A Plague of Wizards

by Wesley Allison

  “Catch a ride. That is an interesting way to say it. Well, you can’t leave before the parade. We’ll have to start the preparations tomorrow.”

  * * * * *

  Preparations for the victory celebration took some time. Terra had to describe every part of every parade she could remember ever having seen. Then she directed a group of two hundred females on the sewing of cloth to make flags. Others were building parade floats to display the machine guns, or training warriors to march with rifles in formation—something they were not used to. Just when it seemed that everything would go off without a hitch, Hsrandtuss would come up with a new idea that he demanded be included—a special flag with his image on it, a wagon filled with copper pfennigs that would be tossed out to the people as it went by, an ever taller and more ornate review stand from which he could watch everything.

  Finally the day was set. The parade would be held the day before Terra would leave for Port Dechantagne. When she returned to the hearth room after her morning bath, she found a new set of clothing waiting for her. It was of the same type as the lizzies had previously provided for her. Only the colors were different. The skirt was bright red and the shirt was sky blue. It was no combination that a proper Brech woman would wear, but when she looked in the brass mirror, Terra thought she looked nice.

  The mirror also revealed that her hair had grown long enough to slick down and comb with a part. It was a style that had become popular in Port Dechantagne after the Drache Girl had appeared that way. She decided to do it and leave off her feathered headdress. When the servant came, she painted Terra’s face half red and half light blue. This not only matched her clothes, but also indicated very high status. Finally, she put on her boots and her tiny sword. All of her possessions, including her pistol were piled in the corner, ready to be loaded the following day for her return to human civilization.

  Szakhandu arrived just as Terra took a last look in the mirror. The queen was painted red and blue as well, and wore dozens of gold bracelets and several large necklaces.

  “Each of the queens have a palanquin and bearers to carry them to the review stand. In fact, we will be leaving in just a few minutes. Would you like me to make the same arrangements for you?”

  “No, I will get there under my own steam?”

  “You have a mechanical conveyance?” asked the queen.

  “No, it’s just an expression.”

  “Curious. Don’t be long. The streets all along the path of the procession are filled with citizens. The parade itself will start very soon.”

  “Of course,” said Terra.

  However, when Szakhandu left, Terra went in the other direction, out into the garden where were located the very large domed cages that housed the royal offspring. Sitting on a bench observing them was a very small lizzie, scarcely taller than Terra herself.

  “Tsaua.”

  “Tsaua,” came the reply. “You are the human. I have seen you with my father, but only from far away.”

  “Father?” Terra repeated the human word.

  “Hsrandtuss. My mother was Kendra.”

  “You are very small for your kind. Are you tame?”

  “I was tamed last summer, so I am still very young. I understand though that my mother was small. I don’t know if I will take after her or my father.”

  “Only tame for a year?” asked Terra. “You’re not going to bite me, are you?

  “No. I am tame enough to serve as Egg Watcher. What are you called?”

  “Your father has named me Kaetarrnaya, but my people call me Terra.”

  “I am called Klu,” said the young lizzie. “You are hideously ugly, you know.”

  “I have resigned myself to not winning any beauty pageants,” said Terra. “Take good care of your charges Klu.”

  Terra reentered the palace through the hearth room and followed the now familiar corridors toward the building’s front. For the first half of the way, the passages were relatively narrow, only slightly wider than a hallway in a human home, but they became wider towards her destination.

  When she reached a cross-section of her corridor and one of the largest, she heard movement and discussion coming from the left. Peering around, she could see Hsrandtuss walking side-by-side with Oreolock. Behind them were Tokkenttot and another warrior whom she didn’t recognize. They were all brightly painted and covered in feathers. The girl waited for them, watching as they came closer and closer.

  Suddenly Tokkenttot raised a sword high above his head and brought it down on Hsrandtuss’s shoulder, the obsidian blades cutting almost a foot down into his chest.

  “No!” screamed Terra, suddenly running toward the group, her tiny sword automatically finding her fist.

  She noticed with grim satisfaction that the three warriors had all taken a step back when they had seen her coming toward them. Hsrandtuss had fallen on his face. Terra leapt over him to land between him and his attackers.

  “I will kill you all with my bare hands!” she shrieked, raising her sword as high as she could.

  “No, Kaetarrnaya,” she heard close to her ear.

  Hsrandtuss had climbed to his knees and turned around. Grasping the girl around the waist in one huge clawed hand, he lifted her up and set her back down behind him.

  “You will stay behind me.” He looked up at his enemies. “She is the offspring of the human Matriarch. Injure her at your own peril.”

  “We have nothing against her,” said Tokkenttot. Then he jammed his spear into the king’s chest. Oreolock hit the king on the head with his sword, an ineffective swing that would have hardly caused injury. It didn’t matter though. Tokkenttot’s spear had pierced Hsrandtuss’s heart.

  The Great King fell forward, propped up for a second or two by the spear shaft, and then sliding down its length to the stone floor. Terra fell to her knees and climbed up onto the great, still form, crying.

  “Come,” said Tokkenttot to the others. “We have a speech to make.”

  In a voice choked with emotion, Terra spoke quietly to the dead lizzie. “Oh Great Hsrandtuss, do you lie so low? Are all your conquests, glories, and spoils sunk to this little measure? Fare the well, but pardon me, oh bloody corpse, that I was so meek to let your butchers walk away. You are the ruins of the noblest king that ever lived in the tide of times. Woe be the hands that shed this costly blood!”

  Jumping to her feet, she wiped her eyes, smearing her hands with face paint. Ignoring her sword, she ran back down the hallway to the hearth room. Once there, she ran into Ssu, who was letting out unintelligible noises as she made her way toward the offspring garden. News had apparently traveled quickly.

  “Take care of your babies,” Terra told her before turning back and heading once again to the front of the palace.

  She paused just a moment to look down the hall at the king. His body rested right where it had been. Then she hurried on. Bursting out the main front entrance, there was quite a bit of chaos, lizzies running here and there, but not as much chaos as she might have expected.

  She looked down the street. About one hundred yards away was the review stand. It had been intended as the end of the parade, after which the participants would turn down a side street toward an open garden area, where they would disband. The parade was not going as expected though. It had bottlenecked in front of the review stand and a vast crowd was struggling around it—everyone trying to get closer.

  Terra ran down the hill. When she reached the crowd of lizzies, she began pushing her way between their legs, sometimes even crawling between their knees. As she reached the entrance in back of the review stand, she could hear Tokkenttot speaking to the crown from the top level.

  “Be patient, people of Yessonarah! Hear what I have to say and be silent that all may hear. You know I am an honorable warrior. Many of you have once come from my homeland. Be silent and let me share my wisdom in my actions. If there is anyone here who respected Hsrandtuss, let me say to him that I, Tokkenttot, respected him even more. He was a great k
ing, a great warrior, and a worthy opponent. I assassinated Hsrandtuss not because I hated him, but rather because I hated what he had become. He became one who made unholy alliances with the soft-skins. He perverted our mating and child-rearing customs, creating whole generations of abominations!”

  Terra heard some shouts of agreement, but the vast majority of the crowd remained silent, as she climbed up to the second floor. Here she found Tokkenoht, looking lost, and Szakhandu, seemingly comatose. She continued up to the top level, poking her head above the staircase to see the three assassins staring out over their audience.

  “Hsrandtuss would have led not just Yessonarah, but all of our kind to ruin,” continued Tokkenttot. “He had to be removed, not for my good, but for the good of…” Bang!

  The lizzie assassin stopped speaking as his brains flew out the front of his head. Terra aimed her pistol, which she had picked up from the hearth room, at Oreolock, shooting him twice in the chest. Then she shot the final nameless conspirator in the left eye. As the bodies crumpled, she turned to see Tokkenoht at the stairs, her eyes wide and rolling around.

  “Speak to your people, Priestess.”

  Tokkenoht made her way to stand just beside where the lizzie that had probably been her brother had stood. She made a couple of false starts, the crowd not helping, beginning to panic. Finally she shouted out over them.

  “People of Yessonarah, hear me. I will not speak long of Great King Hsrandtuss. I will let you remember the good and the bad. So let it be with him. These killers told you that my husband made unholy alliances with the humans, but did not Yessonar himself oversea these deals, and did they not bring great wealth to our city? They also accused Hsrandtuss of allowing an abomination in child rearing, but he did so for me, for his other wives, and for all of you. Hsrandtuss is dead, and now his assassins have answered for it, but he will not be forgotten. We will not erase the advances he made possible for all of us.”

  “Tokkenoht should be Great King!” shouted someone.

  Soon the chant of “Tokkenoht! Tokkenoht! Tokkenoht!” resounded through the city.

  Terra turned and descended the stairs. As she reached the first floor, she could hear the masses quieting. Tokkenoht must have calmed them. Then she heard the high-priestess speaking again.

  “We shall consult with Yessonar. If it is prohibited, we shall find a different king, but otherwise, I shall wear the golden crown.”

  Chapter Nineteen: Appertaining to Magic

  Sixteen-year-old Augustus Lord Dechantagne, waited somewhat less than patiently for the crowd to part just enough for his car to make it through the intersection. Sadly, it wasn’t only this intersection that was filled with people. Almost all were drunk, carrying open bottles with them in some cases. Many sang patriotic songs, or at least as much of them as they knew. Many hummed Accord Banner Forever. Others just shouted slurred slogans. Here and there were signs saying “The Beast is Dead!” or “You got what you deserved!” If one didn’t already know, it would have been difficult to determine the cause of the celebration, but everyone knew. Almost everyone in town was celebrating the death of the lizzie King Hsrandtuss, who had done what no one else had ever done—defeated a Brech army in Birmisia.

  The car finally made it through the intersection and came to a stop in front of the new Doreen’s Millinery.

  “Thank you, Walworth,” said Augie, climbing out. “I won’t be too long.”

  “Yes, My Lord.”

  A pneumatic whistle rather than a bell sounded when he entered the shop. There were no other customers at present, but both Doreen and her daughter Dovie were there, stocking shelves.

  “Good day, ladies. I understand my hat has finally arrived.”

  “Yes, your lordship. Come back to the mirror and try it on.”

  He walked to the mirror and whipped off his bowler. Doreen quickly opened the hatbox to reveal a brown homburg with small multi-hued feather in the band.

  “Marvelous,” said Augie, planting it on his head and adjusting it to a jaunty angle. “Well worth the wait and every bloody pfennig. I’ll wear it out. You can put the old bowler in the box. I’ll take it with me.”

  “Very good, your lordship.”

  “Is there any word from Terra?” asked Dovie.

  The young lord was still admiring himself and apparently didn’t notice her failure to correctly address him.

  “She left Yessonarah five days ago, just before the news rider. She should be home in nine to twelve days. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have date for tea.”

  “Is it really a good thing that the lizzie king is dead?” asked Dovie.

  He shrugged. “Probably not. Sometimes its better to stay with the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Who knows what kind of leader will replace him? These fools in the streets are just taking any excuse to drink themselves stupid. Since they were none too bright to begin with, it should at least be over soon. Good day, ladies.”

  Thirty minutes later, Lord Dechantagne sat at his table in Café Idella, pouring honey over a crumpet with one hand, the other holding up his head. His new hat was hung on an unused chair.

  “I’m sorry I’m late, My Lord.”

  “Well worth the wait, Miss Hexacoralia,” he said, jumping up. He started around the table to pull out her chair, but was beaten to the punch by a waiter. “You look quite lovely today.”

  He looked carefully at her face, thinking that she had improved in her ability to mimic human anatomy.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I already ordered. I confess I was a bit bored.”

  “Of course, My Lord. The truth is that food is not my main reason for taking tea. I usually have to eat a medium-sized dinosaur afterwards anyway. My main reason is the company.”

  He smiled. “I hope we can be good friends.”

  “Oh, we are. And business associates.”

  “Oh yes,” he said, nodding. “The dragon and its legendary horde of wealth must be respected. On to business then. How many wizards did we have in Port Dechantagne?”

  “The police count is forty-eight registered wizards and 106 hedge wizards, though they missed a few. I place the total number at 192, not counting those employed by the police department. The police have 14 currently awaiting trial and they banished 30. Of course most simply left when Senta returned.”

  “Please tell me you at least eliminated more than the police did. I can’t rub it in Chief Colbshallow’s face, but at least I’ll know.”

  “Forty-five, My Lord. One more than the constables in blue.”

  “Outstanding!” shouted the boy. Looking around and seeing he had drawn too much attention, he lowered his voice and leaned in close. “And did you… eat… all of them.”

  “I hate to eat and tell,” said Zoey. “And to be frank, I much prefer dinosaur or fish.”

  “Outstanding,” said Augie. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an envelope, which he slid across the table to her. “I anticipated you doing well, so I included a substantial bonus.”

  She took the enveloped and opened it just enough to see the contents. “Oh daddy! This makes me all warm inside.”

  The boy shivered. “Um, two other things. I need to make an appointment to see Senta. When do you think she might be available?”

  Zoey looked deeply into his eyes. “That’s not a good idea, for your own safety. It might be better if you used me as an intermediary or alternatively sent a message by post.”

  “If you think that’s best.”

  “Oh, I very, very much do,” replied the dragon. “What was the other thing?”

  “I was wondering if you would dine with me, at my house. I would, of course, send a formal invitation.”

  “I will have to decline for the moment. I’m very busy the next few days, preparing for a trip. Then I shall be gone for at least three months.”

  “Oh,” said the young lord, his shoulders and face slumping downwards. “I understand.”

  “We still have this afternoon though,
” she said, and he suddenly felt her stocking clad foot sliding up the bottom of his trouser leg. “Let’s enjoy this lovely tea. I’m so very excited over this money. I can’t wait to deposit it in my savings account.”

  “Savings account?”

  “Yes, well it’s not safe to just leave it in a big pile like the dragons of old. It’s probably down to that silly old idea that we’ve got so few dragons left in the world.”

  * * * * *

  The following day, Senta and Zoey arrived at the door of the Colbshallow home. Their knock was answered by the elder Mrs. Colbshallow.

  “You’re here for little Sen, I take it?”

  Senta nodded.

  “We’ve had her things packed for ages. Just can’t fathom a mother not rushing to her child.”

  “I’m here now,” said Senta, pushing past the older woman. Sitting in one corner of the parlor was a stack of Sen’s luggage and other possessions.

  “Zoey,” she said, nodding toward them.

  “Uuthanum izesic,” said the dragon in human form, and the items rose up into the air, floated to a spot next to her, and hovered.

  “I’ll go get the girl,” said Mrs. Colbshallow.

  “No need. She knows I’m here. She’s on her way down.”

  The eight-year-old blonde slowly made her way down stairs, stopping at the landing, without looking up from her feet.

  “Hello, dearest,” said her mother. “It’s time for us to all go home.”

  “Will Daddy be there?”

  “Eventually, but for now it will just be you and me and Zoey.”

  “Good Kafira, what is that?” wondered Zoey.

  “What?”

  “That horrid thing on the stairs behind Sen.”

  “It’s Allium,” said Sen.

  “Oh, Allium is the girl’s imaginary friend,” explained Mrs. Colbshallow.

  “Dragons can see the invisible, but not the imaginary,” smirked Senta. She waved her hand. “Uuthanum.”