The grip around me was released so suddenly that I collapsed, losing parts of my spell against fire. My hair was ablaze and both hands were tightly grasped around something. I readjusted my spell to put out the fire and looked down. I was holding onto a frog.
I realized then I was not really flying but only floating, and not very well at that. Consciousness kept threatening to leave me, and the frog struggled in my hands. I set myself back down on the tower, away from the fire. There I found a piece of rope and, with the last of my concentration, attached the most powerful binding spell I knew to it and tied up the frog.
The red lizards all seemed to have scurried away. Still hanging onto the frog, I stepped out into space, only to recall too late that if my magic was deserting me it might have been better not to try flying.
But my spells stayed with me long enough for me to descend at only a moderate pace. I hit the ground, staggered and fell, the mass of rope and frog a hard lump under my stomach.
“Get up!”
I could not move.
The toe of a boot kicked me. “Get up! Now!”
The toe turned me over. Prince Lucas stood over me, a naked sword in his hand and his face dark with fury.
III
I felt gentle hands then and heard Paul’s voice. “Lucas! What are you doing? He conquered the monster, but he’s been burned badly!”
I closed my eyes. It was quite clear that I would die before being able to get up.
“Conquered the monster!” said Lucas in utter scorn. “Can’t you see it was a magical creature he summoned himself? He played with it for a while, then sent it away again. All of us came out of the bishop’s funeral in sorrow and awe, yet all he could do was perform a few flashy tricks to show wizardry’s utter lack of respect!”
This last was said in a shout, for the benefit not just of Paul but of the others who had begun gathering around. At this I did manage to open one eye.
Paul pulled back sharply. I could hardly blame him. The timing had been too good, too carefully planned to show disrespect for the old bishop. And it would be hard to explain that this tied-up frog, still very much alive and struggling in spite of being rolled on, was a monster.
For a second I thought I saw someone black-bearded, someone I did not recognize but who seemed strangely familiar, step forward from the crowd. The sight of Lucas’s blade distracted me from a closer look.
“I’ll kill him now to avenge the church!” bellowed Lucas. I ached so badly that death at the moment seemed rather appealing.
But if he was trying to win Paul’s support, he had gone too far. I heard the metallic hiss of another sword being whipped from its scabbard. “Then you’ll have to kill me first,” calmly replied the royal heir to Yurt.
There was a brief pause. I could see a corner of Lucas’s face, and he looked as though realizing his miscalculation. The ugly murmuring against me which had started in the rapidly-gathering crowd changed its note.
A firm set of steps advanced across the pavement. “In the name of Christ!” came Joachim’s voice. “The bishop has not yet been buried one hour, and the cathedral has just been successfully defended from the powers of evil incarnate, and all you princes can do is start fighting each other!”
I closed my eyes and began to believe, for the first time since Lucas had pointed toward the sky, that I might actually live. Joachim had never properly understood the fundamental difference between wild, natural magic and supernatural evil, but I didn’t feel like trying to explain it now.
He knelt beside me. “Can you hear me? Do you think we can move you?”
I discovered I was still capable of speech. “Moving me couldn’t possibly make me feel any worse than I already do.”
“Good,” said Joachim in a tone of authority. “Here, some of you, help me get him onto a board so we can carry him inside. He’s saved the church in its greatest need, and we can’t let him die a martyr.”
I heard two swords being sheathed. People who a moment ago had been murmuring against me now came forward, volunteering to help. “He set the new cathedral tower on fire,” said Lucas almost plaintively.
“Only in overcoming the monster,” Joachim replied, “and the workmen already have the fire mostly out.” I did my best to focus on the tower and could see several workmen scrambling around on it. To my surprise, being shifted onto a board actually did make me feel worse.
Paul saw the frog. “Ugh, what’s this?” He reached for it, but I held on tight.
“This is the monster. I’ve transformed it, and now I’ve got to take it somewhere I can destroy it. I must get to a telephone.”
Paul clearly did not believe me, but he decided to humor me. I rather hoped the dean didn’t believe me, because he might not want even a transformed monster in his church.
“We’ll take the wizard to the cathedral office,” said Joachim, lifting the head of the board. Paul had the foot, and several townspeople stood around in helpful attitudes. Lucas followed slowly.
A seminary student was sent for the doctor, but even before he came I insisted on using the telephone. In a minute, I had reached the wizards’ school and was talking to Zahlfast.
“I need the air cart,” I said in the husky voice that was the best I could manage.
Without a far-seeing attachment I couldn’t see him, but he could see me. He drew in his breath in a sharp gasp. “Where are you? Aren’t you home in Yurt? What have you been doing to yourself?”
“I’ve been fighting a monster in Caelrhon. I don’t know what it is, but it must be from the northern land of wild magic.”
The foreman of the construction crew had slipped into the office with us. I wondered rather distantly if I should suspect him. “It was a fanged gorgos,” he said quietly.
“It was a fanged gorgos,” I repeated for Zahlfast, wondering with mild curiosity if there was also a non-fanged variety; if so I doubted it would be a substantial improvement. “But it isn’t one any more. That’s why I need the air cart; I need to get it back north before it breaks out of the transformations spell.”
“Out of the what?”
“I turned it into a frog.”
And then Zahlfast said something I had never heard him say before. “Dear God.” He paused for several seconds. I wished again I could see his face. “You realize, transformations spells don’t work against creatures of wild magic.”
“Yes, I know. I remembered after I did it. I used a summoning spell at the same time as the transformations spell. Please don’t be angry; I know you never wanted us young wizards to know summoning, but I learned the spell years ago.”
“Used the summoning spell,” said Zahlfast slowly.
“And now I think I’ve destroyed all my own magic. I couldn’t say another spell to save my own life, which may not last long anyway.”
“Nonsense,” said Zahlfast in something closer to his usual brisk tone. “You’re just worn out. I’ll send the air cart at once.” But he paused then and added, “Have you remembered my warning?”
“Yes,” I said wearily. At this point I neither knew nor cared whether priests hated and feared wizardry, but I did know that if Joachim wanted to destroy me I would do nothing to stop him.
Paul sat beside me, offering me drinks of water and brandy and ineffectually straightening the blanket while we waited for the doctor. He felt guilty, I guessed, for having believed, even momentarily, that I might have called the gorgos myself. “You know,” he said, “I’m not sure I’d ever seen you really using your magical powers before. I’ve heard of course about your fight with the dragon, but that was before I was even born.”
If I was going to serve Paul when he was king of Yurt, I thought, maybe it was just as well he realized that a Royal Wizard could do more than just after-dinner illusions.