Quicksilver's Knight

CHAPTER 7

"Only while you sleep," she assured him.

"'Tis better, then, that you do not sleep," said a voice behind them.

Geoffrey spun about.

Three tall young men stood lounging at the edge of the clearing by the stream. They were broad-shouldered and handsome, with open faces that would normally have been friendly—but at the moment, their hands rested on the hilts of the swords by their sides, and their faces were grim.

Geoffrey studied them for a moment, then said to Quicksilver, "Your mother bore a handsome family."

"Lord Geoffrey," she said, "these are my brothers Leander . .."

The young man in front, with the broadest shoulders and darkest hair, nodded politely.

"...Martin..." Quicksilver said.

The young man on the left, with the reddish hair, forced a smile; then it vanished.

"And this, I take it is Jory." Geoffrey nodded at the young man with the fair hair, on the right.

"You have a good memory," Quicksilver said.

"And we have a sister," Leander said. "We wish to keep her."

Geoffrey could fairly feel the tension thrumming through him, the mounting delight at the prospect of battle. "This is a family affair, then."

"Well, not quite." Leander made a beckoning circle with his hand, and the leaves beside him rustled as foresters stepped forward, some with arrows nocked, some with swords or axes in hand, most with nothing but quarterstaves—but Geoffrey could tell from the way they held them that they were skilled in their use. Even across the little brook, a score of men stepped forward—and the Amazons stepped up to circle protectively around their leader.

"Why, how is this, lady?" Geoffrey demanded, not looking at Quicksilver but at her brothers. "You agreed that it would be war between us two and us two only, and that your freedom would be forfeit if you lost."

"I did indeed!"

"But we did not," Leander said with a wolfish grin. "We find that we cannot abide the thought of our sister in chains, and verge on frenzy at the thought of her hanging."

Geoffrey winced at the picture that conjured up, but he held his ground. "Have you forgotten the purpose of our bargain?"

"To spare our lives?" Leander drew his sword. "We will chance it."

"But I will not!" Quicksilver darted between them. "Nay, forfend! If I must fight this man again, I shall—but myself alone!"

"Sister," Martin said, "it is we who should protect you, not you who should guard us. Nay, I think there shall be no need of fighting, for certainly this knight is wise enough in the ways of war to know a losing battle when he sees one."

Geoffrey nodded acknowledgement. "I have such wisdom—but I see no such sight."

Martin was taken aback for a moment; then he laughed. "Surely you do not think you can best our whole band!"

"With sword and strength alone, no," Geoffrey said, "but with magic, yes."

"No!" Quicksilver cried in panic. "You gave your word!"

"My word is void if yours is not kept."

"I have kept it!"

"But if we break your word for you, it is nonetheless broken." Leander nodded at the Amazons. "Take her in among you, ladies. I do not wish her near our fight."

Geoffrey's face went blank as he began to concentrate on the magical moves he was preparing.

"Have you not a sister?" Leander said, his voice low. That broke Geoffrey's concentration and set him aback. "Aye—I have. Surely you know of that, if you know who I am."

"I do," Leander said. "Would you let some stranger knight carry the Lady Cordelia off to judgement and certain death?"

"Nay, of course not." Geoffrey's grin spread slowly, reflecting Leander's wolfishness. "I would die to prevent it, if I had to."

"And so shall we," said Martin.

"You shall not!" Quicksilver cried. "You shall live and protect your peasants and your men! I alone have brought down Count Laeg and his knights, and I alone shall pay for it!"

"No, you shall not," Leander said softly, his gaze still locked with Geoffrey's. "Step aside, sister, for this has gone beyond you now."

"Beyond me! What ...?" Quicksilver glanced from Geoffrey to Leander and back. "Oh! It has become a test of strength between you, some foolish test of your manliness! A contest, an idiotic contest! Give over! It is not fit that good men should die only to prove their worth!"

"It is right and fitting," Geoffrey countered. "It is the way of Nature, beautiful lady, by which the strongest is chosen to strengthen the breed."

"You are men, not horses!" Quicksilver fairly screamed. "Put down those swords! I shall go to the King and Queen at Runnymede whether he brings me or not!"

"Not if I live," Leander said, and her two brothers gave a rumble of agreement that was picked up and carried around the circle of armed men. Quarterstaves rose, bows bent, and they all edged forward.

"Only I have drawn my sword yet," Leander said, but Martin and Jory both tightened the grip on their hilts. Geoffrey scowled, and executed the first step in his magical defense.

The hilt twisted under Martin's hand, and he leaped aside with an oath, then realized the thing that had twisted had come with him.

The outlaws let out a shout and brought their weapons up.

The polearms twisted in the hands of a dozen or so, and they cried out, dropping their bows and axes—but the Amazons just clutched their swords more tightly, lips thinned, and moved in.

"Now hold!" Quicksilver cried with the first signs of anger.

The Amazons halted, but still glared daggers at Geoffrey.

"Craven!" Leander snapped. "Dare you fight me without your magic?"

"Dare you fight me without your army?" Geoffrey returned. "Nay, even all three of you together—so long as you bid your bandits hold their blades, I'll not use my magic!"

"This is nonsense!" Quicksilver stormed. "If you fight, you fight with all you have! If you fight to see who is stronger, fight with blunted weapons! Fight with swords of lath! But play me no boys' game of limits!"

"Boys are only little men, sister," Martin returned, eyes still on Geoffrey, "and if we limit our mayhem, 'tis to bring less disaster." He drew his sword. "Nay, make it squirm in my hand now, if you can! I will hold it fast!"

"Will you indeed," Geoffrey said softly, and the sword suddenly wrenched itself out of Martin's hand and flipped up high in the air, turned over, then stabbed down into the earth at his feet, where it stood quivering.

Martin blanched, staring at it. Then he looked up slowly, his face darkening.

"Bid your men stand," Geoffrey said softly.

"All of you, ground your weapons and stand fast!" Leander called out. "This warlock and I must settle our difference!"

"Aye, ground them!" Quicksilver shouted. "You too, brother mine! I would not see you slain!"

"I shall not be," Leander grated, but Martin wrenched his sword out of the ground.

Geoffrey drew his blade in a single clean motion and stepped forward, on guard.

"Not either of you! Hold! Put up your swords!"

"'Tis even as your brother says," Geoffrey told her. "It has gone past you now." With that, he thrust. Leander parried; Geoffrey riposted and thrust again, then again and again, advancing.

"The young bulls are pawing the ground," the tallest bodyguard told Quicksilver.

"Nay, Minerva—they are done pawing, and charge at one another to lock horns! Separate them!" Quicksilver raised her voice. "Separate them, all of you!"

With a gleeful shout, the quarterstaff men hefted their staves and waded in.

"Hold!" Leander shouted, jumping back.

"Aye," Geoffrey agreed, and swept the bandits with one quick glare. The staff went spinning from one man's hand and knocked the staff from another's. Both men fell back with a cry, but Stowton shouted, "He cannot disarm us all! Charge him!"

A fallen staff leaped into Geoffrey's hand. He spun it like a baton, and all the other quarterstaves twisted in their owners' hands, trying to imitate Geoffrey's. They shouted and dropped their staves, some clutching bruised wrists.

The archers howled, brought up their arrows, and loosed.

"No!" Quicksilver shrieked, and leaped in front of Geoffrey.

The arrows all looped, curving, shooting back to their owners, who yelped with superstitious fright and broke ranks—but one arrow shot straight on to Geoffrey. He caught it and stabbed it into the ground. All the other arrows plunged down and lanced the earth in imitation.

The bandits crowded back, white showing around their eyes—but Minerva beckoned to her bodyguard and stepped forward, eyes cold.

Geoffrey didn't even notice. He was looking down at the beauty in front of him. "Thank you for your protection, but I will not see you pierced. Why did you leap to guard my body with your own?"

"Why ... why..." Quicksilver stammered, and blushed, looking down. Then she spun about to him, chin up. "Why, because I gave my word! That none of my band would harm you! But I did not say that, once yielded, I would stay yielded! If any shall strike you, it shall be me!" She leaped back, holding out her hand, and Minerva slapped Quicksilver's own sword into that hand.

"You gave parole," Geoffrey reminded her. "You said you would not seek to escape."

"Aye, but I did not say I would not fight you again! On guard, warlock! This time, our fight shall have a different ending!"

"It shall indeed!" Minerva gestured and jumped in front of Quicksilver. Six other young women leaped in beside her, their swords raised.

"Brothers," Leander snapped, "it seems we are done with the ways of honor."

"Even so," Jory agreed, and stepped in behind Geoffrey. Geoffrey opened his mind to awareness of them, of each tiniest motion they might make, as he kept his eyes on the bodyguards in front of him. The wolfish smile tugged at his lips; it would be a battle royal. True, he must not injure any of the women, at least not seriously—which gave him no compunction about using magic ...

A shout went up. Geoffrey swung about to see an arrow speeding toward him, knew it was already too close to divert, and was just beginning to duck when...

... the arrow turned down and plunged into the earth. It was almost a right-angle turn, not the drop of a smooth trajectory that was just a little short.

Geoffrey turned to face Quicksilver, blocking a blow from Minerva almost absentmindedly as his eyes met Quicksilver's, and held with surprise on his part—but on hers, thin-lipped with the knowledge that she was unmasked. She raised her voice, crying out, "I bade you hold! I said that none of you should harm this knight!"

And she had kept her word, Geoffrey realized—for it was not he who had made that arrow plunge to earth. Quicksilver, however, didn't seem to want her band to know that, because she said, "Adroitly done, warlock! But how did you know the arrow had been loosed?"

"My mind is alert to yours," he answered, "and to those of all your band."

It certainly would be from now on, for Geoffrey knew better than any that it was not his mind that had deflected that arrow. Still, it had been a great lapse on his part, to let himself be so distracted by the Amazons that he had ignored the rest of the band, and so had missed the archer loosing the arrow. Fortunately, Quicksilver had not.

Suddenly, he understood much better how she had managed to carve out her own little kingdom here in the forest, and expand it to include the whole county—because Quicksilver was herself an esper.

That did not mean she was any less a general, of course. She was still expert at tactics, and probably at strategy, too, though her campaign had been cut short before he could be sure of that. Certainly she was magnificent with a sword—but he suspected that she had made more than a little use of magic when she was outnumbered, and exercised it subtly but very effectively in her battles. More than anything else, though, it explained how she could be so effective a leader, why her fire and enthusiasm reached out to envelop her fighters. She was no doubt a projective telepath, at least in a small way, quite possibly in a larger. At the very least, it gave her a great deal of charisma. And she knew that he knew. He probed with his mind and came up against a mental wall—her shields were up—but felt also the questing alertness of another telepath, reaching out to him. He smiled, letting his mind be unshielded on the surface, letting her read not his long-range plans or deeper motives, but at least his current intentions and yearnings...

She blushed, and her gaze faltered for a moment, but came back to meet his with level candor. "You have broken your word, Sir Knight. You have used magic."

"Break causes break," Geoffrey countered, "whether it was your doing, or not." He turned to the three brothers. "Must I fight you all again?" He wasn't at all sure that he wanted to, now, though—his courage was so vast that he scarcely even noticed fear, but he knew a losing fight when he saw one, and battling might not be the best way to win this prize. Quicksilver might be able to counter all his magic with her own. At the least, she would slow him down so that he might well fall prey to the weapons of her outlaws—but he would take at least half of them with him, to death. He was struck with admiration at how adroitly she had prevented just that calamity, by persuasion and maneuvering. And he had not even known he was being maneuvered! How dextrously she had hidden her powers!

The chance of losing, or even of losing his life, would not stop him from battling, of course—not if the cause was worth his death. But he had a notion that Quicksilver was far more worth his life.

If she had hidden her powers so well, though, she could have taken him by surprise. Surely she could have defeated him with the loss of only a quarter of her fightersand if she really hungered for power more than anything else, she would have done just that.

On the other hand, he did not doubt that she did want power—so why had she not ambushed him while she could? He felt a seed of hope sprout and shoot within him, but tried to ignore it; obviously there were things that were more important to her than power—but why should he presume that he was one of those things? Presumptuous indeed!

"Put up your weapons," he said to Leander. "Fall upon me again, and I will only steal her away again."

"Then we will only find you again!" Minerva said angrily. "There is not a foot of ground within this forest that our sentries do not see!"

"Thank you for the warning," Geoffrey said, with a courteous nod. "I shall take her far away from the greenwood this time."

Anger flared in the captain's face, but Quicksilver held up a hand to forestall her, saying quickly, "Peace, Minerva. I have no wish to ride that ghostly horse again! It was most unsettling, I assure you."

Minerva barked an order even as she sprang, and the Amazons were a sudden ring of muscle and steel enclosing their chief. "You must touch her to take her," Minerva snapped, "and if you attempt it, you shall die!"

Geoffrey stared at her for a second or two. Then his sword flashed out in three quick feints. Minerva parried the first two, then leaped to parry the third. Her women shouted and leaped out to surround Geoffrey and he sprang through the gap they had left, catching Quicksilver about the waist. But the feel of that supple body against his distracted him from his teleportation just long enough for Quicksilver to cry, "Hold!"

The bandits all froze where they were. Geoffrey wondered how often she could do that, before they ignored her command.

Then, to Minerva, Quicksilver said, "You may hold him off, my brave and loyal captain—or he may slip past your guard again, as he just has. I have no wish to feel the world turn inside out about me, or to have that blast deafen me. I gave my word, and I shall keep it!" She looked about her, eyes blazing. "So shall all of you! Aye, even you, my own brothers! I gave parole, and I shall go with him to Runnymede!"

"But he has broken his word," her brother protested. Quicksilver disengaged herself from Geoffrey's arm and stepped back to give him a long measuring look. "You have," she said, "and because of that, I shall break my bond in this much—I shall still go with you, but if I see a chance of escape, I shall take it."

The outlaws cheered.

"Myself!" Quicksilver shouted into their din. "Myself alone! I shall escape with no peril to anyone else, or I shall not escape at all!"

The cheer subsided into mutinous muttering. "Therefore begone!" Quicksilver commanded. "Back to the greenwood, and quickly, before the Crown's shire-reeve comes against you again, with a royal army!"

"If there is danger of that," said Leander, "we had best hold Laeg's castle, where we can defend ourselves better."

"Nay!" Geoffrey frowned. "It is Laeg's by right"' "Right?" Martin sneered. "You speak of Laeg and right in the same breath? There was never anything right in Count Laeg's life, least of all in his dealings with his peasants!"

"That is no reason to deny his son his inheritance!"

"You cannot know if you have not lived here," Quicksilver snapped. "The son's deeds are no better than the father's; he is a true branch of the bad tree, and thinks the peasants are his cattle—aye, and we yeomen, who are children of a squire, too."

Geoffrey turned to her, frowning. "Be that as it may, the law is the law, and I am sworn to uphold it!"

"Even when it is wrong?" Jory jibed.

"The law was made by the lords," Martin said with scorn, "and it serves their ends, not those of us common folk."

"If there is truth in what you say, I shall be your advocate among the lords and before the Crown, to see the law changed!" Geoffrey declared.

"And while you are advocating," said Minerva, "what will they do to us?"

Geoffrey turned to her with words of reassurance on his lips—but found himself suddenly seeing her not as an opponent, but as a woman of the commoners, vulnerable to a lord's whims, and realized that behind the sword and beneath the armor was a very desirable body. It struck him as curious that he did not himself desire it, though he was sure he would have before he met Quicksilver. Nonetheless, the new Count Laeg no doubt would, and would use her own body to punish her. Geoffrey's bold words of faith in the law, died on his lips. Instead, he said, "Right or wrong, the law must be obeyed. If it is not, we will have chaos, with every man's hand turned against every other's, and the women—caught between them in suffering."

"You say that to outlaws?" Leander scoffed. "Tell me, pray, what the difference is."

"And while you are debating it, Count Laeg will fall upon you," Quicksilver told them both. "Aye, brother, I think you will be safer in Castle Laeg while this bold champion debates our cause before the Crown."

"And tries your fate," Leander growled.

Geoffrey glared at him. "Will you not yield to the law?"

"Speak of that when the law has delivered its verdict," Quicksilver countered.

"What verdict?" Minerva demanded. "The only case that will be tried is whether or not you have slain a lord, Quicksilver, and stolen his lands—and we all know what the answer to that must be!"

The outlaws growled and pressed in.

"Yet you seem to think she was right in so doing!" Geoffrey called out. "Might not the King and Queen think so, too?"

The outlaws hovered, uncertain.

"Shall we not be tried with her, then?" Minerva demanded. "Even if we are not there?"

"We shall," Leander answered, "and an army sent against us if our sister is judged guilty. Nay, my sib, you must not go!"

The outlaws pressed in again, and Geoffrey gauged the distance between his arm and Quicksilver's waist. Looking up, he could see that Minerva was measuring it, too.

"I have sworn I will go with this man, and I shall!" Quicksilver called out. "Oh, I shall escape from him if I can—but I will not have you place your necks even further in the noose by assaulting a Gallowglass!"

"Hung for the sheep, hung for the flock," Leander answered, "even if the sheep was a rogue ram, and it was necessary to slay him to save our lives."

Geoffrey turned to him. "Is there a charge you would bring?"

Leander scowled. "What nonsense is this?"

"I have said I will be your advocate before the Crown—but I cannot be so, without a charge to prosecute or a cause to advocate! Do you accuse Count Laeg of breaking the law?"

A furious rumble went up among the outlaws, but Leander's eye caught fire. "Aye, we do, and our sister can give you a whole catalogue of his crimes—but the long and the short of it is this: that he has oppressed and exploited his peasants unmercifully, for his own pleasure and gain and not for their welfare, or the kingdom's."

"You charge, then, that he has been untrue to his vows as a knight, and as a vassal of the Queen?"

"As a knight, a thousand times over, for he swore to protect the weak from the strong, did he not?"

"He did," Geoffrey answered with full certainty.

"I charge that he has been the strong who has preyed upon the weak, and that his son has already done likewise! I charge that he has broken the law! And that in breaking it, he has left us no choice but to break it, too, or die at his hands! That the father has done this a thousand times in a thousand ways, and the son has already begun to follow his father's example!"

Quicksilver smiled, eyes glowing as she gazed at her brother, and even Geoffrey could feel the exaltation of her approval. Yes, the woman was a projective, and a powerful one, whether she knew it or not. For himself, he only nodded at Leander and said, "These are weighty charges indeed, and enough to justify unseating a lord—if they can be proved to be true."

Leander turned away in disgust, and Minerva flared, "Proved! What proof can peasants offer, against a thieving and rapacious lord?"

"Peasants cannot," Geoffrey told her, "but another lord can. Nay, I have said I will be your advocate, and I shall. This I swear—and I shall seek out what proof I can. Be of good cheer; this is no idle boast. I have agents who shall go among you unseen, for they owe me favors, even as I owe them. But I must ask you to trust me in this, for I cannot prove good faith until I speak before the Crown."

"At which time, if you break faith, it will be too late for us," Minerva said, tight-lipped. "No, we must keep our chief here."

"I have said I will ride with this knight, and I shall!" Quicksilver snapped, beginning to be angry again. "For the rest of you, though, go back to Castle Laeg, and hold it for me! I must have a home to come back to, when I have escaped from this popinjay!"

"Oh, a popinjay, am I?" Geoffrey rounded on her, eyes glinting at the prospect of a good fight.

"Aye, a popinjay, and it is my lance for which you shall be the target!" Quicksilver stepped in to face him, fists on her hips. "Do not think to reverse that, for when did a popinjay bear a lance against a rider?"

A murmur of admiration and delight spread through the outlaw host. Geoffrey only grinned. "Beware, for your popinjay is truly a quintain, and equipped with a lance of his own!"

"My remedy, then, is to break it!"

"What then, will you break a lance with me?" Geoffrey purred, his eyes glowing into hers. "A valiant deed, and sport worthy of a true knight-errant."

Minerva stepped forward, alarmed, but Quicksilver only smiled with the same ferocious delight Geoffrey showed and answered, "I am not a knight, sir, nor even a squire, but only a squire's daughter."

"That may be so," Geoffrey conceded, "but you are every inch a lady."

Leander frowned. "What riddle is this you speak? A lady is the daughter of a lord or, at the least, a knight. A woman must be born a lady, or can never be one!"

"I must agree with that," Geoffrey returned, his gaze still on Quicksilver's, "but I have just discovered that a woman can be born a lady even if her father was not a lord."

The outlaws murmured in amazement, but Minerva cried in alarm, "Beware, mistress! He seeks to cozen you!"

"Of course he does," Quicksilver said. "When was there a man who did not seek to cozen every pretty maid he met?" But she was still smiling, still held her gaze locked with Geoffrey's.

"Sister," Leander said, a quaver in his voice, "I fear for you."

Geoffrey did not think he was talking about the noose. "Some dangers I must face alone, Leander," Quicksilver told him, her gaze unwavering, "but the prize is worth the gamble."

"Not if the dice are loaded against you!" Minerva cried in near panic.

"Fear not, sweet friend," Quicksilver told her. "I have thrown with loaded dice before, and won."

Of course, Geoffrey thought—she was telekinetic. He wondered if he should read a double meaning into that, too. "You seem to forget," he said, "that riding with this woman is a gamble for me, too."

Minerva looked up at him in surprise. "I did not think you would realize that!"

"Oh, yes," Geoffrey said softly, "but I cannot lose, you see—for with a woman like this, even loss is gain." Minerva frowned, not understanding, but Quicksilver blushed and turned away.

When she raised her face to her outlaws, the blush had faded. "Go back to Castle Laeg," she cried, "and hold it for me! Will you or nil you, I shall ride with this knight!"

"Our only remedy, then, is to take you back by force," Leander said, frowning.

Quicksilver turned a very cold gaze on him. "Brother," she said, "I love you dearly, and owe you greatly, but I should chastise you sorely if you did. You must make your life, and I must make mine."

"Life?" he said bitterly. "Or death?"

"I shall die boldly, or live sweetly," she told him. "Do not seek to save me from myself, brother, or you might destroy any chance of happiness that I might ever have. Go now, and do not seek to guard me again!" She turned back to Geoffrey. "Let us ride!"

With great reluctance, her bodyguard brought forth her horse—a spirited bay mare—and the outlaws disgorged Fess. Knight and bandit both mounted, and the tall black stallion said, in mental words that only Geoffrey could hear, I hope you know what you are doing, Geoffrey.

If I do not, I am sure that you will, he returned. Bear me on to glory, Fess.