The Unsuspecting Mage (56 page)

James sits there with his eyes closed for several minutes before he hears a door open and close, then the sound of footsteps coming toward him. Opening his eyes, he’s afraid that it’s going to be ol’ One Eye again. When he sees who it is, he blinks a couple of times and finally decides he’s either dreaming or having hallucinations. For there walking toward him is Mickey Mouse.

He looks to his guards and they appear to not notice the new arrival, even when Mickey walks right past one of them. “I’ve gone crazy,” James moans aloud.

“No,” Mickey replies as he reaches up and removes his head, “you’ve not.” When the head comes off, it reveals the little creature who has already come to him twice before.

Putting his Mickey head back on, the little guy turns and motions for James to follow as he returns the way he came and exits through the door.

Following him outside, James stops suddenly and stares in absolute dumbfounded silence. “I know this place.”

“You should,” the little guy replies. “You’ve been here often enough.”

“Mommy, mommy!” a little girl squeals with delight as she runs over to the little guy in costume. “It’s Mickey!” She comes over and gives Mickey a big hug and then turns and poses while her mother takes their picture.

Mickey pats her on the head as she turns to him and says, “Bye, Mickey!”

“This is Disneyland!” James says incredulously, staring down Main Street USA, with Cinderella’s Castle at the end.

“Yeah,” the little guy says. “I love this place.” He begins to walk down toward the heart of Disneyland and kids continue to come up to him, giving him hugs and having their picture taken.

“How do you know about it?” he asks.

“I get around,” Mickey replies. “Besides, those of us who gravitate to what you call good, are drawn to such focal points in the universe.”

“Disneyland is a focal point?” James asks, astonished.

“Think about it,” replies the little guy. “What happens whenever someone mentions it? Those around them feel good, instantly. That makes it a remarkable place, there are few like it anywhere.” He pauses to have his picture taken with several children, their mother simply aglow with happiness.

“Everyone here on Earth knows of it and they continually direct good thoughts toward it,” he explains. “It’s almost a beacon in the night for those of us who can see it.”

“But why bring me here?” James asks.

The little guy pauses and glances back at James before more children requesting a photo op appear. When they are done he asks, “Would you like me to send you back?”

“No, not right now,” James replies hastily. He’s suddenly aware that his headache is gone as is the pain from the welts. Also, even though he is bruised, possibly bloody, and without a shirt, no one seems to give him a second thought.

“Ah, look,” the little guy says as he bends over to pick up something lying on the ground. He holds it up to show James, “Someone’s lost their wallet.” He walks toward one of the many workers and hands it over, saying, “My shift’s not over for a while, can you take this to Lost and Found?”

“Sure, not a problem,” the girl says as she puts the wallet in her pocket and then walks away.

“Sad when something gets lost,” he tells James. “When you lose something, you always hope an honest person will find it and work to get it back to you. All too often though, you never see it again. Such is life.”

“I suppose it is,” agrees James, not sure where this is going.

From up ahead, a group of teenage boys come running around the corner, hell-bent on getting to the next ride before their fast pass expires.

“No running in the park,” the little guy yells at them.

“Up yours, Mickey!” one of them yells as he swings around him and plows right into James.

Pain erupts in his head again and when he moves to get up, realizes he’s back in the chair strapped down. His headache is back though not nearly as intense as it had been. The pain of the welts across his stomach and chest on the other hand still throb painfully with every beat of his heart.

“James, thank the gods you’re finally awake!” Miko whispers with relief. “I was afraid you weren’t going to.”

The room seems darker and there are several lit torches in sconces around the room that weren’t there earlier. “How long was I out?” James asks Miko.

“Never mind, I’ll tell you later.” Looking around he finds there are still only the two guards that were there earlier. “We need to get out of here before ol’ One Eye returns,” he whispers to Miko.

“I think that would be a good idea too,” he agrees. “Magic?”

“I’ll try,” James says and then tries to concentrate but the throbbing in his head makes it nigh on impossible. He tries something simpler and concentrates on one of the torches on the wall that’s situated over many old crates and broken containers. The area looks to have been the dumping spot for anything that broke or was unusable.

As James concentrates on the torch, it slowly rises and begins to leave its sconce. He’s concentrating hard, focusing his will through the pain and inch by inch it continues to rise higher until the bottom is no longer inside the sconce. Gasping from the effort, he has it move a little to the side and then releases the magic, allowing it to fall amidst the crates and boxes below.

At first it looks like nothing is happening but then the beginnings of smoke start to rise from where the torch fell. “Now what?” Miko asks, watching as the smoke grows thicker and thicker.

“We wait,” he replies. Soon the flames are rising above the broken wooden crates.

One of the guards comes alert as he takes notice of the smoke. Turning toward the growing flames he yells, “Fire!” The other guard turns and sees the flames are licking the sides of the wall now and both run over to try to prevent it from spreading further.

James tries once more to wield the magic to break their bonds but his head is too muddled with the pain to adequately concentrate. When he sees Miko looking at him, he just shakes his head no.

Miko, realizing that James has done all he can, begins to rock his chair back and forth until he topples over. He then squirms around and eventually works the ropes off of him. Keeping an eye on the guards, who by now are fighting a roaring fire, he begins untying James from the chair. Once he’s free and they see that the guards are still preoccupied with the fire, they hurry to the table where their belongings lie and retrieve them.

The door on the far side suddenly swings open and ol’ One Eye comes in, coming to a surprised stop at seeing them there with their belongings in hand. “The prisoners!” he yells, drawing his sword and races toward James and Miko. The guards turn and join the chase, giving up on the fire which by this time is beginning to burn out of control. It now covers most of the wall and has almost reached the rafters.

James and Miko race for the far door in the opposite side of the warehouse and reach it before anyone can get close. Bolting through it, they quickly lose themselves in the crowd of people outside. They don’t get far before the fire consuming the warehouse is noticed by the crowds on the streets around it.

“Fire!” they hear someone shout and then it becomes total pandemonium. The crowds of people suddenly surge in panic as they try to get away from the flames now engulfing the warehouse. People begin shouting, and those that fall are trampled to death by those behind.

James glances back to the warehouse and sees ol’ One Eye standing at the door they just vacated looking through the crowd for them. “Move!” he hollers when Miko suddenly pauses in front of him to avoid being trampled by a group of frightened people running by. Pushing him forward, they race down the street away from the warehouse behind them, dodging through the panicking crowd. After putting some distance between themselves and the fire, James grabs Miko by the shirt and pulls him through a door into a dark and empty warehouse. They shut the door and sink down against the wall to rest as they listen for any pursuit.

Miko scoots closer to James and whispers, “Maybe we should rest here for awhile, at least until you’re a little better.”

James nods his head and leans against the wall, trying to get comfortable. The adrenalin rush he experienced when escaping from the warehouse is quickly wearing off.

“I’ll keep watch if you want to get some sleep,” he offers.

Closing his eyes, James lies down on the floor and soon soft snores are telling Miko that he’s fallen asleep.

Miko worries about his friend as he sits there in the dark. He listens to the noise outside, the sounds of people running and screaming. He remembers back to the times before he met James when he would sit in the dark, hoping not to be found by the constables or some street tough. He smiles at his memories, even though not all of them were good ones.

He sits there in the dark for quite some time, the only light being that of the fire coming in through the window. He goes over and peers through the window and sees several buildings adjacent to the flaming warehouse have now caught fire as well. He watches as crews work to put out the fire and after a while they seem to have managed to stop it from spreading.

Suddenly, horns begin to sound in the night, dozens and dozens of horns. All the people out in the streets stop what they are doing and raise their heads for a moment, listening to the horns blaring all over the city. Then all hell breaks loose when the people begin racing off in different directions, bumping into each other. Some get knocked down and trampled by the panicked mob while others run and cry out in search of loved ones.

Feeling this may be too important to allow James to continue sleeping, he gently shakes his friend, rousing him. “James!” he whispers urgently, trying to wake him up.

“Damn!” swears Miko. Realizing his friend will probably be out for some time, he makes his mind up to go and get some food and perhaps find out what is going on. Making James as comfortable as possible, he slips out the door and joins with the people outside.

“It means the Empire’s forces have been sighted nearing the city and now the gates have been sealed and barred. Now the only way in or out is by ship but some idiot set fire to a warehouse near there and took out a good portion of the docks before it could be put out.”

“What are we to do?” Miko asks.

“What are you, stupid or something?” the man asks incredulously. “We’re under siege boy! Not much to do but wait it out and hope for the best.” Shaking his head, the man walks away, muttering about the idiots of the world.

Miko makes his way to a market of sorts that has sprung up near the docks. People are selling all kinds of stuff along with food. Miko goes to a seller of breads and purchases a loaf of bread for an exorbitant price of a silver and a half for one small loaf. When he tries to haggle, the man says, “Pay it or go away”. Knowing James will need it he buys it as well as a jug of ale for five silvers.

“Extortion, that’s what it is,” he mutters to himself as he makes his way back to the abandoned warehouse. To his relief, he finds James exactly where he left him, undisturbed and still snoring softly. He sits down next to him and eats a little of the bread for himself, drinking a small portion of the ale to wash it down. Then he settles in to keep watch for as long as he needs to.

He manages to stay awake all night, keeping watch over his friend. When the morning sun begins to lighten the sky, to his immense relief, James begins to stir.

Moaning with the pounding in his head, he sits up and puts his head in his hands in the hope of keeping it from bursting apart. “Oh my god,” he moans. “What I wouldn’t give for some aspirin right now.”

“We don’t have any of that,” replies Miko, wondering what an aspirin is. He offers the bread and ale to James and says, “But we do have this.”

Seeing what he’s offering, James takes it and slowly nibbles on the loaf and drinks the rest of the ale. “How long have I been out?” he asks between bites.

“All night,” Miko replies. “And I’ve got bad news.”

James looks at him questioningly as he continues to eat the rest of the bread.