Sleight of Hand
2
The Tryin’, the Itch, and the Wardrobe
“MRS. RICHARDS…” I began.
“Please. Call me Leora,” she answered. I glanced at Lisa and she raised an eyebrow to me. Leora’s eyes were cast down as she held out the ring.
“Leora, I know that this ring was precious to Seth. He always wore it. I thought it was his wedding ring. You should keep it or hand it down to your children,” I said softly.
“He wore the ring long before we were married. Seth gave me very specific instructions,” she said. “We’ve always known this could happen, but I prayed it never would. He was only 45.” She pressed the ring into my hand and I held it.
“What happened?”
“He was killed on Chaos.”
“The Crossroads game? How can you be killed in a game?” I asked.
“Have you ever once seen anyone play Crossroads?” she asked.
“No. I assumed it was by invitation only and I’ve never been that into games. You know Seth and I worked on magic tricks all the time. I quit playing games soon after I was injured,” I said. “Don’t tell me they actually acted out all that stuff he told me!”
“Lincoln, Crossroads isn’t a game. It’s a place. Chaos and Cassandra are real. I don’t know what happened. I know that Sunday afternoon, like he’s done every other Sunday afternoon since I’ve known him, Seth walked into Crossroads from our bedroom. Fifteen minutes later, he was back in our bedroom lying dead at my feet,” Leora sighed.
“You believe in all this?”
“I’ve been there. Early on, I accompanied Seth as his companion. I went on three missions with him and when I was nearly killed, Seth insisted that I stay home. He didn’t have to insist very hard. After that experience I never wanted to go back. I didn’t really want him to go back, but by that time I knew and understood what was at stake for those poor women. And I knew that Seth would be driven to go no matter what. If nothing else, he could never abandon Rita Caretaker. Sometimes, I had to fight the urge to go back just so I could see her,” Leora said. “I need to know what happened.”
“I think I should go fix us some tea,” Lisa said. “I probably shouldn’t have been here to hear what I have. You two are talking magic. I’m not ready for that.”
“May I help make tea while Lincoln reads Seth’s letter?” Leora asked. “I’d like to speak privately with you, as well.” Lisa has this expression where she pulls both eyebrows up and her forehead wrinkles. On some people it would be a look of surprise, but I’d learned a long time ago that with Lisa it was the precursor to a lecture. I reached over and patted her hand. She sighed and took Leora to the kitchen. I placed the ring in the box Leora gave me and pulled out the letter. ‘Seth, what have you gotten me into?’ I thought. I finally opened the letter.
My dear apprentice Lincoln,
Since you are reading this, I’m dead. I assume that I have failed in a mission. My poor Leora has carried out my last wish and brought you three items that I treasure more than anything on earth other than my love. I want you to have them.
Over the past several years, I’ve told you stories of Crossroads and Chaos. The hardest thing for you to do right now will be to believe them. But that’s what I’m asking. And I am asking that you take my place and become an earth hero and rescue damsels in distress. I’ve taken the time to really get to know you and to know that you have what it takes to become a hero. You rescued your sister-in-law and niece at the sacrifice of yourself and your father. I know that still haunts you. But that is what being a hero is. It is putting the lives and welfare of others above your own.
It’s really as simple as that. It isn’t about being a great warrior or about courageously charging into a burning building or battling your country’s enemies. It is purely putting the needs of others above your own.
If the single act of heroism was all I had to go on, I wouldn’t be sending you my ring. I know that in spite of you being confined to a wheelchair or bed for the past years, you have continued to act heroically. Remember my definition. Not giving up and succumbing to your injuries makes you courageous and determined. It doesn’t make you a hero. The fact, though, that you have continued to protect your sister-in-law and niece from your brother and face him down, does. I know that you have transferred more of your assets to your niece, even though it could mean you don’t have enough to live on in the future. That’s heroism. Her welfare above yours.
You can’t expect to be compensated for being a hero. That’s mercenary, not heroic. People don’t promise to take care of heroes in their old age. Real heroes aren’t usually recognized. The best aren’t even known.
I’ve told you that on Crossroads, there are healing chambers. I’ve wanted to take you there for a long time, but Rita Caretaker counselled against it. First, if I attempted to take you through and for some reason the portal didn’t allow you, you would have thought I was an idiot and that I’d built up false hopes in you. That’s not the kind of person I am. But the second reason was more important. We don’t know how well the chamber can heal your injury. If you were only partly healed or were weak, I would still have to take you on a mission to Chaos as my companion. If you weren’t a hundred percent, it could easily kill both of us.
So, I came up with this plan. Go to Crossroads as a new hero. Choose a caretaker and get healed. Then come back to earth. You are allowed to do this once. The next time you go to Crossroads, you will have to accept a mission. Use your time on earth to get strong and to train. If you are not able to walk and to fight, don’t go back.
It’s a chance, hero, but it is all I can offer.
In the box are the rule books for Heroes, Caretakers, Damsels in Distress, and Companions. There is also my journal of missions. Read these all carefully and understand them before you go to Crossroads. Take Lisa with you. She is your caretaker here on earth and I know you love her. She needs to know exactly how to train you.
I no longer have eyes, so I make one last request. Shed a tear on my behalf for my beloved Leora and my precious Rita. Tell them both that I loved them to my last breath.
Your friend,
Hero Seth of Earth
Leora left about the time Cadence got home. That ended our conversation about Crossroads. That evening, the doorbell announced the arrival of the third part of Seth’s legacy. Leora couldn’t move it by herself and had hired two guys and a truck to bring the wardrobe to me. It was ornate and heavy, a kind of Victorian cabinet that almost touched the ceiling. I was amazed that they were able to get it through the doors and maneuver it into my room.
Cadence was sad when she heard that Seth had died and that he’d sent me a few of his things. She liked Seth and had often been entertained by his magic tricks. She’d even heard a couple of his stories of Crossroads. One day, maybe, we would all be able to believe in the stories. Or not.
It seemed like a cruel joke in one way. The promise of a healing chamber that would miraculously restore my legs when I’d been sweating it out in physical therapy for five years. I had progressed to the point that with the aid of braces, parallel bars, and two assistants, I could swing my legs in front of me and put weight on them long enough to move my hands. I could do this for almost ten feet. It was retraining. I had to constantly be aware of where my feet landed and that my knee was locked before I could put weight on it. If I didn’t, it would simply collapse on me. It was great to be vertical, though, even though my arms and shoulders took most of the strain. All I needed was to have parallel bars run like train tracks everywhere I wanted to go.
But Cadence and Sandy both cheered when I made it to the end of the track the first time. Seeing the light in Cadence’s eyes was motivation enough for me to keep trying.
She kept looking over at the wardrobe as she massaged my legs. I kept staring at her bare breasts as she held my feet against them, willing my toes to curl. The first time she’d taken her shirt off before starting my massage, my heart had leapt into my throat. She’d made no secret about exposing herself to me down her shirt front and I’d thoroughly enjoyed touching them and watching her get turned on. But seeing them—seeing her topless… I didn’t know how to tell her she was the first naked woman I’d ever seen. Or at least mostly naked.
“I’m going to Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Value Village tomorrow,” she said.
“What? Why?” My focus was momentarily distracted from her beautiful breasts.
“We need big, furry winter coats to put in the wardrobe,” she said.
“Why do we need a wardrobe full of winter coats?”
“Because that was what was in the Pevensie’s wardrobe when they went to Narnia. It was cold there, so we’ll probably need to take coats with us when we go,” she sighed. I chuckled.
“We should have put the wardrobe in the spare room,” I said. Cadence looked deep into my eyes and pulled both my feet to her breasts as she rubbed her nipples to a taut erection.
“Can’t you feel it, Lincoln?” she asked. I sighed as I watched my feet against her breasts as if they were on television and not attached to me at all.
“Cadence, you know…”
“Not my breasts. You’ll get to feel those in your hands as soon as we get in bed tonight. You can touch all of me, Lincoln. Everywhere.” Her eyes drifted closed for a moment as she kept one foot on her breast and pulled the other slowly down her body to her waist. She let out a little gasp and put my feet on the bed, stepping away. She walked over to the new piece of furniture. “I meant, feeling the magic. I don’t know what there is about this antique that Seth wanted you to have, but I can feel it as if it is alive. It’s a magical wardrobe. I know it.”
“You’ve been playing too many games, my love,” I whispered. Could she really feel the portal Leora said was hidden in the wardrobe?
“Do you mean that, Linc? Did you mean that I’m your love?”
“Maybe I’ve never said it or meant it this way, Cadence. But you’ve conquered me. I love you.”
She turned toward me but stayed next to the wardrobe, out of my reach. She slowly unfastened her jeans and pushed them down off her hips. They were so tight that she had to bend to pull them off. She stood there in just a pair of plain panties and then pushed those down as well. I held my breath as her privates came into view. The area around her lower lips was shaved smooth and the hair above her slit was neatly trimmed. She turned so I could see her back and bent to pick up her clothes and neatly fold them. That was a rule in our house. I could get seriously stuck if I caught clothes up in my wheels. But bending at the waist to pick up her jeans also served the purpose of exposing her to my sight. She turned back to me.
“I love you, Linc.”
“You are so beautiful, Cadence. I’ve… I’ve never seen a woman like this.”
“I’m yours, Linc. All yours.” She did her best impression of Scarlett Johansson as she walked toward me. My eyes couldn’t stay still, flicking to her softly swaying breasts, her round hips, and her bare sex.
“You’re shaved.” Brilliant.
“Partly. Mom said I couldn’t expect you to lick through my thick bush to get to my clitoris. I made it nice and smooth so your lips wouldn’t get scraped up.”
“Oh god, Cadence. I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything. I plan to sleep with you like this from now on. I love you, Lincoln.”
Cadence made her run to the secondhand stores and Lisa and I pored over the books that Seth had left us. There was an instruction manual for heroes, one for companions, one for caretakers, and one for damsels. I read the Hero’s Handbook and Lisa immediately grabbed the Caretaker’s Guide.
“I can’t do this,” I said.
“I’m not sure I can, either,” Lisa agreed. “We would have to have an understanding. I can do all the things in the caretaker’s rules except have sex with you. If you can live with that, I’ll agree.”
“Wait. I thought the caretakers were all Cassandrans. I thought you’d be my companion.”
“Cassandran caretakers can’t come to earth. According to this, the role includes training, providing for you, strategizing, and researching. I can do all of those things on earth. At Crossroads, you would have a Cassandran caretaker. If I go with you, I might be your companion on Chaos. But on earth, I’m your caretaker,” she said.
“Lisa, a Cassandran caretaker expects the hero to be her lover. And then there is impregnating the damsel after a mission. I assume that is done in the normal way. It’s not just that I can’t do that now. Maybe the healing chamber will reconnect the things that will let me have sex. It’s that… Lisa, honey, you are the only other woman I would ever consider having sex with,” I blurted out.
“Other? I take it you mean my daughter.”
“I can’t help it Lisa. I’ve fallen in love with her. I love her as much as I love you.”
“More, I’ll bet.” She sat beside me and held my hand. I tugged at her and she finally moved to settle on my lap. “Is it okay?” she whimpered.
“So okay, darling,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her.
I was feeling particularly manly today. Cadence and I hadn’t made love orally, yet. But last night my fingers had found the warm wetness of her core and I made her come. I felt like I wasn’t completely broken. I knew I couldn’t show the same love to Lisa, but I loved her the same.
“We need to get you healed,” she whispered in my ear.
“So, I come home and find my mother sitting in my boyfriend’s lap,” Cadence scolded. Lisa started to jump up, but I held her tightly on my lap. In a second, she realized that Cadence wasn’t angry and relaxed.
“You might as well get used to it, Cadence. I’m never going to let go of Lisa for you. But you can pile on, too,” I said.
“We’ll break your chair,” she laughed, playing like she was sitting on top of her mother. I pulled her down firmly and put my arm around her. “Sure, worry about the chair and not my poor legs. They could be broken and I wouldn’t even know it.” Both girls started to jerk upright. “And I wouldn’t care. Cadence. Lisa. You have to know how crazy in love I am with both of you. I don’t expect any incestuous girl-girl action from the two of you. But I want you to know that I will never turn either of you away. Not from my life—not from my bed. I love you. You are my whole family and my whole life.”
They both hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
“Now get off me, daughter,” Lisa said. “I need to get dinner ready.”
I still had work to do. I should say that I still had to find work. I should have planned better.
The local college hadn’t even been on my list to consider before the accident. But by the time I graduated from high school, it didn’t look like I had much choice. It was part of a network of small state colleges that shared a single curriculum. The best part was that you could do nearly everything online. Since my schedule was so chaotic with surgery, court dates, and therapy, I chose to enroll as a remote student. The first year’s classes were pretty much set and I took them all online. I kept up with my guitar and singing, but mostly my sleight of hand. They were things I could do while sitting in a wheelchair.
The second year, I started taking liberal arts classes and discovered that there were several theatre classes that could be taken online. I even joined an online study group of theatre majors. I found a loophole in the school registration process and ended up with a BA in theatre arts. By the time I graduated, I’d taken exactly one class on campus that Lisa faithfully took me to each day. The professor was taken aback by the fact that he had a major in his senior symposium that he’d never met.
We got along okay, though. Once we got to know each other he actually searched out a play in which the lead character was in a wheelchair. The only problem was that the guy was supposed to stand up at the end and walk off stage. I was okay with not going onstage. I did my practicum time as the assistant director and coached the lead on how to get around in a wheelchair.
But that left me in the awkward position of having a degree in theatre arts and no job in a small town. Talk about worthless. I needed a job and was singularly unqualified to do anything. Not to mention in a wheelchair. I couldn’t really search out something farther away because this was where my home was. It would be a major hassle to move. And I wasn’t about to leave Lisa and Cadence behind. I needed a job close to home.
Lisa and I studied the books Seth had left me, including his journal of rescues. The journals weren’t very detailed, but they extended over a period of more than ten years. Mostly they were concise descriptions of the mission and results.
Sunday, October 28
Distress: Obsessive deValais has experimented with various herbs and remedies to quell the cockburner effect. Damsel suffers biweekly rapes at the hands of conscripted rapists to find out if the latest remedy works. Ingredients are becoming riskier and recent purchases by deValais include substances known to be lethal to Cassandra damsels.
Danger: While deValais is not a noted fighter, he has tight security and connections to Lords and to slavers. He keeps his property, including the damsel, heavily guarded at all times.
Rescue summary: Arrived at bank at Two Rivers Village. deValais’s holding is within an hour by horse. No observed interest in my arrival. Surveyed estate and found an unused gate into a walled garden. Picked the locks and entered the garden.
Spent the day hidden as I observed the operations of the estate. At midnight, I located the room in which Arlice Candlemaker was held. Two guards fell silently as they drew their weapons. Quickly picked the lock for the door and entered. Damsel was stretched out on bed with signs of recent rape. Unresponsive. Determined cause was reaction to herbal remedy. Decided to take direct route out rather than return via the garden gate. deValais got in my way and lost his head. I immediately laid claim to the castle and all the servants and retainers. I appointed Giles deValais, son of Robert deValais, as protector of my estate. He showed no qualms about having lost a father and was happy to pay a small tribute from the estate from its profits. Left and arrived at bank as it opened with Arlice Candlemaker over my shoulder. Went directly to vault and stowed equipment to return to Crossroads.
Length of mission: Two days.
Reward: Arlice Candlemaker spent three hours in the healing chamber to purge the poison from her body. I was cleared by the chamber in five minutes and Rita Caretaker bathed me and prepared me for the damsel’s reward. Arlice proved receptive. A period of sex, rest, and sex ensued for thirty-seven days at which time Arlice announced that she was pregnant. After a necessarily brief farewell she departed. I promised Rita Caretaker that I would return to be with her in two weeks. Arlice will bear my 145th child.
End Report
I was sure that Seth had told me a story that matched this brief description, but it was far more colorful than what he had written. The report was like a police report or something. I suppose that if he wrote all the reports like he told them to me, I’d be looking at five times the volume of reading. But really… 145 children?
There were longer reports, of course. Sometimes there was faulty intelligence, lengthy trips, or entire battles to fight. And there were five very short reports. These were identical in the rescue summary: Mission failed. Damsel expired before she could be rescued. These struck me as having been very hard on Seth.
Seth was 45 years old when he died, but by my calculations he had spent nearly fifty years at Crossroads impregnating rescued damsels. Add to that an average mission length of three weeks and he’d spent nearly thirty years on Chaos. Add another ten years on Crossroads for mission preparation. If his journals and accounts were accurate, Seth might have been only 45 in earth years, but he’d lived 135 years among the three worlds. No matter how long he was away each time, he was gone from earth only fifteen minutes.
“You have to get up and go to school,” I said, prodding Cadence. She was draped across me, her bare breasts pressed into my chest. She’d insisted some time ago that if she was naked in our bed, so was I. For the millionth time, I wished I was whole and could make love to her.
“I wouldn’t have to go to school if I wasn’t in school,” she said.
“That almost made sense,” I laughed.
“You stayed home your senior year and did just fine. Why can’t I?”
“Sweetheart, don’t say that. You know I didn’t have a choice.”
“I think I have a much better reason for staying home all day than you did. After all, you are here. I love you, Linc.”
“And I love you, Cadence. But I have to get up and go to work, as well.”
“I’m glad you found a job.”
“It’s not much, but it’s important to get out so we don’t spend our lives locked in a little room. We need other people in our lives. In fact, I need to find someone interested in learning magic, just like Seth taught me.”
“Is that the real reason you agreed to work at Shannara?” she asked.
“The real reason is because I couldn’t find any other job,” I said. “Now scoot. I need to shower.”
“Okay. Come on. I’ll wash your back.”
Of course, I didn’t have to be at work until one. Before that, Lisa took me to PT. I worked at moving my legs forward one at a time while I braced myself on the parallel bars. It was an odd gait, but I was making progress. Lift, swing the right side of my body forward, and drop down when my foot was ahead of my body. Visually make sure the knee locked in place. Lift the left side and swing that leg forward. It took me ten minutes to go ten feet. Getting turned around to go the other direction was a major hassle. Five ten-foot trips and I was exhausted. Lisa assisted Sandy in getting me on the massage table where Sandy worked me over and attached the EMS to my legs. Even with the daily stimulation and exercise, my legs had lost muscle mass over the past five years. But Lisa, Cadence, and even Sandy refused to give up on me. I’d be damned if I gave up on them.
Lisa got me home and showered again before I had to get to work. At work, I was essentially a cashier. People came into the store in a small shopping plaza and poked around at games, books, and trading cards. The store put in a small desk with a register on it that I could get my chair behind. Often, I was answering questions about Pokemon, Magic, My Little Pony, The Avengers, Lord of the Rings, and any other collectible card game. The most serious card collectors were pre-teens. You’d think they would only be interested in the kids’ games and popular comic book cards. But many of them wanted to look at the old trading cards as well. Hollywood stars, the astronauts, The Beatles, or you name it, there’s probably a bunch of trading cards for it.
I sat at the desk most of the time and often did card tricks for the customers. For the first couple of weeks I’d been on the job, there was always a store manager available. Now she was often out on errands or back in the storeroom getting new stock ready. She, Carol, also handled the after-school game crowd that used the game room in the store and the tables outside the store in the mall. I was gaining confidence in the job and she was gaining confidence in me. Even though I was confined to a wheelchair, I was essentially doing the exact same job Seth had done.
Either Lisa or Cadence was always there to pick me up at five o’clock.
“Are you sure we have time?” Lisa asked on the morning I told her I was going to Crossroads.
“We?”
“I am going with you,” she said. “I am not letting you out of my sight until I know you are safe and can take care of yourself.”
“Well, according to the books, it always only takes fifteen minutes. We’ve got an hour and a half before we need to leave to go to PT.” I looked up at her and she had a worried smile on her face. “Honey, it might not work at all. The book was pretty clear about the fact that it only let healthy people with a heroic character through the portal.”
“You are healthy as a horse,” she said. “Your legs just don’t work. And no matter what happens at Crossroads or Chaos, you will always be my hero.”
“Then hold my hand, love. We’re going on an adventure.” I placed the magic ring on my finger, took her hand in mine, and rolled into the wardrobe.
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