Wandering Wizard

The leader stood and moved toward Bob once more, saying, "Well, looks like we have us a wizard. Get him boys." They all three moved apart and started for Bob once more, the two sidekicks somewhat slowly as if they really weren't too happy about what they'd gotten into.

"Fuck," Bob said. This time, he gave a hard gesture. The leader flew back and slammed against the wall of the pub. He hit almost head first and everyone heard a crack as his neck broke. The two other men moved in toward Bob and began to swing their cudgels. Bob gestured at the nearest one just as he heard Roberta snarl. The other attacker let out a scream that quickly turned into a gurgle. After verifying the second man was no longer a threat, Bob turned toward where he thought the third one was only to see him laying in the street, blood bubbling out of his neck where Roberta had sliced his jugular and throat.

Roberta was sitting licking her paws and washing her face to get the blood off while gazing occasionally at the small crowd that had come out to watch when they heard the commotion. Bob heard several mumbling, one voice in particular said, "Damn me. Don't that beat all. Them three idjits done tried to roll a wizard. Well, come on boys, looks like the fun's over." The crowd mostly turned and returned to the pub.

Bob and Roberta checked the men that had attacked them to be sure they were dead. After that, Bob searched them, taking what few coins they had and anything else of value. After Roberta was sure the men were no longer a threat, she sat and watched Bob until he headed on up the street to the Inn.

When Bob reached the Inn, he entered and quickly stepped to the side of the door so he wouldn't be silhouetted against the light. Roberta quickly followed him inside before the door closed and stood beside him as they surveyed the room. After being sure there was no immediate threat, they walked to a table in the rear corner and sat down. Bob on a chair in the corner facing out into the room, Roberta curled up under the table where she continued with the bath that she hadn't finished after the altercation.

Upon seeing Bob enter the Inn the noise level dropped precipitously because they didn't see many strangers. The noise picked up somewhat in shock and fear when the men saw Roberta follow Bob inside. The innkeeper blustered and started toward Bob saying, "Here now, you can't bring that cat in here."

Bob was tired, as stated before and now in an even worse mood than before they were attacked. He gestured and the innkeeper's diatribe stopped in mid sentence. His face showed anger then immediate fear as he realized he'd accosted a Wizard. About the time that happened a somewhat unkempt man came barging into the Inn and immediately shouted, "You missed all the fun. Some wizard came walking into town with a bobcat familiar. He done kilt Tiny and his sons when they decided to have some fun with him. He done..." About that time, the man saw Bob and blanched. He turned and ran from the Inn without saying another word.

Bob shrugged and turned back to the Innkeeper before saying, "As I was getting ready to say, I didn't bring a cat in here. She's my friend and she just followed me inside. If you don't want her inside, you tell her and put her out. As for me, I like her and don't have a problem with her being here. Now, I need something to drink and some food if you have anything that won't make me sick. After that, we need a room for the night."

He gestured once again and the Innkeeper took a deep breath before he said, "At once sir. I have some excellent wine or some pretty good ale. We even have some fresh pig and potatoes. I'll have the girl bring it right out. What will you to drink?"

"The ale if you're sure its good."

After he finished his meal Bob sat and drank another flagon of a not too bad ale while he listened to the conversation going on around him. He learned a little about the town but more about some of the characters in it. When his ale was gone, he yelled to the Innkeeper, "Now about that room?"

"At once sir. If you will, please follow me. I have given you the best room we have."

When he saw the room, Bob decided he didn't want to see one of the average rooms or a poor one if that one was the best in the house. He turned back the blanket on the bed and found several bedbugs and some lice scurrying around. He sighed and opened the window. He gestured from the bed toward the window. A cloud of bugs and dirt puffed up off the bed and floated out the window.

After he blocked the door to help secure the room Bob lay in the bed and dropped off to a deep sleep. Roberta completed her inspection of the room and joined him, curling up near his head. Bob woke once to use the thunder mug (Chamber pot) then returned to sleep, waking just as dawn was breaking.

Breakfast consisted of left over pig and, surprisingly a couple eggs and bread, a really good bread. After their meal, Bob and Roberta went outside to see the town. Bob, to assess possibilities for making a living, Roberta because Bob went. Like many medieval towns, this one had a lot of poverty, beggars, and dirt as well as its share of dandies and criminals. Twice he felt someone try to pick his pocket. He gestured and they went flying. Apparently the rumor mill worked well because after the second one the disreputable appearing characters avoided him and other people, if they greeted him at all, did so with respect and deference.

He was on his way back to the Inn when he came upon a man trying to get a heavy crate off a wagon and into a building. He heard him trying to hire a couple of men to help and they laughed and refused before walking away. Bob walked up to him and said, "I heard you offer to pay those two men a silver to help you move that crate. Did I hear you correctly? Would you pay me that amount?"

The man laughed after looking at Bob and said, "Just you? There's no way just one man can move that load. If you think you're man enough to move it I would pay two silvers just to see it."

Bob shrugged and said, "Deal. Perhaps you should go inside and show me where you want it placed?"

The man laughed again and walked into the building. Bob gestured at the crate and it rose slowly before following him into the building. The man stopped laughing immediately when he saw Bob enter with the crate bobbing along behind him. Bob looked at him a moment before he said, "Well, where do you want it?"

The man's mouth opened and his eyes bugged out. No sound came from him. Finally, he gestured toward a spot near the rear of the room. Bob moved aside, gestured and the crate floated to the spot. He lowered his hand, palm down, toward the floor and the crate settled.

There was a crowd of men standing just inside the door watching. Bob turned to the man and said, "Now, sir, my pay if you please?"

The man looked at Bob and still without a sound took out a purse, opened it and dug around until he found a coin. He reached out and handed it to Bob before he turned toward the crate. Bob looked at the coin and said, "Sir I think you've made a mistake. Your final offer was for two silver to move the crate and you only gave me one." He stood, holding his hand out waiting on the other coin.

The man turned red and began to bluster. He said, "I offered ONE silver to move the crate."

"Yes, I heard that but when I told you I could and would move it by myself, you said you would pay TWO silver to see that." He turned to the men and said, "I ask you gentlemen. Did he not say he would pay two to see me move the crate myself?"

There was a murmur of assent from the gathered men. Bob turned back to the man and said, "There. The witnesses all agreed the offer was raised to two silver. Now, if you please?"

"Oh all right. Here," he said. "Now off with you. Had I known you were a wizard I would not have made that second offer. You took me sir. You had unfair advantage."

Bob smiled and walked out with his pay. The two silver were enough, considering what he paid for the room and two meals, to keep him for almost a week even if he stayed at the Inn and took all his meals there.

By the time he made it back to the Inn, he had several people following him. Most of them were children hoping to see more magic but there were a few men and even one woman who followed him into the Inn. After he took his chair at the table he claimed as his, the men and woman following moved close so they could speak. All of them had something they thought he, as a wizard, could do for them. If he thought he could perform the task, he negotiated a price and set a time and location for him to do so.

Warren was busy from the time he finished his morning meal until late at night for the next week. Some jobs he couldn't do or refused to do if he thought they would hurt someone, be illegal, or unethical. Others he didn't do exactly what the employer thought they wanted for one reason or another. He wasn't sure if he was pricing his services fairly but he was making money hand over fist so decided to let well enough alone. He always had the potential employer make the first offer then he made his counter offer, negotiating until they usually arrived at some value between the two extremes, except for the rare occasion when he thought the employer's offer was fair.

After five days of living in town, Roberta disappeared. To his surprise, Bob found he really missed her but understood she hadn't been happy living in the small town. He knew most of the inhabitants were scared of her and only refrained from killing her because she was known as his familiar.

Occasionally, if he thought a potential employer couldn't afford more he took a smaller offer and did the job. Many of the poor people didn't have cash money to pay with and asked if he would barter. If he could use the item or thought he could sell it for a fair price he agreed. In this way, he got a lot of food, some clothes, shoes and even some manufactured items much of which he then sold for what he could get.

Bob was a normal horny man and many of the women offered him pussy for his magic. At first he refused to accept that method of payment but as he became more horny he finally gave in and bedded any of the single ones who offered. Since he was sure he would never see Tara again, he got over the guilt of "cheating" on her and began seeking out lovers. Some he paid, usually those working in the Inn, some he got for free but love them he did.

Finally, business slowed down and he began searching for a more permanent place to live before he went back to his truck and gathered his few belongings. He found an empty store building two buildings down from the Inn that had living quarters above and to the rear. It was abandoned and more or less free for the taking. He had to pay a nominal fee to the city council and it became his building. He spent three days cleaning and preparing it for his office and home before he left, headed out to the Kilpatrick's small farm and, ultimately, his truck.

Bob was glad to get out of town. The air was much cleaner here in the country and there was no one constantly either watching him or bothering him wanting something. He left town late in the morning so didn't make it to the Kilpatrick's on the first day. He found a nice place to camp and settled down for the night, eating from food he carried with him.

The next morning he built a small fire so he could have coffee with his dry biscuit, meat and cheese from his pack. He was getting ready to pour the first cup of coffee when a young woman staggered into his camp and fell beside the fire. Her buckskin dress was torn and ragged, her hair was matted and she had scrapes and bruises over most of the body he could see.

Bob was in the process of cleaning her up when three men came into the clearing from the same path she used. They saw Bob working on the woman and two of them moved toward him while the third turned toward the woman. One of the men coming toward Bob had a tomahawk, the other pulled a knife after dropping a bow. The man with a tomahawk and the one approaching the woman each said something in a language Bob didn't understand.

Bob jumped back and said, "Stop," while ducking the first swing of the tomahawk. This, of course, pissed him off and he went into combat mode. He made his signature gesture toward each man as quickly as he could change targets. He didn't pull his punch either and each of the men flew back. The one with the tomahawk slammed up against a tree and was impaled by a broken branch sticking out, leaving him hanging and kicking as his life drained out.

The man with the knife slammed against a boulder and Bob heard his back break. The third man had just turned away from the woman to move toward Bob when he felt himself thrust back. He caught his right leg in the fork of a limb on a downed tree. He fell to the side, breaking his leg and the arm he put out to stop his fall.

Bob walked up to the downed man who stared up at him defiantly and muttered, "Shaman". Bob pulled his knife and started to finish him off when the woman struggled to her feet and grabbed his hand. He looked at her and she shook her head "no," as she pushed his hand lower trying to sheathe his knife.

Bob frowned, sighed, and allowed her to help guide his knife back into its scabbard. The woman searched the bodies and found some buckskin thongs she handed Bob, indicating he should tie the injured man up. He just finished tying him when another group of Indians came into the clearing carrying clubs and bows. They, too, reached for their weapons but the woman spoke to them sharply and they relaxed. They then began a rapid conversation after which, the leader and one other man walked to the injured one and pulled him, none too gently, away from the tree and tied him to another one.

Bob shrugged and returned to his fire where he poured a second cup of coffee since he had spilled the first one. He offered the woman some and some of his breakfast. She refused to eat or drink the coffee so Bob had his meal while the Indians stood or sat and watched him. After he finished, they tried to talk to him but he didn't understand. He did get the gist of the conversation but that was all. The woman had been stolen and got away from her captors who had tried to take her back from Bob. The other men were her rescue party, the leader being her husband, Bob thought.

After his meal, Bob repacked his belongings and prepared to leave. He was worried about this, not knowing how the Indians would take his attempt to leave, but all they did was watch expressionlessly as he walked into the woods headed for the Kilpatrick's.

When he got to the farm he stopped in dismay. The house was burned to the ground and he found Zeke laying dead in the yard. Molly was nowhere to be found. He assumed she had been carried off by the perpetrators since Zeke hadn't been burried. He moved to check on the livestock. He didn't find the mule and only a few of the young chickens were still alive. He fed and watered those that were left but wasn't sure how many would survive.

After checking on things at the farm, Bob made his way to his truck, finding signs of animals and people being near it but found his possessions to be safe. He still didn't know how he would move his belongings since there were no roads from where he was to Norton. He could use his magic and "float" some things as he did the boxes of chickens but he was unsure just how much weight he could move. At one time he couldn't move more than he could lift, but since he brought the truck and its load with him this jump, he figured he could now move more that that, maybe even the whole vehicle if he could find gaps in the trees large enough to get it through.

Bob spent the rest of that day trying to move his things to the farm and found, to his surprise, he could move the truck. He covered an estimated three times the straight line distance from where he appeared in this land to the farm but by nightfall, he had the truck and his belongings parked beside the small house.

The next morning, after a sparse breakfast, Bob went outside to sort through the Kilpatrick's remaining possessions. A few tools were in the barn and they might be worth something. He intended to take as much as he could when he left. He repacked his belongings more compactly and added his newly acquired items to the truck in preparation for the trip back to Norton. Just after sunrise, Roberta showed up and greeted him happily by rubbing against his legs and purring. He went to his pack and found her a small bit of meat as a welcome gift then returned to packing.

It took six days to get his truck back to Norton with everything packed in it. He travelled three or four times the distance dodging around obstacles. From time to time, he had to cut trees or move rocks to get there. He didn't even try to start the truck engine even though he still had almost a full tank of gas. There just wasn't enough open space to drive long enough to be worth it and he was good enough at levitating and moving it with magic it wasn't worth the effort.

He garnered some attention when he came walking into town with his truck floating along behind him. He wasn't sure what garnered more attention; the fact he came back, the truck, his truck load of possessions, or the fact the truck was floating and following him. He walked down the street and turned into the alley behind his building. When he got to the back door to his building, he allowed the truck to settle to the ground.

After he relaxed and got a drink of cool water he unpacked his truck, moving everything inside except the 23 chickens he managed to save. They were left in the bed of the truck with their feed and water. He put chicken wire over the bed and built a small house in it so they could get out of the rain or sun if they needed to do so. His first job the next morning would be to build them a permanent house and chicken run.

Life settled into a routine for Bob. He puttered around his house and storefront trying to learn new "magic" part of each day. He sold his services frequently and found he was making quite a bit more money than he was spending. Roberta even came to see him frequently.

Many townsfolk would nod or tip their hat when they encountered him but he never managed to develop friends. He wasn't sure if it was a personality thing or if they were afraid to become too close to a wizard but he was always an outsider. Even when he went to the whorehouse he felt tolerated more than welcomed as were most of the other customers. Finally, he stopped frequenting that establishment and just used the girls that worked out of the pub or Inn, or the occasional one that paid for his help with her body. One of them, Sasha, seemed particularly glad to see him whenever he entered the Inn, whether he availed himself of her "extra" services or not.

After Bob had been in Norton for several months he noticed some of the women he dallied with appeared to be pregnant. He wasn't sure if he was the father or not but he felt slightly guilty at the thought he might be and wasn't going to support the child or be in their life. Of course some of the women had husbands so the children could be theirs; others he knew had several lovers (especially the whores and barmaids) so he assumed some of them were pregnant by other men but the feeling remained.

Bob worked in Norton for a little over a year, becoming more unhappy almost daily. Finally, he decided to take a sabbatical. He packed food, clothing and camping supplies in a waterproof box and filled his backpack with emergency supplies in case he had to abandon the box. He made arrangements with the Innkeeper to watch over his building and care for the few chickens. The next morning, he closed up his business and began walking. He had no idea where he wanted to go but he felt as if he had to get away from Norton.