“Sure. I’ll just doodle until someone else comes in. Bring me back something since I really don’t think he’s planning on cooking.”
Rat hopped off the counter. “Sure thing. I’m popping over to Nulu’s. Just give a howl if you run into any trouble.”
“What?”
“Or, you know, whatever bays out of your throat.” Rat twitched his ragged whiskers. He was having untold fun with the double entendres even though Grimbledung didn’t get most of them.
Grimbledung nodded. “Seems quiet. I got it. Don’t forget to bring me something back.” He tossed a silver coin to Rat. He caught it in his mouth after the first bounce. “Yeah?”
Rat nodded as he scampered out of the shop, Door obliging him by opening and closing.
“Interesting looking wand,” remarked Grimbledung as he put it under the counter.
Chapter 3
Rat’s Race To A Hot Tin Roof
Rat looked left and right as he stopped to sit in front of the shop. The town was growing by leaps and bounds and while Akita was happy about the increased tax base, some of the added citizens also brought a bit of lawlessness with them. Once, maybe twice possibly, Rat had been robbed by having a copper coin he was carrying in his mouth, taken from him. Now, he was wary of running around with an entire silver coin in his jaws. He twitched his ragged whiskers as he decided on the best route to Big Julies. Or, if he should go to one of the closer establishments- the Braziered Bear was still up running, and doing a brisk business in fact. The Ensorcelled Monkey had lasted all of a month before it closed with no fanfare whatsoever. In its place the Ensorcelled Ape had opened. Again with little fanfare. Truth be told, it was the closest establishment that served food. But still. Rat thought back to the evenings after the Gnomes ate there, and the number of times they had each frantically ran to the POOPA. Even he experienced some discomfort- which for a rat, that was saying a lot. After the fourth such incident, Drimblerod had declared that the establishment was never to be visited again. Even when Grimbledung suggested that ‘every meal can’t be bad!’ Drimblerod wasn’t willing to test the theory that ‘five’s a charm’.
Rat stood and scampered across the street, deciding to go to the Braziered Bear to get a meal for himself and something for Grimbledung. Since the Gnome had tossed him a silver coin, he was going to have to leave a hefty tip since there was no way he could carry the meal (in a handy parchment baggie) and the change. Rat had also lost a bag of food at one point. He wasn’t sure how, however. He had been walking back to the wand shoppe with the bag in his mouth when he had blacked out. When he came to, he was inside a box and the bag of food was missing, Even so, not only was The Bear, as the Gnomes called it, good at rapidly preparing food, they had devised a convenient way to transport it between their parchment baggies and similarly wrapped meals. He wouldn’t have that luxury at Nulu’s. It was also an added bonus that he could make his way almost the entire way without having to travel on any large streets- he only had to cross two.
Rat kept to the side of the alley as he scampered, keeping behind boxes, barrels, and other items as much as possible. The individual who had taken his last coin had seemed helpful and sociable. Right up to the point where he snatched the coin from Rat’s mouth and tossed him into a nearby burn barrel. That was ablaze at the time. He desperately hoped he would run into that particular Human just to let him know what he thought of him. Unfortunately, being just a rat, the male’s features had begun to fade from his memory so much that he probably wouldn’t recognize him if he did encounter him. Or maybe it was more than one? At this point, he wasn’t sure of even that detail. He was sure that the fire was blazing in the barrel.
As Rat scampered across the first of the two main roads, he zigged and zagged between wagon wheels and various beasts’ hooves. As he made it to the other side of the street, he turned to look at the traffic. There was quite a bit of it lately. Julesville was well on its way of becoming a proper city. “Julesville is well on its way to becoming a proper city,” he remarked.
Rightfully so.
“Hey lookit what we have here,” said a strangely familiar voice from behind him.
“What’s with these things?” Said another voice.
Rat turned to face the voices and saw that there were four youths lounging in the alleyway. “Morning, gents,” said Rat around the coin.
“Yeah,” said the first youth- a lanky Dwarf. Or as lanky as a Dwarf could be. “That’s what it is.”
Rat moved the coin to his front paws as he sat on his haunches. “I suppose,” he offered.
The three other youths - two Dwarfs and a Human - stared at Rat. So did the Dwarf who spoke.
After a long moment, Rat twitched his whiskers. “I can see this is really turning into a full and colorful conversation, but I’ve got things to do.”
“With that coin?” Asked the Dwarf.
Again, the voice sounded very familiar to Rat. “Yes. I’m taking it for a walk you see. Airing it out. Makes it go further when you spend it -taking it farther.” Rat noticed that the youths had slowly spread out across the alleyway. “That was a play on words.” The situation suddenly seemed vaguely familiar. “Shouldn’t you lads be in school?”
“Don’t need it.” Offered the Human.
“Well, kids need schooling.” Rat moved the coin to one claw and put his other on the ground, preparing to make a run for it. “From the looks of you, you especially.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, if you went to school, you’d know.” Rat shook his empty claw at the youth. “Or maybe some good old-fashioned manual labor. Why don’t you all run along and go to the Co-Op to do some day-jobs, or maybe the lumberyard. Tote a log. Livery to lift a bale.” He smirked, “Or even give Big Julie’s a shot and get some of that schooling I mentioned earlier”.
“I’ll show you some schooling!” Said the Dwarf on the left as he lunged at Rat.
Expecting the attack, Rat put the coin in his mouth and sprang forward into the gap that the Dwarf left as he moved forward. He skirted around the first, then double backed around the other Dwarf, moving to an all-out run as he passed them.
“Get him!” Commanded the first Dwarf. The gang turned and gave chase to the coin-carrying rat. “Keep him in sight!”
“What’s with the rats in this town?” Asked the Human boy.
Rat looked left and right as he ran, hoping to see a drainpipe that he could scamper up. Once he was on the roofs, he was home free. As the town had grown, it seemed as if a swarm of door-to-door sales folk had descended on the town, selling gutters, drainpipes, lightning rods, and several other ‘home improvement’ items. Rat was particularly fond of the gutters because they not only gave him free access to roofs throughout the town, it also helped keep the mud down during rainstorms. It seemed that that particular entrepreneur hadn’t made it to this part of town yet.
As Rat darted down the alley, he saw three more individuals ahead of him - a female and two males. They also looked familiar. Reinforcements? How many of these delinquents are there? Rat recognized the female. An adult. An adult Gnomess. An adult Gnomess Master Assassin! And two Humans. Two human Magician Guild Enforcers! That’s not good! Thought Rat as he approached the trio. I need to tell the Gnomes! As he closed the distance between them, the trio moved to the side of the alley, allowing Rat -and the quartet of youths- full passage. Rat took advantage of it by running straight past them, not losing any speed at all. ‘That rat looks familiar’ he heard the female say as he went.
A rock skidded on the ground beside Rat as he scampered in a straight line down the alley. He added some back and forth movements to his run. Another rock landed just past his head. Even though they weren’t lethal to him, the rocks would hurt, and would incapacitate him so that he would lose his precious coin to the ruffians. Out of the corner of his eye, Rat saw that the Human had caught up to him, He darted through the youth’s legs as he reached down to pick him up. The youth tried to grab R
at as he ran between his legs, causing him to lean over too far and fall. Rat looked back to see him roll to a stop, get up and rejoin the chase. Since he was looking back, he saw another rock fly at him. He scampered in the opposite direction as the rock hit where he had been a fraction of a second earlier.
As Rat came to the second intersection, he moved to a straight line, looking left and right quickly to avoid any wagons, beasts, or pedestrians. As he neared the far side of the street, a pleasant looking Human female caught his eye. “Hey, lady!” he shouted. “Go to Second-Hand Sorcery and tell them Rat’s in the Bear!” He finished over his shoulder as he moved past her. The youths pealed around her, causing her to spin in a circle.
The female looked at the strange group moving away from her. Kids! She was sure one of them said something about some sort of shop. Second-Hand Sorcery? That wasn’t where she was going, she didn’t think. Now she wasn’t too sure. Maybe the wand shop was on her list of places to go. At times, her memory was kind of foggy. On top of that she was also experiencing strange periods when she didn’t remember how she got someplace or what she had been doing. If those episodes kept up, she decided to speak to a physician about them. If she remembered. Rats in the bear? What does that even mean? With a shrug, Lisa went off in search of the Second-Hand Sorcery, not really knowing why.
“Shoot him, Lance!” The Human said.
Lance was running as fast as he could so he only nodded in reply as he pulled a slingshot from his back pocket. Even at a full sprint, the youth was very accurate with his weapon of choice- much better than his compatriot who had just been picking up and throwing rocks as he saw them. He fished one of a dozen round stones from his pouch without breaking stride and readied the weapon to fire. He tracked the rodent back and forth as it ran down the alley, deciding that when it double-backed again to the left, he should shoot it in the back. As the best shot of the four, he knew he wouldn’t miss. Just like the last time when they stole another rat’s bag of food. He wasn’t sure why the rats in this town not only carried around coins, but bags of food, and surprisingly enough, spoke. Since they seemed to be easy pickings, he didn’t dwell on the thought long; he was too busy aiming...
Rat was breathing hard as he tried to maintain his pace. He wasn’t used to running long distances; being a rat, a scamper under some boxes or a cabinet was usually enough to escape whatever issue presented itself. As he rounded a bend in the alleyway, he could see the restaurant ahead and to the left. A large bear holding a torch hung from an iron bar above the door at the large intersection. Thanks to having been in there several times, he was sure if he could make it to the door, he would be able to get the employees to get rid of his attackers. Then ahead on his right, he spied a drain spout.
Rat moved to the middle of the alley, torn between continuing farther down the alley to the restaurant or taking the closer escape route to the rooftop. There’s food at one of those locations He thought as he darted to the left towards the restaurant, then back to the right as he waffled between the two escapes. A round rock hit beside him, brushing the fur on his shoulder as it did. You’ll never make it there! Get something to eat later! He cut hard to the right, straight into the hammered tin downspout. As he clambered up the inside of it, he heard several more rocks strike it, trying to knock him back down to the opening.
He popped out the top of the spout into the gutter and skidded to a halt. He peered over the edge of the gutter at the four youths. They were standing in the middle of the alley, breathing hard and looking up at him. “There!” Rat called down. “You got your schooling for the day!” He snickered as he held up the coin and waved it around. “Now go do an honest day’s work!” A movement from the far left youth caught his eye. Rat looked at him as a grey object filled his field of vision. Blackness enveloped him as the stone crushed the side of his head. He flipped back, head over tail, lifeless as the coin in his claw. As he rolled into the gutter, he dropped the coin.
The youths listened attentively as the coin clattered down the tin tube, finally dropping to the dirt.
“Class dismissed,” said Lance as he tucked his trusty slingshot in his back pocket.
Chapter 4
Maca’s Vision - The Author’s Cut
Grimbledung shook his head as the Human who called herself ‘Lisa’ left the store. “I’m glad that’s over with.” He returned to his doodles, unaware of the danger that he was in, or who had sent it his way.
Fate smiled.
“Two silvers. Very nice.” He took another drink of ale. He considered how he felt. He did think he was feeling better. Or perhaps more drunk. Either seemed acceptable. He downed his drink.
And refilled it.
And stared out the window.
Five minutes later, Grimbledung exhaled loudly. “Bored,” he said just as the door of the shoppe opened. He looked to see who was coming in.
Entering the shop was what had to have been the oldest looking human he had ever seen. He was bent over, and hunch-backed, and seemed to have only one arm.
Here we go. A nice quiet sale from this last shred of a human; this should be a piece of pie compared to that unstable woman. Grimbledung thought.
“You sure?”
Sure. Have I ever steered you wrong?
“Not since breakfast, I suppose.”
Well, then, what have you to worry about?
Grimbledung nodded. “Greetings old timer,” he offered the ancient looking man.
Drimblerod exited the carpenter’s shop, across town from the wand shoppe. He shuffled out the door with a bar stool in each hand. “Such a nice, a quiet morning,” he said to no one in particular. As a female Dwarf approached, he smiled and offered: “Good morning to you”.
She kept her head facing straight ahead and ignored him completely.
“Some folk.” Drimblerod hefted the two stools then began to walk back to the shoppe.
Akita snuck silently behind the Gnome. Finally when he was right on him, he pinched Drimblerod’s side “Hey! Whatcha doing?” He snarled to add to the effect.
Drimblerod dropped one of the stools as he jumped. He turned to face the Werewolf. “You trying to scare me to death or something?”
“Scare you from what? Everything's back to normal 'round here.”
“Normal? This town?”
Akita grinned, “Rrrright. What I meant was everythin's nice and calm 'round here. ‘Xcept of course the robbery I just broke up down the way,” he pointed over his shoulder.
“Oh? Any arrestes?”
Akita shook his head. “Was a youngster. Trying t’dodger a pocket.”
“You softie.” Drimblerod picked up the dropped stool and started walking towards the shop. Akita fell in step with him.
“Sometimes. I gave him a good scare and sent him on his way.”
“Local kid?”
“Maybe. Lots of people moving to town here lately. That’s why I just gave him a scare.”
“Hoping that’s the last you see of the little artful dodger?”
“Here’s hoping. Then we can get back to that ‘nice and calm ‘round here’ that I mentioned earlier.”
Drimblerod nodded. “It's about time too. After dealing with those Halflings, their stupid booby-trapped wands, assassins of various sizes and shapes, chasing Grimbledung over half the map, and repelling an invasion, some quiet time will be worthwhile,” he said. “Fate, willing of course,” he added quickly.
Akita let his tongue hang out. “Speaking of which, where's our often at the center of attention Gnome? Staying outta trouble?”
“I left him tending the shoppe while I went looking for some stools.”
“More or new?”
Drimblerod shook his head, “The ones we have are holding up well. It's just that with the bigger floor plan, people seem to come by just to visit, and we sometimes don't have enough places for all of them to sit.”
“Good problem to have.”
“True. You know, I was telling Grimbledung just this mo
rning...”
Akita turned to look up the road, his ears perked up.
Drimblerod looked as well. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “What?”
“Ya hear that?”
“Gads, no. What now?”
“Glass breaking someplace up the way.” He quickened his pace. “And some hammering or mayhap a door slammin’.”
“In the direction of the shoppe?” Drimblerod moved to a jog to catch up.
Akita looked back at the Gnome. “Strrrange. Someone's slamming a door over and over.”
“Rolton Chips.” He looked up at the heavens as he moved beside the Constable. “Come on Fate. Just a week is all I ask.” He raised his hands plaintively, stools held high. “Was that too much to ask for?”
Fate shrugged.
Two started down the street quickly and at the intersection, turned left. Drimblerod could see glass and bits of wood in front of Second-Hand Sorcery, halfway down the block. “Someone broke our window?” He could now hear Door opening and shutting loudly. Several pedestrians had stopped to watch the commotion.
“I hope that's all that's broke.” Akita moved to a trot, Drimblerod began to lose ground to him then moved to an all-out run, arms pumping back and forth, stools almost hitting his head several times just trying to keep up.
The two made it to the shoppe quickly, and in a tribute to Drimblerod, at almost the same time.
Akita turned to address the group that had gathered. “Go about your business. There's nothing to see, folks.”
“Are you kidding?” Said a Human. “This is the best show in town, I'd imagine.”
Several nodded in agreement. They all stayed put. In fact, more seemed to be joining what was now becoming a large crowd. At the back of the group, unnoticed by all, two Humans and a Gnomess also stopped to watch.
A New Hope (Tales From a Second-Hand Wand Shop Book 4) Page 2