Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (2 page)

Similarly, the thieves’ guild had endowed him with the task of finding a valuable magical item that could be sold to an interested merchant who was in town.

Alric figured he could do both tasks at once if he was careful. The elf decided that, instead of talking to the human mage directly, he could learn more if he studied the mage’s books and scrolls. To do that, he would have to break into the mage’s dwelling, a simple task for one with his abilities. But as long as the dark magic society was not exposed, they didn’t care how he performed his duty. Then, while he was in the mage’s house, he could easily grab something magical for the thieves’ guild and be off.

The thief knew that this might not be an easy task, since it was a powerful human mage whose house he was going to break into. But he lacked any sort of excitement of late, and the challenge was welcome.

Alric lifted the hood of his green elven cloak to cover his chestnut brown hair. His face was well hidden in the hood, hiding even his dark brown eyes. Rounding the last corner of town, the elf stealthily maneuvered along a narrow path that led to a residential area where the houses were separated by thick woods. No one was about, which was fine by Alric. He continued past several houses until he sighted the mage’s house. The structure was dark except for a small light in one of the windows. It was on an upper level, but Alric spotted a large tree nearby. Its branches were fairly high above the ground, but it would be an easy climb for those who could reach. Alric was slightly taller than average, with a slender build and brown hair. He was used to using his agility on a daily basis. Thus, this task was easy for him to accomplish. Deftly, he swung into the tree’s lowest branches and climbed up until he could see through the window.

Seated at a desk was a female elf, whose long, golden locks of hair shone brilliantly in the firelight. The fireplace roared cheerfully, and the room was filled with shadows dancing playfully on the walls. The elf appeared to be reading one of several ancient tomes which were stacked to one side. The candles on each side of the table sputtered as they neared the end of their life span, the excess wax running into thick puddles in the trays beneath.

The female elf noticed this with a start and extinguished the flames before they drowned in the liquid wax. Then she put a marker in the book she was reading and closed it, shoving it next to the others. With a yawn, she approached the fireplace, opened a vent into another room, and departed.

Alric waited for a few moments and light suddenly appeared in an adjoining room. The thief crept along the tree’s branches and stretched over to see inside. The female elf was visible carrying a lit candle she had obtained elsewhere in the house. She strode over to the wall to open the vent where the back side of the fireplace in the study was located. She rubbed her hands together for warmth and then walked over to the bed. The elf was about to climb under the covers when she paused. Suddenly, she approached a closet and withdrew a nondescript grey cloak.

What happened next nearly made Alric fall out of the tree, for, as the elf donned the cloak, she disappeared!

Alric scrambled to regain balance, and when he looked through the window again, he saw the bed covers lift of their own accord, and then lower into position around an invisible form.

The thief couldn’t believe his luck. An invisibility cloak! With an item like that, the possibilities were endless! He could become the greatest thief who ever lived! Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have suspected the cloak’s value. Except for checking its pockets, he wouldn’t have even given it a second glance!

The problem was - how could he get his hands on it? He could threaten the golden-haired elf by holding a knife to her throat, but that was not his way. His way was to steal without the owner knowing who stole from him or her. Better still, he preferred to steal without the owner knowing that something was stolen in the first place.

Alric thought about this as he crept back to the study window. He still had work to do, and the night was young. Apparently, the mage was not home. Good.

The tree’s branches were solid near the window and Alric easily slid it open and lowered himself inside. Once his feet touched the floor, he immediately padded across the room to the bookshelf, his pigskin clad feet making no sound.

The books were arranged alphabetically, and, using the waning light from the fireplace, Alric scanned the bindings to search for books dealing with black magic. He soon found an entire section on magic. The thief quickly whispered a ‘spell detect’ spell to indicate any wards or traps. There were none. Still, Alric was careful. Gingerly, he began to pull one book from the shelf, but stopped in horror when he noticed a light green aura behind the book in his hand. Alric swore under his breath. The crafty human mage had hidden the ward along the BACK of the books! Any book leaving the bookshelf would alert the mage to an intruder!

Sweat poured down Alric’s face as he examined the aura behind the book. The spell was unbroken! Alric gently pushed the book back into position and breathed a sigh of relief. That was close!

The thief cast an antiwarding spell on the books and tried to remove the book again. This time, the green aura was gone and the book was safe to remove from the shelf. Alric flipped rapidly through its pages and sighed. There was nothing of interest here. He returned the book to the shelf and tried another one. This one was filled with complicated spells and incantations, most of which were too complex for him to understand. A third book was more informative, listing the proper spell components and incantations for simpler spells. Alric studied some of these for nearly an hour, familiarizing himself with the magical techniques used by human black mages. There was enough here to make a decent report to the dark magic society.

Alric closed the book and returned it to the shelf. Then he scratched his head. He didn’t know how to restore the special ward the human mage had set around the bookshelf. He thought vaguely about trying to find the spell in one of the magic books, but decided against it. It would probably take too long to find, not to mention he likely didn’t have the spell components for that particular spell anyway. The bookshelf would have to remain unwarded. There was no helping it now.

The thief scratched his chin as he thought about his next task. How could he get that cloak? Then he grinned. Of course! The thieves’ guild never told him exactly what to get! Any magical item would do! As far as the cloak was concerned, he could steal it anytime for his own use!

The elf looked around the room for an alternate item to bring to the guild and spotted a dark wooden box on the mantel above the fireplace. Beside it was a portrait of the human mage standing with his elven wife. He had seen the mage before; humans were not commonly living within the elven lands; and he studied the picture for a few moments. The humans were quite ugly from an elf’s standpoint, and Alric wondered vaguely why the elf was attracted to the human. Pushing the question aside, the elf checked the box for a magical signature and found one. Good. After being certain there was no warding protection, Alric slowly opened the box and peeked inside. The only thing in the box was a single gold coin. Curious, the thief picked up the coin and examined it but found nothing out of the ordinary. Then he placed the coin in his palm and closed the box, returning it to its original location. When he returned his attention to his hand, he blinked in surprise. The coin was gone!

Alric searched frantically around the floor to see where he could have dropped it when an idea occurred to him. He straightened and reopened the wooden box. As he suspected, the coin was back inside the box. He grinned. Perfect!

With the box tucked safely under his cloak, the thief left the house the way he had come, pleased with the night’s work, but knowing he would soon return for one more thing.

Chapter 2

T
he thieves’ guild master complimented Alric on his successful acquisition. “You’ve done well, Alric. Few could have acted so promptly and efficiently. This is a fine magical specimen. The merchant will be pleased.”

“I live to serve the guild,” said Alric.

“I wish more of us were like you,” said the guild master. He withdrew a pouch full of gold coins and tossed it to Alric. “As you can see, we treat those well who serve well.”

Alric was surprised at the large sum he was paid but didn’t show it.

“You will be considered for other special tasks in the future,” said the guild master.

“I look forward to the challenge,” said Alric.

The guild master nodded and Alric was dismissed.

Alric hid the purse of gold beneath his cloak and pretended it was not there. The last thing he wanted was to display his newly earned wealth to a lair full of thieves.

The thief reached the gate leading from the underground lair to the outside world and stepped out onto a narrow, winding bush path. He followed the path for several minutes. The path finally led to some back streets in the city and Alric used an alternate route to reach his room in a local inn. He made sure no one had followed him and then entered the inn.

The innkeeper was not at his desk but Alric didn’t care. He took the stairs two at a time to the second floor and went down the hallway to his room.

Once inside, he stashed the sack of gold coins under the floorboards. When that was done, he picked up his overnight bag containing his dark green cloak and left the inn. The dark magic society was having another meeting this evening and he had to give his report to the others.

The dark elf strode quietly from the inn, used his usual changing course, and finally reached the old blacksmith shop where the dark elf meetings took place. He entered the shop and said a secret word to the shop owner, who nodded toward the back. Alric entered a small room in the back, donned his dark cloak, and pushed a wall aside, revealing a set of stairs leading into darkness below. He descended the stairs, drawing the wall closed behind him, and stopped on a wooden platform at the base of the stairs. He spoke a word of magic and a torch on the wall lit up. The mage pulled the torch from the wall sconce and followed a narrow corridor straight ahead. The platform behind him grew dark but the corridor in front of him ended abruptly in what appeared to be solid rock.

Alric spoke another word of magic and the wall of rock began to undulate. Then the mage deposited the torch in an empty wall sconce and spoke his magic to cancel the spell that had activated it. The torch went dark and the elf simply took a step, entering a giant chamber with a stone floor, walls, and ceiling. A grey stone table was the only furnishing in the chamber. Its edges were engraved with magical symbols and diagrams.

Standing around the table and in the background were numerous mages, all hooded and cowled like Alric himself. The reason they dressed like this was to keep their identities a secret. One could be standing next to someone one knew, possibly even a relative, and not even know it. The hooded robes saw to that. As for names, everyone had a false name to identify themselves. Alric’s name here was Windoor, a name given him when one of his spells had backfired in an underground study chamber during his studies as a youth. A lightning bolt had accidentally become a strong gust of wind and had blown the classroom door open. The combination of ‘wind’ and ‘door’ had given him his name.

The meeting this evening was rather boring and when his turn came, Windoor was eager to give his update on the humans’ magic and the methods and components they used. When that was finished, most of the younger mages left to go to the hidden classrooms where they practiced their skills and performed tests for their teachers. The rest of the mages either went home or consulted with some of those who gave reports that evening, wishing to clarify details and facts. Windoor had only two inquiries to deal with before one of the senior black elves came up to him wishing to obtain some information.

The elf identified herself as Sawtooth. She wanted to know how Alric had obtained his human magic so handily, but he refused to give up his secrets. She wore a strange alluring scent that made him want to tell her everything, but he kept his head. After pressing for a little while longer, she left.

Alric waited a few more minutes for any other inquisitive mages and, having none, took leave himself. He left the way he had come, exiting the blacksmith shop and heading back to the inn to get some sleep. On the way, he examined the ring he had taken from Sawtooth. It was golden with a dark green gem in its center. He smiled. She probably just now realized that her ring was missing. Alric was sure she would never guess that it was he who had stolen it.

Alric was too engrossed in his new acquisition to notice a cowled figure that had followed him home from the blacksmith shop. The figure half walked, half ran to keep pace with the agile elf, and watched intently as the elf entered his inn for the night. The figure paused and then melted into the shadows. The elf’s speech that night had him curious, so he had followed the elf home. What had aroused his curiosity was the amount of information the elf had gleaned in only two nights. This elf was thorough and efficient. These traits were just what the dark figure was looking for. He needed someone to do a special task for him, and this elf might be the one to do it. He decided to wait and watch awhile longer.

Alric’s night was restless, the cloak of invisibility occupying his mind constantly. So he rose early, well before sunrise, and made his way to the human mage’s house. There he climbed the tree and looked into the bedroom window. The hollow lump in the blankets indicated the invisible elf’s sleeping form.

Alric cursed under his breath. The elf was still wearing the cloak. How was he going to get it from her? He agonized long minutes over what to do. If he entered the study and waited for her to wake up, he could sneak into the bedroom after she left and pick up the discarded cloak, then wear the cloak and sneak back out the study window. But what if she left the bedroom and entered the study? He would be cornered! Furthermore, what if she kept the cloak on after getting out of bed? He would enter the bedroom and search in vain for the cloak!