Tales of the Strange

Chapter 3 - The Pupil of the Wizard

Artemis' eyes stuck on the ceiling, it was early morning, however the birds were already awake enough to sing their tune, he always wondered why they did that. Sometimes he wondered whether it was for humans to hear or if it was their form of communication, a language of melody.

He barely got any sleep during the night, maybe a few hours before he woke up again, he was unsure why, perhaps it was simply his anxious mind which did not dare to dream.

It was roughly an hour after the birds started to sing their familiar melody that a knock came at his door, and Artemis already felt that strange light feeling in the air that surrounded Alim at all times.

"Come in."

The boy's voice was rough and weak, deeper than usual, it cracked from the lack of use all night.

The door creaked open, and Alim tilted his head with a wave.

"Good morning, you are awake at an early hour."

Artemis closed his eyes, rolling onto his side and curling up underneath the fluffy blankets.

"I did not sleep much."

Alim glanced aside with slight awkwardness as his hand fell beside him, instead his attention wandered while he stepped into the room, glancing around with his usual never ending curiosity.

"Hm, hm I see, well, how about a little errand you could perhaps run for me?"

His eyes stuck on a journal, Alim kept some around for his own uses and lent some to Artemis from time to time, not that particular one though.

"Ugh, run it for yourself. You are always so active when it comes to your own research but never when you have to work."

Alim reached down for the journal just as Artemis' eyes laid on him, and the boy sat up immediately after recognizing it. The man took it in his hand, staring at it until the sleepy boy took it from him forcefully.

"Can you stop touching my god damned belongings? I do not go through your journals either."

Artemis sighed as Alim held his hands up in surrender, his smile never once wavering.

"I was not attempting to read through it. Simply curious of its purpose, and origin. You are rather snappy today, is there any correlation between that which happened yesterday and your emotional state?"

Even as Artemis stared daggers into him, Alim did not feel a need to stop asking into things, he simply stood up again and continued to glance around the room, now with his arms behind his back.

"I simply did not sleep well, that is all. What do you want?"

Artemis threw the journal onto his bed then sat down as well, feeling the morning sleepiness set in fully. He felt more awake while staring at the ceiling in bed.

"Oh, yes."

Alim turned to him, posture strangely straightened out.

"The family which lives at the south end of the town, Camborne I believe they are called, are you familiar with them?"

That was a strange question, but Alim did not wait for his answer, what Artemis wanted to say was that yes, he had in fact heard their name mentioned before. The head of the family owned a few businesses that Artemis frequently visited, like the shop which he frequented for ink replacements.

"Well, I received a letter from Charlotte Camborne some week ago, if I am not mistaken, the oldest daughter of the family. She wished to receive any help they could get from a peculiar individual such as myself as regular medicine has left them without answers about their dear mother's ailment."