The Warlock Rock by Christopher Stasheff Page B
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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her. "Nay, I was caught," she admitted grudgingly. "But, oh! It doth take such a hold of one!"
"I do not doubt it," Fess said. "There is entirely too high a concentration of rock music in this meadow. Come away, children, so that we can hear one another talk."
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He turned and trotted away. The boys exchanged a glance, nodded, and swooped off after him. After about fifty feet, Magnus looked up, alarmed, and circled back to accompany his sister. "What kept thee?"
"My broomstick," Cordelia reminded him. "Thou couldst have waited, Magnus! 'Twas but a second's work to leap upon it—yet in that time, thou wast an hundred feet ahead."
"My apologies," Magnus said ruefully.
Down, Gwen's voice commanded inside their heads.
They looked down, surprised, to see their parents climbing out of a skiff and onto the bank. Aye, Mama
, Magnus thought back at her, and all four children landed neatly in front of Rod and Gwen.
"What hast thou learned?" she asked.
Cordelia blushed, and Magnus was just starting to answer, when a sizzling sound made them all turn and look up.
Sudden heat seared, and a muted roaring swelled in volume and rose in pitch. "Hit the dirt!" Rod yelled and leaped aside, knocking his children down like bowling pins as a huge mass of flame shot by overhead and plummeted away in front of them, its roar fading and dropping in pitch.
"Children! Are you well?"
"Aye, Mama," Cordelia answered shakily, and her brothers chorused after her. "What is that ?" Magnus cried.
"The Doppler effect," Fess answered obligingly. "As the object approached, its sound rose in pitch, and as it went away…"
"No, not the sound!" Rob said. "The object! What was it?"
"Why, do none of you recognize it? You have seen enough of them in your lifetimes, I know."
"Wilt thou te//us!"
"Why," said Gwen, "it was a fireball, such as witches and warlocks throw at one another! You have seen them ere now."
"It was a fireball." Cordelia stared off at the trail of smoke.
" That? 'Twas as much a fireball as a hillock is a mountain!"
"The difference is merely a matter of scale," Fess pointed out.
"A scale of mat much difference must come from a whale!"
"The whale is no fish, thou ninny!"
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"Nay, but thou wilt be, and thou dost call me a…"
"Quiet!" Rod snapped. "Here comes another one!"
"Two more!"
"Three!"
They stood rooted to the spot, staring at the huge spheres of flame that roared toward them. "They truly are great balls of fire," Gregory marvelled.
Fess's head snapped up. "But their elevation is significantly lower than mat of the first! Flee! Fly! Or you will be seared for certain! Go !"
The family leaped into the air, the boys shooting away over the meadow, Gwen and Cordelia swooping away on their broomsticks. Rod brought up the rear.
But the fireballs swooped faster.
"To the sides!" Gwen called. "Out of their pathway!" They veered sideways, Cordelia and Gregory to the left with their mother, Magnus and Geoffrey to the right with their father—but the outside fireballs only sheared off after them.
"The menace comes with purpose!" Fess cried. "Up! See if you can rise above it!" The family made a full-scale try at transcendence, swooping up into the sky so fast their stomachs thought they'd been forgotten—but the fireballs swooped up after them.
"They have our measure!" Magnus cried in despair. "How can we evade them?"
"I see a river!" Rod called. "Dive, kids! With as deep a breath as you can, then hold it! Maybe the fireballs will stay away from the water!"
As one, the children gulped air and stooped, barrelling downward like lead weights from theTower ofPisa , and shot into the water as though they were holding a splash contest, with Rod and Gwen right behind.
The outside fireballs veered back toward the center one, and the three of them shot by overhead.
"I do not doubt it," Fess said. "There is entirely too high a concentration of rock music in this meadow. Come away, children, so that we can hear one another talk."
Page 38
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He turned and trotted away. The boys exchanged a glance, nodded, and swooped off after him. After about fifty feet, Magnus looked up, alarmed, and circled back to accompany his sister. "What kept thee?"
"My broomstick," Cordelia reminded him. "Thou couldst have waited, Magnus! 'Twas but a second's work to leap upon it—yet in that time, thou wast an hundred feet ahead."
"My apologies," Magnus said ruefully.
Down, Gwen's voice commanded inside their heads.
They looked down, surprised, to see their parents climbing out of a skiff and onto the bank. Aye, Mama
, Magnus thought back at her, and all four children landed neatly in front of Rod and Gwen.
"What hast thou learned?" she asked.
Cordelia blushed, and Magnus was just starting to answer, when a sizzling sound made them all turn and look up.
Sudden heat seared, and a muted roaring swelled in volume and rose in pitch. "Hit the dirt!" Rod yelled and leaped aside, knocking his children down like bowling pins as a huge mass of flame shot by overhead and plummeted away in front of them, its roar fading and dropping in pitch.
"Children! Are you well?"
"Aye, Mama," Cordelia answered shakily, and her brothers chorused after her. "What is that ?" Magnus cried.
"The Doppler effect," Fess answered obligingly. "As the object approached, its sound rose in pitch, and as it went away…"
"No, not the sound!" Rob said. "The object! What was it?"
"Why, do none of you recognize it? You have seen enough of them in your lifetimes, I know."
"Wilt thou te//us!"
"Why," said Gwen, "it was a fireball, such as witches and warlocks throw at one another! You have seen them ere now."
"It was a fireball." Cordelia stared off at the trail of smoke.
" That? 'Twas as much a fireball as a hillock is a mountain!"
"The difference is merely a matter of scale," Fess pointed out.
"A scale of mat much difference must come from a whale!"
"The whale is no fish, thou ninny!"
Page 39
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Nay, but thou wilt be, and thou dost call me a…"
"Quiet!" Rod snapped. "Here comes another one!"
"Two more!"
"Three!"
They stood rooted to the spot, staring at the huge spheres of flame that roared toward them. "They truly are great balls of fire," Gregory marvelled.
Fess's head snapped up. "But their elevation is significantly lower than mat of the first! Flee! Fly! Or you will be seared for certain! Go !"
The family leaped into the air, the boys shooting away over the meadow, Gwen and Cordelia swooping away on their broomsticks. Rod brought up the rear.
But the fireballs swooped faster.
"To the sides!" Gwen called. "Out of their pathway!" They veered sideways, Cordelia and Gregory to the left with their mother, Magnus and Geoffrey to the right with their father—but the outside fireballs only sheared off after them.
"The menace comes with purpose!" Fess cried. "Up! See if you can rise above it!" The family made a full-scale try at transcendence, swooping up into the sky so fast their stomachs thought they'd been forgotten—but the fireballs swooped up after them.
"They have our measure!" Magnus cried in despair. "How can we evade them?"
"I see a river!" Rod called. "Dive, kids! With as deep a breath as you can, then hold it! Maybe the fireballs will stay away from the water!"
As one, the children gulped air and stooped, barrelling downward like lead weights from theTower ofPisa , and shot into the water as though they were holding a splash contest, with Rod and Gwen right behind.
The outside fireballs veered back toward the center one, and the three of them shot by overhead.
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