The Market Thief

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

“That building?” I squeak.

Impi peaks out of tree and shrieks, “That’s it, that’s it!”

“You’re pulling my leg.” I stare at the building. “It is suppose to have stain glass windows, with big arches and columns out front with huge statues of I don’t know lions guarding each side
of the door.”

“Fluff” snorts Alfred.

“Fluff, fluff,” Impi lands on Alfred shoulder.

“Fluff? Isn’t all the stuff that sign of great wealth and power?” I inquire.

“Stan glass windows, arches, column it is all extras you don’t need. Now remember what I told you, no talking.”

“Yes sir!” I shake my head. Here I was excited because I thought I was going to be seeing the most beautiful building with gold ornaments, huge columns, archways with flowers. The gardens only added to that excitement, if the gardens were so beautiful then the building must be stupendous. Instead I find a stone building that doesn’t even have windows. As we get closer to the building I see two huge wooden doors that open all by themselves. At least that is more like what I expected; I stop in the hallway and take a look around.

There are light globes every few feet going down a long hallway. The hallway has a crimson rug running down the middle. On the wall hangs pictures of men in robes; I look at each one as we proceed down the hallway. At the end of the hallway there is a huge room, as I look around I realize that the room is so large I can’t see to the other end, in fact, I can’t see any other walls.

I thought Hulda’s sitting room was a mess, but this is pure chaos. There are couches everywhere and not in any order, looks like they were dropped wherever they got to tired to carry them any farther. Each couch is a different color and different material. There are red, blue, green, purple, silver, and gold. The couches were made from velvet, silk, animal hides. The globes in this room are a yellow color and make the room look like it is a bright sunny day even though there are no windows.

This room is more like what I had imagined. I was not prepared for the wizards lounging on the couches. All the wizards I have ever seen were drab color robes have long flowing beards.

Alfred stops by one of the couches, the wizard sitting there is in a bright orange robe. His couch is maroon and purple striped. His hair is sticking out in every direction. I am so glad that Alfred made me put on a robe with a hood, now I can stare and no one will notice.

“Hi Boyd, its good to see you especially with what happened with your last spell, I see your hair is growing back.” Alfred walks away without giving Boyd a chance to respond.

“Renah, what have you an the little misses been up to?” Alfred asks a wizard that is dressed in white pants that balloon on top and get very tight at his angle. His shirt is yellow with big green dots on it. Once again, Alfred doesn’t wait for an answer; he keeps walking down the carpet. I take one more look at the wizard and hurry after Alfred.

Alfred waves and nods to a few wizards and call out greetings but the rest don’t even seem to notice that we are there, they keep going about there business. Alfred comes to a stop but I am so busy gawking that I don’t notice and run into him. I hurry and back up a bit and stand up straight.

Alfred straightens his robe and makes a slight bow; my guess is that this guy is the head of the Wizards Council. I peek out from under my hood. He is sitting on a huge couch that is floating about three feet in the air. There is a bunch of servants behind the couch waiting for his command. I lift my head a little bit farther to get a better look at him. He is dressed in black pants, silver shirt. A black robe with silver designs is being handed to him by one of the waiting servants. He puts his robe on as he is floating to the ground. The light reflects off his shiny head. I want so much to ask him if he waxes his head but I remember Alfred told me not to talk to I swallow my question.

“Alfred, we didn’t mean for you to drop everything rush here for such an unimportant matter. You could have just responded back.” His voice is deep like thunder rolling in with a storm. If there had been windows in the room I suspect that they would have rattled at his voice. The room seems to amplify his voice; I would bet that we have everyone’s attention now.

“I know I could have sent a response back, but I thought I could do two things at once.” Alfred’s voice sounds like a squeaking mouse in comparison. “You see I had a spell that went wrong.”

“You had a spell go wrong, you must be kidding.” Thunders the head wizard.

“Tell us about it.” Comes a voice from behind.

“Not Alfred T. Nebel, I can’t believe it. This must be a first.” Say the wizard in an orange robe.

“Alfred is the best there is at new spells, he goes strictly by the book, what could have gone wrong?” Asks another voice.

I don’t dare turn around but I want to see who is speaking. Their outfits alone has made this trip worth it but I don’t want to see them bad enough to have Alfred angry with me.

Alfred takes a deep breath and looks down. “That’s what I’m hoping you can help me with” Alfred shifts his feet. “I know that this group is busy with very important matters that need taking care of. I thought I might be able to take care of some of those task in exchange for you looking over my spell and helping figure out what went wrong.”

“We can pick the spell apart?” a surprise voice behind me says.

Alfred lets out a slow sigh, “yes, test each part and see if you can find where I went wrong.

Alfred raises his head and turns to look at
all the wizards. “I’ve checked that spell over many times, but I can’t figure out what went wrong.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chance to work on a spell in the creation stage,” says a voice to my left.

The place begins to buzz with excitement.

“When can we begin?” asks the wizard in orange.

Alfred turns back to the head wizard, “I have brought my workbooks with me, I wrote everything down exactly as it should be done, and I followed it exactly.” Alfred shakes his head. “I even brought my research books because I can’t figure out what happened.”

“What went wrong?” a silky voice purrs from the side of us.

“I think it would be a better challenge if I don’t tell you what went wrong or at least the outcome of what went wrong, hat way we can see if you get the same results.” Alfred looks at the head wizard waiting for a reply. It sounds as if everyone has started talking at the same time. I think that nothing exciting has happened to them for a long time.