The Lost Mage (20 page)

Nora disappeared back into the bar, returning a few minutes later with small pieces of foam. “Put these in your ears. It will muffle the sound.”

Darakin held the odd material up and looked at it. He squished it between his fingers and laughed when it bounced back into its original form. He twisted the top and bottom in opposite directions and let it spring back.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Look at this! It keeps going back to its starting form.”

“Yes, Darakin, it’s called foam and that’s pretty much what it does – well, that and muffling sound. No foam on the Mother ship?”

“Mother ship?”

“Nothing, bad joke.”

Darakin shrugged and put them into his ears.

Nora headed to the door and looked back over her shoulder. “You coming?”

“Yes.” Darakin shuffled in behind Nora and was pleased that the strange material did muffle the noise a bit.

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, Darakin awoke to find Mrowley uncharacteristically missing from the bed. Fearing that he might be after more prey to bring to Nora, the mage got out of bed and tiptoed into the living room. He took one step in the room and Mrowley ran across his feet while making a mad dash around the room.

The cat skidded to a stop before turning and walking back toward Darakin.
Hey.

“Hey? That’s all you have to say?”

Uh, good morning?

“What are you chasing?”

Huh?
With that, the cat’s eyes glazed over, his head turned sharply to the right and he took off at a breakneck speed. He did another lap of the room before stopping in front of Darakin again.

“What do you mean, huh? What are you chasing?”

Nothing.

“Then why are you running like a maniac?”

I don’t know what you mean …
He was off again. This time his mad dash took him under one of the sofa end tables where his tail got caught on a lamp cord, pulling it to the floor with a loud crash and shattering of the bulb.

Mrowley’s ears pointed back and his pupils were dilated and wild looking. He ran to Darakin’s side.

“Mrowley! What’s going on? What are you running for?”

To get away from that lamp, dude. Didn’t you see it? It almost hit me.

“That’s because your tail got caught on its cord when you ran by. Is there a fly in here?”

Fly? Where?
Again, the cat’s eyes darted around the room as he looked for the insect.

“No, no. I didn’t see one. I thought maybe you were running after one … oh, forget it.”

Forget what?

Darakin made a sound of frustration. He turned back to the bedroom to find Nora standing in the doorway staring at him with a soft smile on her face.

“I’m sorry about your lamp, Nora. I’ll add it to the list.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t like that one anyway. It was just something I found at the curbside awhile ago.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

“You said there were cats in your realm, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Have you never lived with one, though?”

“Well, no. I’m a wandering mage. Companions don’t exactly fit my lifestyle.”

“Well, that’s just typical cat behavior. They run like crazy for no apparent reason. What did he say when you asked him why?”

“He just kept saying, ‘Huh?’ like he had no idea what I was talking about.”

She laughed. “Figures.”

Nora shuffled to the kitchen to start the coffee pot. “So, what’s the plan for today?”

“Well, I was wondering if you knew where the attack on the Chipper person took place.”

She laughed again. “You mean Charlie the Chipmunk? Yeah, I remember from the article. Why?”

“Well, I thought if we could look at a map of the city and compare the summoning spot with where the attack happened, we might know which way he went out of the park.”

“Good thinking.” She pulled the map that came with the phone book out of a kitchen drawer and spread it on the table.

Darakin came over to look at it and his mouth dropped open.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s so big.”

“You’ve been here about a week and done a fair bit of traveling around it and you didn’t realize how big it was?”

“Well, it’s different when you see it like this. This is quite a bit more detailed than the maps back home were.”

Nora pulled a pencil out of another drawer and started marking spots on the map for him. “This is where we are. And this is Sean’s Pub. Now, all the way up here is where you were summoned.”

“I didn’t realize Mrowley and I had walked so far.”

“Mm. Well, this is where the attack took place and here is where you met Mrowley. You and the demon took completely different paths out of the park.”

“Well, I suggest we go back to the summoning spot and see if we can find any traces of the demon there.”

“Fine. Just let me have some coffee and then we’ll go.”

“Okay.”

After drinking their coffee, the pair headed out. Darakin endured another bus trip uptown with gritted teeth and white knuckles.

When they got off the bus, they headed directly for the spot where Darakin was summoned.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Nora asked.

“I don’t really know. Anything that looks lizard-like.”

“Lizard-like? What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a tracker.”

Nora muttered under her breath. “Sure, leave it to me to come out here with a non-combat mage who can’t track. Just my luck.” She stopped for a second and shook her head. “Did those words actually just come out of my mouth? Jaysus, this may be a new level of crazy for me.”

“What’s that?” Darakin called.

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

“You know, Nora, that doesn’t seem to be a very healthy habit.”

“Neither is hanging out with crazy mages and talking cats.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said in irritation. “Can we hurry? They’re calling for rain.”

Darakin stopped his search and stood up straight in alarm. “Who’s calling for rain? I thought you said that nobody could summon the elements here?”

Nora’s head dropped in frustration. “It’s an expression. It means the people who watch the weather patterns – they’re called meteorologists – have predicted that it will rain soon.”

“Oh. Well, then we should hurry. Rain might wash away any traces of the krekdapop.”

“We wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we?”

“You know, Nora, sometimes I get the impression that you’re not taking this seriously.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just that this is sort of like a reality-altering experience for me. Other than the auld folk at home talking about the fairies, I’ve pretty much grown up without any magic, mages, talking cats or lizard people. It’s taking me awhile to get used to it.”

“But if there are fairies, then you have grown up with magic.”

“No, sweetie. I said some people talk about them, but I don’t believe in them. Wait, let me guess. You have fairies where you’re from, too, don’t you.”

“Of course not. They live in the fairy realm, Nora, not mine.”

“I should have seen that one coming,” she muttered under her breath. Aloud, she said, “okay, let’s get this show on the road, I mean let’s get moving. Where do you want me to look?”

“You go over there, I’ll try this direction. Just don’t lose sight of me; I wouldn’t want you to face the krekdapop alone.”

“Okay.”

Darakin went to the opposite tree line and started checking in and around the trees and brush. After an hour, Nora gave up and sat in the middle of the clearing, watching Darakin. He was very handsome, even if he was a little nuts. He was also the sweetest, most gentle lover she’d ever had. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw him bending over and touching leaves and branches.

She was so lost in her reverie, that she jumped when he yelled, “Found it!”

“Found … what, exactly?”

“Evidence of the krekdapop.”

“Oh.”

Darakin rushed over to her carrying a bunch of sticks that had a green formation of slime hanging from them. “See? This is the residue of a krekdapop. I’m sure of it.”

“Great.” However, Nora’s voice did not hold any enthusiasm.

“We need to go to Ravenwynd’s.”

“Why?” Nora asked, a trace of suspicion in her voice.

“Because she’s close by and we need to get a container of some sort to hold the residue.”