Duality, Rowan Erlking [best ebook reader ubuntu txt] 📗

with twitching eyes on Bernum.

“Why don’t you just get the documents yourself?” Bernum asked, glancing at the seamless walls once more. He didn’t see any tunnels off from it. “Aren’t you a wizard?”

Dabbing his mouth, Aldovio replied, “I’m a tactile wizard.”

Bernum just blinked at him.

“That means,” Aldovio continued, “that my skill is limited only to things I can touch.”

Bernum still just stared at him.

“Look,” Aldovio said, leaning forward. “Most of my magic show was just tricks and sleight-of-hand. I rarely used real magic except for close-quarters tricks. I’m sure you get the idea. Most people are not all that impressed by real magic anyway. They like the flash, the flare—which I am sure you have just learned after two shows.”

Frowning at him, Bernum folded his arms. “That still doesn’t explain why you can’t just part up the floor like you did this embankment to break into the merchant’s house to steal back your documents.”

The wizard chuckled and set his plate down. “Yes, but they have guns.”

Bernum just blinked at him. “Well, I’m not bullet proof.”

Nodding, the wizard just smiled.

“Then why pick on me?” Bernum rose. “My sister tried to help you, and she couldn’t get it. I tried today already—twice! And I couldn’t. Why are you even bothering to ask me when you should already know I can’t break in there? I don’t even know where your documents are kept.”

Aldovio also rose. “Actually, you can help. It is most likely the merchant will summon you, either tonight or tomorrow, to discuss…well, the legitimacy of your work here, I suppose. You have that time to scout out the house, find our documents and bring them back to us.”

“Oh?” Bernum looked back the way he had come, thinking over that one hole-making spell he had practiced at school. “And what do I get out of it? Even if Omoni figures out what Malkia is to me, what makes you think I’ll let him get the better of me?”

“He already has bested you.” The wizard advanced on Bernum, reaching out his hand with that conniving smirk again. He stopped just two inches short of Bernum’s shoulder and passed over it, leaning his entire body towards Bernum so that the boy was pinned against the molded-out wall. The Hann man smiled at him. “You just don’t know it yet.”

Bernum shook his head, bracing for the wizard’s magic touch. “No. Omoni has bitten off way more than he can chew. And so have you.”

Cocking his head to the side, the wizard said, “We’ll see.”

The rock suddenly parted. Bernum tumbled out. The wizard waved, grabbing hold of Bernum’s magic chest with one hand as the hole in the retaining wall sealed up again. Leaping up, Bernum pounded on the stone. “Wizard!”

He kicked the wall with a curse on his breath then shouted the summoning incantation, kicking the wall once more with his heel. Immediately the stone lurched, yanking out the chest along with the startled wizard who was still attached to it. The stone would have closed up on the man had he not held it off with his magic touch.

Wrenching the chest from the wizard’s fingers, Bernum also slapped the man on the head. “No deals!”

He heaved the chest over the sidewalk again, stomping towards his home.

Scrambling out of the wall onto the walkway, the wizard coughed. His monkey was shrieking, pulling on his hair in a little dance. Batting him away, Aldovio called after Bernum. “Wait…I’ll get that collar off your sister.”

Bernum halted, lifted up his chin and turned. “For all the trouble you people have put me through, you should do more than that.”

Gazing up at him from off the ground, Aldovio sighed. “What else is there? You want her free? All she has to do is walk away from the merchant. With the collar off, that’s easily done.”

Shaking his head, Bernum stomped back. “No. That isn’t all you can do. If I go through with this whole scouting out Omoni’s place and get your documents—something that would mark me as a thief if I get caught —then you have to do an extra special favor for me.”

The wizard just blinked up at him, confused.

Bernum crouched down, whispering. “You said you were a tactile wizard. You can mold anything with your hands, right?”

Aldovio nodded, now getting onto his feet. Both of them rose to their full heights. Bernum squared his shoulders.

“I want you to go to the Yapan Township and help a boy there,” Bernum said.

Aldovio blinked at him. “What does this have to do with—?”

“The boy has a club foot, a shriveled hand and a hand without several fingers,” Bernum said, staring at him squarely. “I want you to straighten out all that is crooked and help him form those fingers.”

“Hey.” The wizard stepped from Bernum, holding up his hands. “I can’t re-grow what isn’t there. I can reattach what has been cut off—but if this kid was born this way—”

“But you can straighten out what is crooked, can’t you?” Bernum said it with bite.

The wizard nodded.

Nodding back, Bernum took a step back. “Then we have an agreement. I get your documents, and you heal the boy.”

Shrugging, the wizard then nodded. “We have a deal.”

Bernum turned to go, picking up his chest once more.

The wizard followed after him. “But, hey…what is this boy to you?”

Turning back with a glare, Bernum replied, “Does it matter?”

Sighing, the wizard shook his head. “No. Though it is funny. What you asked me to do was the same thing that woman asked also.”

Bernum blinked. “Malkia didn’t tell me that.”

Shrugging, the wizard staggered back to his wall, beckoning the monkey. It jumped onto his hand then climbed up his arm. “Maybe she didn’t want to disappoint you.”

The stone moved aside as if it were clay. The wizard passed through then it closed up again. Bernum shuddered, glad the man hadn’t tried that with his heart. One thing was for certain; Bernum could feel that the wizard had undone the hate ward on his belt, making him entirely vulnerable.

 

Bernum hardly reached his apartment building when he spotted one of Omoni’s carriages parked on the curb. The driver whistled to the passenger, and like a jack-in-the-box a lean, stiff-looking man hopped to the door, landing on the curb with a bitter look in his gaze. Bernum halted, blinking.

“What’s going on?” Bernum asked, not revealing that he knew full well what was going on.

Clicking his heels, the stiff bitter man said, “Merchant Omoni wishes to speak with you.”

“Tonight?” Bernum scratched his head. “I’m kind of beat. Can’t we do this in the morning?”

The man marched forward with one step. “No. Merchant Omoni demands to speak with you tonight, or you can say good-bye to your position in his circus.”

Rolling his eyes, Bernum hung his shoulders as if he really didn’t care he would lose the job. However, he lifted up one finger, indicating that he had to put away his chest first. With a heave, he lugged the chest onto the railing of the apartment stairs and started to slide it all the way to his apartment door on the second level. He took two minutes to unlock the door and shove his chest inside before closing it again to jog back down. Bernum met the stiff man on the curb with a bow then climbed inside the carriage to be taken to Omoni’s.

Along the way, Omoni’s servant said nothing. It was fine with Bernum who didn’t have anything to say anyway. He just looked out the carriage window. The cries after that Cordril could still be heard in the distance along with gunshots. They seemed to be going parallel to where they were heading. Vaguely wondering how that wingless demon was so capable of evading the police for so long, Bernum sighed. It was impressive, the more he thought about it.

They arrived at Omoni’s, pulling into the gated yard rather than at the curb, the brutish guards eyeing Bernum as they passed through. The servant urged Bernum to step out, still giving him the eye over his thin-lipped mouth that had gotten thinner and thinner the closer they got to the mansion. Bernum attempted to ignore it as he got out of the carriage, but the man’s bitterness started to fill even his mouth with distaste. Then like wolves on a carcass, the thuggish guards rushed to Bernum’s sides pushing Bernum all the way to the doors of Omoni’s study, then inside.

Omoni was at his desk, looking up the moment Bernum was set in front of him.

“Ok…what did I do now?” Bernum asked, flopping his arms out to show he was clueless to the nature of their meeting. The truth bell did not ring, though it quivered a little.

Omoni leaned back in his padded high back chair gazing darkly on Bernum’s face. “I’ve been hearing disturbing rumors about you.”

Bernum rolled his eyes. “From whom? Those contemptible foreigners or from a more reliable source?”

A slightly appreciative smirk curled on Omoni’s lips. He nodded a smidgen. “Let’s say…both. Rumor has it you are in association with a witch.”

A disbelieving laugh burst from Bernum who then shook his head. “Witches? Doing what?”

“Is it true?” Omoni asked, waiting like a watchful hunter eyeing his prey.

Casting a dry look back, Bernum faced the merchant with a frown. “Traditionally magicians don’t consort with witches.”

“That is a statement of fact,” Omoni replied, leaning closer, “of which none of it was about what you personally do. Tell me, do you know any witches?”

Sighing, Bernum shrugged. “Yes.”

Omoni blinked at him, surprised that Bernum admitted it.

Then Bernum added, “Head Magician Jimmit introduced me to one personally when I was a boy. I think he liked her, but he never admitted it for certain.”

The merchant leaned back in his seat. “Your head magician consorted with witches?”

Bernum nodded. “Yes. He always was more open-minded than the other instructors, which I think is proof of his strength as a magic user.”

Narrowing his gaze on Bernum, Omoni asked, “Have you ever heard of a witch by the name of Ludy?”

Feeling somewhat sick, Bernum frowned. His eyes glanced at the bell then to Omoni who had seen his eyes flicker there. The merchant’s mouth curled up shrewdly, waiting. Shaking his head, Bernum at last admitted, “Yes. I happen to be very familiar with a so-called witch named Ludy. She was introduced to me as a midwife though.”

Omoni nodded slowly. “And what relationship did you have with this Ludy?”

Frowning, Bernum replied with bite, “I found her annoying. I knew her since I was ten. She hit on my father, and she dresses rather inappropriately. I only put up with her for Head Magician Jimmit’s sake.”

The bell quivered just slightly yet did not sound. It was the closest to a lie he got.

Luckily it had convinced Omoni whose frown deepened into disappointment, though he also leaned back in his seat with obvious relief. He murmured aloud, “Did you know she recently died?”

Bernum blinked at him as if to pretend he didn’t know but then he shrugged and nodded. “I did.”

Omoni lifted his eyes to Bernum again, peering at him with renewed surprise.

“It is one of the reasons Head Magician Jimmit is so mad at you,” Bernum added.

Omoni blanched a little. “One of the reasons?”

Bernum nodded. “It’s why he let me come here.”

As the merchant paled more, getting lost in thought while musing over the things just revealed, Bernum let his eyes skim over the study, peering most specifically at the floor. It had a fine carpet, though he recognized no special markings or indications of a spell woven in it. He pretended to be waiting patiently as the merchant mused, this time looking over at the turned-around cabinet that now caught his eye. Underneath the cabinet, marked in white chalk, was a spell containing the cabinet where it stood. That had to be where the documents were kept. It matched Malkia’s story. Besides, none of the other furniture had spells attached to them.

Bernum peeked at the thuggish guards standing stock still in the doorway. Both had pistols