Magnus couldn't take all those stares so he lowered his gaze to his big shoes which were completely soaked with water.
The banging sound of the door closing made him jump.
“You were lucky it was still open,” said the inn keeper brightly. “I was just about ter lock the door.”
When Magnus looked up at the inn keeper, he thought he had found himself in the realm of giants. He was watching the strong man lock up the door with several heavy bars and padlocks. Magnus was about to ask him what everyone was so afraid of, but the words all died out in his throat before he could even speak them aloud. After all, anyone would be able to tell that he was a stranger then!
The inn keeper rounded on Magnus with a broad smile which could hardly be seen through his shaggy moustache. “We wouldn't want any of them ter get in here, now would we?”
Magnus shook his head jerkily. He tried to look as knowledgeable as he could, although his big eyes were too wide for that.
In the next moment, the inn keeper lead him to an empty table right in front of the fire place. Magnus was still shaking with cold. He dropped his backpack under the table clumsily. Like a bag of boulders, he fell into the chair and couldn't make another move. The bartender was still leaning over him, waiting to hear a word from him but after a moment of silence he had to remind Magnus of his presence. “So? Yeh havin' anythin', boy?” the bartender said, rubbing his hands as he expected a promising order.
Although it was difficult to not hear the bartender's strong voice, Magnus hardly took notice of him. His attention was completely drawn to the fireplace emitting heat that was pleasantly warming his wet back. He only noticed the presence of the tall, strong man when he leaned closer to him and waved his hand in front of Magnus' eyes.
Magnus gasped as he jerked back into reality. He finally noticed the drops of water falling off his clothes onto the wooden floor. But what was even worse for him were the cold water drops falling off his hat right onto his chest.
The bartender had never seen anyone in his life taking off their hat faster than this young boy just did. “I think yeh've already had a pint or two,” he remarked suspiciously.
Magnus didn't react to these words at all. His gaze was distant and his senses felt frozen as though he just came inside from a huge snow storm. “Could you p-please bring me something?” he spit out finally, with his voice still shaking.
“Certainly, but if yeh mean alcohol, I'll have to say no. I think yeh've already had enough,” said the inn keeper and glanced at Magnus closely. “And why are you still shaking like that? It's not freezing outside!” he said pointedly. He couldn't have overlooked that Magnus was trembling all over since he had entered the inn.
“Please,” Magnus repeated, “could you bring me a large beef steak? And a warm tea. And candles, many candles. So many that I can fill the whole table with them. And a room with a fireplace so huge it will reach the ceiling,” he said blankly.
Throughout the years of working in this tavern, the bartender had heard lots of strange requests from his guests. Never had anyone asked him for a table full of candles though! He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Very well then,” he said airily, straightening up. “I am sorry if I sound rude, but do yeh have money for all that?”
Money? This question struck Magnus like a shot in the head. How could he have any money? He groped all over his clothes in haste. Then he remembered Valezar's words: “you could use that pouch of yours”. Of course, the pouch! He completely forgot he had it on his belt. That was probably because he had forgotten everything else too.
He dragged two coins from his pouch and holding them in his shaking hand, he pored over them in confusion. He had no idea where he had come by that money or what value it had. As he was gazing at them, feeling utterly dazed, the gold coins slipped from his numb fingers and with a heavy rumbling sound they fell onto the wooden table.
The bartender's eyes sparkled with delight. What he saw on Magnus' table was his yearly earning! “I guess that will do!” he said and grinned widely, pocketing the gold coins. The tavern's kitchen was instantly turned into a working hive.
When Magnus finally got the chance to look around, he realised that nobody was taking notice of him any more. He was glad to have a moment just for himself.
Magnus has completely lost track of time. As he was thinking and trying to remember were exactly he came from, a large plate emerged right under his nose with even larger contents and a big teapot with a cup next to it. Not only one, but three huge juicy steaks were a real feast for his eyes and an even greater feast for his taste buds and stomach! He didn't even notice when a long metallic key from his pre-paid room appeared on the table. There was a small ticket hanging on its head, including the date of expiration and a seal stamp, but Magnus didn't pay any attention to that at the moment and he slipped the key carelessly into his pocket. Seconds later, there were so many candles around his plate on the table that he'd have a hard time counting them. It all happened as though by magick; the bartender and the waiters were bustling around him like servants around a king. He smiled contently as he was slowly waving his hands above the warm candle flames. He took off his wet leather coat and hung it on the back of his chair. The comforting warmth was spreading all around him and he could finally dig into the royal feast with the utmost pleasure.
The later the hour, the more cheer in the tavern. Magnus became suddenly aware that the guests were singing and dancing merrily and were coming closer to his little “sanctuary” than he considered tolerable. He felt as though they were disturbing his hard-earned piece of heaven.
In that moment, a breeze sneaked around him that was so chilly it made the hair on his neck stand up. Even though there were a bunch of people around him, nobody else had noticed that something wasn't right.
Magnus sat upright in his chair, feeling slightly alarmed. The guests, dancing and whirling around him in cheer and free of mind were driving him crazy.
Shortly, a moment came when enough was enough. Magnus decided to leave to his room where he could finally find some peace. He groped under the table to grab his backpack, but he didn't find anything.
Suddenly it struck him. His backpack was gone!
He leaped to his feet so suddenly his chair rumbled to the floor, making a deafening racket in his vicinity. Several people cast him a brief glance.
Magnus felt his heart drumming wildly against his chest. He crouched down to peek under the table, but there was nothing; then he looked around with his eyes popped open, but his head spun from all the music and whirling around him.
His sight finally sharpened when he spotted a man whose face was covered in a green hood. There was a short moment in which Magnus gazed at the hooded man and the stranger gazed straight back at him, when Magnus noticed a leather backpack which the man was holding discreetly under his cloak. He suddenly realised he had found his backpack! By the time he put this all together in his head, the thief slipped out through the back door of the tavern and he was gone.
Magnus knew he had to act quickly. But that didn't mean he would act wisely. He grabbed his coat with his shaking hands which cast quite a large amount of burning candles to the floor. This drew more than enough attention to him.
The music stopped playing. Within seconds, Magnus found himself in a circle of shocked guests who watched him trampling down the burning candles on the wooden floor.
When Magnus felt their glances on him, he left the candles be, making a few steps backwards to the back door of the inn. “I... excuse me, I gotta go now...” he stuttered and as he turned around, he almost fell sprawled on the floor as he stumbled over his own shoes. He tossed his coat over his shoulder and bolted out.
“Don't be a fool, stay inside!” people called after Magnus as he disappeared into the darkness, but there was nothing they could say that would make him stop.
One of the guests shook his head in disbelief, “That boy ain't comin' back alive...”
The inn keeper pored over
the black hat lying in the dust on the floor. The tavern remained silent for a while, as though holding silence for the recently passed-away boy, and then returned back to drinking.
Magnus was left with at least a bit of luck – he caught a glimpse of the thief's green cloak disappearing behind a corner. But what would he do if he actually caught him? Well, he had no idea about that.
The streets were completely unknown to him so the only direction he could possibly go was the one where his backpack went as well. He tried to shield himself from the raindrops with his coat as best as he could.
As he was desperately running, thoughts were buzzing in his head like a swarm of bees. Why did he only have to steal the backpack? I have the recommendation from Valezar in there! Another thought hummed in his ear immediately. And why not? After all, the backpack thrown underneath your table was definitely easy prey! And the very next moment, another one. All right... the question is... why did he just have to rob ME?! The thoughts in his head were squabbling uncontrollably and Magnus wasn't able to stop them on his own. When he thought his head would burst from all the racket, his thoughts suddenly stopped running. And so did his feet.
In the middle of the dark street there stood the hooded thief with Magnus' backpack tossed over his shoulder. However, that didn't trouble Magnus any more. The strong man had a firm grip on a young girl whose legs were kicking in all directions. With his large hand he was covering her whole face, although he probably meant to cover only her mouth.
Magnus made a few steps forward, but he was forced to stop again.
“One more step an' I'll cut her throat!” roared the thief fiercely as he drew a large knife out from the sheath on his belt, placing it right at the poor girl's throat. Its sharp blade gleamed even in the deep darkness.
No one moved for a moment.
Somebody screamed all of a sudden, “Hey, you! You with that knife!”
Both Magnus and the thief looked around in confusion. There was a rather strong echo in the street since the whole town was ruled by a deathly silence. All three of them understood that somebody was quite close to where they were standing. And it appeared this somebody could also see them very well.
The mysterious stranger continued, “Yes, you. Listen, you imitation of a thief, do you even know how to hold a knife?”
The thief became hesitant and toyed with his knife slightly. The blue eyes of the terrified girl were peeping out from between his fingers.
At this point, Magnus finally understood what was going on. He recalled how Valezar's gingerbreads suddenly disappeared - into his backpack! He gave a short snigger but although he stopped immediately, he had already drawn their attention to himself.
“And you, scrub, don't think that we're done with you!” cried a highly threatening voice.
The smile on Magnus' face vanished immediately when he realized that now they would start poking fun at him.
The shrill voice rolled out again, “You're the worst hooligan far and near, that's for sure! Just wait you, we'll give you a lesson of good manners right away!”
Whoever it was, he was speaking as if there were others with him and the thief didn't seem to have the slightest intention in getting in the way of a gang that was taking care of some issues with this “insignificant brat”. Moreover, he felt they were uncomfortably close.
“We're going to get that backpack! Hand it over or you won't live to see the dawn of this day!”
That was enough for the thief to loosen his grip and the girl instantly tugged herself free. She bolted out from him with such force that she ran into Magnus at full speed, almost knocking him down to the ground. In that moment, she was not capable of apologising, as she was still breathing heavily. Obviously, this wasn't a regular experience for her!
Another thing that flew against Magnus was his backpack which he seized to his chest in the last second before it could splash on the slippery pavement. He didn't even realise that he had let go of his jacket which fell onto the ground and the cold raindrops started penetrating his hair and clothes.
“Keep your problems,” growled the thief. Then his frowning expression suddenly changed into a malevolent smile, saying: “Have a pleasant death.” He disappeared as suddenly as if the shadows themselves had swallowed him. He didn't even wait for the kids to say thank you.
Magnus felt a strong tug on one of his sleeves and then there was an indignant whisper.
“We have to leave right now, it's not safe here! Did you hear those bandits?” the girl implored, but Magnus didn't move a limb. “Pleeeaaaase!” she said, her big blue eyes fixed on him.
Bandits? So that's what the inhabitants of Ragna are so afraid of? thought Magnus and a faint smile finally appeared on his face. He was acting like a snail. “Calm down, it's okay. There are no bandits here, the sounds were coming out from my backpack,” said Magnus calmly.
The girl glanced at him as though he was the strangest person she had ever seen. Actually, there was a good chance that he was. “What? Don't be silly! How could anyone's backpack talk?” she said, shaking her head in disbelief and if her sopping hair wasn't plastered to her face, her two long blonde ponytails would have shook as well.
“You'll see. One day I'll show you,” Magnus promised and hoped that the gingerbreads would not be sulky when that day would come. After all, they were surely capable of doing a lot of witty stuff.
“I am Maren. Maren Samai,” said the girl suddenly as she stretched her arm towards him, ignoring Magnus' promises about his talking backpack.
Magnus took her hand gently, but she shook his whole arm wildly as if they were good old friends. When Maren let go of his hand at last, Magnus said hesitantly: “I am Magnus. Magnus... Il'idiel.” It sounded almost as though he was not even sure of what he had just said, but he was determined not to mention his blank memory.
“Magnus? Il'Idiel? Have you made that up just now?” said Maren unbelievingly and let out a hearty giggle, as if she had suddenly forgotten what could have been lurking in the dark streets.
Magnus felt his face turning red, but Maren didn't stop questioning.
“You aren't from here, are you?” she asked curiously.
How could she have known? Magnus asked himself in his mind. His responses were growing slower and slower. Before he could give the girl any answer, another question came.
“What are you doing out here anyway? Don't you know that Ragna is haunted at night?” Maren said.
It seemed she had finally made Magnus talk.
“I think it's pretty obvious what I'm doing here,” he said shortly, tossing his backpack over his shoulder. “But what are you doing here, I don't understand.”
“Me?“ Maren jabbed herself with a finger, giving Magnus the kind of look as if he didn't know that one and one made two. “I happen to be a born mage and I am looking for adventure out here, to practice my powerful spells,” she said proudly in a slightly superior tone, and with her eyes shut, she pulled the black hood of her mage robe over her head.
Magnus turned slowly in the direction he had come from. “All right Miss Sorceress, if you know some powerful spells, now would be the time to use them,” he said with his voice shaking.
Magnus, the brave boy who had taken care of a dangerous robber sounded terrified. That forced Maren to forget about her bloodline of mighty mages at once as she turned in Magnus' direction.
There was a pair of huge yellow eyes glancing at them from the darkness which gleamed like polished crystals. The only source of light in the whole of Ragna was the two moons in the black, cloudy sky, for all of the house windows were well boarded. And apparently with a good reason.
“No matter what happens, stay behind me,” said Magnus resolutely, yet his terrified voice suggested he wasn't exactly a hero.
“And if it kills you?” Maren whispered as her breath quickened. The only answer to this question was Magnus' bulged eyes.
The shadowed monster narrowed its eyes with hatred. That was all they could see of it.
“You can finish this conversation in the after-life,” it hissed coldly and Maren shivered even more, crouching behind Magnus, who looked just as horrified as she was.
Neither Magnus nor Maren expected the monster to talk and certainly not that it would honour them with their own language! They were both shocked that they understood each word it uttered. But from what they had heard, perhaps it would have been better not to understand.
The gleaming eyes were rising higher and higher, making it look like a huge snake measuring its prey.
It was time to run.
Maren didn't wait a second longer. She sped off to the first turn on the street, but when she jerked her head around she saw that Magnus wasn't making the slightest move.
“Magnus, come on! What are you waiting for?” Maren shrieked, but there was no answer from Magnus. She had no idea what was going on with him but she could see very well what was going on in front of him. The dark monster opened its jaws wide, making it look like a volcano gap that would explode at any moment.
The hot air growing from the great chops reached her. Right now she was more than sure about what was going to belch out from there. But what scared her even more were the huge sharp fangs with which the monster prided itself.
Magnus' death or salvation was a matter of seconds but Maren couldn't see how she could help him. Her mind was already preparing her to see a pile of dust in place of where Magnus was standing when she got a sudden idea. It was the only thing she could have done anyway.
“Fire shield!” Maren squealed from the top of her lungs and with her right hand she made a sharp move towards Magnus. It was in this very moment when a destructive flare blazed out of the monster's jaws right at Magnus, irradiating such a hot glow that even Maren had to turn away to protect her face.
Whatever happened, there was complete silence now. Maren didn't have the courage to look over her shoulder. Her knees buckled at the dark thoughts that flew through her mind.
“Maren? Are you all right?”
Drakonika (Book 1) Page 4
