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What appeared to be a cleaning girl escorted the druid and elf into the room. Cleaning girls normally don’t have a stiletto’s sheath sewn into their apron. She announced the guests. “Lysine and Marigold.” Without waiting for a response, the maid stiffly turned and left.
The ancient magic user didn’t look up from his reading to acknowledge the maid, or the druid and elf. He kept reading, his finger moving across the sheet, then down to the next line.
The druid took a relaxed stance, his hands behind his back, right hand holding the wrist of the left. The elf glanced around for a moment, then squinted her eyes, trying to see what the ancient magic user was reading.
“Careful,” the ancient magic user said, his voice dry but surprisingly robust. “Gravity acting upon those voluminous breasts as you lean forward may cause you to topple. That would scatter my papers and candles. If that happens, I will kill you both.” His finger returned to moving across the paper. “I will also kill the rest of your party.” His grim smile matched is dark eyes, with sagging bags of skin under them. “When I get around to it.”
The elf stood up straight. She started to say something, possibly an apology, but the druid shushed her.
After four or five minutes, the ancient magic user looked up from what he’d finished reading. “It is my understanding that Major Disaster believes your purpose is worth an interruption.” His voice and demeanor suggested the ancient magic user did not agree.
“You are, and your purpose is?”
The druid cleared his throat. “Mr. Chisisuschugerganteramoski, I am Lysine, and this is Marigold.” He gestured toward the elf. Snix was impressed that the druid recalled and sounded out the complex name with close proximity to Major Disaster’s pronunciation.
“As your time is precious.” The druid tipped his head forward in deference. “I shall be brief. I and my adventuring party desire to purchase from you the service of a Transport Spell to Three Hills City, for five party members and an individual that attempted to end our lives this morning.” He slowly reached toward the pouch on his belt and untied it. “It is our understanding that you are capable of such a service. We would pay for this service with eight rubies.”
“I am capable,” the ancient magic user said. He pointed with a crooked finger at a clear spot on his table. “Place your proposed payment there.”
While the druid emptied the pouch of rubies into his hand and delicately placed them on the table as directed, the elf asked, “Can you cast a Wish Spell?”
The question almost caused the druid to scatter the rubies onto the floor.
The ancient magic user’s cackling laugh brought relief to the sudden tenseness in the druid’s rigid shoulders.
“You are as beautiful as you are naive, my elfin maiden.” The ancient magic user scrutinized her. “Such rare and arcane enchantments are not bandied about in pointless discussion.” He gestured with a steady wave of his left hand at her chest. “Do so again, and I shall double the curse that some annoyed witch reasonably saw fit to visit upon you.”
The surprised elf put a hand to her chest. “This isn’t a—”
The druid slapped his hand over her mouth. “She is indeed, naive, and I apologize on her behalf.”
The ancient magic user didn’t acknowledge the druid’s apology, or the perturbed elf. He brushed a gnarled finger over the rubies, examining them. “Leave the rubies and return with your party, and prisoner, to the foyer within the hour.”
The druid deferentially said, “Relevant custom is to leave half to demonstrate earnest—”
Before he finished, something caught the ancient magic user’s attention. Snix realized the ancient human eyes were fixed upon him.
A remarkably nimble flurry of hand gestures, accompanied by an incantation, left the homunculus unable to move. Try as he might, Snix couldn’t retreat from the window. Nor could he flap his wings.
Startled by the magic user’s sudden action, the druid took the elf’s hand. “We shall return within the hour.” He and the elf backed away.
Standing and waving a hand dismissively, the ancient magic user said, “Take your rubies and return, with them, as told. Now be gone.”
The druid picked up the rubies before he and the elf departed the candle-lit study.