The Warlock in Spite of Himself - Warlock 01 by Cristopher Stasheff Page B

mind.
    'If I were to search through this hall,' he said carefully, 'would I find the three men who attacked you tonight?'
    Tuan nodded, eyes dancing.
    'A put-up job,' Rod said, nodding with him. 'A small performance, arranged solely for my benefit, with the single purpose of maneuvering me in here for a recruiting lecture. You do know how to manage people, Tuan McReady.'
    Tuan blushed, and looked down.
    'But what if I don't want to join you, Tuan McReady? Will I leave the House of Clovis alive this night?'
    Tuan's head came up, eyes boring into Rod's.
    'Only,' he said, 'if you are an excellent swordsman, and a warlock to boot.'
    Rod nodded slowly, the events of the past two days whirling through his mind. For a moment, he was tempted to join; he had no doubt that he could maneuver himself into the throne after the revolution. But no; what Tuan said was true. It took a man with an inborn gift of mass hypnotism to control the beggars. Rod might take the throne, but the beggars - and the Mocker, and whoever was behind him - would not let him keep it.
    No, the power structure had to stay the way it was; a constitutional monarchy was the only hope for democracy on this planet. Then, too, there was Catharine....
    Then, the jarring note in the score of events caught Rod's ear. He was hung up on Catharine, probably she was the Dream. But he had liked Tuan at first sight. How could he like them both if they were really working against one another?
    Of course, all Tuan's forthright charm might be an act, but somehow Rod doubted it.
    No. If Tuan had really wanted the throne, he could have wooed Catharine, and could have won her - Rod had no doubt about that. So Tuan was supporting the Queen. How he figured his demagoguery could help her, Rod couldn't figure, but somehow it made sense that Tuan believed he was.
    Then why the elaborate plot to get Rod into the House of Clovis?
    To test Rod, of course; to find out if he was to be trusted next to the Queen.
    Which made sense, if this kid had dealings with Brom O'Berin. It would be just like Brom to try to drum up popular support for the Queen in just this way - but why the propaganda for a march on the castle?
    Tuan probably had an answer to that one, and speaking of answers, it was about time Rod came up with one.
    He gave Tuan a savage grin and rose, with his hand on his sword. 'No thanks. I'll take my chances with swordcraft and sorcery.'
    Tuan's eyes lit with joy; he caught Rod's arm. 'Well spoken, friend Gallowglass! I had hoped you would answer thus. Now sit, and hear the truth of my plot.'
    Rod shook his hand off. 'Draw,' he said between his teeth.
    'Nay, nay! I would not draw 'gainst a friend. I have played a low trick on you, but you must not hold anger; 'twas for a good purpose. But sit, and I shall tell you.'
    'I've heard all I want.' Rod started to draw his sword. Tuan caught Rod's forearm again, and this time his hand wouldn't shake off. Rod looked into Tuan's eyes, jaw tightened and arm muscles straining; but slowly and steadily, his sword was forced back into its scabbard.
    'Sit,' said Tuan, and he forced Rod back into his chair as easily as though Rod had been a child.
    'Now hear my plot.' Tuan let go of Rod's arm and smiled, as warmly as though nothing had happened. 'The Queen gives us money, and the beggars know that she gives it; but the taking of a gift raises only burning anger in the taker. It we would win friends for the Queen, we must find a way to transmute this anger to gratitude.
    Rod nodded, frowning.
    'Thus we must make the Queen's shilling something other than a gift.'
    'And you found a way to do it.'
    'Not I,' Tuan confessed, 'but the Mocker. "When is a gift not a gift?" he riddled me, and answered, "Why, when 'tis a right."'
    Tuan leaned back, spreading his hands. 'And there you have it, so easily done. The beggars shall march to the castle and cry to the Queen that she owes them bread and meat, because it is their right. And she will give it to them, and they