Outside the earthen dwelling of the Oba of the conjurors elu, Brad Jordan pouted like a child.
“Why I gotta learn magic to get outta here?”
He wasn’t really asking Baity, mostly just saying his frustrations out loud, but Baity felt sorry for him and tried to cheer him up.
“I learned Death Magic here,” Baity said. “It can’t be too hard if I can do it. I didn’t even believe in magic before I came here. Magic to me was the buzz from palm wine. But now I can cast with the best of them. I will introduce you to my teacher if you like.”
“Who is it?” Brad Jordan asked.
“Baron Samedi,” Baity said. The two were walking the road back to the fork they had arrived at when they entered the elu, and when they arrived there, Baity stood at the road that forked furthest to the left. “I can take you to him. But be warned Brad Jordan, once you the Baron takes you as a student, he decides when you are done. You will be his dead until he is done with you, no matter how long that takes.”
“What’s the point of that? I’m trying to learn enough to leave Deads’ Town, I don’t need this Samedi keeping me here like a slave just to learn something I can’t use.”
“You should tell him your desires,” Baity said with a sly smile. “This is Deads’s Town, created by Owuo, but Legba has used it to hide away Fonlanders he thinks are problematic. I have enjoyed getting to know you since you arrived here, Brad Jordan, hearing about your living life. And I do believe that the Baron Samedi will be happy to have you as a student. He will show you favor, and if you have a reason to leave Deads’ Town that delights him, I’m sure he will share secrets with you that he does not share with any other dead. Trust me, Brad Jordan, we have bonded in our time. Trust me that I would not lead you further away from your goal.”
Baity smiled and Brad Jordan trusted him. Baity had never led him astray, and he had a hunch that this Baron Samedi could be his ticket out of this place.
“Let’s do it then,” he said, then followed Baity down the road that forked furthest to the left.
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