The Man Who Was Magic (21 page)

The family of The Great Robert was no longer visible in the box. They too were on their knees, shoveling up the treasure. Pockets were filled, shoes were removed to use as receptacles, bags were made of skirts, hats were packed to the brim with the yellow metal. No one so much as thought to give another glance in the direction of the stage. Everything had been forgotten, except to harvest the bounty.

At last the fabulous storm of money began to abate. What had been a cloudburst turned into a mere downpour, lessened to a rain, diminished to a drizzle and then ceased altogether as one, final, solitary coin dropped from the ceiling and chimed onto the floor, where two magicians wrestled one another for it and a third pocketed it. And then it was over.

Slowly everyone, laden with their burden of gold, began to pick themselves up off the ground dazed, disheveled, their clothing torn, each looking suspiciously at his neighbor and prepared to fight again to protect what he had collected. Sanity began to return.

They remembered their passions then and what had been their objective before they had been diverted—the dangerous magician who had wormed his way into the city and threatened their livelihood. But when they turned their eyes to the stage once more, it was empty of all but Jane, standing there alone in her bright, assistant’s costume and gay, satin cape. Adam the Simple and his talking dog Mopsy had vanished.

XX

A
ND
T
HREE TO
G
O

M
ephisto was the first to make the discovery that they were gone and the reason it was he and not the ringleader of the plot who saw it was that Malvolio, too, was no longer present. He was lying at the bottom of the orchestra pit, dead of a broken neck. But this was only ascertained much later.

And so it was Mephisto who, pointing with his finger, shouted, “They’ve disappeared! We mustn’t let them get away! They can make gold for us.” In spite of the loot that weighed him down, he climbed up onto the stage and towering menacingly over Jane, cried, “You! You helped them to escape! Which way did they go?”

But Jane wasn’t frightened. For she seemed to be aware of a familiar voice whispering, “If you aren’t afraid, nothing can ever hurt you,” and couldn’t be certain whether she had actually heard it, or whether it was something inside her own head. She said, “They didn’t go anywhere. They just sort of melted away. But first Adam said good-by and Mopsy kissed me.” And then she added,
“You
drove them away!”

“Melted? Nonsense, child! Impossible!” Mephisto shouted and he was now joined by Zerbo, Fussmer and the rest of the gang. “They must be somewhere. They couldn’t have got away without being noticed. He can make us all millionaires. We’ll search the place down. Come on boys!”

But the fact was that nobody had seen them. All the backstage crew of electricians, carpenters, property men and sceneshifters had, of course, deserted their posts and rushed into the Auditorium to join in the battle for money. And the stage doorman swore that no one of that description had emerged through his portals.

They began to tear the theater apart examining the trap doors, machinery or apparatus which might have aided the disappearance. They climbed into the flies, testing every rope and pulley; they ransacked the dressing cubicles and the passageways and storerooms beneath the stage.

Adam the Simple and his talking dog Mopsy had managed somehow to evaporate into thin air as though they had never existed. Nor did anyone in Mageia find out where they had disappeared to or how. Only the valuable coins from the golden shower the magician had produced, and of which almost every family in Mageia had garnered at least a few, remained to remind them of his presence and their treatment of him.

At first they watched over their hoard with disquiet and suspicion. They were unable wholly to believe in the fortune that had descended upon them and were fearful that as in some ancient fairy tale, when they awoke the next day, or even at some later time, the precious metal might have turned to lumps of coal or stones. But such was not the case. The coins continued to ring of purest gold and the rare and valuable ones that tumbled out of the nowheres fetched large prices. Many of the magicians, including The Great Robert’s family, became wealthy.

Yet somehow even though they had gained a measure of financial security, neither the city nor its inhabitants seemed to be the same as before. And the difference in what they felt was something that could not quite be caught or defined. It was a sadness that they seemed to feel in the pit of their stomachs, one that would not go away.

As is usually the case with people who have permitted themselves to be led or hoodwinked into stupidity and wickedness they had never intended, they turned upon the men who had misled them and as far as they were able took their revenge upon them.

Malvolio the ringleader was found dead and good riddance to him, everyone said.

They took Mephisto, Fussmer, Zerbo and other members of Malvolio’s conspiracy, tried them for incitement to riot and public disturbance and tucked them away in prison. Yet this did nothing to assuage the feeling that through their own human weaknesses they had failed to recognize one whose innocence of heart had endowed him with powers that transcended theirs and who meant them no harm. The long-feared magician who might some day appear to show all of them up as tricksters and against whom they had barricaded themselves behind high walls had proven to be no more than a simple, friendly young man who had come modestly to sit at their feet and learn from them. They had stoned him from their midst and he had repaid them with gold. The city remained chastened and unhappy, and a noticeable falling-off in the zest for stage magic affected both the magicians and their audiences.

As for Jane, she was heartbroken over the loss of her friend Adam and in particular, Mopsy. Her arms ached to hold and cuddle the little, silken creature who had loved her. Often, thinking about him, she cried herself to sleep at night. In her longing and sadness she forgot all about the magic box.

True, things were somewhat better with her than before. For one, her brother Peter was a little afraid of her since her association with Adam. He remembered his encounter with the wasps and hornets and was not quite certain just how much of that kind of magic the stranger might have taught his young sister. And so a good deal of the teasing and plaguing came to an end.

The Great Robert was impressed with his daughter now, especially since the downfall of Malvolio and his crowd had left him more firmly in the saddle than before as Mayor and Chief Magician. In fact, since it was known that he had extended the hospitality of his home to Adam, he somehow shared in the credit for the wealth that had come to the city. And being a shrewd politician, he did nothing to disabuse anyone of this notion. The only one who really knew the truth of the matter was Jane.

Yet, even the fact that life was more peaceful and agreeable did little to make up for her sense of deprivation and loneliness. Nor did she make any further progress in her ambitions to become a magician herself. She had not even touched the things with which she once tried to practice.

It was over a year later, on a crisp November day, while Jane was on an errand for her mother to a shop located not far from the gates of the city, that she saw Ninian for the first time since the night of the disaster.

Jane was almost thirteen now, taller and prettier since, no longer badgered about being ugly or ungraceful, her natural beauty had flowered. She had not wished to see Ninian ever again, even though she remembered that while in his weakness he had betrayed Adam, in the last moment he had tried to save him and had nearly been trampled to death for his pains. She had heard that he had become famous and overwhelmed with offers for appearances and had made a great deal of money. Of all those in Mageia he was the one who seemed to have profited most from Adam’s brief sojourn. Word of his triumphs on foreign stages had reached the city of magicians but Jane had not heard of his return there.

Yet in spite of herself her spirit lifted at the sight of him, for he was a link with the vanished friends she missed so sorely and whose going had left such an empty place in her heart. But she was astonished too, for he was no longer dressed like the Ninian she had known. Instead of his magician’s uniform he was wearing rather old-fashioned hiking clothes, baggy knickerbockers that fell below his bony knees, stockings of a rather repulsive diamond pattern in yellow and green, heavy shoes, a rough tweed jacket with leather patches at elbows and pockets and a slightly too small cloth hat that perched on the top of his head. For the rest, his lank, black hair and limp mustaches still drooped on either side of his face. He carried a heavy knapsack strapped to his back.

But what dispelled the remnants of Jane’s anger and disappointment in him was the unusually melancholy expression, even for him, as he stood beside the Gatekeeper. Ninian was gazing back for a moment at the city with the sad and intense look of a man about to leave behind everything of which he had been fond and with one last view trying to impress all he had loved upon his memory. Without his uttering a word, Jane knew that for some reason or other he was saying good-by to Mageia and magic forever.

“Ninian! Ninian!” she called and ran to him. “Where are you going?”

He turned at her cry and his eyes lit up for a moment. He was glad to see her. “Jane!” he said. “How you’ve grown! And what a fine girl you’re getting to be.” Then he replied to her question, “I’m going away to try to find Adam.”

The old Gatekeeper now cocked his hand to his ear and queried, “Adam? Adam? Who’s he? Oh yes, I remember now, that young man with the feather in his cap, with the polite dog, who was supposed to have brought down a lot of gold for everyone. I was the one who let him in and I never saw a penny. I heard something about his disappearing. They all came rushing down here and asked whether I had let him out. Well, I hadn’t. Why must you be going after him?”

“Because I betrayed him,” Ninian replied. “I was weak and wicked and even worse, I was jealous of him too. I shall go in search of him to say that I’m sorry and ask him to forgive me, if it takes me to the end of my days.”

“But Ninian,” protested Jane, “what about your magic act and your success? You’re rich and famous now and everybody wants you.”

“I’ve given it up,” Ninian replied and for a moment his sad eyes were filled with pride and determination. “I shall never practice magic again. At least, not until I’ve been able to find Adam.”

Jane held out her arms to the tall thin man in the somewhat absurd hat and forgave him for everything he had done. “Oh, Ninian, Ninian, please take me with you. I want to find him too, and Mopsy.”

Ninian shook his head. “I can’t, Jane. I have to go alone. You must stay here with your family, you who remember him better than anyone else, and grow up and perhaps help others to remember him.”

“He said he came from over the Mountains of Straen,” put in the old Gatekeeper.

“That’s where I’m going,” Ninian said.

“But it’s impossible,” the old man protested. “They say no one has ever crossed them.” Then he added, his voice dropping, “And no one knows what lies on the other side. It might be dangerous.”

“Nevertheless, Gatekeeper, I must try,” said Ninian. “Open up, please.”

The guardian pressed a button and the bronze doors swung wide. Jane begged, “Ninian, please, can’t I just go a little way with you?”

To the surprise of the Gatekeeper the tall Magician hesitated and then, turning back and offering his hand to Jane, said, “Well yes, then, if you will, but only a short piece.”

As they passed through the gates, the porter admonished her, “Don’t you be staying away too long, now, or your mother will be after me for letting you out.”

“I promise,” said Jane. “I’ll be back very soon.”

The Gatekeeper watched them go down the road together but soon they turned off on a lane that led up through a wooded knoll.

“But Ninian,” Jane said, “this is the way to the picnic ground where once we . . .”

“Yes,” said Ninian, “it is. And you may come that far with me, if you will promise then to return home at once.”

“But why are you going there?” the child asked.

“Do you recall Adam’s staff?” said Ninian.

“Oh yes, of course!” she said. “He stuck it in the ground under the oak tree and then forgot it when we left. And don’t you remember? He said perhaps he wouldn’t be needing it any longer, when I reminded him.”

Ninian nodded. “That’s right. I thought I would see if it was still there and if it were, I would take it and perhaps it would lead me to him, or in some way help me to find him.”

Side by side, silently, they climbed the path leading through the woods, no longer the green tunnel through which they had marched the last time. It was now only a forest of bare branches to which clung no more than a few withered leaves. Occasionally one detached by the wind would come sailing down to fall upon the carpet of brown below. Their feet crunched and rustled through the dried ones on the ground.