"Wilt thou take me to him now?" Geoffrey asked.
The fairies nodded, and turned away wordlessly, running lightly down the path.
Geoffrey's mouth tightened in chagrin, and he launched himself into the air to follow them.
His brothers wafted after him. Cordelia's unicorn kept pace.
"I have ne'er seen him so angered," Cordelia murmured to Magnus.
"I do not wonder at it," he answered. "But we must watch him closely, sister, or he'll rend that whole peasant band apart."
Magnus halted them with a raised hand. "'Ware, my sibs! I mislike this!"
Beside him, Geoffrey nodded. " 'Tis not natural."
A hundred yards away, the village stood, a handful of houses circling a common—but with not one single person in sight.
"Where have the goodfolk gone?" Cordelia wondered.
"To follow my fetch," Geoffrey grated, "or to attend him."
"'Tis the latter." Magnus pointed. "Seest thou not the flash of color, here and there, between the cottages?"
His brothers and sister peered at the village.
"I do," Fess said, "and I have magnified the image. There are people there, many of them—but their backs are toward us, and only one voice speaks."
"Cordelia," Magnus said, with total certainty, "bid thy unicorn bide in the forest till we come. And thou, Fess, must also wait in hiding."
Cordelia's face clouded up, but Fess spoke first. "I am loathe to leave you, as you know, Magnus. Why do you wish me to wait?"
"For that the safest way to come upon them is to slip into the crowd, and worm our ways to the fore. Thus may we discover whether this double of Geoffrey's is any true threat or not, and if he is, may we thus take him unawares. Therefore I pray thee, hide and wait."
"Well enough, then, I shall," Fess said slowly. "But I will hide nearby, and listen at maximum amplification. If you have need of me, you have but to call."
"Be assured that we shall," Geoffrey said, his face taut.
Cordelia slipped off the unicorn's back and turned to stroke the velvet nose. "I must bid thee await me, beauteous one." Tears glistened in her eyes. "Oh, but thou wilt not flee from me, wilt thou? Thou wilt attend?"
The unicorn nodded; Magnus could have sworn the beast had understood his sister's words. He knew better, of course —Cordelia was a protective telepath, as they all were; it was her thoughts the unicorn understood, though the sounds may have helped. She tossed her head and turned away, trotting off toward the shelter of the trees.
"Come, then," Magnus said. "Cordelia, take thou the eastern point with Gregory. Geoffrey will take the center, and I the western edge. We shall meet in the front and center."
The others nodded, tight-lipped, and they spread out as they approached the village. Fess accompanied them, but stopped behind one of the cottages, waiting, head high, ears pricked, as the children silently infiltrated the crowd.
The "crowd" consisted of perhaps a hundred people, only a few dozen of whom, to judge by their carrying scythes and pitchforks, had come in off the road with the juvenile rabble-rouser. But he was doing his level best to convert the other threescore to his cause; as the children stepped in between grown-ups at the back of the mob, they heard him telling atrocity stories.
"Thus they have done to a village not ten miles hence!" the boy cried. "Wilt thou suffer them to so serve thy wives and bairns?"
The crowd in front of him rumbled angrily. Scythes and pitchforks waved.
"Nay, thou wilt not!" The boy stood on a wagon, where they could all see him—but he failed to notice the four children who slipped in from the space between two cottages. "Thou wilt not suffer bandits to rend thy village—nor wilt thou suffer the lords to amuse themselves by warring in thy fields, and trampling thine hard-grown com!"
The mob rumbled uncertainly; apparently they hadn't heard this line before. Bandits were one thing, but lords were entirely another.
"Thou wilt?" the boy cried, surprised. "Then I mistook thee quite! I had thought thou wert men!"
An ugly mutter answered him, and one man at the front cried. " 'Tis well enough for thee to say it, lad—thou hast not seen the lordlings fight! Thou hast not seen how their armor doth turn our pike blades, nor how their swords reap peasant soldiers!"
"I have not," the lad answered, "but the Shire-Reeve hath!"
The crowd fell silent, astonished.
It was quiet enough for Geoffrey to hear the words Magnus whispered in his ear: "We know now whence he cometh!"
Geoffrey nodded, and his eyes glittered.
"The Shire-Reeve hath fought in lordlings' armies!" the false Geoffrey cried. "When young, he fought for the Queen against the rebels! Again he fought, chasing out the Beastmen from our isle! And anon he fought, when Tudor called, against the depredating bands of other nobles—and he hath grown sick at heart, from seeing all their wanton waste!"
"Yet how can he, a man of common birth, stand against a belted knight?" a man in the crowd called.
"Because his rank is royal!" the boy called back. "He is the King's reeve, for all the shire! And if he doth now bid the nobles cease their brawling, can any say him nay?"
The rumble agreed, gaining heart.
"Come follow me, and I shall lead thee to him!" cried the lad. "Come join the Shire-Reeve, and fight 'gainst those who do oppress thee!"
"This swells too greatly," muttered a baritone by Magnus's knee. "We must spoke his wheels." A second later, a voice from the middle of the mob called, "How dost thou know where thou mayest find him?" The men in that location looked around, startled, but the boy answered,
"We know that he doth quarter in the town of Belmead. We've but to go, and attend his pleasure!"
"And will he welcome us?" called a voice from another part of the crowd, "or will he think we come against him?"
Again, men turned to look, but the imitation Geoffrey answered, "How could he think thus? Assuredly he'll welcome thee!" >
"How couldst thou know?" cried another disembodied voice from a third quarter. "What lad art thou, to speak thus?"
The boy reddened. "I am the High Warlock's son, as I have told thee! Dost thou doubt my word?" And he turned to call out over the crowd, "Can any call me false?"
"Aye!" Geoffrey cried. "I call thee false!" And he sprang into the air, arrowing straight toward the wagon, landing straight and tall, turning to look out over the crowd proudly, then turning further, to glare at the imposter.
The boy stared, thunderstruck. So did the crowd, confronted by two Geoffreys—and indeed, the imposter was Geoffrey's exact double, matching him inch for inch and feature for feature. A frightened murmur began.
"How sayest thou now, O false one?" Geoffrey demanded. "Tell us thy true name!"
The boy's chin lifted. "I am Geoffrey Gallowglass, the High Warlock's son! And who art thou, who doth dare to walk in my semblance?"
"Thou liest, rogue!" Geoffrey shouted. "How durst thou claim my place?"
"Thy charges shall avail thee naught," the double answered, "for 'tis plain to any I am the true Gallowglass!"
A shriek of rage pierced the air, and Cordelia shot over the heads of the crowd on her broomstick, leaping down to the wagon and crying, "Thou liest, rogue! This is my brother, Geoffrey Gallowglass! And I am his sister, the High Warlock's daughter Cordelia!"
A double explosion cracked, and Magnus stood behind her with Gregory at his hip. "She speaks good sooth! And I am Magnus, the High Warlock's eldest!"
"And I his youngest!" Gregory piped. "We all now tell thee, goodfolk, that thou hast been deceived!"
"Even so!" Magnus shouted to the crowd, and clapped the real Geoffrey on the shoulder. "This is my brother, the true Geoffrey Gallowglass! He whom thou hast followed is a false and lying knave!"