by Winfred Wong
“Galot, look at you! You are not getting any thinner!” Desman cackled with laughter. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Oh, Desman, my old friend, of course I’m here, this is my inn!” Galot replied, as he gave Desman a friendly warm hug.
“I thought you are at the station,” said Desman.
“No-no-no, today is a free day! A fat man’s free day!” Galot replied in a hilarious tone. “But what about you, my friend, I haven’t seen you in a while, where have you been to?”
“Many things happened.” Desman sighed, lowered his head down and leered at the guests at the table like he was looking for someone furtively. “But before telling you that, I would like to introduce to you my friend.”
Galot then fixed his eyes on the staff owner while one of the guests was casting a sidelong glance furtively at them.
“Good evening,” Dulais greeted the innkeeper. “My name is Dulais.”
“Welcome,” Galot said. “What can I do for you?”
“I ran into him at the east entrance,” Desman explained. “He is on his way to Valais to visit a friend there and he needs a room to stay for the night. And so, I bring him here, figuring you can provide this man with what he needs.”
“Then you have come to the right place at the perfect time, Mr. Dulais. I believe we still have empty rooms, please follow my servant, he will take you to your room,” Galot said, as he began to walk toward the storeroom.
“Thanks for your help Mr. Desman, I owe you one.” Dulais followed the servant to go upstairs.
As he was ascending, he happened to turn around and saw a man, who wore a black, long, woolen surcoat and had an eagle tattoo, which resembled the eagle that attacked him, on his neck, whispering something in Desman’s ear, and, believing that it was just a coincidence, he continued to walk up.
“This is your room, sir.” the servant opened the door of the first room on the right wing of the second floor. “Please let me know if you need anything.”
“I will, thank you.” Dulais nodded, looked back at the empty hall, realizing Desman had already gone, probably with the tattooed man he thought, and entered the room.
It was spacious and everything was neat and tidy. A round wobbly dining table was set amid the room, left to it was a wardrobe that was put next to a tie-up, reddish window curtain installed above a bed made of wooden frames with a comfortable mattress placed on top of it.
After a quick look around, he took off his cloak, held a dagger in his hand, tucked away the staff under the bed and sank his head into the vintage feather pillow at once, and when his head touched the blank pillow case, he felt weightless as the softness of the fabric and the headrest immensely eased his severe tiredness, preventing him from staying awake.
CHAPTER FOUR
* * *
Chavdar knew it was the end of the long, restless night when he saw the flickering stars that were no longer twinkling through a slight opening of the thatched roof. He didn’t know why he had been so wakeful, but he knew the mysterious staff that shined on him stuck out firmly to him in his mind. Maybe it was his sixth sense giving him some kind of a signal, or it was his spectacular mind telling him to look forward to something, something unanticipated, but, knowing that he was about to find out, he decided to cast away the thoughts.
As the crowing of the roosters in the backyard of his cottage lingered across Ayrith, he cleared his mind, crawled out of his bed reluctantly and got dressed.
“Althalos, wake up!” Chavdar said to his twin sibling, who was sleeping on a hard bed situated beside a mildly damaged bookshelf at the corner. “You are supposed to be in the kitchen by now. Put your cloth on!”
“Umm….” Althalos mumbled on the bed, detangling his slightly coffee-colored hair inveterately. “Just tell Keira to do it, I don’t feel like getting up.”
Being teed off at him, Chavdar picked up a pair of leather boots near the door of their one hundred square feet large bedroom and threw it right in his face.
“Argh!” Althalos wailed and sat up, throwing a book on his bed back at his brother. “What are you doing!?”
“Get up! I am really getting tired of having the same conversation again and again with you every morning,” Chavdar chided. “Try not to be a burden to her. She can’t finish all the chores all by herself.”
“Okay, okay.” Althalos yawned and stretched, half asleep.
Tired of his nonchalant look on his face, Chavdar left the bedroom, and when he stepped out, a sweet aroma of food immediately filled his nostrils.
“Keira?” he asked himself and went to the kitchen, which was right opposite to their bedroom.
“Good morning,” a petite, long-haired girl with a pair of big watery eyes, wearing a white apron with a pocket, said to him in a happily unhappy tone when Chavdar went in, and she meant it. The morning breeze was cheerful and homely. The green rolling fields beyond the village stretched for miles and turned golden under the morning sunlight.
“Good morning, Keira,” he chirped, sticking his head out of a square window installed near a tall kitchen cabinet. “Where are mom and dad?”
“Probably out in the field.” She gave him a sweet smile while putting three sunny side up eggs onto three different plates with a flat-edged spatula masterfully in front of a stove.
“You have already cooked for us yesterday, haven’t you?” said Chavdar when he turned around and gazed at the plates.
“Sorry, Keira,” Althalos broke in, lazily detangling his hair at the door. “I promise I will do the dishes afterwards.”
“You’d better do it,” Chavdar threatened him with clenched fists, “or this will be your last meal.”
Althalos made a face like he was in a facial cramp and swivelled his eyes round in a bad mood. “Right, you know what? I bumped into Malo’s mother yesterday when you were talking to a strange guy. She told me that Malo would be back in the village two days later, and I promised her we would pay them a visit tomorrow. What do you think?” said Althalos.
“Great, sounds good to me. By the way, Keira, you are becoming a better cook!” Chavdar said and left the cottage in a haste, without even trying one bite of the food, leaving his brother and sister speechless.
“What does that even mean?” Keira asked.
“Honestly,” Althalos shrugged his broad shoulder, “I have no idea.”
“But why did he leave in such a hurry?” said Keira, as she picked out a towel from the apron pocket and started to clean the spatula with it. “I mean I have three freshly fried eggs and buttered toasts on the plates!”
“Don’t you need to worry about that,” said Althalos, with a vicious smirk.
∫∫
Out on the bustling and busy street, villagers, mainly male farmers carrying sickles and ploughs, were chit-chatting with one another joyfully while treading lightly along the main street toward the farm right outside the village along with their cattle. A hubbub of laughter and shouting and whinnies of animals represented the tranquility of this peaceful village.
As Chavdar closed the door behind him, his eyes were then automatically drawn to the signboard of the inn that was not far away from him. He crossed the crowded main street in a rush, but stopped in front of a local store that sold peppers, gingers, and garlics, and scrutinized the inn for a while, hesitating.
“C-Chavdar?” a young man, with a ruddy face, came out of the store behind him, faltered.
“Malo?” Chavdar carolled almost instinctively, gaping at the man with a surprised look.
“It’s you!” Malo said excitedly and gave him a short, friendly hug. “It has been too long since we last met.”
“Been too long that I can barely recognize you!” Chavdar said enthusiastically. “When did you come back!? I thought you won’t be back until tomorrow!”
“I just got back last night,” Malo said, smiling a toothy grin. “And yeah, I tried to make time to come over. But, you know, this busy season is running us all ragged at the store. I h
ave already got another purchase to do.”
“But you just came back!” Chavdar said. “You should come over for dinner tonight.”
“I wish I could,” Malo said. “But I will be leaving soon, and I still have a lot of things to do now, so…”
“So when will you be back?” Chavdar asked. “Just come over when you are free.”
“Of course, I am more than willing,” Malo promised. “By the way, I have got something for you and Althy.”
He went back into the store and came out again with a book in his hand.
“A book?” Chavdar wondered.
“Yap,” Malo said and handed it to him. “I found it in a baronial bookstore at Sellin called Yourway. I happened to read the title of it and realized that it’s about some supernatural things. And I bought it, figuring that you two would love it.”
“Thank you, that’s very sweet of you.” Chavdar thanked him and glanced through the book quickly. “I am sure Althalos would love it.”
“Malo!” a woman in the store shouted. “I need you here!”
“It was great to talk with you but I must be going now,” Malo said with an embarrassed smile.
“Sure,” Chavdar said. “Do you need my help in there?”
“No, thank you, I can handle this,” replied Malo.
“All right, I hope I will see you again soon,” Chavdar said, waving his hand.
“Great, see you!” Malo hurried back into the store.
“Thank you for the book!” Chavdar said, as he turned around and went to the inn.
∫∫
Chavdar walked until he found himself right under the signboard of the inn. He reached his hand out to try to twist the doorknob, but the door was tugged open from inside with a slight squeak before his hand touched the knob.
“Good morning, what can I do for you, sir?” a servant said.
“I am here to meet someone,” he replied while looking around the empty hall.
“Hey there.” Dulais called Chavdar on the stairs.
“I guess I found him,” Chavdar said and ran upstairs while Dulais was going back to his room.
“Come on in,” Dulais said. “And lock the door behind you, please.”
Entered the room, “Good morning, Mr…” Chavdar said.
“Dulais, my name is Dulais,” he said, as he went to cover the window with the tie-up, red curtain. “Please take a seat.”
Moved from the doorway to the table, “I am Chavdar,” he said unnaturally, put down the book on the table and looked around the room curiously. “It’s very nice to see you again.”
“You, too,” Dulais replied, scratching his nose, as he sat down at the table. “So, to be honest, I’m a bit surprised that you would come.”
“I come because I can’t help thinking about it.” Chavdar went straight to the point. “But still I couldn’t think of anything that can give off light like your staff. And I feel like I should come. I feel like there are something, something that I wouldn’t want to miss.”
“Well, I had been thinking about it whole last night too.” Dulais smirked. “But I still couldn’t think of anyone who can read a book with a blindfold on.”
“Do you believe it?” Chavdar questioned doubtfully but enthusiastically, eyes bugged out.
“Really?” Dulais squeaked, evading eye contact with a prolonged smile, knitting his brows. “Back there when I told you to find me, somehow I was already certain that you’re not just a foolish bluffer who only knows bullshiting. I have known many people in my life, people who would die for a proper piece of brown bread, people who would die for dignity, people who would kill innocents for one single coin, and I have seen the most imaginative man in the world.” “But none of them, none, none of them possess such an imagination-inspiring eyes like you. And that’s why I believe it, with all my heart, I know you’re telling the truth.”
“You’re the only one who would believe me, thank you, it really means a lot to me.” Chavdar cracked an awkward smile delightfully, as he felt like being flattered. “Though I have already get used to all the teasing from the others.”
“Would you have believed it?” Dulais suddenly queried, in a sharp tone. “If you were them?”
Chavdar went silent, brows drawing down, pretending to be thinking even though the answer was as clear as crystal in his mind.
“How the others think of you doesn’t really matter,” Dulais said. “Just have more faith in yourself, and you’ll feel better about your vision.”
“My vision?” Chavdar wondered.
“The read-with-a-blindfold-on thing,” Dulais reminded him.
“Visioning? You call it visioning?” Chavdar said slowly, forced another smile. “But, right, you’re right. I got to have some more faith in myself.”
“You still have a plenty of time to learn about it, so let us get to the point now.” Dulais changed the subject. “I didn’t ask you to come for no reasons. But before I tell you anything, could you do me a favor?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Vision. Show me what you can do.”
Overcoming his lack of confidence that hindered him from answering, “Of course.” Chavdar smiled.
Dulais then fixated his blue, probing eyes on him solemnly, trying to see through him. “Why are you hesitating?”
“To be able to do that, I have to be utterly concentrated,” Chavdar explained, “but sometimes I just don’t feel like focusing on anything, especially when I have a bad day, and on those days, I usually get a nasty spill from the horse as I failed to...vision.”
“But how do you do that?” Dulais asked. “How on earth did you see through the blindfold? What is in your vision?”
“I don’t. In fact, I can’t see through anything,” Chavdar said, swinging his finger around in a circle, as if he was drawing out the vision in his mind. “Back there when the gemstone shafted, I was seeing things with my ears.”
“Is that even possible?” Dulais broke in, leaning slightly forward. “Are you saying that you can…interchange your senses?”
“I know it sounds stupid,” Chavdar answered, “but somehow I could do it, and I don’t know why.”
“So how exactly do you do it?”
“Hard to describe,” Chavdar murmured, rolling his eyes as thinking. “I – I close my eyes and pay attention to the sounds around. And then, in my mind, I try to picture what the source of the sounds is like.”
“So you’re a mind-wielder, aren’t you?” Dulais interjected, clasped both hands together and leaned forward on the table.
“Mind-wielder?” Chavdar repeated, tilting his head. “What’s a mind-wielder? Sounds like someone who can cast a spell.”
“You have never heard of it?” Dulais said in an astonishing tone, holding his breath.
“Never,” Chavdar said. “Is it something I am supposed to be familiar with?”
Scratching his nose, “I guess I will tell you about this later. But for now, please just show me what you can do, would you?” Dulais said.
“Um…sure,” Chavdar nodded, stretched out his arm and placed his left hand over Dulais’s fist. “I can try.”
Pouring faith in himself by telling himself I can do it, he visioned a scene where Dulais’s cochlea would transfer the audible oscillation of particles it received directly to the eyes and the light that went through the optic nerves to the ears, literally exchanging his senses.
Dulais felt like the world was spinning upside down when his senses were being altered. He could still “see”, but he felt like he was a blind man, a blind man who can observe the world with ears. The wobbly table, the staff under the bed, the clittering curtain, the bombinating mosquitoes, every movements of air and all the other noises together sketched out a visible world in his brain. With this unrivalled vision, he snapped his head around excitedly and soon realized that it was foolish as the vision had given him a full, three-hundred-sixty degree, sound-sensitive, black and white vision as sounds kept coming to him in every direc
tions.
“Can you hear me?” Chavdar asked, staring at him curiously.
“Argh…” Dulais answered, scratching his nose, “…technically, I can’t hear you, but somehow I can understand what you’re saying because I can perceive the words you said flowing out from your mouth like effervescence of sparkling water.”
“All right, now, focus on my right hand and plug your ears with fingers,” Chavdar said, as he rubbed his thumb against his middle finger very mildly. “Can you see anything?”
“Nope, it’s all black, I can’t see nothing,” Dulais plugged his ears and said, shrugging.
“What now?” Chavdar said, as he rubbed his fingers dynamically and continuously.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Dulais said. “The sound is like rubbing soft sandpaper against paper, isn’t it? I can see it!”
“By the way, is the staff shining?” he unblocked his ears, as he felt like he was being watched.
Chavdar turned his head to the bed and realized that the purple light coming off of the azure gemstone had brightly illuminated the room.
“I guess it is,” he beamed, separating their hands.
At the moment when their hands were detached from one another, Dulais felt like the world was turned upside down again, but this time, in the opposite direction, then his normal five individual senses returned. He couldn’t help winking at the young man because he couldn’t believe what he just experienced after the effect was gone. He searched in his mind for something as spectacular as the sense-interchanging thing, but he couldn’t think of one, not even the mentee with the greatest potential in Luton could compare to the man in front of him.
“Incredible!” Dulais shrieked. “Your talent in it is unparalleled!”
“Thank you.” His lips parted in a smile.
“Who taught you all about this?” Dulais said.
“No one,” Chavdar said. “I learnt it all by myself.”
“No mentor, no mind-wielder,” Dulais murmured, in a deep thought. “But you did the whole thing by visioning, right?”
“Yes,” Chavdar said. “But look, I don’t understand. What is a mind-wielder? Who are you? And why me?”
