The Lost Mage (16 page)

She smiled for a minute before jumping up, fully awake.
Oh, sweet Jaysus! Darakin is trying to make coffee!
That thought was followed by
I can’t afford a new pot
and
he’ll probably electrocute himself.

She leapt out of bed sending Mrowley flying and ran to the kitchen. There was Darakin, pot in hand pushing buttons on the automatic coffee maker in hopes that something would provide a clue as to how to get it started.

“That’s okay,” she said, a little too quickly, “I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t remember how.”

“It’s all right, love, sometimes until you’ve done something yourself, it doesn’t sink in. So I’ll instruct you and you can make it.”

Darakin followed Nora’s instructions and smiled when he pressed the brew button and the little machine sputtered to life.

Once the cat was fed and the coffee was made, the two of them sat down to enjoy a cup. Nora regaled Darakin with tales of her youth again. She described the beautiful Irish countryside and her family’s small home. As she spoke, Darakin couldn’t help but admire her beauty.

Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him. “If you don’t mind my asking, Nora, you seem to love your homeland so much that I can’t figure out why you left.”

The twinkle left her eye and her smile was erased by the grim set of her lips. “There’s nothing left for me there.” She got up and cleared the dishes.

Darakin wanted to ask but decided not to pry, instead getting up to help her with the dishes.

After the dishes were done, Nora suggested that they take a walk. Darakin, unaccustomed to being cooped up inside for too long, readily agreed.

“Do you think we should take Mrowley along?”

“I don’t know,” she said with doubt in her voice. “It’s kind of dangerous out there for cats.”

“But he’s been on the streets for a long time.”

“Just because he didn’t have a home doesn’t mean it was good for him.”

Mrowley was uncharacteristically quiet during this conversation.

“He had a family but they moved and they didn’t take him with them.”

“No!” She dropped her purse and went over to pick up Mrowley and give him a big hug. “You poor wee kitty. You lost your home and your family, too?”

“What am I missing?” asked the confused mage. “He said there was no room for him and that he was happier this way.”

“I’m thinking that no cat would ever admit to how much it hurts to be abandoned and to have nobody left to love or to love you,” she said as she rocked the cat back and forth.

Darakin looked at the quiet cat. “Mrowley? Care to participate in the conversation?”

Mrowley just blinked back at him, enjoying the loving embrace of a human who cared about him.

“Well, this is the first time he hasn’t butted into our conversation.”

Nora put the cat down on a soft throw blanket and pet him a few more times. She picked up her purse and led Darakin out of the apartment.

Once they were out in the hall, she said, “Let the cat have his dignity. His family up and left him, not caring at all for his safety. If he wants to pretend that’s what he wanted before, that’s fine, but I want him kept safe now. He seems pretty happy being inside now.”

Nora had no idea where this overprotective feeling toward the cat had come from but now that she had it, she was going to keep Mrowley safe.

“You’re right. He does seem happy.”

Darakin let Nora lead him down busy streets. He stared in amazement at all of the products you could buy from the shops they passed. Nora bought them each a hotdog from a street vendor and picked up a newspaper before finding an unoccupied bench in a local park.

“Thish ish good, what’sh in it?”

“Um, it’s um … a blend of some ground meats.” Nora thought of all the horrible stories she’d ever read or heard about the questionable contents of hotdogs and decided not to share them with the mage.

“Oh, like the hamburger.”

“Yeah, sure – like the hamburger.”

Nora picked up the newspaper and started glancing at the stories. “Will you look at this? You’d think I picked up one of those silly rags instead of a real paper.”

“What rags?”

“Oh, there are newspapers here that print sensational stories that can’t possibly be true, you know like space aliens coming here or …” she let the sentence trail off as she looked at the strange man sitting next to her.

“Or mages who come here from another realm of existence?” he smiled sadly at her.

“Yeah, like that. I’m sorry, Darakin.” Trying to change the subject, she went back to the article. “But look at this. I mean really, someone attacked by a lizard man? Here in the middle of the city?”

Darakin looked at the item Nora was pointing to in the newspaper.

Charlie the Chipmunk Attacked by Lizard Man

A man, who had just left a party after portraying beloved children’s icon Charlie the Chipmunk, was attacked while still wearing his costume by what he described as a lizard man.

“He had scales and a lizard head,” said Joseph Johnson from his hospital bed. “I always park away from the party and walk to my car in costume so the kids don’t see me take it off. I was almost to my car when this thing grabbed me and started hitting me. He ripped my costume’s head off.”

Shouts from a passing group of young men scared the assailant off and Johnson was transported to the hospital.

Police have no leads and anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Tip hotline.

Darakin put the paper down and stared at Nora in confusion. “Why would a grown man put on a chipmunk costume?”

“Probably some kid’s birthday party or something.”

“What?”

“Hmm, I’m guessing that there are no mascots or anything where you come from.” She waited for Darakin to shake his head. “Well, see, here they use adults in costumes to entertain and educate children. There’s a television show called Charlie, the Chipmunk, and this guy makes money by pretending to be that Charlie at children’s parties. Does that make sense?”

“I guess so,” although it was apparent from his expression that it didn’t.

“What doesn’t make sense is the lizard man stuff.”

“Why does the chipmunk man make sense but not the lizard man?” Darakin was confused.

“Because they’re not saying that it was someone dressed up as a lizard man, but an actual lizard man. That’s just silly. There’s no such thing.”

“There is in my realm.”

“Of course there is. I should have known. There are lizard men there?”

“Well, they’re not men. They’re demons who just bear a resemblance to what a man crossed with a lizard would look like. They have slimy scales and a reptilian head.”

Nora put her head in her hands.
Don’t laugh,
she thought.
He’s being serious.

“So, are you trying to tell me that not only did you come here from your realm, but you think one of these lizard men, I mean demons did, too?”

Darakin looked startled at her words. “Well, I do now. What if he did? What if those idiots that summoned me actually summoned a demon? After all, they did think that I was a demon.”

“I don’t know.”

“What should I do?”

Nora thought about this latest development. “Is it really your problem?”

“Well, does anyone in this realm have any experience with a krekdapop? Oh, never mind.”

“Never mind what? What was that word you said?”

“It’s the word for those lizard-men demons in my language, but I realize it doesn’t mean anything to you. I wondered if anyone here knows anything about them.”

“Well, since we don’t even have a word for them, I doubt anyone knows about them.”

“Then isn’t it my responsibility to do something?”

“I don’t see why. You didn’t bring him here. Is he dangerous? I mean, other than to people dressed in animal costumes?”

“Nora, I’m sure it would have killed that man if those people hadn’t come along. It is a demon, after all.”

“But why would he attack some guy dressed as Charlie the Chipmunk? That just seems … pardon the pun, kind of nuts.” She chuckled a little.

“A long time ago, a krekdapop went on a rampage in a forest. He killed an old, sacred tree. The dryad that lived in the tree was so angry that, as she died, she put a curse on all the krekdapop so they would be forever terrified at the sight of the small, woodland creatures whose home he had destroyed.”

“Like chipmunks?” Nora laughed again.

“Yes. And squirrels and raccoons and the like. And it’s not funny, Nora.”

“Oh, come on. It kind of is! I mean some tree fairy –”

“Dryad.”

“Right. Some dryad does a spell and now Larry, the lizard man, is here attacking Charlie, the Chipmunk? Sounds kind of funny to me.”

“Well, it’s not. This is serious. It’s dangerous.”

“But why did he beat up Charlie the Chipmunk if he’s scared of him? Wouldn’t he run away?”

“Fear aggression doesn’t exist in your society? The dryad cast a hasty spell without considering the repercussions. Of course, she was dying so that explains it. But now these demons go around trying to kill all of these animals they’re so scared of.”

“I just don’t see how you’re going to take care of this, Darakin. You can’t possibly protect all of the squirrels and chipmunks here. They’re everywhere!”

Nora stared at Darakin for a minute. “Do you realize how crazy all of this sounds?” She looks at her audience of pigeons. “I am sitting here with, if he’s to be believed, a mage –”

“An elemental mage,” Darakin interjected.

“Right, an elemental mage from another realm of existence who can talk to cats and is now preparing to do battle against a lizard man demon thing – also from his realm – that might be here looking to wipe out the squirrel and chipmunk populations?”