The Unsuspecting Mage (26 page)

“How may I help you today?” he asks as he approaches.

Looking up at the cat, James says, “I was about to ask you that same question.”

“Oh, that damn cat,” he curses. “She always gets up there and then expects me to get her back down. Sometimes I think she does it just to annoy me.”

“Cats are that way I understand,” James replies sympathetically and slightly amused.

“Yes, well, I’ll deal with her later. How can I help you?” he asks again.

“I was hoping you might have a room available for me and my companion,” he explains. “Thelonius down the street said this would be a good place to stay.”

“He did, did he?” the innkeeper asks. “I do have a couple of rooms available. How long were you planning on staying?”

“Perhaps a couple days, maybe longer,” James tells him. “I also need a stall for my horse.”

“It’ll be two silvers a night for a room on the bottom,” he says, “an additional two coppers for one on the second floor. For your horse, another three coppers a day and that includes food and exercise.”

Amazed at how expensive it is, he says, “I’ll take the one on the second floor.” Pulling out his pouch, he removes seven silvers and hands them over. “I’ll take the room for three days and let you know if I need to stay longer.”

The man takes the money and walks with James over to the bar where he opens a cupboard on the wall behind it. Inside are rows of hooks with room keys. He pulls out one of the keys and hands it to James, “You are in seventeen, top of the stairs and fourth on the left.”

Taking the key, James says, “Thank you,” and then walks over to the door. Before leaving, he glances back to find the man starting to climb back up on the bar to once again attempt coaxing his cat down out of the rafters.

Chuckling to himself, he goes outside and tells Miko they’ll be staying here for a few days. Untying the horse, he and Miko head around back to the stables.

A large, muscular man is back by the stable shoeing a horse. When he sees them walking toward him he says, “Just a minute.” He takes another shoe nail and hammers it into the hoof of the horse, securing the shoe in place. The man then puts down the hammer and inspects the shoe, making sure it’s on secure and even. When he’s satisfied with it, he lets the hoof go and turns toward James and Miko.

“Yeah?” he asks them in a surly tone. “Something I can help you with?”

James shows him the room key and says, “Just need a stall for my horse.”

“Got one,” he says as he gestures over his shoulder, “second from the front.” As if that ended the conversation, he turns back to the horse he had been shoeing. Taking the other fore hoof and a file from off a nearby worktable, he begins evening out the hoof’s rough edges.

James leads his horse into the stable and finds the stall, second from the front. It’s a clean and roomy stall with shelves lining the rear wall. It takes them little time to get the horse settled in. Once the horse has been properly taken care of, they grab their things and exit the stable, making for the door to the inn. Outside, the man is still shoeing the horse and pays them no mind whatsoever.

They enter the inn and go upstairs, finding room seventeen. Entering the room they are pleased to discover two beds, which brings a smile to Miko’s face.

“No floor tonight,” he says to James as he places the bags on the room’s small table. He then crosses over and lies down on the bed closest to the door, “I could get to like this.”

Taking the bed closer to the window, James places his backpack in the corner next to his bed, then lies down and literally sinks three inches into downy softness. “You’re right,” he says to Miko, “I could get to like this too. It’s far superior to any bed I’ve slept in for quite a while.”

Before growing too comfortable and loses the ability to get back out of the bed, he gets up and goes over to the window. From their room they have a good view of the inner city and spires of the castle. The castle is very majestic, it reminds James of castles he’s read about and saw on documentaries. He seriously doubts if there are any tours of this castle he could take.

Judging by the position of the sun, he figures they have close to two more hours till dark. Turning to Miko he says, “I’m going to go explore the town before dinner, want to go?” He sees Miko has already fallen asleep on the bed so decides to just let him sleep as he heads off on his own.

Coming down the stairs he sees the innkeeper sitting at a table with the cat in his lap, stroking its back. “Finally got her down I see,” he says to him as he approaches.

“She drives me crazy at times,” he says as he continues to pet the cat, “but I don’t know what I’d do without her. She was my wife’s you know, before she died. She’s all I have left to remind me of her.”

“By the way,” James says as he gets close, “My name is James.”

“I’m Inius, and this is Furball,” he replies as he continues petting the cat.

“I’m going to see some of the city before dinner,” he tells Inius. “If my friend Miko should wake up, could you tell him where I’ve gone?”

“If I see him, I’ll let him know,” Inius replies.

“Thank you,” James says then heads for the door.

Outside, the street remains fairly crowded with many people hurrying about their business. Figuring one direction is as good as another, he takes off down the road to the right, gazing at all the sights and goods being offered by the various merchants.

The shops lining the street have selections of their wares displayed on tables out front in the hopes of enticing those passing into buying. And if that wasn’t enough, most of them have a very loud spokesman, shouting the merits of whatever it is they are trying to sell.

One such place is a seller of amulets. The man is portraying his amulets as powerful magics, each with a special property. Some to ward off evil, some to cure warts, and even ones to entice the charms of the one you love.

James slows down as he looks over the various amulets displayed by the merchant. He soon realizes his mistake as the man, seeing that James has even the slightest interest in his amulets, comes over and attaches himself like a giant leech.

“Sir, you’ve come to the right place,” he says, moving into such a position that James is forced to stop or run into the man. Holding up a small, well worn amulet he continues, “This amulet was charmed by an ancient wizard, it will keep evil spirits from causing you harm.”

“No?” he says when he sees that James is not interested in that one. Holding up another, this one in the shape of a heart, he says, “This charm will make any lady you desire fall madly in love with you.”

Looking closer at the amulet, James thinks he can make out teeth marks indenting one edge of the heart. “No thank you,” he replies. As the man begins to extol the virtues of yet another of his amulets, James holds up his hand, causing the man to cease in the praising of his wares and to listen to what he is about to say.

James reaches into his shirt and pulls out the medallion the creature gave him back in Trendle and asks, “Have you ever seen one with a design like this before?”

Taking a close look at the medallion, the man shakes his head, “No sir, I have not.” Then he grabs another one of his amulets that he says will bring great wealth to whoever wears it.

Disappointed, he puts the medallion back inside his shirt. Realizing he’s not likely to get away without buying one, he points to an amulet at random, a plain circular one of metal, bearing three dots forming the points of a triangle with connecting lines.

Seeing the amulet that James has pointed to, the merchant says, “That one is indeed precious. It comes from very far away and is said to have been the property of a powerful sorceress,” he says with conviction as he holds it up for a better view. “It was said that this amulet protected her from harm for as long as she wore it.”

“What happened to her?” James asks.

“Her lover tricked her into taking it off and then killed her,” he explains. “Only two silvers good sir and you too will be protected as she had been.”

“Five coppers,” James counters, “and I’m just buying it to get away from you.”

“Sir,” the merchant exclaims tragically, “you would ruin me, starving my wife and children. Surely an amulet as powerful as this must be worth a silver and twelve coppers.”

“Perhaps, ten coppers,” James offers, “and hopefully it won’t turn my skin green or give me a rash.”

“How can you possibly put a price on such wonderful protection,” the man protests vigorously. “A silver six coppers, and that will bring curses upon my head from my wife for having given it away.”

“Seventeen coppers,” James says, “and I’m getting ready to walk.” Beginning to back away, he spies the man’s face turning frantic at the possible loss of a sale.

“A silver, good sir,” he pleads, practically screeching as he stretches the hand that is holding the amulet across the table as if to keep him from leaving. “Surely the protection must be worth at least a silver!”

Pausing as if to think, he says, “A silver it is then.” Reaching into his pouch, he produces a silver and places it on the table.

Snatching the coin so fast that the eye had a hard time seeing the move, the man hands over the amulet to James. With a friendly grin, the man gives a slight bow and says, “Thank you good sir and may a thousand blessings be upon you.”

James takes the amulet and puts it in his pocket. “You’re welcome,” he tells the merchant as he walks away from the stall.

He hasn’t taken two steps before the voice of the amulet seller once again joins the cacophony of his fellow merchants, each trying to out shout the others in the hopes of enticing those passing by to their stalls.

As he leaves the cacophony of merchants behind, James heads further into the city where the types of businesses gradually begin to change. Where the ones closer to the entrance into the city were noisy and boisterous, the ones further away from the outer gate are calmer. These are the businesses that the people of the city use on a more regular basis.

There are chandlers, butchers, and shops for every need. These do not require a loud spokesman to try to persuade prospective buyers to enter. These are well established, long time businesses known by the locals, so don’t need all the noise to attract customers. Enjoying the more peaceful environment, James strolls down the street, no longer afraid to window shop. Here there is no fear of having someone attach themselves to him like what he experienced back with the amulet merchant.

One sign draws his attention. It depicted a large pie with steam radiating off it.
Must be a bakery
, he thinks to himself.
Maybe they have tarts
. Remembering how delicious they had been in Bearn, he walks over and opens the door. His stomach begins to growl as a mouth watering aroma wafts through the open door.

A young man greets him upon entering. “Hello,” he says as he puts down a broom and comes over to the counter. “What can I do for you this evening good sir?”

“I was wondering if you have any tarts?” he asks.

“As a matter of fact we do,” the young man says. “My father makes really good tarts. Today we have some apple tarts that are especially good.”

“Okay, I’ll take six of those,” James says. Wanting some variety he asks, “Would you have a specialty, something that you do better than anybody else?”

“Yes we do sir,” the young man replies as he begins taking apple tarts from behind the counter and places them into a bag. “We are especially proud of our crumb cakes. It’s a secret recipe handed down from father to son that’s been in our family for generations. Would you like to try one?”

“Sure,” agrees James. “How big is it?”

“Wait a moment and I’ll show you one,” the young man says. He sets the sack of tarts down onto the counter and then passes through a door into the back. After a few seconds he returns with a medium sized cake, which to James reminds him of a cinnamon swirl crumb cake that his grandmother used to make. “It’s a silver for the cake and another six coppers for the tarts.”

Taking out his purse he hands over two silvers and the young man gives him his change. He’s glad Miko isn’t here to get on him about not haggling. He just doesn’t like doing it, unless of course it’s with someone he doesn’t care for. Hating to admit it, he did have fun with the amulet merchant.

While James waits for the boy to put the cake in a box, he looks around the shop at all the other delectables and then glances outside. Through the window he spies a very nice carriage beginning to pass by, drawn by two identical white horses. Intrigued, he comes closer to the window to get a closer look at it as it passes.

“Oh my god,” he whispers to himself as he feels a shiver run up his spine. For there in the window of the coach is the face of the man that had been yelling at them when they were being chased from Lord Colerain’s estate. Lord Colerain is here in Cardri!

Ducking away from the window so as not to be seen, he waits until the carriage passes then goes over to the counter and collects his baked goods. With a quick goodbye he leaves the bakery and hurries back down the street toward the Dancing Squirrel.

The light is beginning to fade as the sun nears the horizon. The street is not nearly as crowded as before, though many are still out and about. He steps quickly, but doesn’t run as he wants to avoid drawing attention to himself. It doesn’t take him long to reach the inn, and as he enters the common room, turns toward the stairs and races up to the second floor.

Going down the hallway to his room, he opens the door and finds Miko lying bound and gagged on the bed. Dropping his sacks of tarts on the floor he rushes over, drawing his knife to cut the bonds. Miko is on the bed, eyes wide and trying desperately to say something.

“Hang on Miko,” James says as he reaches the bed. “I’ll have you free in a second.”

Just as he brings the knife close to cut Miko’s bonds, he hears a floorboard creak behind him just before something cracks him in the back of the head. His knees buckle as darkness takes him.