A Matter of Magic (24 page)

“Ben!” Dan called as he came through the gate. “We have another stop or two to make. Mr. Merrill will give you the direction.”

Mairelon glanced back over his shoulder at Dan. Dan smiled very slightly and lifted one of his pistols a fraction of an inch. “And they will be clear and without any deliberately misleading bits. Won’t they, Mr. Merrill?”

“Of course.” Mairelon inclined his head, then turned and went forward to speak with the coachman. Dan kept his eyes—and his pistol—fixed on them as he waved Jack forward with his other hand.

“I think you had better ride with Ben,” Dan told him. “Put the guns under your coat; we don’t want to attract attention.”

“You ain’t riding in there with two of ’em!” Jack protested. “What if they jump you?”

“A point,” said Dan, showing no signs of concern. “Have the goodness to hold your gun on Mr. Merrill while I see to it that they won’t.”

Jack nodded with unnecessary force. He stepped forward and pointed both of his pistols at Mairelon’s stomach. Dan looked at him, nodded, and turned to Kim. “I trust you will not attempt to do anything foolish in the next few minutes,” he said. “It would have most unpleasant consequences.”

Kim didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded. Dan smiled coldly and set his right-hand pistol on the step of the carriage. “This will only take a moment,” he said, putting his hand in his pocket. He withdrew it almost immediately, and when he uncurled his fingers, Kim saw two balls resting in his palm. One was a silver sphere, covered with tiny vines and fruit, that would have fit comfortably in the circle of Kim’s thumb and forefinger. The other was a small, faceted crystal the size of her thumbnail.

Behind her, Kim heard a sharp intake of breath from Mairelon. Dan looked past her and said, “I see you recognize these, Mr. Merrill. I hope that means you will be sensible enough not to interfere. The pieces of the Saltash Set are temperamental to work with when they aren’t together.”

Without waiting for a response, Dan stretched his hand toward Kim and began murmuring sharp, crystalline words. They hung in the air,
twisting over and under and around each other like the streets of London, making an intangible net between Kim and Dan. Kim shuddered and took an involuntary step backward. Dan Laverham raised his left hand and made a complicated gesture, his voice rising as he did so. The invisible web of words swirled and swept forward, settling around Kim. She froze, waiting for it to do whatever it was meant to.

Dan gestured again, commandingly, and shouted a final phrase. The two spheres began to glow with a clear, silver light. Kim felt the razor-edged words close in, but the air between her and the spell was full of a strong, sweet, smoky scent, and the net of magic could not touch her. She swayed, light-headed with relief, and the spell swayed with her, maintaining its fractional distance.

“There,” Dan said. He sounded breathless, as if he had been running, but he spoke in a tone of great satisfaction. He returned the two still-glowing balls to his pocket and bent to pick up his pistol.

“An interesting demonstration,” Mairelon said in a cool voice from behind Kim’s shoulder. “But what is it supposed to accomplish?”

“Dear me, I thought you would be able to puzzle that out for yourself,” Dan replied, straightening. “Even under these admittedly adverse conditions.”

“You have a high opinion of me,” Mairelon answered. “I recognized parts of it, but I’ve never seen anything quite like the whole. You adapted the Saltash truth spells to do something else, didn’t you?”

“Shut your gob,” Jack Stower growled, gesturing with his pistols.

“Now, now, don’t get carried away, my dear,” Dan said to Jack. “After all, he’s quite right.” Dan turned to Mairelon. “It’s a control spell, or rather, a minor reworking of the control portions of the Saltash spells. It therefore has the same limits as its original, an annoyance I hope to correct once I have the whole set to study.”

“The same limits as the Saltash spells?” Mairelon looked from Kim to Dan and shook his head. “That can’t be very convenient. Only one person at a time, only one use per person, time limit—what is the time limit on your control spell, by the way? I know how long it is for the Saltash spells.”

“Two hours,” Dan answered. “Long enough for me to retrieve the
Saltash Platter and Bowl and be well on my way back to London. Providing, of course, that we don’t waste any more time. Into the carriage.”

Kim blinked, realizing that this last command was directed at her. She felt no particular compulsion to follow Dan’s orders, though she could still sense his spell hovering around her. She stared at Dan for a moment, her mind whirling, and suddenly the pieces came together. Dan had adapted the Saltash spells into a control spell, but his spell still had the same flaws as the Saltash spells. It only worked once on any particular person. And over a week before, on their first night out of London, Mairelon had cast the Saltash truth spell on Kim to find out what her lay was. That was why Dan’s control couldn’t touch her!

There were, however, two pistols still pointed at Mairelon, and he and Kim were outnumbered three to two, counting the phlegmatic coachman. It would clearly be much better to follow Dan’s directions for a while. As long as he thought his spell was working, he wouldn’t pay too much attention to Kim, and she might get a chance to pike off and get Hunch. Kim took a deep breath and climbed into the carriage.

“You next, Mr. Merrill,” Dan said. “Sit there, next to Kim. Good.” Dan climbed in after Mairelon and settled onto the seat opposite him. He pointed his pistols at Mairelon, then called out the window, “Up on the box with Ben, Jack. Keep your pistols handy, but try not to let anyone see them. We don’t want to attract attention, remember.”

Jack said something Kim could not hear, and Dan frowned. “Nonsense. Don’t dally, my dear; I haven’t time to waste.”

There was a muffled curse, followed by an assortment of thumps as Jack climbed up to sit with the coachman. A moment later, the coach jerked and started off. “Not much of a driver, your man Ben,” Mairelon commented. “Did you bring him out of sentiment, or economy?”

“Neither,” Dan said with unimpaired good humor. “He has talents other than driving that I thought I might find useful.”

There was an undercurrent in Dan’s voice that made Kim shiver. She was all too conscious of the various unpleasant ways a man could find to survive in London’s rookeries; Jack Stower was the Archbishop of Canterbury compared to some. She knew nothing of the driver, but she
knew enough of Dan to be sure that she didn’t want to learn. Anyone he spoke of in those tones was sure to be an ugly customer.

Dan either did not see Kim’s quiver or attributed it to the motion of the carriage. Mairelon shot her a flickering glance, then returned his attention to Dan as if he had noticed nothing. A moment later, however, the carriage lurched as he was shifting his position, and he fell sideways against Kim’s shoulder.

“Don’t fret,” he breathed into her ear, his lips barely moving. “Sorry, Kim,” he added in a louder tone as he straightened and resumed his seat.

Kim forgot her worries long enough to glare at him. “Don’t fret” was probably his idea of a reassuring message, but he couldn’t have picked a more ridiculous thing to say if he’d thought about it since the day they met. Don’t fret, with Dan Laverham pointing a pistol at them, Jack Stower on the box with a gun of his own, a dead man in the woods behind them, and not the faintest hope of a way out of the mess that she could see? Don’t fret, when Dan was about to get his hands on the blasted platter that all the rogues and half the gentry for miles around were chasing after? Did he take her for a Bedlamite, or hadn’t it occurred to him that any reasonable person would fret himself to flinders in a situation like this?

“I think you should stay firmly seated from now on,” Dan said to Mairelon. “It would be unfortunate, don’t you think, if you were to careen into me that way and my pistol were to go off.”

“Unfortunate is certainly one word for it,” Mairelon agreed. “You know, as long as we have time for a chat, I was wondering whether you’d tell me a little more about that control spell of yours. It’s terribly interesting. Don’t you think it’s terribly interesting, Kim?”

“A more tactless comment I have seldom heard,” Dan said.

“What?” Mairelon blinked, then looked from Dan to Kim for a moment and back to Dan. “Oh, yes, I see what you mean. But even so—”

There was a loud report from outside the window, and the coach jerked to a sudden and unceremonious halt. For a moment, Kim was convinced that Jack Stower had fired at something or someone; then she
heard an all-too-familiar voice cry in ringing tones, “Stand and deliver! In the name of the Four Holy Things!”

“Jonathan Aberford,” Kim said, feeling stunned. “That bufflehead!”

“Oh, Lord, not again,” Mairelon said, rolling his eyes.

Laverham’s eyebrows rose. “A holdup, in broad daylight? On a country road going from nowhere to nowhere else? It seems unlikely, on the face of it.”

Jack Stower seemed to share Dan’s opinion. “You’re dicked in the nob,” they heard him shout. “Mr. Laverham’s in this coach!”

“Stand and deliver!” Jonathan cried again. “Drop your weapons, or I fire!”

“We’ve stood, we’ve stood,” Jack snarled. “Now what?”

“An excellent question,” Mairelon murmured. “I wonder whether he’s thought of it?”

“If this is some trick of yours—” Dan raised a pistol.

“It’s not a trick,” Mairelon said. “It’s a druid. In a manner of speaking, that is. He’s harmless, I think, unless he happens to have taken the notion that highwaymen always shoot someone just to prove they’re serious.”

Before Dan could respond, they heard a wordless yell, a horse’s shrill, frightened neigh, and the sounds of a scuffle outside. Dan leaned over and glanced out the window. When he returned his gaze to Mairelon, his expression had not changed, but there was an air of satisfaction about him. A moment later, Jack’s face appeared at the window. He was breathless, and there was a smear of mud across his left cheek.

“We got the rum padder, Mr. Laverham,” Jack panted. “What d’you want us to do with him?”

“Kill him,” Laverham said.

“Right.” Jack smiled, showing crooked brown teeth. “Now?”

Dan nodded, then, as Jack turned to go, he frowned and said, “No, wait. Are you”—he gestured at Mairelon with his pistol—“quite sure this person is a druid?”

“Well, you can see that he’s not much of a highwayman,” Mairelon said in a reasonable tone. “It probably didn’t even occur to him to bring a spare pistol.”

“It don’t matter,” Jack objected. “The cull tried to pop the lot of us!”

“With only one pistol?” Dan said. “I think not. In any case, if this inept highwayman is a druid, he’ll know where to look for the platter once we get to the lodge. We’ll bring him along.”

“But, Mr. Laverham—”

“Don’t argue, my dear, just do it.” Dan studied Mairelon for a moment, then smiled unpleasantly. “You’ll have to be tied, of course,” he said to the magician. “I’m not fool enough to leave you free with the carriage as crowded as it’s going to be. Kim!”

Kim jerked, startled by the unexpected command. “What?”

“There’s a bit of rope under the seat.” Dan pointed with his left hand. “Get it and tie your companion’s hands. And see you do a good job of it. I won’t—”

The carriage door swung open, and Jack Stower shoved the unfortunate Jonathan forward, so that he staggered against the step. “Where do you want him, Mr. Laverham?” Jack asked.

“In a moment, Jack,” Dan replied. “Tie him, Kim.”

Remembering suddenly that she was supposed to be under Dan’s spell of control, Kim bent and rummaged under the seat for the rope. She straightened and turned sideways to face Mairelon. “Hold out your hands,” she said in a flat voice.

Mairelon did so, his gaze fixed on Kim’s face. Kim dropped her eyes, wondering whether Mairelon knew she was faking. Well, he’d figure it in another minute. She looped the rope around his wrists and pulled hard for Dan’s benefit, then fed the ends through the complex pattern Mairelon had shown her on their first day out of London.

When she finished, she looked up. Mairelon was still staring fixedly at her face, his expression unreadable. “There,” Kim said. “You won’t get out of
that
in no hurry.”

“No?” Mairelon said. He looked down at last, and went still as he recognized the trick knot. He raised his head to look at Kim again and said very deliberately, “I see.”

“Kim learned to tie knots down on the docks,” Dan said, misinterpreting Mairelon’s reaction. “Now, Jack, let’s have the druid highwayman.”

Jack shoved Jonathan again, and it was more by luck than planning that this time Jonathan stumbled up the step and into the carriage. He
was hatless, one of the capes on his coat was torn, and there was a reddened area on his left cheek that would make a splendid bruise in another day or so. His awkward progress was due to the sock he had used as a mask. At some point during his encounter with Dan’s men, the sock had slipped to one side, and the holes Jonathan had cut in it were now centered over his nose and right temple. Kim almost laughed aloud.

“This is entirely unnecessary,” Jonathan said in a calm voice, but his hands shook as he raised them to pull the sock off his head. “I’m Jonathan. It was just a bet, and—” He stopped short as the sock came off and he saw the occupants of the coach.

“I see you weren’t expecting us,” Dan said, pointing his pistols impartially at Jonathan and Mairelon. “Not that it matters. Tie him, too, Kim.”

“What?” Jonathan stared as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “You don’t mean it! Look, my name’s Aberford; if you stop at the next house, they’ll vouch for me. You don’t have to bring a magistrate into it.”

“I don’t intend to,” Dan said. He lifted his pistol again for emphasis and added, “Just hold still while Kim works.”

“What’s going on here?” Jonathan demanded, finally taking in Mairelon’s bound hands and rumpled appearance. “This is an outrage!”

“No more so than a holdup in the middle of the morning,” Dan said. “You’re hardly in a position to criticize. Jack!”