Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book One (6 page)

“Good morning,” he replied, smiling back at her, and handing her a packet of warm bread.

“Thanks Lusam. You're so sweet,” she said kissing him on the cheek, which only made his smile grow even more.

They both started eating the warm bread and were almost done when Lusam asked, “What do you think we should do until noon? There's no point going to the gate for work today.”

“No, I guess not,” she agreed, taking another bite from the warm loaf.

“I was thinking maybe we could go out of town for a walk in the forest this morning. If we’re lucky there might still be some huckleberry thickets, or even hackberry around that we could gather.”

Neala laughed. “I wouldn’t know what a huckleberry or hackberry looked like if it hit me between the eyes.”

“It’s okay, I can show you. When I was a boy, my grandmother used to take me into the forest, near where we used to live, and we would collect a whole basket full of them. They look like large wild blueberries, but taste really
sweet.
They should be very ripe at this time of year,” he replied eagerly.

“Okay, okay, I give in. Lead the way master woodsman,” she said with a grin, and an over enthusiastic attempt at a bow. Laughing and joking they both headed for the east gate of town, both knowing that was the most direct route to the forest outside of Helveel. When they passed the guards at the gate they were given no more than a cursory glance by either guard, and continued on their way unchallenged.

Twenty minutes later they crossed the small wooden footbridge that spanned the river, and arrived on the east bank next to the forest.

“Don't get us lost in there,” Neala said nodding towards the forest.

Lusam laughed and replied, “Those woods aren’t big enough to get lost in. Thirty minutes in any direction would see you back out of them again. Not like the forest in the Elveen mountains where my grandmother used to take me. If you got lost in there, you could have walked for days amongst those trees and never seen daylight.”

“Sounds delightful,” she said sarcastically.

“Tell you what, I'll hold your hand if it makes you feel any safer,” he replied with a grin, using the same sarcastic tone she'd just used on him, and before they took another step, they both broke out in fits of laughter.

Sure enough Lusam was right, the huckleberry were in plentiful supply, and very ripe and sweet. Neala didn’t like the taste of the hackberry, complaining they tasted too tart and she didn’t like the seeds inside, but she seemed to like the huckleberry just fine. They spent a while gathering a few handfuls each, then found a clearing with a fallen log to sit down and eat them in the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.

After a few minutes of quietly eating the berries Neala broke the silence and said, “I guess now would be as good a time as any to talk about what happened yesterday. How you managed to blast that big guy down the street into that wall the way you did?”

Lusam stopped eating and just looked at her, not really knowing what to say. “To be honest, like I said when it happened, I really don’t know how I did it. I just heard running footsteps coming from behind me, I turned, and saw that huge guy flying through the air with a meat cleaver, ready to chop me into bits and I panicked. All I remember is wanting him as far away from me as possible. I put my hands up to protect myself, and the next thing I saw, was him flying backwards away from me into that wall,” he replied in a calm even voice.

Looking directly at him, and after thinking for a while she replied, “Okay, let’s say I believe you about that part, for now. What about the part where you told me your
grandmother taught you how to do magic when you were a boy?
Everyone I've ever met doesn’t believe magic exists in the world anymore, and it’s only something dreamed up by story tellers, or written about in ancient tales and the likes. Until yesterday I felt the same way, but I can’t deny what I saw you do with my own eyes. So tell me what your '
magical
 
grandmother'
taught you, or maybe better still, show me something, so I can better understand.”

“Well, I really don’t know what I could show you. She taught me how to light a fire with magic, but that hasn’t done me much good in Helveel, because it's forbidden to light fires in town. She taught me how to talk to animals, which was quite useful for keeping the rats away at night, but other than that, the rest was only about mind preparation and concentration techniques. The rest of the time was spent with normal things like reading, writing and other stuff,” he replied shrugging his shoulders.

Neala looked at him with disbelief written all over her face before saying, “Please don’t make fun of me Lusam, now I know you're not telling me the truth. Nobody can talk to animals. Not even you!” She stood up ready to walk away, but Lusam put his hand out and took hold of her hand.

“Wait. Please. Let me show you. Come sit down and be still a minute,” he said gently to her. Neala paused a few seconds before doing as he asked. She sat down next to him, fully expecting some excuse to be forthcoming as to why he
couldn’t perform this impossible task.
Lusam relaxed his mind, and then searched the surrounding area for any wild animals using his mage-sight. It wasn't long before he found a burrow of rabbits and several birds only a short distance from where they were sitting. Concentrating, he called to the animals and birds with a combination of promises of food and feelings of intense safety. One by one they emerged from their hiding places, and approached the fallen log where the two humans sat side by side holding hands.

Neala's face was a real pleasure for Lusam to behold. As she sat there in complete astonishment, several birds landed on her legs and shoulders, and four large rabbits came and sat by her feet, grazing on the vegetation right in front of her. Neala looked too scared to even move, just in case she startled the animals and they ran away, so she just sat there watching them intently, happy to simply share the space with them all.

“Sorry, I couldn’t find any wild unicorns to summon for you. You will have to make do with rabbits and birds I'm afraid,” he said, trying not to burst into laughter at the look on her face.

All Neala could manage was a single word. “Incredible!” she whispered, gripping his hand as if her life depended on it.

They sat there for maybe half an hour while Neala
watched the animals—and Lusam watched Neala.
Then remembering they had to be back by noon, he gently coaxed the animals away from them, before releasing them altogether. Lusam was about to suggest they should head back to town, when Neala threw her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug.

“I'm sorry Lusam. I'm sorry for not believing you. That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Thank you Lusam,” she whispered in his ear.

“You're welcome,” was all he could think of to say in reply. “We better head back to town. We don’t want to be late on our first day.”

“Yes, you're right, we better head back,” she agreed smiling at him.

“Oh, and just so we’re clear, I
was
joking about the unicorns, they don’t really exist,” he said in a serious voice, trying hard to keep a straight face.

“HA! HA! Very funny,” she replied playfully smacking his arm, while still smiling from ear to ear. As they turned and started walking back towards town, Neala reached down and took hold of his hand, and all the way back to town constantly asked him questions about how he had spoken to the animals, and what other kinds of magic he could do. Lusam just smiled, happy being in Neala's company, and answered the best he knew how.

As they approached the street where Mr Daffer's shop was situated, Lusam looked up at the sun and judged the time to be as close to noon as made any difference, and so felt quite confident Mr Daffer would not think them late for their first day at work. Lusam remembered the first time they had come to the shop, when Mr Daffer had seemed overly concerned that someone would see them entering his establishment. At the time it seemed a little rude and confusing to Lusam as to why it should bother him so much if anyone saw them enter, but having had time to think about the situation from his point of view, it made more sense now. Given the fact that usually only the wealthy, clergy and scholars could read, it stood to reason they were his main clientele in Helveel. If that was the case, having a couple of dirty looking street kids be seen by any of them entering his shop would do his business no favours at all. With that in mind, Lusam suggested they wait until the street was clear before knocking on the door of the shop. Once the street was clear of people, they quickly approached the door and knocked loudly three times.

Mr Daffer swiftly opened the door, almost as if he had been eagerly waiting on the other side for them to knock. He poked his head out of the door and quickly looked up and down the street again, before beckoning them inside the shop.

“Quickly. Quickly, please, in you come,” he said in a
hushed voice.
Then he turned the sign over in the window so it read
'Closed,'
and locked the door behind them.

“Good day to you Mr Daffer,” Lusam offered in his most polite voice.

“That remains to be seen young man, but at least you weren't late, so that’s a good start I would say,” he replied smiling.

Lusam noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and as he turned he noticed a middle aged woman in a light blue dress standing up from behind the counter.

“I would like to introduce you both to my wife Lucy. Lucy, this is Lusam and Neala. They are the two I told you about who will be helping us catalogue the books in the basement.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Lucy replied, nodding her head and smiling.

“Nice to meet you too,” they both replied in unison.

Mr Daffer cleared his throat and said, “I think the first order of businesses today will be for us to lay down the ground rules here at
The Old Inkwell.
That way we won’t have any misunderstandings between us while you are in my employment. If you disagree with any of them, or feel that you can not comply with them, you are free to leave any time you like. I hope that sounds fair to you both?”

“Yes, of course,” replied Lusam, while Neala just nodded her head in agreement.

“Good. First thing you should know about
The Old Inkwell
is that although I have only recently inherited the business, which has in fact been running here in Helveel for well over two hundred years. We are a highly respected establishment, who cater for every kind of clientele, from the lowly student in history just starting out, to the master scholars of the high universities. One thing they all have in common however, is a high status in society, and as such are not inclined to conduct business in any establishment that is seen to employ dirty looking street kids. No insult intended.”

“We had already thought about that as we approached your shop, so we waited until the street was clear before knocking on the door,” replied Lusam, slightly defensively.

“I thank you both for your diligence. However, it will only be a matter of time before the inevitable happens and you are spotted entering or leaving, or possibly even come face to face with some High Lord inside the building itself. I can not take that chance, so I have taken the liberty of asking Lucy if she could dig out some of my son's old clothes that will fit you, as the ones you're wearing are little better than rags, and will never survive the washing process. As for you Neala, I'm afraid we never had a daughter, but I did notice your clothes were in much better condition the last time you were here, and only in need of a good wash. You can also wear some of my son's clothes until we get
yours cleaned, if that is acceptable to you both?”
Lusam and Neala looked at each other, then both nodded their agreement to Mr Daffer without speaking.

“Good. Now that’s settled. The next thing I wish to discuss is your current accommodations. Where are you currently sleeping each night?”

Lusam looked at Neala and replied, “Well, Mr Daffer, that depends, it can change from night to night.“

“And it also depends what time of year it is,” Neala added.

“Hmm … Just as I suspected. Neither of you have a permanent place of residence do you?”

Feeling slightly embarrassed by the question—which surprised him, as it really wasn’t their fault they were on the streets—Lusam just shook his head, and Neala followed his example.

“I have already discussed this subject with my wife Lucy, and we both agree that, given the fact you may be in our employment for some time, we feel it would be best if you stayed here at
The Old Inkwell
.  The location this building now occupies, was the exact spot where an ancient temple once stood. Although the building you now see is much newer, and obviously was built for a much different role, the old underground rooms and store rooms of the original temple were incorporated into the newer building, and so still remain. I'm sure we can adapt a couple of the old
accommodation cells the monks used, and make them comfortable enough for your stay here.
If nothing else, it will certainly be warmer and more comfortable than the streets I'm sure, and your clothing will have a much better chance of staying presentable at the same time.”