The Lost Mage

by Difar, Amy

  “Yep, pretty much sounds the same as what we do. Now, look at the menu and pick something.”

  “Well, Mrowley wanted me to order a beef and pork dish with a side of chicken.”

  Nora burst out laughing. “I’ll bet he does. Sorry, sweetie, there’s nothing like that on the menu. He’ll have to make do with whatever we bring home to him. Go ahead and read it. Ask if you don’t know what something is.”

  Darakin looked at the bizarre menu. There were so many odd choices that he had no idea what he wanted to order.

  Mary came back and placed a tall glass in front of him. She placed a long, paper covered item next to the glass. “Are you ready to order?”

  “No, I think we need some more time,” Nora answered.

  “No problem, I’ll be back in a few.”

  Darakin held up the white cylinder and looked at it.

  “It’s for the drink, silly. You put it in the glass and sip through it.”

  “Oh.” Darakin put the straw in the drink.

  “No! Oh, dear. You’re supposed to take the wrapper off first.” Nora pulled the straw out and removed the soaked paper wrapping. The she put it back in the glass. She put her own straw in and took a sip to show Darakin how it worked.

  Darakin leaned forward and took a sip. He sat back in surprise as the carbonated beverage hit his tongue.

  “Good, isn’t it?”

  “It’s weird. I wasn’t expecting bubbles.”

  “Yeah, but do you like it?”

  “Yes, it’s very good.”

  “I thought you’d like it. Now, what have you decided on?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, what’s your favorite meat? Beef, chicken?”

  “Um, I really liked that burger.”

  “Well, they do have those here and I think they’re pretty good.”

  “Then I’ll have one of those.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to try something different? What about …” Nora perused the menu for a minute. “Chicken wings? Do you like those?”

  “Yes, I like chicken. I was afraid that the wings thing was more of the pretend flying thing here.”

  Nora laughed. “Nope. Just the wings of a chicken.”

  When Mary returned, Nora ordered a chicken sandwich for herself and wings for Darakin. The waitress turned to Darakin.

  “You want that warp speed, honey?”

  “What’s warp speed honey? Is that some kind of topping – like ketchup?”

  Mary gave Darakin an odd look, but said nothing. She might think he was weird, but she was still hoping for a good tip.

  Nora hurried to interject. “No! She’s asking if you want hot wings, Darakin?”

  “Oh, yes please, I always prefer a warm meal to a cold one,” he said with a smile.

  “No, sweetie, not hot temperature-wise, hot spicy, do you like spicy food?” As soon as she’d asked, Nora thought it better not to go that route. After all, who knew what spices he was used to? “You know what? He’ll just have them mild. Thanks.”

  “And what do you want on the side?”

  “I’ll have onion rings with mine.” Nora looked at Darakin. “Do you like potatoes?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’ll have mashed potatoes with gravy.”

  “Okey-dokey.” Mary made a note on her pad and left the table.

  While they waited for their food, Darakin looked around.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Anything out of the ordinary.”

  She laughed. “In a place like this, everything is out of the ordinary. They’re wearing antennae for heaven’s sake.”

  “Well, we are here to look for signs of the krekdapop.”

  “I doubt he’ll pop up in the middle of the restaurant.”

  “But the scrying bowl had to show me the sign for this place for a reason.”

  “Let’s just have a nice meal and afterwards we can scrounge around the back alleys and such, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Mary arrived soon with two dishes. She placed Nora’s sandwich in front of her and a plate of wings in front of Darakin. She then put down a few plastic packages next to Darakin’s plate.

  “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No, we’re good for now, thanks.”

  When she had gone, Darakin picked up the plastic package. “What’s this?”

  “Moist towelette.”

  “Moist what?”

  “It’s for after you eat the wings, when you’re fingers are all sticky. It’s a paper towel with some soap on it. You’ll see. Try the wings.”

  Darakin picked up a wing and bit into it. His eyes lit in delight. “Mm, that’sh good.”

  “No talking with your mouth full. It’s considered impolite here, remember?”

  “Sorry.”

  “So they’re not too hot, I mean spicy for you?”

  He finished chewing and put the wing down. “Nora, we are not completely without comforts in my realm. We do use spices.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. I just have no idea.”

  “As a traveling mage who barters his services for meals, I’ve tasted many different cuisines. It is impolite not to eat what you’re offered in someone’s home, so I’ve had to eat a lot of things, even some that I might have preferred not to.”

  “Such as?”

  “Well, there’s a village that specializes in rat dishes. They have no good hunting grounds and meat is too expensive to have brought in. They have trouble getting mages there. You see, most won’t go back, once they’ve had to eat rat stew. I only went there once.”

  “Ugh. I don’t blame you. Don’t tell me anymore. I don’t want to know.”

  Darakin picked up his fork and tried the potatoes. He made a sound of approval without opening his mouth.

  When he was stopped eating his wings (making sure to leave some for Mrowley’s doggie bag), Nora tore open the moist towelette and handed it to him. He gaped in amazement as he used it to clean his hands.

  “This is really handy. I’d love to have something like this at home to carry in my satchel.”

  “They wouldn’t burn you at the stake if you showed up with something like that?”

  “Burn me at the stake? Why would you suggest something so barbaric?” Darakin stared at her in horror.

  “Here, way back before technology, people who were suspected of being witches were burned at the stake.”

  His eyes opened even wider. “I thought you people were civilized! This culture seems to accept people of all different races without prejudice. I can’t believe the witches allowed it. In my realm, the witches would destroy anyone who would try such a thing.”

  “I should have known. You see, most of the people who were accused of witchcraft were just regular people who’d run afoul of the village leaders or some other person with influence. A lot of innocent people suffered terribly during those times.”

  “I don’t understand that at all. Magic users are revered in my society.”

  “I’m sorry. It was a long, long time ago. Let’s forget about it. Do you want dessert? They have some pretty delicious cakes and sundaes here.”

  “How can a day be delicious?”

  “Not Sunday, s-u-n-d-a-e. It’s a dessert that covers ice cream with delicious toppings, like fudge or chocolate. You know what? I’ll just pick something off the menu and we can split it. The desserts here are too big for one person, anyway. ”

  Mary came back to the table.

  “Can I get you anything else?”

  “We need a doggie bag.” Darakin was pleased to have remembered the correct term.

  “Right. I’ll bring two boxes over.”

  “No, we need a doggie bag to take our leftovers home in.”

  “Got it. I’ll bring two boxes and you can fill them with the food.”

  Nora stepped in. “Thank you.” She picked up the dessert card from the table and perused it for a minute. “We’d also like t
o split a dark side of the moon sundae.”

  “One dark side. Coming up.”

  “I thought we needed a bag,” Darakin said in confusion.

  “The boxes are the bag.”

  “Nora,” Darakin asked in frustration, “how can a bag be a box. Is this some sort of riddle?”

  “No, they used to give bags, but now most places use Styrofoam boxes. But everybody still asks for a doggie bag.”

  Mary returned with Styrofoam boxes for their leftovers. “Be right back with that dessert.”

  True to her word, she returned with the sundae and two spoons.

  Darakin stared in wonder at the huge dish of ice cream with its rich toppings. Nora laughed.

  “Wait ‘til you taste it.” She handed him a spoon and then lifted her own spoon to her side. “Now, make sure you get some ice cream and topping in each spoonful, it’s better that way.”

  He did as Nora asked and put the spoon in his mouth. A huge smile lit his face. “That’s better than anything I’ve ever tasted!”

  “I know, right?”

  The two finished eating the sundae in silence. When they were done, they sat back and contemplated their full bellies.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much in one sitting before,” Darakin said after a few minutes.

  “Well, I don’t recommend doing it every day, but it is nice to splurge once in awhile.”

  Mary returned to clear their dessert dishes. “Anything else?”

  “No, thank you, just the check.”

  “Coming right up. Oh, and I’ll bring you a bag for those, as well,” she indicated the boxes with a nod of her head.

  “What? But I asked for a bag before.” Darakin sputtered at Mary’s retreating form.

  “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

  “I asked for a bag. You said you use boxes instead and yet now she’s bringing us a bag? Why didn’t she just do that in the first place?”

  “Oh, it’s just a bag to carry the boxes in. You wouldn’t put your food directly in it.”

  “Why not? If you don’t mind my saying so, Nora, your society wastes a lot of materials.”

  She chuckled. “No doubt about that. We’re getting better, but it’s taking some time to go green.”

  “Go green?”

  “It’s what the move toward environmentalism is called.”

  Darakin shook his head. “I’ll just never figure this realm out.”

  “Sure you will. All in good time.”

  When Mary returned with the check, Nora tucked some cash in the little binder and stood up. “Ready?”

  “Sure. Now we can go look for signs of the krekdapop?”

  “Yep.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Once they were outside, Darakin stared at the sign depicting the dancing utensils as though it would give him a clue. He sighed.

  “Well, the sign tells me nothing.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll go behind the restaurant and check the alleys. Seems like a more likely place to find a slimy demon, doesn’t it?”

  “I guess.”

  Darakin followed Nora to an alley between the restaurant’s building and its neighbor. She led the way down the narrow passageway toward a truck lane that ran behind the buildings. When they reached the road they looked around.

  “Well, this is the dumpster for the restaurant. It’s where they put all their garbage. Then a truck comes by early in the morning and empties it.”

  “A truck?”

  “Mm hmm. A mechanical beast. Bigger than a car, but smaller than the bus.”

  “Ah.”

  “I’m going to check this dumpster then.” Darakin hoisted himself up the side of the bin and peered inside.

  From the backdoor of the restaurant came a surprised shout. “Hey! What are you doing?”

  “Um, we’re just … we were here earlier,” she held up the doggie bag as proof, “and he thinks he may have left his watch on the table, so we wanted to check the dumpster,” Nora struggled to come up with a reasonable explanation. Darakin continued looking at the garbage.

  “Why wouldn’t you go inside and check the lost and found?”

  “Well, that seems like a good idea. Thank you for suggesting it.”

  The boy turned to leave, but then turned back. “Hey, you’re not the ones who’ve been going through the garbage every night, are you? Because if you are, could you stop? Every day I come into work and have to sweep up all the garbage you leave in the street. It’s really annoying.”

  Darakin looked up at the boy for the first time. “Someone’s been rummaging around in here?”

  “Well, you for one.”

  “I haven’t touched anything.”

  “Okay, so it’s not you. It just seems kind of weird that that’s been happening and now here you are.”

  Darakin ignored that and asked, “Have you noticed anything else out of the ordinary?”

  “You mean besides an albino man going through the garbage?”

  “I’m not an albino.”

  “Whatever, dude. Other than slimy garbage all over the street every morning, no, nothing unusual.”

  “Slimy? The garbage is slimy?”

  “Isn’t all garbage? But now that you mention it, it is extra gross. I didn’t think we served that kind of sticky, yucky stuff here.”

  “You know how garbage gets,” Nora wanted to end the conversation before Darakin started talking about lizard demons to this boy. “Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.”

  “Yeah, sure lady. Remember to check with lost and found.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  The busboy went back inside and Darakin lowered himself to the ground. “You see, Nora? The krekdapop has been here.”

  “Probably, but you heard the kid, he comes overnight and it’s all messed up in the morning.”

  “We can search this road for more slime. It may be leaving a trail of some sort.”

  “Let me ask you something. Even if we find it, what are you going to do? Have you remembered how to get rid of it yet?”

  “No, but I’m still hoping something will come to me.”

  “Great.” Nora’s voice indicated she thought it was anything but great.

  “Nora, I have to try. Which way is the park from here?”

  She pointed and he started walking that way, examining every inch of wall and road surface along the way for signs of lizard demon slime. Nora followed reluctantly behind.

  When they reached the end of the narrow truck lane, Darakin turned to Nora. “I don’t understand, I’d have thought we’d find some sign of it here.”

  “Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we might need to come overnight and wait for him to show up.”

  “That’s a great idea! Can we come back tonight? Since we’re not working?”

  Nora’s sighed. “I suppose so.” After a moment’s thought, she asked, “Is it really dangerous? I mean, should I be worried? I was kind of thinking it was a joke until now.”

  “Yes, Nora, it is dangerous. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’d have you stay home if I didn’t think I’d get lost while following it. But we’re both going to stay back out of sight. I’m just hoping that seeing it will jog something in my memory. Maybe we could just try to follow it to wherever it’s staying and then go back when we’re better prepared?”

  “Okay. That sounds better than confronting it here in this alley.” Nora was distressed at the thought of Darakin fighting some sort of monster, but she didn’t want to show it. Against her better judgment, she was growing quite attached to Darakin. She was pretty sure that he liked her and it was obvious that they had a sexual attraction, but she didn’t know how he felt about having a long term relationship with her.

  “Well, if we’re going to be up all night, we should probably go home and get some rest.” Darakin looked around, unsure of where he was.

  “This way,” Nora took his arm and led him toward the bus stop.

  “I’ll drop you o
ff at home and then I’m going to the store for some supplies.”