The Lost Mage (12 page)

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 relaxed 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.”