The Great Wuzzar was angry again. He stood with his hands on his hips and look of thoughtful dismay on his Wizened brow.
“This is an outrage!” he grumbled.
“Dad, what are we looking for?”
“I’ll know when I see it Weldon. Now hush!”
Weldon looked up from the huge bin of wizardly goods and across the store to the large sign on the wall. He’d tried to complain as much as possible in hopes of forcing his father to reconsider this foolish quest. But here they were far from home and Weldon’s complaints were falling on deaf ears. Well, his dad had one deaf ear from an ill formed elixer of vitality, and one ear that was selectively deaf. Mostly when it came to reason and logic.
After starting out from the house they reached the corner of their street and stopped for about ten minutes so that the wizard could find his transportational cape.
When his dad had finally pulled the dark hued robe from the depths of his bottomless pocket. Weldon asked “What’s that?”
“This my boy is a trans-dimensional traveling cape. It will take us further down the road than our feet can go without causing us much undue stress.”
Weldon nodded thoughtfully. He had never taken much of an interest in his dad’s accoutrements and inventions. He had never really had the chance he thought. Weldon’s mother had been a very stern woman and treated her household as an extension of her own life. Orderly, clean and strict. She had forced Wuzzar to keep the majority of his magical devices and artifacts away from the children and locked away. She didn’t approve of his line of work and Wuzzar loved her too much to try to convince her otherwise.
With some cajoling and quite a bit of guilt, Wuzzar managed to convince his son that the cape was not dangerous and that the trip would be that much more enjoyable if he stopped his bitching. Grumbling, Weldon allowed his father to wrap the two of them in the cool fabric of the voluminous robe.
With a soft whoosh and a gurgle of air and a hint of what smelled like bacon grease, mixed with sulfur. Wuzzar unraveled the cape with a flourish. Weldon felt ill at the pit of his stomach and tried his hardest not to throw up from the lurching feeling of the sudden transportation.
“We are here!” Wuzzar proclaimed and ushered his son along in front of him. They stepped through a doorway in front of them into a cool heady darkness.
A small chime announced their presence as their corporeal forms coalesced into shape in the dimness of the establishment.
Weldon blinked away his discomfort and looked around them. They had appeared in what looked like a small store. There were skeletons on the walls, and candles all around them. The smell of pungent incense filled the murky air in swirls of smoke and the heady aromas and hints of smoking spices and leaves spoke of far off lands. Small crates and barrels of goods and wizarding sundries lined the tables and shelves around them.
“Hey Wuzzar!” came a voice from the rear of the store.
“Ah my precious peaseblossom!” Wuzzar announced and bent to kiss the cheek of the woman that had greeted them.
Weldon looked up in shock. Through the gloom of the place he saw a woman standing behind a counter. She was dark haired and mysterious with a healthy bosom pushing up out of a lacy bodice. Her black hair outlined a white face and a striking presence. She wore silver jewelry and rings that glittered in the dim light of the place.
“A witch!” He gasped.
She looked past Wuzzar towards him. He shrank a little under her gaze.
