Grimbledung pursed his lips. “I had this really interesting wand come into the shop and if you’re interested you can have it, Garibaldis. Since I know you enjoy the unusual wand or two.”
“Really? Where’d it come from?”
“I have no idea.”
“Not at all?”
“What, do you mean originally?”
“Yes.”
“I have no idea.”
“So how is that interesting?”
“Well, this Orc came into the shop to sell me a wand and he’s been in before so I really didn’t want to pay him for the wand but it was kind of interesting and he seemed threatening so I figured I’d go ahead and give him a couple copper for it then this one-armed man came into the shoppe to buy a wand and he paid me a silver for it but then he tried to rob me and then he killed me but then I came back as a WereGnome and then I grabbed him and when Drimblerod came in I let him go and went rabbit hunting with Akita and when I got back later that day, Drim had gotten all the coins off that guy and Akita took him to jail so we got all the coins back plus the silver he paid me so it didn’t cost me anything and I knew you’ve been in the market for a wand and it is a really interesting one which is the kind you like so I thought you might like it because you’ve been in the market for a wand.”
“And yet you have no idea.” Garibaldis glanced at Julie. She shrugged in return.
“Nope. It’s black and it hums. And an Orc found it in a bag with a bunch of other wands that had exploded out by EternCity.”
“That’s a lot of details for not having any idea.” Garibaldis glanced at Julie.
“Completely normal,” she reassured.
He looked back at Grimbledung. “Wait, someone killed you?”
“It happens.”
Grimbledung nodded at Big Julie. “Right? I mean, I’m usually minding my own business, not doing anything to anybody when out of the clear blue skies I get walloped with a big, lethal helping of current events. Fortunately now that I’m a WereGnome, it’s not permanent.”
“That’s not how I remember most of the times,” said Julie.
“And you’re a Were what?”
“A WereGnome. Akita killed me…”
“You died again?”
“Like she said; it happens. But you see, Akita is a Werewolf, so when he broke my neck…”
“Broke your neck?”
“You really need to get caught up with current events,” tut-tutted Grimbledung. “Honestly.”
“Anyway” said Julie. “You came here to tell us the assassin and the enforcers are back, but they’re friendly now.” She stopped to consider that. “The enforcers are friendly too, right?”
“Sure, sure.” Grimbledung waved his hand dismissively. “Of course they are.”
“Well, that’s good news, I suppose,” Julie said. “We’ve got enough troubles as it is.”
“There’s troubles?”
“No!” said Julie and Garibaldis at the same time.
Grimbledung startled in his chair. “Alright, alright. There’s no need to snap, you know.” He hopped out of the chair. “So anyway, that’s what I wanted to tell you.”
“Thanks Grimbledung. That was good new…”
“Oh!” Interrupted Grimbledung. “And we’re holding a jamboree for the end of the war.” Grimbledung hesitated for the briefest of moments. “AndNulusaidIshouldhelpwiththeplans.” He finished quickly.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Grim”
Grimbledung waved at Julie as he turned toward the door, “That’s what she said.” He grabbed the latch of the door. “But I’m sure she’s come around by now.”
“Still…” tried Julie. “With everything that happened before…” Her voice trailed off.
“It’ll be fine, trust me,” said Grimbledung. “So any time you want to come by and take a look at that interesting wand, we’ll be around.”
“Well, I really appreciate it Grimbledung. So you have no idea where it’s from?”
“No idea.”
“Well, alright then; I guess I’ll stop by.”
Grimbledung nodded at the man. “Better sooner rather than later, I imagine.” He waved at the pair and left the office. As usual, he didn’t close the door behind him.
Garibaldis stood. “Well, I need to get back to my classroom. I have students coming by this afternoon for some tutoring.” He frowned. “Hopefully they still have their wands.”
Julie stood. “I’ll head over to Akita’s now and see what he thinks.”
Garibaldis put his hand on the door latch, pulling it open wider, he gestured for Julie to exit first. “I’ll walk you out.”
Julie moved around the desk and out the door.
Out of Julie’s line of sight, Garibaldis watched her hips as she moved out the door. Where’s a tragic construction accident when you need one? [9] He thought as he pulled the door shut behind them. And how could one cause such an accident without becoming a suspect?
Chapter 20
The Old Man and the Sea
(of Sand)
Akita sat at his desk, eyeing the old man sitting on the cot. “Ya gonna behave yerself from now on?”
The man had been staring at the floor since he had been put in the cell. He looked up at Akita. “Nope.”
He had already been moved from the cell closest to Akita to the one in the far corner. The jail only had three cells, which Akita felt was plenty for the size of the town, but with the actions of the old man, Akita wished he had a fifth or even sixth cell. From very recent experience, he was sure the middle cell was not useable because it still put him “in range” of the old man. “I’m tellin’ ya. You need to behave yerself.”
“Or what?” The old man stood and shuffled to the bars. “What can you possibly do to me, Constable?” Every time he said Akita’s title, it sounded like an insult.
Akita stood and moved to the side of his desk. A spot he believed was ‘out of range’. “You’re asking a Werewolf Constable what he can do to you?”
The man snorted in deeply. “Come over here and explain it to me,” he said out of the corner of his mouth.
Akita stayed beside his desk. Once was enough. “You know that Gnome you tried to rob?”
The man tilted his head to the side inquisitively.
“Want to know why he’s how he is?”
Now a shrug.
“A few days ago, I bit him through the throat and broke his neck because he was trying to hurt someone I am… interested in. And he’s a pal of mine.”
The old man smiled. “You’re interested in your pal?”
Akita shook his shoulders. The shake made its way down his back, ending at the tip of his tail. “The Gnome is a pal of mine. The gal I was interested was the one he was trying to hurt.”
“That’s the story; your pal was trying to hurt your missus? Were you out of town or something?”
Akita stared at the old man.
Another shrug. “Fine. Get on with your threat then.”
Akita shook his head as he continued. “So I gave that Gnome a little bit of the condition I carry around with me. Know what he’s given me here recently?”
The old man snorted deeply.
“He’s given me the appreciation of sometimes acting first, and thinking later.” He smirked. “Begging forgiveness is easier than asking permission.”
The old man closed one eye as he tilted his head back, judging the distance between them
“So now I got me a target.” Akita drew his wand.
“Got one of them too,” mumbled the man.
“I’d save all the fluids you got,” he said as he aimed at the man. “You’re gonna need every drop.” He barked what could have been an incantation just as the old man snapped his head forward and spat.
The old man and the globule disappeared at the same moment. It landed at a distance that would have put it directly on the Constable’s feet. As it was, it just hit white sand. Hot, trackless sand. The old man looked
up at the sun that was beating down on him. He looked around- the view was the same in all directions. “Hell.” He said simply. “Wonder how this’ll work itself out.”[10]
Akita took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That felt good.”
The door to the constabulary opened slowly. “Anyone home?” Asked Julie.
“Ahh, Julie, nice t’see ya.” Akita quickly dropped his hand to his side.
Julie spied the wand. “What’re you up to?”
“Nothing at all. Just stretching my legs.” Akita did a couple of deep knee bends. “Like this.”
Julie looked at the cells. “Grimbledung said an old man tried to rob him and you had him in a cell.”
“That is true.”
“It was the same Human that robbed him earlier, he said.”
“That is true.”
Julie stared at Akita. “Why does it feel like I’m talking to Grimbledung all of a sudden?”
“Coincidence, most likely.” He didn’t make eye contact with her.
“So you had this robber detained then?”
Akita smiled. “I did, but I let him go.”
“Let him go?”
“It just wasn’t working out between us.” Akita slipped his wand into his belt sheath.
“I see. So you just let him go?” She raised an eyebrow. “Alive?”
“Sure, sure. He was definitely alive when I let him go. All legal like. Free as a bird, he was.” Akita pointed at the door. “He’s out there doing whatever he…” Akita looked around, then turned and pointed at the wall. “He’s more in that direction, now that I think about it.” He let his tongue hang out the side of his mouth. “So what calls for the visit?” He pointed at a chair beside his desk as he moved around to his own.
“Well,” began Julie, as she sat, “it’s a personal... delicate matter.” She sat and put her hands on her lap.
Akita leaned toward her, his yellow glowing eyes narrowing. “Someone hurt you?”
Julie smiled and put a hand on Akita’s arm. “No, nothing like that.” She thought for a moment, “Well, maybe a little”.
“What, what?” Akita took Julie’s hand in his. “Ya got me all jittery now!”
“We’ve had some thievery problems at the school and I’m worried it’s going to cause enrollment problems once word gets out.”
Akita let go of her hand and put his back on the desk. “Youthful mischief.” He smiled at her. “Ya had old Akita worried for nothing. What’s come up missing?”
“Some wands.”
Akita sat back. “Well, that’s bound to happen with all the kids havin’ them. Someone wants to upgrade, or play a trick. A kid drops theirs in the well and then says it’s stolen. That sort of thing. I can’t imagine that’ll cause problems. Just samfoolery is all...”
“We’ve had just over a hundred disappear in four months.”
Akita stared at the woman. “What?”
“From what Garibaldis told me today, we are up to one hundred seven wands missing.” She frowned. “Not counting what disappeared while I was walking here or have been sitting at your desk. With how things are going, I imagine another two or three will be gone by the time I get back.”
“Well that’s just absurd. How many students you keeping out there?”
“We have two hundred fifty eight students enrolled right now.” She looked at the constable. “We are way past mischief here. We’re talking a lot of money that I’ve had to pay to replace wands, and if parents find out that the school has become a den of thieves, they’ll pull their kids and I’m out even more money.”
Akita thought for a long moment.
Julie sat in quiet anticipation, knuckles white as she clasped her hands.
“There’s another possibility you might not have considered.”
“What’s that?”
“You may not have a large thief problem”
“I think over a hundred wands is a large thief problem.”
Akita chuckled. “Yerrr half right. Yes, that’s a lot of wands to come up missing. But it may be just a small group of thieves making that happen, so it’s a small number of thieves causing a large problem.”
“I hadn’t considered that. You think I’ve got a band of thieves that’s enrolled in the school?”
“When’d this start?”
Julie shrugged. “Well, I first heard about it four months ago.”
“So we’re looking at about six months ago.”
“No,” corrected Julie, “it was four months ago”.
Akita laughed again. “Yeah, it was four months before the boss was told, but I’d like to think the students kept it under wraps for a month, and then the teachers tried to keep it under wraps for a month. Then finally, when they had no other option, they had’ta tell the hard-nosed boss lady the bad news.”
Julie frowned. “Well, that’s not a very nice way of putting it.”
Akita grinned. “So about six months ago, what was goin’ on?”
“Well, closer to seven months ago, we had the start of the school year.”
“That’s that time when new students start showing up from all sorts of different places, if I recall correctly. Let’s just call it suspects arriving at the scene of the crime to keep things simple.”
“You know, you can be a good lawman without being so…”
Akita put a claw on Julie’s hand. “How about I come down and look through your records, see if any family names sound familiar, and maybe talk to a couple of students to see what kinda feel I get from them?”
Julie smiled at the Constable. “Really?”
“It’s all part of the service, Miss.” Akita winked. “Regular constabulary duties.”
“Like letting yea olde wand shoppe robbers go?” Now Julie winked.
“Well…” Akita stood, “that was under special circumstances that I gave that vile old man a pardon for the rest of his days.”
Julie stood. “Rest of his days? That sounds kind of final.”
“Well at his age, he’s liable to pop his clogs at any time. Turn his toes up. Count worms.”
“You should write poetry.”
“Ya?”
Julie laughed. “No.” She snaked her arm through Akita’s as they moved to the door. “Not at all. Stick to enforcing the law.”
Akita used his free hand to open the door. “And roustin’ youngsters.”
The two walked arm in arm from the constabulary to Big Julie’s school, chatting casually as they went. As they passed Herbs and More. Lots More, Maca, standing on the porch, leaning against a pole, called out to them: “Good day, you two”
Julie startled. Was she there just a moment ago? She pulled her arm out from Akita’s. “Hello Maca,” she said amicably. “We... We were just going up to the school… for Akita to help me work something out.” She stammered. “What I mean is Akita was coming over… to give me a hand with something.” She blushed.
Maca smiled at the woman. “I’m sure that whatever you need help with, Akita is more than capable. All part of the service, if I remember correctly.” She narrowed her eyes at Akita, “Like remembering that he’s accompanying me to dinner tonight?”
“It won’t take long, Maca.” Akita grinned at her. “I’m a professional, ya know.”
“Sure. But a professional what?” Maca asked as she turned towards the door of her shop, her hair catching up just a moment behind.
Julie watched her enter the shoppe. “She’s… something special.”
“Yeah.” Akita let his tongue hang out. “Isn’t she though?”
“You know what I mean,” Julie poked the Constable in the side as they started to walk again.
“Yeah. We’re gonna discuss that tonight.”
“Well, I’m sure everything will work out just fine.”
Akita winked at Julie. “That’s what I’m hopin’ for, which is why I’m bringin’ a heap of flowers.”
“Flowers?”
“Roses. A heap of roses.”
&nbs
p; “So,” Julie raised an eyebrow, “overcome by flowers, the innocent girl is supposed to offer her throat to the wolf with the red roses?”
“Well, it’s our first actual date, so maybe I’ll keep my hopes in check.” Akita grinned. “But here’s hoping.”
“You’re a professional alright.” She snaked her arm back through the Constable’s. “Now you just need to make short work of my pilfering dilemma.”
“No worries, Miss Julie.” Said Akita as they approached the school. “I gots it all under control.”
Two hours later
“I swear I came this close,” said Akita has he held up two claws close together, “this close to actually eating two of your students”. He flopped into the chair, exhausted. “They’re demons. Every last one.”
“So you didn’t get any sort of feeling about them?”
“Sure, I just told you; I feel they’re all little demons in disguise.” He let his arms hang on the outside of the chair’s armrests as he slouched down. “Just horrrrible.”
“So how did you…”
Akita ran his tongue around one side his mouth, across his nose and to the other side. “Well, I went through your enrollment records to see how many brand new students enrolled this past semester.” He glanced up at Julie. “You know?”
“Not without looking,” admitted Julie.
“Fifty seven. You had a new class of youths…”
“Well, yes, we get a new first year each year,” interrupted Julie.
“Right. And that was thirty eight kids. The remaining nineteen were spread around the other five grades as new enrollees.”
“You talked to almost sixty kids in two hours?”
Akita shook his head. “I talked to ten of them little dollops of annoying.” He let his chin drop to his chest.
“Just ten?”
“That’s all the abuse I could take,” admitted Akita.
“But you’re the Constable. And a Werewolf.”
“Those kids don’t care. I was a fluffy bunny they had tied to a pole and were whacking me with sticks.”
“Gads!”
“You need more specialized help, I think.”
“Specialized help?”
Akita lifted his chin off his chest. “A dragon to eat the entire lot.” Akita grinned. “Course it’d get a sour stomach, I think.”
A New Hope (Tales From a Second-Hand Wand Shop Book 4) Page 12