Lily and the Prisoner of Magic (4 page)

‘Hey, Sam, look!’ A voice came from deeper within the passageways. ‘It’s the little dog back. Here, sweetheart, where did you spring from?’

Lily hurried round the corner after Henrietta, and found her sitting up on her hind legs, waving her front paws prettily at Sam, the head carpenter, who had made all of Daniel’s amazing illusions, and his assistant Ned.

‘Miss Lily! You’re back!’ Sam swung her up into his arms and kissed her cheek, scratching her with his bristly moustache. ‘Did you not like it, with that grand aunt of yours? What are you doing here in your nightclothes? Ned, fetch her one of those drapes; she ain’t decent, and she’ll catch her death.’ Sam flung a gaudy stage hanging around Lily’s shoulders. ‘She didn’t throw you out on the street, did she, that sour-faced puss?’

Lily hugged him back. ‘We got found out, Sam. Two other magician girls, they lived next door – they were jealous, and they betrayed us to the Queen’s Men.’

Sam put her down in a hurry, holding her at arm’s length and scanning her face anxiously. ‘Those – those –’ He obviously couldn’t think of a word to describe the queen’s enforcers that he could say in front of Lily. ‘Them! What did I tell you, Ned? Worse every day! Did they hurt you?’

‘They took us to Fell Hall. Have you heard of it? It’s a school for children with magic – they send the children there to try and squash the magic out of them. But we escaped.’ Lily twisted her fingers together, looking up at Sam anxiously. He was very soft-hearted, she knew, and he had daughters of his own, although they were grown now. ‘And we brought all the other children with us…’ she added.

Ned stared at her. ‘Here?’

Lily nodded. ‘In the yard. About forty of them. And…’

Henrietta sniggered, but Ned had already raced off, calling back that he would fetch Daniel.

‘Are you all right, Lily?’ Sam was still holding her hands and looking at her as though he thought she might fall over. ‘How did you get back here? Where is this Fell Hall? I’ve not heard of anywhere like that in London.’

Lily swallowed. She could hear Ned dashing back down the passageway, and others following. He’d probably told half the performers and the crew by now, he was such a blabbermouth. ‘It’s in Derbyshire…’

‘How on earth did you get back here then?’ Sam swung round to grab Daniel by the arm, as he hurried towards them. ‘She’s back! They had her and Miss Georgie shut up in some reform school up north, but the girls escaped, and they’ve got all the other children with them.’

Daniel looked particularly wild-eyed, half out of his Eastern magician costume, with his false rat-tail moustache hanging at an improbable angle. ‘I thought you were safe with your aunt!’ He sounded bewildered. ‘No, explain later. We’d better bring these children in. You were right to come back here, Lily. Who knows what we’ll do with them, but we’ll manage somehow. Have you had anything to eat?’

Henrietta pawed his leg, her black eyes sparkling wickedly, and he bent down to pick her up. ‘Hello – I wasn’t ignoring you, I’m sorry. It’s just rather a shock.’

‘You haven’t heard anything yet,’ Henrietta murmured. The whole theatre had seen Lily use her magic, when she’d had to rescue one of the other performers from a metal bar that was falling out of the rigging. They’d kept the girls’ secret, but it wasn’t widely known that Henrietta could talk; she only spoke to Sam, who she adored, and to Daniel and a few of the other performers.

‘How many of these children are there?’ Daniel asked, looking from Henrietta to Lily anxiously.

‘There’s forty, but that isn’t what she means…’ Lily swallowed. ‘Daniel, when we escaped from Fell Hall, we had help. I found – I found someone in the house – two someones, actually,’ she added remembering that she had to explain a princess as well. ‘One of them helped us escape, and he brought us back here. He
wants
to stay; he thinks he likes theatres, although he hasn’t seen a play for a very long time.’ She stopped, not quite sure how to break the news.

‘Just tell him!’ Henrietta hissed.

‘Look…’ The dancers and the contortionists and the other acts were still gathering in the passageway as the news spread, all wrapped in dressing gowns, and patchy with stage make-up. One of the ballet dancers was pointing to the door out to the yard, where a little knot of weary-looking children had appeared, led by Georgie.

‘Poor little mites…’ Lily could hear everyone muttering sympathetically, and Sam hurried forward to pick up Lottie, who was almost asleep on her feet. But he stopped at the door, staring upwards.

‘Mr Daniel, you’d better come here.’ His voice was even gruffer than usual, as if he was having to force his words out past something stuck in his throat.

Henrietta leaped out of Daniel’s arms and skittered towards the door, growling. She set herself in front of Sam’s feet, glaring up at the silvery dragon, who was peering curiously in through the doors. ‘Don’t you scare him!’ she snapped. ‘He’s mine!’

The dragon had excellent manners, Lily thought gratefully, running after her and tripping on the gaudy drape she was wearing. Henrietta wouldn’t even be a snack for a creature that size, but it didn’t stop her being rude. The dragon merely drew his head back slightly, and bowed.

‘Miss Lily…’ Sam muttered. ‘What have you brought us?’

‘Is it an automaton?’ Daniel asked, staring at her and blinking. ‘I’ve never seen one so large, but I suppose it would be possible. Though how you got it in here, I can’t see…’

‘I flew,’ the dragon told him helpfully. ‘It was a rather complicated landing, and I have to tell you, it may be difficult for me to get out again.’

‘A talking automaton.’ Daniel swallowed. It was easier for him to believe that the dragon was some sort of machine, Lily could see. He couldn’t quite bring himself to accept that there was a real dragon sitting outside his theatre. He’d studied the history of magic, to create his illusionist’s act, and he loved it. Lily was sure he secretly wished he could do real magic too. But this was something else.

‘That’s no automaton,’ Sam muttered. ‘Look at it. You couldn’t make that. I couldn’t, even… And it can fly?’ He rounded on Lily, his eyes eager. ‘It really flies?’

‘All the way from Derbyshire.’ Lily nodded.

Sam let out an ecstatic sigh. He slipped through the crowd of children and walked slowly out into the yard, gazing admiringly up at the dragon’s scaly bulk. ‘A wonder. That’s what it is. A wonder.’

The dragon watched him, amused, but flattered too, Lily could tell. Back at Fell Hall, she and Henrietta had once persuaded him into appearing by telling him how amazing he was.

‘Can I see?’ Sam asked eagerly, reaching out a shaking hand towards one of the silvery wings.

The dragon obligingly stretched it out as far as he could in the tiny yard, and there was a hiss of disbelief from the theatre people gathered in the doorway.

Sam whistled through his teeth and then shook his head suddenly. ‘Forgot myself. I’m sorry. Better get you inside, all these little ones, and you too, sir, if you’ll fit. Reckon we can get him in through the scene dock if we open the doors, Mr Daniel?’

Daniel nodded. He still had a rather blank expression on his face, but he directed some of the other stagehands to open the huge doors. Sam lifted down the last of the children from the dragon’s back, and beckoned him to follow.

The dragon wriggled delicately through the doors, twisting himself this way and that until he was coiled neatly in the cavernous space behind the stage. Forty children huddled next to him, staring anxiously at Lily’s friends from the theatre. Some of them had been abandoned at Fell Hall as babies, and even the youngest of them had been at the school for years. They were used to being told that they were evil, and infected with magic. They didn’t expect to be welcomed.

Maria, the wardrobe mistress who had taught Georgie to sew, came hurrying forward, her arms laden with a strange assortment of garments. ‘There isn’t much that’s the right sizes,’ she muttered. ‘But they’ll need more than those nightclothes. Oh, hurry up, girl, do!’ she called crossly to the dancer behind her, who was carrying more clothes but obviously didn’t want to come any closer to the dragon.

Georgie took the bundle from the frightened girl, trying to smile encouragingly, and started to pick out clothes and wrap the younger children in them.

‘Are there more – more dragons?’ Daniel murmured to Lily.

‘Yes. But they went back. They helped us escape, but they wanted to live wild.’

‘This one likes theatres?’ Daniel remembered.

‘He’s lived at Fell Hall for hundreds of years. I think they had travelling players,’ Lily explained.

‘Can he keep still?’ one of the scenery painters called to her suddenly.

The dragon swung his huge head round, and stared at the man, who swallowed nervously. ‘I only meant – sir – that you’d make a fine backdrop for some of the acts. It would be something grand to have you on stage. All that fuss they made, at the Pavilion Theatre, about their stage waterfall. We’d have them beat.’

‘I can keep still,’ the dragon agreed. ‘I could watch the play?’

‘Hang on, hang on. They’re staying?’ someone muttered from the back of the crowd. ‘Load of escaped children, and a dragon? What about the Queen’s Men?’

‘Would you throw them out into the street?’ Maria snapped, turning round from trying to persuade Nicholas, one of the orphans, into a pair of pink silk trousers that he wasn’t at all convinced about.

‘It’s a fire risk,’ one of the contortionists pointed out.

‘I could be,’ the dragon agreed. ‘But I would endeavour not to be.’

‘Accidents happen,’ the contortionist said gloomily.

‘We have plenty of space,’ Daniel said slowly. ‘There are rooms where the children can sleep, enough space for the dragon, even. But if word gets out to the Queen’s Men…’ He turned to Lily, frowning. ‘They’re getting more vicious by the day. Queen Sophia has been ill, did you hear? Very ill. Last week her mother was confirmed as Queen Regent, by an Act of Parliament. And she is the one who cannot stand magicians. Far more so than her daughter. The Queen’s Men are out patrolling the streets now, on the watch for any hint of something unlawful. They
want
to find it – they’re taking people away for no reason at all.’

‘It’s horrible…’ A beautiful, dark-eyed woman had come to help Maria, and now she stroked Elizabeth’s fall of red hair, shaking her head. ‘Who knows what they would do with you all if they caught you, Lily. I’ve booked a passage to America, now, you know. I have friends in New York, and I can work there as well as here. I shall work my way over, too; I’ve been booked to sing on board the ship.’

Lily nodded. Colette had an amazing singing voice; she made the theatre’s chandeliers ring with her high notes, and she was kind as well. She’d shown Lily and Georgie how to put on their greasepaint without making themselves look like clowns.

‘I’m not the only one. London’s changing. I don’t know what it’s like in the other cities, but I can’t stay, it frightens me.’ She tweaked the gauzy skirt she’d pinned up round Lottie, and laughed, rather sadly. ‘I’ll miss it here.’

‘We’ll miss you.’ Daniel sighed. ‘I wish you’d change your mind, Colette. We’re getting a full house every night now. You’ll have to build your reputation all over again in New York.’ Colette still shook her head, and Lily stared at Daniel in surprise. ‘You’re full every night? It was only Saturdays, before.’

‘It’s the illusions,’ Sam told her proudly. ‘Real popular, they are. Been a lot of talk about them in the papers, the last couple of weeks.’

Daniel smiled, and stared shyly at his boots. ‘People still can’t decide if they’re real, you see. Even though I’ve explained to all these journalists that we’ve been investigated by the Queen’s Men, and it’s all trickery, only fake magic, they still want to believe. The audiences are fascinated.’ He looked up at Lily suddenly. ‘People are starting to want it back, Lily.’

‘And so they should,’ the dragon rumbled. ‘Life is nothing without a little magic to spice it up.’

Daniel nodded. He was starting to look more comfortable standing next to a dragon. Especially a dragon he agreed with. ‘Well, I think so too. But no one wanted it here, not for years. And now more people are starting to think like us. The Queen’s Men have never been really popular, but everyone used to think they were right to take away magicians. I saw a boy throw a stone at one of their carriages yesterday, and the people in the street actually cheered. An old lady in a huge black crinoline stood in front of the alley he ran down, pretending she was having trouble with her umbrella, so they couldn’t chase him. She nearly had one of the officers’ eyes out.’

Lily ran her hand along the dragon’s scales, glancing up at him excitedly. He had been right. Perhaps it was the time, after all.

He nodded to her. ‘I can feel it, shifting in the air. Bubbling up out of the ground, dear one. It needs using.’

‘All that doesn’t make it any safer for us to have a blasted dragon in the theatre! Let alone these magician brats. They’ll probably betray us all with some spell gone wrong! They can’t stay here.’

Lily stepped back against the dragon’s side, her fingers pressed into the warm scales, as the man strode forward. It was Alf, one of the brothers who performed a comic double act. Lily had always found it strange that he spent his life on stage making people laugh, but as soon as the curtains closed, he was one of the most miserable, grumpy people she’d ever met. He was also very big, and he towered over her.

Of course, the dragon towered over him. Even Alf recoiled slightly as the enormous silvery-white head lowered towards him. But he planted his feet firmly, and glared back into the sparkling eyes. ‘Who’s with me?’

There was a ripple of uncertain muttering from the crowd, and Daniel took a step towards Alf, with Sam right behind him.

‘This is my theatre—’

‘Excuse me.’ The voice was quiet, and sweet, but somehow carrying, and Lily caught her breath as Princess Jane stepped out of the shadows behind the scenery.

Daniel bowed. Princess Jane’s dress was worn and old-fashioned, but there was something about her face that made it impossible not to be polite – even though he had no idea who she was. ‘Lily, you didn’t say you’d brought a lady with you too. Would you like a chair, Miss?’