Wizard of Elements

by Calista Lambrechts

  I didn’t know how I was supposed to get the wizard’s attention. Even if I peeped the loudest I possibly could, it still wouldn’t be enough. And, on the other hand, how could I knock? You know, having no hands and all.

  My mind paged through numerous ideas, and so I came up with another plan. I took a few steps back, readied my breath and rammed into the door. I hit the door repeatedly, glad the door had such an acceptable echo at its wake.

  Open up! I can’t keep this up forever. It’s only a matter of time before I get a migraine!

  I wonder how many brain cells I’ve lost over the last few minutes of head bumping. Even though it was an option, one I considered, peeping like a chicken really was the last thing I wanted to do. The humiliation was already far over the limit.

  After a while – a good long while – the wizard finally opened the door. His eyes broadened with the surprise of a meagre chicken waiting impatiently at his doorstep.

  I think a chicken was the last visitor he expected. At least I could stop hitting my head. My one eye was already twitching unnaturally long.

  “What’s this? A chicken?” he asked curiously. I shoved the satchel forward with one of my talons.

  The wizard cocked his head, bending to take the satchel claws. He flipped open the flap.

  “The talisman!”

  He took it, toying it in his hands, impressed. His eyes rolled down to me and he took the chance to study me from head to toe.

  “This is just great,” he sighed. I sensed some sort of disappointment in his tone of voice. His eyes told me the story of his misery.

  “The girl couldn’t succeed in getting this. Instead a chicken could. In other words, the chicken could do something she couldn’t. How very substandard. Though I wonder what could have happened to her.”

  “What? Don’t you recognise me? Don’t you at least recognise the satchel?” The chicken language was strong in me, something I simply couldn’t control.

  The wizard gave a smile. I knew he wouldn’t understand. Who speaks chicken except for chickens anyways?

  “You made me proud today, little one. Now come here.” He bent down to gently pick me up, holding me under his arms as his warm eyes caressed my being. I never imagined this in my future.

  “Come on. Let us go inside. I’m quite hungry.”

  I yelped. My eyes grew larger.

  Are you… serious? Not again! Why do I look so delicious to everyone?! Does everyone in Ysellian have a taste for chicken nowadays?

  I tried pecking at him, anywhere I could possibly reach, trying to get him to let go of me, but unfortunately he was too smart for me and kept a good distance. I tried pecking his hand, but it didn’t even appear to bother him. It appeared like little more than a mosquito bite. I knew the end was near as we entered the kitchen. “Help!” I peeped.

  The wizard put me on the kitchen table and secured me with a frost spell so that there was no way for me to escape or attack. Once again, the power of water and air. Temperature control.

  My chicken legs were frozen in a prickly block of ice.

  The wizard reached into my satchel one last time, withdrawing a handful of beautiful Mugajin flowers.

  A faint grin appeared on his lips, even though his eyes stayed grim. It was a sadness unable to be fought. Even I knew that. My heart chased me whenever I would think of the possibility for Terrowin to be dead, and I barely knew him. Just imagine the eternal anguish the grand Wizard had to be dealing with as it shred and tore at his heart. I pitied him above all.

  Gulping, he turned his hand holding the flowers into a fist, shooting a flash glance up at the ceiling before disappearing from the kitchen. A silent prayer perhaps? A subconscious hope?

  The wizard flashed a grim glance back at me before disappearing round the corner. I could hear the thomping of his shoes ascending the spiralling staircase.

  I was stuck, no way for me to get out. I wished I would get angry so that I could melt the ice and make a run for it, but alas, I had no control over my emotions and my powers. I was a sitting duck… uhm… sitting chicken.

  The moments flew me by, growing in anticipation and terrible apprehension of what the wizard would do to me when he returned. I silently prayed for the curse to wear off before the soup’s done… Gulp.

  Also, I think I was also kind of apprehending the outcome of Terrowin’s life… I hated myself for worrying this much, but it was something I couldn’t stop, something I couldn’t help. Hell! He was poisoned on my watch… What if I didn’t bring him here quick enough? What if he’s already dead? What if the Mugajin flowers won’t help? I wasn’t built to take this much pressure. Especially not in one day (or two) alone.

  The wizard was taking worryingly long, so long it almost felt unnatural. If I had teeth, I would’ve gritted them by now, probably be one of those people who nervously paces outside the room of the injured, out in the hall, waiting for the worst as they wait for the doctor to step out and give them the news.

  Only the news I anticipated was most unclear to me. My heart was practically holding a knife to my throat.

  With a shaky breath, the wizard stepped back into the kitchen. He needed the support of the doorframe to keep him on his feet, which worried me. His eyes were glistening as he closed them, trying to gather what was left of himself before weakly making his way for the wooden chair at the table. Tremblingly, he sat down, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand. His shoulders slumped. I noticed a single tear running down his arm, dripping to the wooden table.

  Leisurely, he raised his gaze from his fingers and looked at me with saddened eyes. I felt as my heart sunk down to my feet… talons.

  There was a moment of silence.

  “It’s all my fault… isn’t it?” He swallowed. His eyes were red.

  “I never should’ve sent him after her… but, on the other hand, I had no choice. Was there no way around this?”

  You know you’re talking to a chicken, right?

  “Do you know what it’s like?”

  Know what’s what like?

  “To feel someone’s last heartbeat?”

  What…?

  His lips quivered.

  “It leaves a void inside you.”

  No… No. You’re joking. You have to be joking!

  “Nothing can fill it.”

  Oh my goodness…

  “He was the only one I had left.”

  Tears ran down his cheeks as he sought for his breath. He stood from his chair and went to the window, leaning on the windowsill.

  I felt like recoiling into one, shrinking until I finally disappeared from the face of the planet.

  No…

  A while after, the wizard tried gathering himself, finally turning around.

  He heaved a heavy sigh.

  “Hopefully you will keep my mind off this, even if just for a few minutes… I’ll take anything I can get.”

  Nervously I watched as the wizard lifted a cooking pot to the stove, igniting its furnace with fire magic. He cut some vegetables and tossed them in for extra flavour, alongside some other spices and whatnot I dare not to mention. He even tossed in a few of the remaining Mugajin flowers, which sent my blood to a boil. I knew he already did what he had to with the first few flowers, but it still had me mad as to the fact that he would merely eat and waste those extra few flowers – the hard work I carried out.

  Anyways, I freaked, shooting into alarm as the realization once again settled over me. The thought dawned to me that I was perhaps about to die again. You can’t get eaten and live through it to tell the tale, after all. I wasn’t exactly keen on being eaten, so I did the only thing I knew best and struggled to free myself from the ice. I squirmed and wiggled, trying to release my wings and pull my scrawny legs out of the ice. I panicked.

  NOT FUNNY!

  The last thing I wanted was legends telling that the Great Carlaylin died by the hands of pleasant dining and cutlery, eaten by a Great W
izard in her three legged chicken state.

  Watching as the wizard prepared my death with delicious condiments really got me worried. I suddenly felt a strange tingle in my body. Pins and needles? I shook my feathers and knew what was about to happen.

  I felt that prickle again and there was an explosion of white smoke and the shatter of ice. For a moment, it felt as though I was flying in mid-air, but then opened my eyes. I fell back onto the table, bum first. I was back to normal on the kitchen table, hugging myself, still completely frozen in that one position. Instead of the ice, the spell had shifted to fit its victim. Meaning, my entire body was practically frozen solid, complete with a faint blue touch to my iced skin.

  The wizard swung around at almost an instant and caught sight of me. He gave a startled scream. I couldn’t help but scream too. There was a moment of silence where we caught our breaths.

  Shortly after, both of us screamed in unison.

  “We will never speak of this again,” I tried saying through frozen lips.

  The wizard nodded none too hesitantly, alarmed as he stared at me with those widened eyes that looked as though they were about to pop any second now.

  “Can you unfreeze me?” I said through gritted teeth.

  He agreed, waving another spell to set me free. Being frozen stiff in one position for a while tends to work on your spine.

  I felt rather taut afterwards and had to give myself a few stretches.

  I climbed off the table.

  “If you ever try to eat me again, I swear I’ll…” I decided to rather not finish that sentence and ended up with a longing sigh.

  “The last thing I want is people telling stories about a wizard who ate his apprentice.”

  I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where we first properly met.

  The wizard followed me from behind.

  “But you’re not my apprentice,” he protested.

  “I got the talisman for you, didn’t I?”

  The wizard thought about this for a short pause.

  “I almost forgot about that since a three legged chicken showed up at my doorstep with it instead of you. But you do have a good point there. Welcome to the business, my novice.”

  He inclined his head in a small bow for effect.

  I felt honoured, yet awkward as my own master tried to eat me just a moment ago.

  “Okay, on to more pressing matters. Now, about Terrowin…” My voice trailed off as my thoughts clung to Terrowin and what the wizard had said before.

  I didn’t want to believe it, but… how could I not? I simply had no choice but to believe.

  I was almost too afraid to meet the wizard’s watery eyes, but I did.

  He was rooted to the spot. I eyes narrowed into a hardened frown. I swallowed back a marble.

  “You said the flowers would help.”

  The wizard dropped his gaze. I felt one of my famous anger outbursts coming on again.

  “You said they would save him!”

  “There was a possibility. I hadn’t realized that he was beyond such an extent of even the help from the Mugajin.” He stepped closer. “I tried. I really tried, but even with my expertise in the area of both magic and medicine, it was hopeless. My endeavours were hopeless from the start. The poison counteracted all my attempts... I’m sorry,…?”

  “Carlaylin. And I’m not the one you should apologize to. Apologize to Terrowin.”

  I know the guy was only trying to help. I know he did his best and gave it his all, but I was stubborn. I was angry. I was downcast. My head refused to accept the idea that Terrowin might have been gone for good. His life taken by something he didn’t deserve to die by…

  I huffed, turning around and making my way upstairs. The wizard tentatively followed me from behind.

  We approached a closed door on the highest floor of the large tower, after passing many other small corridors and entrances to various other rooms. The tower was well lit by the rays of the morning sun that lanced in through the windowpanes to caress the floor.

  The wizard gave me his permission and my hand folded around the door handle.

  I was almost too scared to open it…

  I wanted him alive again, I was dire to bring that lost lease of life back to his person. Yet, all the same, I wasn’t exactly ready to see him again…

  I gulped and sluggishly opened the door. It was the last room on the top floor. Beside it was another window casting an amazing and most unbelievable view over the forest.

  Looking at the room, I found it somewhat nice and quant.

  There was a soft rug in the middle of the room and only one single bed at the end of the room near the window where the sun brightly shone in.

  It was a peaceful little room.

  I could hear the morning birds chirping outside. The room was complete with its own wardrobe, dresser and tall mirror standing slantwise on its stand.

  On the bed lay Terrowin. I shuddered to look. He was in a terrible state of wounds and bruises, cuts and scrapes. I steadily walked closer with a tear threatening to leave my eye.

  I joined his side.

  I was definitely overwhelmed.

  No… Come on, Carlaylin. Pull yourself together. You keep telling yourself, over and over again, that you only met this guy… There’s no reason for you to feel like this… I…

  Seeing like that in person was too great of a sorrow, even for me to contain.

  Why am I feeling like this?

  It was the thought that in front of me was nothing but a mere body, a corpse. All the life and personality and person it once had, was now gone, seeped from his very being not long ago. There was nothing left. Only a hollow shell of nothingness. Terrowin… he was a person. I met him. I knew him, at least only a bit. His habits, his fears, his character, his traits, his worries… And now he was gone. Gone for good.

  The wizard seemed restless behind me, obviously trying his hardest to keep the pain in, his tears hidden, the trembling at a minimum and his anguish a secret…

  Terrowin lay bare-chested as the wizard had only recently tried his best to cure and patch up the wounds. The wounds… they were only painful reminders of the little time we had spent together.

  I shut my eyes, blinking away a single tear.

  I actually cared for this idiot… I was furious. I was sad. All my emotions bundled up in one, mixing up in a blender. At the end of the day, the anger took its full hold on me.

  I was mad at Terrowin for being dead. I was mad at the Wizard for not being able to save him. I was mad at that old necromancer. I was mad at her secret contact. Mad at Olaf. Mad at those three hooded knights. Mad at myself... I was mad at me for caring. I was mad at me for hurting.

  My emotions got out of control and I ended up hammering my fist down on Terrowin’s chest.

  The wizard merely stared at me with gloomy eyes.

  I punched Terrowin again.

  “Why?!” I accepted the truth. I just couldn’t tolerate it. I lividly hit him one last time.

  Tears blurred my vision. It almost felt like I couldn’t breath. I needed to get away. Get some fresh air. I couldn’t help but push past the wizard and run out the window. I dashed down the spiral stairs and out of the tower, escaping into the lush green forest. The wizard tried to stop me, but knew there wasn’t much he could do now. I was already far gone.

  I ran as far away as I possibly could. I lost myself in the forest, amongst the dense vegetation and dampened earth and wet plants, stalked by flora and fauna alike.

  I was disoriented by my surroundings. I didn’t know where to go anymore.

  After an unnecessary amount of lost time, I could finally escape the impenetrability of the enclosing forest and into some sort of a clearing.

  I had reached a small lost stream. A small waterfall of water ran down a stack of rocks. I would have enjoyed the beautiful, peaceful and naturalistic scenery… if only I didn’t feel the way I did.
/>   I settled down next to the peaceful waters, listening to the running and lapping of natural spring water.

  The trees roofed the sky above me, and the rays of sun that could penetrate, danced across the shimmering waters.

  I cupped my hands and scooped up some water, splashing it onto my face. I looked at my reflection.

  Even with my nonchalant stare, a single tear fell to the water and rippled my image image. I swatted my reflection away and scooted back, sitting with my head buried to my knees.

  The shades casted by the tall forest trees protected me from the blistering sun.

  Birds continued their songs, the forest’s fauna rustling in the treetops and in the bushes.

  I sobbed silently to myself. I tried fighting it, but it wasn’t of any use. Sobbing… something I don’t usually do.

  I kept to myself for goodness knows how long, lingering by the stream side. I only wanted to be alone. The sun rolled across the sky and the shadows shifted. I had taken a few walks, sat with my feet in the stream, wondered at my surroundings… All until I finally sat with my head to my knees again. At least the sobbing had long left me. All I had to do was to not think about it and what happened.

  Time went by so slowly. I remembered something Millicent had told me: Life spares no one. Guess she was right.

  At the moment, I just liked my silence. I wanted to be alone. I was pretty much happy with nothing but the various, indifferent sound of the forest.

  There was another rustle in the bushes. The grass muffled what sounded like approaching footsteps.

  The wizard?

  They stopped obliquely behind me. There was a pause.

  “Something wrong?” It wasn’t the voice of the wizard. It sounded kind, and somewhat familiar, but my mind was far too clouded to decipher.

  I heaved a sigh.

  “Nothing.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to look up. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for company.

  “Nothing? It doesn’t look like it.” I didn’t respond.

  “You can trust me. Please, do tell. I’m very eager to hear what happened…”

  It must’ve been the farmer who lives near these parts? I knew of the farmer by the time I spent scanning the map of Ysellian. I was more familiar with my geography ever since then. I figured that if I wasn’t about to go back to the Sleeping Dragon’s inn, then it was about time I did some exploring. And no better way to explore than by knowing your topography.