“Where’s Phil?” Joe asked.
“I believe she’s resting,” Mother Wilhelmina thanked the sisters, and directed them to leave with her so that Joe could dress alone.
Joe took his time. Eager as he was to see the Great Mage, the laboratory was his least favorite place. He climbed the stairs alone, and knocked on the door with trepidation.
“Come,” a voice called.
Joe opened the door.
The Great Mage sat at the desk, writing in a large book. He wrote one last word, and looked up. “Come in, friend Joe!”
Joe advanced cautiously. The laboratory was small, almost a perfect square, with a desk and stool on one side and a long bench and laboratory table on the other. Light came in from several skylights above them.
The Great Mage closed his book. “Something tells me you have questions for me.”
“Yes, sir,” Joe said, suddenly unsure how to begin.
“I know how your quest fared,” the Great Mage said, “and I know Lord Elsen is dead. What do you need to know from me?”
“Who is Phil?” Joe blurted out. “Lord Elsen and the dragon both said she had innate magic.”
Amusement lurked in the Great Mage’s eyes. “That’s true enough.”
“Did you know that before you sent us on the quest?”
“Certainly, I knew.”
“But who is she, sir? You said you thought you knew her.”
The mage’s amusement faded to concern. “I found her when she was five years old.”
“Found her?”
The mage nodded. “Once a year I search the countryside to see if there are children with innate magic. I found Phillip, as she calls herself now, on her family’s farm. It was outside the barrier—” The Great Mage broke off abruptly and frowned. “What dark thoughts are these? Who’s been poisoning your mind against me?”
Joe flushed but didn’t speak.
“Well?” the mage insisted. “Why do you find my actions reprehensible?”
“I don’t—it’s just—Lord Elsen said that all mages search out anyone in their wards who has innate magic and—and destroy them.”
The Great Mage rose to his feet, and somehow seemed to tower over Joe. “And you believed I destroy talented children?”
“No, sir.” He hadn’t really believed it, but once introduced, the thought had been difficult to expunge. “Then Lord Elsen said—he suggested you put a spell on Phil to make her want to be a man so she couldn’t concentrate on her magic.”
The mage slipped his hands into his sleeves and frowned. “How long did Lord Elsen have you in his power?”
“Less than two days,” Joe said. “Why, sir?”
“Because a mage of Lord Elsen’s power, with no compunction about using people—and I assure you he had none—could easily consume the mind of someone with no innate magic.”
Joe remembered the touch of Lord Elsen’s hand on his forehead—ice cold, remorseless, and yet numbing the pain. “I think he planned to do that.”
The Great Mage held out his hands. “Tell me again what he said.”
Joe walked forward resolutely and let the mage lay his hands on his shoulders.
“Now,” the Great Mage ordered, “close your eyes and think back! Remember what he did to you and what he said.”
Joe obeyed, and in a moment he felt sharp fear as he recalled seeing Lord Elsen’s soldiers, his pain on waking, the hours of torture and suffering until Phillip had come. And then, somehow, the memory no longer had the power to hurt him or frighten him.
“Now,” the Great Mage said, letting go of him, “I’ll tell you about Phillip.”
Joe opened his eyes and waited.
“As I said,” the mage went on, “I found her when she was five. Her family had a farm southeast of here, outside the Great Barrier. In my arrogance, I thought I could keep her—Estrella her name was when she was small—I thought I could keep Estrella safe by keeping her existence a secret. When she was eight, I found out how wrong I was. She was stolen from her family, and I never saw her until the day you took me to the infirmary.”
“But,” Joe said, perplexed, “who took her and why?”
“Ah!” the Great Mage said. “The who is supposition, but I think it must have been Lady Merida. She has the cleverness to have come up with the ensorcellment that Phillip suffered.”
“The necklace?”
“That was the clever part,” the Great Mage said. “The necklace was merely a focus for the spell; the power behind it came from Estrella’s innate magic. So long as she wore the necklace, Estrella wanted to be male—to be Phillip. It was her own magic that made her appear masculine, and the older she got, the more her magic grew, and the stronger the spell became. The strength of her talent made the chain unbreakable. It seemed safest to find a way to remove it.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well,” the mage said, “I needed to make Estrella want not to be male. I reasoned that if she fell in love with a man, she’d want to be a woman.”
“So you sent her to fetch dragon scales to make a love potion?”
The mage nodded. “That was the plan, but as it turned out, the potion was unnecessary.”
Joe said nothing.
The Great Mage went on. “Remember Estrella has always had her own magic. As soon as she saw you, her magic told her you were someone she could love. That was why she screamed and shouted abuse at you. And at some point, out there on your quest, she fell in love with you on her own, with no help from me.”
Joe remembered the night he and Phillip had made love and blushed.
The Great Mage smiled and nodded. “Once she loved you, Estrella could resist the spell by touching you.”
“Are you saying she’s still in love with me?” Joe said slowly.
“Oh, yes. Why do you think she worked so hard to rescue you? And when the dragon refused to help unless she gave him the one object she wanted most to keep, she agreed to give it up to save you.”
“But,” Joe said, “the necklace is gone now, and she hardly spoke to me all the way here.”
The Great Mage shook his head in mock despair. “Joe, Joe, my friend! The poor girl has no idea how to act like a woman. All she knows is how to be a man and a soldier. She doesn’t even know how to ask you if you care for her.”
Joe thought this over. “Where do you come into this, sir? I mean, what’s your interest in Phil?”
“Ah! I was waiting for you to come to that point. I don’t intend to let my ward fall into chaos and despair after my death. Estrella will take my place and rule after me.”
“Is that why Lady Merida stole her away?”
“Perhaps. Merida is younger than I, and she might have hoped to seize this ward if I died with no heir ready to assume my place.”
“Why didn’t Lady Merida simply kill Phil? Why keep her alive?”
“Who can say?” the Great Mage said, “Merida may have thought an untrained mage of Estrella’s power could be of use.”
“What did Phil say when you told her this?” Joe asked.
The Great Mage smiled reflectively. “More than anything else, she was stunned to find that she has a family. Her parents are alive, and she has brothers and sisters. I plan to fetch her family here tomorrow. I don’t want her going outside the barrier again until she’s learned how to use her magic to protect herself.”
“That makes sense,” Joe said. “And I’m glad she has a family. She was lonely growing up.”
“She was indeed.”
“So,” Joe said, “is she willing to be your heir?”
“She hasn’t decided. She’s intrigued by power but afraid of it. I’m more worried about how she’ll do as a mage.”
“I thought you said she had lots of innate magic?”
“She does, she does. But having magic to spare is no guarantee you’ll be a just mage. I had intended to keep Estrella by my side as she grew, so that she might learn what’s involved in ruling people without letting the power
go to your head.”
Joe recalled Lord Elsen and nodded. “So what will you do about Phi—Estrella now?”
The Great Mage walked over to the table where a row of bottles and implements stood on a shelf. An iridescent sheen gleamed on the table top. “Come here, please, Joe.”
Joe followed the mage reluctantly. He had never cared for proximity to the paraphernalia of magic. In his heart of hearts, he feared it.
The mage waited for Joe to approach, and then he opened a wooden casket on the table. Inside lay a glass bottle, securely stoppered with a cork. “This is a love potion,” the Great Mage said. “I had intended to make it for Estrella, so that she’d fall in love with you, but since that wasn’t needed, I made it for you, so that you’ll fall in love with her. I think it would be best if you drink it now.”
“What?” Joe asked, sure he couldn’t have heard the Great Mage correctly.
“I created this potion with a spell that will make you fall in love with Estrella,” the mage said. “After you drink it, you won’t be able to stop yourself from loving her.”
“You expect me to drink that,” Joe said incredulously, “after what you just told me?”
“Precisely,” the mage said. “She needs you.”
“Needs me? For what?”
“To be a good mage. To be a benevolent despot instead of a dark lady.” The Mage shook his head despairingly. “The people who took Estrella in wanted a servant, not a child. No one taught her ethics or fairness. No one taught her to consider the suffering of others as her own.”
Joe remembered how Phil had planned to leave the raiders’ bodies on the trail. “You can still teach her.”
“I could if she cared for my opinion like she cares for yours. If she sees disgust or revulsion in your eyes, she’ll care a great deal. And you have all those qualities, my friend. You could serve as Estrella’s conscience.”
“Jimminy Cricket,” Joe said.
“What?” the mage asked.
“Nothing. It’s irrelevant.”
The mage pushed the glass bottle across the table top and waited.
Joe stared at him and didn’t move.
“It depends,” the mage said clearly, “on how you feel about Estrella. If you think you care about her—if you think you could love her—you’ll drink the potion. If what happened between you two meant no more to you than the pleasant interludes you enjoyed with some of the sisters, then you won’t drink it. You will let her love you, but you won’t try to love her back.”
Joe stood frozen, staring at the glass bottle on the table. It was a small bottle, holding no more than half a cup of liquid. The potion itself was almost the color of honey, but with a swirl of sparkling colors deep in its center.
Joe remembered the first time he had seen Phillip as she fought so fiercely, struggling to stay on her feet after she was wounded. He remembered her courage when the outlaws had held her down on the boulder and cut her clothes off of her. He remembered her looming up out of the dust, coming straight to him to slice through his bonds.
And then suddenly all Joe could think of was how Phil had felt in his arms that one night they had been lovers—how she had delighted in his touch and in touching him back. Before he could change his mind, Joe uncorked the bottle and drained it in one long gulping swallow.
“Agh!” he gasped. “That stuff is too damn sweet!”
The Great Mage smiled. “Love is sweet.”
Joe took a deep breath and waited expectantly. “What happens now?”
“To you, you mean?” The mage put the cork back in the bottle. “Nothing until you see Estrella. Then you’ll be overcome by tender feelings. Even if a path to your world opened on your doorstep, you wouldn’t go through it because you’d want to stay with her.”
“Is that likely to happen?” Joe asked in surprise. “A path opening to my world?”
“Not to my knowledge.” The mage put the empty bottle back into the casket. “But stranger things have happened.”
Stranger things than Joe had ever dreamed of back in Glencoe, Illinois. “I suppose so.”
“You had better go now,” the mage said gently. “Estrella is waiting. I sent her to your room to wait for you.”
“Yes,” Joe said, suddenly confused. He wanted very much to see her, but he was afraid. “I suppose I’d better go.”
The Great Mage nodded toward the door, and Joe turned to leave.
“Good luck, Joseph,” the mage said as Joe put his hand on the door. “And thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me, sir,” Joe said over his shoulder. “But I can use the luck. She’s not an easy person to be in love with.”
The Great Mage laughed at this. “Do you know someone who is?”
“I don’t know.” Joe had never thought about it that way. “I suppose love is never easy.”
“It will be for you,” the mage said. “Go now, Joe.”
Joe stood outside his door and debated whether to knock. It was his room, but the woman on the other side of the door might expect privacy.
Finally, the door was ripped open. “Are you coming in or not?” Phillip demanded.
“Yes,” Joe said, annoyed at being challenged on his own doorstep. “I’m coming in.”
He strode inside and shut the door. When he turned and saw Phillip, she looked very different from the last time he had seen her in this room.
Her hair was very slightly longer, but that wasn’t it. She still wore trousers, but her shirt looked more like a woman’s blouse. Open at the throat, it made her neck look swan-like. Her slenderness made her elegant rather than boyish.
“Did those women help you?” Phillip said.
“They put something on the burn,” Joe said. “It’ll be okay.”
“Good.” She looked down at the floor as if she had run out of things to say.
“Phil,” Joe began, “I mean, Estrella—”
“Don’t call me that,” she said. “Call me Phil like you always do.”
“Okay, Phil. I wanted to ask you—I mean, I wanted to tell you—”
“It’s all right,” she said, turning away from him. “I know what you’re trying to say.”
“You do?” he said in surprise.
“Yes,” she said, still with her back to him. “I know you’ve had—lovers. I know which of the sisters have been in your bed. You want a woman who looks like a woman—who acts like a woman. You don’t want someone like me.”
“That’s not true!” Joe blurted out. She turned swiftly, and he felt compelled to be honest. “I mean, yes, I’ve had lovers, but I do want you, Phil. I love you.”
He knew, as soon as he said it, that it was true. The Great Mage’s potion had worked swiftly. The thought of leaving her, or of her leaving him, left him with a wrenching emptiness.
Phillip stood poised, waiting, as if she expected a sign from him. Joe held out his arms, and she stepped into them.
“Oh, Joe, Joe, I was so afraid you wouldn’t want me!”
“Don’t be silly, Phil.”
She pushed him away as if she felt a need to look at his face when she spoke. “I can’t be a frilly woman. I won’t wear dresses. I won’t wear my hair long, or flirt, or be weak and helpless. I was a man too long to be like that.”
“I don’t need frills or long hair. And you don’t have to be weak to be a woman. You just have to love me and want me.”
Her eyes told him all that he ever needed to know. He pulled her close again and kissed her. Somehow—he wasn’t quite certain how—they ended up falling over onto his bed.
A little while later, Joe propped himself up on one elbow. “It’s never been like that before,” he said, breathless and a little surprised. “And you’re definitely a woman, Phil.”
She smiled warmly and stroked his cheek. “I think I’ll change my name to Phyllida. That way no one will think it strange when you call me Phil.”
He smiled back and kissed her.
She gave a little sigh of contentme
nt and nestled against him. “I hope being a mage is as much fun as being a woman.”
“It had better not be,” Joe said.
“Now tell me!” Phyllida ordered, “What did you mean when you said you’d chop the dragon into sushi?”
Epilogue: The Truth
Mother Wilhelmina knocked at the door of the laboratory.
“Come,” called a voice.
She opened the door and saw the Great Mage at his desk. He didn’t look up when she walked in. Mother Wilhelmina leaned over and kissed the bald spot on the top of his head.
He smiled up at her. “Hello, Willie.”
She kissed him on the mouth and patted his shoulder. “How did it go?”
“Fine,” the mage said. “He drank the potion willingly. I didn’t need to use undue persuasion.”
“So now he’ll stay with her always?”
“Yes,” the mage said, giving her a fond smile. “He can serve as her conscience, just as you’ve been mine since I found you.”
She looked over at the table and clucked in concern. “You’re always so untidy with your spells, Tolliver.”
She went over to the table and began to clear away the implements he had left out. When she opened a drawer to replace the mortar and pestle, she gasped in surprise. In a large, flat box, seven iridescent dragon scales twinkled in the dim light. “Tolliver! Did you give that young man a love potion or did you not?”
The Great Mage came close and looked over her shoulder. He moved one of the scales, and she saw that a third of it was gone. “I did, but only a very mild one. It wouldn’t have done anything if he hadn’t been half in love with the girl already.”
Mother Wilhelmina gave a snort of annoyance. “You and your clever tricks! Why did you bother if you weren’t going to give him a full-strength potion?”
“Two reasons,” the Great Mage said, “I wanted him to think he was hopelessly and completely in love with Estrella, but I didn’t want to tell him an outright lie. He soon will be in love with her, and having taken even a mild potion, he’ll enjoy the physical side of their relationship much more, and never be tempted to stray.”
Where Magic Rules Page 8
