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

Theobold stared. Then murmured. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” Theissen chuckled again. “I’m so tired of pretending I can’t do magic.”

“Does this mean you are going to harden the roads and speed up our travel?” a voice asked from the stall below.

Chuckling more, Theissen sighed. “Yes.”

Booming echo cheers erupted around him from every former demon in the group. All Theissen could do was laugh at himself.

Early, before the farmer’s daughters went out to milk the cows; earlier than when the scullery maids awoke to work on the inn’s breakfast for the visiting lord baron; earlier than the setting of the morning stars, Theissen’s traveling group departed on a road he had hardened for a few miles ahead. Theissen, Ronen and Teppan remained behind as planned. They awoke with the rest, but their main task that day was to finish their work so they could catch up with the group at a good hour. Hopefully no one would object to two former demons and a wizard to enter their homes to finish their woodwork.

But it wasn’t so bad that early morning. They dropped off the shoe molds first. The shoemakers had not heard the news yet. Then they visited the mercantile shop, Theissen instructing his assistants in the varnishing of the wood they had stained the day before. He went on ahead to finish a cabinet.

“I’m sorry, but I have to leave tonight,” Theissen said to the woman as he walked from the door. “The varnish should dry in a few days. If you sand it to make it smooth, it will be fine.”

“But why must you leave?” the woman asked.

Theissen glanced over his shoulder at the clump of gossiping villagers on the streets. “My group left without me and my apprentices. We need to catch up before they reach Dhilia City. None of them have been in a city before. And well, though I haven’t either, I have lived in a town and I ought to be there to ease them into it.”

Someone cleared his throat from behind him. Theissen glanced over and saw a village elder that gave a stern look.

“Oh, Bailer. What can I help you with?” the woman asked the elder.

The elder nodded to Theissen. “I would like to have a word with this man.”

Theissen bowed to the woman then walked through the main door, onto the street. Once outside he turned with a waiting nod to the elder. “How can I help you?”

“You can leave.” Stern and somewhat fierce, the elder glared at Theissen.

Blinking, Theissen responded as if he didn’t have a clue what was bothering this man. “Really? Can I finish my business first? It shouldn’t take any longer than this afternoon.”

“If you do not leave now, we will call in the magician from the neighboring village to drive you out,” the elder said.

Sticking a finger in his ear, Theissen pretended to clean out some wax. “Did I hear you right? You are going to send for a magician to get rid of me?”

The elder gave a slow nod.

“Hmm.” Theissen turned and then yawned. “Really? Well, I’d like to see that. Maybe that magician knows my teachers in Liptan Town, Pandoros Magician and Undi Magician.”

The village elder’s eyes widened somewhat, making him look stark near dead.

“Or maybe he knows the nasty magician in my hometown. The one that tried to have me killed since I was a baby.” Theissen leaned in towards the village elder. “I have done nothing wrong, and you cannot drive me out.” He touched the elder’s suit coat, turning the thing a hideous shade of orange with green swirls on it, then smirked. “Understand?”

Going white, the elder staggered back. Then he ran. Theissen cast the watching villagers a look as he strolled back to the mercantile shop.

“…but why won’t you stay to finish the sanding after it is dry?” the shop owner asked Teppan.

Teppan glanced at Theissen as he walked in and said, “We all have to go soon. Something came up.”

“I’ll say. I heard a rumor that your carpenter friend is a wizard,” the shopkeeper’s wife said, trotting from the upstairs down into the shop. She froze when she saw Theissen.

Theissen tipped his head in a nod and walked over to Ronen, tapping him on the shoulder to let him know they had to hurry up.

“A wizard?” The shopkeeper stared at Theissen.

“That’s why we hired him,” Ronen said matter-of-factly, nodding to Teppan.

“Wizards are useful,” Teppan said agreeing as he stowed their tools away.

Theissen laughed then touched the damp cabinet, making the varnish dry. “We can sand it now.”

They both rose and stared at him.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Teppan murmured.

“I like the conventional way, usually,” Theissen said. He glanced up at the startled looks on the shopkeeper and his wife’s faces then nodded. “But we are in a rush.”

They did not say a word for nearly a full hour, gently sanding down the varnish to make it smooth. All three of them hurried as they checked the cabinet for any flaws before setting in the glass and then turning it for the shopkeeper and his wife to see.

“What do you think?” Theissen grinned, extending his hand at the finished product.

“I think you are wasting your talents with carpentry,” the shopkeeper said. “This is a work of magic.”

“Except for drying the varnish, all of it was done by hand.” Theissen stepped back, feeling hurt.

“He didn’t mean that,” the wife said, grinning at the cabinet. “It is beautiful. It’s just—”

“You’d think a wizard would do more with his talents,” Ronen completed her thought nodding.

Theissen slapped the back of Ronen’s head with a huff. “Shut it. Talking like that. I happen to be proud to be a carpenter.”

Letting out a nervous laugh, the shopkeeper nodded. “Alright. I understand. How much do I owe you?”

Patting the top of the cabinet, Theissen said, “My father usually charges twenty in silver for a piece like this.”

“Just twenty?” The shopkeeper gave a surprised gasp.

Theissen blinked at him. “You think that is too little? I only did a small carving and some minor scrollwork. It took me no time at all to assemble, and you provided the wood. Subtracting the cost of wood and nails, I’d say twenty in silver is right.”

Drawing himself up with a grin, the shopkeeper nodded. “That sounds more right. I forgot the cost of wood had already been taken out. Agreed. Twenty in silver.”

He went to the till and dug out his coins. The box jingled, sounding heavy. Returning with a small bag, the shopkeeper smiled at Theissen. “It has been a pleasure doing business with you.”

“Likewise,” Theissen said, adding the money to the carpentry belt next to his coin pouch.

“Shouldn’t one of us hold that?” Teppan asked as they walked out onto the street.

“Nope,” Theissen said, heading back towards the inn. “If anyone tries to pick my pockets, I can get it back before they know it’s gone.”

“If anyone tried to rob him, I’m sure he’d give them the old magic splash,” Ronen said with a snicker.

Theissen stopped and, with annoyance, looked from one apprentice to the other. “You know, some day I am going to teach you two how magic really works. There is no magic splash. I don’t curse people. And I am not an all-powerful being. I just see how the flow in this world works, and I can make do stuff for me. That’s all.”

Teppan mouthed to Ronen behind Theissen’s back with a roll of his eyes ‘whatever’. Ronen snickered.

“Stop doing that,” Theissen said, halting where he was.

“Doing what?” Teppan said, blinking innocently at him with an upheld hands shrug.

“Yeah? Can’t you see behind your back?” Ronen said, winking at Teppan.

They knew he couldn’t. That’s why they did it.

“You know,” Theissen said as he started walking again. “I’ll just make you sink into the road and leave you here if you two keep at making faces behind my back.”

Both cringing mirthfully, they hurried to his side and grinned as if they were innocent. But Theissen smirked then reached out, patting them both on the back, leaving colored handprints.

*

The group was already on the skirts of Dhilia City when Theissen and his apprentices caught up with them. Dhilia was not unlike Pepersin Town in that it sprawled out with manor houses and small villages before they entered into the poorer sections of the city, all roads pointing inward like a spider web. The highway ran straight through the city, giving no way around it even if a traveler did not want to stop there. When they pushed their cargo past the sprawled village type homes, they suddenly faced a towering wall with a set of enormous gates—closed with a portcullis and a pair of doors. It was apparently too late in the evening to enter the city. They camped out at the doors, along with other traveling tradesmen they met parked along the roadside, all eager to do business in Dhilia the following morning.

“What guild are you from?” asked a thick-set burly man who was squatting next to a covered wagon. He had a small campfire and was stirring something in a pot. He looked mostly at Theobold who had the least amount of road dust on him because he had flown most of the distance, though he had landed and walked in the city limits.

Theobold blinked then leaned over and nudged Theissen. “Hey. What to do I say to this man? Do we belong to a guild?”

Shrugging, Theissen took a glance at the hairy man. Broad shoulders, decent travel coat, a weather worn, sun-touched face, and mostly clean teeth; there was an obvious look of trade and respectability about him. No smell of hate swelled around. It was plain the man was only curious as most others around them obviously were.

Taking their kettle off of their own campfire, Theissen poured the hot water into his silver teacup over a few mint leaves he had purchased at the last village. He handed the water to Karo who sat next to him with his cup. “We’re a caravan. No guild…yet.”

“What do you mean, ‘yet’?” Another merchant smelling of grease and wearing a hooded leather jacket, who looked like he was selling tin items—possibly he was even a tinsmith—crouched next to the burly man to use his fire. They were roasting a medium sized bird.

Theissen rose, blowing off the steam from his cup, cradling it in his hands. “Oh. Well, we haven’t exactly organized into a guild yet. But I have been considering the idea.”

“You have?” Dobbis rose up also. He walked over to get a mug from Karo who was now pouring hot water for those sitting next to him. The water was nearly gone.

Turning, Theissen nodded to the former birdman and then the others within their group. “Yes, actually. Considering that people give more credit to people attached to guilds rather than to independent craftsmen and merchants, excluding a few obvious exceptions—”

“Your father?” Theobold offered with amusement. He rocked back on his haunches like he would have on a perch back in the birdmen village.

Smirking at him, Theissen nodded again. “Yes. That obvious exception for starters. But basically, I have noticed that unless we are affiliated with an established house, most won’t give us credit.”

“So, what