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

I was detained with a somewhat interesting carpentry job that took a few months.”

He bit into a potato chunk and chewed, thinking now of his supper. The spice in the broth had a hint basil and garlic that made it savory plus utterly pleasurable to eat. He wondered faintly if he could talk to the cook to get the recipe.

“You mean with the birdmen, don’t you?” The innkeeper walked from the large fireplace where he had been tending to the coals in the hearth. He approached Theissen’s table carefully, his eyes full of presumptions and imaginations.

Theissen looked up at him. Pausing, the piece of potato he had been chewing on stuck in his cheek. The expression on the innkeeper’s face was almost horror-struck.

“I saw the way you were dressed when you got here. It’s their clothes. Just like that birdman demon man wears. Only yours were different colored.”

The air seemed to become even more stifling. Theissen could smell their fear. All eyes were on him. Every person watched as Theissen chewed slowly then swallow.

Thinking for a moment, Theissen decided to just shrug. It was too late to deny it. “Ok. I was hired by the birdmen to improve their winter shelters. I was just on my way when Theobold stopped me.”

“That’s why you call him by his name.” Someone murmured.

Chuckling, Theissen figured he might as well finish eating. He made light of their stress. “Actually, I stayed in Theobold’s home the entire time.”

They gasped.

Most pulled back as he munched on his potatoes with childlike enjoyment. But others leaned in, whispering with all the solemnity of a grave secret.

“What was it like?”

Blinking as if it didn’t really matter, between bites of food, Theissen said, “Really high. And I’m glad I’m back on the ground. Hey, could you pass the salt?”

Those at his table blinked. They looked around for the saltcellar, which sat next to a larger tankard of water. A youth picked it up and handed it over. Theissen smiled at him with a nod, taking it from his hand.

As he pinched some salt onto his other potato piece, Theissen remarked in an off-hand voice, “The wind really blows up there, so they wanted better walls for their rain shelters and all that.”

“How did they hire you?”

Shrugging, Theissen figured the truth was as good as any lie he could make up. “Oh, I was trying to get away from the molemen when I nearly fell off a cliff. Theobold caught me from falling then took me over to their place. We made the deal after that.”

“You weren’t their prisoner?” someone asked.

He shrugged again. “Well, they wanted me to stay, but I insisted on continuing my journey.”

They murmured to one another in whispers before someone asked, “Then who are those other people you are traveling with? They don’t have wings, but all of them are dressed funny.”

Cringing at that oversight, Theissen noted to himself that he really ought to purchase regular Jatte clothes for the people he was traveling with once they reached Dhilia City. It was too late to do in this village.

“Oh. Them. Uh…well….” There was no lie to fix this one either. “Uh, would you believe me that they were once demons, cured by a passing wizard?”

More eyes bulged at him.

“Cured demons?”

“Is that possible?”

“Of course, it’s possible,” Theissen answered with a chuckle and stuffed another potato chunk into his mouth.

“That’s how I know you!” One of the carriage drivers from a fancy livery stood up. He pointed at Theissen. “I saw you in Liptan Town three years ago! It was at a town meeting where my master had stopped by to purchase pearls before returning east. You!”

Theissen stopped chewing, his mind going right back to Liptan Town and all that had happened there. He clenched his forehead and closed his eyes, knowing what would come next.

“You claimed you were a carpenter then!”

“He is a carpenter.”

“I am a carpenter.” Theissen swallowed food he had in his mouth. Gravely lifting his head, he looked the man square in the face, telling him to shut up with the glare in his eyes.

But the carriage driver pulled back from him, refusing with a shake of his head. “Oh, no. I saw you. You’re no carpenter! You’re a wizard.”

“Ugh.” Theissen dropped his head against his hand again, closing his eyes. He leaned against the table, groaning.

“That’s ridiculous,” one villager protested. “I saw him working on those chairs in my shop. He didn’t use magic. He worked at it for hours.”

“Same here with my ladders.”

“And our boxes,” the Fruiter said.

Peeking up through his fingers first, Theissen then picked up his fork finishing off his potatoes. He had to finish his food fast.

He took out a good bite of his ham before he heard the coach driver retort, “But I saw him use magic to turn a gole into human!”

Everyone stiffened.

Heads turned to look at Theissen again.

Hastily, Theissen chewed the contents of his stuffed cheeks and eventually found time to swallow. Grabbing the cider cup, he swigged the rest of it down. “Ah, well. That was delicious.”

“Are you a wizard?” the innkeeper asked, edging away from him.

Drawing in a breath, Theissen scanned the faces of the crowd. He was half tempted to go back to his meal and order more cider, just to draw out the suspense. However, he sighed with a look straight to the driver of the fancy coach, wishing the man had long gone.

“I don’t know you. But yes, I was in Liptan Town the day that gole came there.”

The crowd gasped.

“The thing followed me there, actually,” he continued.

Others inched away from him.

“But I am a journeyman carpenter. The last son of my father to journey from Lumen Village, and I prefer that reputation than some idea you have about wizards.” Theissen picked up another piece of the ham. He had paid for it. He was going to eat it.

“But are you a wizard?” the innkeeper asked again.

All those watching him seemed electrified with nerves. He could see it in them. The smell of the room oozed with caustic fear. Even the sound in the air was sharp and brittle.

Theissen sighed, shrugged, then finished off his piece of ham. He would not let the intensity get to him. Once he finished eating the rest of his meal, he stood up and lifted his empty cider cup. Glancing in, he nodded to his waiter. “One more please?”

The waiter glanced to the innkeeper. The innkeeper shook his head at first, but then nodded with the inclination to hurry Theissen along. The man rushed to the barrel where they had made the cider for a pitcherful then poured Theissen a frothing cupful. He set it on the table then stepped out of Theissen’s arm’s reach. Taking it with an eye-roll, Theissen guzzled it down with great satisfaction.

Not one person looked away. All watched him. When Theissen wiped his mouth and set the cup down, they anticipated his answer.

“Does it matter?” Theissen frankly smiled, though he snuck a look towards the door.

“Of course it matters!” The innkeeper shouted at him.

“Why?” Theissen glanced at the empty cup again with a sigh. One more cupful would have been good. Yet he lifted his gaze to the fearful stares of the crowd around him.

“Because, we don’t want to be cursed,” the innkeeper replied, pulling farther away so that he had two tables between him and Theissen.

Rolling his eyes once more, Theissen shot a dirty look at the carriage driver. “Is that what you think wizards are? People bent on cursing others?”

Several heads nodded, though most remained frozen in fear.

Groaning, Theissen gestured to the waiter. “One more please.”

“One more?” The waiter echoed. He glanced from the innkeeper to Theissen again.

“Nah,” Theissen reached over for the water tankard instead. “I’m really just thirsty. Forget the cider.”

He poured out a cupful of water, glancing at the dirt particles in it. Normally, playing it straight he would have left it as is. But since he was revealed as a wizard, Theissen did what came natural. He reached into the water and drew the dirt flecks out with a flick.

Everyone around him gasped.

“What?” Theissen looked up as if he were an innocent child. And in all honestly, it was so much more relaxing to be like his old self anyway. Playing like he couldn’t do magic was tiring. “You like drinking dirty water?”

No one dared move.

With a shrug, Theissen sat down back where he had eaten. “Look. Wizards are just like everyone else…sort of.”

“…Understatement,” someone murmured.

Theissen glanced in that direction. “Maybe.”

That man shuddered, hunching down.

Drinking his cupful, Theissen rose again. This time he headed towards the door. He started to weave in and out of the people in the inn though soon many of them moved away as he approached. He nodded to the villagers as he passed by. When he got near the bar, he paused. Gazing straight at the carriage driver, he said, “Wizards aren’t evil. That gole had planned on eating me. If you could do what I can, you’d have undone his curse too.”

The crowd drew in a breath.

Turning toward the door, Theissen continued. “I’m just like any other man, with a few honest exceptions. Being able to do things that others cannot do does not make me more inclined to evil. I’m a better carpenter than anyone here without the use of magic—and no one had spited me for it. So why is it that a rare skill like wizardry scares you so much?”

“You can curse us,” one man muttered.

Theissen snorted, turning around. “And so can any magician, magister or witch.”

They shuddered.

“If so inclined…” Theissen added with a smile. “Just as any one of you could be inclined to hit me on the head and tie me up with the intent to steal the contents of my friends’ carts.”

He could see a handful of men shudder.

Nodding to the innkeeper, Theissen said, “I’ll be requiring the loft for another day. My traveling companions are leaving tomorrow, so you don’t have to worry about them.”

He turned, and was about to step outside when he spun around again with an even wider grin. “Oh, and by the way, birdmen do not eat humans. Neither do molemen. Molemen eat dirt. And birdmen are content with fruit and a good wafer of seed bread.”

He spun around again to go.

“And another thing.” Theissen chuckled, looking back with a teasing grin, “This highway is going to become a trade route from that forest to Jattereen for birdmen and molemen from now on, so you had better get used to having demons visit along the way. Also, Theobold is my friend and contact between those birdmen and myself, so any remarks about him had better be polite.”

He hopped out the door.

Theissen practically skipped back to the barn. Looking up at the stars that had not changed since he had gone into the inn, Theissen just laughed. He had been such a fool. It was time to give up. He could not hide that he was a wizard anymore. If rumor was going to spread north to that large city, it would be best for the merchants to know that his fellow companions had a wizard on their side.

“Change of plans,” Theissen said to his companions as he climbed up to the loft where Theobold sat waiting for him. Almost no one was asleep.

Theobold tilted his head with a mild smirk. “Really? What kind?”

Patting his friend on the shoulder, Theissen announced: “I’m staying only one day. My two apprentices will stay with me and all that, but we’re not traveling incognito after all.”

“Incognito?” Theobold scooted to make room. “What do you mean?”

Chuckling, Theissen said, “I exposed myself. They know I’m a wizard.”

His bird friend gasped, truly surprised. “But you wanted—”

“I know.” Theissen fluffed up a spare spot of stale straw and lay down. “I know.”

“Then why did you—?”

Letting out another laugh, Theissen turned, giving a tired smile. “I didn’t. Someone there recognized me from Liptan Town. And everyone in Liptan knew I was a wizard. I was hoping to