’d raise a hue and cry that’d keep us penned in this castle for days. Poor Elidor’ll have to last it out until we can find a way to free him.”
“He did not seem so bad a man, when first we met him,” Cordelia said, troubled.
“He probably wouldn’t be, if he weren’t a Duke, and a regent.” Rod ran his fingers through his hair. “A burgher, say, where he could split the responsibility with a committee—or a clerk in an office. Without the pressure, his kind side’d be able to come through. But in the top position, he knows down deep that he can’t really handle the job, and it scares him.”
“And when he’s fearful, he will do anything to safeguard himself,” Magnus said somberly.
Rod nodded. “Good insight, son. Anyway, that’s how I read him. Unfortunately, he is the regent, and he’s out of control—even his own control.”
“Thus his power doth corrupt him,” Gwen agreed, “and all his hidden evils do come out.”
“Evil he is,” Magnus said with a shudder. “Papa, we must wrest Elidor from out his power!”
“I agree,” Rod said grimly. “No kid ought to have a man like that in charge of him. But we can’t just bull in there and yank him loose.”
“Wherefore not?” Cordelia’s chin thrust out stubbornly.
“Because, sweetling, a thousand guardsmen would fall on us ere we’d gone fifty paces,” Gwen explained.
“Papa can answer for ten of them—and thou and Magnus can answer for the rest!”
“Nay, I fear not.” Gwen smiled sadly. “There are some things that surpass even witches’ power.”
“I could defeat a thousand!” Magnus protested.
Rod shook his head. “Not yet, son—though I’m not sure you won’t be able to, when you’re grown. A thousand men, though, you see, they come at you from all sides, and by the time you’ve knocked out the ones in front, the ones behind have stabbed you through.”
“But if I took them all at one blow?”
Rod smiled. “Can you?”