Brian Pratt - The unsuspecting mage

Perrilin responds, “We will and don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“I always worry about you,” Miss Gilena says before returning to the door. She casts one more worried look in his direction and then quickly leaves the room.

Looking over to James, Perrilin says, “She’s a good woman, but she frets too much at times.”

“That’s probably true of most women when they care about someone,” he remarks.

“Care about? Me?” Perrilin says as if such a thought had never occurred to him. An odd expression passes over his face as he considers the possibility. Soon though, the demands of his healing body assert themselves and his eyes close as he drifts back to sleep.

James sits at the table while the bard sleeps, bored and restless as he waits for the return of Miko. He moves a chair over by the window and idles the time away while looking out over the town and down to the people passing on the street below. He reminisces about the times his grandmother, while waiting for someone at the airport would like to do nothing more than sit and watch people. She would make up the most outlandish stories about who they were and what they were about.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Snapped out of his reverie by the knocking, he gets up and walks over to open the door. One of the workers from downstairs stands before him holding a long, thin box.

Holding forward the box, the boy says, “This was just delivered for you.”

“Thank you,” James says as he takes the box, wondering who could possibly be sending him something here.

Once James has the box, the boy turns and walks back down the hallway. James closes the door and places the package on the table then stands there a moment staring at it, thinking.

“Is something wrong?” Perrilin asks from the bed, the knocking having awoken him.

“This package was just delivered to me,” he explains, “but I haven’t bought or ordered anything that would be delivered.”

“Interesting,” comments Perrilin. Intrigued, he pulls back the covers and slowly brings his legs over so he’s sitting on the edge of the bed. Despite the pain the change of position caused, he was more interested in this unknown and inexplicable package.

James takes a seat at the table then takes the package and opens it. Inside he finds something long wrapped in a dirty cloth. Unwrapping the cloth, his eyes widen and an audible gasp escapes him. To his complete shock, he discovers what was concealed within the cloth is one of the boards that he used to kill their captors the other night. The ones they had hidden in a pile of refuse.

Seeing the expression on James’ face, Perrilin asks, “What is it?”

He holds the blood stained board up for Perrilin to see, “I don’t know how they found this, or even how they could’ve possibly connected it to me.”

“What does it mean?” he asks.

“It’s a long story but I guess we have the time,” James begins. He then relates the events starting with being chased into the sewers of Bearn and then the string of events culminating with the battle in the house where they escaped their capture. He avoided mentioning magic and told only the bare bones of the attack culminating with three dead men with boards protruding from their chests.

“As we left, we hid these boards in a pile of garbage. I was sure no one was around, I guess I was wrong. Somehow, someone must have seen us put them there, took them, and now has tracked us here.”

“That’s quite a story,” Perrilin says. “I have heard of Lord Colerain, though have never met him. He is rumored to be a nasty one to cross.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, “I’ve heard that too.” Removing the cloth from out of the box, he searches for a note, or anything else that might shed some light on all this. “Question is, what is it that they want?” After searching the box thoroughly, he says, “They didn’t leave a note.”

The cloth which had been used to wrap the board lies on the floor next to the table. Perrilin notices something and says, “James, look at the cloth itself.” Picking it up, he uses both hands and spreads it out. There is writing on it.

Where these were buried, one hour

It’s written in what looks to be charcoal. He shows it to Perrilin.

“I guess they want to meet you where you buried them, in one hour,” Perrilin assumes.

“That’s how I see it too,” agrees James.

“Are you going to meet with them?” he asks.

“I think I should,” he replies. “If their desire had been to cause me trouble with the city watch, guards would have been here instead. I should be alright, I hope.” He wraps the board with the cloth and then puts it back inside the box. “If Miko returns before I do, have him wait until I get back,” he tells Perrilin as he comes to his feet.

“I will,” Perrilin assures him, “and be careful.”

“I have learned a lot about being careful since coming here,” states James. Not taking the backpack with him this time, he leaves the room and goes downstairs. Miss Gilena is in the common room straightening chairs and he takes a moment to go over to talk with her.

She turns at his approach and says in a worried tone, “Nothing is wrong, is it?”

“Everything is fine,” James says reassuringly. “I just need to step out for a short while, I left him upstairs and he’s sleeping again.”

“Rest is the best thing for him right now.” She looks somewhat more relaxed knowing Perrilin is doing fine.

“There was a package delivered to my room a few minutes ago,” he tells her. “You wouldn’t have seen who dropped it off?”

“No, it was probably given to one of the staff,” she answers. “They wouldn’t have bothered me for something like that. Why?”

“Just curious is all. Thank you for your time,” he says and then turns to walk out the door.

“Goodbye to you James,” Miss Gilena says as he walks away from her.

He leaves the inn and begins the trek through the city and out into the poorer section. Hope I can remember where I buried them, he worries to himself. It was pretty dark and I was preoccupied at the time.

One street looks pretty much like any other. He finally comes across a refuse pile in an area looking somewhat familiar. He isn’t sure if he has found the right spot or not, but he thinks so. The area he’s in is fairly run down, lots of bums and beggars hanging around up and down the street. After a few minutes of waiting, he begins to feel very self conscious, a stranger standing all by himself in such an area. He definitely stands out among all the other residents and is beginning to draw the attention of some of them.

Three young men eye him from down the street where they stand together talking. Being under scrutiny like this is starting to wear on his nerves, making him jumpy. He definitely does not feel safe there. The three young men seem to have come to a decision, for James sees them begin walking in his direction.

Nervous but needing to meet that person, he stands his ground and waits while the men come over to him. He has his magic if nothing else.

As they approach, two of the young men fan out, leaving the third to approach while they move to flank him.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” James asks, trying to keep his voice calm.

“Maybe,” one says as he pulls out a knife, “you could help by giving us all your coins.” The other two draw their knives as well and gesture menacingly with them toward him. James suddenly realizes that the many people who had been loitering in the area earlier have all but disappeared. Other than a few here and there, he and the three toughs are the only ones remaining on the street, which can’t be a good sign.

James backs away until his back presses against a wall.