The Lost Mage

by Difar, Amy

  “Pfft. Figures.” Nora’s irritation was impossible to conceal.

  Ravenwynd turned to glare at Nora before asking Darakin, “Why do you travel with someone who obviously has no idea what a glorious, magical being you are?”

  “It’s my understanding that magic is not common in this realm.”

  “It is in my circle, honey. You’ve just been traveling in the wrong company.”

  Nora headed toward the door. “Okay, that’s it. Darakin, if you want my help, we need to get started. We’re running out of time.”

  Ravenwynd saw the longing in Darakin’s eyes as he looked back at Nora and knew that he would follow her out. “Wait! I’m sorry; maybe I can help you with something. You said you were looking for a demon?”

  Darakin stopped and looked at Ravenwynd. “Yes, have you seen one?”

  “Well, no, but I’ll certainly keep my ears and eyes open.”

  “I would be most obliged. I need to get some more information first, but I may be back for supplies.”

  “Okay, you are welcome,” she looked at Nora, “You’re both welcome to come back any time.”

  “Yeah right,” Nora said beneath her breath.

  The couple stepped out of the store and turned to the right. Nora said nothing as they walked.

  “Have I done something wrong?” Darakin asked.

  “No,” Nora replied but her tone belied her words.

  “Really? Because I’m sensing something in your voice.”

  “Well, a being as magical as you should surely be able to figure it out,” Nora mocked.

  “Okay, now I know you’re mad. I just don’t know what I did wrong.”

  Nora shrugged. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Go back and let her lead you around the store, telling you what a magnificent specimen you are.”

  Darakin stopped walking and held Nora’s arm so she couldn’t continue. “Nora? Talk to me, please.”

  “She obviously had the hots for you.”

  “The hots? What does that mean?”

  “She’s into you, Darakin. She wants to do that thing that we do together every night. With you. Can’t you see that? For a supposed magical person, you’re pretty oblivious to what’s going on around you.”

  “Nora, what we do at night … what we share – I don’t want to do that with anyone but you. I just thought maybe Ravenwynd –” he stopped short at Nora’s scoff. “What?”

  “Ravenwynd? What kind of silly name is that?” She mocked Ravenwynd’s high-pitched voice as she said, “It’s one word, wynd with a y.” She reverted back to her normal voice. “She’s one of those New Age wackos that claims some woodland spirit spoke to them in a trance and told them their true name. Then they pick something like Ravenwynd so they sound mysterious. Her real name is probably Gertrude or something.”

  “I’m sorry. Clearly you’ve taken a dislike to her and I don’t want to upset you, but there are woodland spirits.”

  “Not now, Darakin. I’ve no mind for this right now.” She started walking down the street again.

  Darakin took some long strides to catch up to her. “Okay, okay. But let’s keep the shop in mind. It is possible I’m going to need some supplies in the future. We don’t know.”

  “Aye, ‘tis true. There are other New Age places around, but they probably all know each other anyway.” She stopped and pointed. “There’s the seafood restaurant and the florist.”

  Darakin looked at the low buildings. Just after the florist was a wide staircase. He walked over to it. “Yes, this is it. I sat here and Mrowley was just over there.”

  “Okay, then we’re not far from the woods where you arrived. The park is two blocks down. Let’s go.” She started off down the block, not waiting to see if the mage was following.

  Darakin stood and walked behind Nora, marveling at her attractive form at the same time that he shook his head in dismay, thinking that he’d never understand women.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The couple arrived at the park and Darakin looked at trees in delight. “I miss forests.”

  “This is hardly a forest, Darakin. It’s just a park.”

  “I still like it. I’m used to lots of trees. It smells like home.”

  “Good, then maybe you’ll recognize something here.”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure that this is where Mrowley and I spent the first night.” He looked around. “I need to walk around and see if anything looks familiar.”

  Darakin walked around the park checking the thicker wooded areas. After what seemed like hours, he found what he was looking for.

  “Look,” he called to Nora. “This is where I was summoned. See the rune markings on the ground?”

  The remnants the spray-painted runes were still visible in the dirt, which was cracked from where the ritual had torn the earth apart.

  Nora stared at the strange markings in silence. Oh my Lord! Is it possible that he’s not crazy? That he really is from another dimension or realm or whatever?

  “Nora?”

  “I see. I’m just not sure what to make of this.”

  Darakin took hold of her arms and faced her. “Nora, please. I didn’t realize how important it was to me that you believe me, but it is. I’m not crazy and I’m not making this up.” He released her arms and starting looking for more evidence. Under a nearby bush he found several used black candles. “See? Does this society use black candles for anything else? Other than things involving demons?”

  Nora realized that, as important as it was to Darakin that she believe him, it was equally important to her that she did, too. The runes on the ground, the burnt, black candles, his strange mannerisms and the fact that he was able to communicate with the cat all lent credence to his story, and she had to concede that something was amiss here. “Well, I do believe that something weird happened here.”

  He pulled her into a tight embrace. “That’s a start.” He released her and looked around. “Now, to look for signs of the Krekdapop.”

  “Sweetie, as much as I hate to stop you, we don’t have time. We’ve been here for a really long time and we still have to get across town and go to work soon.”

  “I’m sorry; I didn’t realize how long we’ve been here. Can we come back tomorrow and look?”

  “Sure.” As they started walking hand in hand, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and said, “You know, if we took the subway, we could stay longer. It’s much faster than the bus.”

  His grip on her hand tightened in apprehension. “No, Nora. Please don’t ask again.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry.”

  They made their way to the bus stop and Darakin sat next to Nora, clutching the seat for the entire ride.

  When they entered the apartment, they found Mrowley pacing back and forth. As soon as he saw them, he lay down and pretended to be asleep.

  “Mrowley?”

  The cat yawned. Huh? Oh, hi Darakin. I didn’t hear you come in.

  “Really? Because it looked to me like you were pacing back and forth.”

  Um, no, I was, um, exercising. You know, us housecats have to work out to keep in shape.

  “So, you didn’t watch by the window for us to come home?”

  What do you think I am – a dog? Hey, did you bring me home some lizard meat?

  Darakin laughed. “It’s not a lizard; it’s a demon that looks a bit like a lizard. Anyway, we didn’t find him yet, so you’ll have to settle for some of this cat food in a can.” Darakin held up a can he took out of the cupboard.

  “Oh my God! Does he want to eat the demon?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Ew!”

  Dude! Not the demon, the lizard.

  “He seems to be having some trouble grasping that the demon looks like a lizard but isn’t one.”

  “Ah.”

  Huh? You said it was a lizard.

  “No, I said it was a demon that had some features that made it look like a lizard.”

  Oh. In that case, can you open
that can you’re waving around?

  “Sure.” Darakin spooned out some cat food for Mrowley.

  Nora made them each a sandwich and they left to go to work.

  Don’t worry about me, Mrowley called after them. I’ll just find something to entertain myself with.

  “That sounded kind of ominous.”

  “What?” Nora asked as she locked the door with the key.

  “Mrowley said he’d find something to entertain himself with while we’re gone.”

  “Oh, great. Eh, he’s a cat. He’s probably already asleep on the bed. He’s the type you only have to worry about when he doesn’t say anything.”

  “I hope so.”

  As they walked the few blocks to Sean’s Pub, Darakin took Nora’s hand. She smiled at how good it felt to have someone touch her.

  They entered the bar and Darakin’s eyes lit in delight. “Minstrels!”

  “Yeah, we call them musicians.”

  “I don’t care what you call them. I love music. One of the main forms of entertainment in my realm is to sit in a pub in the evening, listening to the music and tales of wandering minstrels and bards.”

  “Darakin? I don’t think this is what you’re used to. Music here is –” She was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass as a heavy mug of ale hit the floor, dropped by one of the regulars who also happened to be a good tipper.

  Nora grabbed a bar towel and rushed over the patron. “Look at that, you’ve gone and spilt the holy water now, Barry. I’ll see about getting you another.” She picked up the large pieces of glass and headed back to the bar.

  Darakin approached the stage to look at the strange instruments there. The band members, who had just taken the stage, stared at the strange, tall man with the flowing silver hair. The lead guitarist shrugged, turned on his amp and let a loud opening chord rip.

  Darakin leapt three feet in the air and shrieked. He turned and saw the small crowd seeming to surge toward him, fists pumping in the air. He instinctively ran to Nora, forcing her against the wall with his arms around her to protect her from the attack. The band continued playing their song, despite the antics of the bizarre man.

  Nora pushed Darakin away. “What are you doing?”

  “What?”

  “I said, what are you doing?”

  Darakin, who’d been directly in front of the amplifier when the song began, found himself unable to differentiate any sound. “What? I can’t hear you.”

  Nora pointed to the entrance and beckoned him to follow her.

  Once outside, she whirled on him. “What are you throwing me into walls for?”

  “What?”

  “Sweet Jaysus, it was hard enough to communicate when you could hear.”

  “What? I can’t hear you.”

  “Give it a minute,” she shouted close to his ear.

  After a few minutes, she tried again. “Can you hear me now?”

  “Yes,” he said in a voice loud enough to indicate the he was still having trouble.

  “I told you music wasn’t the same here.”

  “You didn’t tell me it was used as a weapon.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “The music. It deafened me.”

  “It’s not a weapon, just a rock band.”

  “Rocks? They throw rocks? Do they do that after they’ve deafened you? Is that why the crowd was going to attack them? Nora, we can’t go back in there.”

  “No, they don’t throw rocks. Rock is a type of music here. It’s loud and strong. And what do you mean the crowd was attacking?”

  “Well, their fists were up in the air and they were moving forward. That seems like an impending attack to me.”

  “It wasn’t. That’s the way young people show appreciation for rock music.”

  “Oh. But you know that deafening thing would be a great tactic. I can’t hear an enemy approach now and the roar in my ears is distracting enough that a combat mage would have trouble casting.”

  “Well, there are no combat mages here. It’s just a rock band and people like to listen to their music loud here.”

  “It hardly seems good for the hearing.”

  “It’s not, but most kids don’t care. Now, I have to go back in and finish cleaning that mess.”

  “Okay,” the mage said with great reluctance.

  Nora had a thought. “Wait here for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

  Nora disappeared back into the bar, returning a few minutes later with small pieces of foam. “Put these in your ears. It will muffle the sound.”

  Darakin held the odd material up and looked at it. He squished it between his fingers and laughed when it bounced back into its original form. He twisted the top and bottom in opposite directions and let it spring back.

  “What are you laughing at?”

  “Look at this! It keeps going back to its starting form.”

  “Yes, Darakin, it’s called foam and that’s pretty much what it does – well, that and muffling sound. No foam on the Mother ship?”

  “Mother ship?”

  “Nothing, bad joke.”

  Darakin shrugged and put them into his ears.

  Nora headed to the door and looked back over her shoulder. “You coming?”

  “Yes.” Darakin shuffled in behind Nora and was pleased that the strange material did muffle the noise a bit.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next morning, Darakin awoke to find Mrowley uncharacteristically missing from the bed. Fearing that he might be after more prey to bring to Nora, the mage got out of bed and tiptoed into the living room. He took one step in the room and Mrowley ran across his feet while making a mad dash around the room.

  The cat skidded to a stop before turning and walking back toward Darakin. Hey.

  “Hey? That’s all you have to say?”

  Uh, good morning?

  “What are you chasing?”

  Huh? With that, the cat’s eyes glazed over, his head turned sharply to the right and he took off at a breakneck speed. He did another lap of the room before stopping in front of Darakin again.

  “What do you mean, huh? What are you chasing?”

  Nothing.

  “Then why are you running like a maniac?”

  I don’t know what you mean … He was off again. This time his mad dash took him under one of the sofa end tables where his tail got caught on a lamp cord, pulling it to the floor with a loud crash and shattering of the bulb.

  Mrowley’s ears pointed back and his pupils were dilated and wild looking. He ran to Darakin’s side.

  “Mrowley! What’s going on? What are you running for?”

  To get away from that lamp, dude. Didn’t you see it? It almost hit me.

  “That’s because your tail got caught on its cord when you ran by. Is there a fly in here?”

  Fly? Where? Again, the cat’s eyes darted around the room as he looked for the insect.

  “No, no. I didn’t see one. I thought maybe you were running after one … oh, forget it.”

  Forget what?

  Darakin made a sound of frustration. He turned back to the bedroom to find Nora standing in the doorway staring at him with a soft smile on her face.

  “I’m sorry about your lamp, Nora. I’ll add it to the list.”

  “It’s okay. I didn’t like that one anyway. It was just something I found at the curbside awhile ago.”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

  “You said there were cats in your realm, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Have you never lived with one, though?”

  “Well, no. I’m a wandering mage. Companions don’t exactly fit my lifestyle.”

  “Well, that’s just typical cat behavior. They run like crazy for no apparent reason. What did he say when you asked him why?”

  “He just kept saying, ‘Huh?’ like he had no idea what I was talking about.”

  She laughed. “Figures.”

  Nora shuffled
to the kitchen to start the coffee pot. “So, what’s the plan for today?”

  “Well, I was wondering if you knew where the attack on the Chipper person took place.”