Wizards and Thieves - Chapter Two
Chapter Two: Same Old Brand New You
Niall reluctantly woke up; his head was pounding from the magical backlash. He put his hand on his head and groaned as he blinked his eyes. "Mossy?"
"Ah, you're awake," Mossy's voice came from across the room.
Niall sat up and held his head in his hands. "Blank, my head is swimming."
Mossy's voice came closer as he bustled over. "You surprised me when I opened the door to see you on the floor. I thought that something had gone wrong and I was just about to call the Suit of all people."
"The Suit?" Niall asked. He looked up at Mossy and blinked. To his surprise, Mossy was wearing this bright orange patterned shirt and he had on these thick black glasses. "What's with the look? I thought that we were escaping tonight?"
"You really did hit your head," Mossy said, amazement in his voice. "You've been dragging your feet for so long, what’s made you decide differently?"
"I just don't think we'll get away after what I just did," Niall said. He gave Mossy another odd look; that had been the plan ever since Niall had been taken away as the 'chosen one.' "I gave the Priest the slip, but I doubt that we have too long before someone manages to trace the backlash."
"What backlash?" Mossy asked. "Neal, what are you talking about?"
"Are you sure that you weren't hit with the backlash?" Niall asked. "Your behavior is a bit odd, you know, and your looks..."
"What is wrong with the way I look?" Mossy asked, glancing down at his orange shirt. "I didn't think that the orange was too bright and I wanted to look festive."
"Listen, let's just save the festivities until after we get out of here," Niall said. "One party or another, they'll be after us."
"Do you want to head back to your place first? Or did you already cut your anklet?" Mossy asked.
Niall blinked at him. "There's no need to head back to my place and what anklet? They didn't place a tracking spell on me, did they?"
"Oh, boy," Mossy said. He fumbled around with the medicinal things in his hands before setting them down. "Yeah, let's get going. I hate to do this, but yeah, this is necessary."
"Good," Niall said. He stood up and stumbled, grabbing onto Mossy's shoulder to keep his balance. He looked around at the place that Mossy had taken him to and frowned. Had Mossy broken into one of the higher classes' buildings? This place was entirely too clean.
Mossy scrambled around, grabbing more things and then ushered Niall over to the door, keeping ah old on him to make sure that Niall would not fall over. The outside of the building was as strange as the inside, as the only thing left was a short entry way that led to the room. The sidewalk outside was as dirty as Niall was used to, but the noise was something surprising.
There were carriages that were not pulled by any horses that Niall could see. A chill ran down his spine and he wondered if he was out for longer than he thought. Lord Petros must have taken over and those were his contraptions. He balked when Mossy motioned for him to get into one of those magical carriages; it must have been a long time if Mossy had given in to the new order of things.
Niall ran a hand down his face, searching for wrinkles. His face seemed as young as he remembered it feeling and he was still wearing the same outfit from earlier. He managed to catch a glimpse of himself in the glass window and at least he didn’t look like he had spent ages asleep. Maybe Mossy was only using the strange carriages as a sort of a way to blend in?
Niall got into the strange carriage and Mossy somehow made it start. Niall stared as they made their way through varying and crowded streets. Lord Petros had been busy, as there were a lot of the strange carriages all over the place. They moved so fast that Niall wasn't really sure what was going on. He just clutched the side of the carriage door and tried to trust in Mossy.
Mossy brought the strange carriage to a stop in front of a house in a nice, peaceful neighborhood. They got out of the car and approached one of the houses, where Mossy knocked in a complicated pattern. Niall wondered if this were another safe house. Or maybe this was a physician's place? Maybe even a mage's place to deal with the odd backlash?
The door opened and Niall's knees went weak as he recognized the person on the other side. Lord Petros. Mossy had turned sides and now worked for Lord Petros? Then, does that mean that he was giving the chosen one over to Lord Petros? But, what was Lord Petros doing inside of an ordinary house? It was very odd.
"Mossy, what are you doing here?" Lord Petros asked. He shot a look over at Niall. "Don't tell me that the two of you got into trouble with whatever scheme you had up your sleeve?"
"No, I'm here to ask you whether you let Niall hit his head during your time with him," Mossy said. He pushed his way into the house and then Lord Petros stepped back to allow Niall in. As Niall passed him by, deciding to see what was going on, Lord Petros gave him a calculating look.
"Niall didn't hit his head from what I saw," Lord Petros said. "We spent most of the day doing paperwork, though there was a bit of time where we took down a suspect."
"And you didn't think to check him for injuries?" Mossy asked as he gestured towards Niall.
Niall was highly confused at this point; he had been with the high priest all day and not with Lord Petros. He hadn't ever met Lord Petros, so why was Lord Petro so interested in him?
"Because I normally can tell if he gets injured and I make him get it checked out," Lord Petros replied.
"Is everything okay?" another voice asked. Niall turned towards the woman who entered the room. She gave him a worried look and came over to join them.
"Mossy says that Niall hit his head," Lord Petros said.
"Oh." Giving Niall a look, she came over to him and took his head in both of her hands. She tilted his head from side to side, staring intently at his eyes. "Well, it doesn't look like he has a concussion, though he does look rather dazed. Niall, dear, how many fingers am I holding up?"
The woman held up two fingers and Niall stared at them. "What is going on here?"
Chapter Three