"He may be right," Jim said—there was no harm in loading the dice a little bit in the favor of Angie and him being deported back to their home world—"I've noticed myself there are some things about your world here that are different from what I know of the same time in the past of my own world—some historic dates, and things like that, where events here seem to have happened either earlier or later than in the histories I studied—"
"No doubt your histories were wrong," said Carolinus. "I hope you're not venturing to tell me you are always right, are you, Jim?"
"Well, no, of course," said Jim. "But—"
"But me no buts!" said Carolinus. "Son Won's arguments, in my opinion, don't hold water—or anything else, for that matter. They're porous as a sieve. But that's not the point. If even a large minority of the world's magicians agree with him, I'll be forced to dismiss you as my apprentice and strip you of whatever magic powers you have, except those that you've earned by your own right; and I believe that you spent those long ago—those, and a good deal more Magick that I arranged to have you supplied with since you became my apprentice."
"And this would make me vulnerable to the Dark Powers at least until I'd been deported?" Jim asked.
"Absolutely. You—and Angie," said Carolinus.
—Angie. That put a slightly different face on the matter. Unless they were deported while Jim still had some magic powers, Angie would be vulnerable, whatever that meant in practical terms, right along with him. By himself, Jim might have been willing to take his chances. But it was something else to gamble with that danger to Angie.
"What am I supposed to do about this, then?" he asked, suddenly very serious.
"I don't know what you can do," said Carolinus. "Things could be done if I could help you. But I can't. No magickian may help his apprentice, if that apprentice has already been spoken against by a magickian of B level or higher. I was able to take and win the test I had with Son Won Phon, simply because his statement could be read as an insult to me, rather than an accusation of you. But—"
Carolinus sighed.
"What is it?" asked Jim. For as he had sighed, Carolinus had slumped, looking suddenly like what he was underneath his magician's exterior—a frail elderly man, one possibly pushed to the limit of his strength.
"I am afraid I made matters worse by helping you," said Carolinus. "I meant it for the best; and surely you deserved and needed it. But from the point of view of the arguments Son Won Phon is mounting now, it was unwise. You remember what I did for you after you settled the business of the Hollow Men—got you a higher rating and an unusual allowance of Magick from the general fund than even any C rating is ordinarily entitled to. This rubbed other apprentices the wrong way; and inevitably their masters in magic—some of their masters, at least—were rubbed the wrong way also."
"And there's nothing I can do about this feeling among the senior magicians?" said Jim. "That's hard to believe. There ought to be something!"
"Yes," growled Aargh.
"Actually," said Carolinus, "there are three ways. Though I don't see how you could use any of them. The first would be to disprove his argument about your possibly affecting future history—and since no one knows anything about future history or how the laws of History will operate in the future, since they depend upon present events to shape them—I don't see how that could be done."
"No," said Jim thoughtfully.
"Or you could attack Son Won Phon himself, although that would be rather presumptuous, a C-level student of magic who is still technically an apprentice—and in your case actually an apprentice—accusing a B-class, or accepted, magician. It would raise eyebrows everywhere and probably prejudice most of the world's master magickians against you. So it would be useless.
"The third possibility would be for you to create, and add to, the store of magic in our world and time, some absolutely new Magick. Magick, as I've explained to you, moves gradually out of our professional area and into ordinary living; so we're actually losing it all the time. Only occasionally is it replenished by someone creating new Magick. So eventually Magick must disappear from our world entirely. But Jim, I really don't see you creating new Magick. No one has for eighty years, and the one who did then was a AAA magician. Also, it was very small Magick."
Silence held them for a long moment. Jim's thoughts were galloping madly. He had left the castle full of the idea that he was once again caught up in a nasty problem that was really none of his business, but which he had somehow been placed in the position of having to solve. A bad situation, but not alarming.
Now he found himself facing a problem that was very alarming, and was his and Angie's alone, entirely. One he must solve for the very personal reason of keeping Angie and himself alive and safe from possible death—or something maybe even worse, if unimaginable at the moment. Suddenly he felt as if he was at the center of a ring of spear points with no visible way out.
"I'm sorry, Jim," said Carolinus in a voice that this time was very gentle indeed. "The responsibility is mine; and I wouldn't have seen you in this position if I could possibly have anticipated it. I can, of course, go to Son Won Phon myself, and see if he will not agree simply to your immediate deportation, which I presume you'd prefer to what else might happen to you and Angie, stripped of magic here in our world. At least, if deported, the two of you would be back in a world you were used to, no matter how terrible it may be; but one where you know the rules and how to conduct yourself. Otherwise, I see absolutely no hope of your handling the situation as it is here now."
"Give him some time," growled the harsh voice of Aargh.
Jim and Carolinus both looked at the wolf. He had lain down on his side, as if what he was hearing was too boring to stand and listen to. He yawned now, and snapped at a passing fly— missing it, but not appearing to be concerned by the fact. "A hunt that leads to a successful meal is not done in a moment, Mage. Give him time and he'll have an answer, maybe one you could never dream of."
"He's got time—a little time, anyway," said Carolinus. "That much I got for him. He and Angie have until the end of the twelve days of Christmas. But if he follows my advice, he'll use it to prepare himself for what looks must happen to him and Angie. What makes you think he's got some miraculous solution in him anyway, wolf?"
Aargh yawned again.
"I can smell it in him," he said, stretching himself out lazily on his side in the grass with his hind legs extended sideways and his front legs forward, his head up above them. His attitude was one of pure disdain.
But something was tickling at Jim's mind. Aargh's support of him had been suddenly, tremendously heartening. It had brought him back from the shock of realizing what Carolinus was talking about—not so much the deportation, which Angie had wanted for some time now, and to which he was entirely reconciled himself— but the extreme danger that they might not be deported and something worse might happen to them. At first, that realization had seemed to paralyze him. Now he felt a surge of body adrenaline all through him.
"As a matter of fact, I had an idea," he said. "That was one of the reasons I was looking forward to talking to you, Carolinus."
Chapter 14
Jim had indeed left the castle with an idea that he had wanted to discuss with Carolinus. But it was an idea that offered a solution to the problem in the castle, not one to this new, unexpected situation.
But, sparked by a tremendous warmth within him from Aargh's declaration of an absolute certainty that Jim could handle the Son Won Phon situation, a question had come to life in the back of his mind. Perhaps, if he could solve the situation with Mnrogar, the army of trolls outside, and the feud between Mnrogar and the Earl—to say nothing of the mysterious troll masquerading upstairs among the guests—it would somehow give him leverage in dealing with Son Won Phon.
Carolinus had originally sent Jim to this gathering to scout for unusual activities that might be symptoms of the workings of the Dark Powers. He, Jim, had succeeded admirably in finding strange
goings-on, no doubt about it. He was not at all clear about which of them might somehow be the work of the Dark Powers—but he had to try to solve all of them, whether they were sinister plots or not. Maybe, in doing so, he could strengthen his position with the magicians. It was worth thinking about.
One reason he had hopes that his idea might work lay in the fact that before this he had successfully used his twentieth-century experience and knowledge to solve fourteenth-century problems. And it should not be necessary to convince Son Won Phon personally to retreat, if he could simply impress the world society of magicians enough so they would be willing merely to deport him and Angie—since that was what Angie had wanted anyway. Their only real danger lay not in being deported, but in Jim being stripped of his magic. He would be unable then to defend them both against the Dark Powers.
"Leaving my situation aside for the moment," he said, "the idea I was going to talk over with you, Carolinus, was a way of finding the unknown troll upstairs in the castle. Maybe, if that could be done, it would put Mnrogar in a position to scare off this challenger who may have attracted the whole army of trolls around the castle right now."
He turned to Aargh.
"What do you think, Aargh?" he asked. "If Mnrogar can defeat this challenger for his territory, will all those other trolls just go back where they came from?"
"I have never seen anything like this," said Aargh. "But if Mnrogar wins, there would be no reason for them to stay, unless they want to die at his claws, one by one."
"What do you think of Mnrogar's chances if this other troll does go ahead and challenge him?" Jim asked. "I understand his not being nearly as large and strong as Mnrogar. Or as experienced, since Mnrogar says he's eighteen hundred years or more old. So how can the challenger think he'd stand a chance of winning?"
"Mnrogar wouldn't lose because he's too weak to win, James," said Aargh. "A troll's not like you or I, who in time grow old and slow. Trolls just keep growing as they get older, getting bigger, stronger and more dangerous. In fact, one of the reasons Mnrogar's been able to hold his place so long is probably because during his first hundred and fifty years he was lucky enough not to fight another troll big enough to kill him. Also, it's luck no accident's killed him. Accidents can kill trolls just as they can kill anyone else. So he's grown so big no other troll would ordinarily even think of challenging him."
"Then why is this one trying it?" said Jim.
"He sees a chance, somehow," said Aargh. "I don't know what. But if you ask me for a guess, maybe I could tell you."
"I am asking for your guess," said Jim.
"Then it's this," said Aargh. "While a troll won't weaken with extra years, the heart and will in him may weaken. They have to be alone to live, and maybe the loneliness gets them to the point where they don't want to live—you remember, I told him that was what was wrong with him, when we all talked under the castle?"
"Hmm," said Carolinus.
"It happens to all else," said Aargh harshly to the magician. "Why not to a troll? He may see himself set apart from all other trolls. This would please him to begin with. Trolls alone do not go mad, as humans go. But he could come to feel he cares no longer what happens to him. The troll who challenges him may hope this has happened, for some reason."
Provokingly, Aargh stopped talking again.
"And if Mnrogar has? Then what?" asked Jim.
"Why, Mnrogar may not want to win—enough," said Aargh. "When the spirit goes out of human, animal, Natural or even god, they go with it. Where are now all the old gods everyone says used to be? Without spirit, all things die. A death that could not have taken them before now finds it easy. A troll who believes Mnrogar has lost spirit may challenge with hope to win. That is the only reason I can think one of them would risk challenging Mnrogar."
"When Brian and I talked to Mnrogar," Jim said to Carolinus, "underneath the castle that first day, it did seem to me he was almost unnaturally upset over the idea that another troll had somehow come into the castle. This, in spite of the fact none of us can seem to figure out—and Mnrogar gave us no reason— why it'd be possible there was another troll there. But when I lifted a still command from him, he threw himself on the ground and beat his head on it, like a child, as if he was helpless to find any other way to handle the situation."
"That's a long guess, Jim," said Carolinus. He in his turn looked at Aargh. "But, Aargh, you think there's a chance Mnrogar has aged within, you say?"
"There's a chance, yes," said Aargh. "No other reason I can think of. I only mention it. I'm not the great thinker that you two are."
He grinned evilly at them both.
"I'm only a straightforward, no-nonsense English wolf who deals in what I know; and I tell you this only because it might help Jim."
Aargh got to his feet.
"And now," he said, "get us back to your cottage by the Tinkling Water, Carolinus. I don't know about you two, who may wish to talk away the next three days; but I've got things to do."
"Wait!" said Jim. "I need a little more information, Carolinus."
Still upright on all four legs, Aargh pulled back the upper part of his body, elevating his head and nose rather like Queen Victoria, in nineteenth-century England, could be imagined, as she was making her famous statement that she was "not amused." It was the wolfish equivalent of a human drumming his fingernails on the table in exasperation and disgust.
"Talk, talk," he said disgustedly. "Humans like talking better than anything else I know. Well, I'll give you a little time yet."
"Thanks," said Jim. "It won't take long."
He turned back toward Carolinus.
"What I had in mind," he said, "is that I might arrange to have the Earl and the troll enter into negotiation over who owns the castle and the territory there. If they could get to see each other's point of view, they might become almost friendly. Enough, anyway, so that the Earl could arrange for the troll to come upstairs safely; and once there, while Mnrogar could stay hidden, he might be able to sniff at every guest there and smell out the troll he thinks is among us. Then, if he doesn't smell anyone at all, it'll be proof that he was wrong about there being a troll up there; and he can relax."
Both Carolinus and Aargh spoke at once.
"Utter nonsense!" began Carolinus. "The Earl would never—"
"You don't know trolls!" said Aargh; and, glancing at the wolf, Jim saw him with his jaws open in silent laughter.
"Believe what you like," he said stubbornly. "But if I could get the two to sit down together at the same table—say, somewhere outside the castle—can I count on you both to help me once I've got them there?"
"How do you want help?" demanded Aargh.
"I don't want them to fight!" said Jim. "They can say anything they like to each other, but I don't want it to break down into a fight, because after that there'd be no hope of ever getting them together—"
"After that," put in Aargh, "you'd have Mnrogar, but no Earl."
"Exactly," said Jim. "Or perhaps—an Earl and no Mnrogar."
Aargh snorted disbelievingly.
"At any rate," went on Jim stubbornly, "Aargh, the troll might listen to you. Carolinus, you might be able to use magic to keep them from actually touching or hurting each other. That's why I thought I'd get them to talk, sitting down at a table out in the woods, or something. The idea would be to have the meeting outside the castle and beyond the Bishop's blessing, so magic would work."
"Well," said Carolinus thoughtfully. "Mind me, I don't believe for a moment you can get the two to sit down and—what was that word you used?"
"Negotiate," said Jim. "Well, I actually said 'negotiating,' but the word itself is 'negotiate.' It means to discuss their differences calmly and find a way to set them aside; so that they can be friends, or at least live together in something like harmony. I'll be there in my dragon body, of course, which should help to hold them both down to a certain extent, since I doubt even Mnrogar would want to fight a dragon."
"Not he,
" said Aargh. "Trolls aren't idiots. They hate dragons; but one of the reasons they hate them is because they're too big for a troll to kill. In fact, I think the truth is they're afraid of dragons—not that one wouldn't fight back if a dragon forced a fight and cornered him or her."
"Negotiate…" said Carolinus, turning the word over on his tongue as if to see how it tasted.
"Yes," said Jim. "We use it a lot where I come from."
Mentally, he crossed his fingers behind his back against either one of them asking him how often negotiation was successful where he came from. Luckily, neither did.
"Well," said Carolinus, "if you can get the two to sit down together, and if you think this will work, I can certainly stand by and use a AAA+ magician's knowledge to magically keep them from doing any harm to each other. That's clearly within our magicians' right to use magic as defense rather then offense."
"And I suppose I'll be there too," said Aargh. "Now, can we go?"
"Yes," said Jim.
Carolinus held up his finger and immediately the little fairy was holding to it.
"T.B.!" said Carolinus. "That was prompt!"
The fairy tinkled.
"Now, T.B.," Carolinus said, "you do not have second sight. Only humans have second sight. No Naturals, demons, wraiths, Forces or fairies have any such thing."
There was another tinkle from the fairy.
"I'm sorry, my dear," said Carolinus, "but you must recognize your limitations, for your own good."
There was an angry tinkle from the fairy.
"I say you did not!" said Carolinus, frowning. "I strongly suspect you were able to appear so quickly because you've been listening."
There was an extended tinkle, this time very angry, from the fairy.
"Very well, I withdraw that," said Carolinus. "We're deeply indebted to you, anyway; and, knowing what a gentle heart you have, I know you won't take the few words I just said and hold them against me."
A rather more pleased tinkle. And everything changed.
The Dragon, the Earl, and Page 15
