If the wart-faces and dragon-men were alien, this being was even more bizarre, although, in many ways, it seemed more comical than menacing. Its garment was the same deep red as the dragon-men’s, but its garb was solely red, without the blue sleeves and legs, and a gleaming pendant hung about its neck to dangle on its chest. It was also short, its head rising little higher than Sir George’s chest, and the exposed portion of its face and throat was covered in plushy purple fur. Like the others, it went on two legs and had two arms, but though its hands had only three fingers, each had been given an extra thumb where a man would have had his little finger. All of that was odd enough, but the creature’s face was more grotesque than a mummer’s mask. It was broad and flat, with two wide, lipless mouths—one above the other—and no trace of a nose. Worse, it had three golden eyes: a single, large one centered in the upper part of its face, and two smaller ones set lower, flanking it to either side. And, as if to crown the absurdity of its appearance, its broad, squat head was topped by two enormous, foxlike ears covered in the same purple fur.
Sir George stared at it, shocked as even the wart-faces and dragon-men had not left him. They, at least, radiated a sense of watchfulness, even threat, he felt he understood, but this creature—! It might as easily have been a demon or a court jester, and he wondered whether he ought to smile or cross himself.
“Who leads this group?”
The voice was light, even delicate, with the piping clarity of a young child’s. It spoke perfect English, and it appeared to emerge from the upper of the demon-jester’s two mouths, although the lipless opening didn’t move precisely in time with the words. Hearing it, Sir George was tempted to smile, despite all that had happened, for it seemed far more suited to the jester than to a demon. But the temptation was faint and brief. There was no expression in that voice at all, nor, so far as he could tell, did any hint of an expression cross that alien face. Yet that was the point—it was an alien face, and that was driven brutally home to Sir George as he realized that, for the first time in his life, he could not discern the smallest hint of the thoughts or wishes or emotions of the being speaking to him.
“I do,” he replied after a long still moment.
“And you are?” the piping voice inquired.
“I am Sir George Wincaster, Baron of Wickworth, in the service of His Majesty Edward III, King of England, Scotland, Wales, and France.” There was a hint of iron pride in that reply, and Sir George felt other spines straighten about him, but—
“You are in error, Sir George Wincaster,” the piping voice told him, still with no hint of expression. “You are no longer in the service of any human. You are now in the service of my Guild.”
Sir George stared at the small being, and a rumbling rustle went through the men at his back. He opened his mouth to respond, but the demon-jester went on without so much as a pause.
“But for the intervention of my vessel and crew, you all would have perished,” it said. “We rescued you. As a result, you are now our property, to do with as we choose.” An inarticulate half-snarl, fueled as much by fear as by anger, rose behind Sir George, but the demon-jester continued unperturbed. “No doubt it will take you some time to fully accept this change in status,” its expressionless voice continued. “You would be wise, however, to accustom yourself to it as quickly as your primitive understanding permits.”
“Accustom ourselves—!” someone began furiously, but Sir George’s raised hand cut the rising tide of outrage short.
“We are Englishmen . . . sir,” he said quietly, “and Englishmen are no one’s `property.’ ”
“It is unwise to disagree with me, Sir George Wincaster,” the demon-jester said, still with that calm, total lack of expression. “As a group, you and your fellows are—or may become, at any rate—a valuable asset of my Guild. None of you, however, is irreplaceable as an individual.”