by Booth, John
"And yet we have to sup wine and dance beside him," Per replied. "King Petre, or possibly that witch of a daughter of his, has a plan of some kind. I feel it in my bones."
The two men walked off and I sat down on a stair to think. I don't think I can destroy four kingdoms or even one. After all, I barely hold down a job in Wales. Yet there was no doubt at all those two men believed it. 'Wizards are like a pestilence on the land,' Per had said. That phrase made me think of locusts.
The few wizards I had met in my travels were hostile and attacked me without warning. But I've always been lucky when such things happen and their lightning bolts and cannonball like things have always missed me for long enough for me to hop away. Wizard Plath was the only wizard I ever got close enough to talk to.
I brooded over the men's conversation for some time until a familiar voice interrupted my thoughts as it shouted out from below.
"If you have got those trousers dirty sitting on that stair I shall take a carpet beater to both them and you."
Esmeralda had found me again.
I walked down the stairs to join her and found Jenny standing with her. Both girls were wearing ball-gowns. Jenny wore the one her father bought her and Esmeralda wore a dress the color of rubies. Esmeralda wore a significant amount of jewelry - a diamond tiara in her hair, pearls around her neck and delicate carved silver bands around her wrists. To my surprise, Jenny was wearing similar jewels, though she didn't have a tiara.
"You haven't been shopping, have you?" I asked in some alarm.
"Borrowed them from the royal collection, silly boy."
I sighed with relief.
"Is he always this penny-pinching?" Esmeralda asked.
"He's lucky if he has a penny to pinch."
Esmeralda looked as though she was going to reply and then changed her mind. I could have sworn she seemed upset about something.
"Well, what do you think girls?" I asked, standing up straighter and giving a twirl so they could take in my regalia.
"At least you've lost the potatoes," Jenny said as she looked me up and down. "You don't half look like a waiter, Jake."
"Jake looks most appropriate for the occasion," Esmeralda interjected. "I must remember to thank Grimaldi. He has worked another miracle."
"Tell me about the other kings here, Esmeralda. I understand you've invited three. Where are they from?"
Esmeralda laughed. "There's no need for you to worry about such things, Jake. Just nod and shake their hands when you are introduced."
"I'd really like to know."
Esmeralda sighed as though I had become an irksome child.
"Salice is surrounded by three other kingdoms much the same size as we are. Dantor is to the north and west, Frode to the south and Alegon to the east. All three of their Kings and Queens are our guests. Does that answer your question?"
"The sea is to the north," I protested.
"Which is why I said Dantor is to the north and west. You might have noticed the coastline curves."
"Oh," I said, feeling stupid.
Esmeralda turned away and walked away down the corridor while I stood there feeling like an idiot.
Jenny grabbed onto my hand and pulled me after Esmeralda.
"Come on Jake. Don't annoy Esmeralda anymore."
I wondered as I was dragged along if Esmeralda was angry at me because of my stupidity, or whether she was angry because she didn't want me asking questions about local politics.
Grimaldi suggested I was being used and I was beginning to think he was right. The Spring Ball was becoming interesting, which was something I never expected to happen.
The reception area in front of the ballroom was packed with people in their finery holding drinks and gossiping. It was as if all the baubles from a Christmas tree had dropped off the tree and gathered for a union meeting. It would have been bad enough if the jewelry was only on the women, but most of the men had joined in the competition to find Mr. or Mrs. Sparkle. As a simple Welsh lad from the valleys it was all far too much.
I could see, however, that Jenny was entranced by it. She let go of my hand and stood there gawping, like a fish out of water. Luckily, Esmeralda came over to us.
"Do not be overwhelmed, Jenny. You're the one accompanying the guest of honor."
"Eh?" Me, the guest of honor? I wondered if anyone would notice if I hopped back to my bedroom and forgot all about this. My safe little bedroom was calling to me loudly at that moment.
I'm sure Esmeralda knew exactly what I was thinking, as she locked her arm in mine, blocking the possibility of a simple escape.
"Too late to back out now, Jake. You wouldn't want to embarrass me by disappearing, now would you?"
Jenny took hold of my other arm and the two girls gently but firmly frog-marched me into the room.
As soon as we were noticed, the hubbub dropped to a few whispered comments. Everyone stared at me and not all those eyes were friendly. None of them actually pointed at me saying 'die wizard scum' but I was betting it was on a lot of people's minds.
Esmeralda steered us expertly through the crowd towards the only people I recognized. When we were stood in front of them, Esmeralda expertly jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow. I took the hint.
"Err, hello, I mean, greetings your majesty. May I present my girlfriend, Jenny Owen? Jenny may I introduce King Petre and Queen Janti."
Queen Janti smiled warmly at Jenny and held out her hand.
"It would seem that our Wizard has unexpected depths to catch a girl as beautiful as you."
Jenny took the queen's hand and held it, unsure what to do. King Petre came to her rescue by gently taking her hand from that of his wife and kissing her fingers.
"You're certainly the first evidence we have seen so far that the Royal Wizard has taste," he said in a kindly way. Not that I missed the earlier reference from his wife. I'd moved from guest of honor to Royal Wizard in the blink of an eye. While annoyed by this revelation, a part of me was wondering exactly how much the job paid.
"You must come and greet all our guests," Esmeralda said hurriedly and somewhat guiltily. Jenny seemed to have missed my change of status, or perhaps she was just overwhelmed at meeting royalty. Esmeralda pulled me away from her parents but was stopped by her father.
"Can't I even shake the hand of Wizard Morrissey before you drag him away, Esmeralda?"
"Of course, father."
I took the King's proffered hand and he pulled me a little closer so we could talk low enough not to be overheard.
"Forgive us for this deception. Salice is at risk and it will give certain people pause."
"You could have asked," I replied in an aggrieved tone. I might have even taken the job if they'd cared to ask.
The King shook his head slightly and straightened up. He moaned in pain and his hand flew to his back.
"I'm not sure you turned all of me back from stone," he said in a strained voice.
I wished his back to heal as I was still holding his other hand, squeezing his fingers as I concentrated on the thought. The King looked surprised and let go of my hand. I followed suit and gave him a low bow.
"The Royal Wizard can only do his best," I said rather more loudly than I had intended. But then I'm not used to all this conspiracy and acting stuff. "May I take my leave, Sire, and greet your other guests?"
"You may," the King replied solemnly. Queen Janti was grinning at me like a Cheshire cat. Well, it was no skin off my nose to play along with their game.
Esmeralda led me off like a much prized pet and introduced me to the kings and queens of Alegon, Frode and Dentor in such quick succession that I still can't remember which one of them was which. After meeting and greeting the rulers, it was off to meet the dukes and lords. I am sure there was a strict pecking order in all this, which I'm equally certain Esmeralda knew backwards. From my point of view, it seemed to be in the order of amount of jewelry worn, with those with the most at the front of the line.
I was introduced to P
ortly Man and his wife and it came as no surprise when he was introduced as Lord Per Napshot from Frode. His wife was introduced as Lady Marla Napshot, which confirmed it.
As I exchanged a tight handshake with the man who wanted to employ an assassin to kill me, I stared deeply into his eyes. My intention was simply to annoy him but the result was unexpected. A jumble of images involving horses, carts and many men going through a pass flashed through my mind. I didn't recognize the pass, but I made a mental note to ask Esmeralda about it. However, I promptly forgot about it as Esmeralda dragged me towards yet more dignitaries.
I found I was now in front of a man I did recognize.
"Thanks again for the loan of the ring."
"My wife has taken it off me, old boy. Says it's an important piece of Salice history and that she's going to present it to the King," Sir Danth Yard replied. His moustache seemed even bushier than I remembered. Of course, that particular time had been rather fraught and there were other things on my mind.
Esmeralda gave Sir Danth a hug.
"I have introduced Jake to all the players, Uncle Danth. I hope it will prove enough."
"It will have to be, Essie. We're in no position to fight a war."
That was it. I was fed up of being used and decided to get to the bottom of it.
"Jenny, why don't you and Sir Danth chat here for a while? I have to have a quiet word with Esmeralda."
I took Esmeralda firmly by the arm and walked her to a corner of the room free of people. She tried to pull her arm from my grasp, but I refused to let go and held her even tighter.
"I shall have a bruise, you brute," Esmeralda complained as I let her go, positioning myself so she couldn't easily escape back into the room. She rubbed her arm furiously.
"Explanations, right now. Or Jenny, Fluffy and I are out of here and hopping back to Wales and you can try and explain that to everyone in this room."
"You just turned up so conveniently."
"And while we're at it. How do you always know where I am?"
"That's your fault. Don't lay that one at my door. I'm the one who has to put up with it." Esmeralda spoke so vehemently I was taken aback for a second. Then I remembered who was conning who.
"I'm not going to wait any longer for an explanation."
I turned as if I was going off to collect Jenny. Esmeralda grabbed me and spun me back to face her.
"You are so self-centered, Jake Morrissey. You would leave us here to die or turned into slaves because we've offended you."
I stared at her dumbly, completely lost for words. Esmeralda seemed to take this as a sign of indifference.
"We are vulnerable. Salice is a rich country, richer in that the Master made us work hard for years and put the wealth we created into the coffers. Half our soldiers were on his side, and when we finally removed him, many brave men died. You didn't notice that. All you saw was an easy victory."
"No one died that I saw."
"You were not everywhere, Jake. Your magic projects around you and protects those with you. You're not even aware you're doing it."
"I see."
"You don't," Esmeralda said. "We are a prize to be taken by anyone with the means, if not by one of the kings in this room, then by any one of their lords or dukes with ambition. That's how kingdoms usually fall. Father is trying to forge alliances with the kingdoms to protect us, but without your victory over Wizard Plath, they wouldn't even have come here.
When you appeared back in your room, it was as if the gods had answered our prayers. And you wanted to come to the ball, with a dragon no less. No one would dare attack us if we could claim a wizard on our side."
"You could have asked me."
"And what if you refused? Let our women be raped and our children made slaves because you couldn't be bothered to help us? A lie was safer for us."
"Hi!" Jenny said brightly as she ran over to us. "Sir Danth said to tell you everyone is going into the ballroom." Jenny came close and held me in her arms, grinning up at me. "It appears you and I really are the guests of honor and it's traditional for the guests of honor to have the first dance."
This was far worse than I'd thought. Not only was I a pawn in Esmeralda's game of political chess, but I was expected to dance in front of other people. Now this might sound stupid, but while I went along with the dress thing and Jenny's desire to see Salice, and even wearing the stupid waiter clothes, I had never considered the possibility that I would be made to dance. I can't dance. My left foot has left feet.
"Jenny, I don't do the dancing thing."
Jenny put her hands on her hips and gave me the sort of stare a killer bull gives a matador before trampling him into the dust.
"Well, you'd better learn damned quick."
"It's traditional. Just the two of you on the dance floor, in front of all our honored guests," Esmeralda chipped in. She was not even trying to hide the smirk on her face.
I know when I am defeated. I took Jenny's hand and stomped into the ballroom. To my surprise, I spotted Grimaldi just in front of us. I stopped behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"I will need to borrow your large hairbrush tomorrow," I told him grimly as he turned towards me. "Two young ladies are in need of its attention."
Grimaldi grinned and nodded at me as if he understood perfectly.
Jenny and I walked forward into a large clear space in the middle of the dance floor. Hundreds of faces in glittering costumes looked expectantly at the two of us and we took up our position in the very center of the floor. A soft drum roll echoed, indicating the music was about to start.
Jenny pressed her palm against mine and whispered urgently.
"Learn how to dance from me, like we learnt how to speak the language of Salice."
What a brilliant idea. I should have thought of it myself, but then the whole thing took me by surprise. I breathed in and concentrated. Jenny eyes were screwed up tight trying to send me instructions. I opened my mind and took it all in.
The music started. It was in waltz time, a fact I wouldn't have known moments before. There was a little hesitation on my part as I realized I should lead rather than follow, after all, this was Jenny's knowledge. Then we set out across the floor. This was a different kind of learning than taking on a language. It seemed to me it was my legs, arms and feet that now knew what they were doing while I just watched on in awe.
Jenny relaxed as she realized that I knew how to dance. That was fortunate because the death grip she had on my hand was beginning to hurt.
I think we did better than okay because the audience started to clap in appreciation as Jenny spun below my raised hand and she tried out some fancy moves. I have to admit I had no idea that she could dance. I mean, I knew she could shuffle to music in a pub because we'd done that, but what she was doing now was in a different league. It made me wonder, not for the first time, why she was attracted to me. After all, it's not as if I have any real talents.
The music was coming to an end and we were once again in the center of the empty floor. I looked up as a shadow blocked out half the lights in the room and smiled. Fluffy had been dancing with us in glim and was slowly bringing his body into visibility. His massive wings arced in an almost complete circle around us as he danced, reared up and stood tall on his back legs.
When he was fully visible, he floated into the air and rotated into the horizontal. On the very last note Fluffy puffed an enormous smoke ring towards us. Then he vanished. The smoke ring drifted slowly through the air and down onto us, missing our backs by inches. When it hit the floor, it spread outwards in ripples finally dissipating as it reached the feet of the crowd. The applause they gave us went on for minutes. Jenny curtseyed to the onlookers while I tried for a dignified bow.
I woke up the next morning to a soft knock. I'm a light sleeper and wake at home if the cat jumps on my windowsill. Jenny was curled up beside me in the enormous four poster bed. It was so warm we had kicked the sheets off us in the night.
I jump
ed out of the bed and opened the door a crack. There was nobody there, but I could see I had been left a gift. I picked it up and closed the door.
Apparently, Grimaldi took me at my word. I looked down at the hairbrush in my hands with feelings of satisfaction. Made of dark varnished oak, it was about nine inches long. The back of the head was as smooth as glass and shaped into a curved edged rectangle about four inches by five. It was much heavier than it looked.
I turned back to the bed. Jenny's nightdress had ridden up to her waist during the night and the target presented was beautiful. I grinned and put the brush down on the bedside table as I got back into bed. Jenny's quick thinking saved me the previous night and I had forgiven her.
After our dance, we mingled with the guests late into the night. To my surprise, the King and Queen provided a large buffet for their guests with all sorts of delicious titbits. Somehow, I never associated state balls with fried chicken and baked potato, but in Salice that's exactly how it was.
Jenny and I danced at least a dozen times before the night was over. She drank rather too much fizzy alcohol and I held her upright when I hopped us to our room. She woke up enough to get undressed and then we crashed out. The next thing I knew was the knock at the door.
I picked up the heavy hairbrush and felt its weight against the palm of my hand. While I'd never use such a thing on Jenny, there was one person in the palace for which I considered it more than appropriate. For a wizard, it seems the thought can become the deed and without consciously wishing it, I found myself standing in front of Esmeralda's bed.
She woke the instant I arrived, though I could have sworn I made no sound at all. Her curtains were open and morning sunlight flooded into the room.
"Why are you here, Wizard?" Esmeralda asked irritably as she pulled her sheets higher so they were around her chin.
