Megan Lindholm - Wizard of the Pigeons

The walls of the staircase began to show cracks. Some were as wide as his fist. He caught glimpses of cold stars through them and felt the icy breath of night. He no longer dared to rest his hand against the wall. Once a whole step was missing.

In the semi-darkness, he nearly didn’t notice. His heart clutched at his throat as he stepped over a black eternity. He glanced back the way he had come. Behind him the lights were snuffed; the staircase down was a black tunnel.

He climbed on. Just as his calves hopelessly cramped, he reached a tiny landing. A door upholstered in red velvet was lit by a small bayberry candle guttering in a yellow glass globe.

Wizard took a deep breath and lifted an ornate brass knocker.

He let it fall twice. The door was opened instantly, and he stumbled in to sink onto low fat cushions.

“No wind,” Cassie chided him. “I keep telling you to get more exercise. You could be a Sunday jogger.”

“I don’t have the wardrobe,” he panted. Slowly his breathing steadied. He looked around an unfamiliar chamber furnished with a multitude of red and yellow cushions. Tall windows framed In sumptuous drapes let in the night and the constellations. The ceiling rose in a dome whose interior was calligraphied with gilt characters. Light came from various choirs of candles grouped around the chamber, and from a small bright fire in a squat brazier in the center of the room.

He took the tall glass she handed him and sipped from it.

Clear, cold spring water, icy as a glacier, revived him. He smiled at her gratefully, beseechingly. “Cassie,” he ventured.

“I think I’m in terrible trouble.”

“I know you are,” she replied succinctly- She parted some draperies and disappeared. He stared at the banked candles until she returned, clad now in a white gown kirtled with green, and bearing a large tray- Tray and woman sank down gracefully beside Wizard. The tray had short legs that put it at kneeling height. The brazier warmed them born. She did not wait for him, but plunged ravenously into the meal.

Wizard picked up a thick meat sandwich on homemade bread and eyed it suspiciously. “You attacked one of my pigeons today,” he accused her gravely.

“So what?” Cassie asked around a mouthful. “We all have to eat. Besides, I just rumpled his feathers. This meat isn’t squab, if that’s what you’re worried about. Eat now, talk later.

You’re as skinny as a pile of kindling.“

Wizard ate. He never asked her where she got things from.

Beside the sandwiches were slivers of smoked salmon poked into cream cheese balls, crisp sour tiny pickles, cashews and almonds, and small pastry rolls with a mysterious spicy filling.

As he ate, he felt his strength and calmness expanding to fill him. His fear had hidden inside him all day, nibbling away at his power. But at Cassie’s he was safe, and the food she fed him gave him back his mind. With a sigh, he finished and leaned back to look at her.

Tonight she was young, perhaps in her early twenties. Her hair was caught back in a loose roll at the nape of her neck, but tendrils of it had pulled free to soften her grave features.

She lapped cream cheese off a fingertip, and caught his eyes on her. “So?” she asked, wrinkling her nose at him.

“So,‘ he agreed. The weight of his worry pressed down on him again. ”I had a visitor last night, Cassie. An unpleasant one. It calls itself Mir.“

“I know.” She stopped his voice with a look. “I overheard it. Anyone with a shred of Power must have felt it last night.

I imagine people had nightmares for blocks around here.“

“Sorry,” he murmured, feeling guilty about the overflow.

“Don’t be. They should consider it fair warning. If you fall to it, not a street in the Ride Free Area will be safe. So it concerns them as much as it does you. What you are going to do about it?”

He shook his head slowly, haying no answer. The Pimp entered, slipping between me drapes like perfume, strolling across the room with his orange tail held high. He glanced with green eyes at the ravaged tray and leaped to Wizard’s lap, purring loudly. Wizard stroked his sleek sides, and the big cat stood up against him to rub cheeks with him. Sitting down fat on his lap. The Pimp gave a quick scrub at his face with one paw and uttered a questioning meow-

“Sony,” Wizard laughed gently. “We ate it all.”

The Pimp was not slow. He sank his claws into Wizard’s thighs and burned out across his chest, leaving clawmarks instead of smoking rubber. Wizard gave a yell and fell away from him as the angry cat vanished. Cassie only laughed. “You see where he got his name. Bring him something home and he’s your sugar man. But greet him empty-handed. -.. That’s The Pimp.”

“Black Thomas lost a paw last night.”

Cassie flinched. “I didn’t pick up on that. Do you think he’ll be all right?”

“I did what I could for him. That’s how Mir got me. reached after Thomas past my own shield, and couldn’t pull back fast enough.”

“I had wondered what made you go out there naked. Well.

I suppose you want me to look into it?“

“Would you?‘

“Why do you think I changed? I wasn’t about to play seer in a sweatsuit. It would be akin to a priest granting absolution-, without a stole. I guess there’s no sense in putting it off. Come on,then.”

Cassie wiped her fingertips and mouth with a napkin and dropped it on the tray. Wizard rose slowly to follow her- As he picked up the bag and his coat. she focused on the bag.

“What’s that?”

“I found it in a dumpster, with my name on it.” He held it out to her. As quickly as she had put out her hand, she drew it back. Wonder and dread mingled in her voice.

“There’s power there, but not for me to touch, nor use- It’s harmless right now, but the right spark…”

“Just like plastic explosive.”

“If I were one to give advice on things that aren’t in my realm, I’d tell you to leave it in that bag until the moment comes. Don’t touch it until then. Don’t mantle yourself with its power until you are ready to pick up the gauntlet.”

“Is this a Seeing?”

“Don’t tease. No, it’s just my opinion.”

“If I didn’t know better. I’d say you knew what was in the bag.”

“Well, I don’t. And I don’t want to. Not any more than I want to ask you this. But I don’t dare do a Seeing without knowing. Have you broken faith with me magic?”

Wizard stared at her, feeling slashed that she would even ask him such a thing. Did she suppose that he had forgotten the rules, unique to himself, that he must obey to retain his own special powers? He shook his head numbly.

“Are you sure? Not even by accident? Have you spoken the Truth when it was on you? When people ask, and you Know, have you always answered? Have you kept your pigeons safe and secure?”

He bobbed a nod at each question, but as she pressed on, he felt his control break. When she paused, he asked in a cold, uncertain voice, “Aren’t you going to ask me if I’ve carried more than a dollar in change? If I’ve turned my strength loose upon others? If I’ve been with a woman?”

An abyss of dread opened in Cassie’s eyes and was as quickly masked. “Do I need to ask those things?” she inquired evenly.

“No! Because you know I haven’t. Can’t we get on with this? That damn thing up in my den… I know it’s from gray Mir. I Know it.”

Cassie’s calm held. “Then if you Know it, it must be so.

Tell me: What do you remember of this Mir, from before?“

He shrugged heavily. “Nothing, I guess. Sometimes I feel like my life rolls itself up behind me as I live it. I try to look back, but it’s all hidden inside itself. I see my yesterdays, but only so many at a time. Before that, there’s nothing.”