The Lost Mage Read online

  “Supplies for what?”

  “For tonight, silly.”

  Darakin wasn’t sure what supplies she was referring to, but he tried to be helpful. “Some magic electric candles would be good – you know for the dark alley.”

  Nora smiled. “We call them flashlights. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we have one with fresh batteries.” Thinking about trying to explain flashlights and other devices to Darakin in the store was enough to give her a headache, so she definitely thought it was a good idea to leave him at home while she shopped.

  Nora dropped Darakin off at home and went out to the store.

  Darakin lay down on the sofa with Mrowley.

  Where’s Nora?

  “She went to the store to buy supplies.”

  Does supplies mean cat food?

  “I don’t think that’s what she had in mind, but maybe.”

  It’s just that I haven’t eaten in days.

  “Damn it, cat! I fed you this morning.”

  Really? It feels like days.

  “Well, it’s not.”

  Want to watch the magic box?

  “Sure.”

  Mrowley got up and stepped on the remote until he hit the power button. The two then watched the television until Nora came home.

  She struggled through the door with her packages. Darakin jumped up to give her a hand.

  “What are you watching?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s about these people with terrible problems. There’s this girl named Crystal who murdered her uncle after he did some terrible things to her, but nobody knows because her mother confessed to the crime and Crystal thinks she’s someone else since she had her brain transplant. The watchman –”

  “Watchman?”

  “Yes, the officer from the city guard who’s investigating the crime.”

  “Oh, the detective.”

  “Okay, him – he doesn’t believe her, but he’s also busy trying to cover up his own crime of shooting his wife’s lover. She doesn’t know that he knows she was unfaithful, but he does. Nobody knows what happened to her lover, who also happens to be the judge who was supposed to hear the case of the mother of Crystal –”

  “Let me stop you right there, Darakin. They’re called soap operas and they’re ridiculous. They’re nothing like real life. It’s all just to keep people watching to see what insane thing will happen next.”

  “I know it’s not real, Nora. You’ve explained about the magic box.”

  “I mean really, a brain transplant?” she laughed.

  “I know, the idea of putting one person’s body parts into another is just crazy.”

  “Well, actually it’s not that outrageous.” Nora was hesitant to start this conversation.

  “No.” Darakin’s eyes opened wide in dismay. “They do that here?”

  “Yes, some parts, like livers and kidneys, but not a brain.”

  “So nothing on this box is based on real life.”

  “Well, some of the stuff they show is real. The news programs, for example.”

  “How does one know the difference?”

  “It’s usually pretty apparent. Most shows are fictional, news programs are real.”

  “Well, there was this other program that said it was real about a bunch of people who were stuck in the wilderness and had to survive on the land, while traveling to find civilization. They were pretty hopeless at survival. They all turned on one another. I’m sure that quite a few of them didn’t make it.”

  Nora laughed out loud. “Oh, don’t let the name of reality shows fool you. They’re anything but.”

  “Reality shows aren’t real?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure they’re scripted. Normal people don’t behave like that.”

  Darakin shook his head. He doubted he would ever understand this society where words didn’t mean what he thought they meant and people behaved in a completely irrational manner.

  “Anyway, I’ve got the supplies for our stakeout.”

  Steak?

  “What?”

  “Our stakeout tonight, to wait for the lizard demon. Remember?”

  I like steak … and lizard.

  “Why are we bringing steak?”

  Can I come?

  “No, Mrowley, you can’t come.”

  But I want steak.

  “Mrowley wants some of the steak.”

  Nora had watched the exchange between Darakin and the cat with amusement.

  “No, not steak. Stakeout. It’s what you call it when you sit and wait for someone to show up or something to happen. Anyway, on all the cop – er, police, I mean watch programs, they always show them with all sorts of munchies, so I got us some.” She starts pulling things out of her bags. “Pistachio nuts, chocolate bars and some caffeinated sodas to keep us awake.”

  No steak? Mrowley sounded disappointed.

  “Sorry, kitty, no steak.”

  Nora smiled. “He thought we were having steak?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sorry, Mrowley, no steak, but Darakin, did you give him our leftovers?”

  “Oh, no! I forgot.”

  Darakin jumped up and opened the Galaxy bag. He pulled the Styrofoam boxes out.

  Mrowley’s eyes opened in pleasure. White boxes, he said in a reverent voice.

  “He seems to know about the doggie boxes.”

  “Doggie bags. Yes, sometimes I think animals are genetically coded to know what’s in those containers. Go ahead and give it to him. Just break the meat up into small pieces and he can’t have the bones. Chicken bones are very bad for him.”

  Darakin took the bag to the kitchen counter. Mrowley jumped to the countertop and his head bobbed around trying to follow the movement of Darakin’s hands as he broke up the meat.

  “Mrowley, you’re on the countertop again,” he said with a warning in his voice.

  That’s where my food is. How am I supposed to eat if I’m not where my food is?

  “I’ll put it on the floor for you, stay off the counter.”

  Sure, all you have to do …

  “… is ask. I know. Well, I’m asking.” Darakin put the bowl on the floor, and Mrowley was on it in an instant.

  Darakin turned to Nora. “What about the magic electric candles?”

  “Got them, see? They’re called flashlights.” She pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, shining it at Darakin as proof.

  “Wow! Look at that. It’s much brighter than a candle,” he said, blinking his eyes as the afterimage of the halogen bulb faded.

  “Sorry,” she said as she clicked the flashlight off. “Now, I really think we need to nap if we’re going to be alert out there tonight.”

  The two of them went to the bedroom and were sound asleep by the time Mrowley sauntered in. He stood atop Darakin’s sturdy hip and cleaned the grease from the leftovers off his fur before settling down with his two favorite people.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  That evening, Darakin and Nora headed back to the dark alley to watch for signs of the krekdapop. Mrowley had tried to go with them, but Nora insisted that it wasn’t safe for a cat to be near a huge demon and Darakin agreed. Mrowley settled down on the sofa to watch the magic box, vowing to wreak havoc on the place after his nap.

  When the couple finally reached the alley, it was after two o’clock in the morning. The truck lane was deserted except for the occasional drunk looking for a place to relieve himself.

  They found a spot in an alley on the opposite side from the Galaxy restaurant and waited in the shadows. Nora broke open the pistachios, and a pile of discarded shells soon grew next to them.

  After an hour, a bored Nora whispered, “Maybe he doesn’t come here every night.”

  “I’m pretty sure the young man said it happened every day.”

  “Well, how much longer are we going to wait?”

  “Until daylight, if we have to.”

  “You know by that time, the city will have woken up. The early morning deliveries could star
t as early as four –”

  “Shush!” Darakin whispered with urgency.

  “What?” Nora hissed back.

  “I heard something.”

  The couple held their breath as the listened for whatever Darakin thought he‘d heard. After a minute, Nora heard it, too – a drawn out shuffling sound. It couldn’t be made by feet, it lasted too long.

  Nora whispered to Darakin, “Maybe it’s just someone dragging something out to the dumpster.”

  Darakin shot her a look of disbelief.

  “Hey, even if it’s someone dragging a body out, that’s still better than it being a demon.”

  “Shush!” Darakin whispered again.

  Darakin leaned out of the shadows slightly so he could see the area. Nora leaned out next to him. At the sight that greeted them, she let out a small gasp. Darakin quickly put his hand over her mouth and raised a finger to his lips.

  She nodded and looked again at the creature. The noise they’d heard was the long, spiked tail of the demon dragging behind it as it walked down the alley. His head did indeed look like a lizard’s head. From the neck to the top of its legs, it appeared human, with the exception of the slimy scales that covered its torso. The legs were powerful and slightly bowed. Nora ducked back into the shadows.

  “It’s hideous!” she whispered.

  “Shush, it has good hearing.”

  Darakin continued to watch the demon as it rummaged through the garbage, eating the meat it found and discarding the rest by throwing it to the ground, where it swept it out of the way with a slimy swipe of its tail, creating the mess that the busboy would have to clean the next day.

  A distant roll of thunder caused it to stop its rummaging. The krekdapop twisted its head around as if looking for something. Darakin slid back.

  Nora whispered to him, “The weather report didn’t say anything about a thunderstorm. It sounds far away, though; maybe it won’t pass directly over us.”

  “Mm,” Darakin answered in distraction. He leaned forward again to spy on the demon, which had gone back to its garbage picking. He continued to watch for a few minutes. Suddenly, a loud rumble of thunder shook the ground and the windows of the surrounding buildings. Darakin jumped.

  The krekdapop, attracted by the mage’s movement, turned and looked directly at Darakin. It took a few steps toward his position when a flash of lightning streaked through the sky. The skies opened up and rain poured down on them.

  “Kakdalo,” the demon hissed before running in the opposite direction.

  “Come on!” Darakin grabbed Nora’s hand and started following.

  As she struggled to keep up, she panted, “What’s a kakdalo?”

  “A mage.”

  “Great. There goes the element of surprise.”

  “Hush, save your breath, we have to keep up.”

  Nora slipped in the slimy, rain slicked mess left by the demon. Darakin pulled her up and dragged her along behind him.

  They sprinted down the alley. As they reached the sidewalk, they saw the krekdapop run out into the street. A loud honk and the squeal of brakes followed as a delivery truck slammed into the krekdapop, sending it flying thirty feet through the air where it landed on the pavement with a thud. Nora screamed.

  The driver came to a stop just before the motionless creature. He peered through his cracked windshield at the figure on the ground.

  Darakin approached the demon cautiously. As he neared, the krekdapop lifted its head and glared at the mage. The demon jumped up and started running again.

  The surprised driver started his engine and took off, hoping that nobody had noted his license plate number.

  Nora caught up to Darakin. “But how did it get up? It was hit by a truck!”

  “Demons are very hard to kill. You need to know its susceptibility.”

  “Clearly, it’s not being hit by a truck.”

  “Come on, we need to see where it goes.”

  They started running again and turned the corner just in time to see the thick tail disappearing down a staircase. Darakin ran after it, still holding Nora’s hand.

  “But …” she started to say, but the deafening sound of an arriving train drowned out her warning that they were entering a subway station.

  They reached the bottom of the steps and Darakin stopped, his eyes widening in fear at the sight of the subway train. The krekdapop was at the far side of the station. It turned and pierced them with its yellow eyes before jumping through the open door.

  Without further hesitation, Darakin jumped the turnstile and dove onto the train, Nora, who stopped to swipe her fare card, barely made it on before the doors closed.

  They were a few cars back from the one that the krekdapop had gotten on. Fortunately, the train was deserted at this hour.

  “The belly of the beast,” Darakin said, his voice trembling. The train lurched forward and he grabbed the rail to steady himself.

  “Sweetie, it’s just like the bus, only much bigger. It’s not a beast, just a mechanical thing,” Nora tried to reassure him.

  Darakin looked around. “Where is it?” he whispered.

  “A few cars up. We can use those doors to travel between the cars, but you’re not going to like it.”

  Darakin’s legs trembled as he followed her to the end of the car. She pulled the door handle, leaning on it to keep it open before opening the door to the next car. “Go,” she shouted at him.

  He leaned his head forward and peered from side to side. The tracks beneath the train were passing at breakneck speed, sparks of light flying as they passed. “No.” He jumped back in fear.

  “It’s the only way to reach the demon, Darakin.”

  “It doesn’t matter; we’re not ready to face him yet.”

  “Why not? He knows what you are and he ran away. Obviously he’s scared of you.”

  “That’s because he thinks I’m a kakdalo.”

  “And you’re not? I thought you said that meant mage.”

  “It does, but not an elemental mage. That demon thinks I’m a combat mage. We all look similar, without a cloak to show our station. I’m a kakdali, but he said kakdalo.”

  “Oh.” Nora closed the door and sat on the nearest bench. “Why would it think you were a combat mage?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The two sat in silence for a minute. Suddenly, Darakin’s face lit up with understanding. He jumped up from the seat.

  “What? What is it?” Nora asked in alarm, looking around for danger.

  “That’s it! He thinks I was trying to kill him.”

  “No stretch there, Darakin, we do want to kill him.”

  “Don’t you see? He thought I summoned the storm. He ran from the lightning, not us. That’s what his vulnerability is. It’s lightning. When he saw me and the lightning flashed at the same time, he must have assumed that I attacked him with it.”

  “Oh.” Nora stared at the mage. “So, what are we going to do now?”

  “Regroup. Now that I know its vulnerability, I can defeat it. All I need to do is enslave the elements and then summon lightning to kill it.”

  Nora raised an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s all, is it?”

  Darakin’s face fell. “I know. It does seem hopeless.” Dejection weighed him down as he dropped into the seat next to her.

  The train stopped at the next station. Darakin pulled Nora to the only spot near the end of the car where they weren’t plainly visible to anyone or anything on the platform. When the doors closed, he peeked out the window and saw the green tail of the demon disappearing through the large hole it had made in the exit gate.

  “Listen, I know you don’t like it on here, but since we’re already on, if we stay a few more stops, we’ll be pretty close to home.”

  “Okay. It’s actually not as bad as I thought it would be.”

  Nora knew that Darakin was feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to defeat the demon, but she didn’t have any words to comfort him.

  By the time they
returned to the apartment, they were both exhausted. Mrowley lifted his head up from his spot on the sofa. Hey, I thought you were going out for steak? Where’s the white box?