Magician's Ward Read online

  "No one noticed the spell at the opera, either," Mairelon said. "This was the same thing, I think. I got that much before he . . . broke off."

  Renee nodded. "That is a good beginning. Continue, if you please."

  Prince Durmontov frowned. "Spell at the opera? To what do you refer?"

  "There, you see?" Mairelon said to Renee. "No one but us noticed it. I was rather hoping that wizard would try again, whoever he is; I had an analyze-and-trace spell all ready for him." He shook his head. "I didn't expect him to chop everything off in the middle the minute the trace got to him, and I caught a bit of back blow, I'm afraid. Now, if you'll excuse us, Kim and I have to be getting home immediately."

  "What?" Renee said, alarmed once more. "Why?"

  "Because the last time whoever-he-is tried this, he attempted to run off with something from my brother's library." Mairelon's cheerful tone sounded forced to Kim, but neither Renee nor the prince seemed to notice. "I didn't catch him here; maybe I can catch him there. Come along, Kim."

  "What about Lady Wendall and Mrs. Lowe?" Kim said as they started toward the door, leaving Renee to attempt to explain Mairelon's cryptic utterances to the prince as best she could.

  "I'll send the coach back for them as soon as we get home," Mairelon said. There was an undercurrent to his voice that made Kim want to break into a run. Whatever happened back there, he hasn't told it all yet. And it isn't good.

  In the coach, Mairelon gave the orders to the coachman and then leaned back against the squabs and closed his eyes. Even in the dark interior, Kim could see his face settle into lines of unnatural exhaustion. She waited, not daring to think for fear of what thinking might lead to, watching the rise and fall of Mairelon's chest as if he were a child on a sickbed.

  The carriage lurched into motion. After a few minutes, Mairelon spoke, without opening his eyes and in a voice so low that Kim had to lean forward to hear it over the sound of the carriage wheels. "You'll have to check the house-ward as soon as we get home. You shouldn't have a problem; you've watched Mother and me do it enough times, and I'll be there to talk you through it."

  "What?" Surprise and shock made her tone sharper than she intended. "Why? If you're there--"

  Mairelon's eyes opened, and the bleak despair in them cut Kim off in mid-sentence. But his voice was steady as he answered, "I won't be doing it because I can't." He hesitated, then shook his head as if to clear it and took a deep breath. "At the moment, I haven't got enough magic to light a candle."

  "What?"

  "Whatever my tracing spell hit, it didn't get cut off and blown up back at me." Mairelon closed his eyes again. "It got sucked into something, and everything else . . . went with it. So you'll have to check the house-ward."

  "Oh." Kim wanted to say more, but Mairelon's pose forbade the sympathy and comfort she didn't know how to express anyway. It hurt to look at him, but she couldn't stop. "How long do you think it will last?" she asked carefully after a moment.

  There was another long pause. "I don't know," Mairelon said finally. "If I'm very lucky, I'll be back to normal in the morning. If not, perhaps a week or so. Perhaps longer."

  Perhaps never hung unspoken in the air between them, and supper congealed in Kim's stomach like three-day-old porridge. What will he do, if he can't work magic anymore, ever? she thought, and then, And what happens to me? She frowned suddenly, wondering what she had meant by that. It wasn't as if Mairelon were dead, and even then Lady Wendall wouldn't throw Kim back out on the streets. To do her justice, neither would Mrs. Lowe. What am I worried about?

  Abruptly, she realized the answer, and her eyes widened in shock. All the wizards in St. Giles--Tom said they were working for Mannering, or they weren't working. Ma Yanger hadn't done any spells for two months, and then she . . . she. . . . The memory of Ma Yanger's vacant expression and the grunting sound that had been all the speech she could manage made bile rise in Kim's throat. Not Mairelon!

  She looked across at him, suddenly frantic with worry. His eyes were still closed; he hadn't noticed her reaction. She hesitated; but only briefly--they must be nearly to Grosvenor Square, and she didn't have much time left. "Epistamai, videre, l'herah, revelare," she said, too softly for him to hear over the sound of the coach wheels, as she sketched the pattern in the air.

  A softly glowing green haze sprang up around Mairelon, twin to the one she had seen surrounding Ma Yanger in the tenement the week before. Despite herself, Kim gasped. Mairelon's eyes opened. "What is it?" he said.

  Kim swallowed. If she needed further proof, she had it now; he hadn't felt the spellcasting. "I just did that spell you taught me, the one that shows what things are enchanted. And you're glowing green."

  Mairelon's eyes narrowed, and his face lost some of its hopeless look in sudden interest. "Brightly? Evenly?"

  "Not very bright, just sort of a mist. It's about three inches deep all over, near as I can tell." She leaned forward to measure more nearly, and Mairelon jerked away.

  "No!" he said, and then, more gently, "Until we have a better idea just what happened and how, you'd better not try anything like that again. You don't want it to happen to you."

  Kim sat back. The advice was good, but . . . "If you won't let nobody throw the wind at you, how are we going to figure out what sneaking bully fitch done this, let alone set it to rights?"

  Mairelon frowned, looking yet more like himself. "I hadn't really thought it out. Shoreham may have run into something like this before, or one of his men may have. I'll see him in the morning. And Kerring--if it's a known spell, it'll be in the Royal College's library somewhere, and if it's there, he'll find it."

  And if it's an unknown spell? But she couldn't bring herself to say it, not when the thought of being able to do something about the spell had banished the haunted look from Mairelon's face.

  The carriage pulled up, and for once Mairelon waited for the footman to open the door. The house was quiet as they entered. Mairelon nodded toward the darkened dining room and said, "We'd best check the ward before we do anything else. The check is a small variation of the warding spell you already know, like this. . . ."

  Kim followed his directions, but found nothing; the warding spell remained untouched. When she reported this to Mairelon, he frowned. "Either we've arrived in good time for whatever he's planning, or he isn't planning to do it here," he muttered.

  "Or he's done it already," Kim said.

  "Eh?" Mairelon looked up, startled.

  "It was a trap," she said patiently. Mairelon's face set, and she went on quickly, "Maybe that's all he meant to do."

  "Ah. If he thinks that I'm the only full-fledged wizard in the household, he'll expect the ward to dissipate in a day or two, because ward spells require maintenance and I . . . can't do that any longer. All he would have to do is be patient, and he'd have a free hand." Mairelon dropped into a chair and began drumming his fingers on the dining-room table. "But as soon as he realizes that the ward isn't weakening, he'll know that someone else is maintaining it. Then he'll come after you and Mother."

  "And maybe we can trap him."

  Mairelon's expression went bleak. "That's what I thought I was going to do, and look what happened. No, that's not a good idea at all, unless . . ." He paused, and a hint of the familiar gleam appeared in his eyes. ". . . unless we convince him that his first trap didn't work at all."

  Kim blinked, then caught on. "You mean, make him think you still have all your magic?"

  "Exactly." Mairelon rose to pace up and down alongside the table. "When the ward doesn't collapse, he'll wonder; all we'll need is a public demonstration to convince him. And we have the perfect opportunity in a week's time."

  "What's that?"

  "Your come-out ball," Mairelon said with a shadow of his old grin. "You and I will do the illusion display, just as we've planned. Only you'll do a bit more of it, and Mother will handle the rest. If we arrange it correctly, no one will realize that it's not me actually working the spell."

 
; And it would be arranged correctly, Kim was sure. If there was one thing Mairelon understood, it was showmanship. When she had first met him, he had been performing stage magic--sleight-of-hand illusions, coin tricks, and other such things--in the Hungerford Market, and turning more than a few shillings at it without employing any real magic at all. But . . . "If this frogmaker thinks you still got your magic, won't he come after you again?"

  "Thinks I still have my magic," Mairelon said. "Yes, that's the whole idea. He can't do anything more to me, after all."

  Kim thought of Ma Yanger, and shivered. But Mairelon would think of that himself, soon enough, and if he didn't she could point it out later. And as long as he was busy with Shoreham and Kerring and figuring out how to pretend he still had his magic, he wouldn't go haring off on some long chance that only a bubble-brained, pigheaded flat would even think of.

  Carriage wheels sounded outside, and a moment later Lady Wendall burst into the room, followed more sedately by Mrs. Lowe. "Richard!" said Lady Wendall. "What happened? Why did you and Kim leave so early?"

  "Our mysterious wizard had another try, and Kim and I thought we should come home and check the ward," Mairelon said. "But it's held up fine."

  Lady Wendall gave Mairelon a sharp look, but held her peace.

  "I trust that next time you will bring your mother, instead of dragging Kim away from a promising situation," Mrs. Lowe said. "She will be fortunate indeed if the Marquis of Harsfeld does not take exception to the manner in which he was deserted this evening."

  "Bosh, Agatha!" Lady Wendall said. "If Kim had gone to the musicale as one of Lord Franton's party, he might justly have been offended, but she came with us. And it will be just as well if he is not too particular in his attentions. It is much too early in the Season for Kim to allow her name to be linked with that of any one gentleman."

  "I should think so!" said Mairelon, sounding rather startled.

  "If the pair of you intend to encourage Kim to pass up a brilliant match, simply because it does not suit your sense of timing, then I shall say nothing more," Mrs. Lowe announced.

  "Really, Aunt Agatha, that's coming on a bit too strong," Mairelon said. "Kim only met Lord Franton this evening."

  "The marquis was clearly very taken with her," Mrs. Lowe countered. "I can only hope that Kim will have sense enough to pursue the matter before he comes to his senses."

  Everyone looked at Kim; remembering Lord Franton's polite-but-very-interested attention, Kim flushed. Mairelon frowned. Lady Wendall cocked an eyebrow and said, "Well, my dear?"

  "He asked for two dances at our ball next week," Kim admitted. "And he said he'd come to call, and asked me to drive in the park."

  "There, you see?" Mrs. Lowe said triumphantly to no one in particular.

  Lady Wendall smiled. "It is an excellent thing, to be sure. However, Kim still has the remainder of the Season ahead of her. And may I remind you, Agatha, that the purpose of this come-out is to see Kim launched and well-established in Society, not necessarily to find her a husband."

  "She could not possibly be more well-established than she would be if she were to marry a marquis," Mrs. Lowe countered.

  "She might marry a duke, as Elizabeth Gunning did," Lady Wendall murmured provocatively.

  "That was over sixty years ago." Mrs. Lowe pointed out.

  Lady Wendall considered. "Only the first time. Her second marriage, which you will recall was likewise to a duke, was not quite sixty years ago."

  "If you intend to make a joke of this, Elizabeth, I shall leave you," Mrs. Lowe said. "I hope you will think about what I have said." With massive dignity, she swept out of the room.

  "There!" Lady Wendall said. "I began to think she would never leave. Now, Richard, tell me--what scrape have you fallen into this time? I made sure it was something when Renee told me you had run off, and when I saw your face, I was certain of it."

  "It's a good deal worse than a scrape, Mother," Mairelon said. "You had better sit down."

  Kim glanced at his face, and then away. It had been hard enough for him to admit to her what had happened, even in the darkness of the closed carriage. She didn't think he would want her to watch him tell the story over again to his mother. Silently, she slipped out of the room.

  The hall was empty, and Kim hesitated. She wanted to talk to Hunch, but the thought of being the one to break the news of Mairelon's incapacity to him was more than she could face on top of the rest of the evening. Tomorrow--tomorrow she would talk to Hunch, and then go see Mannering. If he was behind what had happened to Mairelon . . . She climbed the stairs to her bedroom, and found Wilson waiting patiently to assist her in undressing.

  Kim allowed the abigail to work in silence for a few minutes, her own thoughts and emotions still churning. Finally she said, "Wake me early tomorrow. I got some errands to do before people start calling."

  "Very good, miss," the abigail said. "Will you be wanting me to come with you?"

  Kim considered a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know yet. It's part wizard things and part . . . personal. What do you think?"

  "I'll be ready, then," Wilson said. "I can sit in the coach for the wizardly bits. Turn around, miss, if you please, so's I can undo the back."

  The abigail finished her work and left. Kim climbed into bed and blew out the candle, then lay staring into the dark for a long, long time.

  15

  Kim slept very badly, and she was wide awake and had already made a trip to the library downstairs when Wilson returned the following morning. Wilson made no comment, but went about her work with quiet efficiency. "What will you wear today, miss?" she asked at last.

  "I don't know," Kim said. "What have I got that'll impress somebody?" Some of her plans had firmed during the long dark hours before dawn, but clothes were not among them. All she knew was that there was no point in wearing her boy's disguise today. Jack Stower worked for Mannering now; Jack knew she was a girl, so Mannering must, and she couldn't pass for a boy by daylight anyway. What she would wear was not something she had considered.

  "I suggest the slate-colored walking dress with the Spanish puffs, miss," the abigail said.

  Kim nodded and let the abigail help her into it without paying much attention. When she finished dressing, she put the bit of wire she used for lockpicking in the matching reticule and slid her carefully chosen book into her pocket. Then she said, "Now I got to talk to Hunch. Do you know where he is?"

  "Below stairs," Wilson replied. "And in a right temper this morning. I'll fetch him at once, miss."

  "No, that'll take too long. Just come down with me," Kim said.

  "Very good, miss."

  They found Hunch out in back of the kitchen, cleaning carriage tack and chewing on his mustache. As soon as she saw his face, Kim knew that Mairelon had told him what had happened. He glowered at her, but Kim ignored it.

  "Hunch, I need to get down to the City," she said without preamble.

  "What for?" Hunch demanded suspiciously.

  "To see a sharper that might have something to do with what happened last night," Kim said.

  "You'll want a 'ackney, then," Hunch said, rising. "Master Richard won't 'ave no trouble figuring out that you've gone and done something if you take the carriage." His eyes met hers in perfect understanding.

  "I want a pistol, too, if you have one," Kim said.

  Hunch stopped. "I better come with you, then."

  "No. Mairelon'll want you when he goes to see Lord Shoreham. And I don't know if we'll be back by then."

  " 'E'd want me to come with you. And 'e'll raise merry 'ell when 'e finds out, if I 'aven't. I'm coming, or else you ain't going."

  None of Kim's arguments moved Hunch in the slightest. Finally, she gave in, feeling secretly relieved. Visiting a cent-per-cent wasn't quite so bad as wandering some of her former haunts in girl's clothes would have been, but it was enough to make her nervous nonetheless.

  Hunch procured a hackney coach, and Kim gave the driver the direction. N
o one spoke for some time as the coach rattled over the cobbles. Then Hunch looked at Kim and said, "You think this'll 'elp?"

  "I don't know," Kim said. "Maybe. I got to try, anyway."

  Hunch nodded and relapsed into silence. The coach pulled up in front of a row of small, slightly shabby buildings. Kim climbed out carefully and told the driver to wait, then marched toward the near door without waiting to see whether Hunch or Wilson followed. She had to ring the bell vigorously two or three times before there was any response, but finally a watery-eyed clerk opened the door a crack and said, "We're closed."

  Kim shoved her foot into the opening before the clerk could shut the door. "Not to me, you ain't."

  The clerk's eyes widened as he took in Kim's fashionable and expensive dress, and he gobbled incoherently for a moment. Kim took advantage of his surprise to push the door out of his lax hands and walk through it into the dim, dusty hallway beyond. "Where's Mannering?" she demanded.

  "He ain't here," the clerk said. "I told you, we're closed."

  "I didn't ask if you were closed," Kim said. "I asked where Mannering is."

  "Mr. Mannering ain't here," the clerk repeated sullenly.

  Kim looked at his face and decided he was telling the truth. Now what? She frowned at the clerk and said irritably, "You told me that before, cully, and I heard you then. Where's his office?"

  "It don't matter; there's no use you waiting. He ain't here, and he ain't coming back today."

  Forgetting her girl's clothes, Kim reached up and grabbed hold of the clerk's muffler. One good yank pulled his astonished face down level with hers, and she snarled into it, "Listen, you mutton-headed nodcock. For the last time, where's Mannering's office? Or I'll tie your tongue in a bow-knot behind your ears and find the place for myself."

  "Th-that one," the clerk said, pointing. "But you can't go in there, it's locked and I ain't got the key, and Mr. Mannering--"