Free Wrede, Patricia C - Mairelon 02 by The Magician's Ward (v5.0) Page A

doorkeeper made an awful grimace and raised his fists. "See if I
ain't!"
                "I
can see it just by looking at you," Kim said. He was sturdy enough, but
his movements were too slow; even out of practice, she had little to fear from
a scrap with him, unless he landed a lucky punch. She shook her head. I'm
not here to pick fights. "You're wasting time. Tom's expecting
me."
                "No,
he ain't," the youth retorted. "He ain't expecting nobody what would
come sneaking around the back. He--"
                "Here,
Matt, what's the racket?" Tom's voice drifted out of one of the inner
rooms, followed by Tom himself. His face split in a broad grin when he saw Kim. "Kim, lad! You got my message, then. Come in,
come in, and tell me how you're keeping."
                "Hellfire!"
said the doorkeeper in obvious chagrin. "You told me you was expecting some flash frogmaker!"
                "Well,
so I am," Kim said in her best Grosvenor Square tones. If Tom had already said that much, there was no point in pretending.
"But I didn't want to be noticed, and walking the alleys in pantaloons and
a silk cravat would have gotten me noticed for sure."
                "Garn!"
said Matt, obviously impressed in spite of himself .
"You ain't no frogmaker."
                "Oh,
ain't I?" Kim glanced quickly around. The door was closed, and the windows
shuttered; no one but Tom and Matt was likely to see. Raising her right hand,
palm upward, she focused all her attention on it and said, "Fiat
lux!"
                The tingling sensation of magic at work swept across her hand and
arm. An instant later, a ball of light flared into being in the air
above her palm. It was brighter than she'd intended; either she really was
getting better at spell-casting, or annoyance had given her spell a boost. She
rather suspected it was the annoyance. However it had happened, the effect was
impressive. She heard Tom's breath hiss against his teeth in surprise, and
Matt's startled exclamation, but she was concentrating too hard to respond.
                Kim let
the light float above her hand for several seconds. Then, one by one, she
folded her fingers inward. The light dimmed, and as the last finger touched her
palm, it vanished. The tingling sensation vanished as well, leaving her hand
feeling unusually sensitive. She let it fall to her side, resisting the
temptation to flex her fingers; it would spoil the effect.
                "Coo,"
said Matt, his eyes bulging. "Ain't that a sight! What else can you do?"
                "Get
along with you," Tom said, cuffing Matt's shoulder. "Do you think a
real magician has nothing better to do than show off tricks like a Captain Podd
with his puppets? Kim's got things to do, and so have you."
                With a
resigned nod, Matt started for the inner door. Tom stood aside to let him pass, then called after him, "And if you say one word
about this to anyone, I'll have Kim's master turn you into a frog!"
                Kim couldn't
make out the words of the muffled response, but it was apparently an
affirmative, for Tom nodded in satisfaction and pulled the door to. Looking
gravely at Kim, he said, "You hadn't ought to
have done that."
                "It
was just light," Kim said uncomfortably.
                "That's
not the point, but it's too late to mend matters now." Tom sighed. "I
just hope Matt has the sense to keep his jaw shut. If his uncle hears about
this, we're grassed."
                "What
are you talking about?"
                "I
forget , you don't know what's been going on." Tom
studied Kim for a moment, and forced a smile. "You're looking well. I
guess that Mairelon cove wasn't gammoning me about feeding you up and teaching
you magic and all."
                "No,
he's done all that, right enough," Kim said.
                Tom