Chapter Five
As dawn rose on the village of Knocks, three riders arrived haggard, tired and angry. Normally the citizens of the village didn’t give a second look to those who passed through, but something about the travelers just rubbed them the wrong way and spelled trouble. Trying to ignore them while they set up for the morning, they hoped the three would pass through like a bad breeze.
“Alright, split up and see if anyone has seen him? Look for any trace of him! If he was here, find out where he was going.” Rose ordered.
Without a word, the two nodded and began questioning the villagers while Rose did her own investigation. After a few hours, they met back up to discuss what they found.
“Well?” Rose Inquired while staring down the two.
“He was definitely here I found his clothes in a store,” Roy answered.
(Thch)”So he is still alive and worse, clearly not here.” Rose said with dissatisfaction.
“Yeah, he sold his clothes for ten gold pieces and stayed in the inn,” Roy replied.
“So the barmaid lied to me. Normally I would deal with her. But I don’t have the luxury of time. Lucky for her.” Rose sneered.
“Very lucky,” Roy answered, feeling bad for the barmaid.
“So Charlie, what did you learn?” Rose asked.
“I’m so glad you asked. Because I learned lots.” Charlie said with confidence.
“Oh!” Roy replied with a curious tone preparing to hit his friend in the face once again.
Rose didn’t say a word. She just waited for the useless information to flow from his mouth like an unending river of idiocy. Raising an eyebrow and gesturing for him to continue. She came to a conclusion that if they don’t find the boy and if she manages not to kill Charlie, she could reach enlistment or become a saint. After all, she would deserve something for the trouble, right?
“Right at the general store, I found many things out. The boy was looking at a map in there.” Charlie said with gusto.
“I don’t believe it that's actually useful,” Roy said, slacked jaw.
“ You took the words right out of my mouth Roy,” Rose said, confused, wondering who this imposter was.
“The clerk in there also was kind enough to divulge that he went to Lindon,” Charlie said.
“Lindon, of course! The port would be the next stop for him to get home. The brat is smarter than I would have thought. Anything else you found out?” Rose asked with trepidation.
“Yes, I learned why this place is called Knocks. It’s actually a very story.” Charlie replied.
“Idiot! How is that relevant to anything?” Rose yelled with relief to know that Charlie was still Charlie.
“Well, to be honest, it’s not, but I was curious,” Charlie said sheepishly.
(Sigh) “Let's just get travel supplies and get on the road,” Rose said with annoyance.
“Good job, buddy, you never seem to disappoint,” Roy said, patting his friend on the back as he walked by.
As Thomas woke from his dreams without nearly a care in the world, he saw Stitches sitting on the end of the bed in deep thought. At least Thomas thought he was, as no sound was being made. Rising from the bed and getting dressed for the day, all Thomas could do was wait. But like most seven-year-olds, patience may be a virtue but not a strong suit. Rocking back and forth, desperately wanting to ask what the plan was all he could do was wait. What Stitches saw as Thomas woke up was everything that slowed down his train of thought. But was happy Thomas was not pestering him for answers. Then it hit him the solution. It would be dishonest, and Stitches would probably need to apologize to the moon. At least, he thought he should, for his plan involved magic and deceit. Only as a white lie, but he was a pretty moral kind of spirit the moon would understand, he thought. Not giving it another thought, he laid out his plan.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Alright, Thomas, I have a plan. It will involve some deceit and showmanship. But I believe we can pull it off.” Stitches said, looking at the excitement on Thomas’s face.
“So what is it?” Thomas said, jumping to his feet.
“We are going to use magic to make money.” Stitches started to say.
“Magic! I’m going to get to learn magic?” Thomas asked with excitement.
“Well, no.” Stitches said, seeing all the joy drain out of Thomas at these words. “It’s not like I can’t teach you we just don’t have time.” Stitches said trying to cheer him up.
“But you can teach me?” Thomas asked, hopeful.
“I can teach anyone… Well, anyone with at least half a brain, so yes, but we will talk about this later.” Stitches replied, knowing this would not be let go.
“You promise?” Thomas asked, staring down his friend.
“Yes, I promise. Now the plan. The plan is to have me in the satchel where I can see and have you pretend to cast magic while I actually do it. The location is easy the fountain in the center of town will have the largest crowd, some interesting spells to wow the crowd for coin, and we will be on our way. See easy.” Stitches said with a hint of uncertainty.
“Isn’t that lying?” Thomas asked.
“Well, yes, and you should never lie. But this is a tiny minuscule, even white lie. Which, under normal circumstances, you still shouldn’t do, but we don’t have many options.
“What’s the difference between a white lie and a normal lie?” Thomas asked.
“Hmmm… most kids ask their fathers as they get caught doing them the most, so ask him later when we get you home.” Stitches said, wanting to avoid the topic.
The answer only left Thomas more confused, but he made a mental note to ask his father, like Stitches said. It only took an hour for Thomas to practice basic hand motions for the plan. After stuffing his face in the dining area, Thomas stuffed Stitches into the satchel and made for the fountain. Thomas arrived at the familiar fountain, only getting lost once and helped by the local guard for directions. The air was once again filling with the smell of cooked meats and the sound of people hawking their wares, trying to pull people into their shops. Feeling nervous, Thomas walked up to the edge of the fountain and stood on its rim. Facing the crowd, he began.
“Ladies and gentlemen, wel…come to my show.” Thomas began saying, nervous.
“What’s that lad on about?”
“I don’t know something about a show.”
As Thomas began to gain a small crowd gawking at him, he froze in abject terror.
“Thomas, take a deep breath and calm yourself trust me, you're doing fine.” Stitches thought to Thomas to calm down and to start things because crowds were easily turned to mobs, and he didn’t want to tell Thomas that.
Taking a deep breath, Thomas began again. “Yes, thank you for coming to my show, my magic show!” Thomas said with more confidence this time.
“Ha, if you can do magic, I will eat my hat.” A rather rude weasel-looking man said.
“Then, sir, you will need a new hat,” Thomas said as he began to make waving arm gestures.
Thinking quickly about the motions and location, Stitches knew exactly how to wow these people and loosen their coin purses. Making blue mana flow around Thomas’s arm and towards the water in the fountain. He began to infuse it and make it rise and wave with Thomas’s motions then, to add flare, the water began to take two small humanoid shapes that began to dance with each other. Being careful to keep this behind Thomas so he couldn’t see and get distanced. He would show him later all the tricks.
“Wow, would you look at that!”
“I've never seen something so beautiful.”
“I really liked this hat.”
“Thomas, slowly stop your motions and prepare for the next one do something different with your arms just subtle enough.” Stitches, Thought to Thomas.
As Thomas filled his commands, the blue mana disappeared, and Thomas heard a small splash behind him. “And for my next trick!” Thomas said, moving his arms in subtle patterns while bobbing his head slightly, strangely wowing the crowd.
This time grey and brown mana swirled around Thomas and went to the ground and formed tiny soldiers from the dirt that did battle. More than once, Stitches had to yell into Thomas’s mind to not gawk at the performance, ultimately making him close his eyes. The performances were many, and the crowd only grew larger throughout the day. Causing Stitches to do more spectacular magic, from fire that juggled itself to wind that sang a ballad. Realizing the growing coin on the ground was probably enough, he decided they had drawn enough attention. While Thomas gathered the plethora of money at his feet and dealt with all the incoming compliments and offers for work. A carriage came speeding down the road and hit a woman who trying to avoid the large crowd. Feeling this was his fault, Thomas wanted to help.
“Let me look. This may feel a bit strange, but my body will go limp for a moment.” Stitches thought as he left his body. He hadn’t gone incorporeal for a very long time. And the only reason he didn’t was that he saw Thomas was in need, and he needed to talk to him or wanted to, but these thoughts weren’t important right now the woman lying on the ground was.
Floating up above the crowd and looking down at her Stitches saw that she had internal bleeding and many broken bones and would die without his help.
So much for not drawing attention. Stitches thought as he returned to his body.
“How is she?” Thomas murmured quietly while the onlookers gazed at him, waiting for something to happen.
“Not good. She is dying luckily for her, we can save her. I’m not so sure we should as we will garner much attention from doing so… but you will ask anyways, so just hold out your hands over her and mutter I will do the rest.” Stitches thought with some dismay.
“Thank you,” Thomas said though a tear-filled voice as he begun to mutter and hold out his arms.
Yellow and green mana began to flow from Thomas’s arm over the woman and into for three long minutes of silence. Then a flash just blinding enough to make onlookers gasp and look away only to turn their gaze at the now steadily breathing woman. Pushing her way out of the crowd, Thomas saw a familiar woman grab him by the arm.
“You could have just told me you could do magic. Especially healing magic, I would have let you ride the boat for free. Now come on, the seas are calling.” Captain Victoria said, dragging Thomas away from the crowd.
Well, this complicates things. Stitches thought, knowing more trouble was up ahead.