Open for Business

Muld Mozzil opens the Practical Magicians Guild and shares his plans to make the guild a success.

Practical Magic

By Eddie Davis

© 2014

 

 

1.

Open for Business

 

“A little to the left… no, not that far.   Back a bit… a bit more… now up just a hair…WHOA!   There!   Now tighten the wire.   Good!   Perfect!”   Muld Mozzil backed up a few steps in the muddy streets to admire the sign and was nearly run over by a lumber wagon.

“Out of the way, you idiot!”  The driver yelled, and Muld nodded at him with an apologetic wave, then returned to the sidewalk.  

Tadd was climbing off Rick’s shoulders, to the amusement of Jevon and Mutt as Muld rejoined them.

“You almost got ran over, boss,”  Tadd said to the young elven man.

“Almost, is the key word there, Tadd.    There are so many lumber wagons passing through town this week that it is quite easy to get run over.    We’ve got to do something about the ruts in the street too!”

“Muld, they’ll lay cobblestones when the spring rain ends.    The city has just grown so quickly that they haven’t had much of a chance.   None of these buildings were here two years ago,”   Jevon told him, gesturing to the row of stone and brick buildings running up both sides of the muddy street.

“Yeah, and you are extremely lucky to have been given one of these buildings by King Eleazar!”   Rick added, “These are very expensive, you know.   With living quarters above the business; they are in high demand.”

Muld smiled, “I am very thankful to His Majesty.    Of course I plan on making my establishment a showcase for all the possibilities of Practical Magic.   So all the neighbors can see, and want the same things for their businesses.”

Tadd chuckled, “Smart, boss.   You should hold an open house in a few days so they can all see it first hand.”

“Brilliant, Tadd!”   Muld ruffled the halfling’s curly hair, “I just might put you in charge of advertising.”

“Well, that would be fine, boss, but I want to learn how to enchant things too.”

“Oh, you all will, trust me.   In fact, I think very soon we will all be very busy.”   Muld looked down at his pocket watch and then glanced up the street for an instant with a hint of a frown.

“Is something wrong?”  Rick asked his employer.

 

Muld sighed slightly, put his watch away and just shook his head, “Oh, I guess not… I was just hoping Syndi would join us on this auspicious occasion.”

“Well, she’s probably copying down arcane words from Helios’ old spellbook into Alleania’s new spellbook.”   Jevon commented, “I hear that the Queen Mother is determined to copy every part of Helios’ book, so the spells are not lost.   Since the book belongs to her niece, Allea, you know she is probably not doing any of the scribal work, so Syndi would be left doing it all.”

“I don’t think Alleania is like that,” Mutt spoke up, “She’s quite kind, actually… even to me.    Anyone who is nice to a goblin is usually a kind person.”

“Well, we’re kind to you,”   Jevon teased.

“That’s just because I have friends in high places,”   Mutt said with mock importance.   

Jevon was about to make a snide comment when motion from up the street caught all of their attention.

 

She ran down the muddy street with incredible grace, her long red hair flowing from behind her as she ran.   Heads turned as she flew by, for the girl was extremely lovely to behold.    It was Syndi, wearing the warming cloak that Muld had given her four months ago, over a brilliant red wizards’ robe that was caked with mud from her sprint down the street.

The men watched her zig-zagging around carts, pedestrians and street vendors.    The Losasidhe girl maneuvered around all of them and then came up to join them.     Syndi leaned over, her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

“I’m… here… sorry… I’m… late,” she said to Muld as she gulped in air.

“Did you run the whole way?”   The Practical Magician asked her and she just nodded.

“Syndi, the ducal tower is two miles away!” Mutt exclaimed.

“One and a half miles, actually,”   Muld corrected, kneeling down by the girl, “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”   She smiled, embarrassed. “I’m not… used to running… in the mud.”

Muld craned his neck, looking at her feet.    The wizard’s robe went to her ankles and when he saw her footwear, he grinned.  

“I imagine running in spiked heels would make it even more challenging.”

The men around him all gave grunts of interest, their eyes now turning to the elf girl’s feet.    It was indeed true; Syndi wore a muddy, laced pair of ankle high boots with heels elevated several inches.

“That CAN’T be comfortable,”   Mutt commented to Tadd, who nodded. The halfling, like the others, had a slightly sheepish grin on his face.

“Sorceress footwear,”   Rick explained to the others.

“Alright, you all just stop,”  Syndi replied, trying to cover her feet with the end of her robe, “It wasn’t my idea, okay?   I didn’t have time to change.”

“So she has you all decked out as a Sorceress already?”   Jevon asked, shooting Rick a quick glance.

“Any other sorceress garb we should know about?”   Rick wondered with a wolfish smile.

“I’m quite sure you will NEVER need to know such things,”   She snapped back and all the men laughed.

“Well, you have this robe rather muddy,”   Muld said to her, staring at the stained red garment.

“Yes, I know,”   Syndi sighed in frustration, “Alleania loaned it to me.   It was one of Chal’s wizard robes!”

“Who’s Chal?”   Muld asked.

“Aurei’s father - he was a vampire and a Necromancer.”

“Oh… so she might not want this robe to be soiled?”  

“No!   Well… I don’t think it is a family heirloom, but… I don’t want her to think I would treat his robe with disrespect!”

“Well, take it off and we’ll wash it - I have some cantrips that will clean it like new!”   Muld reached out as if he was about to assist her removal of it, but Syndi shrank back, her arms folded across her torso.

“I can’t!” She exclaimed.

“Are you naked under there?”   Rick’s eyebrows arched as he scratched his chin.

“No!”  She replied, her face blushing beet red, “Not…exactly.”

 

The vagueness of her reply did nothing to curb the men’s curiosity.

“You should show us,”   Rick encouraged.

“Absolutely not!”   Syndi said flatly.

“I thought that was the idea behind the skimpy outfits that Sorceresses wear - to draw power from men’s lust,”   Jevon stated.

“It’s Feminine Qi,”   Muld corrected, “It does generate power that a Sorceress can tap into, though I don’t imagine Syndi has learned to channel that power yet.”

“No, I haven’t,” The girl admitted, “And I’m not going to embarrass myself by showing you how little I have on right now under this robe.   It’s ridiculous!   No woman should wear such an outfit.   It would be vulgar for a prostitute to wear!”

“Really?   It’s that bad?”   Muld asked.

“Do you know what a sling - one that flings stones- looks like?   The outlandish costume that Alleania made Allea and me wear today looks like three slings tied together with several cords.”

“Oh, we REALLY need to see it!”   Rick said excitedly.

 

Syndi just turned and glared at the man.

“Alright, everyone, let’s not jinx the beginning of the Westmark Practical Magic Guild with fighting.    Syndi, we’re sorry for teasing you,”   Muld apologized to the girl, “When you have a beautiful woman as a coworker it tends to turn sensible men into sweaty adolescents at times.”

“That is certainly true,”   She snapped, but Muld’s compliment had taken the edge off of her irritation, “Look, guys, I’m not too crazy about this whole sorceress thing, so please understand that I don’t really need your barroom comments.    Wearing scant clothing seems very vulgar and I am feeling like I probably will tell Alleania to forget the whole thing.”

“Don’t do that, Syndi,”   Rick replied gently, “I’m sorry I acted like that.   Forgive me, but you just seem like ‘one of the gang’ and that’s how we joke with each other.   I didn’t mean to offend you.”

 

Jevon, Mutt and Tadd all mumbled similar apologies and Syndi nodded with a deep sigh, “Alright.   I’m sorry too - everything seems so crazy right now; I guess I’m still not used to being on my own.   I’m acting like a spoiled princess again, aren’t I?”

The men all hesitated, glancing at each other.

“No,” Muld answered for them, “You have a right to be treated with dignity and respect.   We are all equal in this guild.    Why don’t you go back and change into something more comfortable?   We’ll wait for you.”

“No,” Syndi replied with a slight frown, “Alleania wanted Allea and me to wear these stupid outfits all day, and I told her I would.”

“Why?   If it’s making you feel awkward - or cold- then how is that training you to be a Sorceress?”   Mutt asked her.

“It’s the Feminine Qi thing, I guess,”  Syndi said with a snort of disgust, “She claims that part of the power of Qi comes from a woman being comfortable with men staring at her lustfully.    She swears that this generates great power for a Sorceress, and she wanted us to get used to how men would look at us and how they’d respond.   So I guess it would be better to start with men that at least I know…”

She sighed again and with a sudden motion pulled the robe open and let it slide off of her shoulders into her hands.

Timidly she looked at them, prepared for another round of coarse comments.    But none of them said a thing.    Instead, their eyes were doing all the talking, surveying her body in the ridiculously revealing costume with looks of approving amazement.

“That’s… that’s… that’s quite an outfit,”   Muld finally stammered and the other men just nodded.

“I feel so naked,”   She told them.

“You’re not far from being naked,”   Mutt commented, then, not wanting it to sound like a snide remark, quickly added, “But you should have no problem generating power or Qi… or whatever it’s called.”

Jevon, Rick and Tadd nodded, and then purposely looked away from her so they wouldn’t make her nervous.

She turned back to Muld, “It’s too much, isn’t it?”

“No, actually, I’d say the problem is that it’s too little.   But it is… quite effective.”

“Great,”   She commented, not sounding too thrilled.

“Since you have decided to… show your outfit to us, why don’t we all go inside?   I wanted to show all of you the warehouse area and that might help you feel more comfortable, Syndi.”   Muld gestured toward the Guild’s public entrance and Syndi quickly led the group inside.    As she went through the door, a catcalling whistle from someone on the street made her cringe.

“You’ll get used to it,”   Muld assured her gently, “Actually, it’s a compliment, you know.”

“Perhaps it is, but it just makes me feel so… exposed.”

“Syndi, why don’t you just change Sorcery schools?   Your sister, Queen Eioldth, was a powerful sorceress and I don’t recall ever hearing about her dressing so… revealingly,”   Jevon asked her as they all tromped through the guild building.

“I thought about that, Jevon.   The problem is that there are no masters of that sorcery school that I could find.   I asked many people, but they all told me the same thing.   The wars and Torrin’s persecution of magic has caused most of the arcane masters to move or disappear.    Right now, Alleania is the only one taking on students.”

“I thought Elina was going to show you some magic,” Mutt said.

“She is, but her magic is nature based.”

“She’s a druid?”   Mutt asked.

“Something like that.    The way that she and her sisters teach spells is slower and through many years of apprenticeship.”

“Well, there is always Mage Keith,”  Rick kidded.

“Oh, he’d be willing,”  Muld told them, “In fact, he spoke highly of Syndi.”

The Losasidhe girl wrinkled her nose, “I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with him teaching me.   Every time I’m around him, I just sense that he is staring at me when I’m not looking.”

Rick and Jevon snickered.

“What?”  She asked them.

“He’s known around town for being very interested in young women,”   Jevon explained.

“In other words, he’s a dirty old man,”   Rick joked, which made Muld frown.

“That’s not really fair, Rick,”  Muld countered, “I spent some time this last winter speaking with him.   He told me that he was so hungry for arcane power that he wasted his youth and now regrets never having married and fathered children.”

“There you go, Syndi!”  Rick laughed, “The perfect trade-off; he teaches you all he knows and you cook and clean for him and have a couple of kids.”

Syndi shuttered, “ I think I’ll pass.   Now, Muld - what are you wanting to show us?”

 

The Practical Magician took her cue to change the subject and led them into the large workshop area in the back of the guild building.

Reviews

[Elina]

Well, it only took me how long? A year and a half? Yikes! I am finally getting around to reading this series. I always so enjoy your books (and envy the speed with which you finish them), and I know these shall be no different.
Now...let the editing begin...!

"...it is quite easy to get ran over." Perhaps "run" instead of "ran."
"...they all can see it first hand." Maybe "...so they can all see it first-hand."
"...turn sensible men into stupid acting adolescents at times." This might benefit from a little re-working. The "stupid-acting adolescents" is a bit awkward. I'm not entirely sure what would make a sufficient replacement, but I feel it needs something different.
"...it would be better to start with men that at least I know" Perhaps, change this to "...better to at least start with men I know"

I thoroughly enjoyed this first chapter, and the chance to get re-acquainted with "old friends." I am eager to read on...

[David Kennedy]

What a find! This is honestly quite an entertaining start, though a bit sparse on background details. I really love how the convos flow naturally, I never felt bored or lost while reading it, it was very engaging. And funny! this is a very funny and quite saucy chapter and I'm looking forward to the rest of story.

Two things I would recommend changing; you should change "apologizing wave" to apologetic wave, as that seems like a more natural description. "scribal work" to just plain ol scribe work, as i'm not sure most people will understand the word "scribal" the first time they see it. And lastly, the introduction and explanation of the Syndi character is awesome, but a little heavy handed. I would lose the "incredible grace" descriptive ( I'm not sure anyone can be incredibly graceful :P ) and go with something a little lighter.

other than that, a well written piece that has me itching for more!

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you for your review and suggestions. I was a bit worried about new readers being a bit lost regarding the characters, as they were introduced as minor characters in the third volume of a trilogy (A Sovereign Hope). I didn't want to overwhelm the story with a lengthy background synopsis though.