Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ben jerked to a stop so violently that his load nearly slipped off. "You know Ealdan?"

Dugal glared at his carrier. "Ya think living around here as long as I do I wouldn't know a legend such as that?"

"You mean he's not real?" I guessed.

Dugal returned his attention to me and folded his arms over Ben's back before he shrugged. "I wouldn't say that. I just heard that he's shy, that's all. Doesn't like people prying into his business."

"Could you take us to him?" Ben asked him.

Dugal covered his mouth as he yawned. "Maybe, but not today. I'm all tuckered out."

I lifted an eyebrow. "But it's only morning."

"And it's been a long morning, miss," Dugal countered as he rapped his knuckle against Ben's back. "Now take me to the nearest sty and toss me in."

Ben readjusted the man's weight and Dugal bounced about. "How about I'll take you to your favorite spot in the woods?"

A dark shadow settled on Dugal's brow and his amusement was dampened. "Best not, lad. It's not safe for anyone to be out there. Not since that fog came in."

"Do you know anything about it, Mr. Dugal?" I wondered.

He wrinkled his nose. "Drop the handle, miss. It's only Dugal. As for yer question, I don't know more than anyone else. Something's spoiled the air in those white clouds. You'd best keep away from them if ya know what's good for ya."

I snorted. "A little too late for that. The fog tried to attack us earlier."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Did it now? How?"

Ben shook his head. "We didn't wait to find out. Millie here dispelled the fog and it retreated into the woods."

Dugal rubbed his chin in one hand as he studied me. "Did she? And Millie, is it? Not a bad name, as far as they go. Funny I never heard it before."

"I'm not from around here," I told him.

He examined me a moment longer before he nodded his head. "I see that now. Anyway, if it's a longer chat you want you'll have to wait till tonight. I do all my best work then along with my best chatter."

Ben chuckled. "Some things never change."

"And you can drop me off here," Dugal added as he nodded at a nearby wall. "I'll sleep here or crawl somewhere more comfortable.

"Suit yourself," Ben agreed as he slid Dugal off his back and plopped the man onto the dirty ground. "Just remember the street is no place for an innocent bottle."

Dugal raised the bottle and grinned at Ben. "I see you haven't forgotten all the lessons I taught you. Cheers." He fumbled with the cork but was sober enough to be able to pop the lid and take a big swig.

Ben stepped around him and looped an arm around my waist. He led me away, but I couldn't help but look over my shoulder at the destitute man. He had struck up a tune and waved the bottle about.

"Leave me a life away from it all! Beneath the sky and the scrawl! Leave me a life as sweet as can be! Where nothing is worn but my ealdan key!"

We reached the end of the alley where I tugged on Ben's sleeve. He stopped and turned to me, and I nodded at the swaying form that was Dugal. "Should we really leave him there?"

Ben looked at where I indicated and a crooked smile slipped onto his lips. "He'll be alright. He's always lived like that."

"Like a bum?"

"More or less so."

"But you said he was good with magic."

"One of the best, but he prefers to live a simple life," Ben assured me as he led me out into the street proper. "I wouldn't have guessed he'd even been outside the Werewald except he has some knowledge of the Enastros Academy."

"That's the one the professor went to, isn't it?" I guessed.

"Just the same. The tight-lipped Dugal once told me he'd seen a brilliant cherry tree situated in the middle of the campus. The prettiest thing he'd ever seen, he said. I confirmed with our dear professor that such a tree still existed on the grounds exactly where Dugal had described."

"So did he teach you some magic or work for your family?" I asked him.

"The former," Ben answered as he gave me a look of warning. "He was most keen to see what I could do with my affliction."

My eyes widened and I nodded. "I see. And did he help?"

"Far more than my mother could have ever hoped. Without the professor and his help, I would never have mastered my abilities."

"So what part did Dugal do?"

Ben flashed me a mischievous grin. "The sneaking part."

We reached the carriage and I snorted. "Of course he did. Did he also teach you to hold your liquor?"

"When I was old enough," Ben admitted as he eyed the former establishment of our former companion. "What do you say to taking a drink here?"

I studied the ‘rustic' architecture of weathered boards and dingy darkness and wrinkled my nose. A sign above the door read ‘Moon Palace.' "Why here?"

"Dugal is rather particular about his haunts," Ben mused as he led me toward the open door.

"Doesn't he just go to the ones where he hasn't run out of a tab?" I mused.

"There is that," Ben agreed as we sauntered inside. I was relieved that the air, while a little musty, wasn't puke-laden and the front windows let in enough light to crowd the shadows into the deepest corners. Ben led us over to a small round table where he seated me first before dropping into the chair beside mine. "But he's never so drunk that his ears are shut to the latest rumors and gossip."

The burly man we had beheld before was situated behind the bar. He eyed us with a sharp look as he cleaned the glasses. A waitress bounced over with a tired smile on her face.

"What would you like?" she asked us.

"A mug of your finest ale and a black coffee," Ben told her. "And what's on the menu?"

She nodded in a general leftward direction. "Some freshly baked bread from the bakery just down the street and a pot pie."

"The meat?"

Her eyes twinkled with mischief. "Do you really want to know?"

Ben grinned. "We'll find out with two small helpings." She nodded and bounced away to obey.

One of the tables near us was occupied by two men in their early forties. They each clasped a large mug between their hands and sported long beards. Their attire was simple and slightly mud-stained, denoting an earthly occupation.

One of the men leaned toward his compatriot and lowered his voice, but not so much that I couldn't hear was he was saying. "Did you hear about the shadow that attacked Farmer Gebur's cows last night?"

His companion took a drink of his draught and licked the cream off his lips. "I heard something about it, but what's it about?"

"Something slipped into his barnyard and magicked them into a panic," the other man told him as he scooted closer to his friend. "Nearly stampeded the whole lot of them into the forest. I reckon it's them werewolves trying to get their meal for the month."

"Now don't go spreading those rumors, Maersung," our waitress scolded him as she whisked up to their table. She held a platter against her hip and a smile on her face as she set her free hand on her unoccupied hip. "We have enough trouble without inventing more."

Maersung leaned back and beamed at her with his mustache covered in beer froth. "No trouble if it's true, Aida, and you can never trust those werewolves to be thieving our animals. I've had more than one chicken go missing."

She laughed as she picked up his empty mug. "That's because you won't fix the hole in the back of your coop. Now will you be wanting anymore?"

"Not for me today, Aida," Maersung mused as he pushed his chair back and stood. "I've got some stuff to do on the farm. You know, mine's awful close to that attack and I don't want my own animals stampeding about."

"Lemme come with ya," his companion insisted as he leapt to his feet, nearly overturning his chair.

Maersung leaned in and narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Don't tell me you're afraid of some shadows, Earg."

Earg shrugged. "You never can tell what's in the dark, Maers. Might be a spook."

Maers curled his lips back in a sneer. "You know there isn't any such thing, you coward." He grabbed the back of his shrunken friend's collar and tossed him toward the door. "Now stop wasting time with your fool questions and let's get going."