Instructions

Muld and Syndi read the contents of the mysterious note.

2.

Instructions

 

Master Muld and Princess Syndi -

 

Tonight three hours after sunset I shall contact you by crystal ball.   It is a matter of immense importance for both of you.   Do not mention this note to ANYONE or there could be very dire consequences to those whom you hold dear.   

I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping private this meeting via scrying device.    I shall explain everything tonight to both of you.

 At three hours after sunset, be seated around the crystal ball in Muld’s apartment, but make sure it is only the two of you.   If there are others present, or if there is any sort of magic cast so others can see our meeting, I shall know it and then terrible repercussions will occur.

 

Most Sincerely,

 

The Wizard of Windhaven

 

“Muld, what do you think he wants?”  Syndi asked after he had read the letter to her.

“I don’t know.   It could be some sort of prank by someone, but I don’t think that it is.”

“The tone of that letter sounded somewhat threatening.”

“It was belligerent in a mild, civilized way.    Perhaps someone seeks to blackmail us or something like that.”

“I don’t like it at all.   He threatened harm of our ‘loved ones’.”

“Only if we don’t keep the meeting.    We’ll do that and see who this ‘Wizard of Windhaven’ is and what he wants.”

“Where is Windhaven, anyway?   I’ve not heard of it.”

Muld shrugged, “I haven’t either.    I guess we’ll find out tonight.”

“Muld, I feel very uneasy about this.”

“I do too, my dear, but what can we do?   If we don’t comply with his demands, we don’t know what he’ll do.    If we keep the meeting though, everything should be alright, at least for now.    So let’s go about our business like normal, but keep your eyes open for anything strange.”

“So we keep this to ourselves?”

“For now, yes.”

“I’m a bit scared to leave, Muld.”

“You’ll be alright around Alleania.   I’ll walk you over there.”

“But what about you?”

“I’ll stay on the main streets and come straight back here.   Our inner circle is here by now - I heard a door slam downstairs a moment ago.   The employees will be arriving in thirty minutes to begin their shifts, so I’ll have plenty of people around.”

“Well, okay, but I’m going to be a nervous wreck until I find out what is going on with this so-called wizard.”

“It’s probably just a swindler, trying to get money or magic out of us, due to our recent fame.     Don’t worry about it, my love.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“Come on; let’s head over to the Sorceress’ tower.”

Reluctantly, Syndi agreed and they left by the back entrance.

 

***

 

“Good morning!”   Tadd called out, hurrying out of the workroom to greet their customer, “Can I help you?”

“You had best help me!”   The tone of the man’s voice brought Jevon, Rick and Mutt out to see the irate man.

He wore a grey wizard’s robe, but did not seem like the stereotypical wizard.   He was tall, skinny and beardless, though somehow menacing.    Blond, straw-like hair stuck out at odd angles all over his head which made him resemble a scarecrow brought to life.    Most surprising was his pointed ears, indicating that he was elven.

“Certainly, sir, what can we do for you?”   Tadd asked politely.

“You can either give me the cooling chest that I ordered a week ago, or a refund, that’s what you can do!”

“You haven’t received your order?”

“I haven’t received the correct order!    It was delivered yesterday and it does not keep anything frozen at all, merely cold.”

“I see; do you have the purchase order?”

The elven wizard slammed down a piece of paper on the counter, causing all the guild members to jump at his fury.

Tadd quickly looked at it, and then turned to his companions, “He ordered it when we were all on our way to Losahome on The Locust.” 

Then turning back to the mage, while still smiling his best smile, Tadd said, “We’ll certainly make it right, sir.”

“Well, I should hope so!   This is completely unprofessional.”

“Yes, sir, I do apologize.    Usually one of us would have handled your order, but we were away on business last week, so Bryoun Stineg and Philli Fynngruff were in charge of orders.   It was their first time taking orders unsupervised.   They usually are foremen at one of our workshops.”

The wizard scowled.    “It was a fat, sweaty man and a whinny voiced Halfling that took my order… were those the two that you named?”

“Uh…yes sir, that would have been them.    But don’t worry, we’ll get everything situated,” Tadd reassured him.

“You had better, Halfling!”  The wizard threatened, “I have experiments that are on a very tight time schedule, and I need a fully frozen cold chest by this evening.”

“Yes sir, we’ll see what the problem is.”   Tadd handed the purchase order to Jevon, who glanced at the chest’s serial number and then flipped through a book to verify it.   The wizard looked annoyed at this, and had opened his mouth to say something when Jevon spoke up.

“Ah ha!    That explains it!”

“Explains what?”  The elven wizard demanded.

“Sir, your chest was delivered to the wrong address.     Your serial number was supposed to go to Flapjacks.”

“Flapjacks?   What in thunder is ‘Flapjacks’?”

“It’s a new breakfast restaurant that opened up a few blocks from here,” Tadd explained happily, “It’s a satellite restaurant of The Muddy Boot, since they have been overwhelmed with breakfast orders since the refugees have flooded into the city.    They serve only breakfast from 5 to 10 AM.     They’ve got great hotcakes!”

The elf frowned.    “I don’t care how wonderful their food is, Halfling!   Do they have the cold chest that I was supposed to get?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then we could switch them?”

“Certainly sir!   We’ll have to send some men with a cart over to your-“

“There’s no need!”  The wizard interrupted, “I have the chest in a cart out front.”

“Oh… well, we’ll get some men to help move it.”

“I have some of my men to do that!    One of you just show us where this restaurant is and explain to them what has happened, and my men will swap them out.”

“Well… okay… I guess that will be fine.” 

“I should hope so!   Now come on, I am a busy man!   Who will guide us?”

Tadd turned to Rick, “Would you mind?   Mutt and I are overwhelmed with orders today and Jevon is backlogged as well.”

“What makes you think I’m not busy too?   I’ve never even eaten there yet!”   He replied, upset to have to deal with the irritated elf, but then he sighed and agreed to go.

The wizard gestured for him to hurry and Rick rushed outside to find three muscular elven men sitting in a cart with a six foot long cold chest tied down in the back.

The three servant elves seemed as unfriendly as their master, which really annoyed Rick this morning, but he nodded to them anyway as he climbed up into the bed and seated himself beside the magic chest.

“Which way?”   The wizard demanded hatefully from the front seat.

Rick fought off an urge to snap something equally hateful back and instead gave out the driving directions.

The wizard turned to the servant holding the reins and the man whistled once shrilly, which sent the two horses off at a trot.

As they bumped along the streets, the elves talked softly to themselves in a tongue unfamiliar to him, but that was fine with Rick, who was not in the mood of making small talk anyway.

 

As he rode along, Rick’s mood was not improved.     What a way to start a work day!     He had not been to the new restaurant, but had heard numerous positive comments about it.     The delightful smell of hot pancakes filled the air, mixed with cooking sausage, which reminded Rick that he had not eaten this morning.

The wizard ordered his men to pull around to the back of the building, away from the crowd standing in line to get into the place.

“Go talk to the owner and explain your mistake, and make it quick!   I’ve already lost valuable time today!”   The elven wizard rudely demanded and Rick didn’t trust himself to respond, but only nodded, then leaped over the side of the cart and rushed to the back door.

A sign on the door read, “FOOD DELIVERIES ONLY!”.   Rick knocked anyway.

“Who is it?”  A very pleasant young woman’s voice asked, “Is it a delivery?”

“No, ma’am, I’m Rick Elgaes, from the Practical Magician’s guild.   We made a mistake with a delivery yesterday and mixed up your order with another… gentleman’s order and he would like to switch the cold chests.”

“Oh, thank goodness!   We thought we were doing something wrong!   Everything was frozen solid this morning!    Please come in!”

Rick pushed the door open to find a large, busy, but amazingly clean kitchen where six women and three men frantically worked filling breakfast orders.

He had envisioned what the owner of the voice looked like and he was usually very close in his estimation.    This girl would be about 20 years old, a statuesque blonde with large, innocent, blue eyes, long shapely legs, a firm butt, hourglass figure, big b***s, slender neck, high cheekbones, perfect pale skin, pink lips and long flowing hair.   She had one of those outgoing, laid back personalities that got along with everyone.   

He was so sure of himself that he was annoyed when a smiling Orc lady came up to him.   Get out of my way, so I can find my blonde, he thought, but then the Orc girl spoke and he unconsciously gaped in surprise, for she was the owner of the lovely voice.

“We had wondered if there was a mistake,” She told him cheerfully, seeming to ignore his surprised expression.

“Um… yeah, we didn’t catch it until the other customer brought in the chest.”   Rick recovered, trying not to stare at her.   She did not at all sound like any Orc lady that he’d ever met.    Yet she reminded him of someone, which was very odd because he did not know (nor care to know) many Orcs of either sex.

“We had to pull most of our stuff out of it, because it all was frozen.    I’ll pull out the sausage links and bacon still in it.”   She rushed over to it, flipped open the lid, and then stretched to reach the bottom of the chest.    

As she reached in, she unintentionally gave him a good view of her generous bosom, which was one area that was exactly like he’d envisioned that she’d look like.  

Only this girl’s skin had a pale green tint.

She retrieved the meat from the bottom of the freezer and placed them in a metal pan next to a preparation area, then told the human girl working nearest it to let it thaw out for now.

The human girl nodded respectfully.    Rick sensed that the Orc girl was probably a manager.

“Should I get some men to help move it out?”   She asked Rick, still smiling warmly.    He thought at first that she lacked the little tusks that protrude from Orcs’ bottom lips, but as she spoke he saw that hers simply didn’t protrude much and she could easily conceal them.   In fact, all of her teeth were very straight and white, which was not common in most Orcs.     Again he felt like she reminded him of someone.

She stood there expectantly, waiting for him to answer her question, which he had ignored as he tried to figure out who she looked like.

“Hon, is something wrong?”  She finally asked in the vernacular so common to waitresses and barmaids.

“Oh, I’m sorry… forgive me for asking, and this might sound crazy, but you look like someone, but I can’t place who it is.”

The Orc girl rather shyly lowered her gaze, “You may be thinking of my cousin Lysa - before her transformation, she was an Orc and I have been told that I resemble what she used to look like.   I’m just a few years younger than her.”

“Lysa!”   Rick snapped his finger, “That’s it!    You’re her cousin?”

“Yes, my name is Shelyah, but everyone just calls me ‘Shel’.   My mother was Lysa’s mother’s sister.”

“Did you come here for her wedding to Duke Aaron?”

“We arrived with some of the refugees from King’s Reach about a year ago.”   Her eyes lost their sparkle as if a painful memory crossed her mind.

To Rick’s surprise, she began to tear up, though she fought it off.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked so many stupid questions.”

She shook her head, forcing a weaker version of her original smile back, “No need to apologize, hon.    It just brought up painful memories.   I tend to do this when I remember everything, I’m sorry, it is so embarrassing!”

“Did you lose some family to Redburr’s forces?”   He asked, feeling that she had opened the door for the question and hoping it didn’t bother her.

She nodded, collecting herself briefly, then saying, “My parents and sister.   We hadn’t been in King’s Reach long when Redburr’s rebellion began.    My parents had brought me up from Southgate to arrange a marriage to one of The Queen’s Guardsmen there.    It was a way for Orcs from the south to get a better life, you see, and Bruce had written to us suggesting that they try to marry me off to one of the Guardsmen, as that would allow my parents and sister to live in the Orc community there.” 

“But when we arrived there, Goreth - he was my potential fiancé-  did not want to marry me because he had already taken another Orc woman as his mate.     We were about to return to Southgate when Redburr’s coup began.    My parents tried to find my mother’s cousin, Bruce, hoping he’d help us, but Redburr’s men raided the Orc quarter of the city and massacred every Orc they could find.   I was the only one who escaped, so I joined the refugees who fled with Duke Eleazar to Westmark.”

“Oh, I am so sorry, ma’am.”  Rick replied, feeling terribly sorry for the Orc lady.

She smiled slightly, “Thank you, hon.    You can call me ‘Shel’ if you’d like.”

“Alright, but you have to call me Rick, okay?”

“Alright, Rick.”

“So what happened to you after that?”

“I was very upset, alone and scared, and Bruce and Lysa were off assisting Duke Eleazar, so I just joined the other Orc women and children who had fled with the Queen’s Guard.   I finally contacted Bruce and he got me a job in the royal kitchen when Eleazar and Aurei were named King and Queen.   The Queen actually asked me if I would be interested in being an assistant manager of Flapjacks.   I guess she was impressed with my work in the kitchen.”

Right then the back door swung open with a bang and the elven wizard came inside, sneering in disgust upon seeing Shel talking to Rick.    

His look enraged Rick, for clearly the wizard thought he was better than not only the Orc girl but everyone who wasn’t an elf.

“Get your men in here and take the chest, then have them bring yours in here,”   Rick curtly ordered the wizard, challenging him with a sullen glare.

“You mind your manners!  How dare you speak that way to me!”  The wizard hissed.

Rick moved suddenly, grabbing the elf by the collar of his robe and slamming him up against the side of the door.

“You are an arrogant a*s and I’ve had just about enough of your hatefulness.   You take your damned cold chest and get the hell out of here.    By Yesh, you’d better leave that other chest or so help me, I’ll personally wipe that aloof look off your face.”

The fire in Rick’s eyes seemed to frighten the wizard, though he huffed and puffed about never using the Practical Magician’s Guild ever again.

“That is fine by us; we don’t want your business.    Now get moving!”    Rick growled and to his delight, the wizard ran out of the kitchen and a moment later his servants hurriedly carried the cold chest from the cart into the kitchen as the workers there looked on in amazement at the drama.

The elf servants did not look at him but were clearly quite angry as they carried the other chest out of the room without speaking a word.    Rick followed behind them and watched as they hurriedly loaded it on the cart, while the wizard sat in the driver’s seat staring at the horses with his back turned to Rick.

The servants secured the other cart then took their seats beside the wizard.   He snapped the reins and the horses took off down the street.

After he had gone a short distance, he turned in his seat and waved his fist at Rick and yelled, “You’ll regret humiliating me, human!”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that, pointy-ears.”   Rick called back and the cart turned a corner and disappeared out of sight.

 

When he went back into the kitchen area of Flapjacks, he was met with the stares of all the workers.

“Wow, you really don’t like elves, do you?”   One of the cooks said.

“Actually, I have nothing against elves at all.   Today was just the wrong day for one of them to have a bad attitude around me.”   He turned to Shel and smiled apologetically.   “I’m sorry to act so rude, but I didn’t like the way he looked down his nose at everyone.   You and your crew are working hard here and deserve -at the very least- common courtesy.    If he causes any problems for you, please come tell me and I’ll straighten things out.   I insulted him, so any grudge that he has should be directed at me, not you or your crew.    Now, I’ll help you move this chest where you want it.   It should not freeze up like the other one, but just keep items slightly above freezing.”

The two male cooks assisted him in moving the cooling chest in the spot vacated by the freezing chest.

“Thank you, Rick, for everything,” Shel said warmly after they finished moving the chest.

“No problem, Shel; it was very refreshing to meet you.   I hope I didn’t disrupt your work too much.”

The Orc lady smiled charmingly, amazing Rick with how attractive she was.    Certainly not your usual Orc woman, he told himself.

“It was a pleasant change from our frantic pace.    How would you like some breakfast -on the house- for your trouble?”

Rick hesitated, for his stomach was growling terribly in the wonderfully aromatic kitchen, but he shook his head.

“It sounds wonderful, but I’d better not.   If ol’ pointy-ears goes whining back to my boss about me, I might have to explain my poor attitude to Muld.”

“Your boss?   The one that disappeared for a few days?”

“Yeah, that’s him.   He’s somewhat strange, but he is an example of the type of elves that are kind and generous.    He’s a great boss too, so I really don’t want to upset him, especially the day after he got engaged.   So I’d best get back to see if I need to smooth things over.”

Shel shrugged, “That’s too bad; I was hoping you’d try some of our flapjacks.   I think you’d like them.”

“I’m sure I would; they smell wonderful.    I’ll tell you what - I’ll stop by tomorrow morning before work and try some.”

The Orc girl flashed another fetching smile, which again amazed him, for he’d never seen a charming Orc before - except perhaps for Lysa, but he’d only seen her a few times before she was transformed into a Hutcaiah Elf, so she wasn’t exactly a fair example.

“I’ll be expecting you, Rick.”

“I’ll be here, unless I’m fired or put in the royal dungeon for assault and battery.”

“I’ll vouch for you; you were defending my honor after he gave me a rude look.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t punch him in his little pointy chin.    Well, anyway, I’d better go - I’ll be here tomorrow for those hotcakes.”

“We call them flapjacks - they’ll be waiting for you.”

“Bye, Shel, nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you too, Rick,” She replied with a sparkle in her yellow eyes.

Rick closed the door behind him and as he walked back to the guild building, he kept puzzling about the oddity of a charming and -somehow- attractive Orc girl.

“What a strange morning, so far,”   he said aloud, not realizing that he was now smiling and in a far better mood as he hurried back to work.

 

***

 

They were nearly to the Sorceress’ tower when Muld suddenly grabbed Syndi’s hand and pulled her into an older castle-like building. It had once served as the ducal jail and was now used by craftsmen of musical instruments.

“What in the world are we doing in here?   I’m going to be late, Muld!”   Syndi protested as they stepped into the shop.   

“Just a minute and I’ll explain,” Muld responded, and then turned to the salesman behind the counter, “Good morning, we’re just browsing, if that is alright.”

“Certainly, sir, let me know if there is anything I can help you with.”

Muld bowed, and then pulled Syndi over to a display of well-crafted lutes, where they could speak without being overheard.

“This building was designed with a thick level of lead all around it, to prevent magic from penetrating it while it was serving as a jail.”

“Okay… so?”

“I suspect that this mysterious ‘Wizard of Windhaven’ may be spying on us, probably by scrying device.    If that is true, then he will see and hear everything we do or say.     Scrying devices can’t penetrate thick barriers of lead, so I pulled you in here so I could talk to you without being heard.”

“You’re not easing my nerves, Muld.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I really am.    I’m going to write a note to Lady Alleania.   I want you to very subtly hand it to her and ask her to read it some place dark.   Drow see very well in nearly pitch black conditions, and she should be able to read the note, while this mysterious wizard or some of his servants won’t be able to read it clearly in dim light by crystal ball.”

“Could he magically amplify the light in the crystal ball so he could read it?”   Syndi asked in a whisper.

“Maybe, but if it catches him off guard, he won’t have time to do it.    I’ll write the note to Alleania in the Drow language, which he will most likely not know.”

Syndi looked at him in surprise, “You know Drow?   Where in the world did you learn that?”

“From some of my master’s books.   I knew if I was coming to Marksylvania it might come in handy, considering the King and Queen’s racial ancestry.”

“And you mastered it?”

“It took me about a month, but yes.   It is similar to most elven languages, so it really wasn’t too hard.”

“Could you teach me?”

“Absolutely!”

“I could repay you…” She arched her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh really?”  He grinned.

“How would you like to learn some wizard’s spells?    Magic Missiles, Fireball  - stuff like that?”

“Sure, but I’m not a Sorceress and I doubt I could generate even a teaspoon of Feminine Qi.”

Syndi giggled at the image.    “You’d have to use spell components, but the spells would be good for you to know.”

“My dear, you have a deal!   But first, let’s address this mystery with this wizard.    I’m going to tell Alleania only that we are being spied upon magically and ask her to loan us any telepathy rings, amulets, or item that she has access to that would allow us to communicate telepathically.”

“So the wizard couldn’t hear us if he is watching us by crystal ball?”

“Right; and not only us, but our inner circle as well.    If she has enough for them.   Or even enough for a few of them.    I’ll tell her in the note to assume that she is being spied upon when you or I am around her, so to find them discreetly.”

Syndi shivered, shaking her head.    “This is rather spooky, Muld.”

“Well, it might be for nothing - but just in case, I thought it would be a good idea to have a way to communicate with each other if we were being watched.    If this wizard is just some nut wanting to extort money or time from us, then we’ll give the telepathy stuff back after we hear what he says.    But as we know that he has a crystal ball since he is going to contact us tonight, we have to be a bit paranoid.”

Syndi agreed, and so Muld pulled out a sheet of paper from his pouch, and using one of the pieces of charcoal that he sketched ideas with, he wrote a brief message to Alleania in the dark elven script, then folded it over and gave it to his fiancée.  

“If you can’t hand it to her privately, you should improvise and think up some reason to hand her a note.   But make sure she doesn’t open it up until she’s in a dark place, just in case.”

“Alright, I’ll think of something.    What if she doesn’t have any telepathy devices?”

“Then we’re going to develop an intense interest in music,”   Muld kidded, gesturing at the lutes on display, “Well, if you’re ready, we’d better be hurrying on.   When we leave here, I’m going to talk about how interested I am in crafting a practical magic lute.   If the wizard is spying on us, maybe that will explain our sudden detour into this store.”

“I wish we knew what he wanted.”  

“We’ll find out tonight, but don’t worry about it now, okay?”

“Sure!   No problem!”   Syndi slipped the note into a pocket in her robe.

The pair thanked the clerk at the counter and resumed their journey to the Sorceress tower.