Wizard of Jatte by Rowan Erlking (librera reader txt) 📕

dish their hired cook had made. The unusually short woman really did know how to cook filling and delicious meals. The tower itself smelled wonderful because of her. Nearly everyone had thanked Theissen for her when they saw her. That woman had also thanked him numerous times. He had given her rather snug quarters connected to a life with a mountain of stability, as well as protection. She never had that before, and she was relishing it. Only her daughters seemed discontent, as if they felt obliged to still hate him. But even that was wearing off the longer they lived in the tower.

“So, Manda, what do you have planned for dinner?” Theissen asked his short cook.

Manda smiled up and stuck her hands into her apron pockets. “Tonight we’ll be eating roast duck with baked apples. And I suppose I’ll have to use some of those vegetables your girlfriend brought over.”

Theissen halted where he was. “Tippany is not my girlfriend.”

But the woman smiled the same way his mother and aunt had when they were plotting his engagement with Milrina.

“Has Theobold come back yet?” Theissen asked, looking away from her.

One of the other men shook their heads. “I haven’t seen him since this morning.”

Theissen frowned. Despite everything, he still worried that some guard would shoot Theobold and his friend would die from an arrow wound. He was half inclined to send Theobold flying back to the forest to get more feather merchandise for his fellow birdmen. However, since Theobold had already set up a home in the room next to his, claiming the top of the tower as his domain, that didn’t feel fair. Besides, Theobold was even working on woodcarving again to supply the shop with trinkets to hang in the window. It was clear he had no intention of going back home yet.

“Hey! There he is!” Someone pointed to the door.

Theobold strode in a little dustier than usual. He walked straight up to Theissen, handing over the letter translation.

“I know you would want to read this right now.” Theobold was even out of breath.

Theissen plucked the letter from his hands and read it silently.

 

Dear Theissen,

A lot has happened since I last wrote you. I’m afraid I have to move my place of residence and so getting a hold of me might be difficult in the next few months. Sorry. It seems the Patriarch of my country decided to send the army after me. He still seems to think my wife is his property. I’d almost let her go at him and suck him dry, but well, that would be bad politics and I’d be hunted more.

Anyway, I would like to hear more if possible about this group of magicians in your town. You had better be careful. I have never seen a magic feud before, but I have read tons about them. Be very careful. Oh, and tell Emrit that if he does want to come back to Brein Amon he ought to go by land from Maldos. The ports, I hear, are constantly under watch, mostly for pirates. But the soldiers won’t let anyone pass whom they distrust. Just a forewarning.

Good luck to yourself,

Jonis Macoy

 

Theissen sighed, folding up the letter. He turned to Theobold with a nod. “Did you get Emirt to help with the translation?”

Shaking his head, the birdman frowned. “He wasn’t around. Those men at the docks said he was in a scuffle with an Angledon, and the Jatte dock sheriffs interfered.”

“Interfered? You don’t mean he’s in jail?” Theissen stiffened in alarm.

Theobold just shrugged. “I suppose so. I heard rumors that the Angledon wants Emrit to be shipped back to Angledoli for a trial.”

Theissen set his plate down and rushed out the door.

Theobold flapped after him, hurrying back into the main tower floor as Theissen grabbed his coat from the rack where his snake was curled, throwing the coat on.

“Where are you going? This is none of our business—you said so yourself!” Theobold followed him right out onto the street. The street was full of commotion. Most of the locals were reclaiming several of the vacant houses, cleaning them up like Theissen had done with the tower. It had become prime real-estate.

Giving him a sharp look, Theissen tromped down the hill. “I changed my mind. He’s Jonis’s friend. I ought to speak out for him.”

“But he’s a foreigner. All we can do is watch them deport him.” Theobold flew up and landed in front of Theissen. “You will draw more trouble to yourself if you do this.”

“Too late.” Theissen walked around the birdman.

He heard his birdfriend huff. “Fine! But I’m not letting you go alone!”

With that, Theobold swooped Theissen up then flapped over the buildings to the city center hilltop. It saved them hours of travel time, but Theissen was out of breath and exasperated when they landed. He gathered himself up, dusting off his coat and pants before tromping to the foreign office building where Captain Shmiter had said dealt with legal issues.

“Hold it! What are you?” A guard blocked Theissen’s way with his axe-headed staff.

Theissen gave him a nod and said, “I am Theissen Darol Mukumar Carpenterson of Lumen Village, the registered wizard of this city. I’m coming in to inquire after a Westhaven man who was recently in a scuffle with an Angledon.”

The guard stared for a moment. “You’re looking for a foreigner, Wizard?”

Nodding again, Theissen waited to be let by.

“Then what is that?” The guard pointed to Theobold who had folded in his feathers under his white robe.

Theissen sighed aloud. “That is my friend Theobold Whitefeather, a birdman from the Jadoran Forest acting as liaison for his people in selling feathers and one of my carpenter apprentices. Now let us pass.”

“He is a demon!” The guard shouted, going pale and preparing to defend himself.  

“Yeah, what of it?” Theissen rested his hands onto his hips with a glower of impatience.

“It is illegal to create demons!” the guard said, looking to Theissen.

“Tell that to his mother and father then,” Theissen grumbled. “In the meantime, he comes with me.”

“I cannot allow you to pass!” the guard declared.

With a dry look, Theissen asked. “And why not?”

Practically choking on his words, the guard answered, “Because they are having an important conference with the Angledoli army about that man you just mentioned.”

Theissen lifted his eyebrows. He stepped closer to the guard. “All the more reason I need to go in now.”

The guard held up his axe to block him. “I am sworn to do my duty.”

Reaching up, Theissen pushed on the axe blade as if it were made of wax. It bent so that it was as dull as a hammer and hung on the staff like a wilted flower. He said with a firm glare, “The Westhaven man is a friend of mine. I am going in regardless of what you say.”

He tromped past.

…And again past the next set of guards who nearly dropped their axes when they saw what he had done to the first guard.

Theobold rushed in after him.

“This building is big. Where do you think we should go?”

Theissen shrugged. He had not been thinking clearly, too upset actually. So he stopped, feeling out into the air for some sign of where Emrit might be. He didn’t know what exactly would distinguish the foreigner from the others, but he had to at least attempt it. Within the ripples of flow, there were many smells, sensations, and sounds. None were familiar until he detected below his feet the construction of a protective spell. It was magician work, possibly magisterial. And though Theissen was not sure if Emrit knew such magic, he knew Jonis did.

“We go down.” Theissen immediately looked around for a set of stairs.

He found one.

The stairs down led only to a prison for foreign offenders. The guards on duty there were bigger, thicker, and meaner looking. With one look at them, Theissen decided that perhaps he had better rethink his plan.

He turned to Theobold. “I have a favor to ask you.”

“Oh no,” Theobold stepped back. “Whenever you get that look in your eye, I know you are plotting something sneaky.”

Theissen grinned, nodding. He pointed over to the guards. “Just engage them in conversation. I’m going to sink through the floor and visit our friend. Then I’ll come back and decide on a plan.”

“Ok,” Theobold rocked on his heels, already imagining all the things that could go wrong with that plan. “I have a better idea. How about I don’t talk to those guys, and I just sit on that bench and wait for you. I am a demon after all, and I don’t think drawing their attention would do me any bit of good.”

Chuckling, Theissen nodded. It had been easy for him to forget how much Theobold really did stand out. He patted Theobold’s shoulder, turning his white robe brown.

The birdman made a face.

“Why don’t you change my feathers while you are at it?”

Theissen smirked, patting his friend’s head to do just that. His feathers and hair were now a shade of brownish black. He looked almost like a regular Jatte citizen. “I’ll be back in two shakes of a tail feather.”

“Very funny.” Theobold turned and found that bench. He crossed his legs when he sat. “Just hurry up. All right?”

Feeling within the space below him, Theissen made the ground open up, pulling him down through to the floor. Theobold watched it swallow Theissen up, wide-eyed. He slowly shook his head back and forth with amazement. “I am never going to get used to that.”

It was darker than dark. Below his feet, Theissen felt nothing at all. He tried to measure the darkness and space with the flow that he could still see. But when he did, he found that the pit below him was incredibly deep. In fact, it led to a well of underground water. He was in an ancient cave, full of volcanic glass and salt deposits. It smelled dank, musty. And it brought back bad memories of being stuck in the Molemen’s prison.  

Since it was unsafe to drop, Theissen hung onto the ceiling rock. He caused other things above him to grab hold of, swinging himself over the chasm to where he sensed the protective spell working. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the dark. But as they did, Theissen saw that it was not as fusty or as pitch black as the Molemen’s caves. In fact, there was a torch just along the far wall near where he sensed the magic. He maneuvered himself closer, feeling his arms stretching in their sockets.

Eventually, Theissen could see that the ceiling he was holding on to had arches and enormous scaffolding, like a cathedral. They maintained the huge structure above almost beautifully. Of course, if any of those beams cracked…he shook off the thought. He had to keep going.

As he tried to maneuver himself over to the ledge where he also saw steps and bars, his arms and neck aching now, Theissen drew out some of the rock so he could stand on it. The second he set his feet onto firm stone, he rushed over to where he saw a series of cages along the wall. Iron bars was all that kept the prisoners from the chasm.

He found one door. Pulling on it, it refused to budge.

Reaching into the flow, Theissen turned the inside mechanism and pulled the door open. Stepping through, he let it lock behind him. He walked out into a long corridor. It was stinky, with smells of human waste, anger, fear, and bitterness. Closing his eyes, Theissen felt out again towards the magic spell that was now complete, listening to its melodious tune as it swirled. It was a familiar tune, one which he had drawn a number of times himself. And it came from his left.

Turning, listening and feeling for living beings that moved, Theissen crept along the passageway as carefully and silently as he possibly could. He made the ground underneath him soft so that it would not