Unsuspecting Mage

by Brian S. Pratt

  “Would this be to your liking, sir?” asks Brockman.

  Taking the case, James sees that it is not as heavy as he expected. Nodding he says, “Yes. I think it will suit me just fine. I would need to purchase the ink, quills and parchment as well.”

  Taking James to another table, Brockman launches into an explanation of the various items he carries. He didn’t realize there were so many different types of each to be had. He finally settles on three bottles of ink, two black and one red. A set of ten quills, half fine points and half broad points. Selecting parchment takes the longest time, for there were more choices. There was thin parchment, but it wouldn’t hold up long and very high quality parchment that would last a lifetime but at a gold a piece. He finally decides on something in between, not too thick but would last for a while.

  When he finally settles on all the items he wants, Brockman tells him how much and James digs into his pouch and hands over the amount requested. Brockman takes the money and says with great enthusiasm, “Thank you sir. Would you like me to have it delivered for you?”

  “Yes,” says James. “I am staying at the Flying Swan and I’m staying in room ten.”

  “Very good sir, I’ll have it over there this afternoon.”

  Once they were out of the shop and back on the street, Miko gives him a disapproving look and says, “You didn’t even haggle with him!”

  “Haggle?” queries James.

  “Yes, haggle,” states Miko. “Didn’t he seem just a little too happy when you handed over the money?”

  “As a matter of fact, he did,” agreed James.

  “That’s because you paid almost twice what the stuff you bought was worth!” he explains.

  “I’ve never haggled before,” James admits.

  “Never haggled…?” Miko just stares incredulously at him. “Just where do you come from that doesn’t require haggling?”

  “A long, long ways I’m afraid,” he answers. “I guess I’m going to have to get the hang of it.”

  “Yeah,” agrees Miko. “And if you don’t, you ain’t gonna have any money left after a while.”

  James mulls over Miko’s words. He comes to the conclusion that there needs to be changes in the way he does things. Need to adapt them to this place and their customs. When in Rome… James thinks to himself.

  “Where to now?” asks Miko.

  “Is there a library in town?” he asks.

  “The only libraries belong to the nobles,” explains Miko. “They don’t let anyone use them. Why do you need a library anyway?”

  “Oh, I just like books is all.” James misses his collection of books back home. Seeing the books the scribes were copying brought back some of the homesickness that James had thought he had begun to get over.

  “Is there a candy shop in town?” he suddenly asks.

  “What’s candy?” responds Miko.

  “Just something I use to like back when I was home,” James explains. “How about a bakery or pastry shop?”

  “There are a couple bakeries,” Miko explains. “One is famous for its tarts.” He looks expectantly at James and a light enters his eyes when James nods.

  “Let’s go,” James agrees. “We’ll see just how good those tarts are.”

  Miko takes the lead and they are soon out of the temple district. After making several turns and walking down a couple streets, they find themselves outside a shop with a mouth watering aroma emanating from within. Hanging on the outside of the shop is a sign with a loaf of bread cut in two.

  Upon entering, James sees a wide variety of breads and pastries displayed behind the counter. A fat lady in an apron is currently helping another lady so he waits patiently as he looks over the various selections.

  When the lady is done, James steps to the counter and is greeted by the fat lady.

  “Welcome, welcome. How may I help you today?” she asks with a warm and friendly attitude.

  Patting Miko on the back he says, “My friend here tells me that you are famous for your tarts and I have come to see if he was correct.”

  Beaming, the lady responds, “We do have the best tarts in town. Many of the nobles will only purchase from us because of the superior quality in all that we do.” She reaches behind her and takes a tart with red filling slightly oozing from one corner. Breaking it in two, she gives each of them half. Biting into it, James is impressed with the rich berry flavor of the filling and the flakiness of the crust.

  Seeing that she is waiting expectantly for a response, he says, “This is a very good tart.” Looking over at Miko, he sees him nodding his head approvingly. “Give us a mixed variety of a dozen please,” he tells her.

  Beaming with pride, she turns back to the counter and takes a sack, placing thirteen tarts of varying color and size inside. She then turns back to the counter and hands him the sack saying that it will be a silver and three coppers.

  Miko nudges James in the side, who looks down. Miko mouths ‘Haggle’ silently.

  James looks back at the lady and says, “Eighteen coppers.” Miko nods approvingly.

  “A silver two coppers,” counters the lady.

  “A silver,” James offers.

  “Done,” the lady agrees. Handing over the silver, James and Miko leave the shop eating their tarts.

  “Did I do it right?” James asks Miko.

  “You did okay,” admits Miko, “with a little practice you can get them down even further.” Finishing off his first tart, Miko looks at James obviously wanting more so he gives him another. Saving the rest for later, he puts them in his backpack.

  They stroll down the street eating their tarts, when James sees coming down the street toward them, a group of boys a little older than Miko. Feeling a tug on his sleeve, he looks at Miko who says, “C’mon, let’s go this way,” and begins dragging him down a side alley.

  As they enter the ally, Miko glances around the corner at the group of boys worriedly. “What’s wrong,” James asks.

  “Nothing,” replies Miko. Seeing the boys still coming in their direction, he takes James by the hand and hurries him down the alley.

  “Then why are we moving quickly down this dirty alley?” he wonders, doing his best to keep up.

  “It’s a shortcut,” replies Miko, his voice belying his attempt to appear casual.

  “To where?” persists James.

  “Wherever you’re going,” insists Miko.

  As luck would have it, the group of boys enters the alley behind them. Seeing the boys coming up behind them, Miko breaks into a run as he releases James’ hand. James runs along behind Miko, not sure what is going on.

  “There’s that sewer rat!” James hears from one of the boys behind them. Looking back he sees the group break into a run, racing after them.

  “You’re dead, Miko!” shouts another.

  “Friends of yours?” asks James as he breaks into a run, trying to keep pace with the rapidly accelerating Miko.

  “No and we don’t want them to catch us either,” says Miko as he turns and leads James into another, much narrower alley. By this time Miko is in a dead run and James is doing his best to keep up but he’s never been very athletic. Dodging around corners, they try to lose them, but James realizes that they will never be able to shake them.

  Racing around another corner, Miko abruptly comes to a stop. They’ve run into a dead end. A door in the left wall stands ajar; Miko pushes through it with James right behind. James glances back as he passes through the doorway and sees the boys turning into the alley, almost upon them. Slamming the door shut, he puts his weight against it to keep it closed. He no sooner gets the door closed then feels the weight of the boys slamming against it on the other side. It groaned under the impact, but held.

  Looking around the dirty little room, he sees nothing that will help him with keeping the door shut. Miko has already rushed through the opposite door, leaving James in there alone. It doesn’t take him long to realize that he’ll not be able to hold the door very long against
the weight of the boys.

  “Open that door!” one of them yells.

  “You’re not getting away from us,” another screams.

  James frantically presses his weight against the door with all his might. Cracks begin forming in the wood of the door from the relentless pounding of the boys on the other side.

  An idea comes to him. He concentrates and then says:

  Door of wood have the strength of steel,

  Allow no entry for those who would kill.

  James feels the now familiar surge of power as he completes his spell. Maintaining his concentration and visualization of his desired affects, he gradually reduces the pressure he’s exerting on the door. Once he’s confident his spell is in affect and holding, he turns and practically trips over Miko, almost causing him to lose his concentration.

  Miko is staring at him wide eyed and a little fearful. “You a mage!” he exclaims.

  “Save it for later,” James insists. “This isn’t going to hold for long. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  As they leave the room through the other door, James says, “I thought you ran out on me.”

  Looking hurt, Miko replies “I didn’t realize you weren’t following me. When I did, I came back.”

  Passing through the doorway, they enter a smaller room, dirty and smelling like an outhouse. James realizes with trepidation that there is neither a window nor a door except for the one they just come through.

  “Over here,” Miko hollers at him. He begins moving garbage out of the way and opens a trap door that had been concealed by the garbage covering the floor. The smell that fills the room when the trap door opens leaves little doubt as to where it leads. Miko begins to descend the ladder down into the hole when he looks over at James, almost laughing at the expression on his face. “Do you want to stay up here?” he asks.

  “No,” replies James, doing his best not to breathe through his nose as he moves closer to the opening. When Miko climbs to the bottom, James begins his descent into the dark opening of the sewers.

  Chapter Eight

  _______________________

  The odors emerging from the entrance to the sewer assaulted James’ senses. His eyes begin watering and could barely breathe. Only the threat of the boys trying to break in the door and possibly doing them bodily harm convinces him of the wisdom to climb down. He sets a foot on the uppermost rung of the ladder that descends into the sewers. His foot slips a little on the slime coating the rung, making it slippery and treacherous.

  Using great caution, he slowly makes his way down to the floor of the sewer, his hands becoming slick as the slime from the rungs coating them. Upon reaching the bottom, he steps onto the sewer floor only to slip on a slick, slimy patch. Losing his balance he tumbles backward into the stinking, oozing muck slowly making its way through the sewer.

  The fall into the stream of nastiness breaks his concentration, causing the spell holding the door closed to fail. The sound of breaking wood filters its way through the opening above as Miko helps him to his feet. They proceed quickly down the dark sewer tunnel putting distance between themselves and the entrance. Thoroughly nauseated, James tries to scrape as much of the filth off him as he can while hurrying down the tunnel.

  They proceed along the stream of filth for a ways before taking a moment to turn and see if pursuit materializes. James watches the faint light coming through the trapdoor they so recently fled through. He is sure that by now the boys would have found the sewer entrance and should be descending after them. They remain quiet for several seconds but don’t see or hear anything other than the constant dripping of water coming out of several ducts in the wall, spilling into the main flow of the sewer.

  “I don’t think they followed us down here,” he whispers to Miko.

  “No, I didn’t think they would,” replies Miko in a low voice. “Not many come here who are not invited.”

  “Invited?” questions James.

  “Yeah, there’s a gang that claims the sewers as their own and anyone else who comes down here is fair game. Everyone knows not to come down here.”

  “So why did we?” he asks with exasperation. He tries to scrape more of the sewer muck off but only ends up spreading it further. Giving it up as a lost cause, he stops trying.

  “It seemed the better choice at the time,” replies Miko.

  Grabbing Miko, James asks “And just who were we running from anyway?”

  “They’re a bunch of petty thugs. They think I fingered them on a job they pulled last month,” Miko explains. “I didn’t but word got around that I was the one and they’ve had it in for me ever since.”

  “I see,” he says. “Anyway, we need to find our way out of here.” He casts his light spell and the glowing orb appears, bringing a startled gasp from Miko. Using the orb to illuminate their way, he says, “Let’s go,” as he indicates Miko to lead them further down the sewer tunnel.

  They come to a junction where a smaller branch of the main sewer enters from the left. James decides to continue following the main passage after pausing only a moment to look down the other. After another hundred feet they come to a ladder leading into the darkness above.

  Grabbing Miko, he pulls him close to the rungs and says, “Look, these rungs are clean which means they must be used regularly. It could be a way out.” Gesturing toward the ladder he says, “Climb up there and see where it leads.”

  “There’s only one group of people who would be using these rungs regularly,” Miko tells him, “and they don’t like unexpected guests.”

  “Maybe. But we need to get out of here before they discover us,” he insists.

  Nodding understandingly, but not too happy about it, Miko goes up the rungs. He returns shortly and says, “There’s a trapdoor but I can’t get it to open. It must be barred or locked from the other side.”

  ”Alright, let’s go down a little further and see if there’s another way out,” James says as he turns and continues making his way down the main sewer passage. They pass several lesser passages, but after giving each a cursory glance, continues following the main one.

  Further down they come to where the water flowing through the sewer begins growing progressively deeper and soon has risen to their calves. They slosh their way through the water and other floating debris until they come to the blockage that’s obstructing the sewer and causing it to back up. As they draw near to the obstruction, James begins to realize just what it is that’s blocking the water’s flow.

  It’s a body and by the looks of it, has been here for a while. The flesh is in an advanced state of decay with maggots crawling all over it. A couple of rats are having a meal on the corpse’s exposed thigh. They squeal and scamper away at their approach. Other debris has wedged itself around the dead body which has only added to the blockage.

  Feeling like he’s about ready to throw up, James steps over the corpse and hurries down the tunnel. Once they’ve put some distance between them and the corpse, he begins to recover some of his composure, but still feels a little green.

  “I hear you see a lot of that down here,” Miko tells him. “People come up missing and their bodies come out through the sewer’s outflow into the river.”

  “Let’s hope the next ones won’t be ours,” states James.

  Continuing down the passage, they pass two more offshoots, the smallest ones thus far. The second one is barely wide enough to squeeze through. Not much more than a wide crack in the wall. Looks like it may have been created during an earthquake or something similar.

  They travel a short distance further past the small passages before discerning a light coming toward them from up ahead. James quickly cancels his light spell, plunging them into complete darkness. They start backing up the way they had come.

  As they back up, James runs his hand along the wall until he encounters the smallest passage, the one that’s not more than a crack in the wall. He stops Miko and says, “I think we can squeeze through here and hide until they pass.�
�

  Miko goes in first and then he follows, squeezing in until he’s a few feet from the tunnel. The approaching light steadily grows brighter as it draws nearer. It’s not long before they hear the approaching footsteps of several men.

  As the men pass by the crack they’re hiding in, James discovers that the light is coming from a torch one of them is carrying.

  “…saw something down here,” James hears one of them say.

  “You’re seeing things, Dink,” another adds.

  “Keep quiet and look sharp,” still another commands.

  As the group passes by, James counts five men, the one in the lead carrying the torch. The men continue further down the sewer and soon the light fades until only darkness remains.

  After it has been dark a minute or two, James cautiously makes his way back out of the crack to the sewer tunnel. He looks down the way the men had gone and discovers the light is no longer visible. Taking the chance that no one will be able to see, his orb springs to life on his palm. It’s then that he realizes Miko has not followed him back out into the sewer. Holding his light close to the opening, he whispers, “Miko, come on. They’re gone.”

  From the opening he hears Miko’s voice, “James, there’s a room in here and another passage leading from it.” Pausing momentarily, he continues, “It may lead to another way out, away from trouble.”