The Draoi

Part 2

"Hi."

Jack raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Hi? That's it?"

Mark huffed and dragged himself closer, awe being the last thing on his mind.

"I'm a bit tired after that 2 hour wa- is that a glass of water?"

Jack held out the glass silently, leaning against the doorframe with a coy look. Mark walked forward and took the glass, quickly downing the liquid. As he exhaled heavily, he looked at the Draoi, realization dawning over him.

"You're the Draoi."

Jack nodded, smiling and turning towards his cabin. He beckoned to Mark to follow him, and took a quick sip of his coffee.

"Took ya long enough. And you're right on time." Jack set down his mug and grabbed the two vials.

Jack turned, only to be faced with Mark. Leaning against the door. Breathing heavy. Covered in sweat.

He almost dropped the vials.

Mark looked up to see the Draoi holding two small vials of liquid. He also noticed the Draoi had a slight pink tint to his cheeks. Straightening up, Mark felt strange. As if being analyzed. He shifted uncomfortably and simply stared at the Draoi. It seemed the magical being was waiting for something. Mark awkwardly bowed, as you would to royalty.

"You don't havta-" Jack burst into laughter at the nervous expression on Mark's face. "You don't gotta bow to me. I ain't no King."

Mark flushed and stood again, wiping off his shirt. "Sorry, you just...you're this big magical warlock everyone always talks about and I didn't even think you were real and..."

"Well, I am real. And you don't gotta keep calling me Draoi. My name's Séan, call me Jack if you like."

Mark sat down on a cot, taking in everything. "That's quite a lot of names you got there."

Jack shrugged. "My ma always called me Jack when I was a boy."

"How long has it been since then?"

Jack stopped moving about the cabin, and scratched his neck. Furrowing his eyebrows, he struggled to count the years. Mark feared he had asked something crossing his boundary, and quickly shook his head.

"You don't have to answer if I'm overstepping-"

"No, yer not. I'm just having some trouble remembering. My memories aren't what they used ta be."

Mark nodded, looking down at his shoes. His plain sneakers rested on the aged wood that creaked when he moved. The floor looked clean, and although the shine of the wood had been gone for many years, it wasn't exactly rotted away. Mark wondered if a Jack had fixed the cabin using the trees outside. There was suddenly a slamming sound close, and Mark snapped his head up to see Jack with his hand slapped flat against the wooden table and a grin on his face.

"It was 1774! That's when I became a Draoi." Mark's eyes widened. That was over 200 years ago.

Jack kept talking as though he hadn't dropped a bomb on the other man. "74 minus 26 equals...equals...shoulda stayed in school. Equals 48. 1748. I was born in 1748."

Mark's jaw almost dropped to the floor. He had known the Draoi was ancient, but this young...man, was so filled with energy it hadn't hit him how old the warlock was. It almost scared him. How much had he seen in his years of living? How many disasters? It surprised him how the Draoi could still offer help to people, after how many years had gone by seeing what people could do?

Jack filled the cup of water again, turning around to see Mark looking shocked. He chuckled, and passed the cup into the man's hands. Leaning back onto the table, Jack simply smiled.

"Not as young as I look huh? I always was the baby of the family."

Mark closed his mouth quickly and took a sip of the water, nodding with still wide eyes. The idea that this warlock had ever been the youngest of a family was nearly unbelievable. He glanced upward for a moment, looking at the grey hairs that shined in the light of the cabin lights. They seemed to be the only thing that suggested the man was older than what he looked. Jack noticed and reached a hand up to his hair and pulled at the glowing silver hairs gently.

"Oh yeah, these things started growing in around 1820."

Mark rose his eyebrows. "You know you're way too casual about all this?"

"It's been said." Jack moved smoothly across the room and reached his hand to pat Mark's hair.

Mark looked up in surprise, bringing his gaze down after a moment to stare into Jack's eyes in confusion. Grinning, Jack felt the soft hair on the other man's head, feeling eyes on him. Glancing to meet them, Jack's smile dropped. The pair of chocolate brown eyes were being hit by the sun that streamed through the windows, illuminated as though by a small fire, as an amber colour shone through the iris. There was a strong thumping in his heart, and he felt a shiver wipe through his whole body. Shaking it off, Jack pinched his two fingers together and sharply pulled out a few hairs.

"OW! What the hell?" Mark flinched, his hand reaching up like a reflex the rub the sore spot.

Jack quickly turned away, grabbing a small vial that was shaped like a swirling tornado. Dropping in the hairs, he slid across the room, sorting through some ingredients. A root fell off a shelf, and a jar of thin slivers of a pale beige substance that looked suspiciously like dead skin was dangerously close to falling off the edge. Jack took the root, twisting it harshly until a type of juice dripped out of it. Holding the leaking root over the vial, he let three drops fall into the vial, placing the root back on the shelf. Mark however, was watching this flurry of movement, still in shock of his hairs being pulled out.

"I've decided to be generous. I'm making you a faerie dust."

Mark shook his head slightly, as though it would snap him back to reality. "A what now?"

Jack pressed a stopper on the vial and shook it heartily, before placing it on a shelf that was in full view of the sun, along with other oddly shaped vials. "A faerie dust. It's often used as a strengthening agent, but sometimes it can be used as an enchantment by itself. I'm making you a strengthening agent for your top-up."

"My top-up? It that what this thing is?" Mark held out one of the vials he was holding.

"Yes. Potions don't last forever so I gave you an extra potion for when you leave. When the other potion wears off, just use the top-up. I'm throwing in a strengthening agent so it will last longer." Jack gently pulled a different vial off the shelf. It was orange coloured, shaped like a teardrop. Inspecting it, he took a pinch of dust and sprinkled it inside. The vial shifted colours and became a pale blue.

"Why did you need my hair for that?" Mark asked, carefully opening his bag and placing the vials inside.

"When you bond a strengthening agent to a person, it become stronger and will only work with that person. That way if anyone else tries to drink your potion after you've put the dust in it, it won't work on them."

Mark nodded, as if this situation at all made any sense. "So how long will it take?"

Jack wiped his hands on a dishcloth and made his way over to a small couch, falling on it. "Oh, that thing needs to absorb the sun for another few hours, and then I have to do a small incantation over it in the moonlight, and then I have to crush a faerie into it."

"You have to what now?!"

"What did you think a faerie dust is made of? It needs the dust of a faerie to work."

Mark massaged his hands, looking down and up for a moment. He imagined the thin wings of a flitting faerie being grasped and crushed, dropping into the tornado shaped vial. Frowning, he remembered that this... Being, had lived for over 200 years. It surely had no qualms about killing. Looking up, he saw Jack walking over with something small in his hands. It glinted silver and for a scary moment Mark thought he was going to be stabbed. Jack unclasped his hand to drop a granola bar into Mark's lap.

"Thanks." Mark said, graciously.