The Lost Mage Page 7

“What’s his problem?” Nora indicated the cat with a nod of her head.

  Well, you know, the two of you are there eating cereal and I have no mousie or milk or anything.

  “I gave you cat food,” Darakin said in frustration.

  Yeah, but I smell dairy over here and you know how much scoring some milk means to me.

  “He wants to score some milk.”

  “Score? Where do you … where does he get these expressions from?”

  What can I say? I’m a cool cat. You know, just sitting here, chilling.

  “I think he’s cold.”

  Not cold, dude. Cool.

  “Sorry, not cold but cool.”

  “Ah. Cool means trendy, sort of. He’s saying that he’s up on the latest styles … language-wise anyway.”

  “Oh.”

  Nora stood and cleared away the cereal bowls. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “What show?” Darakin looked confused.

  Nora laughed. “It’s just an expression we use. It means let’s get going.”

  “Ah.”

  Once again, as they reached the door, she turned to the cat. “Now, behave yourself, Mrowley.”

  The cat stopped bathing to look up and blink at Nora a few times and then returned to licking his paw.

  Chapter Ten

  Out on the street, Nora let her hand brush against Darakin’s as they walked. Taking the cue from her, he gently took her hand and held it.

  She led him towards a staircase that led down to a subway platform. As they reached the bottom of the steps, Darakin stopped. “What manner of dungeon is this?”

  “Dungeon?” Nora couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “It’s not a dungeon, silly. It’s a subway station. I want to take the train over.”

  “Train?”

  “It’s a … well, it’s another kind of machine. You can ride on it, well in it actually, and get places much faster.”

  “It seems to me that your society is entirely too trusting of these machines.”

  “Wow, maybe you should write some science fiction while you’re here.”

  “What’s science fiction?”

  “The whole ‘machines taking over the world’ thing is the topic of a lot of books and movies here. They’re called science fiction.”

  “Well, my society is a little less trusting of leaving our safety to other beings. If you’d been through the Elemental Wars, you’d be cautious, too.”

  “Wait, I thought you said those wars happened a long time ago.”

  “They did, but if lessons are not learned from history, the dragon will fly over again.”

  “What?” Nora asked as she guided the mage through the turnstile.

  “Years ago, before people realized that dragons were attracted to shiny objects, my people used red, metallic orbs to ward off evil. Once they realized that they were actually attracting the dragons, they banned the use of the orbs outside. So now, when someone forgets about things that have happened before and does something foolish, such as leaving a shiny object outside, we say if lessons are not learned from history, the dragon will fly over again.”

  “We have a similar expression. We say those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.”

  “Your expression seems better suited to its purpose than mine.”

  At that moment, the subway arrived in the station with deafening noise and a gust of wind that blew all of the debris on the floor around. Nora turned to grab Darakin’s hand and found him plastered against the wall in fear.

  “Come on, we’re gonna miss the train.”

  “A mechanical dragon!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide.

  “That’s not a dragon. It’s a train. You’re being silly, come on.”

  “I … am … NOT getting in that thing.”

  “Why not?”

  “Inside a machine that summons wind and thunder and lightning is no place for a man to be.”

  “Nothing is summoned, Darakin. The lightning is just the sparks from the electric rails, the noise is from the brakes and engines and stuff, and the wind is just caused by … well, I don’t know the exact science, but it’s the tunnel and the speed and everything. Now come on.” She tried to pull him forward, but he was impossible to move.

  The doors closed and the train pulled out, leaving them alone on the platform.

  “Darakin, it’s perfectly safe. I ride them all the time.”

  “Nora, I’ve accepted machines that shrink men, doors that open on their own … sometimes, machines that speed along your roads spewing smoke and steam, monsters that suck dirt from the floor and machines that summon fire for cooking, but I will never ride on that monster.”

  Nora sighed in frustration. “Fine, but the train would have saved us walking ten blocks or so.”

  “I have no aversion to walking.”

  “Let’s go.” Nora turned and stormed out of the station, leaving Darakin to maneuver the exit gate on his own.

  When he caught up with her on the street, he took her hand. “Nora, I’m sorry. It’s just that, well, I know you don’t really believe me, but this world is much different than mine and I’m doing the best I can.”

  “No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t try to force you into doing anything you don’t want to. The walk will do me good and it’s a fine day out.”

  They walked more than ten blocks before arriving at the clothing store Nora wanted to visit. She watched in amusement as Darakin looked around the store. He let his fingers brush the various fabrics of the piles of neatly folded shirts. He banged into a rack and jumped away only to hit another one. His frenzied efforts to steady the displays made her laugh out loud.

  Nora went to the bins that contained the jeans. She wasn’t sure of Darakin’s size so she enlisted the sales associate’s help. Darakin started fidgeting self-consciously as the two women eyed his figure, trying to determine his size. They picked out a pair for him to try on and Nora brought them over to him.

  “Here, take these to the fitting room, that’s the little cubby hole over there, and try them on.” She handed him the jeans and gave him a push toward the door.

  Darakin took the jeans and let them unfold. Seeing his perplexed look at the zipper, she started to fear that he might have some sort of embarrassing accident, so she took them from him and demonstrated how to close the zipper, emphasizing that he should be careful when zipping up.

  He disappeared into the little room and she waited. After more than a few minutes with no sign of him, Nora knocked and asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, they don’t seem to fit very well.”

  “Let me see, please.”

  Darakin pushed the door open and Nora entered. Her breath caught the moment she saw him. He was stunning. The jeans accentuated his firm butt and powerful legs.

  “They look great! What do you think?” She turned him toward the mirror so he could see.

  “Don’t you think they’re a little, um, snug?”

  “No, it looks to me that they fit just fine.” She pulled at the waist to check.

  “Er … not at the waist. It’s my … well, I feel kind of cramped …”

  Nora looked at the flushed face of the mage. “Oh! That’s just the way jeans fit.”

  “How do you work like this? I fear that I will be unable to bend over while wearing these. I’m afraid to move lest I rip them or injure my … self.”

  “Well, they tend to loosen up as you wear them but I suppose we could get a more relaxed fit, if you’d prefer.” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

  “I would, if you please.”

  “Okay. Take those off and I’ll bring you another pair.” Nora went off to find the relaxed fit jeans.

  Darakin struggled to pull off the tight denim pants and then stood there wearing only his undergarments in the little fitting cubicle, waiting for Nora to return.

  Nora came back with the much looser re
laxed fit jeans. She looked at his underwear and smiled. They resembled baggy long johns. “We’ll be getting you some more of those, too.”

  “What’s wrong with mine?”

  “Only that nobody wears anything remotely similar to that here, love. Now, try this pair on.” She handed him the new jeans.

  “Much better,” he said with relief as he zipped them up.

  “Good,” Nora’s disappointed voice belied her words.

  After finding a shirt and some underwear for him, Nora borrowed a pair of scissors from the clerk to cut off the tags so Darakin could wear his new clothing out of the store.

  As they were walking back toward Nora’s apartment, her cell phone went off, playing the pop tune she had selected as her ringtone. Darakin jumped in alarm.

  “How is music playing from your pocket?”

  She laughed. “It’s my ring tone. It lets me know that … oh never mind. I have to answer it.”

  She hit a button and put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Hello,” Darakin said in confusion.

  “Not you.”

  “Not me?”

  “No.” She turned her attention back to the phone. “Sorry, Sean. What’s that?” After a brief pause. “So, not tonight, either? Jaysus, I’ll be needing a handout if this continues. Can we come in tomorrow?” There was another pause. “Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  She pressed a button on the phone. “That was Sean.”

  Darakin spun around looking at the people. “Where?”

  “On the phone. Let me guess? No phones at home, either?”

  The mage just stared at her blankly.

  “Okay, without going into detail, Sean has a phone,” she held her phone up as an exhibit, “and I have a phone. He calls the number to my phone and we can talk to each other, even though we’re not together.”

  Darakin reached out to touch the phone in amazement. “And you expect me to believe that this is not magic?”

  “Nope. Just a phone.” She put the device back in her pocket. “We can’t go to work tonight again. The INS didn’t show last night and the word is that they’ll be there today.”

  “But I am in need of those dollars. I must work.”

  “Me too, Darakin, but you won’t be able to work from a jail cell, will you now?”

  “No. Is it okay if Mrowley and I stay the night again?”

  “Of course. In fact, I’m thinking you should stay there until you find a proper place to stay, not that little room at Sean’s.”

  “That’s very kind of you, Nora.”

  “It’s nothing.” Nora blushed, hoping that he didn’t realize how much she wanted him to stay with her.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I know. Let’s go to a movie,” Nora said as they walked along the street. Before Darakin could respond, she added, “I know, I know, you probably don’t know what that is. Well, it’s like the TV, you know the magic box, but on a much bigger screen. Trust me, you’ll like it.”

  “Okay,” Darakin said.

  “It’s good that it’s still early; we’ll get matinee prices.”

  Nora turned and headed toward the local movie theatre. When they stood in front of the ticket booth, she looked at the listings to make a selection. The first movie was a romantic comedy. No way, she thought. That’s a date movie. He hasn’t asked me out and I’m not going to be the first one to make dating overtures.

  The second movie was a big-budget science fiction picture about robots taking over the world. Christ, she thought, he freaked out about a train. I think robot overlords would send him over the edge.

  The third movie was an animated children’s picture. There’s no way in hell I’m going to try to explain to him that the cartoon mouse isn’t real or magical.

  The next choice was a disaster flick about a flood destroying much of the world. Elements destroying the world? With his Elemental War thing? Pass.

  The last option was a fantasy picture that promised beautiful, medieval landscapes and sorcery. Now that seems right up his alley.

  Nora stepped up to the window and bought two tickets, before leading Darakin into the theatre’s dark interior. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the mage stared in wonder at the candy counter and the video monitors that were showing previews.

  She also saw the other women stare at Darakin’s figure in appreciation. She might not have any real claim on him, but she felt possessive anyway and took his arm.

  They found seats in the darkened theatre and waited for the feature to start.

  “What are we waiting for? Do you have to hit the magic box button?” Darakin asked.

  “Shhh!” Nora hissed as several other patrons turned to look at them.

  “Why?”

  “Because, you have to keep your voice down in a movie theatre.”

  “But why?” More people were now staring at them, their faces clearly indicating that they hoped he would be quiet during the movie.

  “Because you might disturb others.”

  “From what? There’s nothing going on.”

  “Please, whisper to me, if you need to. And there is no remote control for this, the workers here will start the movie in a few minutes – at the posted time.”

  “Oh,” Darakin whispered loudly.

  Nora rolled her eyes, thinking that perhaps this wasn’t a good idea at all. “Now remember, nothing you’ll see on the screen is real. It’s all done with special effects and computers.”

  At that moment, the lights in the theatre dimmed and the screen came to life, causing Darakin to jump.

  Nora tried to keep her patience as she whispered to him that the ads and messages in the beginning were not what they were there to see. She breathed a sigh of relief when the main feature started.

  She stole furtive glances at the mage to see how he was reacting to the film. He watched without comment until the dragon appeared. The beast flew towards the camera spewing fire and burning everything in its path. He ducked and then sat up in relief when the dragon disappeared from the camera’s view. He leaned toward Nora.

  “In my realm, dragons can’t summon fire anymore. This would never happen.”

  His loud remark caused several patrons to turn and look at them. “Lady, can you shut the wacko up?”

  “Sorry,” Nora said to them. She turned to Darakin. “Hush. You have to whisper. On second thought, just be quiet. We’ll talk after the movie.”

  “Humph.” Darakin folded his arms and stared at the screen in sullen silence.

  The next scene showed a young magic user shooting bolts of fire and ice from his fingers at the dragon as it flew past.

  “Pfft,” Darakin made a sound or derision. He leaned toward Nora and in a loud whisper told her, “When you summon the elements, you can’t do it through your hands. How is he not getting burnt or frozen? This is pure fantasy, Nora.”

  “Shush!” she whispered furiously. “I know it’s fantasy, that’s the point.”

  Members of the audience hurled angry comments at them.

  “Shut up or I’ll get you thrown out.”

  “Dude, go back to the basement role playing, okay?”

  Darakin looks at Nora. “What’s –”

  “Shhh, whisper, damn it.”

  “Sorry,” he continued in a whisper. “What’s a role play?”

  “Never mind. Just keep your comments to yourself, we’ll talk later.”

  With the exception of some sounds of disbelief, Darakin managed to keep quiet for the rest of the movie. Nora jumped up and dragged Darakin out as soon as the credits started rolling to avoid any of the people who had become annoyed with Darakin’s comments.

  Once out on the street, Nora turned to Darakin. “Don’t you know how to just enjoy something? That was a movie. It’s not meant to be realistic, just fun. You’re just like those cops and nurses who complain about how unbelievable movies and shows are when they watch with you.” She turned to walk toward home.

  Darakin reached o
ut and grabbed touched her arm. “Please, Nora, I’m sorry. I’ve never seen anything like that and they just had it so wrong that I couldn’t help myself. Please forgive me.”

  She looked at his beautiful eyes and relented. “Of course, I forgive you.” She gave him a sideways glance and against her better judgment, asked, “But how do you know that isn’t the way that magic would work in this realm?”