The Unsuspecting Mage (21 page)

“How’d you figure that out?” asks an incredulous Miko.

Smiling with great satisfaction, James replies, “I’ve read stories about stuff like this. It isn’t too hard if you know what to look for.”
Also, years of role playing games and designing dungeons doesn’t hurt either,
he adds to himself in satisfaction.

Shutting the door again, he turns and heads down the right hand passage, one direction being as good as another. Keeping the light as dim as he can while still being able to see, he tries to locate cracks of light coming through the walls which may indicate other secret doors. Ten feet further down, the passage turns sharply to the left and after another six feet they reach a juncture where they are faced with the choice of continuing straight or taking a very narrow stairway up.

James inspects the footprints in the dust and sees that the majority of the tracks follow the corridor straight ahead, while only a small portion continues up the stairs. Deciding that following the main body of tracks will most likely lead to a main exit, he continues down the passage past the stairs.

After another ten feet or so, he detects a faint outline of light in the shape of a door on the left wall. Pointing it out to Miko, he whispers “Looks like another secret door.”

Nodding in agreement, Miko says, “Look,” as he points to the tracks they’ve been following. “Most of the tracks end here. This looks like a well used entrance to the secret passage.”

“I think you are correct,” agrees James. Using the lamp to inspect the wall, he finds a simple latch keeping the door closed. He pauses momentarily as he places his ear to the door. Not hearing anything from the other side, he slowly lifts the latch and opens the door just far enough for him to be able to see through to the other side.

He cautiously looks out and takes a quick look around. Finding the room empty, James opens the door wider and steps into the room, signaling for Miko to follow. As Miko passes through he closes the door behind him.

The room looks to be a richly furnished den. The door they came through turns out to be a life sized portrait of a man that has been hinged to the wall, concealing the secret entrance. A large mahogany desk and chair dominate the room, with a large picture window in the wall behind it. Across the room from the desk sits a brick fireplace, now cold and unused. Several shelves line the walls containing many books and other knickknacks. From the looks of this room, the owner is a very rich individual indeed.

The only exit from the room, other than the one they came through, is a door to the left of the portrait. Nodding to the door, he whispers to Miko, “See if you can see or hear anything.” While he checks the door, James walks across the room to the window behind the desk to see if it can be opened. He finds it held closed with a simple lock and can easily be opened. Glancing out the window, he sees an expansive lawn area extending from the house to a high stone wall which looks to surround the grounds of the estate. At the moment there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the vicinity. He whispers over to Miko who is still peering out the door, “Anything?”

Waving Miko over to him he says, “There’s no one out in the yard so perhaps we could make it over the wall before anyone realizes we’ve been here.”

“Maybe,” agrees Miko as he gauges the distance between the window and the wall. It’s at least a hundred feet of open lawn. “But that’s a long run to the wall.”

Taking one more look to make sure that the area between the window and the wall remains clear, he opens the window and helps Miko through to the ground below. Thank goodness they are on the ground floor. He then follows Miko out the window and closes it quickly once he’s down beside him. They crouch in the bushes beneath the window momentarily as they scan the area for people. Once they ascertain the area is clear, they head out quickly and quietly for the tree.

They take no more than three steps when from above them on the second floor, a voice cries out, “Guards! Intruders!”

Looking up, James sees a well dressed man staring at him from an upper story window. Their eyes lock for just a second before he returns to the business at hand and bolts for the tree.

“Guards!” the man hollers again, “they’re heading for the wall!”

No longer worrying about stealth, James and Miko make a mad dash across the grounds. Two guards bearing drawn swords emerge at a run around the corner of the house and upon seeing them racing for the wall, move to intercept. “Stop!” yells one.

Miko makes the tree first and jumps for a lower limb. Grabbing it, he swings himself up into the tree. James throws his backpack over the wall and not being as nimble, has difficulty getting into the tree.

Reaching his hand down for James to grab, Miko yells, “Take my hand!”

Seeing the proffered hand, James reaches up and takes hold of it. With Miko’s help, he’s able to get up into the tree. They make their way through the lower limbs to the top of the wall just at the guards reach the base of the tree.

Swords strike at them as they pass from the tree to the wall, but they’re too far up and the blows are ineffective. Swinging over the wall, they drop down to the street below and James begins looking around for his backpack.

A small boy stands not two feet away with his back to them. He has the backpack and is rummaging through it.

James comes up behind him and grabs the boy by the shoulder.

Startled, the boy drops the backpack as he jumps a foot in the air. Turning, he sees James and Miko standing there. Before James can say a word, the boy bolts and disappears into the crowd.

James picks his backpack off the ground and turns to Miko, “Get us out of here!”

“This way,” Miko says then races off into the crowd with James close behind. The people around them continue going about their business, as if two men climbing over a wall were an everyday occurrence. James expected at least one of the bystanders would have tried to hinder their escape or at the very least to have shouted a warning to a constable that something odd was occurring. But no cry arises from anyone and they make it out of the area.

Finding a quiet alley, they duck inside and stop for a moment to catch their breath. “Do you think they’ll send the watch after us?” James asks. Standing at the mouth of the alley, he peers around the corner for any sign of pursuit.

“I don’t think we have to worry about the town watch getting involved,” replies Miko. “That was Lord Colerain’s estate we were in. In fact, it was Lord Colerain who was shouting out the window for the guards.”

“Why wouldn’t he call for the town watch?” he asks.

“He has his own guards and nobles like to take care of things themselves,” he replies. “It would be a loss of face if he were to come to the town watch for help. Since we didn’t take anything and there was no damage, it’s unlikely that he’ll do anything. Of course, if he comes across us, then he may seek revenge.”

“Alright,” says James. “Let’s just get back to the Flying Swan.”

Leading the way, Miko soon has them back at the inn. It’s a tribute to the lack of sanitation of this world that they can come into an inn from the sewers and no one says anything. James tells one of the workers that he’d like two tubs sent to his room, then he and Miko go on up.

James empties out his backpack and lays the contents on the floor by the bed. A knock at the door heralds the arrival of two tubs carried in by four young boys. It doesn’t take the staff long to have them filled with steaming hot water. One servant brings in two small bowls of a powdery substance, setting one by each of the tubs. When James looks questioningly at it, he’s told that its soap and it’ll help to remove the grime. He tells one of the workers to come back in a few minutes to pick up his clothes and the backpack. That he wants to have them cleaned along with his other clothes they picked up earlier.

After the workers leave, he strips off his clothes and climbs into one of the tubs. The water is hot but not uncomfortable. Leaning back, he relaxes and lets the tensions of the day melt away. Settling in, he looks over to Miko and says, “Come on, it feels really good.” Reaching down, he scoops out some of the soap and proceeds to scrub the sewer gunk off.

Not looking convinced, Miko gets undressed and comes over to the tub hesitantly. He gingerly sticks one foot into the water and then pulls it out again fast, “It’s hot!” he says.

“Of course it’s hot,” he replies, slightly amused. “Being hot just makes it relax you more. Once you get in you’ll get use to it.”

Putting a toe in the water once again, he cautiously works the rest of his foot and then his leg in. Realizing the water is not going to scald him, he puts the other foot in and slowly immerses himself the rest of the way in. He sits there for a minute, at first not happy with it. Then as he becomes accustomed to the water’s temperature, he relaxes and begins to enjoy the experience.

Shortly, one of the workers returns to take James’ clothes and backpack, also dropping off two large towels so they may dry themselves when they are finished. James asks him if the clothes could be done by nightfall as he plans to leave in the morning. The worker tells him that they will rush it through.

Grabbing more soap, he continues scrubbing himself clean.
This is the first bath I’ve had in a week,
he thinks to himself. He had always liked baths. Back home he would at times soak in one until the water was cold and his skin the texture of prunes.

He looks over to Miko and finds that he’s beginning to relax and even seems to be enjoying it. Seeing the way James uses the soap, Miko scoops some out and copies him, rubbing it over his skin.

Knock! Knock!

“Come in,” James shouts through the door.

One of the workers at the Inn brings in a package. “This was just dropped off for you from Brockman’s,” the man says. Placing the package on the table, he turns and goes back out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“What do you need that stuff for anyway?” asks Miko, referring to the writing materials.

“I plan on keeping a journal,” he replies. “And who knows how else it may come in handy.”
Like a spell book,
he adds silently. He has long since come to the conclusion that he needs to create spells so in an emergency he will have ready access to them and won’t have to take the time to think one up.

He stays in the tub until the water begins to cool, then gets out and dries himself with one of the towels. Miko gets out as well and soon they are both dressed once more. James is in the last of his clean clothes and Miko dons his dirty old ones again.

“That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” James asks him.

“It was pretty good, actually,” Miko replies with a grin. “I could get to like it.”

Miko walks over to the bed and leans over the pile of items on the floor, curious about the stuff from James’ backpack. He picks up the homemade compass that James had fashioned earlier in Trendle during his search for Hern. Holding it up, he looks over to James and asks, “What is this thing?”

Glancing over and seeing what Miko is holding, he replies, “Just something I made a while back. I used it to find something.”

“How does it work?” he inquires.

“I use a spell and it shows the direction of whatever I ask it to find,” James explains. Taking it from Miko, he points out the charcoal line and says, “This line will point in the direction of what I am trying to find.”

Grabbing his coin pouch, James pulls out two silvers and hands them to Miko. “Here, take these,” he says. “You really helped me today and I appreciate it. Let’s go downstairs and I’ll buy you dinner before you leave.”

Miko is opening the door when he hears James says, “Here, you can have these as well.” Turning, he sees James handing him the bag of tarts.

“Thanks,” he says gratefully, as he puts the small sack inside his shirt for safekeeping.

Together they go down to the common room and find a good table situated near the rear. They only have to wait a minute or two before the girl comes over to see what they would like. It’s still an hour or so before dark, so the evening crowd hasn’t yet come in. Naught but a couple of people share the room with them. Once they give her their order, she returns to the kitchen.

“So, where are you going from here?” asks Miko.

“I’m planning on heading south, maybe as far as Castle Cardri,” he explains. The girl returns shortly with their food and a bottle of the mulberry wine that James had liked so much the night before. Tonight however, he plans to limit himself to only one bottle. He has no desire to experience another hangover. The memory of the one he woke to this morning forestalls any such attempt.