Tales From the Haberdashery

One

The bell above the door chimed.

“Hello, Mathias. Is he in?”

“You know he’s in; he is always in.”

“Well, he’s not ALWAYS in.”

“It’s been 84 days. He is always in.” The mole went to the pully system on the wall and gave it a good couple of tugs. “Something tells me you aren’t looking for buttons.”

“No, not buttons. I need him.”

“He’s coming.”

“Can you be sure?”

“I rang the bell, didn’t I? You saw me ring the bell.”

“Yes, yes, I saw you, but does he always come for the bell?”

“Of course, he comes for the bell, why would we even put the bell in if he wasn’t going to come for the bell?”

“Well, I don’t know! Maybe he’s preoccupied, maybe he’ll ignore the bell.”

“He’s always preoccupied.”

“So, maybe he will ignore the bell.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, what do we do then?”

Mathias looked into the compounded eyes of the moth.

“He always comes for the bell.”

The back door opened. Dark lay beyond it and the moth clutched the coin purse in his hand for strength.

“Tim!” A welcoming voice came from the darkness and the light began to pick up on the silky feathers.

“Eldric?”

Through the door entered an anthropomorphic raven. He was wearing a casual vest in plum and black dress pants. His feathers blended perfectly into darkness, but the light caught them and a sheen of green and purple was subtly exposed.

“Tim!” A black feathered hand clapped on his shoulder. “Good to see you! In the market for a few new buttons? We’ve just had an order from the city of Bronze, and we’ve made some excellent buttons that will really pop against the green of this vest!” Eldric tapped Tim’s lapel.

“Eldric,” Tim said in a serious tone.

“Silk pocket square then? The desert spiders have outdone themselves with the finery and we procured them to no small feat.”

“Eldric…”

Eldric let out a long sigh. “A hat then?”

“A hat, yes.” Tim stared into the gold that flecked Eldric’s irises wondering what they sought. Eldric arched his brow and studied him. Tim wasn’t sure if he had ever seen eyes that searched so, what are you looking for old friend?

“What kind of bloody hat, Tim, quit staring at me like that, look alive, man! I can’t very well get started if I have no start point. Size, colour, shape, magical properties, give me the details, hop to it, as it were.”

Tim puffed up, “Right! Uhh, yes, well…” he searched for the words.

“Today, Tim! Today!” Eldric brought the back of his feathered hand down to meet his palm with a satisfying smack.

Tim collected himself and, in an effort, not to become enthralled he did his best not to gaze directly at Eldric.

“You have my measurements; it is for me. I couldn’t care less for colour and style. I found a book. Well, I didn’t find it, a hero brought it to me when they happened to be passing through to The City and they gave it to me, quite a lovely hero, she was coming back from the Great Green, she’d been purifying the path to uphold the wards and allow safe passage, isn’t that kind? Nobody asked her to, she just happened to notice that the protections had been fading in areas and patched up the spots, do you know how many creatures and curses can get into towns from breaks like that? Too many for my liking, and we’re still a ways from the Great Green, but I don’t want to tempt fate. All it takes is one to take out the whole area and then who knows how we’d clean that mess-“

“Stay with me Tim, the book, the hat.” Eldric had rested an elbow on a nearby shelf and was cradling his head in a propped-up hand.

“Right! She was patching up a spot when she heard a thud, she turned around and this book had appeared in the middle of the path. It wasn’t there when she had first walked up, so she decided not to open it and just wrapped it up and brought it with her. My shop was the first book vault she came across and thus, the book is in my possession for assessment.”

“But?”

“But the child was right not to open it. There is something powerful attached, though I can’t discern what exactly and you know how it is to remove a curse, so I was hoping you could create something to protect me from the dangers that may be present with assessing the text.”

“I see, well, you know what I am going to say.” Overlapping one another they spoke at the same time,

“I’m going to need to see the book.”

“I can’t let you see the book.”

Eldric slapped the shelf and turned on his heel as he proclaimed, “The hero carried the book from the Great Green to our village. What would you call that Mathias, a six-day journey?”

“Maybe for you, I could do it in four.” Mathias leaned back on his stool.

Eldric’s mouth crooked into a smirk, “Let’s play fair and call it a five-day journey.” Tim crossed his arms and waited for a point to be made. Eldric continued, “So, this hero spends all this time hanging out with the book, travelling, resting, swapping stories, then proceeds to leave it with you and carry on her happy path, unphased by the book’s power in a meaningful way, yes?

“I don’t think it’s as you put it ‘swapping stories,’ she wrapped the book, kept it tucked away.”

“In any case. If I am to make you a hat of protection, I need to know what I am protecting from. Unless you are hoping to spend your life’s fortune on one hat, I can only imbue so much into each and if I am to create a hat that will protect you, I need to get as specific as possible.”

Tim risked a long look at Eldric. He trusted him, they’d known each other long enough, built up the town together.

“We both know you will agree, Tim. Now go collect the book from wherever you’ve stashed it outside. I need to fetch a pearl. I’ll meet you back here in a jiffy.” He pulled the silk pocket square from his jacket with a flourish.

Tim let his held breath go then—shaking his head to himself—he headed back out the front door to collect the book from the warded tree hollow.

Upon his return, Eldric rushed from the back of the shop holding a plinth. While Mathias ran around lighting the candles, he closed each ornate wooden shutter as he went, plunging the room into darkness. Tim clutched the book to his chest as he watched them work.

“This is all for ambiance, Tim! No need to fret!” Eldric laid the silk pocket square on the plinth tapping it, “Come, set your scary book here.”

Tim took a breath in and gulped. He walked forward finding he had to use force to peel the book away from himself to unwrap the cloth that hid it. He placed it in the designated spot.

“Take a wee step back, Tim,” Eldric asked politely, then in a booming voice that shook the jars of buttons and seemed to echo from him he spoke. “I-DEN-TI-FYYYYY!” He brought his hands together above him. The light around him waned and stretched as he crushed the pearl above his head. He scattered the dust across the book. A crashing silence followed. Tim leaned forward to glimpse what would happen next, transfixed by such a display of magic ability. Eldric’s arms shot out at a 45-degree angle, startling Tim as he watched Eldric’s head roll back. He then gripped either side of the plinth as his head shot forward, and he released a groan. Mathias walked forward with a bronze dish encrusted with amethyst before scurrying off to open each shutter and blow out the candles he had lit only moments before. Eldric dipped the tip of his beak into the dish. He appeared to relish in the liquid.

“Sweet Lady of Pages, Eldric, are you alright?” Tim wiped up along his forehead with each of his palms and then shook them out to the side, blessing his space.

“Never better, Tim! I have the answers I need to get started and by the end of the day, you sir, will have a brand-new hat.” He wrapped the book in the silk cloth before returning it to Tim.

“Tea?” Mathias asked as he grabbed Tim’s arm to lead him to a table by one of the open windows. Tim stared after Eldric, who went to the back to commence work.

“It is something isn’t it?” Tim asked Mathias.

“I guess. To be honest, I never really got all the ‘magic’ stuff.”

Hours later, Tim sat down his empty cup and watched from the window as the sun began to set over the rolling hills towards the bridge to The City. It would grow dark soon.

“Do you think Eldric will be done soon? If I get caught in the dark, there is no telling where I might go if the lights come on.”

“Do I think Eldric will be done making your magical hat to protect you from an evil book soon? Gee, I don’t know, maybe I’ll go back and tell him to work faster.”

“Alright, alright, I get it, Mathias.”

“If it gets dark, you’ll stay put, Eldric won’t let you wander off into the forest toward some mysterious light, or stay out in the town square all night like last time. He’s not some-” The approaching steps cut off the rest.

“No need to argue gentlemen, I have it here.” Eldric held a loft a purple cushion that held the hat the colour of the sky and patterned with clouds. On top, it was flat with a stiff brim that came down and flared out at the bottom.

“Eldric-that’s…” Tim struggled with the words, “It’s perfect! Where did you come up with such a design?”

“You know I can’t reveal that Tim, but I will say that I wanted to focus on the magical properties, so I needed a sleek design, and I know you need it today, while I love to make you wait, the urgency isn’t lost on me.”

“I can’t thank you enough!” Tim accepted the hat graciously. He wasted no time putting it on and using the leather tie to secure it under his chin.

“You are welcome, Tim. Mathias will send you the bill within the week but worry of it not. Go before the sun does, and head straight back to the Book Vault, you haven’t the sun to dally.”

Eldric watched his friend go. He relaxed as he saw him disappear behind the hill.

“Still plenty of sun.” He stretched his arms above his head and pushed his hips forward. “Are they such a pain, Mathias? Curses? That you’d avoid them altogether by spending your hard-earned money on an enchanted hat?”

“They say all kinds of things about curses, that they deteriorate your soul, that they can’t even truly be removed. Folks believe all sorts of things. I believe that the hat means they don’t have to deal with the work of ridding the curse. With the hat, you get to do the work, and they just have to wait. They always complain about that though. The waiting.”

“Right, you are, Mathias.” Eldric looked out to the hills, the bridge, and the setting sun. “Right, you are.”