Two to the Fifth

by Piers Anthony

  Rhythm opened her mouth, but didn’t speak. Cyrus knew why. What was she to say?

  He went to the child. “There was fouled- up magic,” he explained. “It was making her get old quickly. She stopped it, and now she is young again.”

  “I felt the magic,” Kadence agreed. “It just touched me. It stopped me growing. Now I’m staying at six, aging normally.”

  “Kadence, dear,” Rhythm said as she got quickly into her clothes. “You were supposed to be with me for that spell. It would have—”

  The child was innocently wide- eyed. “Would have what, mother?”

  “Would have abolished you,” Cyrus said with awful realization. “As it is, it merely returned you to a normal existence in your present form. I think.”

  “I’ll have to make another spell,” Rhythm said. Her drum and drumsticks reappeared.

  Kadence clouded over. She was suffering a dreadful realization of her own. “Mother! Don’t abolish me! I love you”

  Rhythm burst into tears. “I can’t do it!” she said. The drum disappeared.

  “We can’t do it,” Cyrus said. “The magic stops here.” Then he hugged Rhythm and Kadence together. All three of them cried with mixed love and relief. What ever the future was, they would face it together.

  But what a complicated mess it was! An adult father, a twelve- (possibly seventeen-) year- old mother, and a six- year-old child. How could any of that be explained?

  8 KADENCE

  Father, what’s going on?” Kadence asked bravely. “Please tell me the truth.” Cyrus looked at Rhythm, who made a token nod. She was leaving it up to him, the adult.

  Cyrus tackled it as well as he could. Absolute candor seemed to be required. “Your mother Princess Rhythm is a Sorceress,” he explained to the little girl. “She fell in love with me, but she’s only twelve years old. So she made a spell to make her older, and we did Adult Conspiracy things, but the spell was wrong and the stork delivered you.”

  “You didn’t want me?” The child’s eyes were brimming pools.

  “We know we do, now, but we didn’t expect you so soon. Normally both parents are of age, and even then the stork takes much of another year to deliver. This happened unusually fast. So we were surprised, that’s all.”

  “Okay”

  But the worst was coming. “Now your mother is twelve again, and we can’t be seen together, because other folk would not understand. We love each other, and we love you, but they would think we did something wrong.”

  “Wrong, Father?”

  This was not getting easier. “They would think that Rhythm was only twelve when we signaled the stork for you, and that would be wrong. She was twenty- two, but only for an hour or so. It is far too complicated to explain to them. So we can’t admit that we did it.”

  “Then what about me?”

  Exactly. “Neither can we acknowledge you as our six- year-old daughter; they would really not understand that. So we need you to pretend you’re Rhyme’s little sister, at least for now.”

  “Rhyme?”

  “That’s what she is called by others, who don’t know she is actually a princess. There is reason for keeping it secret; she might be in danger if others knew.”

  “Oh”

  Did she really understand? He had to hope so. “In time Rhythm will be old enough, and then I’ll marry her, and we’ll recognize you as our daughter. Can you handle that?”

  “Roles,” Kadence said, brightening. “These are roles.”

  “Exactly. We’ll even give you a part in a play, another role”

  Kadence clapped her hands together gleefully. “I’ll do it, Father.”

  “Call me Cyrus, please. For the role.”

  “Oh, yes. This is fun.”

  “But apart from our roles,” he concluded, “we do love you, and you really are our daughter.”

  “That’s what counts,” Kadence said, satisfied.

  “There is something else,” Rhythm said. “All of the members of my lineage have Magician- caliber magic talents. You surely do too. Do you know what your talent is?”

  “No, Mother”

  “Call me Rhyme.”

  “No, Rhyme.” The child was a quick study, fortunately.

  “That’s all right. Sometimes it takes many years to discover one’s talent. We know you have one, and at some point you will find out what it is. When you do, be very careful, because some people aren’t easy about Sorceresses. Try to learn it and practice it by yourself. Never use it to harm anyone who isn’t trying to harm you.”

  “I won’t, Mother. I mean, Rhyme”

  They walked back along the path, away from the love spring. Cyrus knew Rhythm had artfully trapped him, then run afoul of the complications of her own magic, but he didn’t mind. He loved her, and her aura was right. He suspected that he had always been destined to love her; she had merely pushed the cadence, no pun. In time they would be a happy family.

  When they came close to the camp, Rhythm took Kadence by the hand, while Cyrus took a separate route. Their new roles were about to be established.

  Melete was waiting for him like an annoyed mother. “Where have you be—” She broke off, reading his mind. “Oh, my, Cyrus! This is a picklement.”

  “It would never have happened, if you had been along,” he said. “Yet I’m glad it did. She is the one for me.”

  “Whom you can neither marry nor acknowledge,” she said severely. “I wish you had been more careful”

  Careful? He had been literally swept off his feet. “What’s done is done. My main problem now is that I hate being away from them. Either of them. I love them both, in different ways.”

  “I appreciate that,” she said tiredly. “Well, we’ll make the best of it. You have revisions to make on the play.”

  “My private life has become more like a story than the play.”

  “Yes, of course”

  He sat down at the desk to work on the play, but he just couldn’t concentrate. All he could think of was Rhythm and Kadence. What was he to do?

  Melete threw up her hands. “We’ll have to sort this out somehow. All right, Princess; come here”

  Rhythm appeared, with Kadence in tow. “We just can’t function without him,” she said apologetically to Melete.

  “Neither can he without you,” Melete said. “When you soak in a love spring, and it’s buttressed by real love, it’s impossible to live apart.”

  “Yet we can’t even touch each other,” Cyrus said dolefully.

  “That’s the bleep of it,” Rhythm agreed. “I’m too young to do what I can’t even imagine doing with him, and I know he won’t do it. But I long to do it anyway. I know it’s the complete expression of our love. Curse the Conspiracy!”

  They looked at each other with sheer guilty longing. What had been could never be.

  “This is why the Adult Conspiracy exists,” Melete said severely. “So children won’t get themselves into exactly the kind of trouble you did. Your parents will utterly freak out.”

  “Don’t tell my parents!” Rhythm cried, horrified.

  “I won’t,” Melete said. “You will. When necessary.”

  “I’m ashamed,” Cyrus said, wishing he could embrace Rhythm. “I’m supposed to be the adult.”

  “I’m ashamed too,” Rhythm agreed. She met his gaze, reading his mind. “And I wish the same.”

  “You both should be, after that stunt! You should have known better.”

  “We do know better,” Cyrus said. “Now.”

  “Yet we would do it again, if we could,” Rhythm said. “Any time”

  They continued to gaze at each other. The forbidden longing became almost unbearable. Cyrus saw tears in Rhythm’s eyes, and felt his own tears starting.

  “You’re both crazy,” Kadence said severely.

  Melete glanced at her, startled. “You have a solution?” It was evident that she could be seen and heard by others when she chose to be. “Despite knowing nothing about what they secretly l
ong to do?”

  “Sure. Mother just has to make another Decade spell, a good one that won’t go wrong, and be with him for an hour, doing I have no idea what. But then they won’t be so sad”

  Cyrus exchanged a burning glance with Rhythm.

  Melete sighed. “Kadence, put me in your pocket,” she said. “We’ll take a walk around outside and get to know each other better.”

  “Sure,” the girl agreed cheerfully. She picked up the Muse, and went outside.

  “Our daughter understands more than she should,” Rhythm said as she brought out a sphere.

  “She understands that we desperately love each other”

  Rhythm bit the sphere. The vapor puffed. She became beautifully adult. “Oh, beloved!” she exclaimed, rushing into his arms.

  It was an intensely satisfying session, guilt and all.

  After their furious passion had been satisfied, they talked, loving each other’s company regardless of the whereabouts of storks. “I loved you from the moment I first saw you,” Rhythm confessed.

  “I couldn’t let myself love you. Because—”

  She put a finger to his lips. “I understand. I felt you fight-ing against it. ‘Winsome’ was a euphemism.” Her vocabulary matched her body, full fleshed.

  “It was,” he agreed. “But I must say, when you became adult, you were surprisingly apt. You had no experience; how could you have known so perfectly what to do? You had no hesitation at all.”

  “I shouldn’t tell you,” she said teasingly.

  “Tell me, or I’ll tickle your lovely ribs. Like this.” He touched one rib with one finger.

  “Eeek!” she screamed, laughing. “Don’t you dare!”

  He held the rest of his fingers threateningly. “I will dare. Tel l!”

  “I’ll tell! I’ll tell!” she cried, vanquished. “But first a bit of background”

  The three Princesses had always been excruciatingly curious about the secrets of the Adult Conspiracy, but of course no one would tell them. Melody was the pretty, charming one; she tried to charm adults into telling, but they didn’t. Harmony was the agreeable one; she tried to make them want to tell, but they didn’t. Rhythm was the bold, wild one, the little savage; she was the one that came up with the naughty idea.

  They made two dolls, a boy and a girl, as correct in details as they could. That meant that the girl was perfect, as girls were, while the boy was somewhat fuzzy in the midsection. Then they put the dolls together. They discovered that the dolls could do just about anything with each other. He could put his nose in her ear; she could put her finger in his mouth. But there was one thing he could absolutely not put in one part of her. So by elimination they knew that was it. How that could signal a stork remained a mystery.

  Then they took turns invoking the Decade spell. But the one who became mature would not tell the others the rest of the secret, and could not remember it when she reverted. Still, what she avoided answering when closely questioned was indicative. By the time they had been through it three times—once for each of them—they had a little bit of a notion what it was all about. But they knew they would have to do it with a real man in order to fathom the last of it.

  “And so I did,” Rhythm concluded. “I didn’t know exactly how, but I knew you did, and I followed your lead. After the first time, the mystery was gone, and I had no further problem.” She smiled. “Except when I reverted, of course.”

  “Do you really forget those details?” he asked, guiltily curious.

  “I am a wild, naughty, unseemly girl. My parents would be appalled if they even suspected. So of course I can’t confess anything like that.” She loosed a smoldering sidelong glance at him. “Does that dismay you?”

  “Certainly. I am outraged. You are a perfect, deceptive barbarian, inside.” He held her close. “Exactly the kind of girl I longed for. The kind my mother would approve of. I love your wildness.”

  “I always wanted to be loved for my wildness,” she said, kissing him wildly as her hair flared out similarly. And of course the passion took them again. It was wonderful.

  The hour ended and she reverted. She hastily dressed while he averted his gaze so as not to compromise the Adult Conspiracy. But they couldn’t honor it perfectly; they kissed once more before separating.

  “Same time tomorrow?” he inquired.

  “If not before,” she agreed. “You know, if I concentrated, I might almost remember some details.”

  “Don’t do that!” he said, alarmed.

  Then they laughed together. It had become a private joke. How could either of them ever forget the fulfillment of their love? Regardless of details, they had a solution of sorts to their dilemma.

  Kadence and Melete returned. “There are fun people here, Rhyme,” the girl said. “Even an ugly old witch with a pointy hat.”

  “To be sure, little sister,” Rhythm said. “Now let’s leave poor Cyrus to his work. I fear I have worn him out.”

  “He doesn’t look very worn,” Kadence said.

  “I conceal my fatigue well,” Cyrus said. He changed the subject. “I’m glad you enjoyed your exploration of the camp”

  Rhythm glanced at the child sharply. “Your hair!” It had been cut halfway short.

  “It was all straggly with loose ends,” Kadence said. “As if I inherited some barbarian blood.”

  “You did,” Cyrus and Rhythm said together.

  “But Crabapple helped me tame it. She used her pincers to trim the ends so they are even, not straggly. Now it looks nice. She’s great.”

  “She is a worthy person,” Cyrus agreed. “We hope she will do well as an actress.”

  “We certainly do,” Rhythm agreed. Cyrus knew she was aware of his own passing interest in the woman, which had abruptly and permanently ended. “Now we really must go”

  Kadence set Melete back on the table, and mother and daughter disappeared. No one had seen Rhythm come here, because she hadn’t walked in, but conjured herself in magically.

  “Kadence is a nice girl,” Melete said. “She wants so much to help Crabapple, but doesn’t know how.”

  “I want to help her too, and not just because I need Rhythm to be reassured she’s no threat. It would be nice if she truly succeeds as an actress. But I fear the part I crafted for her isn’t enough.”

  “So we will make it enough,” Melete said. “Put your rear in the chair”

  Cyrus sat down at the table. This time, with Melete’s help, he was able to focus on the play with only occasional distractions.

  The troupe was growing. Dusty Dust Devil joined, reuniting with his sister Dusti. On occasion the two would go out and stir up a horrendous swirl of dust. But both worked hard at the play.

  There was also Guise, a young man who happened by and was promptly co- opted by the actresses. His talent was to make clothing that made its wearer resemble what ever creature it emulated. The effect was illusory, but that was fine for the play. He was drafted to assume the lead male role, freeing Cyrus to direct. Xina was especially taken with him, and he with her, as they acted out the pseudo romance in the play. In the play, he went finally to Crabapple, but in life he stayed with Xina.

  In addition, the Witch flew back to the Good Magician’s Castle and recruited Tuff, the rock salesman, because they needed his talent to make the raised stage and chairs for the audience. Exactly how she persuaded him to join the troupe Cyrus did not inquire, but thereafter he shared a tent with her. Cyrus knew how extremely persuasive women could be, when they wanted to be.

  The modifications and rehearsals continued. There seemed to be an endless array of minor details that had to be settled before they could make their first offcial presentation. Cyrus found it frankly somewhat dull. Also, the actresses no longer flirted with him. Somehow they knew that he had been taken, though he was sure they did not know by whom or in what manner. He was sure because both Melete and Rhythm assured him it was so, reading their minds. That was a relief, but it also was a slight disappointment. Had it
not been for the private sessions with decade- aged Rhythm, he would have been unduly bored.

  However, there was Kadence. She had joined the troupe as Rhyme’s younger sister, and was doing her best to be helpful. The actors and actresses liked her. In the guise of encouraging her to learn acting, he was able to be with her without suspicion.

  He came upon her sitting on the ground, staring intently down. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Oh, sure, Cyrus,” she replied. “I’m just watching ants. I didn’t know they marched in regular columns.”

  “They don’t, normally,” he said. He joined her, looking down. There were the ants in perfect formation, as if marching to a common drummer.

  Drummer. This was Kadence, surely a variation of cadence. A cadence was a measured sound, a rhythmic progression. Folk marching to a drumbeat had cadence, as he understood it. Did the ants have cadence? If so, could it be related to her name?

  “Kadence, try focusing on the ants not marching in step,” he suggested. “See what happens.”

  “Okay, Cyrus.” She was being very careful never to call him daddy or father, and he appreciated that. She focused on the formation.

  Immediately the ants broke into a tangled mess of nothing coherent. All signs of their formation was gone.

  “Ooo, ugh,” she said, and concentrated again.

  The ants re-formed their formation. They were back in step.

  “Kadence, I believe we have discovered your magic talent,” he said, pleased. “You can make things have a cadence. To hear a common beat, as it were, and move in formation. The ants are doing it because you are making them do it.”

  “Wow,” she said, surprised. “Is that good?”

  “It’s not good or bad; it’s magic. Every person has a magic talent of some sort, and this must be yours. The talent of organization. Coordinating others efficiently. Some talents are stronger than others.”

  “Is this strong?”

  He had to be honest with her. “It does not seem like a really strong talent. But talents can be deceptive. Some that seem slight can actually be quite strong. Much depends on the way you develop it, and the use you make of it.”