The Lost Mage

by Difar, Amy

“I have. Anyway, back to your shaman memory problems. I can’t believe I’m even going to suggest this, but perhaps we should go back to see Ravenwynd again. She must know someone who does hypnosis.”

  “You want to get hypnotized?” Darakin asked with a puzzled look.

  “Not me, silly, you. Perhaps under hypnosis, you could remember all those rituals and dances you were taught.”

  “Really? You would go back there?”

  “Why are you so hesitant? I though you liked that shop.”

  “I do, it’s just that we fight every time we go there.”

  She laughed. “I do get a little bitchy and jealous when we go there, don’t I?”

  Don’t answer that. It’s a trap.

  Darakin was filled with terror. The cat was right. If he agreed, surely she’d be mad at being called bitchy but he couldn’t very well disagree, because she was very jealous of Ravenwynd.

  “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost. You don’t need to answer, silly man. It was a rhetorical question.”

  Darakin let out a heavy sigh of relief.

  “Tomorrow morning, we’ll call and ask if she knows anyone. Now, I’m beat. It’s off to bed with me.” Nora disappeared into the bedroom.

  “Me too. It’s been a long day.”

  Mrowley pranced into the bedroom behind Darakin and the three of them were soon sound asleep.

  The next morning, Nora rolled over and wrapped her arms around Darakin and woke him up with a kiss.

  “Mm, morning.” He smiled at her. “You’re up early.”

  “To quote the great Mrowley, I’m horny.” She began nuzzling his neck.

  “I still don’t get that expression but far be it for me to disappoint a lady.” He returned her kiss and rolled over on top of her.

  There you go again. You’re still in the wrong position.

  “Out!” Darakin tossed a throw pillow in Mrowley’s direction and the cat jumped off the bed and sauntered into the living room.

  The next morning, Nora emerged from the bedroom and pulled out the packaging from Darakin’s scrying supplies to look for Ravenwynd’s phone number. Darakin came into the living room, pulling on his shirt as he walked.

  Nora picked up the cordless phone and brought it to Darakin. “Time for you to learn how to use the phone.”

  He stared at the device in her hand. “Can’t you do it?” he asked, ashamed of the fear he heard in his voice.

  “No. There’s nothing to be afraid of. If you’re going to live here, you’ll need to learn how use one of these. We’re kind of dependent on them here. Now, press the ‘phone’ button.”

  “Aren’t they all phone buttons?”

  “No, well, actually I guess they are, but I’m talking about the one that says ‘phone’ on it.”

  Darakin pressed the button marked ‘phone’.

  “Now, put it to your ear.” She waited while he brought the phone up. “Hear that sound?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s called a dial tone. It means you’re able to connect to another phone by dialing their number.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Just use the keypad to dial the numbers you see here,” she pointed to Ravenwynd’s store listing.

  “How is that dialing?”

  “What? Oh, I see. When phones were first invented, they used a rotary dial. Now we just press the button instead. But we still call it dialing.”

  Darakin pressed the numbers as he muttered something about a silly society where doggy bags were boxes and dialing was actually pressing buttons.

  When he’d entered the number, Nora said, “Now, hold the phone to your ear. You’ll hear her answer and you can talk to her by speaking in here.” She indicated the speaker part of the receiver.

  Though she’d told him he would hear a voice, he still jumped when Ravenwynd answered the phone saying, “Pandora’s Box.”

  Nora nodded in encouragement. Not only is this good practice for him, but I don’t have to speak to that new age wacko. Win-win. Nora smiled to herself.

  “Hello?” the voice on the phone asked.

  “Um, yes, um this is Darakin.”

  “Darakin? The mage from another realm? That Darakin?”

  “Yes. Do you know any other Darakins?”

  Ravenwynd laughed. “No, silly, I was just messing with you. What can I do for you?”

  “Um, Nora was wondering…” At the look on Nora’s face, he quickly changed his wording. “I mean, I was wondering …,” he looked at Nora with the phone still next to his head, “What do we need?”

  “Huh?” Ravenwynd asked in confusion.

  Nora sighed. “A hypnotist to help you remember those rituals, right?”

  “Oh, yes. Do you know any hypnotists?”

  “Me?” the voice asked from the phone.

  “Yes.”

  “Of course I do. What do you need one for?”

  “I need to remember something I was taught as a boy, but have forgotten now.”

  “All right. When do you want to see her?”

  He looked at Nora. “When do we want to see her?” he asked into the phone.

  “Are you asking me?” Ravenwynd asked, confused again.

  “No, I’m sorry I’m … it’s just … Nora?”

  Seeing how flustered he was, Nora told him, “It’s customary to take the receiver away from your mouth when you address someone other than the person on the phone.”

  Nora took the phone and turned away to finish the conversation. “Sorry, it’s his first time using a phone.” She walked into the kitchen.

  Dude, it’s just a phone. Why’d you get so upset?

  “Have you ever used one?” the mage asked the cat.

  Um, like, I’m a cat. So no. But I could. I know how.

  “Really? You know how to use a phone?” Darakin asked in disbelief.

  Sure, sure. You put your paw on those buttons a bunch of times and then you put your face next to the phone while you meow.

  “First of all, I don’t meow.”

  I know. But don’t feel bad. Humans are notably bad at meowing. Their intonation is all off and they use the wrong meows at all the wrong times. It’s quite embarrassing, actually, that something so simple is impossible for them to learn.

  “Yeah? Well I may not meow, but you can’t speak the human tongue.”

  Pfft. Why would I want to? I can understand it, that’s all I need to do. I can’t waste brain cells on an activity that gains me nothing.

  “Nothing?” Darakin sputtered. “How about asking for food from someone other than me? That would gain you something, wouldn’t it?”

  I can do that. To prove his point, the cat walked over to Nora, wound himself around her legs and said, “Meow.”

  Nora held the phone away from her ear. “Ach, Darakin, did you not feed the puir, wee kitty?”

  See? Mrowley gave Darakin a smug look.

  “Why do I bother?”

  Bother what?

  “Trying to talk to you.”

  What do you mean trying? We are talking.

  “Never mind.”

  Whatever, dude. Can you feed me? He rubbed against Darakin and started to purr.

  Darakin opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and went to fill Mrowley’s bowl with food.

  Nora hung up the phone and turned to Darakin. “Okay, we’re all set for tomorrow afternoon. The hypnotist will meet us at Ravenwynd’s shop.”

  “What about work?”

  “Not a problem. Bar’s closed tomorrow, remember?”

  “Oh.” In truth, Darakin had lost count of the days since he’d been here. Back home, daily celebrations to the patron deity of the day helped him stay oriented. Here, one day seemed the same as the next.

  “Anyway, we’ll go in the afternoon and see if she can help you remember.”

  “Okay.” Darakin felt a little better now that they had a plan.

  “Now, go get ready for work while I make us lunch.”

  T
hough the rest of the day passed uneventfully, Darakin tossed and turned all night, his sleep disturbed by nightmares of trying to face the demon as a helpless shaman, rather than a powerful mage.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The next morning Darakin was so tired from his sleepless night, that Nora had to shake him awake.

  “What’s wrong with you? You’re usually up early.”

  “I didn’t sleep well.”

  I know. You kicked me off the bed a bunch of times.

  “Sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize.”

  “I do to Mrowley. Apparently, I kicked him several times during the night.”

  “Ah. So tell me, why didn’t you sleep well?”

  “I think I had bad dreams.”

  “About what?”

  “I can’t remember,” he lied. He didn’t want to tell Nora how scared and insecure he was about their plan.

  “Well, get up and get ready. We have to be at Ravenwynd’s soon.”

  They dressed, ate a quick lunch and rode the subway uptown. Darakin was much calmer on the subway now, although he still jumped whenever the car lurched unexpectedly.

  Ravenwynd greeted them as soon as they got to the store.

  “Listen, there’s been a slight change of plan. Dreamwalker, the original hypnotist can’t make it, but I told her it was urgent, so she’s sending an associate of hers. She says he’s an excellent hypnotherapist.”

  “He doesn’t need therapy. He just needs to remember some things he learned in school as a child.” Nora was annoyed.

  “We’ll explain that to him. Don’t worry.”

  “Have you ever met him before?” Darakin asked.

  “No, but I trust Dreamwalker’s judgment.”

  Great, Nora thought. If the guy was in the New Age community, wouldn’t Ravenwynd have met him before? The last thing we need is some shrink type getting a look inside Darakin’s head.

  A few minutes later, a man entered the store. He looked at the group standing at the counter and selected Nora as the most normal looking individual to talk to.

  He walked forward, extending his hand, “I’m Dr. Woodworth.”

  Ravenwynd stepped in front of Nora and took the doctor’s hand. “I’m Ravenwynd, Dreamwalker’s friend.

  “Ah. And you are?” He looked at Darakin.

  Nora stepped out from behind Ravenwynd in annoyance. “This is Darakin. He needs you to help him retrieve some childhood memories. No therapy.”

  Dr. Woodworth laughed. “No problem. Is there a room we can use?”

  “Yes, through that curtain.” Ravenwynd pointed to the back of the store.

  Nora started to follow but the doctor stopped her. “Please, too many distractions can sometimes inhibit a person’s suggestibility and make it harder to put them under.”

  “I’ll be right out here, love,” Nora called after Darakin.

  The doctor and Darakin went to the back room, where Darakin sank into a very comfortable, plush armchair. The doctor sat opposite him.

  “Now, what is it you’d like to recall from your childhood?”

  “School memories about how to be a shaman.”

  “You went to shaman school?” the therapist asked in surprise.

  “No, I went to mage school.”

  “You went to mage school to be a shaman?”

  “No, I went to mage school to be a mage.”

  “Then why do you want to be a shaman?”

  “Because I need to defeat the krekdapop.”

  “The … what now?”

  “Krekdapop. It’s a demon. Looks kind of like a cross between a man and a lizard.”

  “I see. And you believe that being a shaman will help you defeat the demon?”

  “I know it will. And I need to be a shaman because my mage spells don’t work here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because nobody’s enslaved the elements here.”

  “Huh?”

  “In my realm, the elements have been enslaved and mages are able to summon them at will.”

  “So you can’t do that here?”

  “No, but as Mrowley pointed out –”

  “Who’s Mrowley?”

  “My cat. He pointed out that I could use shamanistic rituals to summon lightning the way they did in my realm before we enslaved the elements.”

  “The cat told you that?”

  “Yes. He’s very insightful for a cat. You’d be surprised.”

  “I imagine I would.”

  “So, can you help?”

  “Uh … would you excuse me for a minute?”

  “Okay.”

  Doctor Woodworth went back out to where Ravenwynd and Nora were waiting. “This guy’s nuts!”

  Nora turned angrily to Ravenwynd. “I thought you’d bring in someone who was open-minded to Darakin’s situation.”

  “I did. That’s why I called Dreamwalker. I just assumed she’d call someone like-minded to substitute for her.”

  “What do you mean – his situation?” the doctor asked.

  “Listen, I know this will all sound off-the-wall to you, but Darakin was brought here from another realm by a group of kids playing at some sort of black magic. They also summoned a demon and Darakin’s the only one who can kill it. And I don’t give a rat’s ass if you believe him or not. I’ve seen the demon and it’s all true.”

  The therapist turned to Ravenwynd. “And you? You believe him, too?”

  “Well, seeing is believing,” she answered with a smile.

  “So, this is some sort of mass hysteria,” the doctor said under his breath. He looked back at Ravenwynd. “You’ve seen this so-called demon, too?”

  “Oh no, I haven’t seen the demon.”

  “But you said seeing is believing.”

  “It is. Darakin has the most incredible magical aura I’ve ever seen!”

  The therapist rolled his eyes.

  “Listen, you jerk, we asked you here for one reason. To get him to remember some stuff he learned at school. And we’re paying you a pretty penny to do it, so I need to know – are you willing to do that or not?” Nora snapped as she took a threatening step forward.

  The therapist retreated a few steps and shrugged. “Fine. It’s your money.” He started toward the back with Nora following.

  Ravenwynd ran to the front door, locked it and hurried to catch up to the doctor and Nora.

  The doctor turned to face the women. “Do you mind?”

  “In fact I do. I’ll be coming with you this time.” Nora’s brogue had thickened and the gleam in her eye scared the doctor. She muttered under her breath, but loud enough to be heard, “And you’ll be behaving yerself or it’s a Belfast handshake you’ll be getting.”

  The doctor didn’t know what that was, but he didn’t like the sound of it.

  Ravenwynd tapped Nora and mouthed, “What’s that?”

  Nora didn’t bother to whisper as she answered. “It means I’ll punch him in his privates.”

  The doctor turned a few shades lighter as he sat opposite Darakin. He said nothing as Nora took a seat along the wall. Ravenwynd sat next to Nora.

  Nora leaned close to Ravenwynd and whispered, “Do you have anything that will make the doctor forget that he thinks Darakin is crazy?”

  Ravenwynd frowned. “I could do a spell, but it would take time. He wouldn’t forget right away.”

  “Then we’ll have to hit him over the head.”

  “What?” Ravenwynd’s barely whispered response was shrill and Dr. Woodworth turned to look at the women in suspicion.

  Nora waved her hand at him to indicate that he should pay attention to Darakin. The doctor’s voice was still shaking as he instructed Darakin to relax.

  The women continued their whispered argument.

  “I’m thinking a blow to the head might work, right?”

  “You can’t assault someone in my shop!”