Four Magikal Stones

Magikal Stones

The crowded walkways were alive with feverish activity, for it was the
'Oquam Carnival'. It was a time when the citizens of Bann reunited with
old friends, made new friends, forgot about their otherwise ordinary
daily lives and got very, very drunk. They celebrated Oquam every
summer, on the first Saturday of august before a new moon, and the
festival lasted long into the night, usually for about four or five
days. It was a memorable and joyous occasion.
The whole town was in the street, all shops were shut and the air
reeked of excitement, anticipation and Rum. There wasn't a single soul
indoors at this time, even the prisoners in the town jail could see the
parade, as long as their shackles remained tight, and most essentially,
on.
One person who wasn't joining in on the occasion was Carmen Gles. A
young man, with a clever mind, he had been involved in the war against
Reran, a nearby country who planned to dominant the magikal world. This
horrific and gruesome war resulted in Carmen's left leg being amputated
and replaced with an oak table leg.
He slunk down an abandoned alleyway, and hid in the shadows. He looked
up and down the passage, ran a tongue over his yellowing teeth and
hopped from one leg to the other, or more specifically, one wooden leg
to the other. His eye twitched nervously and he repeatedly looked at
his watch.
"Come on, where are you?"
"Right here." Came a voice from behind.
Carmen spun around and looked into the eyes of a young man. The
stranger gave a small smile, but it disappeared quickly.
"Do you have it?"
Carmen produced a black leather bag from the depths of his long
coat.
"Do you have what I want?" Carmen asked, his hand grasping the bag
firmly.
The stranger took a brown suede drawstring bag out of his pocket and
passed it to him. Carmen, unfamiliar with this man, cautiously opened
the bag. Inside, glinting and gleaming were hundreds of gold
coins.
"Is that it? You take it and go?"
The stranger stared at him.
"What do you think?"
"Okay then," Carmen said. "I'm just gonna -"
Carmen turned and ran for it, bursting out into the sunlight and
legging it down the high street, his wooden leg echoing around him. The
stranger laughed and walked away, finally melting into the
shadows.

Once the parade had finished, everyone congregated towards The Carion
Crow, the largest and by far most well known pub in the town. Carmen
walked in, and a blast of stale air hit him. The whole place thronged
with people of different colour, shape, size and species. He scanned an
eye over the bar and spotted his partner, Roger O'Malley.
He slid into a bar stool next to Roger and signalled to the barman to
get him a double whisky. A large one.
"You look rough," Roger said, trying to keep balanced on his stool.
His breath stank of ale, and he himself whiffed of body odour,
attempted to be covered by a sweet smelling herb, most likely lavender.
It didn't work.
"Yeah well, I had business to attend to."
"On Oquam? It must have been important. What was it?"
"Confidential. Anyway, how long you been here?"
"Since, er, um, what time is it?"
"It's 1 o'clock,"
"In the morning?" gasped Roger.
"No, the afternoon."
Carmen took a long gulp from his drink, and only looked at Roger when
he didn't reply. His head was resting on the bar, and a puddle of
salvia spread out from his open mouth.
"Hey, Wouk!" shouted Carmen. The barman bustled over.
"What can I do for you, Carmen?"
"How long Roger been here?"
Wouk thought for a minute.
"He was one of the early ones, so I should say about eightish.
Why?"
"Just wonderin'. Could you get us another whisky?"
Wouk staggered off, trying to get as many orders as he could.
Carmen stared down into his drink. It swirled around and began to
cloud over. He shook his head. It wasn't the time to read the water or
do anything magikal.
"Carmen! My good man!"
"Oh no," Carmen muttered. He took in a deep breath, and swung around
on his stool.
"Phyllis! How good to see you! How you been? Still going strong with
whatsherface?"
Phyllis Swatch pulled a face. He was a middle-aged man, with lank
blonde hair and grey eyes. He swayed to and fro.
"What? You mean Scissile? Nah, she's outer here man,"
"Phyllis? How you've been?"
Roger had awoken and was beaming at Phyllis, his left corner of his
mouth still attached to the bar with a thin line of spit.
Carmen turned back around and rested his head in his hands.
People he didn't know, and didn't care to know kept on slapping him on
the back, pushing him forwards so he spilt his drink.
People were asking, "Hey, how are yeh?" and "I aint seen you in ages"
to which Carmen simply replied, "Fine, except for the fact that your
nose is shoved between my buttocks," and other such unpleasant and
meaningless remarks.
His sarcastic comments were never heard, probably because he spoke
into his glass and the fact that everyone who talked to him couldn't
remember what underpants are, or what 'courtesy' meant.
He drowned his sorrows with glass after glass of rum, whisky, gin, and
any other liquid things he found. Towards the evening, Carmen found
himself talking to someone who was a good a listener as he was a
talker. The next morning, however, he found out it wasn't his long lost
love, but a green leafed plant.
This was the first day of Oquam, and Carmen had every intention on
making the week last. Finally, when everyone was ushered out of The
Carion Crow, Carmen got a hold of himself and went for a walk, plainly
saying to Roger that he was going for a walk, and he should have a good
time. Roger, however, looked panic-stricken that his best mate was
leaving him alone with two tall, thickset women who seemed to have a
lot more hair on their faces than Roger did on his arms.
Carmen hauled his pathetic gangly body through the public park,
stopping to sit down on a hard wooden bench. He rubbed his temple and
took a deep breath. He knew he shouldn't have given the stone to that
stranger, no matter how much gold he had.
The tale went, that the four 'Magikal Stones' which blessed the
country of Sofih with magik, were situated in the royal duchesses room,
locked and hidden away in a secret compartment. Anyone who had an IQ of
above one knew that they were highly dangerous and very expensive.
Which is one of the reasons that they were so closely and heavily
guarded. Except for the fact that there was one missing. There was a
neat hollow dip in the velvet of the box where the fourth stone should
lay, but nobody knew where it was. Except for Carmen and the
stranger.
Everyone in the country is happy. The duchess is happy. She doesn't
care that there isn't a fourth stone. What bothers her is whose got it.
For you see, in order to make this very strange and difficult situation
any clearer, I'll say it simply. When all the four stones meet, there
is an incredible surge of power, which invokes the holder with great
dominance.
This is how the country of Sofih became the worlds most admired and
envied Magikal country in the whole of the world. The duchess knows
that whoever has the fourth stone will almost certainly, by any means
possible, try and get the other three 'Magikal Stones'.