The Great Magical Mishap

Chapter 1 - A fishy story

"Pat, could you please stop doing that," he said as the ale dripped from his hand and sleeve.

Pat threw him a confused look. "What did I do?" he asked in a surprisingly genuine sounding tone.

"We're not all looking to get famous like you, Pat. You know I don't like the attention."

"What do you mean looking to get famous, Patricklus the Great is famed fro--"

Harrold quickly interrupted him. "From the Dark Mountains to the Lake of Light, yes I know. I think you've mentioned that once or twice."

Probably more like two hundred times.

"Also," Harrold continued, "you really have to stop calling me a Master Wizard. I can get in trouble for that."

Pat smirked and shrugged. "I don't know, you seem pretty masterful to me. How is an uneducated man like me supposed to tell the difference... you all wear the same thing. Anyway, I can still call you savior, right?"

If looks could kill, which Harrold knew to be possible, his current one would've been quite high on the scale of lethal. Not quite as high as poor old Johnson's though. Johnson's magical ability to kill with a look was famous among wizards. It required a very precise facial expression and would instantly liquefy the receiver. It was a sad day when Johnson could not prevent a sneeze while shaving in front of a mirror, resulting in him accidentally liquefying himself. Harrold had found some cat hairs in the room, most likely belonging to the Wizard Tower's resident cat. He had always known that Sir Scuttle's ability to randomly give people violent allergic reactions would end in tears. Or puddles in this case. As with everything that goes wrong due to involvement of magic or a wizard, it was declared a 'Magical Mishap'.

Harrold could get along with Johnson, though being within sight of him had always remained understandably scary, and therefore he had mostly avoided the poor old wizard. He used the same tactic on Pat, for entirely different reasons.

Pat, knowing nothing of how lethal looks could be, promptly ignored or misread Harrold's look and continued. "You have an official title, you should use it whenever you can. Savior of the Scrolls... I wish I had a cool title like that. I would make people call me Savior all the time."

Harrold sighed. "Of course you would, Pat. I'm just asking if you could stop using mi--"

Pat interrupted him as he looked toward the inn's entryway. "Look, he's here! That's the guy I was telling you about!"

Harrold couldn't be bothered to look up, though he was quite surprised. The last three times no one had bothered to show up. Pat got up and walked towards the entrance to meet the new arrival. Harrold could overhear Pat talking as he returned with the guest.

"--and this fine gentleman is none other than Master Wizard Harrold, Savior of the Scrolls!"

"A Master Wizard, you say? My, my, I'm impressed," the guest said in a thick Southern accent.

The gentleman, Harrold couldn't refer to him in any other way after hearing the accent, came to a standstill next to Harrold and tapped the floor with his cane. The floor responded with a short painful yell, still hopeful that someone would someday realize its suffering. That day would never come to pass. Harrold's interest finally piqued enough for him to bother looking up.

The man was wearing a large dark tailcoat over a neat gray vest. His cane was pure black, with a golden ornament on top. It looked like it would pack a punch if someone were to, for example, tap it on something. On his head sat a large top hat, which, unusually, also had a chinstrap to keep it in place. The gentleman threw his cane over from his left hand to his right, stood up straight, and raised his left hand to a golden valve on the side of his wrinkly head. His eyes were covered by striking golden goggles. They reminded Harrold of telescopes. A thin, long telescope on one eye, a larger stubby one on the other. All this combined with a sharp, long nose above a well-kempt large gray moustache confirmed Harrold's earlier thought. Yes, I can only refer to him as a gentleman.