Mairelon the Magician

by Patricia C. Wrede

  Freddy Meredith nodded, as if to emphasize the logic and

  propriety of his actions

  Jon turned a fascinating shade of purple and opened his

  mouth "Freddy's got a point, Jon," Robert said hastily "If he

  didn't use the Order's funds to buy it with—"

  "What funds?" Austen put in 'This Order hasn't got any

  funds, nobody's paid their subscription fee in over six

  months Including you, Jon "

  "There, you see?" Freddy beamed

  "You idiot'" Jon said. "Do you know how long it took me to

  locate that platter? We must get it back'"

  "It's quite all right, Jonathan," Robert said "We'll just buy it

  back from whoever won it from Freddy Who did win it, by

  the way? Not Lord North, I hope "

  91

  "No, no, I don't play at his table," Freddy assured him

  "Been around long enough to know a flat from a leg, you

  know No, I was playing whist with Henry "

  "What does Henry Bramingham want with the silver dish

  of the Sons of the New Dawn?" someone asked

  The grass beside Kim quivered as Mairelon tensed, but she

  could not tell what had provoked the reaction from him

  Surely it couldn't have taken him this long to guess that the

  "sacred dish" these culls were so nattered about was the Salt-

  ash Platter he was looking for?

  "Only stake I had left by the end of the night was the

  platter," Meredith explained "Henry cleaned me out Last

  hand, that went, too "

  "Who cares?" someone else said. "it's obvious that we're not

  going to dedicate the Sacred Dish tonight, so let's finish up

  here and get inside where it's warm "

  This suggestion produced a round of enthusiastic cheers,

  and the entire group threw off their robes and started down

  the hill despite Jonathan's grumbles and the glowering looks

  he continued to throw at the oblivious Freddy Meredith

  None of them bothered to check the far slope of the hill, so

  Mairelon and Kim escaped detection. Even so, Kim did not

  really relax until the last sounds of merriment were muffled by

  the solid closing of a door

  / Kim sat up at last, feeling cold and stiff, and realized that

  Mairelon was stilt lying prone against the side of the hill She

  crouched again hastily and hissed, "Somethin' wrong?"

  "What?" said Mairelon in a normal tone "No, nothing's

  wrong, I'm thinking, that's all "

  "Think about gettin' us back to camp," Kim advised "Or

  Hunch'11 be comin' after us with a rope, like as not "

  "Oh, Hunch won't start worrying until well after dark,"

  Mairelon said, still without moving.

  92

  Kim looked at him with profound exasperation "It is well

  after dark/' she pointed out

  "Then we'd better get back to camp quickly, hadn't

  we?" Mairelon said He pushed himself away from the hill

  with his hands, twisted sideways, and slid down the slope

  feet-first Kim scrambled after him, muttering curses She

  was beginning to understand how Hunch had acquired the

  habit

  Getting back to camp took nearly as long as Kim had ex-

  pected Mairelon got lost twice, forcing them to retrace their

  steps in the dark Kim did not enjoy these detours The

  noises of insects and the occasional rustling movement of

  small animals made her jump, where the calls of lamplighters

  and the rumble of the heavy drays would have been soothing

  Stumbling over an uneven clump of grass and falling into a

  bush was somehow different, and more unpleasant, than trip-

  ping on a broken cobblestone and landing in a pile of litter

  Even the darkness had a different quality, a clarity and depth

  that bore no resemblance to the foggy blackness of the back

  streets of London

  Hunch met them on the road He was carrying a lantern

  and frowning heavily, and both ends of his mustache looked

  distinctly damp and ragged "Master Richard'" he said in evi-

  dent relief when Mairelon came close enough to be identifia-

  ble "You ain't urt'"

  "What? Of course not," Mairelon answered "Why should

  I be?"

  "'Cause you 'adn't got no reason for a-goin' off and not

  tellin' me, if you ain't been urt," Hunch said, recovering

  rapidly "Leastwise, I don't see as you did "

  "That's because you don't know where we've been," Mair-

  93

  elon said in his most reasonable tone "You really ought to

  have a little more faith in me, Hunch "

  Hunch snorted expressively "All right, where ave you

  been?"

  "Finding things out," Mairelon said "Among them, the rea-

  son why our friend Shoreham has such a low opinion of the

  Sons of the New Dawn. As well as a hint to the current

  owner of the Saltash Platter "

  "And 'oo might that be?"

  "According to the ersatz druids whose undeniably imag-

  inative ceremony we observed this evening, Henry Bra-

  mingham Not the best of news "

  '"Enry," Hunch said, frowning "I ain't sure—"

  "Later, Hunch, if you please Later, and preferably warmer,

  drier, and much less hungry 1 hope no one has stolen our

  dinner while you've been swanning about out here "

  "You ad ought to be sent to bed without any," Hunch

  grumbled, "and that dratted girl, too."

  "Really, Hunch'" Mairelon said in a shocked tone before

  Kirn could do more than gasp in outrage "And alt this time

  I'd thought you were worried about the proprieties "

  Hunch's tangled efforts to refute this deliberate misin-

  terpretation lasted until they reached the wagon Kirn was

  sure that this was exactly what Mairelon had intended, and

  while she would normally have been annoyed at his high-

  handed method of taking over her battle, this time Kim was

  grateful She was cold and tired, and her hands and face bore

  scratches that stung when she thought about them She was

  in no condition for an argument with Hunch.

  Dinner was waiting, and if the stew was thick enough to

  cut with a knife and the potatoes in it were so well cooked

  that they came apart at the touch of a spoon, Kim did not

  mind at all Mairelon was either pickier or preoccupied; he

  settled himself on the bottom step of the wagon with a full

  94

  dish and a spoon, but ate so slowly that Kim was halfway

  through her second bowl before he finished a quarter of his

  own

  When Kim paused long enough to notice this curious be-

  havior, she glanced at Hunch He was frowning and nibbling

  delicately on the left half of his mustache whenever he looked

  in Mairelon's direction That was enough for Kim She moved

  to a conveniently situated rock, rattled her spoon against the

  side of her dish, and when Mairelon glanced up, said,

  "What's got you so nattered, then?"

  "Henry Bramingham," Mairelon said He took a spoonful

  of stew and looked down at his bowl with a frown of an-

  noyance "It's gone cold "

  "if you'd of eaten it right off, you wouldn't of no-

  ticed," Kim said without sympathy "Who's this Bramingham

&nb
sp; cove?"

  "Henry Brammgham is the son of Charles Bramingham and

  Harriet St Clair Bramingham," Mairelon answered Hunch

  made a strangled noise, and Mairelon looked up "Yes, ex-

  actly "

  "Exactly what?" Kim said, thoroughly exasperated

  "Exactly the problem," Mairelon said "Harriet, you see, is

  the sister of Gregory St Clair And the Baron has, shall we

  say, very little liking for your obedient"

  "'E's the one as called in the Runners," Hunch said darkly

  "And gave 'em Master Richard's name "

  "So we thmk," Mairelon said "He's also something of a

  wizard, and well known for his interest in unusual magical

  objects If young Henry turns the platter over to his uncle,

  and I can think of no reason why he shouldn't, our chances of

  recovering it are small "

  "So?" Kim said The two men looked at her, and she

  shrugged "I don't see what's the good in your havin' this plat-

  ter you're so set on If the Robin Redbreasts catch you with

  95

  it, they'll be sure you cracked the cnb and took it I thought

  that was what you didn't want happenin'"

  "You're right, but unfortunately there's no other way of

  finding out who really took the Saltash Set in the first place,"

  Mairelon said "!f we can get all the pieces together. Shore-

  ham and I can use one of the Ribensian Arcana to locate the

  person who stole them, but it won't work unless we have

  everything "

  Kirn shrugged again "it's your neck Which direction are

  you goin' to stick it out in next?"

  Mairelon grinned "The inn at Ranton Hill, 1 think 1 can

  pick up some gossip and get some idea of how things stand at

  the Brammghams', how recently Lord St Clair has visited,

  that sort of thing "

  "Not tonight," Hunch said firmly "And this time you ain't

  a-going off alone, not if I 'ave to 'ide every pair of breeches

  you 'ave "

  Mairelon looked startled, then thoughtful "Yes, I think it

  will do very well," he said after a moment "You can poke

  about in the stables and kitchens, Kim can sit in the public

  room, and I'll see what the news is in the private parlors

  Someone's bound to know something, and this way we don't

  stand a ghost of a chance of missing it"

  "Why're you so sure?" Kim asked

  "The country inn is the heart of every village, or at least its

  ears and tongue," Mairelon explained "Think of it as a

  London public house, only more so "

  "If you say so," Kim said dubiously "Just what am I gom' to

  have to do?"

  They spent the next hour or so discussing the exact meth-

  ods each would use in their descent upon Ranton Hill's inn,

  what stones they would tell, and what clothes to wear to be

  convincing Mairelon declared that he would pose as a fash-

  ionable Town buck, victim of a carnage accident while dnv-

  96

  ing down to a friend's country house Kim would be his

  Tiger, despite her protests that she knew nothing about

  horses and would be unable to convince anyone that she was

  what she pretended to be Hunch was a groom who had been

  traveling with the baggage coach, he would lead the horses

  from the wagon, claiming that they belonged to the ostensi-

  bly demolished phaeton Mairelon's confidence overrode his

  companions' misgivings, and by the time the fire began to die

  everything was settled

  97

  TEN

  '^•w^' T) anton Hill consisted of three shoptronts,

  JW_^^ I. two houses, an inn, and a stable The build-

  f r ings looked to Kim as if they had huddled to-

  gether for protection from the empty farmland all around

  them Not that the land was, technically, empty, but some

  low stone walls, a few trees, and a couple of sheep did not go

  nearly far enough, in Kirn's opinion, toward filling up the

  space

  In addition, the village was so quiet that as they ap-

  proached along the rutted dirt road Kim began to wonder if it

  was peopled by ghosts The sound of the wind, the squeak of

  the harness leather, and the crunching of their feet and the

  horses' hooves against the road were the only noises She was

  a little reassured when a dog began to bark as they reached

  the first house, summoning a stable hand in a well-worn

  smock from the rear of the inn

  Mairelon gave the man an offhand nod and disappeared

  into the inn Kim looked after him, shifting her weight from

  foot to foot white the stable hand and Hunch eyed each other

  measuringly

  98

  "What happened"?" the man said at last, making a gesture

  that included the horse, Kirn, Hunch, and the vanished Mair-

  elon

  "'E tipped 'is phaeton over trying to feather a corner,"

  Hunch said with fine contempt "Leastwise, that's 'ow I make

  it '£ says a coach-and-four ran 'im off the road "

  The stable hand spat "Another one o' them wild uns He

  Stayin' the night?"

  "'Ow do 1 know" Hunch said "Even if 'e'd told me, 'e's just

  as likely to change 'is mind as not "

  "That's the Quality for you," the stable hand said, and spat

  again "Well, bring your horses around back, no reason they

  should suffer for their masters stupidity "

  The man started walking as he spoke Hunch tightened the

  makeshift leads attached to the horses' halters The animals

  bobbed their heads, slightly out of sequence, and began to

  move Kim shifted her weight again, wondering whether she

  should follow or wait and wishing Mairelon had told her a

  little more about the duties of a Tiger She was just about to

  start after Hunch and the horses when Mairelon stuck his

  head out of the door of the inn

  "Kimi There you are No need to stand about, the luggage

  won't be along for a couple of hours at least Come inside and

  wait where it's warm "

  Kim nodded, glad to have some direction at last As she

  started into the inn, she noted that the village was showing a

  few signs of life at last a targe, round woman had emerged to

  sweep the step in front of the mercer's shop (and get a look at

  the new arrivals), an open carriage was descending a distant

  hill toward the town, and a second dog had joined the bark-

  ing of the first, prompting a volley of curses from an unseen

  person on the second floor of the inn The last thing Kim saw

  before the door of the inn closed behind her was a large jug

  99

  hurtling out of the window in the general direction of the

  dogs The crash was audible even after the door closed

  Mairelon was standing just inside the door, in a short hall-

  way at the foot of a steep flight of stairs Beside him, the

  innkeeper darted uncertain looks at the mud-splattered boots

  and breeches of his newest guest, clearly trying to decide

  whether this was truly one of the Quality or only some

  jumped-up Cit trying to pass himself off as gentry Kim could

  almost sympathize Mairelon's cape was well cut but, to her

  experienced eye, a little shabby and out of fashion,
and the

  mud made it difficult to determine whether his boots were

  similarly well used Had she been looking him over on the

  London streets, she would have given him a casual glance and

  gone on hunting for a better pigeon to pluck

  "Get yourself something to dnnk while you wait," Mairelon

  said, seemingly oblivious to the innkeeper's worried frown

  He tossed Kim a coin that glittered silver in the air, and the

  innkeeper's expression lightened Kim suppressed a smile and

  bobbed her head respectfully as Mairelon turned to the inn-

  keeper "Now, since we're agreed, I'll just go up and clean off

  a little of this dirt"

  "Very good, Mr de Mare," the innkeeper answered "Your

  lad can go on in there, my wife will be glad to see to him

  Now, if you'll just come this way

  Mairelon followed him up the stairs without a backward

  glance, leaving a trail of damp and dirty footprints Kim

  snorted softly At least she would be able to find his room if

  she needed to She looked down at the coin Mairelon had

  tossed her ft was a new shilling, more than enough for a pint

  of ale and perhaps a roll She flipped it into the air, caught it,

  and went into the public room to listen to whatever local

  gossip there might be

  The room was nearly empty Two weather-beaten men in

  farmers' smocks glanced up from their mugs as she entered,