Continue in reading The City of Wizards

Lets continue reading, Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Day two


My sleep was merciful and spared me of nightmares. I woke up at the first crowing with my mind filled with questions.
Were yesterday's incidents really accidents?
If not, someone is plotting against me, but who and why?
Who was that girl?
Who am I?
And the last one was the most painful.
Will I see her again?
Of course I didn't tell Lokmi a word of what happened yesterday. He's got his own worries. At the bar I spotted a new wizard with grey sleeves who had to be Yorrel, my new watchdog. He was drinking warm blackberry beer with disinterest, but I was certain he had spotted me too. The room was almost empty except for three stable boys playing cards in the corner. I sat at an empty table next to the bar. Quasim cooked delicious eggs with fried bacon and onion and served it with a tasty gingerbread, but I had only a few bites to eat. Before I left the inn a messenger boy appeared with a bundle. There were clothes inside, certainly expensive, in innocent shades of grey.
I knew immediately where they had come from. My heart leapt.
She hasn't forgotten me...
It was weird. I wasn't used to getting presents and certainly not from girls...
I put the clothes on and to my surprise they fit me well.
I won't complain...

♠

I crossed the doorsill under the pale sky with tattered pink clouds in the east. The city was awakened already.
So let's investigate those beings on tephirs today...
I observed their behavior nearly all morning. They wore their hair long under conical hats or held back in headbands, and only some of them grew beards. Shiny clothes were preferred to plain, velvet to silk. They dressed them up with ornaments or small amulets. Wizards holding public office bore long ceremonial staffs expressing their status. The Ka'tans carried black ones, Council guards grey, and Warlock's staff was white and black. They bought mainly wine, beer, and spirits, and products made of iron or copper. Rumors go that metal repels magic so it cannot be transformed by spells, and wizards cannot touch steel with their bare hands without getting burned.
Except for trade, the worlds of wizards and humans remained oddly separated. I witnessed single event of both universes interacting when a hackney loaded with bags of flour broke the front wheel at Flower Square, and a wizard repaired it with some kind of a stick spell.
In general, wizards seemed quiet and absorbed in their own thoughts as they majestically sailed the sky on their tephirs. I couldn't understand how they kept the balance while turning or accelerating with their silent servants. It is said that tephirs are the only creatures capable of flying beside birds, and this ability is due to their U-shaped spell-bone hidden under their crest. Flying without a tephir was considered impossible. They reminded me of huge turtle shells but I couldn’t see any head, eyes, or legs. Maybe they didn't have any.
I knew the city offered much more than magic jousts. I turned twice to the right and entered the fascinating Clock Square, which heldthe largest sundials in the world. The clock occupied the whole square, and astonished folk walked among purple marks indicating the exact time. Around the square miniatures of the sundials were sold and people were buying them for an unknown reason...
Two hours to noon. It's plenty of time.
I decided to visit another two famous places, Rainbow Gardens, where tulips of all conceivable colors were grown, and Es'chers' staircase, named after a wizard who invented an illusion of eternally ascending stairs.

♠

“Do you know why wizards wear long sleeves?” Lokmi asked when we took our place in the Arena. It was early afternoon, but the Arena was crowded already.
We sat in a different place dressed in different clothes. Lokmi bought new ones as well, so whoever was pursuing me wouldn't find me as easily as yesterday. Moreover, I hoped I could find some clues here.
“Nope,” I said.
“Because spells are ignited by fingers and the long sleeves can hide them.”
“Interesting,” I murmured.
Lokmi is wrong. The Warlock has no fingers, only stubs...
“Just watch the wizard in the red coat.”
The wizard in the red crossed his fingers in a way impossible for a human and his rival on the left began to smolder before he was rendered down. The Red and the White started to circle each other.
Flash! Kabooom!
Thunder hit my ears, and the red wizard vanished in the haze. Skw'r looked around, saw no trace of the red, and spat in front of the white. The audience applauded, and the next trio lined up in the corners.
“It's boring.”
Lokmi stopped clapping.
“That was an amazing spell, you ungrateful lout!”
In the highest stands six ka'tans were watching the combat. None of them seemed interested in my trifle.
“I don't care.”
“Will you grow up already, Syrdan?! How can we be of the same blood?”
I promised my mother we wouldn't fight, so I kept silent. Lokmi doesn't know we are not of the same blood indeed. My mother told me the secret on the morning we left the farm.
She said they had adopted me when Lokmi was too small to remember. I flew in on a tephir, now in Lokmi's possession, a poor boy in a thin blanket with a fever and no belongings except for a piece of paper with my name written on it. It’s all weird because tephirs don't fly with humans.
I think the story is right though. I remember my earliest dreams. Dreams where I fly at night, wind bites me in the eyes, and a strange voice talks to me... Furthermore, my mother explained that she allowed me to leave only because a fire angel convinced her to do so, and I shouldn't be afraid of the eyes of Mag’reb, whatever that meant.

♠

When the day in the Arena ended, the place got crowded as usual, and I was carried away from Lokmi. There was a buzz of tephirs right above my head. The wizards were lucky. The air was immune to traffic jams...
Some woman screamed, I turned, stumbled, and fell into something soft.
A familiar voice giggled. ‘Well, I never thought men would throw themselves into my arms like this.’
“You...” I sighed.
She disengaged. I'm sorry.”
“No need to be.”
“I'm sorry about yesterday...” She grew solemn for a moment. “We didn't have the best day, did we?”
“I did. I met you.”
She smiled and touched my chest. “You are wearing the clothes.”
“Yeah, thanks. And this is for you...”
I gave her a tiny lily which I had picked up at the Flower Square earlier that day.
She went blushing. “Thank you.”
“The clothes! How did you...?”
A slim forefinger touched my lips.
Her wide brown eyes studied my face while her long wavy hair played in the wind. Small freckles covered her skin from a cute snub nose to her chin and snow-white teeth. She had a red birthmark near her right ear.
“So you're a fan of magic truels, right?” she whispered. “You like to watch all the tricks and spells, dramatic effects, wizards falling down to the dust...”
“No. I would prefer to watch you...”
She winked, amused. “Only men are allowed to fight.”
I tried to catch her palm, but she gently pulled my hand away.
“I'm here because of my brother,” I explained quickly. “He wants to participate in the tournament. But I've lost him a while ago when we left the Arena.”
She frowned. “Your brother?”
“Step-brother,” I specified.
“I see,” she replied. “I lost my mother during the tournament as well, five years ago...”
“Did you find her?”
“No.”
Her eyes turned aside. She squeezed my palm. Above the crowd, a wizard on an ashy tephir hovered with a long grey staff in his right hand.
“We have to go...”
“Why?”
“Now!”
She pulled me into a narrow lane and pointed to the wizard. “He is one of Martell's guards. We should clear out.”
“Why? Wizards don't hurt people.”
“You know nothing!” She took my hands and stepped closer so that her robe brushed against mine. “Nothing is as it seems. Take off that naive blindfold from your eyes. I must go now.”
“Wait! When will we meet again?”
“Tomorrow at sunset, under Swallow Bridge,” she said and vanished into the night.
“What's your name?” I asked the emptiness.
And from the dark a whisper came back.
Elisssaaaaaa...