13

While Gwen slept, Rod called Fess, via radio, and asked for a progress report; the robot told him that Magnus had found the healer and gone into her dwelling. When Gwen waked, Rod duly informed her, and they settled down for their anxious vigil.

They didn't have long to wait, though, before Fess assured them that Magnus was leaving the lake, alive and well-and looking far more cheerful than he had for quite some time. Half an hour later, Magnus's thoughts touched them briefly: I am well, my parents. Prithee, await me by the lake where thou didst find me.

May we not come to thee? Gwen asked.

Magnus considered, then thought, At home, then. I shall teleport thence, and Fess will come as he may. . . . He is agreeable.

I think I may be able to care for myself, the robot concurred.

Rod nodded, relieved. At home, then. He took his wife's hand. "Come fly with me!"

Gwen smiled, and summoned her broomstick with a thought. It came arrowing to her; she reclined sidesaddle, and rose into the air. Rod concentrated on being beside her, and caught up.

They landed in the courtyard-to find Magnus coming out of the keep with a backpack. Gwen threw her arms about him. "Praise Heaven, my son! That thou art well!"

"Thank also the Maid of the Lake." Magnus disengaged her with a gentle smile, stepping back.

Rod caught his arm and clasped his hand. "We were worried."

"Thou hadst need," Magnus said gravely, "but Mother did direct me well. I am healed."

"And off again?" Gwen glanced at the pack. "How is this, my son! Whither dost thou wander?"

"Away," Magnus said gravely. "Far, far away. I can no longer stay on Gramarye, Mother."

She cried out in protest, grasping him by the shoulders, searching his eyes-and his mind-but met only surface thoughts, and a stern resolve. She stepped back, composing her face. "So that is the way of it, then." She braced herself for Rod's fury.

But it didn't come. Watching Magnus, she saw that he was braced, too, and just as surprised. They turned to Rod, and found him grave and sad, but nodding. "Yes. You do have to go, son-as I had to leave my father's home. Only my father's eldest had to stay-and I wouldn't force that on a dog." He sighed and reached up to clasp the young giant by the shoulder. "I've known it had to come some day, so I'm prepared. Well, at least the apprehension is over."

Gwen and Magnus both stared at him, amazed.

Rod smiled, amused. "Go well-and write home often." Fess came trotting into the clearing.

Rod turned. "You came fast enough!"

"I can move more quickly without a human to protect," the robot explained.

"And probably started another dozen local pouka legends, while you were at it. Good thing you hurried-we need your services."

"In what way, Rod?"

"It's time, Fess. Magnus has to leave the planet."

"Ah." The horse sounded sad. "The Wanderjahr Well, I shall be honored to accompany him."

Gwen cried out in protest; so did Magnus. "My father! I could not deprive thee of thy boon companion!"

"How did you think you were going to get off planet?" Rod turned, with a sardonic smile. "Fly? You're good, son, but I don't think you could achieve lightspeed-and I would be very surprised to discover you could shift into H-space." He frowned. "Or maybe not surprised, come to think of itbut I'd rather you had a ship around you, in any event. And my ship doesn't fly without Fess to run it."

Magnus was still, trying to correlate all the factors, trying to find another way. There wasn't any. Slowly, he nodded. "I thank thee, then, my father. And thou, Fess-though I regret the inconvenience."

"It will be no inconvenience, Magnus."

"You can send him back when you buy your own ship," Rod added. "You don't have to, though."

"I shall, my father."

"Come." Gwen set a hand on his arm. "There are some to whom thou must needs say farewell." She called by mind: Cordelia! Geoffrey! Gregory!

Twin explosions signalled the arrival of the young men; Cordelia came out of the keep, frowning. "Aye, Mother?"

"Thy brother is bound away, for a space of years," Gwen said, in tones that brooked no disagreement. "Tell him farewell."

With a wordless cry, Cordelia threw herself into her brother's arms. He held her gently, looking down at the crown of her head, stroking her back, his face carefully impassive. Rod left them to it, and led Fess around behind the keep. He knew there was plenty of time-Brom O'Berin would have to be summoned, and Puck, and Toby and Alain and Diarmid, maybe even Their Majesties. Whether he wanted it or not, Magnus was going to get a farewell party, however impromptu.

Rod opened the hatch in Fess's side, took out the silver basketball, and disconnected its cable. The black horse body stood stock-still.

Handle with Care, Fess's voice said behind Rod's ear.

"I always do. You don't really think I'd drop you just to keep Magnus home, do you?"

Would I do you so grave an injustice? "I don't like the way you say `grave.' "

Rod took Fess's "brain" down into the dungeons. There, he plucked a torch from a sconce, thought at it until it lit, and went down to the end of the passage. There, he set the torch in a sconce, pressed the third stone block from the right in the fifth row down, and stood back as a section of the wall grated open. It left a doorway that was a little lower and a little narrower than most, but was still quite usable. Rod took down the torch and stepped through, leaning against the door to push it closed. Then he set off down the tunnel.

The elves had dug it for him, right after the family had decided to move in permanently. Rod had flown his spaceship in by night, telling Fess to make it bury itself in the meadow just across the moat, and the elves had covered it over with dirt. The locals had thought the bare dirt circle that was left was a fairy ring, and they hadn't been too far off.

It was very convenient-there were times when Rod needed the ship's lab and library facilities. More importantly, though, his escape route was handy, if he ever needed it in a hurry. Not that he ever had-but ten years as a secret agent had left him with a very cautious set of mind.

At the end of the tunnel was the rugged exterior of the spaceship. Rod pressed his thumb against the silver patch in the midst of the pocks and craters, and a larger-than-average crater swung out as a hatch. Rod stepped in, went to the control room, and connected the silver basketball to its cable in a niche. He clamped it in position and closed the panel. "Remember, now-you want to make an Appearance."

"My sense of the dramatic has not suffered from close association with you, Rod."

"Great." Rod smiled. "Take good care of the boy, huh?"

"I will, Rod. I have, for twenty years."

"True, Chiron. And see that he writes home a lot, okay?"

"If he does not, Rod, I will. You should rejoin the party, now."

When Rod came back, he found that there were at least two dozen people circulating around Magnus, hugging him, shaking his hand, and wishing him well. There was at least as much weeping as there was laughter-and, sure enough, Their Majesties had somehow managed to drop what they were doing and come in time. Elves circulated with trays of food and drink, and whenever people left Magnus alone for a moment, Puck was cuffing his knee and detailing all the marvels and wonders he would encounter.

Rod joined them, keeping his smile carefully fixed in place.

Suddenly, a deep thundering made the earth begin to shake. Everyone fell silent, turning in awe, and had just begun to think about screaming, when a fanfare of a hundred trumpets blared, followed by the theme from The Ride of Koschei the Deathless, as a huge, rugged spheroid rose into view above the walls. It was cratered and pitted from encounters with a hundred meteorites; it was an asteroid, come to ground. It glided over the courtyard and lowered itself gently to the ground. A final fanfare sounded as the hatchway opened and swung down to form a boarding ramp. "Very good, Fess," Rod muttered. "Thank you."