The Warlock's Companion by Christopher Stasheff Page A

toward Rod and Gwen, who waited under the shading tree.

Chapter 4
    They came up the long, winding road to the castle just as the sun slipped below the horizon—and, though they had traveled east from their home, the road had wound its way around and around up the mountain, so that, as they looked up at the castle, the sunset was behind it—a blood-red sunset, making the castle appear black and ominous, brooding above them.
    Cordelia shivered. "It doth watch us, Papa."
    "Just an illusion, dear." Rod squeezed her against him—to hide his own shiver. "It's the angle of view. A pile of stones can't watch—it has no eyes to see with."
    "Yet it doth, Papa." Magnus's voice broke on the word, somewhat spoiling the effect of his tone—but he ignored it, frowning up at the castle with a scowl as dark as its own. "There is summat held there within those stones, that doth mark our approach."
    This time Rod let go of Cordelia to hide his shiver. There might indeed be a presence in the castle—on a planet where virtually everyone was a potential esper, you couldn't rule out anything. He glanced at Geoffrey, and even his hardening warrior-child was frowning, drawn-in and truculent, glaring at the castle as though it were an attacker—and Gregory was wide-eyed and pale.
    Rod turned to Gwen. "Do you feel it, too?"
    Gwen nodded, gaze fixed on the castle. "There is a sense of old misery there, milord—some ancestral curse that must needs be lifted."
    "Well, then, a family like ours is the one to lift it!" Rod squared his shoulders and strode ahead. "Come on, troops. How long has it been since we've found a villain who could stand up to us?"
    He should have heard a cheer at his back, but he didn't. He risked a quick peek and found they were all following him, with, a sense of determination that he found more unnerving than reluctance would have been.
    "Are you sure this is wise, Rod?" Fess's voice said behind his ear.
    Rod noticed that the robot hadn't used human thought-frequency, which meant the rest of the family probably hadn't heard. He muttered back, "Of course not, Old Iron. Has that ever stopped me before?"
     
    The sky had darkened to dusk by the time they came up to the moat and saw just how dilapidated the castle was. A roof had fallen in, and some crenels were missing from the towers. Frost and thaw had prised several other blocks out of the northern wall, leaving a four-foot notch high at its top. As they watched, bats shot out of the northern tower and darted away into the night. Rod wondered just how much more of a ruin it would seem by day. Slowly, he said, "I don't think I want to spend the night there."
    But, "Nay," Gwen said, "we must."
    Rod turned to stare at her. "Spend the night in there? The time when unquiet spirits are most apt to roam? When we've all felt some wrongness there?"
    "Aye, and therefore must we stand against it," she answered, eyes hard with determination, "or let the evil that it holds endure to befoul the domain that hath been given into our care."
    Well, there was no way around that, Rod had to admit—they had accepted the estate that had been split off from Di Medici's lands, which meant they had assumed the responsibility for the welfare of its people. Not that they had asked for it, mind you, or wanted it—but they hadn't refused it, either. If Tuan and Catharine needed to have them take care of this parcel of land and people, why then, it was their duty to do so, as loyal liegefolk—unless they had a damn good reason not to.
    Which they hadn't. "I notice the Di Medici haven't bothered de-ghosting it, no matter how long it's been in the family…"
    "Thou hast said it; 'tis haunted." Gregory's eyes were huge.
    Geoffrey gave him a contemptuous glance. "Is't such news, sin that the Puck hath told us so, and we all have felt some eldritch presence there?"
    "Nay," little brother answered, "but once 'tis said, there's no unsaying it."
    Geoffrey frowned, irritated, and was about to comment, but Rod