Search the Forgotten - Chapter Six      Well, that was my plan.  I had some hooks and line and I figured I could dig up some worms or small bugs or something for bait.  I was going to ride Red to the nearest stream.  But I had to ask where to find it.  I figured if I asked Orin, he'd want to go and I wanted to go alone.  I asked Jae.  I should have asked Orin.      Jae didn't think me going off by myself was such a good idea.  When I told him that I was going anyway he said that Arthester wanted to see me in the cavern laboratory.  Odd.  Why didn't he tell me that before I said I was going fishing?      So, I worked my way through the cavern, following the directions that Jae had given me.  Once, when I came to a fork, I turned to the right as Jae had said, but there were two tunnels there.  I wasn't sure which way to go at first.  Then, it just suddenly came to me that I should enter a certain one.  I did.  As it turned out, it was the right one.  (Well, the correct one.  Technically is was the left one of the two.)      I found Arthester hunched over some equipment arranged on a table.  The table was one among many tables in the cavern.  Some of the tables had scrolls and books on them, many of them opened to a page for reference.  There were inks of varying colors and quills and different sized brushes in holders.  I looked at one drawing of a bird and Arthester's signature was beside it.  The bird was a common sparrow, but it's depiction was very lifelike.  I'd seen other such drawings in some of his books in his library.  Other tables had glass jars and beakers and other apparatus on them of the alchemical arts.  Arthester was adding powder to some red fluid in a glass beaker at one of the latter tables.  I waited until he began stirring the mixture with a glass rod before speaking.       "You wanted to see me?" I asked quietly.  Interestingly, the red fluid had some blue swirls in it now.  As I watched, the blue faded and the red turned to a dark maroon color.      "Just a moment," Arthester said quietly.  He stopped stirring, placed the rod into a glass of clear liquid that I presume was water, gave it a few swirls, then took it out and wiped it off with a cloth.  He set it down on another relatively clean cloth.      I glanced at some vials of liquid in a rack.  Each was a different color and one had rainbow swirls in it. It was almost mesmerizing as it drew my attention.  Perhaps, I should hold it.  I reached toward it, wondering how the swirls remained separated.  I had to pick it up.      "Leave that be," Arthester said.  He said it quietly.  Not quite a whisper.  But the command was absolutely clear.      I drew my hand away as if it had gotten burned.  "Sorry," was all I could manage to say.      "Hand me the egootsirt root powder," Arthester asked.      I looked around at the vials, jars and other containers on the table.  Now, which one could be the egootsirt root powder?      "The orange power in the jar to your left," Arthester said, as if he read my mind.  For a second I wondered if he could.      Carefully, I picked up the jar in question.  I looked through the side of the jar, then handed it to the Master Mage.  "It's nearly empty," I commented helpfully.      "Thank you," the Master Mage and Alchemist said.  He used a small wooden spoon to scrape out the powder.  "Yes, I've been busy and haven't had the time to harvest more.  He glanced at me.  "I didn't know I'd need any for a while either." A brief curl of his lips in humor flitted briefly across his face and then he turned back to his task and added the powder to his mixture.  "Well, that's the last of it."  As he mixed it, the fluid turned a light green, like young grass.  He poured the fluid into a flask and placed it on a small tripod.  Then he placed a lit candle under it to heat it.      "I presume," I said slowly, "that's for me?"      Arthester smiled evilly.  It was not reassuring for some reason.  "Yes.  As a matter of fact, it is," he said.  "It'll be ready for use tonight."  His smile faded.  "Eat a big lunch.  You won't be eating supper."      Oh?  "No supper?" I asked.  I may not be able to remember much before waking up in that alley, but I have learned since then that I like my meals.  To go without one just didn't seem natural to me.      "No supper," he said.      No supper.  Of all the cruel jokes that could have been played upon me, it had to be no supper.  I should have asked Orin where the nearest fishing spot was.  I should have gone fishing. - = - = - Return to top of page. Chapter Seven     I...uhm...don't think I'm ready for email yet.    ;-) But that doesn't mean you can't try and send me a note! Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004 B. J. Miller Jr. All Rights Reserved