The Enchantments: Book 4 - The Key of Mulastef

Chapter 32: Mulastef

The odd feeling of approaching the past was becoming second nature to Simeneon, so she closed her eyes as the sensation of nausea flared up. She held down the urge as she felt the warmth of the past wash over her as it had so many times before. The familiar smell of bread helped her through the initial assault like a warm feeling before the past erupted into chaos.

The same marketplace came into perfect clarity, large tents ravaged and decrepit to the point of falling over flapped in the midst of the savage sun beating unceremoniously down upon the weary vendors. She followed the line of stalls filled with everything from fresh fruit to artifacts and trinkets of every size.

"Lockets for Sale!" Yelled a large plump lady Simeneon remembered from the first time she appeared on the market. She smiled and knew Hampton Doultof would be skulking through the darkened alleyways on the way to a small hovel of a room he used as a hideout. She started to make her way over to him when another cloaked figure is looking very nervous and quite suspicious.

Simeneon stood on the threshold of the alley watching Doultof wipe his forehead then remove a key slipping it quickly into a large wooden door then disappearing inside. As she viewed the door closing, another larger figure stepped into the alley looking back and around. This man was even more skittish than Doultof and be the look in the man's eyes he was even more scared.

He knocked at the door swallowing hard and shuffling back and forth on nervous feet.

"Hampton it's me Mulastef, let me in, the hour is getting late." The wizard whispered through the door. It suddenly opened, and he dragged him into the small room.

"What do you mean coming here at this hour, we're not supposed to be seen together," Doultof said angrily.

"I've come from the council, and there seems to be dissension between the groups. Some are starting to feel the pressure and wonder if we should go along with this at all. While others are hell bent in ending the peace-bringing back the chaos that ensued before Raheme took power." Mulastef began to stride along the far wall. Nerves started to finally get the best of him, the bags under his eyes becoming darker every minute.

"We've come too far now there's no turning back. We must return the rightful leader, just a month ago I was a wizard first class, and now I'm festering in a small room in the derelict part of town. What about you? You live in the back of a slop house, our spell books confiscated, and our lives meaningless shells! I want the power back! I want people to fear me!" Doultof walked over to the table and with a sudden swipe of his arm sent the contents flying across the room and through a startled Simeneon watching the scene with growing fascination. "We are much more important than this!"

"What should I tell the other?" Mulastef asked nervously.

Doultof walked over to the scared little man and slapped him viscously across the face. "Does that answer your question?" Mulastef looked stunned as he placed his hand on the now red cheek stumbling over to the door slipping out without a sound.

Simeneon followed.

"How dare that insignificant ass slaps me," Mulastef whispered, walking quickly and rubbing the sore part of his cheek. "He thinks he's in charge of this? If the others follow him, they will end up dead."

He staggered down the confines of another alley filling with the familiar sounds of horses, pigs, and other nonconsequential creatures. He moved through the line of animals to the back of the stalls where a small man waited impatiently.

"Master," said the man cautiously. Skin mixed with the colors of red and purple hung loosely on one side of his face making him look like someone had taken a torch and burnt him. In fact, that's what almost what had happened to poor Sam.