"Rune Sareth" by Jessica M. Jordan

The tavern was like many others in the city. A place for "commoners," as his Mistress called them, to congregate, drink, eat, and even a place to sleep if needed. Rune was here under Melody's direction. So often she required him to merely go and listen. It had required him to get to know quite a few of the City's "commoners." He was dressed simply to fit in, none of his ornate garments that Melody enjoyed him in. He wore a simple green tunic with a cloak draped over his shoulders attractively. The tunic was long sleeved so that the runes that covered most of his body would not be visible. He had not quite mastered the art of concealing them, as they took to wanting to be noticed. A short sword was stapped to his back, but was not visible to the common observer.

Today Rune was watching one of his favorites. The girl was entertaining a table a few meters away from where he sat with his glass of red wine and a book open to a random page. The girl slipped the copper piece that one of the men watching her had volunteered under a mug. She made a big show about saying the "magic words" that sounded like gibberish to Rune's trained ears. Her shouting of the words had brought several other groups of people to watch.

Rune got up, slipped his book into his sack, grabbed his wine, and walked slowly over to the table - the girl, Gala, looked up to him briefly as she finished the drawn out "magic words" and pointed to him.

"Tap the mug for me!" She smiled at him and he did so, with a grin. What she did not notice was the miniscule rune he had drawn on the mug.

"Thank you, Sir!" The girl had no cause calling him "sir," to her eyes - he was no older than herself, still a youth in fact. She went back to entertaining, and yanked on the mug. She was dismayed to find that the drinking vessel was stuck to the table, and she couldn't pull it off. She enlisted the help of the men around the table and even with their help, the mug remained attatched to the surface of the wood. Rune grinned, nodded to her and started walking out.

"You!" Rune stopped in his tracks and sighed, not turning around. "You've enchanted it!" He slowly turned around to see the entire tavern looking at him. This was not good.

"You are mistaken, Ma'am. All I did was tap it as you asked." The girl was frowning, but there was amusement in her eyes. He frowned - he did not enjoy being toyed with. For a second, Melody's facial expression of displeasure appeared on his face, then vanished.

"I heard you say something!" One of the men that had been close to him said. This was a lie, he required to say nothing aloud for his workings. "He could've cursed us all!" Gala just nodded and encouraged them.

"I cursed no one." Rune spoke softly, for it was apparent he would need to make a hasty exit quite soon.

"So then you can curse people!" The same man spoke, and Rune sighed. This was not going well.

"Good eve, all. I must depart" He muttered something under his breath - an unwise move he knew.

"See there! He's cursing us again!" Rune walked out of the door and drew a small rune on his hand, he vanished from sight before the same big man crashed through the door after him. He appeared a split second later in a room he rented for himself when his Mistress required him to be out of her residence. It didn't happen often, but it did happen occasionally. It was there he felt the invasion of his mind, and the words booming in his ears.

"You are distressed. What has happened?" Rune doubted that she needed to be told, but let her see the incident in pictures from his mind. She would have done it anyway. "I am displeased, return to me." That was not a good incintive to run home, but he obeyed instantly, marking himself with the rune once again, he vanished. He appeared just around the corner from their residence - for teleportation into the house was impossible, Melody had seen to to that. They appeared to the public as a mother and son, but this was not so. She had taken him in after he had been cast out as an invalid and a cursed boy. The runes on his body intrigued her, and she had spent decades deciphering them, and learning the workings of runes.

He placed his hand on the door and muttered something under his breath, it unlocked for him and he entered - pulling the door shut. He heard the lock reset itself and walked toward the parlor of the large house. His mistress was not there. He then walked to her bedroom, again he did not find her. He sighed then, knowing where she must be. He had disturbed her work then. He walked to her study and pushed the already open door all the way open. She was at her desk, pouring over more books that she had brought from the Arcantifer's library. Rune's entrance must've gone noticed, but she chose to continue her reading until she had come to the end of a passage. The dark skinned face looked up from the book and wore an expression of displeasure that Rune had come to avoid at any cost.

"I am sor-" Melody's hand waved off the apology. She knew he was sorry, that didn't excuse it. She looked down at her book and spoke in such soft tones that a person standing two feet away from her could not make out the words. Rune heard them perfectly.

"I am displeased. You will remedy that situation tomorrow on your own. Wipe their minds of the incident, you must not be associated with the workings. And bring the girl to me if she does not pose too much of a problem to you." Rune closed his eyes - he didn't enjoy these types of assignments, but it was his fault. He had been sloppy. He knew what Melody would do to the girl for endangering him. "Now sit, you will dictate for me as long as I am able to speak."

Rune would have groaned if he wasn't sure that Melody would have slammed him against a wall for it. The youth walked to his table on the other side of the room. He sat down, opened the blank volume to where they had stopped, and grabbed the quill and ink. He did not need to read back the last few paragraphs, his mistress would know exactly where they had stopped - for it was her life she was dictating.