The Lost Mage (8 page)

She said she likes you.

“Really?”

The cat laughed.
No, I just wanted to see your reaction. She babbled a lot and then said her birthday is May twelfth, even though it really isn’t, but that’s what she wanted me to tell you.

Darakin turned back to Nora.

She demanded, “Well, what did he say?”

“First he teased me that you said you liked me.”

Nora glared at the cat.

“But he told me he was only kidding. Then he said you babbled.” He smiled as Nora’s eyes opened wide. “He said that you said to tell me that your birthday is May twelfth, even though it really isn’t.”

“Oh my goodness! I did. You really can … I mean, you actually talk to him and he understands us? No. No way.” She shakes her head. “Oh, I know how you did it.” She went to the cat and started vigorously running her fingers through his fur, checking every inch of him for a clue.

What the … Whoa! Rub the fur with the grain … WITH THE GRAIN.

“Where is it? Where’s the bug?” Nora stops rubbing for a minute.

“Bug? The cat has bugs? Do you mean fleas?”

I do NOT have fleas.

“He says he doesn’t have fleas. And he seems kind of insulted.”

“Not fleas. A bug. You know – a transmitter. There has to be one on him.” She resumed her search of the cat’s fur.

Hey! Watch out for my … Duuuuuude! I feel so violated.
He began licking his fur.

She stood up. “I’ve never heard a cat yowl so much. What’s he complaining about now?”

“He claims you were violating him.”

Don’t forget that she rubbed my fur the wrong way. I’m gonna have to bathe for a week to fix this.
To prove his point, the cat returned to his frantic fur licking.

“Now what’s wrong?” Nora asked.

“You rubbed his fur the wrong way.”

“I rubbed … oh for Pete’s sake. He really said I violated him?”

“Yes, and if you really don’t believe I can understand him, why would you ask me what he was saying?”

“I … I don’t know. I have to sit. This is … this is unbelievable. So, tell me why can’t you do most of your magic here?”

“Well, in my realm, the elements have been imprisoned and may only be summoned by a mage like me. Without us, no boats would sail, no fires would burn, no rain would fall –”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. No lightning would flash, blah, blah, blah.”

Dude, she’s totally freaked out. You have to do something.

“Nora –”

She cut him off. “I thought that people who did rain dances and stuff like that were shamans.”

“Yes. Long ago, shamans did work with the elements. They worshipped them and led the people in rituals to glorify them so the elements would keep the crops growing and such. But something happened and the elements went crazy. They started killing the people of Kwagl with floods, violent storms, wildfires and earthquakes. If the mages hadn’t managed to imprison them, the Elemental War would have caused my people’s extinction.”

Nora stared at him without saying a word.

Dude, I don’t think she’s buying it.

“Nora, listen, I know this sounds crazy, but seriously, I was in my world one minute and then here, surrounded by a bunch of young men dressed in dark robes, the next. They thought I was some sort of demon.”

“A demon? So, now we’ve got demons?”

Darakin rolled his eyes at her naiveté. “Now? No. They’re not new, Nora, there have always been demons, I’m just not one of them.”

Nora leaned back against the couch and sighed, muttering to herself, “Why do I always get mixed up with the nut jobs?”

Darakin sat next to her. “Nut jobs?”

“Crazy people. Nuts means crazy.”

“Ah. You have used that expression several times. I’m not crazy, but I know it must seem that way to you. If it helps, being in a different dimension where nothing works the way I’m used to it working makes me feel like everyone around me is a little off, too.”

Nora laughed and stood. “I guess. Let’s go get that cat some food.”

Yay! I mean, yes please, that would be nice. I haven’t eaten in days.

“You ate last night.”

Well, I’m hungry again so some of those cans would be good.

Darakin laughed. “Mrowley approves of your plan.”

“I thought he would.”

Darakin recalled the clerk’s conversation from yesterday when he bought cat food. “Oh, wait. Do I need a tinfoil hat?”

Nora choked. “What?”

“The store clerk yesterday asked me where my tinfoil hat was. He said I needed it for the gamma rays.”

“He was having a go at you, Darakin. He was implying that you were crazy.”

“That certainly seems to be a theme here. Everyone I’ve met so far has called me crazy.” The mage’s shoulders slumped.

“Sorry,” Nora apologized. She walked to the door with Darakin following. With her hand on the knob, she turned back to Mrowley and shook her finger at him. “And no reading my diary or anything while we’re out.”

Ha! Even if I could read, which I can’t because those symbols make no sense to me, how am I supposed to turn the pages with no opposable thumbs? I suppose I could spear them with a claw and turn them over.

At the cat’s meowing, Nora turned to Darakin with a questioning eye.

“Oh, he’s lamenting his lack of thumbs and trying to determine how he’d turn the pages, but he can’t read so don’t worry. At least he says he can’t.”

“It’s okay; I don’t really have a diary anyway. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

As they were walking out the door, Mrowley spoke up.
Dude? She really did say she liked you.

Chapter Seven

Nora led Darakin down to the street towards the neighborhood market. Darakin, recalling that market doors open magically and wishing to appear acclimated to this world, walked straight into the door, crashing against it with a thud.

“Don’t you open doors where you’re from?” Nora laughed.

Darakin stumbled back, holding his nose. “But the door at the market I went to yesterday opened by magic at my arrival. I assumed that all market doors worked the same way.”

Nora laughed so hard that tears were streaming down her face. “Oh, I
have
to keep you around for comic relief! It’s not magic, it’s technology. And not all stores have automatic doors. There’s usually a black floor mat with a sensor in front of the door, but not always. You could always look for a sticker on the door that says, ‘automatic door’.”

Darakin stared at the laughing Nora. Her face was glowing. At that moment he realized that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and Mrowley had said that she liked him … and he’d just made a fool of himself in front of her.

“Fine,” Darakin said with indignation. He pushed against the door and entered the market, ignoring the stares of the patrons and workers who had turned at the sound of the large man smashing into the door.

Nora picked up a small basket at the front of the store and walked through the aisles, selecting a few items to buy. Darakin also picked up a basket and put several cans of cat food into it.

They made their way to the register. Nora paid for her items and Darakin stepped forward, placing the cans on the counter as he’d seen Nora do with her boxes and cans.

“That’ll be four sixty seven.”

“Four sixty seven what?”

“Um, like dollars.”

Nora, a smile on her face, stepped forward and pulled a bill from Darakin’s stack and handed it to the cashier. “We’ll have to go over money back at home, I can see.”

“Could you? That would be really helpful.”

“Sure, let’s go back to my place and see what mischief your cat has gotten into.”

“Why would you think that? Oh yeah, you’re probably right.”

As they walked back shoulder to shoulder, each was acutely aware of the other’s physical proximity.

There were mutual sighs of relief when they reached Nora’s apartment. She opened the door and walked to the small kitchen area.

“What the hell? Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?” Darakin ran to her side and stopped short. The cream container was knocked over and the liquid was pooled on the counter and running down the front of the cabinets. The floor was covered in sugar from the bag that had apparently fallen off the counter. The garbage can was knocked over and trash was strewn about the floor. Several incriminating paw prints led out of the kitchen toward the living room. The two followed the trail of cream and sugar through the living room and into Nora’s bedroom.

There on the bed sat Mrowley busy licking his paws.

“CAT!” Darakin yelled.

Mrowley jumped.
What?

“What happened?”

What do you mean?

“There’s cream and sugar all over the place.”

Oh that? Don’t worry, I cleaned up.