Christopher Stasheff - The Warlock is Missing

Then, too , Gregory added, I have never seen a real giant before .

Yet it was not Castle Glynn that Groghat brought them to, but a craggy old ruin deep in the forest.

He stamped into the great hall, halted before a fireplace where a huge fire roared, loosed the drawstring, and upended the bag. The children squawked as they hit the floor, and Groghat crowed, "Now, then! I've new toys to play with!"

The children picked themselves up, and there was murder in Geoffrey's eye. Magnus laid a restraining hand on his arm and said, "Hast thou never had playmates, then?"

For a moment, there was a lost, frozen look in Groghat's eyes. Then it thawed into a grin, and Magnus noticed that the giant's eyeteeth were longer than any of his other teeth. "Thou art the toys, not the players," Groghat growled.

"Indeed." Geoffrey cocked his head to the side with the dangerous glint still in his eye. "What game wilt thou play? Ninepins?"

"Jackstraws, more likely," Groghat grunted. "What, child! Dost not realize thou art in danger of thy life?"

Geoffrey simply stared at him.

Magnus said quickly, "There are many things we do not realize. We are, after all, but innocents in a rough world. Wilt thou not explain to us?"

For a moment, Groghat seemed baffled. Then he looked suspicious. "What manner of things?"

"Why, many things." Magnus was all innocence.

Groghat sat on a bench slowly, leaning back on a table with one elbow, eyeing them warily.

"Poor giant." Cordelia fairly oozed sympathy. "Thou hast had little of gaming in thy life, hast thou not?"

"What need have I of games?" Groghat rumbled.

"But who hath not?" Magnus spread his hands. "I'll wager thou hast never even played at riddles!"

"Riddles?" Groghat frowned. "What game is this?"

"Why, 'tis simply done." Cordelia beamed. "One of us will tell a riddle, and if thou canst not puzzle it out, thou must needs answer any question we ask."

"Thus will we gain knowledge," Magnus said brightly, "and thou wilt gain amusement."

Groghat sat there gazing at them for a long moment, and Magnus began to think they might have stretched their luck too far. Then the giant rumbled, "It may prove amusing, in truth. Well, then, as thou wilt. What is thy riddle?"

They all heaved a sigh of relief. Then Magnus recited,

"Arthur O'Bower has broken his band; He comes roaring up the land. The King of Scots, with all his power, Cannot turn Arthur O'Bower."

"Aye!" Cordelia cried, glints dancing in her eyes. "Say to us, then—what is this Arthur O'Bower?"

Groghat's brow knotted in consternation, and the children waited in suspenseful silence while the giant gazed into the fire. Finally he turned to Magnus with a look of impatience. " 'Tis nonsense! No one man could stand against all the might of a King, especially an he hath broken with his band of men!"

"Nay, certes 'tis nonsense," Magnus agreed. '"'Tis all for fun."

"Aye, it is that," Groghat agreed reluctantly. "Tell me, then—what is Arthur O'Bower?"

"Why, the wind!"

"Wind…" Groghat stared at them for a moment.

Then he threw back his head, roaring a laugh. "Nay, of course! Now I see, now I know how this game is played! Nay, then, let me ask thee one!"

"Nay!" Magnus held up a palm. "First, our question! One question that thou wilt answer, ere we ask another riddle!"

"Dost thou not remember?" Cordelia urged.

Groghat scowled at them for a moment; then he almost smiled. "Well enough, then, claim thy forfeit. What is thy question?"

"Wast thou born a giant?" Cordelia asked. "Or didst thou but grow larger?"

Groghat scowled, but answered, "I cannot say surely, for I do not remember—yet the ill folk who reared me did tell me I was a wee, puny thing when the stranger brought me to their cottage."

All four children looked up, suddenly bursting with curiosity.

"Now, my riddle." Groghat leaned forward. 'Tell me what is silver above and pale below."

"Why, 'tis… WHUF!" Geoffrey broke off with Magnus's elbow in his ribs.

"Silver above… pale below?" Magnus frowned. "Let me see, could it be… Nay, a lizard's green above… Nay, it's… Why, I have it! 'Tis a rock!"

"Nay, thou'rt wrong!" Groghat crowed. "Where hast thou ever seen a silver rock?"

"High in the Crag Mountains," Cordelia answered, "but Papa told us 'twas 'fool's gold.' What is the answer?"

"A fish, children! Hast never seen a fish?"

"Only when it's cooked and on my plate," Magnus fibbed. "What is thy question for us?"

"Question? Why…" Groghat thought a minute. "Let me see… question… Um."

The children waited.

Finally, Groghat said, "What manner of horse was that I overthrew? Never before have I heard a horse crash!"

Anger kindled in Geoffrey's eyes, but Magnus said, "An enchanted horse. I know not the crafting of the enchantment; 'tis Papa's horse."

"Enchanted?" Groghat looked up. "Is thy father a wizard, then?"

"Ah-ah! No question without a riddle!" Cordelia held up a palm. "And 'tis our turn.

"A little wee man in a red, red coat, A staff in his hand, and a stone in his throat. If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give thee a groat!"

Groghat's brow knitted again. "What is a 'groat'?"

"Papa said 'twas a very small coin. What is the little wee man?"

"Little wee man… Let me see…" Groghat gazed off into space. "It could not be an elf, no, for I've never seen one with a stone in his throat. I have never seen one at all, come to that. Are they real, I wonder?"

"They are."

"Magnus!" Cordelia chided him. "He must tell his riddle ere thou dost answer!"

"Oh! Aye, I erred!"

But Groghat grinned. "I care not. But I cannot tell what thy wee, wee man is."

"'Tis a cherry!" Cordelia cried. "The staff in his hand is the stem, and the stone in his throat is the pit. Now tell me—if thou wast so small a babe, how didst thou come to be so great?"

Groghat smiled, and Cordelia was glad she'd chosen the more complimentary adjective. "The stranger who brought me to the old couple, brought them also a potion to put in my stew at every meal." He frowned. "He brought, too, a gold coin; therefore did they care for me. Yet they cared for the gold more."

And he doth revenge himself upon them, by being mean to all folk he doth meet , Gregory thought.

Thou hast the right of it , Magnus agreed, but what was in the potion ? Aloud, he said, "'Tis thy riddle now."

Groghat stared off into space, thinking.

Papa hath told us of a lump of flesh, in the base of the skull, that doth direct how much we grow , Gregory answered. Whate'er the potion was, it must have acted upon that bit of flesh .

Magnus nodded. Yet who was the stranger ?

Papa's enemy , Geoffrey thought instantly. It matters not from which side .

"What is it," Groghat asked, "that is brown in the spring, green in the summer, and scarlet in the autumn?"

Gregory started to answer, but Cordelia clapped a hand over his mouth. "Let me think… green… scarlet…" She sighed and shook her head. "I cannot say."

"Nay, thou canst not!" Groghat guffawed, slapping the table top. " 'Tis a tree, foolish child!"

'Why, so 'tis," she cried, fairly beaming. "What is thy question?"

Groghat remembered. "Is thy father a wizard?"

"Nay, he's a warlock. And my riddle is: How can there be a chicken that hath no bone?"

"A chicken that hath no bone!" Groghat stared. "Nay, tell me—for I'd be greatly pleased to dine on fowl that did not crunch!"

"Then thou hast but to fry an egg!" Cordelia said triumphantly.

Groghat stared. Then he threw- back his head and roared with laughter, slapping his leg.