The Price of Magic

by Wesley Allison

  “You can joke all you want about it now,” said Iolana. “Just wait until I’ve gone away to university and my mother can focus all her attentions on you and your brother.”

  Terra made an exaggerated shiver.

  “Will you join us for lunch?” Iolana asked Willa.

  “No, I’m making lunch for my mother. I’m hoping that Marzell and Ascan will be home too.”

  “Then we will get out of your hair.”

  When Iolana, Terra, and Esther left the Tice home, they found steam hissing furiously from the rear of Iolana’s new car.

  “You’ve forgot to open the release,” said Terra, calmly climbing into the vehicle. “It’s going to explode and kill us all, I imagine.”

  “I know how to release some steam,” said Iolana.

  She let Esther into the back seat and then climbed behind the wheel. Shifting into gear, she shot away from the curb like a cannonball. Zooming down the street, she swerved around an iguanodon carrying a howdah on its back, containing a man and woman.

  “This is exciting,” said Terra, not sounding particularly excited at all.

  “Sssslow down!” demanded Esther.

  They zoomed through the intersection of University Avenue, narrowly threading between the cross traffic.

  “There was ssstop ssssign!” shouted Esther.

  “How fast do you suppose we’re going?” asked Terra.

  “Too fassst!”

  “The speedometer only goes to fifty-five,” said Iolana, peering at the controls.

  “Sssstop!” shouted Esther, pointing ahead.

  Iolana looked up to see a police constable in the intersection ahead, with his hand held up, palm out. Though she pulled the break and stomped on the decelerator, she was going too fast to stop. Quickly swerving around him, Iolana turned right onto Forest to avoid the many cars traveling perpendicular through the intersection. She rolled about seventy-five feet past the corner before finally coming to a stop on the curbside. She could hear the sound of a whistle blown repeatedly as the constable came running up to them. When he reached the side of the car, the whistle dropped from his mouth as he struggled to catch his breath.

  “I’m sorry, PC. I’m afraid it got away from me. Would you mind opening the release cock? I’m afraid we have too much steam.”

  The constable took three deep breaths and then walked to the back of the vehicle. The girls could hear the change in pitch as the whistling steam was released.

  “That was very bad, dangerous, and very, very wrong,” he said, stepping back to look at Iolana.

  “You’re right, PC… PC Plemby, is it? I’m very sorry, but in my defense, it is my first day driving it.”

  “It might very well have been your last! You could get yourself or someone else killed!”

  “I promise I’ll do better,” said Iolana, smiling sweetly. “Do you have a card? I’m sure my mother will want to send you something for being so helpful to me.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” he replied, pulling out a card from his pocket and handing it to her. “Please exercise more care.” Then he stomped off, back toward the intersection.

  “You handled that very well,” said Terra.

  “Precisssely like your mother would have,” said Esther.

  “Oh, what do you know about it?” hissed Iolana, putting the car in gear and taking off.

  They had an uneventful lunch at Café Ada, the smallest and most intimate of the four Finkler dining establishments. Iolana and Ester had beef sandwiches, while Terra had a cucumber, onion, and cress sandwich and a bowl of highland broth. Afterwards they stopped at Myntner’s Motor Coach Apparel, where Iolana purchased three pairs of calf skin driving gloves—one in grey and two in black—and a black top hat with a crimson feather on one side and a stitched-in Sawyer and Sons logo on the other.

  They arrived at the Likliter’s new apartment at the appointed time. The family had recently moved to the center of town. Dovie opened the door and ushered them in. She was a few months older than Iolana and almost the exact same height. Her vibrantly red hair had been curled into ringlets that fell around her face. She wore a black skirt and white blouse with a red tie that almost matched her hair.

  “Well, Terra!” squealed Dovie, giving the younger girl a hug. “I expected Lana to bring Esther, but this is a pleasant surprise. You all know Questa, of course. I invited her so that we would be four. Now we’ll be five.”

  Questa Hardt was the daughter of a prosperous Brech businessman and his Mirsannan wife, from whom she had inherited her exotic dark skin, black eyes, and luscious lips. She wore a tan walking dress, but all the others saw was her hair, cut extremely short and shaved around her ears.

  “Sweet mother of Kafira!” shouted Iolana. “What did you do?”

  “Do you like it?” asked Questa, running her hand over her head. “Don’t you think it’s daring? It’s just like the Drache Girl’s.”

  “Did your mother have a heart attack when she saw it?”

  “Well, almost.”

  “I love it,” said Terra. “Do you think mine would look good cut short? It doesn’t seem to look good any other way.”

  Iolana looked at her and cocked her eyebrow. “No.”

  “Come to the table everyone,” said Dovie. “I’ll get a chair from the other room.”

  They moved the chairs around to leave another place and then sat down. Dovie moved a mismatched chair in the new space, and then hurried off to the kitchen to return with the tea tray.

  “Where are your brothers?” wondered Iolana. “I assume your mother is working.”

  “Yes, and the boys are with Aunt Dot today, thank Kafira.”

  Dovie poured the tea, handing the cups to each of her guests, and then she passed around the sugar and cream, which wasn’t quite proper, but nobody seemed to care.

  “So, you’re still coming to my party this evening, aren’t you?”

  “Of course,” said Dovie. “My present is going to be the best one.”

  “Her father gave her a car,” said Terra.

  “My present is going to be the best one you get at the party.”

  “And you’re coming too, Questa?”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Well, now that we’ve secured the guest list,” said Terra, “may we move on to a topic that isn’t Iolana? As usual, I feel like the moon.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Questa.

  “In this analogy, I would be the planet around which she revolves,” said Iolana, drawing a circle on the table with her finger.

  “Oh, I see.”

  “Yes,” said Terra. “The only time that anyone mentions me at all is to tell me that I look ugly or sickly.”

  “How could anyone say you’re ugly?” asked Dovie. “You’re the spitting image of your mother, and I think she’s the most beautiful woman I ever saw.”

  “It’s because you’re only ten,” said Questa. “When I was ten, nobody ever paid any attention to me.”

  “Now I’m worried about turning ten,” said Esther.

  The girls stopped talking and looked at her.

  “I don’t think that will apply to you,” announced Questa after a moment.

  “Terra’s right,” said Dovie. “We shouldn’t spend all day talking about Iolana, when we can talk about boys.”

  “Must we?” asked Iolana.

  “Spoken like a lady who had over two hundred callers on New Year’s Day.”

  “It wasn’t over two hundred,” frowned Iolana. “It wasn’t even one hundred.”

  “Poor girl,” said Dovie. “How many callers did you have, Questa?”

  “Fifteen.”

  “That probably would have been a city-wide record, had the princess not been present.”

  “Don’t call me ‘the princess’,” said Iolana, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips.

  “Yes, don’t call her that,” said Terra. “And don’t tell her that she looks just like her mother right now, even though, I k
now, she does.”

  “You know how many callers I had?” Dovie continued. “I had exactly three: Tiber Stephenson, Philo Mostow, and Samuel Croffut, and I imagine they only stopped by here to see me because the two Goose girls live just across the way.”

  “Willa Tice had over thirty,” said Esther.

  The girls stopped talking and stared at her.

  “Probably because she’s closer to marrying age.”

  “And now she’s engaged,” said Terra. “Let’s talk about that. Perhaps it will be less contentious.”

  “Is she marrying Marzell Lance?” asked Dovie. “I saw them walking past the dress shop the other day. They make a lovely couple.”

  “I suppose you’ll be her maid of honor,” said Questa to Iolana.

  “She hasn’t asked me. There are plenty of other people she could ask. She has hundreds of friends.”

  “Yes, but none of them…”

  “Don’t say ‘none of them are the princess’,” hissed Iolana.

  “I was going to say that none of them are you,” said Questa, and Iolana relaxed. Then Questa added, “with all that implies.”

  “I want a big wedding,” said Terra, looking into space. “Big and very, very fancy.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get it,” said Esther.

  The conversation veered off into weddings past and future, and did, as Terra suggested it might, prove less contentious. Half an hour later, Iolana and her cousin, and Esther were driving back home. Iolana kept Tsisia at a reasonable speed, but took another route anyway, just to avoid passing the same police constable.

  * * * * *

  That evening, Iolana and Terra met at the top of the stairs. Their matching green evening gowns were perfect, as was their carefully coiffed hair. Even the ringlets around Terra’s face were perfect, having been carefully curled just moments before. They had enjoyed a quiet family dinner, before retiring to their rooms to prepare for the party. Holding hands, they descended the stairs together. Polite applause greeted them from the dozen or so guests below. At the bottom of the staircase, Terra stepped aside and added her own quiet clapping. It was her cousin’s moment.

  “Thank you, everyone,” said Iolana. “I’m so happy that you could all join me to celebrate my fourteenth birthday. Please adjourn to the parlor.”

  The small crowd followed her into the parlor where additional chairs had been added, a banquet table had been arrayed with finger foods, and a mechanical music player was already filling the air with the latest popular song from Brechalon.

  Mrs. Staff and her husband, both of whom were sitting on the sofa, stood up, and Mrs. Staff addressed the crowd. “We’ll leave you young people to yourselves. But first, we wanted to give Iolana her present.”

  “Present?” wondered Iolana. “I thought my new car was my present.”

  “That was your father’s indulgence,” said Mrs. Staff. “I’ve picked out something more appropriate for a young woman of your age.”

  She pointed to a twelve by twenty-four inch pine box, about three inches deep, sitting on the occasional table near the window. A tiny blue bow was attached to the top. Iolana stepped over and lifted the lid, revealing a matched set of nickel-plated .45 caliber revolvers. Each had an ivory grip with the Dechantagne Staff family crest embossed upon it.

  “They’re beautiful,” said Iolana, lifting one from the box and flipping open the cylinder.

  “They were crafted of course by Neville and Nyce,” said Mrs. Staff. “They have been making our family’s weapons for six generations.”

  She stepped across and kissed Iolana on the cheek, before turning and leaving the room. Iolana wondered at her composure, turning her back on a gun. But she no doubt knew it was unloaded, or else didn’t realize how many times her daughter had thought about shooting her. Iolana smiled to herself at her own grim humor and glanced over at her father to find him looking pale.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked, hurrying to his side.

  “I’m a little tired,” he said. “Nothing to worry about. I think I overdid it chopping wood this afternoon.”

  “Why are you doing that? We have dozens of servants. There’s absolutely no reason for a Baron to chop wood, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I’ll be fine.” He smiled wryly. “My head keeps telling me I’m still thirty. Unfortunately my body doesn’t agree. I’m going to retire to the library and do a bit of light reading.”

  “That always does me good,” said Iolana.

  He kissed her on the forehead, and then he too left the room.

  “Hey there, birthday girl.”

  Iolana turned around to confront Tiber Stephenson.

  “Oh, hello.”

  “I haven’t seen you since our adventure in Mallontah,” he said. “I have to tell you I thought it was jolly good fun.”

  “It was quite an adventure,” Iolana allowed.

  “It wouldn’t have been nearly so much fun without you,” he added.

  “Oh, well, um… How did your brothers enjoy their blow-guns?”

  “Tickled to death over them. They’ve already shot everything in the neighborhood that’s smaller than they are.”

  “Um, there’s Billingbow’s on ice just over there.” Iolana pointed to a barrel near the banquet table.

  “Oh, I’ll go get us a couple.” He hurried away.

  “Someone has an admirer,” said Willa Tice, suddenly at Iolana’s elbow.

  “Did Ascan come with you?” asked Iolana, looking around. “I didn’t see him.”

  “No, the militia is on alert, so he couldn’t come. He sent you your present though.”

  Tiber returned with two bottles of soda water. He was followed by Marzell Lance who carried two more. Tiber gave one bottle to Iolana and Marzell handed one of his over to Willa.

  “I wanted to tell you congratulations, Marzell,” said Iolana.

  “Thank you, Lady Iolana,” he said.

  “Oh please. You’ve known me since I was a toddler.”

  “Well, almost. You were pretty small when I started working as a driver for your aunt. You still managed to bark out orders though.”

  “Will you two gentlemen excuse us,” said Iolana, taking Willa by the elbow. “We have ladies’ things to discuss—dresses and such.”

  They took several steps and found themselves bumping into Terra, Esther, Dovie, and Questa continuing the discussion they had been having earlier in the day.

  “Tell us, Willa,” said Dovie. “Are you planning a big wedding?”

  “It’s going to be a traditional Zaeri wedding, so there will be a lot of people there, but only friends and family. Of course all of you will be invited.”

  “Have you decided on a maid of honor?” asked Questa, glancing sidelong at Iolana.

  “We don’t have bridesmaids or a best man. We have two people who stand with us; they can be male or female. They’re called freundenblut, and it’s tradition to choose them the night before.”

  “Have you noticed where all the boys are?” said Terra, suddenly.

  As one, the girls turned to see all the boys in the room, save Augie, clustered around Didrika and Ernst Goose. The two girls smiled at one and then another young man, and batted their eyelashes. Lord Dechantagne however, was completely oblivious to the sisters’ charms, and was instead gazing over the finger foods, and his expression indicated that he was not happy with the selection.

  “Let’s get that cake in here!” he suddenly shouted toward the kitchen.

  The cake, a huge seven-layered tower, covered with frosting that was at least fifty percent butter, was topped with candied fruit and flowers. Despite large portions, only the top two layers were consumed by the time everyone was full. In keeping with tradition, seven charms were baked into each layer. Ernst Goose and Collier Wissinger found coin charms in their cake, foretelling wealth. Clydie Appleton found a ring, indicating that she would soon marry. When Marzell found a second ring, everyone excitedly proclaimed the validity of the prognosticatio
n, though when he also found a shoe, indicating poverty, they were equally loud in their opinions that it really meant nothing at all. Tiber Stephenson also got a shoe, which sent him into a fit of laughter. Willa received the pistol, indicating glory, as did Augie. Terra and Esther both found tiny crowns, indicating fertility. Philo Mostow, who was always a bit on the pasty side, and Dovie both received crosses indicating health. There were gasps when Iolana bit down on a thimble, a sure prophesy that she would be die an old maid, though it set her to smiling. No one claimed the other thimble, but it was later found discarded on the floor.

  “What is this?” wondered Sandy Partridge, pulling a small dinosaur-shaped charm from his mouth.

  “I added that one,” said Augie. “It means you’re going to be eaten by a dinosaur.”

  “Augie!” hissed his sister. “What a terrible thing to say!”

  “Tell me it can’t happen!” he said defiantly.

  When the cake was done, Iolana sat down to open her presents. From the Goose sisters, she received a vanity table set, including a hair receiver, powder jar, and trinket box. Willa gave her a necklace with a pendant shaped like a fish, and Ascan gave her a matching pair of earrings. Though few women in Brechalon had pierced ears, practically everyone in Birmisia had them. Tiber gave her a porcelain jewelry box, and Talli Archer gave her a hand mirror that almost matched it. She received a brooch with a stylized letter I from Questa, and one shaped like a dragon from Clydie Appleton. Most people who knew Iolana no doubt considered a book a safe bet as a gift, and she received three at the party. Marzell Lance gave her the latest pulp novel by Rikkard Banks Tatum: Attack of the Zombie Women. Sandy Partridge gave her a new printing of Mirsannan Pastoral, a book popular among wealthy and generally idle Brech women. And Collier Wissinger gave her a signed copy of The Drum, a novel by his famous cousin. From Dovie, Iolana received a silver bookmark, embossed with her name. Philo Mostow gave her a dressing wand—a magical device that women used to button and unbutton dresses. Terra gave her a selection of silver hatpins, and Esther gave her a crimson top hat with an achillobator feather. Finally, Augie presented her with a lady’s driving coat and cap, no doubt having had inside information that her father was getting her a car.