A/N: Thanks to all you nice people who left me a review. :D
Chickens: The candidate gets 100 points and wins the fridge. I loved the little preserver.
Guan: Glad you don't mind.
Kinryuu and Lady Valura: The mystery will be solved, but all in good time... (Anybody want to give a guess?)
Blackjack: Normally I don't insult readers, but you are the exception to the rule! Blood for the blood god and skulls for his throne! May the mighty Khorne slay you and splatter your- well, ok, we'll stay PG-13, but you get my point, eh? Regarding your request: NO, MORON!
Part 13 - You Make Me Wanna Shout
"Tell me all about wizards, Nima" Naranja repeated her request. "What do I have to know?"
He scowled.
"What do you expect me to answer? Best behavior is not to get on their nerves!"
Naranja ignored the slight sarcasm in her friend's voice.
"Oh, c'mon, Nima. You fancy wizards so much. There must be something important about them. Doesn't the spellbook say anything?"
"Spellbook?" Raistlin asked alerted.
Naranja was obviously taken aback by this question.
"Now you are seriously making me worry, Nima. The spellbook of your father." She explained.
So the kender had a spellbook. He couldn't believe it. On the other hand, they were kender. It was probably better to ask what they didn't have than what they had. He had to find out if one of them dealt in wizardry or witchcraft.
"Where?" he asked the gypsy.
She shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe in the drawer over there."
He stood up and searched the drawer. And indeed, in one of the compartments lay an old manuscript bound in leather. It had a slight aura of magic around it. Raistlin reeled. If only this meant spells to memorize! He felt his own memorized spells being present in his mind, but without his own scrolls to study them, they would be gone after use. This was the main reason why he hadn't worked magic yet. That and the lack of proper components. Nevertheless, he had to be careful with his powers as long as he was stranded in this strange environment. But if the spells in that book were of use he would have additional resources at his disposal.
He stood there for several moments, staring at the book. Calculating. Behind him he heard Naranja hem.
"Krynn to Nima, Krynn to Nima. I'm here, helloho!"
Before he could deal with the book he had to get rid of her company.
"Look." he began. "Before I can give you the information you want, I have to study this book... Alone!"
"But you will tell me something about wizards later on?"
She wouldn't go until he gave in. He sighed.
"Yes, I will. Later."
"Oh brilliant! And by the way, look if you can find out if wizards are more handsome than other people. I'm pretty sure the wizard we are waiting for must be a cutie."
Still giggling she left. Raistlin thanked Nuitari. Scatterbrained! They were all scatterbrained!
He had just found a halfway comfortable sitting position on the kender's bed and was about to open the book, when the door opened another time. The newcomer was a man of human size, and he was strongly built. But something about the way he moved was alien. As soon as the mage looked in the stranger's face he knew why. His facial features where not entirely human. His mouth and chin were too large, his teeth too long and his brown hair stood from his big head in unruly spikes. A half-orc. An uncommon view. He wore plain clothing and no obvious weapons. A necklace made of feathers, wooden pearls, and leather hung around his neck. He carried a bowl.
"I know you want to be alone, but-" the half-orc began to speak with an unexpected soothing voice. However, he was interrupted by a definitely annoyed "kender" who didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence.
"If everybody in here knows that I want to be alone then why in the abyss doesn't anybody respect my order?" Raistlin hissed, his voice cold as ice.
The half-orc said nothing but stared at him. Raistlin stared back. They fought this battle of wills for several seconds until the halfbreed finally lowered his gaze.
"Because you are kender." he said slowly using an awkward grammar. "And your mother wants you to have dinner. They have griddle cakes. At first she wanted to bring you some herself but then she forgot. Here they are. Eat before they get cold."
The half-orc put the bowl down on a table in the middle of the tiny room.
"I go now."
Raistlin didn't answer. He just waited for the half-orc to be gone. He wasn't interested in conversation or in cakes. His sole aim was reading the book. Soon, he was alone again. Finally! The Book!
He opened it. Big ornamented letters on the front page formed the title.
Oh no! This couldn't be true! Not this one! Of all possible choices in the world, why had it to be the Grimoire of Charlatanry?!!!
This lousy excuse for a real grimoire was known as the worst spellbook that had ever been written. Most wizards forbade their students to use that book because it included too many mistakes and inconsistencies. Wizards whose students had learned spells from this book needed half of the education time to correct their apprentices' mistakes. If there was one thing all wizards of the conclave agreed on, than that this book had not been written by a wizard but by a gully dwarf who had got lost in some old library. Why of all possibilities in the world had it to be that ridiculous thing? The only one who had ever liked this grimoire had been Fizban because both were equally confused. Raistlin rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
"I bet you laugh about me, Paladine, don't you? I bet you find this all very amusing!"
Sighing, Raistlin turned the pages. Maybe he could at least find some low level spells he could use...