The clang of metal striking metal was everywhere. Waldo noticed it less than he had when they first arrived. That only meant it was less of an annoyance. What was annoying him now was the way Alice was dragging her feet.
“Come on, I want to get to this shop and see if they have anything useful. It would be nice to get something accomplished for a change.”
Alice frowned and began moving even more slowly.
“If you don’t want to come just give me the purse and you can go back to the Inn and let the Innkeeper fawn over you.”
“His name is Tyrone, we’ve been staying there long enough for you to remember by now. And I’ve told you before that I will handle the money.”
“Fine, but in that case move more quickly.”
Alice came to a halt and crossed her arms.
“Now what?”
“You’ve been very rude today. Not just to me, but to Tyrone as well. I only mentioned wanting to get honey yesterday because you didn’t like your porridge. Then Tyrone went out and found some without even being asked. You could have at least thanked him for that.”
“Why? I didn’t ask for any favors and he didn’t do it for me, he did it to please you. He has been Charmed and will do anything for you.”
“Well, I am very charming.”
Waldo shook his head. “No, you didn’t simply charm him, you Charmed him.”
“Darling, when you use the same word twice it still has only one meaning.”
Waldo glanced up and down the street to make sure no one was close enough to overhear him. The nearest person was a shabby looking man about twenty yards behind them. “When I say you Charmed the Innkeeper I don’t mean with kind words or subtle suggestions you might let him enjoy your body.”
Waldo completely failed to notice the sudden blush on Alice’s cheeks.
“What I mean is the natural ability of a succubus to captivate and mesmerize a man. In short, you made him your willing slave.”
“I would never do anything like that!”
“I’m not complaining Alice; it’s one of the main advantages of having a succubus familiar. If anything, I would like you to do it more often. Once a man has been Charmed he will do pretty much anything for you.”
“No, I can’t do anything like that. I mean, I can get men to be nice to me. but that’s only because they find me beautiful and I know how to talk to them. I’ve never done anything like make them willing slaves!”
“Are you sure? Haven’t you ever had a man do exactly what you wanted?”
“Well… yes, lots of times in fact, but that didn’t have anything to do with any special power.”
“Uh, huh.”
“It didn’t,” she insisted. “Gentle words from a pretty face are all it takes with most men.”
“I’m sure that was the case often, but not every time. Charming requires you to look directly into your victim’s eyes and desire him to obey you. Even if you were unaware, it would be instinctive for you. It’s likely you have been doing it your entire life.”
Alice shook her head. “No, I’ve never done anything like that.”
“Really?” Waldo began looking at the blacksmith shops; there were three just in the immediate area. He pointed to one of them at random. “Go in there, go up to the owner, look him in the eyes, and ask him to give you a sword.”
“What do we need a sword for?”
“It’s just to make a point, ask the owner to give you a sword.”
“Swords are hard to make, and even here iron doesn’t come cheap, no blacksmith is just going to give me a sword because I ask.”
“He will if you Charm him.”
Alice gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I will do it just to show that you are wrong.” She stomped over to the shop as Waldo waited where he was.
Less than two minutes later she came back out again, awkwardly holding a broadsword out in front of her.
The people passing on the street stared. It was common enough for men to carry weapons here, but a woman with a sword was a rare sight.
“I just looked him in the eyes and asked him if he would give me a sword.” Alice was shifting her weight from one foot to the other and holding the sword out as far from her as she could. “He just nodded and agreed, like it was normal to gift a complete stranger with something like this. I mean he didn’t even try to get me to do anything immoral! He just did what I told him to.”
Waldo nodded. “That is how a succubus Charm works; it bends the victim’s will and makes him completely obedient.”
“Could you please not call him a victim? I feel bad enough as it is.”
“Why? For you this is completely natural.”
Alice turned her gaze to her feet. “I never knew I was forcing anyone to do what I wanted. When a man would do as I asked I always figured it was because he wanted to. I know what it’s like to be controlled, and I don’t want to do it to anyone else.”
“Well that’s a huge waste of your ability.” Waldo noticed she was keeping her face down. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t want to Charm you by accident. I would hate to think you were only with me because I was forcing you.”
He chuckled. “You really are something special Alice.”
She quickly glanced up, and then just as quickly looked down again.
“While I appreciate the concern it’s not necessary. There are limits to the Charm ability. Women and magic users are immune to it, as are the blind. You cannot simply look at someone and affect them, there must be direct eye contact and you must feel the desire to have them do as you wish. Even then, if the vic… the person, has a strong will they can limit the influence the Charm has on them. The effect can be extended as long as you continue to be seen by the person. Once you leave, the Charm will wear off within a few days.”
Alice looked back at him. “Well that’s a relief. I would really hate to think you were with me because I’d made you.”
“You have no need to fear then, I am with you because you are precious to me.”
Waldo saw her blush again, he had no idea why.
“Ah, that’s very sweet of you to say darling. So what do we do with this?” She swung the sword slightly from side to side.
“Well we could find a shop that sells leather goods and get you a free belt and sheath.”
“I am not keeping it! What would I use it for? A sword is only made for killing.”
“The same could be said about your claws.”
“Those are a part of me, and no one sees them until I am about to use them. You’re the man, why don’t you wear it?”
“A mage carrying a sword on his hip? Barbaric. In any case, my wand is deadlier than any hunk of sharpened iron.” That had not been true when he’d first set out, but it was now.
“So what do we do with this thing?”
Waldo pointed at a different black smith shop. “Go in there, look the owner in the eye and ask him to buy it from you. I’m sure you will get a very fair price without even haggling.”
“I can’t do that! Now that I understand my ability it would be like stealing!”
“So? I like stealing.”
“I have a better idea.” She turned around and walked back to the same shop.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m returning this.”
“You mean for free?” Waldo sounded outraged.
“I am not going to just rob some stranger.”
“Does that mean robbing people we know is all right?”
Closing her eyes and shaking her head she went into the shop.
Chapter 37
Please Stop Talking Now
“You’re not allowed to be upset with me.”
Waldo cast a stern glance back over his shoulder.
“You’re not, all I did was return something that I had no right to in the first place.”
“For free. You’re the one who is always worried about how much money we have.”
“That doesn’t mean
I want us to steal. It means I want us to earn what we can and spend carefully.”
“You didn’t seem to mind with Roger.”
“That was different. He wanted to force himself on me.”
“So it’s all right as long as it’s any man who wants to have sex with you? Good, that means we can still rob most of the men in the world.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“I am just trying to understand where the line is. I want to know who you are willing to steal from.”
“It’s very simple. Stealing is never all right. Even stealing from Roger was wrong. I was just willing to help because of where he grabbed me is all. I think from now on we should follow all the laws and not cause any trouble.”
“Have you forgotten who I really am Alice? Don’t let this brilliant disguise fool you. I am Waldo Corpselover, an evil and black hearted mage. I am without mercy or compassion. The laws and morals of ordinary men mean nothing to me. I am a living, breathing source of terror to all those who cross my path.”
Alice suddenly pointed behind him. “Oh, is that a rabbit?”
“WHERE?” He jumped about and his head jerked from side to side as he tried to spot the horrid beast.
Alice snickered. “Evil and black hearted mage, huh?”
Waldo stopped panicking and narrowed his eyes at her. “That wasn’t funny.”
“Yes it was.”
“You really do not have the proper attitude for a familiar.”
“That’s because I’m you wife darling, not your familiar or your servant.”
Waldo decided not to bother correcting her as it would do any good.
“Why didn’t you mention my being able to Charm before?”
“Why would I? I wouldn’t try to explain flying to a bird, or swimming to a fish.”
“But I told you before I didn’t know anything about what I was.”
“When I met you, you were working at an Inn. I simply assumed you were using your Charm instinctively. I was right. I just didn’t realize you were ignorant of the fact.”
“You don’t have to be mean about it you know. You have been very rude to me this morning. I’ve only been trying to help you.”
“Time is short,” he grunted.
“What does that mean?”
“It just means I have a lot of problems to deal with. Now come on, I want to see if this herb shop has anything useful in it.”
He picked up his pace.
XXX
Neither of them noticed the man carefully trailing after them.
XXX
The herbal shop was a crushing disappointment the moment Waldo entered.
In Alter there were three herbal shops that all specialized in providing mages with various spell components. They would have barrels filled with the most common ingredients such as mandrake, salt, and nightshade. On shelves would be jars with more select items such as wolfsbane, ground obsidian, elfroot, pickled goblin eyes, or ragweed. There would be supplies from all over the Shattered Lands. You could find cactus needles from the Zatarhn Desert, purple sea moss that only grew on the island of Lamos, ice peppers that only came from the far north, and all sorts of other difficult to acquire ingredients. They were expensive, but they were always available.
The shops also kept limited supplies of truly exotic materials locked away inside special vaults. Unicorn horn, dragon scales, vampire blood, medusa venom, and succubus tears were all worth more than their weight in gold. Such precious goods were not available in large quantities, but if you had enough gold you could usually find some in at least one of the shops. In Alter it was easy for a mage to acquire just about anything he might need for a spell or potion.
This was what Waldo thought of as the standard for what an herbal shop was supposed to be. So when he entered, ‘Toppa’s Herbs and Ingredients’ he was taken aback. The very first thing he noticed was that of the several customers already inside, all of them were women, and not a one of them wore a magic user’s robes. They all stared at him as though the presence of a mage were unusual here.
Not a good sign, he thought.
As he began looking about his opinion was only confirmed. As Alice looked about her reaction was the exact opposite of his.
“Oh, they have fresh pepper! And sage and rosemary too! They have some nice onions and garlic!”
“They don’t have mandrake,” Waldo said in disbelief. “What sort of shop doesn’t carry mandrake? It’s the most basic ingredient.”
“What sort of food do you use mandrake for?”
“You don’t use it for food. You use it for all sorts of spells and potions.” He was going through the barrels that lined the front of the shop. Flour? Beans? Barley? Nuts? “What is this?”
“Can I help you good sir?” A middle aged woman with black hair streaked with grey came up to him.
“Master not sir,” Waldo said mechanically.
“I beg pardon?”
“My proper title is master not sir.” He motioned at the barrels in front of him. “Where is the mandrake?”
“Mandrake sir?”
“Master not sir.”
The woman stared at him uncertainly.
Waldo gave a frustrated sigh. “Where do you keep the mandrake?”
“We don’t carry mandrake si… ah, master?”
“How can you not have any mandrake? What sort of shop is this?”
“Darling, you’re being rude.” Alice came over to his side. “Please forgive my husband; it’s that time of the month for him.”
Waldo glared at her while the shopkeeper’s eyes tried to bulge out of their sockets.
“But… but… he’s a man, how can he…”
“Well he’s a wizard too, you know how they are, special connection to the moon’s cycle and all that. Some months when we match we have to fight over the rags.”
“Alice what are you doing?”
“Just explaining why you’re acting the way you are. By the way, next week be ready to be on the receiving end.”
The shopkeeper was twitching and slowly inching away. “I am sorry, but we don’t carry mandrake. Was there anything else?”
“Rose petals, I need rose petals.”
“We don’t carry those either.”
“Just what kind of shop are you?”
“We are a shop that sells herbs and ingredients for cooking. We don’t sell things that don’t flavor food. If you will excuse me.” She hurried to a pair of customers who didn’t appear to need any help.
“Just wonderful, rose petals are one of the key ingredients for making love potion.”
“I don’t know what you were expecting darling, none of the shops in Stratford carried those things either.”
“I was expecting them to carry the basics of an herbal shop. Obviously I was expecting too much for this country of savages.”
He did not bother to keep his voice down and was on the receiving end of some unpleasant stares.
“Maybe we should go,” Alice suggested. “Before they gather their torches and pitchforks.”
XXX
They stayed long enough to purchase salt and rosemary, then left.
“Well that was a complete waste. Calling that place an herbal shop is like calling a rabbit cute.”
Alice sighed. “Whatever you say, oh, and sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“This.” She yanked up her skirt and delivered a swift kick to his backside which sent him flying.
A White Mage sprawled out in the street was a rare sight, and the people walking by burst out laughing.
“What was that for?” Waldo got to his knees and rubbed his rear.
“That was for the way you’ve been acting all morning. You have been very rude to me and to everyone else. That was a little reminder for you to behave yourself. You’re usually very nice, so I don’t know why you’re acting this way.”
Waldo’s face darkened and he opened his mouth.
“I know, I know,” Alice said
wearily. “You don’t like being called nice, though you are nice and I always mean it as a compliment.” She held a hand out to him.
Scowling Waldo got up to his feet without any help. “Words like nice, kind, and merciful all imply weakness. I cannot afford to be weak; I am alone in a world filled with ignorant barbarians. I have enemies all around me and am always in danger. And despite my best efforts I haven’t been able to move forward. Forgive me if I am not overly concerned with my manners.”
The (sort of) Dark Mage (Waldo Rabbit) Page 35
