The Red Magician (16 page)

“Yes,” she said again.

Vörös shrugged. “All right then,” he said. “Let's go.”

They left the camp quickly, without looking back, and began to walk along the road to the train station. The road was hot and dusty and they rested often. Occasionally they passed soldiers on leave or refugees traveling in groups carrying all their possessions between them. No one stopped to look at them, the tall man in the long black coat and the pale young woman in the new town-bought dress and shoes.

Kicsi thought that none of it could be real—not the people, or the well-kept houses, or the trees and shrubs flowering by the roadside. Sometimes, when she passed a soldier, she marveled that there could be anyone so healthy left in the world. Sometimes she would finger the cloth of her dress, wondering at its newness. She and Vörös did not speak.

The train station was small and very crowded. Soldiers were allowed on the trains first, and several trains passed before Kicsi and Vörös found spaces. As they climbed on board Vörös said, “Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” said Kicsi.

“Why didn't you say something to me?”

“I don't know.”

They sat down next to a soldier. As the train started, Vörös asked him if he could spare some food. He rummaged in his pack and found some chocolate. “Where are you people going?” the soldier asked. Kicsi looked out the window.

Vörös gave him the name of Kicsi's village.

“I've heard of it,” the soldier said, his eyes narrowing in puzzlement. “I talked to someone who was in the fighting there, if it's the place I'm thinking of. A strange town. Odd things happening there, especially at night.”

Vörös leaned forward. “What things?” he said.

“I can't remember. He was glad to leave—I can remember that.” The soldier looked at Vörös with a new curiosity. “Why do you want to go there?”

“I left something of mine there,” Vörös said. “Before the war. I'd like to see if it's still there.”

“It'd better be something important,” said the soldier. “You wouldn't catch me going to that town. I still remember the way this fellow looked. And what he said—that the lamps aren't lit at night. And something about—about wolves.…” He looked at Vörös as if asking him a question.

Vörös shrugged. “I don't know,” he said.

The train stopped nearly an hour later. “Come,” Vörös said to Kicsi. “We change trains here.” He nodded to the soldier as they left the train.

Another train was pulling out of the station as they descended. A voice over the public address system called out destinations, arrivals, train numbers. Vörös took Kicsi's hand and led her to a row of benches. “Sit there for a minute,” he said. “I have to see about tickets.”

She sat on the hard wooden bench and looked around her. The station was not out in the open like the last one, but enclosed inside a large building. Voices and the sounds of trains starting and stopping echoed off the distant walls and ceiling. People walked by her, talking in half a dozen languages, hurrying to catch their trains.

Vörös came back. “Our train leaves in another hour,” he said. “We won't have any problems getting on. Everyone wants to go west, and not east.” Suddenly he stopped and stood up.

“It is them, it is!” Kicsi heard someone say. People were running toward them, hugging Kicsi, holding her as though afraid to let her go. Someone was crying.

Kicsi stepped back. Tibor and Ilona stood before her. She felt confused. Would the dead start coming to life now? Or was this another illusion? “Hello,” she said slowly.

“Kicsi!” said Ilona. “Are you all right? How are you? Where have you been?”

“I—I'm fine,” said Kicsi. She backed away. There were too many people around her; she was not used to talking.

“Vörös, what's wrong with her?” said Tibor. “Doesn't she recognize us?”

“She recognizes you,” said Vörös. “Come, we're very hungry. Let's find some food, and I'll tell you about it.”

They made their way to a small market near the station. “We met someone who said he had seen you at the camp after you were liberated,” Ilona said to Kicsi as Vörös picked out fruit, cheese, bread, “so we knew you were still alive. Tibor and I met at a Red Cross station—we had been in the same camp for a while but had never seen each other. We decided we had to find you. We've been in the station two days, trying to get to where the man said he saw you. There just aren't any tickets. We slept on the benches—that's why our clothes are so dirty.” Ilona had stopped crying. She took a deep breath and went on. “The Red Cross says—they say everyone else died. In the family, I mean. The Red Cross has lists, you know.” She stopped and looked at Kicsi carefully. “Are you all right?”

They sat down by the station and began to eat. “I'm all right,” said Kicsi. “A little tired.”

“Did you know someone named Aladár?” said Vörös. “She thinks he is dead.”

“Ali,” said Ilona. “Yes, he is. We just found out. What—what can we do for her?”

“I don't know,” said Vörös, biting into an apple. “What did you have in mind when you searched for her?”

“We—Tibor and I—we were going to go to a Displaced Persons camp. And then, well, they send people away, to different countries. America, Canada. I don't know. It sounded good to us. Do you think she would like to come with us?”

“I don't know,” said Vörös. “Why not ask her?”

“Oh—oh, of course,” said Ilona. “I don't know why—Kicsi, what do you think? Do you think you would like to come with us?”

“No,” said Kicsi.

“No?” said Tibor. “But why not? Where are you going?”

“Back to the village,” said Kicsi. “With Vörös.”

“Kicsi, that was before you had somewhere else to go,” said Vörös.

“Back to the village?” said Ilona, interrupting. “But why?”

“I have to go with Vörös,” said Kicsi. “He has something to do there.”

“No, you are not coming with me,” said Vörös. “I only took you with me because you had no place else to go. It's too dangerous. You are going with your family.”

“No,” said Kicsi. “I am not.”

“Why—why do you want to go with him?” Ilona asked, but Kicsi did not look up from her food.

Later Vörös turned to Ilona and said softly, “It will be a very dangerous journey. She thinks she will die if she goes. She does not think it is fair that Aladár should die and she should live. I think she wants to do something heroic, like Aladár.”

“Oh,” said Ilona. “Well, she's not going with you. She's coming with us.”

“I would hope so,” said Vörös. “But she is very stubborn. If she goes with you she may find some way to kill herself. Perhaps I should take her with me, as I originally planned. I will try to keep her safe.”

“If she goes with you,” said Ilona, “then I am coming too.”

“Ilona,” said Vörös. “You don't know what you are saying. Someone is trying to kill me. He will kill you too, if you get in his way. And you will only make it more dangerous for me, if you come along. I will be responsible for your safety as well as for Kicsi's.”

“We're the last of the family,” said Ilona. “We're responsible for each other. And—well—you don't know what it's like, being alone, thinking you're the last one alive of all your family.” Vörös said nothing. “I can't leave my sister now that I've found her. I'm coming along. It's settled.”

“What's settled?” said Tibor.

“I'm going back to the village with Vörös and Kicsi,” said Ilona. She looked at her sister. Kicsi did not seem to have heard anything.

“This is crazy!” said Tibor. “You can't be serious. Vörös said that it would be dangerous, isn't that right?” Vörös nodded slightly. “This is insane. We are the only ones left of our family and you want to get yourselves killed.”

“Listen to him, Ilona,” said Vörös. “Please.”

“And what if something happens to Kicsi when I'm gone?” said Ilona.

“All right,” said Tibor. “All right. I can't believe that you would willingly go into danger like this, but I am part of the family too. I'll have to go with you.”

“Listen to me, all of you,” said Vörös. His voice was very quiet. “A man is following me. He is trying to kill me. I have to get back to the village without him seeing me. How safe do you think I'd be traveling with a group of young people who seem to think that this whole thing is a family picnic?”

“But that's just it,” said Ilona. “He probably thinks you're traveling alone. He'll never think to look for you in a group of people.”

Vörös laughed suddenly. “You know, you might be right. My only hope lies in doing something he would not expect.”

“Then we can come?” said Ilona.

“I don't know. I can't very well throw you off the train. I might have known you'd be as stubborn as your sister.” Then he became serious. “But listen to me. I wasn't joking about the danger. You will see things—well, things you will not understand. Are you still willing to come along?”

“Yes,” said Ilona, and Tibor shrugged.

“I have no choice, do I?” he said finally.

“All right, then,” said Vörös. “Let's find a place to stay for the night.”

They found lodgings at a small place near the station. Ilona and Kicsi took the bed and Tibor stretched out on the floor. Vörös leaned against the wall near the door.

Kicsi did not sleep well. Several times during the night she was startled awake by a dream or a noise. Each time she woke she saw Vörös sitting by the door, his eyes open. Once she thought she heard wolves howling in the distance. Vörös nodded at her, quietly, and she turned over and went to sleep.

“I don't like it,” Vörös said in the morning. “I think he's found us.”

“He's here?” said Tibor. “What can we do?”

“We can leave as quickly as possible,” said Vörös.

After breakfast they boarded the train. At first Ilona and Tibor watched silently as the miles of fields and forests passed by on either side of them, or talked in low voices among themselves, or shared a loaf of bread between them. Once Ilona turned to Kicsi and said, “Are you looking forward to going back to the village?”

“I don't know,” said Kicsi.

Later Ilona said to her, “Was it bad where you were?”

“As bad as any other place, I guess,” said Kicsi, and turned away.

After a few hours Tibor stood and began to walk to the end of the car.

“Where are you going?” said Vörös.

“I thought I'd look around a bit,” said Tibor. “See what the other cars are like.”

“No,” said Vörös.

“Why—why not?”

“As long as we travel together I want everyone to stay with me,” said Vörös. “I am responsible for all of us.”

“Oh, but—” said Tibor. “Do you think he's on the train? I mean, wouldn't you have seen him get on?”

“Maybe,” said Vörös. “Maybe not.”

“You mean—he might be in disguise?”

“Something like that.”

“Oh,” said Tibor. He sat back down next to Ilona. “I was prepared for danger,” he said to her, “but I don't know how much more of this boredom I can take.” She laughed.

“Who is this man we're supposed to avoid, anyway?” said Tibor. “And what has Vörös done to him that he wants to kill him?”

“I don't know,” said Ilona. “I think Kicsi knows, though. Those two have always had their secrets. But I wouldn't try asking her.”

“No.”

In the evening they came to another small town. They left the train and walked through the town, coming finally to a narrow side street and a small inn serving dinner. They were greeted at the door by a small fat man, a Czech.

“Well, what can I do for you?” said the man. “Food and then a room, is that it, sir?”

“Yes, thank you,” said Vörös.

“Very good, very good,” said the man, hurrying to the table to seat Kicsi and Ilona. “Just sit over here and I'll be right back.”

“Vörös,” Tibor said as he sat down. “How much longer before we get to the village?”

“That depends,” said Vörös. “I think there's a stretch of railway around here that's been bombed, and if it is we'll have to take a longer way. We may even have to walk for a few miles.”

“And if the railways have been fixed?”

“If the railways have been fixed, and if the man who is hunting me does not find me, we will be in the village in a few days.”

“Good,” said Tibor. “What's it like now, the village?”

“Changed,” said Vörös. “Like every other town in Europe.” The fat man came back and poured each of them a glass of wine. Vörös took a sip and went on. “There are parts of the village you would not recognize. And there are places that have been changed only slightly. Those will be the hardest for you to bear, I think.”

“What do you mean?” said Ilona. “Which places?”

But Vörös was not listening. His eyes had narrowed and he was watching carefully some people who had just come through the door.

Tibor and Ilona looked at the door. Imre and Sarah stood there, their arms outstretched. Imre held his left arm awkwardly, as he had always done.

“Mother!” said Ilona joyfully. She and Tibor stood, pushing back their chairs.

“No!” said Vörös. He waited a moment, then said a short word sharp as a blade and threw his wineglass at the two by the door. The glass passed through them and shattered against the wall. Someone screamed. Wine trickled slowly to the floor. Imre and Sarah wavered, then vanished as slowly as smoke.

The other patrons turned to look at Vörös, or at the wineglass, or to talk loudly among themselves. The small fat man hurried toward Vörös. “I'm sorry,” said Vörös. “I will pay for the damages. Do you need help cleaning up?”