The unsuspecting mage ms-1

by Brian S. Pratt

  James reaches into his shirt and pulls out the medallion the creature gave him back in Trendle and asks, “Have you ever seen one with a design like this before?”

  Taking a close look at the medallion, the man shakes his head, “No sir, I have not.” Then he grabs another one of his amulets that he says will bring great wealth to whoever wears it.

  Disappointed, he puts the medallion back inside his shirt. Realizing he’s not likely to get away without buying one, he points to an amulet at random, a plain circular one of metal, bearing three dots forming the points of a triangle with connecting lines.

  Seeing the amulet that James has pointed to, the merchant says, “That one is indeed precious. It comes from very far away and is said to have been the property of a powerful sorceress,” he says with conviction as he holds it up for a better view. “It was said that this amulet protected her from harm for as long as she wore it.”

  “What happened to her?” James asks.

  “Her lover tricked her into taking it off and then killed her,” he explains. “Only two silvers good sir and you too will be protected as she had been.”

  “Five coppers,” James counters, “and I’m just buying it to get away from you.”

  “Sir,” the merchant exclaims tragically, “you would ruin me, starving my wife and children. Surely an amulet as powerful as this must be worth a silver and twelve coppers.”

  “Perhaps, ten coppers,” James offers, “and hopefully it won’t turn my skin green or give me a rash.”

  “How can you possibly put a price on such wonderful protection,” the man protests vigorously. “A silver six coppers, and that will bring curses upon my head from my wife for having given it away.”

  “Seventeen coppers,” James says, “and I’m getting ready to walk.” Beginning to back away, he spies the man’s face turning frantic at the possible loss of a sale.

  “A silver, good sir,” he pleads, practically screeching as he stretches the hand that is holding the amulet across the table as if to keep him from leaving. “Surely the protection must be worth at least a silver!”

  Pausing as if to think, he says, “A silver it is then.” Reaching into his pouch, he produces a silver and places it on the table.

  Snatching the coin so fast that the eye had a hard time seeing the move, the man hands over the amulet to James. With a friendly grin, the man gives a slight bow and says, “Thank you good sir and may a thousand blessings be upon you.”

  James takes the amulet and puts it in his pocket. “You’re welcome,” he tells the merchant as he walks away from the stall.

  He hasn’t taken two steps before the voice of the amulet seller once again joins the cacophony of his fellow merchants, each trying to out shout the others in the hopes of enticing those passing by to their stalls.

  As he leaves the cacophony of merchants behind, James heads further into the city where the types of businesses gradually begin to change. Where the ones closer to the entrance into the city were noisy and boisterous, the ones further away from the outer gate are calmer. These are the businesses that the people of the city use on a more regular basis.

  There are chandlers, butchers, and shops for every need. These do not require a loud spokesman to try to persuade prospective buyers to enter. These are well established, long time businesses known by the locals, so don’t need all the noise to attract customers. Enjoying the more peaceful environment, James strolls down the street, no longer afraid to window shop. Here there is no fear of having someone attach themselves to him like what he experienced back with the amulet merchant.

  One sign draws his attention. It depicted a large pie with steam radiating off it. Must be a bakery, he thinks to himself. Maybe they have tarts. Remembering how delicious they had been in Bearn, he walks over and opens the door. His stomach begins to growl as a mouth watering aroma wafts through the open door.

  A young man greets him upon entering. “Hello,” he says as he puts down a broom and comes over to the counter. “What can I do for you this evening good sir?”

  “I was wondering if you have any tarts?” he asks.

  “As a matter of fact we do,” the young man says. “My father makes really good tarts. Today we have some apple tarts that are especially good.”

  “Okay, I’ll take six of those,” James says. Wanting some variety he asks, “Would you have a specialty, something that you do better than anybody else?”

  “Yes we do sir,” the young man replies as he begins taking apple tarts from behind the counter and places them into a bag. “We are especially proud of our crumb cakes. It’s a secret recipe handed down from father to son that’s been in our family for generations. Would you like to try one?”

  “Sure,” agrees James. “How big is it?”

  “Wait a moment and I’ll show you one,” the young man says. He sets the sack of tarts down onto the counter and then passes through a door into the back. After a few seconds he returns with a medium sized cake, which to James reminds him of a cinnamon swirl crumb cake that his grandmother used to make. “It’s a silver for the cake and another six coppers for the tarts.”

  Taking out his purse he hands over two silvers and the young man gives him his change. He’s glad Miko isn’t here to get on him about not haggling. He just doesn’t like doing it, unless of course it’s with someone he doesn’t care for. Hating to admit it, he did have fun with the amulet merchant.

  While James waits for the boy to put the cake in a box, he looks around the shop at all the other delectables and then glances outside. Through the window he spies a very nice carriage beginning to pass by, drawn by two identical white horses. Intrigued, he comes closer to the window to get a closer look at it as it passes.

  “Oh my god,” he whispers to himself as he feels a shiver run up his spine. For there in the window of the coach is the face of the man that had been yelling at them when they were being chased from Lord Colerain’s estate. Lord Colerain is here in Cardri!

  Ducking away from the window so as not to be seen, he waits until the carriage passes then goes over to the counter and collects his baked goods. With a quick goodbye he leaves the bakery and hurries back down the street toward the Dancing Squirrel.

  The light is beginning to fade as the sun nears the horizon. The street is not nearly as crowded as before, though many are still out and about. He steps quickly, but doesn’t run as he wants to avoid drawing attention to himself. It doesn’t take him long to reach the inn, and as he enters the common room, turns toward the stairs and races up to the second floor.

  Going down the hallway to his room, he opens the door and finds Miko lying bound and gagged on the bed. Dropping his sacks of tarts on the floor he rushes over, drawing his knife to cut the bonds. Miko is on the bed, eyes wide and trying desperately to say something.

  “Hang on Miko,” James says as he reaches the bed. “I’ll have you free in a second.”

  Just as he brings the knife close to cut Miko’s bonds, he hears a floorboard creak behind him just before something cracks him in the back of the head. His knees buckle as darkness takes him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Groaning with pain, James returns to consciousness. The pain throbbing in the back of his skull beats a steady rhythm. Lying on what feels like a cold dirt floor, he opens his eyes, or at least he thinks he does as there is nothing to see but darkness. He attempts to rise but discovers his legs and arms are bound, and is able to do little more than wriggle about. Slowly, so as not to aggravate his headache, he looks around to see if there may be a crack of light that would indicate a door, but none are to be found. Either I’m blind or in a hole in the ground, he thinks to himself.

  “Miko,” he whispers. “Are you here?”

  “Oh, thank god James,” somewhat muffled, Miko’s voice comes to him from the dark. “I feared you might be dead. You were out for a long time.”

  “Where are we?” he asks.

  “I don’t know,” Miko replies. “They put a hood over my hea
d before they took us out of our room. After that, we were loaded in a wagon and I think they covered us up. I was told to be quiet or they would slit my throat.” He paused a moment before saying, “I’m not sure how long they had us in the wagon before we stopped. I am pretty sure we were brought inside a building. They brought us down some stairs and then dumped us in here. That was hours ago. I tried to wake you when we got here, but you didn’t respond.”

  “Were they the ones who we encountered after leaving Bearn?” James asks.

  “No, I didn’t recognize any of them,” he answers. “Why?”

  “I was coming back to tell you that I saw Lord Colerain here in Cardri,” James explains. “Perhaps our being here and his being in Cardri are related. I can’t think of any other reason for us to be in this situation.”

  “You’re probably right,” agrees Miko. “What are we going to do?”

  “Did you mention to them that I can do magic?” he asks.

  “No, I haven’t said anything since they surprised me back in our room,” Miko replies.

  “Then let’s hope they don’t find out. It may be the edge we’ll need to get out of here.” James concentrates and casts his light spell, the effort of doing even so little magic causing the pain throbbing in his head to increase. When the light appears, he discovers they are lying in what looks to be a root cellar. Sacks, along with several boxes, are stacked against all the walls save one. That one has an old wooden door, apparently the only way out.

  He looks over at Miko who’s bound like himself, with the hood still covering his head. Scanning the room, he sees what looks like a little hand trowel, similar to what his grandmother used in her garden, wedged in between two of the sacks. He slowly wriggles his way over to it and maneuvers himself to grab the handle with his fingers. Holding it as tight as his position allows, he twists his body sharply and rolls away from the sack in an attempt to dislodge it. But it’s wedged in there too tightly and the handle slips from his fingers.

  Twisting around again, he lies on his back and places his feet against one of the sacks trapping the trowel and pushes with all his strength. The sack topples over and spills grain as it hits the ground, causing several rats to scurry away. He leans upon one elbow and is relieved to find the trowel lying loosely upon the ground. Wriggling his way over to it, James tries using it to saw through his bonds. The thought of doing magic to break the ropes binding him makes his head ache.

  “What’s going on?” asks Miko who is unable to see what James is doing because of the hood.

  Groaning with the effort to apply proper pressure to saw through the rope binding his hands tied behind his back, he replies, “I found something that may cut the rope.”

  “Can’t you use magic?” Miko asks.

  In dire need of an aspirin, James says, “I’d rather not if I don’t have to.”

  The trowel isn’t very sharp and having his hands tied behind his back doesn’t give him much leverage to be very effective. He works at it for several long minutes before managing to saw through the bindings.

  “Got it!” he exclaims when the rope finally comes apart.

  With his hands free it’s much easier to sever the rope binding his legs. Once his legs are free, he comes to his feet and goes over to remove Miko’s hood.

  “Thank you,” he says to James once the hood comes off. “It was getting hard to breathe in there.”

  “No problem,” James replies as he begins using the trowel to saw through Miko’s bindings. Once he frees Miko, he goes over to the door. He’s not surprised to find it locked. Using his orb of light, he examines the door closely. He can’t really tell anything about the locking mechanism as it is located on the other side, so he decides to try prying the lock up. Using the trowel which is fairly flat, he slides it between the door and the door jamb and very cautiously slides it up until he feels resistance. Giving it a little more pressure, he hears a faint click as the trowel pushes the latch up. He presses lightly on the door and it begins to swing open.

  Opening the door a bare crack, he sees nothing but darkness on the other side. Pulling the door closed, but not far enough for the lock to secure itself again, he turns back to the room and Miko.

  He takes Miko’s hood and puts the glowing orb in it, leaving only a small opening which will allow only a very dim light to escape. Signaling for Miko to remain quiet, he opens the door slowly and the light coming from the hood reveals a flight of wooden steps on the other side leading up to another door. The door at the top of the steps has light radiating through the cracks around it.

  “Looks like they’re up there,” he says to Miko who nods. “How many of them were there?”

  “I only saw four before the hood was put on me,” replies Miko.

  “Let’s hope they didn’t invite any friends along and maybe we can get out of here,” he says as he slowly starts to climb the stairs. Turning back to Miko he says, “Stay down here for a second, I’m going up there and see if I can tell how many we have to deal with.”

  Miko nods understandingly and remains by the foot of the steps.

  James takes the steps slowly, trying to minimize their creaking by placing his feet as close to the edge of the wooden steps as possible. Cautiously, he makes it to the top where an old, cracked wooden door stands closed. Leaning close to the door, he hears several voices coming from the other side.

  “Just how long are we supposed to wait?” one whiney voice asks impatiently.

  “We were told to wait and wait is what we’re gonna do!” another voice commandingly tells the first.

  “Yeah, stop yer whining Elz,” another adds derisively. “We’re making enough off of this.”

  “Alright, alright,” Elz says, “I’ll wait.”

  The sound of cards being shuffled comes from the other room. Listening for a while, he determines there are just the three of them playing cards. He then returns back down to where Miko waits and tells him what he overheard.

  “I don’t like this James,” Miko says. “If there are three up there, then where’s the fourth and is he the one they’re waiting for?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t want to be here when whomever they are waiting for arrives,” he replies.

  “I agree,” Miko says, “we better get out of here fast.”

  James returns to the cellar where they had been dumped, and takes a quick inventory but finds little of use, just grains and seeds. The boxes however give him an idea and he pries three small boards off of one that’s broken. Using the trowel again, he sharpens one end of each. It’s not very effective for this sort of thing but it’s all he has. Once the boards are sharpened, he hands the trowel and the hood with the glowing orb still inside, to Miko. Then he carries the sharpened sticks with him as he again climbs to the door at the top of the steps.

  He pauses a moment to listen at the door until he again hears the three men talking as they play cards. The door is being kept closed by a sliding bar. Fortunately, the sliding bar has a handle on this side of the door. Taking hold of the handle, he slides it very slowly until the end comes free from the door jamb.

  Thinking about what he is about to attempt makes the throbbing in his head worsen. He takes a moment to calm himself, and the throbbing settles back down to a dull ache. Okay James, he says to himself, you can do this. Readying his sticks, he begins formulating the spell he plans to use. Once he has it, he nods to Miko who nods back that he’s ready. One final calming breath, then he kicks the door open.

  The slamming of the door against the wall startles the three men, causing them to leap from their seats and turn in surprise to see him framed in the doorway. One begins to draw a sword, the other two, knives.

  Not giving the men a chance to react, James takes the three sharpened boards, and as he throws them in their direction, the words of a version of his spear spell issue forth. Magic surges out of him and takes hold of the sticks. With incredible speed and accuracy, they impale each of the three men in the chest. James has a mome
ntary satisfaction of seeing them fall before the pain in his head erupts to a point where it causes him to black out.

  As James bursts through the door and casts his spell, Miko follows him into the room. He carries the trowel in one hand as a weapon and holds the hood containing the glowing orb in the other. Movement from across the room catches his eye as James launches the three sharpened sticks toward the men at the table. A man who had been resting upon a cot gets quickly to his feet. Wearing nothing but a shirt and pants, he draws a sword from the sword belt that had been looped around the back of a nearby chair and begins advancing toward them.

  Before the man has the chance to take two steps, he comes to an abrupt halt when his partners are struck down by the sticks. Fearing to face one who can do such a thing, he turns for the door, ready to flee. But then he sees James succumb to the affects of casting the spell and collapse to the floor. Now with only Miko left to deal with, the man stops his flight and advances once again toward Miko, sword at the ready.

  Miko holds the trowel out before him threateningly. In a voice filled with fear, he says to the man, “I…I am a great wizard too! A…and if you don’t throw down your weapon, I…I…I will cast the fires of hell at you.”

  Smiling, the man continues advancing toward him and says, “Go ahead kid, burn me. I dare you.” When he takes another two steps and Miko has done nothing but stand there menacing him with the trowel, he says, “Thought not.”

  As he comes close, Miko grabs the open end of the hood with his left hand, the one holding the trowel. With his other hand, he holds the other end and says with all his might, “Fires of hell, burn him!” He swings the hood toward the man and lets go with his left hand. Stopping the hood’s forward motion with a jerk of his right hand, the hood suddenly opens and the glowing orb sails out of the hood, straight toward the man’s head.

  Holding his arms up and screaming as if the fires of hell truly were coming for him, the man stops and backpedals quickly, trying to avoid the orb.

  Knowing he only has a few seconds, Miko advances with speed and strikes with the trowel, just as the orb hits the man in the head and bounces harmlessly off. With the strength of desperation, Miko thrusts the trowel into the man’s belly cutting through the shirt, and opening up a long gash from which the man’s intestines began spilling out. Tripping over his own guts the man falls to the floor. Not dead, but in a great deal of pain, he stares at Miko who is now approaching him after having appropriated a knife from one of the fallen men at the table.