Chapter 2
Ebb finishing the final few turns of his eggs, moves the pan from the grimy stovetop to the table. Balancing it over his plate, he dishes up a few large spoonfuls. His eggs, although difficult to know which was intended, appear to be somewhere between scrambled and over hard. As he begins emptying the skillet, the small room is filled with a tempting aroma of butter and simmering eggs and his mouth begins to water as he readies himself to enjoy his morning's culinary masterpiece. Pulling up a dusty chair, he commences to slowly sit as Claw looks on, but before his rounded, robust bottom could hit upon the lightly splintered wood, he quickly pops back up, dropping the skillet on the well-worn planks of the bench.
"Ah! One more thing I need; a slab of me aged goat cheese will certainly be good". Grabbing the round of cheese and a somewhat rusty knife from his counter, Ebb cuts off a good chunk of cheese and places it on the plate with his now cooling off eggs.
"Mmmmmm… this looks mighty good for any hungry man and smells even better than that!"
As he once again grabs up the skillet and dishes up the remaining eggs onto his plate, an up-over falls from the pan and onto the table, gently bouncing off towards the cobblestone floor.
Before it could even reach the cobblestones; SWOOSH!... Claw snatches the falling morsel up in mid-flight and returns directly to his perch. Enjoying the still warm morsel, his black eyes now affixed on Ebb, he squawks a sound that could have been construed as a laugh, had he been human. Finishing the last of the dropping, Claw returns to an attentive stance in hopes of another bite falling from the upturned pan.
"Claw, you damn dig wig of a bird! How many times have I told you? No wildish swooping inside of me house! It startles older folks to no end and puts me on my last good nerve! Out with you, out with you, I say!"
As Claw watches every turn of the skillet and every scrape of the spoon, he totally ignores Ebb's authoritative demand.
With a fiery glance, Ebb says smugly, "Now, if you don't mind, you lice-bitten critter, I am going to enjoy this breakfast, in the peace and quiet of me home, and when done you will be out of here for the rest of the day!"
Claw, being a very independent sort, looks towards the kitchen window and remarks, "Silly ole' man, your window be open, and I can let myself out... or in, anytime I so choose!"
"There you go again… always breaking the rules. I'm not sure why I even have them if they are always going to be ignored by you!"
"Ole' man, calm yourself!… I'm a bird… I fly… that is what I do! Your hop here or hop there routine, really doesn't work for me".
"Ha! I see! You have 'selective' bird behaviors… when it suits your needs?"
"With another squawk (or a laugh as it might have been), Claw stretches his wings as if to ready himself for flight, but doesn't, just to infuriate Ebb.
Just as Ebb grabs a nearby broom and swings it in the direction of Claw's perch, a loud knock on the door, followed by four more rapid knocks echo in the small space; startling them both...."Hold onto your smaller clothes! I'm coming!" Ebb yells out gruffly to the would-be caller.
Ebb a man, who has few, if any, words for strangers, yells to the caller, "Who be there and what do you want with me?"
"I say... your loud words, old man, are quite unfriendly sounding, to an old friend such as I!"
"Old friend?.... Ha! I don't have any old friends in the whereabouts of Maplewood Cove, I can recall at the moment."
"Well, let me enlighten you... Ebb you crotchety old fool! Although what you say, might be true, you've obviously been out here with that damn crow by yourself, far too long to remember your one true friend OR your manners! It's Mulk, the soothsayer, known far and away, here at your door AND at your service. You cantankerous old tinker, don't you recognize my knock?"
As Ebb opens the door slowly, his voice now quieter... "I guess not." With a bit of sharpness in his tone, he quips, "It's only been five summers since that knock fell upon my door... FIVE SUMMERS! Now that you mention it and I've dusted away the cobwebs of my recollection, I guess it did sound like you."
"Well of course it's me, who else would it be? You are far too cranky for visitors... certainly not a pleasure to be around someone, for sure."
"Ah, what do you mean? I am very friendly to those I WISH to be friendly to..."
"THAT would be NO ONE!" chimes in Claw with a quick loud cackle.
Ebb, with broom still in hand, banters back, "No one asked you lice bit feather duster!"
"Having trouble I see with your talking field crow Ebb?" Mulk asks him with a half-smile.
"Trouble? Yes, indeed he has been trouble, always trouble. He has been NOTHING BUT annoying trouble since he snorted in that magic dust some months back. Mouthy as all get out he is and moves about me dwelling like he owns the darn place... on my last good nerve, he is!"
"Hmmm...", Mulk smiles as he lights, the long pipe... the aroma of Nicotiana filling the air with white dancing smoke.
As Mulk holds out the pipe to Ebb as an offering, Ebb shakes his head no and asks, "Now what order of business brings you here this time of the morning to see me?" Ebb curiously inquires.
"Well, old friend, I see you still have no apprentice. Your lookers have found no one, I presume?"
"Not yet... had a couple of good prospects, but sadly no takers. The swains these days are either too lazy... or maybe too smart... Ahhhh... maybe it's both, none will risk their life."
Moving from the doorway, Mulk touches Ebb's arm, encouraging him to move towards the bench and sit down.
"Well then... I have some good news for you my friend and I also have some bad news. The good news is that the boy you seek... the boy who will become your most capable, willing apprentice is two days travel from here."
Ebb's down-turned face, looks up in surprise... his eyebrows raised, wrinkling his forehead and with a brighter twinkle in both his eyes, he carefully smiles a rather toothy grin.
"Finally! Finally, some good news...but...?"
Immediately holding up his hand signaling Ebb to cease his conversation, Mulk scolds, "Look, old man, if you are thinking two days?... is a two-day trip going to be worth it, I am telling you... yes... it's worth it... yes, he will come with us, and YES... you will have your most needed apprentice."
Claw, his head bobbing up and down as he rocks from one twig-like leg to the other squawks, "When do we leave? I'm up for an adventure... surely will beat being yelled at all day, sittin' round here with a grumpy old man!" Claw declares!
Quickly standing, with the broom readied, "You're not going!" Ebb yells.
"Oh, yes I am...and you cannot stop me... remember, I fly and I fly far above your tired old arms reach!"
Mulk, listening to the squabble, eyes several snow-white eggs sitting in a basket near the stove.
"Ebb, do you mind if I fix those eggs of yours while you and the bird work out your travel plans?"
"Yes, of course, help yourself, Cut off a slab of that goat cheese sitting there under the towel... the knife is there too."
With eggs in hand, Mulk moves towards the stove and the still warm fry pan. Clearing his throat, he turns to Ebb as he cracks the first egg... "I think the bird should go. The boy and he become extremely good friends... I've seen it all, and NOW I tell you for certain Ebb... Claw bird is going along with us."
"Well, that's a fine damn how-do-you-do...I will not second guess a master soothsayer; never have and never will. I guess the bird goes... not my liking one bit... but the bird goes."
As Mulk sits to enjoy his breakfast, Ebb reaches for a worn leather satchel that sits covered with years of dust in the corner.
"What to pack...what to pack indeed?" he murmurs under his breath.
Dusting off the leather bag and flipping a Dostring spider away from the strap, Ebb murmurs as he stuffs a few not too dirty shirts and a pair of pants into his satchel, "Two days? I haven't been that far from this place in many years."
With a chuckle, Mulk smirks, "Well... It is high time we change that, you old recluse, don't you think?"
"Not really; had no need to travel much farther than Clark's crick for me drinking water... that's what I had young lookers for, I reckon. They were to do the travel with their strong legs for me... seek out and find me apprentice... and then deliver his willingness here to me and swear his allegiance to the trade."
"And that worked well for you, did it not?" Mulk smirks a half-smile.
Glaring back at Mulk, Ebb grabs a pair of socks in need of darning from a shelf and throws them in the bag. "So tell me, old friend...", Ebb asks with an upturned brow and changes the subject. "You have wet my appetite with the good news; I can't help but be curious as to what flavor the bad news will taste."
"Ah... the bad news... well... we will speak of that along the road."
"Is it so dreadfully distasteful that it will fend me away from making this trip? Or was the good news just a trick to have me believe you indeed have an apprentice for me at the end of our journey?"
"It is certainly not a trick... but it is indeed such that I do not want you feeling bad for the entire trek... we will talk of it when the time is right... and no sooner. You must trust me on this one... it is for your own well-being."
"As I said, I would never second guess a soothsayer... so you tell me when you see fit and nothing more will be spoken of it until that time."
"Agreed... now are you packed? Have everything you might... or don't need?" Mulk says with a smile.
" I believe I have... except for a little protection!"
"Protection?"
"A bit of magic, ya know... to ward off all that may want to do me or you harm."
"Well... look out for yourself, my friend... have magic of my own with me," Mulks smiles. "Bring what you must, if it makes you feel better."
"Indeed I will. You just never know what one might encounter... can't be too careful and certainly not ill-prepared." Grabbing several magic boxes to stuff in his bag, Ebb finally announces, "I be ready... and you Mulk?"