The Lost Mage

by Difar, Amy

  The mage turned to Howard. “Why are you still here?” he shouted over the howling wind.

  “I’m gonna help!”

  “No, you’re not. Just go somewhere safe.”

  “Kwok, I summoned that thing and I’ll make sure it’s taken care of.”

  “You …” Darakin looked over Howard’s shoulder at the fast approaching demon. “Run!” he shouted as the krekdapop closed the distance between them.

  Howard looked over his shoulder and screamed. He took off in the direction that his friends had gone.

  “So much for helping,” Darakin scoffed.

  The demon started following Howard until it spotted the hissing cat. Mrowley seemed frozen as the demon approached.

  “Mrowley, run!” Darakin shouted.

  As soon as he saw the cat start running, he began to chant. He would do an empowerment spell on the lightning. This would hopefully let him call the lightning to a targeted point and help kill the krekdapop by ensuring the lightning was at its fullest strength. Surely, the Mage Council couldn’t fault him for that.

  The thunder and lightning were coming in rapid succession now and it had begun to rain. If it hadn’t been for the spell Darakin had done, the demon would have hid from the storm, but Darakin had called it to him and now it was bound to the area. For a brief second, Darakin reflected on the fact that the binding spell was a huge infraction of the Free Will laws, but he felt he could argue for its use under the emergency provisions clause for hostile situations in the Laws.

  Nora watched from the bushes, marveling at the bizarre storm Darakin had created. She couldn’t recall ever seeing such furious lightning and wind and certainly not without an accompanying torrential downpour. The gentle rain was more suited to a sun shower than it was a violent spring storm.

  Demon! Mrowley ran toward Darakin. A rumble shook the ground. Thunder boomies … The cat changed directions. Fire! Mrowley screamed as he turned again and headed toward the shrubs where Nora was hiding. The crazed demon slipped on the wet ground as it tried to keep up with the cat’s erratic movement.

  “Mrowley! Come to me,” Darakin shouted. He held the pouch of elemental magic herbs, ready to toss it on the fire and say the final word of the spell when the demon was standing on the rune.

  Mrowley heard Darakin and turned only to find himself face to face with the demon. The demon attempted to pounce on the cat. Mrowley darted quickly between the demon’s powerful legs, being careful to avoid its slimy tail. The demon howled in frustration at being unable to catch the cat once again. It turned in a blind rage and ran back after Mrowley, who was heading for Darakin.

  Darakin stood behind the rune so the cat would run toward him. He held the herb pouch in one hand and a large stick in the other, which he hid behind his back. As the cat got near, he called out, “Run past me and get some distance as fast as you can!”

  Mrowley ran as fast as his little legs would carry him. As instructed, he ran past Darakin and kept going. With the demon getting close, Darakin readied the pointed branch behind his back.

  The krekdapop, whose attention had been solely on the cat, now eyed Darakin with fury and headed straight toward him. When the krekdapop was within arm’s reach, Darakin pulled the big branch out and held it in front of the demon’s chest.

  The demon ran into the branch at full speed, knocking Darakin over but stopping in its tracks, oblivious to the rune it was standing on. It stood there looking at the stick protruding from its chest. While it was distracted, Darakin jumped up and ran around the fire. Once he’d reached the opposite side, he shouted out the last word of the spell.

  “Nektari!” He threw the herbs on the fire.

  Nothing happened. The demon shrieked in anger and started running toward Darakin, with the branch protruding from its chest.

  “What happened?” Nora shouted from the bushes.

  “Nothing!” Darakin answered, as he started running in a circle around the fire and away from the demon.

  “I can see that,” Nora yelled in frustration. “Why not?”

  “I’m a little busy at the moment, Nora,” Darakin gasped as he ran by her position, continuing to circle the fire with the demon in pursuit.

  The mage slipped on the wet ground.

  “Darakin!” Nora screamed, as the demon closed the distance between it and the fallen mage. Darakin rolled onto his back and when the demon caught up, the mage kicked at the branch protruding from its chest. The krekdapop howled in pain and staggered back, falling into the fire.

  Nora jumped out of her hiding spot to run to help Darakin.

  “No!” he yelled. “Stay back.”

  “Why? It fell in the fire.” She turned to look at the demon and stopped in horror as she saw it emerge from the fire, engulfed in flames.

  “It’s not susceptible to fire, Nora.” Darakin started running with the demon following behind.

  Nora stared, fascinated at the sight of Darakin running with his cloak blowing behind him, pursued by a flaming lizard demon. The tree branch burned up and fell to the ground in ashes. If she weren’t so scared, it would be comical.

  “What can I do to help?” she asked the next time he circled by.

  “I need to stop the krekdapop on the rune.”

  “Well, why didn’t you just say so?” Nora stepped out from behind the bushes. She pulled the stun gun out of her bag and turned it on.

  Darakin saw the device in her hand. “That thing didn’t work, Nora,” he shouted from the opposite side of the fire.

  “It didn’t kill it, but it sure stopped it for a moment.”

  Darakin’s face brightened. “Yes, it did!”

  The mage continued running around the fire, followed by the demon. The next time Darakin passed by Nora’s position, he snatched the stun gun from her outstretched hand.

  When he reached the targeting rune, he stopped and turned, waiting for the krekdapop to reach him. As it did, he pressed the stun gun into the demon’s skin.

  With a scream, the krekdapop fell to the ground. Darakin wasted no time. He ran to his supply pile and took out the herbs he needed. He made several piles and chanted the spell again in quick repetition, throwing a handful of herbs on the fire each time he finished.

  The gentle rain continued to fall, but though the ground was getting slick, it was no threat to Darakin’s large fire.

  “What are you doing?” Nora asked.

  “I need to end the spell just as the lightning strikes or it won’t work. I’m hoping one of these tries I’ll time it right.” He continued chanting his spell.

  “Look out!” Nora screamed as the krekdapop recovered from the effects of the stun gun and stood up. With fury in its eyes, it looked for Darakin.

  Using the ancient shamanistic prayer, he addressed the lightning element. “Please, let this work this time,” he prayed. “Nektari!” he shouted and threw the herbs onto the fire.

  A burst of bright white light exploded in the center of the fire and the flames shot high into the air.

  Nora had to turn her eyes away from the bright light and missed the massive bolt of lightning that descended, landing squarely on the demon. When she looked back, all that remained of the krekdapop was a smoldering mass of dark green goo.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Darakin!” Nora screamed looked toward Darakin’s position. He’d been knocked over and was laying flat on the ground, unmoving.

  She ran over to his position, her heart pounding in fear. She dropped to the ground next to him and put her hand to his neck to feel for a pulse. She let out a startled shriek as he reached out and touched her.

  He opened his eyes and smiled at her.

  “Oh my God! You scared me half to death. How did you survive that lighting strike? I felt static all the way over there.”

  “Hey, I didn’t spend all afternoon communicating with the elements for my health … oh wait, actually I did!”

  She smiled. “You just made a joke in my language! That’s the first tim
e ever.”

  “So it is,” he smiled back. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Nora looked around. “But where’s Mrowley?”

  Darakin lifted himself up on his elbows. “He ran past me just before I rammed the demon with that branch and kept going. I wanted him safe from the lightning.”

  Nora sniffed. “What if he’s lost? We have to find him.” She took Darakin’s hand and helped him to his feet.

  “Mrowley!” the two of them called out. There was no answer.

  “He went this way,” Darakin pointed and they headed off in the direction that the cat had run. They got further and further away from the fire with no sign of him.

  After a few minutes, they stopped. Nora stifled a sob. “I knew it was a bad idea to let him outside.”

  “Nora, I’m sorry, I guess it was all too much for him, between the storm and the demon.” Darakin’s wiped an unbidden tear from his eye. He’d been looking forward to easing the loneliness of his nomadic existence with Mrowley’s company.

  Nora cried softly as they made their way back to the fire. Darakin kicked dirt on the embers that remained and went back to sit next to the weeping Nora.

  Why is she leaking now?

  “Mrowley?” Darakin jumped up and looked around. Mrowley sat a few feet away, giving himself a bath.

  “Mrowley! You’re safe.” Darakin ran forward and scooped the cat into his arms.

  Dude, you’re embarrassing us both.

  “Mrowley!” Nora jumped up and ran to him, too. She gave him a hug in Darakin’s arms.

  “How long have you been here?” Darakin asked.

  Since you were running away from the lizard thingy. I hope I looked a little braver when I was running from it.

  “I was running from a killer demon, cat.”

  Yeah, yeah, me too. But I looked a lot cooler.

  “Didn’t you hear us calling you?”

  Yeah, I answered but you didn’t hear.

  “Where were you? We looked around.”

  Dude, I was in the bushes. The sky was leaking.

  “Well, you scared us. We thought you were gone.”

  Nope. I’m still here. I have to say, I am kind of disappointed, though.

  “Why?”

  Well, after I saw the giant’s light ray hit the demon thingy, I thought I’d have charbroiled lizard for dinner.

  Darakin looked at the steamy, gooey remains of the krekdapop and laughed. “Sorry, I’ll help you find some lizard when we get home, okay?”

  At the mention of his return to his realm, Nora stepped back. In an instant her demeanor went from relieved to angry.

  “We should be going. Someone might come to investigate that lightning strike or the fire.” She started walking away.

  Darakin picked up Mrowley and rushed to catch up to her. “Are you …”

  “Am I what?”

  “Are you coming with us to see the, um …?”

  “The what? The dryad? You want to know if I’ll come watch you and Mrowley leave, do you?”

  “Well, yes,” Darakin looked at his feet, not wanting to look her in the eye.

  Though she wanted to be home in the privacy of her bedroom where she could have a good cry, she couldn’t bear to give up another few minutes with him. “Aye, I’ll come.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “To whom?”

  “What?”

  “To whom should I not mention it?”

  “Nobody,” she sighed. “It’s just an expression we use here. When someone says thank you, you can say don’t mention it, if it wasn’t a bother or anything. Of course, in this case, it is a bother because it’s, I mean my heart is … oh, never mind.”

  Darakin said nothing. He wished things had been different – that he’d met her in his own realm where his magic worked and he felt like a man who was able to support a wife. Wait, wife? Where did that come from? He shook his head.

  Dude, what’s she trying to say?

  “She’s going to miss us,” Darakin whispered to the cat.

  Oh, Mrowley whispered back. I’m gonna miss her, too.

  The trio headed into the woods, where they’d found the dryad. Nora wondered if she’d be able to find her way back out as Darakin expertly moved through the dark woods. The thunder and lightning had passed and all that remained was the gentle rain that barely penetrated the treetops.

  “Can I hold Mrowley for a few minutes?” she asked in a choked voice.

  “Of course, how thoughtless of me. I’m sorry.” He handed the cat to Nora, who held him in her arms in such a way that she could also use her hand to pet him as they walked.

  Mrowley purred, enjoying the comfort of Nora’s touch.

  After the better part of an hour, they heard the sound of the raindrops hitting water and Nora knew they’d arrived at the small lake where they’d found the dryad. Darakin stopped and turned to her.

  “Nora –”

  “Don’t. There’s nothing to say. You don’t belong here. I get it. And I wouldn’t belong in your world, so if I were to go with you, we’d be in the same boat.”

  “What boat?”

  Noooo. No boats! Darakin, you said we wouldn’t go in the water.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Nora asked.

  “He’s afraid –”

  Dude! Not afraid. I just don’t like ‘em.

  “I’m sorry, he’s not afraid, he just doesn’t like boats.”

  She let out a small, bitter laugh. “I know I said I wouldn’t, but I think I actually will miss having to explain all of our expressions to you. The same boat means we’d be in the same circumstance.”

  Phew.

  “Ah.”

  The two of them stood there, looking at each other, not knowing what to say. Finally, Darakin broke the silence. “Well, I guess this is it …”

  A single tear fell from Nora’s eye and she handed Mrowley to Darakin. He leaned forward and kissed her. She pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly.

  A muffled voice cried out from between them. Hey! Cat here … can’t breathe … Mrowley managed to jump free of Darakin’s grasp and sat watching as the two embraced and kissed.

  After what seemed like hours to the little cat, they separated. “I’ll always love you, Nora.”

  “Me too. Now go. All this delaying is making me think you don’t really want to go.”

  “I don’t. I wish I could fit in here. But I don’t. I have to go.”

  “Well then, be quick about it. Off with you.” She shooed him away with her hands.

  He bent and picked up Mrowley again, before turning and walking away. Mrowley sat up and rested his paws on Darakin’s shoulder.

  “Is she still there?” Darakin asked.

  Yep. I think she’s leaking again, though. How come she’s not coming with us?

  “Mrowley, what part of this situation have you missed? We’ve realized that neither of us fits in the other’s world, so we need to part company.”

  Wait, you mean we’ll never see her again?

  “Probably not.”

  But I like her.

  Darakin let out a sad laugh that was almost a cry. “Me too.” He felt his eyes starting to water.

  Hey! You’re leaking, too.

  “Yes, I am.”

  Cats don’t leak.

  “They droop, though. You said you were drooping the other night.”

  Yes. I think I’m drooping now.

  The mage kept walking, not trusting himself to speak while he struggled to gain control of his emotions.

  The dryad stepped out from behind a tree. Just as before, her long hair fell gracefully around her body keeping her covered. From her location, Nora watched, her admiration of the creature mingled with jealousy as she greeted Darakin. Nora couldn’t help but wonder if the two of them would remain together when they went back to their realm.

  “Mage, you’ve returned,” the dryad said.

  “Yes.”
<
br />   “Is the demon dead, then?”

  “Yes.”

  Wow! She’s pretty.

  The dryad laughed. “As are you, little cat.”

  Mrowley’s face reflected his pleasure. He didn’t even get mad that she’d called him “little”. She understands me, too!