Kingdom of Magicians

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Eleven

  The Torgan marketplace was similar to the marketplace in New Ora, only much larger. There were dozens of stalls and an equal number of merchants hawking anything from weapons to vegetables to fruits to clothing and everything in between. Most of the merchants were natives of Torgan, from what Keo could tell, but he noticed a handful of Hasfarian merchants selling Hasfarian robes and jewelry, plus some foreigners that he didn't recognize at all. The smells of bread, oranges, apples, carrots, and various other types of food filled the air, along with the sounds of merchants hawking their wares, customers buying or trading for the things they wanted or needed, and the occasional loud argument between merchants and their customers over the correct price for this or that item. It reminded Keo of New Ora, except louder, larger, and slightly more chaotic.

  The most striking difference, however, was the large Torgan Theater that towered over the entire place. According to Dlaine, the marketplace had been established outside of the Theater due to the Theater's popularity. The idea was that the merchants would try to sell their wares to people entering or leaving the Theater due to the Theater's high volume of traffic, which made sense to Keo, although he did wonder whether you could hear all of the noise from the marketplace from inside the Theater or not.

  In any event, Dlaine seemed to take the noisiness and largeness of the marketplace in stride. He told Keo that they needed to stock up on meat and bread, so they walked to the nearest merchant who sold such things. Unfortunately, they were not the only people interested in buying meat and bread, because they found themselves standing in a rather long line of people who held baskets of meat and bread in their arms, waiting to pay for their goods. Dlaine picked out what they needed—mostly bacon and biscuits, which seemed to be Dlaine's favorite food for some reason—and they stood at the back of the line, which seemed to be moving rather slowly. Keo was restless, because he wanted to leave Torgan as soon as possible, but they could not do that until they had bought their supplies. Dlaine had also mentioned needing to refill their water thermoses as well, which made Keo feel even more impatient than ever.

  As he and Dlaine stood there, Keo looked around the marketplace, hoping to find something he could focus on to relieve his boredom, as the line wasn't moving very quickly. Although there were a lot of interesting things on sale at this place, Keo had a hard time focusing on any of it because he was so impatient to leave the town and continue on their journey to Capitika. He did briefly wonder where Jola might be, as he had not heard anything from her since they entered Torgan, but he decided that Jola was probably all right, as Dlaine had not yet expressed any concern over her disappearance.

  That was when Keo felt like he was being watched. He looked over his shoulder, toward the Hasfarian fruit stand where a Hasfarian merchant was haggling with a couple of Torganians over the price of his spiked pears. But he wasn't focused on the merchant or his customers.

  Instead, Keo was looking at the old woman standing just to the side of the fruit stand. She had long gray hair and wore white robes and was staring directly at Keo like she was spying on him. She looked just like the woman he had seen in the window on the second floor of that building, but Keo was unsure if she was the same woman or not.

  “Hey, Dlaine,” said Keo, tapping Dlaine on the shoulder.

  “What?” said Dlaine, glancing at Keo as he took a step forward, because the line was starting to move now. “Did you see something you want?”

  “No,” said Keo, shaking his head. He gestured toward the old woman, who was still staring at them. “That old lady is staring at us.”

  Dlaine looked over at the old woman and frowned. “What old lady?”

  “That—” Keo stopped speaking when he noticed that the old woman was gone. He then looked around, but did not see her anywhere nearby. “Huh? Where'd she go?”

  “Are you sure you saw an old lady over there?” said Dlaine. “Maybe it's just the stress of our encounter with the gate guards earlier getting to you. Or maybe you're just hungry. It's almost lunchtime, after all, and we haven't eaten yet.”

  Keo rubbed his belly, which ached with hunger. “I guess that might have something to do with it, but I don't know. I saw the old lady in the window of a building in town. She was staring at us even then.”

  “Why didn't you mention her before, then?” said Dlaine in annoyance.

  “I didn't think that she was that important,” said Keo. “So I didn't mention her.”

  “Well, even if she does exist, I doubt she's harmful,” said Dlaine. “Probably just the town idiot. Every town has one, you know.”

  “I don't remember New Ora having one,” said Keo.

  “Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you, Keo, but if you don't know who the idiot of your town is, then that usually means that it is you,” said Dlaine. He shrugged. “Not that I think you're dumb, but …”

  Keo was about to snap at Dlaine for calling him an idiot when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He looked over his shoulder and saw, to his surprise, that it was the old lady from before. She was now standing so close to him that Keo could smell the stench of dirt on her, which made him step back in revulsion.

  “Is that her?” said Dlaine, looking over Keo's shoulder at the old woman. “Huh. How'd she get over here so quickly?”

  Keo was about to ask that same question before the old woman held out a hand and said, in a very ancient voice, “Please, kind man, could you spare me a penny? I am a homeless and poor old widow who must rely on the kindness of strangers to survive.”

  A part of Keo wanted to give her some of his money—even though he was hardly a rich man himself—but then he hesitated. He did not know or trust this woman. There was something about her that didn't seem quite right to him, although he could not place it. Perhaps it was the way in which she spoke, like she had memorized a speech that she was reciting. Of course, with her old gray robes, she certainly looked like a homeless widow who relied on the kindness of strangers in order to survive, but Keo was still unsure if he should trust her or not.

  He decided that he could not trust her and thus said, “I am sorry, miss, but I, unfortunately, don't have a whole lot of money to share with you. I'm just a traveler passing through and not a very wealthy man myself.”

  The old woman lowered her hand, looking rather disappointed by Keo's answer. “Oh, well. I suppose I will go and find someone else who will be kind enough to spare some of their money with a poor, homeless widow like me. May the Good King's spirit bless you nonetheless.”

  With that, the old woman turned and left. Keo watched her go for a moment, still not sure what to make of her, but then shook his head and decided that she was simply a homeless widow who needed money. Master Tiram had often told him that those who lacked homes often suffered in ways that those who did have homes did not. It affected their minds and their souls, making them behave in odd—and sometimes even criminal—ways.

  In any case, the woman was leaving, so Keo did not see any reason to continue to worry about her. He turned to face the rest of the line and rested his hand on the handle of Gildshine.

  Or he would have, if Gildshine had still been there. His hand met empty air and he looked down to see that Gildshine—sheath and all—was completely missing.

  “Dlaine,” said Keo, tapping Dlaine on the shoulder. “Dlaine, have you seen Gildshine?”

  “Isn't it sheathed in your belt?” said Dlaine without looking at Keo. He took another step forward as the line progressed.

  “No,” said Keo, shaking his head in frustration. “It's … it's gone.”

  “Gone?” Dlaine looked over his shoulder down at Keo's belt. His eyes widened when he saw that Gildshine was gone. “How the hell did you lose a sword, especially one as large as Gildshine?”

  Keo shrugged helplessly. “I don't know. It was there when we entered town and it was also there when we entered the marketplace.”

  “Are you sure you didn't just drop it somewhere maybe?” said
Dlaine.

  Keo nodded. “Certain of it, in fact. Gildshine's sheath is always attached very tightly to my belt. There's no way it could have simply fallen off. I make sure it can't fall off easily.”

  “Then did someone steal it?” said Dlaine.

  Keo looked around the marketplace urgently, saying, “Well, I'm not sure, but—Hey!”

  A teenaged boy—probably thirteen or fourteen—was walking away rather hurriedly from Keo and Dlaine into the crowd of shoppers buying things. The boy held Gildshine in his hands, a surprising feat for such a young kid, but then the teenaged boy looked quite muscular for his age.

  In any event, as soon as Keo shouted at the boy, the boy immediately broke into a run. Keo looked at Dlaine and said, “Stay here and pay for our food. I'll go after the little thief.”

  Dlaine looked like he was about to argue with that, but Keo did not stay to listen. He darted away from their place in the line, his long legs carrying him across the stone road upon which the marketplace was built. He saw the teenaged boy pushing his way through the crowd, earning a lot of surprised or angry looks from the shoppers, but the boy did not seem to care who he annoyed or angered. As a result, the shoppers did not slow down the boy very much, although Keo figured he could still catch up to the boy as long as he didn't slow down.

  Like the boy, Keo also shoved past any shoppers in his way. He didn't want to, but he knew that if he lost Gildshine, then he would never be able to prove to Nesma that the demons were coming back, and then all of Lamaira would be destroyed. One old man who he pushed aside actually whacked Keo in the back with his cane, and the old man must have either been ridiculously strong or perhaps simply wielded a thick cane, because the blow almost knocked Keo's breath out. As a result, Keo briefly lost sight of the boy, but he ignored the pain in his back and ran as quickly as he could in the direction he'd seen the boy run.

  Then Keo saw the boy dart out of the marketplace and toward the Torganians' houses. The boy was clearly trying to lose Keo in the alleyways of the town, and what was worse was that the boy had a real chance of doing that, because Keo did not know Torgan's layout as well as the boy and he might end up wasting a lot of time searching for the boy or maybe never even find him again.

  But even when the boy disappeared into the alleyway between two buildings, Keo nonetheless followed. When he entered the alleyway, he spotted the boy at the end take a turn to the right, prompting Keo to run even faster to catch up.

  Keo managed to keep the boy in sight at all times, which surprised even himself. He suspected that the boy, though obviously quick, was being slowed down by Gildshine's weight, which explained why he was having a hard time losing Keo. A part of Keo hoped that the boy would simply toss Gildshine aside and escape, but Keo knew that the boy was not going to give up his new treasure that easily.

  At one point the boy knocked over a large garbage can in Keo's path, spilling out rotten fruit, bones, and other trash onto the street. But Keo leaped over it without trouble and resumed running after the boy when he touched the street again.

  After several more seconds of chase, the boy suddenly darted into the interior of one of the buildings. Keo almost tripped over his own feet as he stopped and looked into the building, which from a brief glance, told him that it was empty. In any case, even if the building was full of people, Keo would have entered because there was no way that he was going to lose Gildshine to some little brat.

  Keo dashed inside after the boy, but found himself in a dark room, although he heard the sounds of the boy running ahead and he simply ran as well, heedless of whatever was there.

  Thankfully, Keo did not run into or trip over anything, and in another minute he burst outside onto the back streets again, only this time he had briefly lost sight of the boy. Looking around, Keo realized that he was standing behind the Torgan Theater and noticed the boy wrench open the Theater's back door and dash inside before Keo could shout at him to stop.

  Again, Keo was hesitant about entering someone else's property without permission, but the only alternative was to turn back and never see Gildshine again. And if he never saw Gildshine again, then that meant that all of Lamaira was doomed to fall to the demons.

  So Keo dashed down the street to the back door of the Theater. He wrenched it open and ran inside and found himself standing in a dimly-lit area. It was a narrow hallway, going both ways, though it was full of things like chairs, strange masks hanging on the walls (including at least one mask that looked like the tortured face of a dying child), and a bucket of water and a mop, like whoever cleaned up the place had left his things here for some reason.

  Keo looked to the left and to the right, but he unfortunately could not see any sign of the boy. It was like he had vanished into thin air, which made Keo wonder if he would never see Gildshine again.

  No, Keo, don't think such negative thoughts, Keo thought, wiping the sweat off his forehead, sweat he had accumulated from running around so much in the hot summer sun. You just need to look around. The boy is probably still in here somewhere, most likely hiding.

  But Keo first listened for the sounds of any other people who might be in here. The Theater, however, was silent; perhaps there were no plays scheduled for today. That made Keo feel safer, because he did not want whoever owned or worked in this building to see him and think he was a thief of some sort and call the Enforcers to arrest him.

  But the lack of sound was also a bad thing because Keo could not hear any sounds that the boy might be making. He again looked both ways, but he was still uncertain about which direction the boy might have gone.

  The longer I stand here trying to figure this out, the more time that boy has to put distance between me and him, Keo thought. And if I let him get away with that, then I can kiss Gildshine—and Lamaira as a whole—good bye.

  That was when Keo heard the scuffing of a boot against the wooden floor. It sounded like it was coming from the left end of the hall, but he could not see anyone who might have made that sound. It didn't sound very heavy, however, so Keo assumed that it had been made by the boy, who was likely hiding somewhere nearby.

  But I'm not going to let him know I heard him, Keo thought. Instead, I'm going to sneak up on him and get him when he least expects it.

  So Keo slowly walked down the hall to the left, making sure that his footsteps were inaudible, but also avoiding the various props scattered around his feet. He walked only a couple of feet before he heard the scuffing sound again, and this time, he located its source more specifically: It was coming from what appeared to be a closet door on the left wall, about a dozen feet down from his current position.

  There he is, Keo thought with a triumphant smile. Got you, you little brat.

  Keo continued walking toward the closet, only this time he was a bit faster than before. He thought it was rather foolish of the boy to hide in that closet, which probably lacked any escape route, but then, young boys like him could be very foolish (Keo should know, seeing as Master Tiram had berated him many times for making similar mistakes when he was the same age as this boy).

  Keo stopped in front of the door and listened, but did not hear any sounds from the other side of the door. Maybe the boy had heard him approaching and was keeping quiet so Keo wouldn't hear him.

  Stupid kid, Keo thought. Should have picked a better hiding place.

  Keo put one hand on the doorknob, which was wooden and old. He listened again, but still heard nothing. It was like the boy was not hiding in there at all, but Keo knew better.

  Keo yanked open the door, shouting, “All right, kid, I got you! Now give me back my sword or I'll—”

  Keo stopped speaking when he saw that the closet was completely empty, save for an old, dusty-looking broom that appeared to have been unused for quite a while. And the closet was too small for the boy to hide anywhere, which Keo confirmed by poking his head into the hot closet and looking around. He could barely fit in there himself, so he pulled his head out and stared at the empty broom closet
in confusion.

  “What the hell?” said Keo. “Where is the—”

  Something solid and heavy slammed into the back of Keo's head, knocking him out instantly.

  ***