Sir George’s jaw clenched. He was unaccustomed to being threatened to his face, and certainly to being threatened by a half-sized creature he could have snapped in two one-handed. Yet he made himself swallow it. The wart-faces and dragon-men behind the demon-jester were ominous evidence of the power which backed him. Even worse, Sir George was achingly aware of the presence of his wife and son.
“Unwise or not,” he said after a long, still moment, “it is I who command these men. As such, it is my duty to speak for them. We are all grateful for our rescue, but—”
“I do not want your gratitude. My Guild and I desire only your obedience,” the demon-jester interrupted. “We require certain services of you—services you should find neither difficult nor distasteful, since they are the only ones you are truly trained or equipped to provide.”
Sir George’s hand clenched once more on the hilt of his sword, but the demon-jester ignored the movement, as if the very notion that something as childish as a sword might threaten it was ludicrous.
“We require only that you fight for us,” it went on. “If you do, you will be well treated and rewarded. Your lives will be extended beyond any span you can presently imagine, your health will be provided for, your—” The three eyes looked past Sir George, and the creature seemed to pause for a moment, as if searching for a word. Then it continued without inflection. “Your mates and young will be cared for, and you will be granted access to them.”
“And if we choose not to fight for you?” Sir George asked flatly.
“Then you will be compelled to change your minds,” the demon-jester replied. “Analysis indicates that such compulsion should not prove difficult. You are, of course, primitives from a primitive and barbaric culture, so simple and direct methods would undoubtedly serve best. We might, perhaps, begin by selecting five or six of your mates and young at random and executing them.”
A ball of ice closed upon Sir George’s stomach. The threat was scarcely unexpected, yet he had not counted on how the emotionlessness—the total lack of interest or anger—in the demon-jester’s piping voice would hone the jagged edges of his fear. He forced himself not to look over his shoulder at Matilda and Edward.
“If such measures should prove insufficient, there are, of course, others,” the demon-jester continued. “Should all else fail, we could attempt complete personality erasure and simply reprogram you, but that would probably prove excessively time consuming. Nor would there be any real point in it. It would be much more cost effective simply to dispose of all of you and collect a fresh force of fighters. One group of barbarians is very like another, after all.”
“But these barbarians are under arms, sirrah!” another voice barked.
Sir George’s head snapped around, and he felt a stab of dreadful certainty at what he would see. Sir John Denmore was barely twenty years old, young and hot-blooded, with more than his fair share of arrogance, and he punctuated his fierce statement with the steely slither of a drawn blade. His sword gleamed under the unnaturally brilliant lights, and he leapt forward with a vicious stroke.
“God and Saint G—!”
He never completed the war cry. His sword swept towards the demon-jester, but the creature never even moved. It simply stood there, watching with its alien lack of expression, and the young knight’s shout died in shock when his sword struck some invisible barrier, like a wall of air. It flew out of his hands, and he gaped in disbelief as it spun end over end away from him. Then he shook himself, snarled, and snatched at his dagger.
“Hold!” Sir George shouted. “Put up your—”
But he was too late. This time the demon-jester made a small gesture, and Sir John gurgled and stopped dead. His eyes bulged wildly, his expression one of raw terror as rage turned into panic, but he could not even open his mouth. He was held as though in a giant, unseen spider’s web, dagger half-drawn, utterly helpless, and the demon-jester gazed at Sir George.
“It is well for you that you attempted to stop him rather than joining in his stupidity,” it informed the baron, “but I see you truly are primitives and so require proof of your status. Very well. I will give it to you.”