Or did he? Judging from the man, he didn't have much choice.
Rod looked for a change of subject. "I think one of your monks is managing to dredge some information out of the would-be mass murderer. Father. Could we go eavesdrop?"
"Mm?" McGee looked up, frowning, then nodded. "Yes. Of course. There may be something we should know." He turned away from Rod, Father Boquilva beside them.
Brother Janos lay on his side on a cot, eyes closed, chest rising and falling with the rhythm of sleep. Brother Somnel sat beside him, sad gaze fixed on the assassin's face. He didn't seem to be doing anything, and Rod wondered why he was there. Another monk sat beside Somnel, murmuring, "He did command thee to slay us all?" Then he waited patiently; finally. Brother Janos nodded.
Rod stared.
"Who did so command thee?" the inquisitor asked gently.
"Brother Alfonso," Brother Janos answered with a sigh.
McGee stood, face wooden.
Rod regarded Brother Somnel. puzzled. "Are you a hypnotist?"
Brother Somnel looked up at him, silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
Rod felt his spine prickle. "Well. Your Order is just full of surprises."
Brother Somnel gazed at him a moment longer, then turned back to Brother Janos.
"He did not, then, have his orders from the Abbot," McGee said slowly. "Who is this Brother Alfonso?"
"The Archbishop's secretary, Father-General," Boquilva said at his shoulder.
"McGee," the Father-General replied absently.
Rod leaned closer to McGee and muttered, "We have reason to believe Brother Alfonso is the agent I mentioned earlier."
"Oh. You have a spy in the monastery?" McGee murmured, and when Rod didn't answer, he nodded. "So the orders may have come from the Abbot, or may not."
"Ask, Brother Comsoph," Father Boquilva instructed.
The inquisitor leaned forward again. "Did Brother Alfonso say this was the Archbishop's will?"
After a moment Brother Janos breathed, "Nay. He did say we must protect our Lord Archbishop from his enemies, for he is too kindly to take arms against them."
"I wronged the man," McGee admitted.
Rod frowned. "Sounds as though Brother Alfonso did a full-scale persuasion job on Brother Janos."
"Do not doubt it, Lord Warlock." Brother Comsoph looked up at him. "Brother Janos was ever a good and gentle man, but scholarly and quite naive."
"He always tried to see the good side of everybody around him, hm?" Rod knew the syndrome. "But if he was so gentle, how could he be maneuvered into murder?"
"He was very fervent in his faith," Father Boquilva explained. "Such zeal can be twisted."
Rod murmured into McGee's ear, "If it helps any, we should have Brother Alfonso in custody soon."
Father McGee looked up at him in surprise, then nodded slowly. "That may go a long way toward solution of the problem, yes—if Brother Alfonso is as bad an apple as he seems to be."
"Very bad," Rod assured him. "In fact, we're pretty sure he lied his way into the monastery."
"Lied?" Father Boquilva asked. "Dost say he had no true vocation?"
"Oh, he has a vocation, all right—but I don't think it's very holy. I'm saying he lied about wanting to live the pure life, and deliberately wormed his way into the Abbot's favor so that he could manipulate His Lordship."
"Then the oaths he swore were falsely taken," Father Boquilva said, wide-eyed.
"And therefore have no validity." Father McGee's face had turned thunderous again. "He is a Judas priest indeed."
Rod looked down at the sleeping monk, his face grave. After a minute he said, "How did he get in here?"
An explosion rocked the hall, and a young man stood in its center, glaring about him in anger.
The monks leaped to their feet, all shouting and demanding at once.
Rod was on his feet, too, staring, dumbfounded. He had never, but never, seen Toby angry before.
Then he found his voice. "Toby! What do you think you're doing?"
"Fear not, Lord Warlock." The young man's lip curled. "There is no longer need to fash ourselves over scandalizing these monks!"
Father Boquilva reddened and looked away.
Rod noticed it, frowned, and turned back to Toby. "Want to tell me what's happened?"
"Brom O'Berin's folk have brought him a witch-moss crafter. Lord Warlock. He did make false monsters to afright the villagers."
"Well, we suspected that was how it was done." Rod shrugged. "What's so outrageous about that? Because he was working for the Archbishop? We knew the monks were using witches."
"Nay, Lord Warlock—the monks are witches. For thy wife hath read the mind of this rogue, and hath seen there the memory of the Archbishop's secretary commanding him to go forth and wreak havoc—-and not him only, but many others too. And all were monks!"
Rod's eyes widened. "All?"
Toby nodded, watching Father Boquilva coldly.
"Wait a minute," Rod protested. "There couldn't be a lot of espers in the monastery, without the other monks knowing about it."
Toby still watched Boquilva, waiting.
"But who says there were any others, eh?" Rod said slowly. Then the full impact of the idea hit him. "Holey soles! It's not just one esper in a monastery—it's one monastery full of espers!" He turned on Father Boquilva. "Isn't it?"
The monk glanced at Father McGee. The Father-General nodded, very slightly, and Boquilva said, " 'Tis true, Lord Warlock, and hath ever been. Yet I could not tell thee, for we are all sworn to secrecy when we take Holy Orders."
"My lord!" Rod's eyes widened. "No wonder they can tell, just from a simple interview, which postulants qualify for the cloister and which ones don't! The interviewer knows whether or not he's talking to a telepath within the first two seconds!"
"There is always some feedback effect, yes," Boquilva admitted.
"Feedback?" Rod said. "Kind of a funny word for a simple medieval friar!" He turned on McGee. "Anything else your people haven't been telling us, Father?"
"Such as the monks having kept knowledge of technology?" McGee nodded. "Yes, Lord Warlock. But they only begin learning science and engineering after their final vows, when they have been sworn to secrecy."
"How nice of them to wait so long! May I ask how you knew about it? Wait a minute, strike that—Father Al included it in his report, didn't he?"
"He did, yes. But he saw no reason to burden you with the information."
"Gee, the good guy didn't want me to worry! Do me a favor, Father—give me an anxiety attack!"
"Why, so I do," McGee said calmly. "You, at least, should have full knowledge of the situation. Lord Warlock."
"I trust you will not divulge it," Father Boquilva said.
Rod glanced at Toby, then back to Boquilva. "Any reason why I shouldn't?"
"Excellent reasons, as Father Ricci told us when he founded our chapter."
"The original fugitive from Terra?" Rod asked. "How did he keep his knowledge of technology?"
"An accomplice reprogrammed the computer that erased the colonists' memories of technology, ensuring that he would retain his mental records intact."
"No Cathodean could have volunteered to come here otherwise, Lord Warlock," Father McGee said quietly. "We are an order of priestly engineers, after all."
"Did he consider staying at home?"
"He did," Boquilva said, "but was the only priest available when the Romantic Emigres left Terra; and he thought that a priest was a necessity for a medieval colony."