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

The former birdman remained silent for some time. Then he asked, “Will they kill us for being demons?”

Theissen almost stopped his pace. His eyes widened. “You aren’t—”

“I mean, for once being one,” the man said.

He lowered his head, thinking. Theissen replied, with the clop-clop of horses and the usual bustle of commerce rumbling around him, “There is no law against being a former demon, only against creating one.”

“Would they try to—?”

“If they did try to hurt you,” Theissen replied with a conviction that also appeared to stir up the air, “I would stop them. So don’t worry.”

An assurance like that from a wizard, none of the former demons could worry. They were awed. Despite being chastised by him not long ago, he still had no grudge. They walked on, passing by the locals bustling about the street as they turned to stare.

Jattereen seemed more like a small country rather than a city. Once they reached the inner circle of what used to be the old city, they noticed a slight change in architecture. Unlike the outer part of the city that had mostly wooden roofs with thatch or wood shingles, the old city had baked ceramic tiles on arching roofs and broad painted beams carved with ancient style patterns Theissen had seen only once in another place, and that was Pepersin Town. The roads were also more orderly up in the old city, like it was built with a plan rather than growing like a plant as the rest of the city. The stone roadways and aqueducts along parts of the city proved that.

“What’s that?” Someone in the group pointed to one of the city peaks. There were three in that hilly area of the city.

Atop, Theissen saw what looked like a pillar. Squinting, moving atmosphere out of the way so he could see clearer, he made out the shape of windows and a peaked roof with a place for people to congregate, like in the birdmen’s treetop council room. In fact, it was very similar.

“A watchtower,” Theobold murmured, peering over with his bird eyes. Obviously he could see farther than the rest of them, an advantage for being part bird.

Theissen nodded. “How far off do you think it is?”

Shrugging, Theobold said, “I don’t know, maybe a two minute flight over.”

Slumping his shoulders, Theissen gave his friend a dry look.

“Well, obviously it is longer by walking,” Theobold added with a snort. “Do you want me to fly over and check it out?”

Theissen shook his head. “No. The city guards might shoot at you.”

“You know, I’m tired of walking,” Theobold replied from the back of the caravan with a disgruntled noise.

“You’ll be dead if you try flying,” Theissen answered him, almost playfully. “A little farther.”

“To where?” Karo called out. He waved his arms over at the buildings on his right. “I haven’t seen one inn up here. I say we go back to the skirts of the city and make due over there.”

“I agree. I’m tired of pushing these carts uphill.” The former molemen echoed him.

There was no way around it. Though Theissen liked the look of the old city, it was clear those that lived there were permanent residents not likely to take in guests. Besides, Theissen really wanted to settle somewhere near the shore. However, he had agreed that they would find an inn first.

“Okay.” He turned with a nod to Karo. “You can take everyone back down the hill to find an inn. You did see one you liked, I presume.”

Karo gave him a curt nod. “Of course I did. I tried to tell you earlier, but I was breathless just trying to keep up. You know these carts are heavy. But you keep wanting to go up and up.”

“I’d like to keep going up and up myself,” Dobbis said. “But our feet are sore and we want to rest them.”

“I see.” Theissen turned to glance at that tower that stood out over the buildings. It intrigued him.

It was not Jatte style. In fact, the more he looked at it, the more it looked like it just did not belong in Jattereen. The color of it was all wrong. It was red, for starters. Secondly, it was shaped all wrong—too smooth on the outside without any connection to the waterways in the city or the rest of the infrastructure. It was like it just landed there one day and decided to roost within the city walls, no one able to dislodge it.

“Well then, I think we ought to find that inn, and start from there,” Theissen at last said. “Karo, you lead the way.”

And Karo did, with a promptness that took them quickly down hill and past two of the guarded gates to a broad brown building with wood beams, a thatch roof, and several windows showing that it was a respectable establishment. It even had an open barn full of well-dressed stable hands. Already a carriage decked out with lordly emblems with all the livery to match had a place among several kinds of horses in the stalls.

“Do you think there is space?” Theissen asked while peering in the barn.

“Hello there?”

All turned. A robust woman with ruddy cheeks and a striking look of bleached orange hair trotted down stone stairs from the entrance of the inn. She reminded Theissen of his old carpentry master in Liptan town except he would not have been able to pull off wearing that flouncy dress as she could. Her grin revealed a couple golden teeth in her mouth. It was clear she was well-to-do.

“Yes,” Theissen came out of the barn to deliver a polite bow. “I am a journeyman carpenter traveling from the southwest with these fellows here, and we are seeking lodging. Do you happen to have a vacancy?”

The woman eyed him for a brief moment before really giving the others a good once over. Her eyes stopped on Theobold who was weary of being stared at. She grinned at Theobold with a sparkle in her eye and headed straight towards him. “What do you intend to pay me with?”

“Copper,” Theissen said. He hardly hid his amusement at being looked over as a nobody.

She barely glanced at him, still grinning at Theobold. “And what exactly do you require and for how long?”

Theobold looked towards Theissen for help. He nearly hopped back with a flap as his feathers ruffled. The woman was giving off a strong flirtatious smell that Theissen clearly could see was aimed at the birdman.

Chuckling, Theissen crossed over to his friend, taking a small step between them. “We need one room for sleeping, and one stall for our goods for about two days, maybe more.”

Giving Theissen a decidedly disdainful glare, the woman shoved him aside and draped her arm over Theobold’s shoulder. “What about you, Lordship. Do you have any needs that you wish to voice?”

All the former birdwomen and men stared. Daanee even blushed.  Pulling close to Ronen, she prepared to drag him away for his protection. Theobold was already pushing away from her with discomfort, glancing at Theissen for help. Unfortunately, Theissen merely shrugged as he gestured with a toss of his hand for Theobold to speak for himself since obviously the woman wasn’t going to listen to a common journeyman.

“My needs?” Theobold quickly grabbed Theissen’s arm, not letting him pass the responsibility onto him. “He said them.”

She made a face, pushing Theissen out of the way again with her painted fingernails. “Come on, handsome. A lord such as yourself need not have a yokel speak for you.”

“Yokel?” Theissen mouthed with a great amount of bemusement.

“Lord?” Dobbis said with a snort. “Him?”

The woman turned. Pulling back from Theobold she said, “Obviously.”

“How so?” another former birdman asked with a faint snicker.

“Well, look at him.” Practically batting her eyes at Theobold with a gesture to each part of him, she said, “Nice clean robes, foreign look, dust free hair and face. Of course he is the leader of your little band.”

They all stared at Theobold. Then everyone, from former birdman to former moleman (excluding Theissen who just grinned at Theobold), burst into laughter.

“What?” She blinked. With one more assessing look at Theobold, she asked, “Aren’t you a lord?”

Gently and gratefully shaking his head, Theobold smiled while he removed her arm from his shoulder. “Far from it.”

“Can we talk about the rooms now?” Theissen asked, stepping to Theobold’s side again, also attempting to block the woman’s view of the others who were still laughing. Some were getting teary eyed.

“You again!” She rounded on Theissen. “Look. I want to talk to the man in charge if I am going to make a deal, not some haggling journeyman he designated.”

“Goodness, they really do see him as nothing more than a carpenter.” A former moleman murmured to Karo.

Karo nodded with a sigh, wiping a tear of mirth off his face. “I guess he was right.”

“Maybe the people in this city are just dense,” Teppan cut in.

Several of their crowd nodded.

Bristling, the woman turned around with gape at the others then a glare at Theissen. “Alright. Is this some sort of prank? Why are they always deferring to you?”

Shrugging first, Theissen grinned.

Theobold nudged him in the side. “Go on. Show her why.”

Though he preferred a quieter entrance into Jattereen, Theissen knew they were not going to get a fair deal for a room if he did not convince this woman he was someone to be reckoned with. Reaching out to her dress, he tapped her shoulder once. Upon contact the cloths colors swirled from a simple dusty-looking red to a fantastic blue of an expensive hue.

She screamed.

The woman would have impulsively run into the inn, but with the group standing around her on the road, just waiting for her to let them into the inn, she collapsed there instead.

“She fainted.” An ex-moleman stood over her.

Bewildered, Theissen stared. He had not expected that response.

“Wake her up,” someone at his right suggested.

Shrugging, Theissen merely bent over and tapped the woman on the chest to encourage her to take a breath. She did with a gigantic heave. Her eyes popped open almost immediately. She stared up.

“Wah! Get away! What are you? I’ll call the constables! I’ll summon the city guards! I’ll—” She stopped mid-sentence watching Theissen merely make a dissatisfied face and turn to Theobold.

“Want to try another inn?” Theissen asked. It was getting late and he wore than ready to walk further down the hill if necessary.

Karo stomped his foot, clenching his slipping pants in his hands. “No! I am tired of walking!”

“Same here,” Dobbis chimed in, looking like he’d ruffle his feathers if he still had any.

It was so strange seeing those two agree, that Theissen blinked several times before accepting that what he was seeing was real.

He turned to look at the woman again.

She just about leapt up with a shriek when he opened his mouth to speak. “You! You’re a demon!”

“I am not,” Theissen protested immediately. He tugged on Theobold’s shoulder to suggest they really ought to find another inn. “You wouldn’t know a demon if you saw one.”

“But you did magic! Demon magic!” She hopped back towards the inn, shoving through the crowd while pointing.

Someone was about to say Theissen was a wizard, but Theissen shot them a glare to keep quiet.

“I studied under two magicians while I lived in Liptan Town, so I know a little magic,” he said.

Almost immediately the woman relaxed. Her balled fists loosened and her face, which had contorted with fear, now smoothed over with calming breaths. “Oh. You studied magic. I see.”

The others just stared at Theissen. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but they knew he didn’t like to mislead people either. He preferred