Mairelon the Magician

by Patricia C. Wrede

  "I ain't said I'm coming with you yet!" Kim said crossly

  "And you haven't said you're not, either," Mairelon replied.

  "Come, now, make your decision I have things to do if you

  aren't "

  18

  "Huh " Kim was unimpressed "I ain't wishful to get into no

  trouble with the nabbing culls What's your tay^"

  Mairelon smiled "I'm a traveling magician I play the mar-

  kets and fairs "

  "Give oven I told you, I ain't no flat Folks that can do real

  magic don't waste time flashing tricks at the markets And you

  ain't got yourself no wagon done up like a gentry ken that

  way, neither "

  "That's my affair I'll give you my word that we're doing

  nothing illegal, if you've other questions, you'll have to wait

  for answers After all, we don't know you very well yet"

  "No, nor want to," Hunch said under his breath

  Kim frowned at him automatically, but her mind was busy

  elsewhere She'd never get a chance like this again, she was

  certain Risking Mairelon's unknown objectives was a small

  price to pay for the promise of a few days' worth of regular

  meats and a safe place to sleep, even without the promise of

  tutoring Add in the possibility of learning something that

  would free her from the perilous hand-to-mouth world of the

  London slums and Mairelon's proposal was well-nigh irresist-

  ible, especially since she'd probably never find out what the

  magician was really doing or what was so important about

  that bowl if she didn't go along And if she didn't like it, she

  could always tip them the double and come back to London

  She'd be no worse off than she was now

  "Well?" Mairelon asked

  "All right, then," Kim said "I'll do it"

  Hunch groaned

  "Good!" Mairelon said, ignoring Hunch "We'll see the tai-

  lor tomorrow about getting you some clothes We won't be

  long in London, so I'm afraid there won't be many of them "

  "Sounds bang-up to me," Kim said It took most of her will

  19

  to sound moderately pleased instead of all but stunned

  speechless Clothes from a tailor? For her?

  "She'll run off as soon as she's got everything she can off

  you," Hunch prophesied gloomily.

  Kim started to protest, but Mairelon's voice overrode her-

  "Hunch, if you don't stop trying to pick out a quarrel with

  Kim, I shall be forced to leave you in London."

  "You wouldn't never'" Hunch said.

  "No?"

  Hunch muttered something under his breath and stomped

  to the far end of the wagon. Mairelon looked after him and

  shook his head- "He'll come around, never fear. You've noth-

  ing to worry about,"

  "Ain't you forgetting something?" Kim said.

  "What?"

  "That skinny toff down at the Dog and Bull, that sent me

  in here lookin'. What're you going to do about him?"

  "I think he ought to get what he's paying for," Mairelon

  said after due consideration. "Don't you agree?"

  Kim thought of the underhanded way the skinny toff had

  held back information to keep the price down "No,"

  "Yes, he certainly should," Mairelon said, as though he

  hadn't heard Kim. "I think you should go back to that place

  you mentioned—what was the name again?"

  "The Dog and Bull "

  "Of course- I think you should go back and collect your

  five pounds." He paused and smiled at Kim, "What do you

  say?"

  20

  THREE

  Kim darted across a street directly in front of

  a hackney, causing the horses to shy. The

  drivers curses followed her as she slipped into

  the pedestrian traffic on the other side, but she paid no atten-

  tion. She was late for her appointment, and she didn't know

  how long the skinny toff would wait.

  Not that she was particularly anxious to see him again, five

  pounds or not. She still wasn't sure how she'd been talked

  into this. Maybe it was because Hunch had been so set

  against it; knowing how much he disliked the idea, she

  couldn't resist going ahead with it. Or maybe it was Mair-

  elon's persuasiveness. The man made it all sound so reasonable,

  and he knew just how to appeal to Kirn's curiosity -

  That, of course, was the root of the problem. Kirn dodged

  a lamplighter, ducking under the end of his ladder. Sorneday

  she was going to get into real trouble if she didn't stop poking

  her nose into things just to find out what they looked like

  Still castigating herself, Kim turned down the crooked lane

  that led to the Dog and Bull, Here the traffic was less, and

  she made better time. When she saw the cracked sign with its

  21

  garish painting, she broke into a run, and a moment later she

  was inside. She stepped to one side of the door and paused,

  panting, to survey the room

  it was a moment before her eyes adjusted to the gloom

  Though the single window was large, half or more of its

  panes had been broken and stuffed with paper, and those that

  remained were dark with dirt What light there was came

  from the fire in the huge, blackened hearth, and it did not

  penetrate far into the smoke and steam that filled the air.

  Three long, bare tables occupied the center of the room-

  The backless benches on either side were half full of large

  men in well-worn clothes. Most were hunched over mugs of

  beer; some were eating with single-minded intensity from an

  assortment of battered bowls. There was no sign of the toff

  anywhere.

  Kirn frowned. Had she missed him, then? There was no

  way of telling She decided to take the chance that he, too,

  was late, and made her way to one of the tables. She

  squeezed herself into a corner where she could watch the

  door, ordered a half-pint of ale, and settled in to wait.

  The procession of customers entering the room was not

  exactly encouraging Most were working-class men identifia-

  ble by their clothes—carters, bricklayers, a butcher, one or

  two costennongers, a sawyer A nondescript man in a shabby

  coat slouched in and crept to the far corner of the table as if

  he expected to be thrown out. Kim sipped at her ale, won-

  dering unhappily whether she should risk attracting attention

  by asking questions.

  The door opened again, and another collection of solid

  men in rough-spun wool and grimy linen entered. In their

  wake came a tall man made even taller by his top hat. He

  wore a voluminous cape that made it impossible to tell

  whether he was fat or slim, but the white-gloved hand press-

  ing a handkerchief to his lips was impossible to mistake. Fam-

  22

  ble-cheats and a top hat, Kim thought disgustedly, in a place

  like this. He was the one she was waiting for, all right. She

  straightened, trying to look taller so that he would see her.

  The toff surveyed the room disdainfully, then made his

  way among the tables and stopped beside Kim. "I trust your

  presence means you have succeeded, boy," he said.

  "I done what you asked
," Kim said.

  "Good. I suggest we conduct the remainder of our business

  in one of the private rooms in back."

  "You want everyone here knowin' you got business with

  me?" Kim asked without moving.

  The toff's face darkened in anger, but after a moment he

  shook his head- "No, I suppose not."

  "Then you'd better set down afore everyone here ends up

  lookin' at you," Kim advised-

  The man's lips pressed together, but he recognized the

  wisdom of Kirn's statement. He seated himself on the bench

  across from her, setting his hat carefully on the table. The

  publican, a fat man in a dirty apron, came over at once, and

  the toff accepted, with some reluctance, a mug of beer. As ^

  the publican left, the toff leaned forward. "You said you'd

  done as I asked. You found the bowl, then? You have a list of

  what is in Mairelon's wagon?"

  "What would the likes of me be doing makin' lists?" Kim

  said sarcastically.

  The man looked startled. "I had anticipated—"

  "You wanted a list, you should of hired a schoolmaster,"

  Kim informed him. "I can tell you what I saw in that magic-

  cove's wagon, but that's all-"

  The man's eyes narrowed "In that case, perhaps five

  pounds is more than the information is worth to me."

  "In that case, you ain't getting no information at all," Kim

  said, mimicking his tone.

  23

  "Come, now, ! think you are unreasonable Shall we say,

  three pounds?"

  Kim spat, "I done what you said, and you never said noth-

  ing about no list. Five pounds and that's flat."

  "Oh, very well. Did you find the bowl?"

  "I ain't saying nothin' until I get what you promised."

  The toff argued, but Kim remained firm. Eventually he

  agreed, and unwillingly counted out the five pounds in notes

  and coin, Kim made a show of re-counting it, her fingers

  lingering over each coin in spite of herself. She had never had

  so much money at once in all her life, and every silver shill-

  ing and half crown meant another day or week of food and

  possible safety. She stowed the money safely in the inner

  pockets of her Jacket, feeling highly pleased with both herself

  and Mairelon. If it hadn't been for the magician's urging, she

  might have passed up an easy mark

  "Satisfied?" the man said angrily. "All right, then, tell me

  what you found."

  Kim smiled inwardly and launched into a detailed and ex-

  haustive description of the interior of the magician's wagon.

  She noticed the anticipation on her listeners face when she

  talked of the pots and pans in Mairelon's cupboard, and care-

  fully saved the information that they were all made of iron for

  the end of the sentence. She got a perverse satisfaction out of

  seeing the flash of disappointment on the toff's face.

  The man got more and more impatient as she went along.

  Finally she mentioned the locked chest. The toff sat up.

  "Locked?"

  "Yes." Kim paused- "But I got in "

  The man leaned forward eagerly, "And?"

  "It looked like that's where the cove kept his magics- There

  were a whole bunch of little paper lanterns, and a couple of

  them little wooden boxes, and a stack of silk—"

  "Yes, yes, boy, but the bowl!"

  —24—

  "Bowl?" Kim said, feigning innocence,

  "The silver bowl I described to you' Did you find it?"

  "I didn't see nothin' like that in Mairelon's wagon," Kim

  said with perfect truth.

  "What!" The toff's voice was loud enough to make heads

  turn all along the table- He controlled himself with effort,

  and when the other customers had turned away, he glared at

  Kim. "You said you'd do as I asked!"

  "And so I have," Kim retorted, unperturbed- "Ain't nobody

  could of found somethin' that ain't never been there."

  "Not there?" The man sounded stupefied-

  "Use your head, cully," Kim advised. "If this Mairelon swell

  had something tike that, I would of seen it, wouldn't I? And I

  ain't. So it ain't there."

  "You're certain?"

  Kim nodded.

  The toff glared as though it were her fault. "Not there," he

  muttered. "All this time, wasted on the wrong man. Amelia

  will never let me hear the end of it Merrill could be any-

  where in England by now, anywhere!"

  "That ain't my lookout," Kim pointed out. "You want to

  hear what else he had, or not?"

  "And you," the toff went on in a venomous whisper, "you

  knew. That's why you made me give you your money in ad-

  vance, isn't it? You little cheat!"

  On the last word, he lunged across the table. The sudden

  movement took Kim completely by surprise. He would have

  had his hands at her throat if a grimy, disreputable-looking

  man had not half lurched, half fallen against the toff's back at

  that moment.

  The unexpected shove knocked the toff heavily into the

  edge of the table; Kim heard his grunt of pain plainly She

  stood and backed away a little, watching with interest She

  25

  recognized the grimy man now, he had come into the public

  house }ust before the toff's arrival

  The gnmy man was the first to recover "Sh-shorry. very

  shorry," he said "The floor )usht, Jusht shook me over, thash

  all " He waved a hand to demonstrate, and lost his balance

  again

  "Get away from me, you idiot'" the toff snarled

  "Right Very shorry " The drunk made ineffectual apolo-

  getic motions in the toff's direction Since he was still draped

  halfway over the toff's shoulder, this succeeded only in

  knocking over the almost untouched mug of beer in front of

  them A wave of brown foam surged across the table, picking

  up dirt and grease as it went

  The toff made a valiant effort to spring back out of the

  way, but with the drunk still leaning helpfully across his

  shoulder, he didn't have a chance The pool of cool, dirty

  beer swished into his lap, thoroughly drenching his pre-

  viously immaculate attire The taproom exploded in laughter

  The drunk began a tearful apology, which was more a la-

  ment for the wasted beer than anything else Cursing, the

  toff shoved him aside He began wiping vainly at his clothes

  with a pocket handkerchief white the publican escorted the

  drunk firmly to the door Kim judged it a good moment for

  her own departure and slipped quietly out in the drunk's

  wake Her last sight was of the toff, gingerly picking his dnp-

  pmg top hat out of the pool of beer

  Still chuckling, Kim paused in the lane outside it was now

  fully dark, and a yellow fog was rising Not the best time for

  running about the London streets, even for as ragged a waif as

  Kim looked Still, she hadn't much choice She swallowed

  hard, thinking of the coins in her pockets If she lost them,

  she'd have nothing to fall back on if her arrangement with

  Mairelon fell apart She started off, hugging the edge of the

  lane

  26

  As she passed the corner of the D
og and Bull, a pair of

  dirty, beer-scented hands grabbed her One clamped itself

  over her mouth, the other pinned her arms Kim threw her

  self forward, but the man was too strong She was dragged

  quickly and quietly into a filthy alley beside the public house

  She kicked backward, hard, and connected The man made

  no sound, but his grip loosened, and Kim wrenched one arm

  free She bit down on the hand covering her mouth and felt

  her captor jerk Then she heard a whisper almost directly in

  her ear "Kim' Stop iti It's Mairelon "

  Without thinking, Kim struck at the voice with her free

  hand Then the words penetrated, and she hesitated She

  couldn't imagine what Mairelon might be doing in this part of

  town, but magicians were a queer lot, and she'd already de

  cided that Mairelon was one of the queerest of them all And

  who else would expect that name to have any weight with

  her?

  "It really is me, unlikely as it seems," the whisper said "If I

  let go, you won't make a sound until you're sure, will you?

  Nod if you agree "

  Kim nodded, and the hands released their hold She turned

  and found herself confronting the drunk who had caused so