A Wizard Abroad

'That the old shall become new in our fields, and yours. He offered us. what we were offered once before. The end of your kind, once and for all.'

Aunt Annie said nothing. The young man, the'Amadaun', looked at Nita and said, 'You must understand that the children of the Milesians are not looked upon with favour in some of the Fifth House.'

'If you mean that some of the nonhuman species think humans were a silly idea,' Nita said, 'yes, I've heard that opinion before.'

'There are those Powers in this part of the world, and children of the Powers — Powers fallen lower than we — who never looked kindly on human folk, and would be glad to see them all dead. At their own hands, or by the hands of other humans — so that old angers are inflamed, and old hatreds seem to live uncannily long.' 'Yes,' Nita said, 'I've noticed that.'

'It is the land, of course,' said the fair young woman. 'The land remembers too well. It saw Partholon come; it saw Nemed; it saw us, and the Fir Bolg, and the hosts of man. One after another of us it threw off, in its way, having been taught to do so by the Lone One, and given a memory that other lands don't have — a sense of injury. Long time we've tried to heal that, but there is no healing it now. The old angers wake up again and again.'

'There must be something that could be done,' Nita said.

'If there is an answer, we do not have it,' said the lady of the forth, 'and the Fomori are at our gates. Soon enough they'll be at yours.'

'They have been at our gates, they and their children, for a long while,' said Aunt Annie, 'under various names. We do what we can, as do you. What are the Fomori threatening you with this time?'

'Nothing concrete as yet. Of course they demanded tribute. They have done that before. We will of course refuse to give it; we have done that before too. And then they will begin to strike, here, and there, at the innocent, the ones who have no defense.'

'That too we know about,' said Aunt Annie, 'for a long time now. Nonetheless, something needs to be done. I think all the wizards will now be called together. Probably there should be another meeting between us once that has taken place. Doing seems to have passed into our hands, these days, and out of yours.'

'That seems to be true,' said theAmadaun. 'Advise us what you do. We will back you as much as possible. Meanwhile, rain has not fallen here for too long. We seem to be losing the ability to order our world as we used to. Something outside is becoming very strong. and Lughnasad is coming, when old battles are remembered. Even with the power of the Treasures, it was very close. We almost lost, last time. Without the Treasures. .' The form on the left shook her head. 'There is no saying. We need your help.'

'Keep your people in, then, if you would,' said Aunt Annie. 'The 'sideways' and the not-sideways parts of the world are getting too close together at the moment; we need to part them until this is resolved.'

'We will do that. And you. .' TheAmadaun looked at Nita. 'What would you say to us?' Nita looked at the shining forms all around her, and shook her head. 'I think you owe me one,' she said. 'For the hunt the other night. If your carelessness let that happen, I think you owe me a favour one of these days.'

There were shocked looks at her boldness, and Aunt Annie looked at her sideways. But there was a wry smile from theAmadaun. 'Our people have long known that a favour given must be returned, and a wrong done must be avenged,' he said. 'Come here, then, and let me speak a word in your ear.'

Nita stepped up to him, wondering. TheAmadaun leaned over and whispered; and the hair stood up all over Nita. It was a word in the Speech, a name. but not the kind of name mortals had. There was too much power in it, and too much time. She glanced sideways in shock, and met his eyes, and found no relief there: the time was there too. 'Should you need help,' he said, 'name that name.'

'Thank you,' Nita said, trying to get some of her composure back. 'I'll do that. Meanwhile, I hope you do well, and that things are quiet for you.'

'A mortal wishes what we wish,' said the lady of the forth, smiling. 'There's a change.' 'Thank you,' said Aunt Annie.

Nita rejoined her, and together they walked out the way they came. The sunlight looked thin and wan when they came out, when it should have looked golden; everything seemed a little unreal, a little fake, now.

Nita looked at Aunt Annie and was a little surprised to find that she had sweat standing out on her forehead. 'Are you OK?' she said. 'You look pale.'

'I'm all right,' said Aunt Annie. 'It's just a strain talking to those people. They don't see time the way we do.'

'I kind of liked it in there,' Nita said.

Her aunt looked at her. 'Yes, I thought you might. They prefer the young; the younger wizards have always bent a little more easily to their ways. I make them uneasy, too; I'm a little too close to mortality for their liking. But anyway,' her aunt looked at Nita, 'I can't believe it. You're a wizard!'

'At times I find it hard to believe myself,' Nita said. 'Like last night. My wizardry was not working terribly well.'

'Yes, it's a problem we have around here,' said her aunt. 'The overlays. If I'd have known, I could have warned you.'

'How could you have known? How was I supposed to tell you?' She broke out laughing. 'Whatdid they tell you when they sent me out here?'

Her aunt shook her head. 'They said you were getting too involved with your friend Kit. He's your partner, I take it.'

'Yeah. They're really nervous about it, Aunt Annie. I try to calm them down.'

'Listen, you're lucky. At least you were able to tell your parents. I was never able to tell your grandma and grandpa.'

'Listen, even when they know, it doesn't always run smoothly. But Aunt Annie, look, what are we going to do?'

'We can't do anything just yet.'

Nita groaned. Her aunt looked at her with a sympathetic expression. 'Look, honey, I know. But the tradition of wizardry is different in this part of the world. They've been doing it for thousands of years longer than there evenwere American wizards. And don't forget that at home you're working in a relatively clean environment; the magic of the Amerind wizards was of a much more naturalistic kind. There was practically no overlay, since it worked so completely in conjunction with nature and the environment. Over here we're dealing with the equivalent of wizardly toxic waste. the accumulation of thousands of years of buildup. No, we take our time. We need to get everyone together to talk.' 'When is this Lughnasad thing?' 'It starts tomorrow, really. .' 'Tomorrow?!'

'It goes on for two weeks. don't panic. The first is the beginning of it: August the fifteenth is the end. It's the end that we have to worry about. things will be building up, forces will have to be released. It's going to be like a dam breaking. If we can dig a channel somehow, something for the power, the flow, to run off into. Otherwise. .' 'Otherwise even the nonwizards are going to notice.'

Her aunt laughed. 'Nita, nonwizards have been noticing foryears. Fortunately, Ireland just has a reputation for being a strange place. So when people hear these weird stories, they discount them. But we'll get the wizards together and talk to them. Meanwhile, try to restrain yourself. I know the urge to do wizardry all the time is very strong, especially at your age. But don't — you know — just don't.'

And that was the last that was said about it for a while. Aunt Annie went into the estate office and shut herself in, and started making phone calls. Nita took herself off to her caravan to do some more reading in the manual.

As she turned the corner, she froze in surprise: the caravan shifted slightly as she looked at it. Someone was in there. She paused and tried to see through the window before coming any closer. Inside, someone bent forward into the light: a shadow moved. .

She ran to the caravan door and threw it open. On the bed, Kit looked up in surprise, blinked at her. 'Hi, Neets. What's the rush?'

Nita stood there with her mouth working, and nothing coming out. 'What are youdoing here?' she said finally.