by Robert York
Tilly stood peaking around the side of the counter; the way a child might shyly peak around a parent’s legs when confronted with a person unfamiliar to them. I saw where I’d grabbed his coat and led him from my room; the lapel was ripped almost completely off. Tilly had tried to mend it with a few pieces of Scotch Tape. Seeing that made me feel like a complete and utter dick. I got a sinking feeling that maybe Mari was right about me. Maybe I was a selfish bastard. I knelt down attempting not to appear intimidating. I beckoned him to come closer. He did and cautiously almost fearing I would lash out at him again. He stood about a foot away from me with his eyes focused on the floor as I continued.
“I owe you an apology Tilly. It was wrong of me to raise my voice and place my hands on you in the manner that I did. I wanted to say that I’m sorry for being a selfish person and ask for your forgiveness and my promise that it will never happen again.”
I caught Barnabas’s approving expression out of the corner of my eye as Tilly raised his eyes to meet mine. He gave me a happy yet apologetic smile.
“Oh no Master. The fault was all mine, I should not have entered your room without permission or startled you in the manner that I...”
“Tilly,” I said in an even tone, interrupting him. “That is neither here nor there. I had no right or cause to treat you the way that I did and I’m sorry for that... Can you accept my apology?”
He grasped his hands nervously smiling a heart felt smile, nodding. If I had to guess I’d say that he’d rarely been apologized to, if ever.
“Thank you... Now since I’m your Master and if you’re going to be seen outside these doors…” – I waved a hand at the front doors to the shop – “…in my company these clothes that you’re wearing simply won’t do.”
Tilly looked over his clothes, his hands moving over them in a self-conscious manner, his cheeks reddening slightly. When his eyes met mine again there was a hint of embarrassment in them.
“I’m going on a errand and I’d like you to come with me,” I said.
I reached into my coat pocket, removing the small leather pouch.
“I want you to take this,” I said handing it to him. “What’s in it is yours now and I want you to buy some new clothes and whatever you might need for the next few days.”
Tilly opened the bag emptying the contents into his left hand. The bag contained nine gold coins and twenty-three silver coins, all of which were about the size of U.S. quarters. Along with the coins were six rubies roughly one half inch in diameter. Gold, silver and jewels were the preferred method of currency in the magical community. However since the world reached the twenty first century more and more Wizards, Dwarfs, Elves and creatures of every description have been moving to modern paper currency. I’ll tell you the story a little later of how I got the leather pouch. It involves Goblins, a former girlfriend and an sick Bog Salamander. Anyway, the pouch had been in my nightstand for years, Tilly needed what was inside more than I did. Besides, I felt bad about treating him the way I did and this small gesture hopefully would be a good first step to correcting my selfish character flaws. Tilly carefully placed that money back in the pouch drawing the mouth of the bag closed with the leather straps. When he raised his head, I noticed tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke.
“Thank you Master,” he said, emotion in his voice.
He reached into his back pocket removing an old tattered handkerchief, wiping his eyes and blowing his nose with it before returning it to the pocket.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked.
Tilly nodded, smiling without saying a word. I stood walking over to the counter. I picked up the medic’s pack slinging the strap over my head and around my left shoulder. That way it’d be difficult for anyone to take it from me. I turned facing the door to the shop raising my right hand. I made a slow vertical up and down gesture with my open hand while uttering my destination.
“Stumpwater’s,”
There was a crackle and a blue swirling portal opened about five feet in front of us. I looked down to Tilly bobbing my head in the direction of the portal.
“After you”
Tilly obeyed hurrying through the portal. I turned back to Barnabas who seemed nervous.
“Be careful,” he said.
“I’ll be back in a little while,” I said, turning walking into the portal.
Chapter 8
Istepped out of the portal onto a sidewalk at the corner of Roosevelt and Campbell Road with Tilly in front, about a hundred yards East of our destination. Magical defenses around the entrance to Stumpwater’s made it impossible to open a portal any closer and the patrons of Stumpwater’s like it that way. It kept the more darker elements of the magical world from causing trouble anywhere near the entrance or inside for that matter. Some scuffles have taken place over the years, but the security of Stumpwater’s has proven more than up to the task for any troublemakers.
I scanned the area around us. There was a fenced in open lot behind where we stood, a blue trailer standing within the lot close to the street. On the West side of Campbell were newly built high priced homes on property that until recently housed a large moving and storage warehouse for over a quarter century. The Southside of Chicago had seen something of a revival in the last few decades or so. Where there were once industrial sites and project housing now stood expensive homes, strip malls and fast food places. It was, for lack of a better cliché an up and coming place. Families and young single urban professionals were flocking back to the city in droves paying through the nose for a lifestyle purportedly filled with peace and prosperity. Appearances as they quite often are, were deceiving even with the new look; the Southside was still a pretty rough place during the day and especially at night.
The portal closed with an audible crackle. I notice an old man pushing a shopping cart with a loud squeaky wheel overflowing with crushed aluminum cans hurriedly moving away from us. Snow was piled up on both sides of the street making his retreat a bit more difficult. He must not have been accustomed to seeing this mode of transportation. I looked down at Tilly giving him a slight wink, which he returned with a bright smile.
I beckoned him with a nod to follow and we started walking toward Stumpwater’s. Our frozen breath plumed from our nostrils and open mouths with every step we took. Tilly looked to be shivering from this brisk Chicago weather. We’d be inside Stumpwater’s shortly. The entrance to this magical shopping mall is concealed with a powerful enchantment so that Normal’s cannot stumble upon it accidentally. It’s located under the railroad bridge on the north side of Roosevelt Road in Chicago. The door is protected by magical wards and defenses so even if someone or something wished to enter they couldn’t do so unless the Doorman opened the door for them.
We were roughly twenty-five or thirty feet away from the door to Stumpwater’s when a tall, imposing man built in the image of the Incredible Hulk stepped from the shadows under the railroad bridge. He was over seven feet tall and to say that he was huge would have been an understatement. His arms were as thick as my head. He was dressed in various shades of grays and black, his wardrobe consisting mostly of old cast off clothing. A deep hoodie was pulled up over his head, which obscured his features. He wore a long tattered overcoat over that. His name was Grim Jack and everyone in the magical world knew that he was the Doorman or outer guard of Stumpwater’s. No one got in or out of the place without being scrutinized by him and his magical abilities.
If perhaps you decide to venture out one day looking for the bridge that I’ve described and you encounter Grim Jack, take my advice and just pass on by without speaking to him. It would be a much safer course of action. The reason being is that no one knew without any degree of certainty exactly what Grim Jack was. There was some speculation that he was a half Vampire, though there was no evidence to support that. While others claimed that he was some sort of hybrid Troll because he was always seen under a bridge. There were still others that believed Grim Jack was a Dragon that had taken human form for some reason or ano
ther. The fact of the matter was that all anyone knew for sure was that Grim Jack was mysterious and extremely powerful, he didn’t talk much if at all and had absolutely no sense of humor.
Tilly’s footsteps grew hesitant slowing as he fell into step directly behind me. I really couldn’t blame him; I wanted to hide behind something as I drew near the towering figure before us. About six or seven feet away, Grim Jack raised his hand motioning me to stop. Apparently Tilly didn’t see the gesture or perceived me stopping, because he bumped into the back of my legs pushing me forward a few inches. I turned glaring down at him.
“Sorry Master,” he whispered in an apologetic tone.
I turned back to Grim Jack noticing he surveyed us with the demeanor and patience of a DMV employee indifferently helping with an address change on a driver’s license. If any of you have been in a DMV Office for this purpose recently - especially in Michigan - you know of what I speak.
“What is your purpose here?” Grim Jack asked in a deep voice that sounded like stone rubbing against stone.
“To enter Stumpwater’s. I have business with Reb Ironbolt,” I replied calmly.
A few seconds ticked by after the last word had past my lips when Grim Jack’s eyes abruptly flared with bright yellow light. Wispy tendrils of power undulated like a clutch of snakes coiling in a mass around the edges of the bright beams of light erupting into brilliance only to fade into nothingness seconds later. Two penetrating spotlight shone upon us scanning over our bodies from head to toe. When the beams hit the sidewalk the light disappeared, leaving dark spots pulsing in my vision.
Grim Jack raised his right arm to the side flexing his fingers open. A wall of translucent energy snapped into being encircling all three of us. The wall shimmered, writhing in slow swirls; it was almost like looking through a poorly made pane of window glass. It was a containment spell and a powerful one. He was probably having a problem with how I was armed today. His magic may have keyed on the fact that my guns were concealed with magical enchantments. I’d gone to Stumpwater’s in the past wearing them and there wasn’t a problem then. Maybe he was reacting to Tilly or maybe he was just having a bad day and I just happened to be the one he was going to take out his frustrations on. Regardless, we weren’t going anywhere for a while. Grim Jack lowered his hand and spoke.
“Your power has grown tenfold since last we met Young Wizard, which is rather puzzling. You carry a powerful relic of antiquity thought lost centuries ago and you have as a companion, a bound Elf known to be the servant of Hans Bialek. Explain.” He said bluntly.
Contained in Grim Jack’s amiable question, was a command for me to tell him what the hell was going on. He knew about the crown, which meant the information he had at his disposal was considerable or he was very knowledgeable about a great many things and either of those lines of thought were very disconcerting. He had also keyed in on the power I’d absorbed from the crystal. I had a little more respect for his vision. Shit, Grim Jack could literally see into a person. Good thing I was wearing clean underwear.
OK, so now I had a major problem. Do I tell him what was going on and risk someone overhearing everything or take the chance that Grim Jack might decide to double cross me and take the crown for himself? I could also remain silent leaving myself to the mercy of Grim Jack, a powerful and mysterious magical being. I was screwed no matter which way I thought about it.
“What I may have to say could mean my life and the life of my companion. I will not risk revealing it without knowing the information is safe,” I said, hoping my voice sounded steadier than I felt.
“Speak,” Grim Jack said. “None shall hear your words, “
With that I gave a curt nod, then I told him everything. I didn’t leave anything out either; there was no need to. I told him what I knew about Barnabas and King Arthur’s relics, About the Albino and the Vampire twins, I told him about Tilly, how his master was slain and he ended up with me. I even told him about what we had for lunch. Not sure why I did that, but I think being nervous had a lot to do with it. Grim Jack listened to it all, never once interrupting and when I had finished my long and animated diatribe he just stared at me unmoving with his head cocked to one side, thinking.
After what felt like an eternity he finally straightened his head and spoke.
“The path that has been set before you young Wizard is a dangerous one. I do not envy your future that has yet to be revealed,”
He made a gesture with his hand and the curtain of energy that surrounded us faded away.
“I cannot help you once you enter Stumpwater’s, but my advice to you is to seek out Baugrun and stay close to him. It is important for you to be ever watchful, evil tends to find you when you least expect it,” he said with something that sounded like regret in his voice.
Grim Jack placed a dinner plate sized hand on my shoulder. He looked deeply into my eyes then spoke.
“Be well Young Solomon and should Baugrun have questions tell him to direct them to me,”
He removed his hand moving over to stand close to the old weathered cement wall that made one of the supports for the railroad tracks above. He placed his left hand over a small red spray painted interlocking S and W. Almost immediately the cement wall folded in on itself, cement ground against cement making an unpleasant sound as it formed into an arched doorway. A huff of warm air hit us in the face as Tilly and I moved to stand in front of the archway. We heard the distant sounds of what lay beneath and caught many pleasant scents that wafted up, but unfortunately there were a few foul ones mixed in that as well. The stone steps looked threatening for some reason. No, the more I thought about it they were not threatening, but foreboding. I’d walked down these stone steps more times than I can remember and they never made me hesitate like this.
Grim Jack gestured for us to enter, after a few short seconds of more hesitation I placed my foot on the top stair and began my decent down to Stumpwater’s followed closely by Tilly.
The stairway down was so familiar to me I could’ve walked down it with my eyes closed. The stairs were roughly thirteen feet wide from stonewall to stonewall. The ceiling rose almost twenty feet high to accommodate the larger beings of the magical world. You’d be surprised at how many Trolls, Centaurs and Cyclops frequent Stumpwater’s. The walls of the stairway were made of finely carved granite stone, so precisely honed that they fit together without any mortar. The stairs were made of the same opulent material. Every five feet or so on both sides of the walls and directly above on the ceiling forming a triangle pattern, were glowing yellow stones about the size of a professional sixteen inch softball which illuminated the way in rich soft yellow light.
There were eighty steps in all. You walk down ten steps, turn left walk down another ten steps and so on until you reached the bottom. At the bottom of the eighty steps another arched doorway greeted you. This one had magic runes carved into each of the stones forming the arch and was essentially the second line of defense for Stumpwater’s, Grim Jack being the first. There was only the Main Entrance that served to let customers into Stumpwater’s proper. Dozen’s of egress points around the world however deposited patrons near the railroad bridge. Two ornately carved wooden doors about six inches thick gilded with gold were open during business hours. The carvings depicted various scenes from magical history or what Normals would call myth or fairytales. My most favorite carving was on the interior side of the open door. It’s located on the lower right panel of the right door. It depicts a scene from one of the lesser-known Grimm Brothers Fairytales, entitled the “Old man and his Grandson”.
Tilly and I entered Stumpwater’s. The place was a marvel of Dwarf craftsmanship and engineering. The space that Stumpwater’s fit in was approximately two hundred and fifty thousand square feet with similar stone facing on the walls, floor and ceiling just like the stairwell. The ceiling rose thirty-five feet at its upper most point curving downward to about twenty feet. From the ceiling hung dozens of yellow crystal chandeliers about five feet in
diameter, banded with braided black wrought iron and suspended from chains which hung down at varying lengths the longest being about ten feet. Each chandelier gave off enough light over the shops and streets to give the cavern more of a topside feel of late afternoon.
The Main Street cut right down the middle of the cavern. It was about twenty feet wide, which was intersected by another street at the middle forming a cross. The shops took up spaces on both sides of the street. There were shops you could buy potion ingredients, shops you could buy armor or arms, there were shops to get a bite to eat, - if you ever get the chance to visit Stumpwater’s I recommend you try a Yuckberry Tart. They look horrible, but smell and taste heavenly. You can find them at Votes Bakery tell him I sent you. - Shops to buy animals and even a few taverns to stop in and get a drink. The shop facades were made of a variety of materials, such as stone, brick or finely carved woods. The architecture and style of each shop depended largely on the proprietor’s culture or items being sold. Large wooden or metal sign shingles hung over each door denoting the name of each establishment. Much of Stumpwater’s reminded me of a scene of old London described in a Charles Dickens novel entitled Barnaby Rudge.
Two Dwarfs dressed in full battle dress, long braided beards and sharpened battle axes stood at attention on both sides of the open doors, standing stoic like guards at Buckingham Castle in England. Stumpwater’s was fairly busy today, the Main Street was crowded, however Tilly and I were able to navigate our way through unimpeded. The Laughing Goblin was at the far end of Stumpwater’s so we needed to pass by quite a few shops before we got there. We passed by Pu Yin’s Oddity Shop, Stickney’s Potions, Durum’s Creature Depot and Spinnaker Votes Bakery. We were just about to pass by Craven’s Tailor Shop when I felt a tug on the hem of my jacket. I stopped, turning. Tilly was gazing longingly at the display in the window. There was a handsome purple suit, which was just about Tilly’s size. I knelt down.