Wizard of Jatte by Rowan Erlking (ereader ebook .TXT) 📖

merely grinned to himself as they walked by.

“Hello, boys,” the constable said with a nod to the group.

They ducked their heads slightly and muttered back a hello.

When the passed by, the constable chuckled in his throat and said above a whisper to Theissen, “They seem to be taking an unusual interest in you. You know, they work for Munden Carpenter. Used to be under another journeyman from Lumen about four years ago. Of course that man left to the north after that.”

“Settled in Coastal Town,” Theissen murmured aloud with a nod.

The constable smiled at him. “Your brother, am I right?”

Theissen looked surprised and then nodded sheepishly. “Yes. Older brother.”

The man chuckled some more, shaking his head to himself. “You look like him. A little taller perhaps, but you have that same kind of face.”

Blinking, Theissen repeated, “Taller? Am I really?”

Halting, the constable grinned. “You haven’t seen him since?”

Shaking his head, Theissen sighed. “I’m afraid not. Most Carpentersons don’t return home after they go out. I haven’t seen any one of my older brothers since they left home. They write enough, though.”

To that, the constable gave another laugh.

Theissen had noticed also as they walked that the threesome had followed them. It was like a pack of wolves stalking him, their hate reeking out at him undeservedly. If Kinnerlin had driven his own apprentices to hate him, Theissen began to wonder how it badly he had gone about it. All he remembered about his older brother besides him being ambitious and skilled was that he had a mouth he just didn’t shut off. It was hard to forget how Migdrin had nearly drowned him for mouthing off at him in the river. Even after that Kinnerlin had not learned his lesson. Theissen hated to think that his brother’s mouth would be the death of him.

“Here it is,” the constable said, pointing up to a brick building.

There were two doors and one wide display window, Theissen saw. One door led into a house and another wide one for a shop. It smelled familiar. Drawing in a breath, Theissen exhaled with relief. It was like coming home.

“Let’s go in and find the master,” the constable said, heading towards the wide doors.

Shrugging, Theissen followed the constable in.

The front shop was dark, the front curtains drawn. His eyes had to adjust to the sharp blackness from the contrasting bright outside, little fuzzy images swimming before him. Everything inside smelled like wood stain and varnish. The flow was normal and healthy, even the mood.

“Lordri Carpenter, are you in?” the constable called.

Theissen’s eyes adjusted now so that he could see hanging chairs and dangling wooden objects from the ceiling. There were racks and samples of woodwork all around the shop. It had a distinct style very different from his father’s but pleasant, homey even. He also noticed a pair of doors that opened to make a wide passageway into another room. Behind the door he could see the flow stirring with life. At least three people were back there working. One stopped and walked to the doors, opening one with a curious hello.

“What is it?” A somewhat reddish haired man stuck his head out. The normally black Jatte coloring looked dyed on the ends, or rather, bleached as if dipped in that stuff for amusement. The man’s roots also showed streaks of gray, sticking out a whisker here and there, though most of the hair centered on his chin. His entire top, just above the ears was completely bald looking just about rubbed off and polished. Under all of that was a twinkling yet tired look of a man busy doing what he loved.

The constable waved for Theissen to come forward. “This young man here has come seeking work. He has traveled on foot all the way from Lumen to see you.”

“Well, not exactly that,” Theissen retorted, but he did bow to the carpenter. The man’s eyes fixed on him as he continued into the formal introduction. “My name is Theissen Darol Mukumar Carpenterson of Lumen Village. I heard from a man just outside town that you may be seeking a journeyman to help out.”

The carpenter practically jumped into the front room. He looked ready to seize Theissen in a hug, but thankfully he restrained himself and merely wrung his hands on his apron trying to make himself look more presentable. “I am! I am! Goodness me! A journeyman from Lumen Village here! In my shop! Do you really want to work for me?”

Theissen cast a glance at the grinning constable who nodded at him to say yes. Giving a shrug and looking about the shop, he replied, “I guess so. Do you really need help?”

The man slapped an arm around Theissen, grinning wider. “Help? I don’t suppose you know of what happened to my business since another journeyman stayed in Liptan Town, do you?”

“Was it a bad thing?” Theissen asked, hoping this man wasn’t about to start beating every bit of stuffing out of him in revenge.

Laughing, the carpenter seemed to pull him tighter to his side. “For me? Well, yes, to be honest. My competitor benefited all too well. But with you here, I can get my own back in. Equal things out a bit. I can assume you were trained by the same carpenter, right?”

“We had the same father, if that is what you are asking,” Theissen said.

The man let go and danced a little jig in his front shop. “Yes! Yes!”

He spun around, seizing Theissen by the arms again, almost ready to swing him into his dance.

“You’re hired! Go upstairs. Get unpacked. Snitch food from the larder and meet me back down here in ten minutes! I got to go tell the boys!”

The carpenter ran back down into the shop shouting to the other two inside. Theissen could see that the carpenter had continued his dance in there.

Theissen felt a slap on his back. He turned to look at the constable. The man was smiling. “You done good boy. Better go and unpack.”

Shrugging, Theissen figured he was right. He took in another breath. The place smelled friendly and safe. He was home. Maybe to stay.

 

Chapter Nineteen: At Least I Can See a Demon Coming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We don’t want you as our teacher,” one of the apprentices said to Theissen as he walked into the back shop from the back stairs that led inside from the upper quarters.

Theissen had barely been able to change from his travel clothes into his work clothes, adjusting his carpentry belt so that it rested comfortably. He had gotten used to the weight of the tools so much that it felt funny not to have them on now. However when he had entered the shop, though it smelled like his father’s work place, it did not look at all like it. Theissen frowned.

“Where did the master go?” Theissen said, ignoring him.

The other boy made a face. “What’s it to you?”

Blinking, Theissen peered down at him. “What’s it to me? Your master hired me. That’s what. Now where is he?”

The boy snorted then said something under his breath.

“What was that?” Theissen asked. He stepped close to where this apprentice was planing wood. So far the craftsmanship looked pitifully poor, and he could see several lumpy rejects behind him leaning on the wall.

The kid still muttered.

Theissen stuck his head down low as if to listen, making eye contact. “What was that you were saying?”

He could see the boy jerk back, going red. “Get out of my face!”

Leaning back, Theissen smirked. “Speak clearly. If you have something to say, you should say it so people can hear you.”

“Fine! I don’t want you here! We were doing fine without you!”

The other boy nodded, tossing a tool to aside to the ground.

Theissen tromped over right away and picked it back up. “What are you doing? You don’t toss tools around like that!”

“Who made you our mother?” the kid said, sneering up at Theissen. He was a stocky boy of about eleven years old. He looked dirty, his tunic stained and his hair uncared for.

Giving a narrow eyed glare, Theissen reached over and grabbed the kid’s shirtfront and pulled him close. “I’m your new instructor. And from now on, you put the tool back in its proper place.”

“Make me,” the kid said.

Blinking, he knew he could make the kid if he really wanted to. But Theissen had sworn off magic, at least for the time being. The idea of people swarming about him over his magic was not a fun one to envision. So, he dug back into his mind, thinking hard of what his father did when they refused to clean up.

Smiling, his eyes still in slits, Theissen let go. “Fine. If that is how it is going to be, then I will play it that way.”

He set the tool back onto the boy’s project then walked over to the front shop door. Turning at the doorway, he smiled at both boys.

“I hope you realize that when your master hired me, it means that he put me in charge of you while he gets to do his work,” Theissen said. “That also means that you are under my mercy. If you don’t clean up after work is done, you don’t eat—”

“You can’t do that!” the other boy shouted. He was lean and lanky, looking like he had not eaten much anyway.

“Yes, I can,” Theissen said with a grin. “Go and ask your master.”

And he walked out, closing the door behind him. Right away, Theissen went looking for the master to make sure he really could take over everything in the back shop. Luckily he found the carpenter talking with a woman on the street.

“…into town. They don’t know what to make of it, but the constables have been called near Brook Street to deal with it. And…Oh! Who is this?” The woman batted her eyes, turning with a surprised yet pleased smile when she saw him.

Theissen bowed politely. Lordri Carpenter slapped Theissen on the back, nearly making him fall forward. “This is my new assistant. Journeyman Carpenter Theissen Carpenterson of Lumen Village.”

Theissen had to take a step to regain his balance.

The lady’s eyes brightened. “Another from Lumen, eh? How delightful!”

Her tone was familiar. It reminded Theissen of the lilt the gossips used that almost always meant that they would tell everyone else about what they had just discovered. He tried to keep a straight face, bowing again. “Pleasure is mine.”

“What is it, young man?” Lordri Carpenter asked, recognizing an inquiring look.

Theissen whispered in his ear his request to control meals and all that to motivate the apprentices in the work of their shop.

“Ah, I’ve tried that, you know. Unfortunately the boys know how to open the larder lock. They’ll nick food from it, you know,” he said.

Grinning with a spark in his eye, a look that intrigued the carpenter very much, Theissen replied, “Don’t worry about that. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that will take care of food snitching. The boys need to learn discipline first.”

“You sound like my first wife,” Lordri Carpenter said.

Theissen looked startled.

“Don’t mind me. If you can make it work, go ahead. I certainly don’t have the knack for disciplining boys.” There was a tired look to that, perhaps telling volumes about Lordri Carpenter’s regrets.