Kingdom of Magicians

  Chapter Twelve

  “Keo, wake up,” said a familiar voice above him. “Wake up, you damn idiot. Why are you lying in the street like a drunk beggar?”

  Keo's head hurt and it hurt even more hearing the loud voice above him. He opened his eyes, but it was hard because it felt like someone had tied heavy sandbags to his eyelids. And when he succeeded in opening his eyes, his vision was briefly blurry, showing him only a mixture of blur and gray and brown that made no sense to him whatsoever.

  Then Keo blinked several times and his vision cleared up. He was looking up into the face of Dlaine, who was frowning like he was upset about something, although Keo was not sure what had upset him.

  “D-Dlaine?” said Keo. His head throbbed, causing him to grab it and wince. “What happened? Where am I?”

  “Lying in the street like a beggar, that's where you are,” said Dlaine, poking Keo in the chest. “And I don't know what happened. Jola just found you like this and led me to you, though I noticed that you've got a huge bump on your head.”

  Blinking again, Keo looked around at his surroundings. He was indeed lying in the street, as Dlaine said, lying in the street just outside the Torgan Theater's backstage entrance. As far as he could tell, he and Dlaine were the only two people in this particular street at the moment, although he figured that Jola was probably somewhere nearby as well even if he couldn't see her.

  “Can you remember anything?” said Dlaine. “The last I saw, you were running off after that kid who stole your sword.”

  Keo tried to remember, but it was hard because his head hurt so badly. “I remember following the kid into the Theater. Then I thought he was in the broom closet, but then he wasn't, and someone hit me with something heavy and next thing I know I'm here. I don't even remember being dragged out here, even though that seems to be what happened.”

  “Sounds to me like the kid got the jump on you,” said Dlaine, stroking his chin. “Or maybe that kid has a friend who got you. Maybe it was even that old lady from earlier. Remember, the one who begged us for money?”

  “You think she's related to the kid?” said Keo, rubbing his head and frowning.

  “Yes,” said Dlaine, nodding. “I've seen these sorts of partnerships among beggars before. One of them comes up and distracts you by asking for some money, while her friend comes up behind you and takes your wallet while you're not looking. I've never heard of a beggar stealing a magical sword, though. That's a new one.”

  “You sound like you have personal experience in this,” said Keo.

  Dlaine scowled. “Let's just say that there's a reason I keep my money bag tied firmly to my waist at all times and leave it at that. Anyway, do you know where the kid might have gone?”

  Keo shook his head. “No. Like I said, I was knocked out, so I don't know where the kid is. He might not even be in town anymore for all I know.”

  “I sent Jola to go look for him,” said Dlaine. “She's currently searching the whole town for him and will report back to us by the end of the day with her results.”

  “What?” said Keo. “The end of the day? I can't wait until the end of the day to get Gildshine back. What if the kid leaves town before then?”

  “Well, I don't have any better ideas for finding the kid,” said Dlaine with a shrug. “I've visited Torgan before, but I still don't know it nearly as well as its inhabitants.”

  “There's got to be someone we can ask about that,” said Keo. He sat up and groaned as the pain in his head spiked. “Don't you know anyone in town who might be able to identify the boy for us?”

  “Nope,” said Dlaine, shaking his head. “I don't know very many people here. Most of the time I just pass through, though once I did stay to see a play in the Theater.”

  “Really?” said Keo. “What was it called?”

  “I can't remember,” said Dlaine. “All I remember was being bored out of my mind. The seating was really uncomfortable, too.”

  “It doesn't matter,” said Keo. “We need to find someone in town here who can help us find and identify the boy. Even if Jola is searching for him, I think we'll have a much easier time finding him if all three of us are working together to do it.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” said Dlaine. “One question, though: Who can we ask about the boy?”

  Keo thought about that. Neither he nor Dlaine knew anyone in Torgan, much less anyone who would be willing and able to help them find a sword thief. The question stumped Keo for a good few seconds before he remembered someone who might know.

  “Sadia,” said Keo, looking at Dlaine. “Remember her? She's a native of Torgan, isn't she? She might be able to tell us who that kid is, maybe even where he lives.”

  “Sadia?” said Dlaine. He frowned. “We don't know where to find her, so unless you happen to have some magical locating abilities that you conveniently forgot about until this very moment—”

  “Actually, I know exactly where to find her,” said Keo. He rose to his feet, still rubbing the bump on his head from where he had been hit. “Follow me. We're going to ask directions to a place.”

  -

  After receiving directions from one of the merchants in the marketplace, Keo and Dlaine went to the west side of Torgan, away from the Theater, and soon found themselves in a quieter, dirtier part of the town. The buildings were grimy and old, with broken windows or doors that just barely stood in their frames. The scrawniest dog that Keo had ever seen in his life—which had been lying on the doorstep of an equally dismal-looking house—looked up at them as they passed. It stood up and barked at them loudly, but it did not actually chase after them, which Keo was grateful, because the dog's teeth looked as sharp as knives despite the dog's scrawniness.

  “Keo, are you sure we should be going to this part of town?” said Dlaine. “This looks like the place where all of the town's local lowlifes come to hang out.”

  “Sadia said that if we ever needed help we should go to The Overflowing Mug,” Keo said. “And The Overflowing Mug, according to that merchant, is in this part of town. Because that's where we're going to find help, we should be here.”

  “I'm not sure that this is such a wise idea,” said Dlaine. “You know how I feel about the Rebels. A bunch of idiots rebelling against an authority that they have no intention of replacing with anything better.”

  “You sure sound like a Magician loyalist when you speak that way,” Keo said.

  “I'm no more loyal to the Magical Council than they are,” said Dlaine, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking around the area, probably keeping an eye out for any criminals. “But unlike them, I lived through the collapse of the Kingdom back in the day and I don't want to live through another.”

  Keo looked at Dlaine in surprise, though in truth, he probably shouldn't have been. He pegged Dlaine at being in his fifties, which meant that it was no surprise he had been alive during the Kingdom's collapse some twenty years back. Master Tiram had told Keo many stories about the collapse of the Kingdom of Lamaira, how it had been a dark and bloody time, with many people dying as various factions fought for control over what was left of the Kingdom. There was still war today between the three factions that had arisen out of the ashes of the Kingdom, but Master Tiram always said that it wasn't as bad now as it was back then, though it still wasn't as good as the Kingdom had been either.

  Despite that, Keo was still very curious about the Kingdom, so he said, “Where were you when the Kingdom collapsed?”

  “Remember what I said about how there is certain information you don't need to know?” said Dlaine. “That's part of it. It's not even particularly relevant anyway. The past is past and right now we need to focus on getting your sword back.”

  Keo nodded, but he still wondered if he would ever learn the true story behind Dlaine. It must have been very interesting, but Dlaine was obviously not in any mood to discuss it. Keo wished he was, but he knew there was no way that he could make Dlaine tell him anything, so Keo decided to drop the subject for now a
nd focus on finding The Overflowing Mug instead.

  And soon enough, Keo saw The Overflowing Mug's sign, a wooden board with a mug of overflowing beer painted on it, with the words The Overflowing Mug written underneath the picture in bold lettering. Although the sign was clearly very old, Keo could tell that a great deal of effort had been put into it by whoever had designed it, which seemed at odds with the shabby and cheap appearance of the rest of this part of town.

  Neither Keo nor Dlaine hesitated to enter the bar. As soon as they did, Keo's nose was assaulted by the combined stink of smoke and beer, causing him to cover his nose. He looked around the tavern's main room, trying to see if he could spot Sadia anywhere.

  The Overflowing Mug was a medium-sized tavern with about a dozen tables scattered around and a bar at the back where a large man who was clearly the bartender stood. The bartender was reading some kind of book, which struck Keo as strange because he never thought of bartenders as being particularly literate (though he may have been basing that impression off of his experiences with New Ora's bartender, a dim-witted man named Kaff who nonetheless was very good at making beer).

  As for the tavern's other patrons, there were only a few: A man in his thirties sitting by himself at one table, looking half-drunk already, two other men who looked closer to Dlaine's age discussing politics, and a woman sitting at the bar, again by herself, with her back to the rest of the bar. It seemed strange to Keo that a woman would be drinking by herself here, but Keo had a feeling that The Overflowing Mug was not quite like other taverns he had visited before.

  In any case, no one seemed to notice Dlaine and him enter, so Keo simply walked up to the bar and took a seat, as did Dlaine. As soon as they were seated, the bartender looked up from his book at them, which appeared to have a lot of text in tiny print.

  “Welcome,” said the bartender, whose voice was very deep and jolly, again in stark contrast to the general griminess of the place. “What would you like to drink?”

  “We're not here to drink,” said Keo. “We're looking for a woman named Sadia. She said that we could find help if we came here.”

  “Sadia?” said the bartender. He scowled briefly before his smile returned suddenly. “Where did you meet her? You wouldn't happen to be a couple of … Enforcers, would you?”

  The bartender said the word 'Enforcers' like it was some kind of awful racial slur. Keo didn't feel offended, however, because he didn't care much for the Enforcers himself.

  “No, we're not,” said Keo, shaking his head. “We're just a couple of travelers who Sadia saved from being arrested earlier when we came to Torgan. She told us to come here if we need help, and because we need some help, we decided to take her advice and come here, because we don't know anyone else in Torgan who could help us.”

  The bartender eyed them both rather suspiciously, as if trying to detect any lies in Keo's story. That made Keo wonder whether the bartender was expecting Enforcers to show up and shut down his tavern, although Keo was not sure why, because as far as he knew taverns were perfectly legal to operate in Torgan. Of course, Keo was not an expert on Torgan law, so for all he knew the bartender might be up to something illegal, although he didn't really care either way.

  Then the bartender nodded slowly and said, “I know Sadia. Very kind, always trying to help out others. And also really hates the Magical Council.”

  “We noticed,” said Dlaine.

  “As for help … I suppose if Sadia referred you, then I should help you,” said the bartender. “Besides, neither of you look like Enforcers, so I can probably trust you.”

  Again that emphasis on the Enforcers. That pretty much confirmed for Keo that the bartender was definitely up to some less-than-legal business, or maybe it was the bartender's association with Sadia, a Rebel, that made him so paranoid about Enforcers walking into his tavern and talking to him. In any case, Keo was just glad that the bartender was going to help them.

  “But I should introduce myself,” said the bartender. “My name is Sherf, Sherf of the Tavern. What can I help you with?”

  Keo was about to introduce Dlaine and himself to Sherf, but then Dlaine gave him a look that said that it would not be wise to tell Sherf their real identities after they had lied to the gatekeepers. It seemed unlikely to Keo that Sherf or anyone else here would tell Torgan's Enforcers about their lie, but then Keo realized that he did not know any of the people in the tavern, so he decided to keep their true identities a secret for now.

  “Nice to meet you, Sherf,” said Keo. “Anyway, we came here because we're looking for someone.”

  Sherf raised an eyebrow. “Who might this 'someone' be?”

  “We don't know,” said Keo. He gestured at his belt, where Gildshine was usually kept. “Earlier today, my sword was stolen by a boy of about thirteen or fourteen with short brown hair. I chased him down to the Torgan Theater, but then I lost him. We're trying to find out who he is so we can retrieve my sword.”

  “A boy thief, huh?” said Sherf, stroking his stubble-covered chin. “Why do you need the sword? Can't you replace it?”

  “No,” said Keo, shaking his head. “It's irreplaceable and we can't leave Torgan without it.”

  “I see,” said Sherf. “Well, I think I know who you are talking about. You said the boy thief looked about thirteen or fourteen with short brown hair, right?”

  “Right,” said Keo. “That's what he looked like.”

  “Then I definitely know him,” said Sherf with a scowl. “That's my son.”

  Keo and Dlaine exchanged surprised looks, but then Keo looked at Sherf again and said, “Excuse me?”

  Sherf slammed shut his book and said, “Damn it, I told him to stop stealing things from strangers, but that boy likes to pretend he was born without ears. I don't know what's possessed that boy to do this, but I'm gonna give him a whipping next time I see him.”

  “Next time you see him?” said Keo. “You mean you haven't seen your son today?”

  “I saw him at breakfast, but he left after I told him to pick up some groceries at the marketplace,” said Sherf. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Should have expected him to try to steal something, I guess, but a sword? Now that's a new one. If I were a thief rather than a good father, I might be impressed.”

  “But why would you son steal from us?” said Keo. “Especially if you don't approve.”

  Sherf looked away. “Financial troubles. Kid knows we don't have a lot of money, so he steals valuables from travelers and tries to sell them to get some. He's just trying to help, but he always gets me in trouble. Last time he did this I gave him a good beating, but apparently there are just some things you can't beat out of a kid.”

  “But where is your son right now?” said Dlaine, looking around the tavern as if he thought he might see the kid. “Do you have any idea where he might be?”

  Sherf tapped his chin. “Hmm … if he hasn't returned yet—and I doubt he will—then he's probably gone to Old Cyclops.”

  “Who?” said Keo.

  “Oh, that's right,” said Sherf. “You two aren't from around here, are you? Although …” Sherf looked at Dlaine more closely. “You look familiar.”

  “I've been through Torgan before,” said Dlaine curtly. “Anyway, who is Old Cyclops?”

  “A black market dealer,” said Sherf. “He buys pretty much anything you bring to him, regardless of where you got it. And he can pay pretty good money for it, too, especially if it is something valuable like a sword.”

  “What does Old Cyclops do with the stuff he buys?” said Keo.

  “I don't know for sure, but I've heard he sells it to the various brigands that roam around the countryside between here and New Ora,” said Sherf. “And sometimes also to travelers from other parts of the country who don't mind buying illegal goods.”

  “So if your son sells my sword to Cyclops, then it might be gone forever?” said Keo.

  “Well, in all of the years I've known him, no one has ever succeeded in retrieving their sto
len things from Cyclops once he gets a hold of them,” said Sherf. “So yes, if my idiot of a son sells your sword to him, there's a good chance you will never see it again even if you live to be a hundred.”

  Keo jumped off his bar stool and said, “Then we need to go to Old Cyclops' place right away. Can you tell us where it is?”

  “It's about five blocks down the street,” said Sherf, gesturing toward the door. “If you see a building with a door with one eye painted on it, that's the place. But I don't recommend you go there.”

  “Why not?” said Keo. “It's my sword and I cannot afford to lose it. In fact, Lamaira cannot afford for me to lose it.”

  Sherf tilted his head to the side when Keo said that, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he said, “Because Old Cyclops is a mean, nasty old guy and he has a bunch of bodyguards who don't take kindly to people trying to take stuff from him that he considers his own. You two look strong, but his men are ruthless. Don't mess with them.”

  “We'll just have to deal with them if they get in our way,” said Keo. He looked at Dlaine. “Right?”

  Dlaine sighed, but slid off his bar stool anyway. “Guess so, even though I've lived a good portion of my life avoiding this kind of trouble.”

  Sherf shook his head in disapproval. “All right, then, but don't come crying back to me after Old Cy's men knock your teeth in and leave you in the gutter like so much trash. But if you do see my son—his name is Naye—tell him to come home and that I want a word with him right away.”

  Although Sherf sounded like a stern father, Keo also noticed a hint of worry in the bartender's voice, like he was concerned that Naye was getting involved in something too dangerous for a boy his age.

  So Keo nodded and said, “We'll tell him that if we see him.”

  Then Keo looked at Dlaine and said, “Now what are we waiting for? We have no time to lose. Let's go.”

  ***