The Warlock Rock by Christopher Stasheff Page A
Authors: Christopher Stasheff
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction - General, Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantastic fiction, Rock Music, Gallowglass; Rod (Fictitious character)
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their parents." Geoffrey frowned, watching the children, head nodding.
"And the music doth make them to move." Magnus looked out over the crowd. "There's none here older than twelve, from the look of them—and none younger than ten could pause long enough to talk."
"I have watched the two a-tossing of the ball," Cordelia told him. "They have never ceased their game for a moment."
"The younger they are, the more firmly the pulsing of the low notes doth seize them," Magnus said. "Yet why cannot the oldest comprehend our questions?"
"Who could think with this sound beating at one's ears?" Gregory answered.
"Come!" A fourteen-year-old boy leaped forward and caught Cordelia's hand. "Dance with me!" She gave a shriek, and her brothers yelled and leaped after her—but the crowd closed around her on the beat, and the boys slammed into bodies, bodies that rotated on one beat and punched at them on the next. Magnus shoved Gregory behind him and blocked, but Geoffrey had the sense to counterpunch on the offbeat, and his fist slammed home. His opponent's head snapped back and he fell; his comrades weren't able to move aside until the next beat, so he landed slowly, staring up at Geoffrey in amazement.
"How didst thou that?"
" 'Tis almost as though the time between beats doth not exist for them," Gregory exclaimed.
"Why, then, betwixt beats, we can wend betwixt bodies! Come, brothers!" Magnus nodded his head.
"One, AND two AND three, NOW!"
They shoved through and saw Cordelia dancing, her whole body bobbing and weaving, a delighted smile on her face and a glazed look in her eyes as she stared at the boy who had pulled her in.
"Is he handsome?" Gregory asked, with interest.
"As lads go, I suppose," Geoffrey grudged, "though he cannot be much of a boy if he doth wish to dance with a lass."
"Alas!" a pretty blond twelve-year-old girl cried, catching his hand. "Wilt thou not dance with me?" Geoffrey recoiled as though a snake had bitten him. The girl flushed, hurt, and Gregory tried to smooth it over by asking quickly, "Dost thou not mind this great press of bodies about thee?"
"Nay." The girl beamed. "Wherefore should I? 'Tis but entertainment." She eyed Geoffrey with a slow Page 37
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smile, but he recovered, straightening, his lip curling. The girl saw and pouted for a beat, shrugged on the next, and whirled away on the third.
The boys stared at their dancing sister in the wrapping of music.
"There are words to it!" Gregory said, wide-eyed.
They listened, and heard the twanging music form into phrases:
Chew bop, chew bop! Bee bee yum hop! Yum chew sip sop, Boy and girl drop!
"What arrant nonsense!" Gregory shivered with distaste.
"What is its meaning?" Geoffrey wondered.
"Naught, I hope," Magnus scowled. "Come, brothers! We must haul our sister out from here."
"Yet how?"
"Catch her arms and fly."
"They will seek to prevent us," Gregory warned.
"I depend upon it." Geoffrey clenched a fist, his eyes glittering. "On the 'and,' brothers!"
"One AND two AND," Magnus counted. "To HER left NOW, catch HER arm AND rise AND fly NOW!"
He and Geoffrey shot off the ground with Gregory trailing behind. Cordelia disappeared so suddenly that her partner looked about for her, at a loss—to left and to right, but not up above. She writhed and twisted in their hands. "OH! Do LET me GO now! THOU foul KILLjoys!"
"Sister, wake!" Magnus cried, but she kept twisting until Gregory swooped up before her, beating time with his hands, then clapped suddenly under her nose on the offbeat. Cordelia's head snapped up, her eyes wide, startled. "OH! What…"
"Thou wert ensnared," her littlest brother informed her.
"I was not." She blushed and looked away. "I did only… attempt to…"
"Study the phenomenon from within, perhaps?"
All looked down, startled, to see Fess looking up at them from the edge of the crowd. Cordelia couldn't fib with his plastic optics on
"And the music doth make them to move." Magnus looked out over the crowd. "There's none here older than twelve, from the look of them—and none younger than ten could pause long enough to talk."
"I have watched the two a-tossing of the ball," Cordelia told him. "They have never ceased their game for a moment."
"The younger they are, the more firmly the pulsing of the low notes doth seize them," Magnus said. "Yet why cannot the oldest comprehend our questions?"
"Who could think with this sound beating at one's ears?" Gregory answered.
"Come!" A fourteen-year-old boy leaped forward and caught Cordelia's hand. "Dance with me!" She gave a shriek, and her brothers yelled and leaped after her—but the crowd closed around her on the beat, and the boys slammed into bodies, bodies that rotated on one beat and punched at them on the next. Magnus shoved Gregory behind him and blocked, but Geoffrey had the sense to counterpunch on the offbeat, and his fist slammed home. His opponent's head snapped back and he fell; his comrades weren't able to move aside until the next beat, so he landed slowly, staring up at Geoffrey in amazement.
"How didst thou that?"
" 'Tis almost as though the time between beats doth not exist for them," Gregory exclaimed.
"Why, then, betwixt beats, we can wend betwixt bodies! Come, brothers!" Magnus nodded his head.
"One, AND two AND three, NOW!"
They shoved through and saw Cordelia dancing, her whole body bobbing and weaving, a delighted smile on her face and a glazed look in her eyes as she stared at the boy who had pulled her in.
"Is he handsome?" Gregory asked, with interest.
"As lads go, I suppose," Geoffrey grudged, "though he cannot be much of a boy if he doth wish to dance with a lass."
"Alas!" a pretty blond twelve-year-old girl cried, catching his hand. "Wilt thou not dance with me?" Geoffrey recoiled as though a snake had bitten him. The girl flushed, hurt, and Gregory tried to smooth it over by asking quickly, "Dost thou not mind this great press of bodies about thee?"
"Nay." The girl beamed. "Wherefore should I? 'Tis but entertainment." She eyed Geoffrey with a slow Page 37
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
smile, but he recovered, straightening, his lip curling. The girl saw and pouted for a beat, shrugged on the next, and whirled away on the third.
The boys stared at their dancing sister in the wrapping of music.
"There are words to it!" Gregory said, wide-eyed.
They listened, and heard the twanging music form into phrases:
Chew bop, chew bop! Bee bee yum hop! Yum chew sip sop, Boy and girl drop!
"What arrant nonsense!" Gregory shivered with distaste.
"What is its meaning?" Geoffrey wondered.
"Naught, I hope," Magnus scowled. "Come, brothers! We must haul our sister out from here."
"Yet how?"
"Catch her arms and fly."
"They will seek to prevent us," Gregory warned.
"I depend upon it." Geoffrey clenched a fist, his eyes glittering. "On the 'and,' brothers!"
"One AND two AND," Magnus counted. "To HER left NOW, catch HER arm AND rise AND fly NOW!"
He and Geoffrey shot off the ground with Gregory trailing behind. Cordelia disappeared so suddenly that her partner looked about for her, at a loss—to left and to right, but not up above. She writhed and twisted in their hands. "OH! Do LET me GO now! THOU foul KILLjoys!"
"Sister, wake!" Magnus cried, but she kept twisting until Gregory swooped up before her, beating time with his hands, then clapped suddenly under her nose on the offbeat. Cordelia's head snapped up, her eyes wide, startled. "OH! What…"
"Thou wert ensnared," her littlest brother informed her.
"I was not." She blushed and looked away. "I did only… attempt to…"
"Study the phenomenon from within, perhaps?"
All looked down, startled, to see Fess looking up at them from the edge of the crowd. Cordelia couldn't fib with his plastic optics on