Wizard of Elements

by Calista Lambrechts

  “I know it isn’t my business… but you mentioned something about a curse?”

  I wasn’t so keen on answering this time. I simply ignored the question and kept on walking, almost as though she never asked a thing in the first place.

  CHAPTER 11

  MEET THE FARMER

  CARLAYLIN

  WE FOUND THE WIZARD STARING at a gigantic old worn map of Ysellian mounted on his wall. The map was met with a faint brown tinge, courtesy of its good old age.

  He quickly moved on to a globe of the earth situated on his desk. It was another desk, most probably his main one, stacked full of books, parchments, scrolls, letters, maps and an inkwell and a ready-to-use quill.

  There were many more books stacked on the shelves of his bookcases.

  The wizard grabbed his quill and started jotting things down, bending over his desk, disregarding the chair. He was in too big of a rush.

  At back, near the window, was a large wooden board pinned with numerous pictures, sketches, diagrams, scribbles, manuscripts (wonder where he got those), research and writings.

  But what caught my eye was the specific drawing of a dragon, laid out in plentiful views and angles.

  I walked towards the full board.

  “Research, yeah?” I asked.

  “Sorry?”

  “The board.”

  “Ah, yes, my dear.”

  I noticed a picture of a little town.

  “Is this Thorodan?” The wizard nodded whilst he quickly hopped around, doing whatever it was he was doing. Only goodness knows what that crazy wizard was doing.

  I was clueless.

  “And this?” I asked, referring to another picture, “Thorodan?”

  “I already said yes,” the wizard replied, clearly most distracted as he hastily moved about the room.

  I’ve always been one to call a spade a spade…

  “No, I mean the dragon.”

  The wizard’s eyes widened and he made no effort in racing over to the board, covering it up by throwing his back against it and spreading his arms over the rest.

  “Um… no?” He looked awfully edgy.

  I sighed.

  “I already know the legend. I already know the dragon. It’s not new to me. Besides, I already saw all the images on this board of yours.”

  “I don’t know…” his tone of voice was crammed with uncertainty.

  “Oh come on. Let me see the rest. I have already proved my loyalty to you, haven’t I? Don’t tell me you still don’t trust me.”

  The wizard knew I had a pretty good point at hand and he moved away, finally revealing the board for me to see.

  “Yes,” he sighed, “this is Thorodan.”

  Terrowin ambled closer.

  “Master, why have you summoned us here?”

  The wizard was startled, stunned even, instantaneously turning around to see that it was only Terrowin. His eyes were wide.

  “Sorry,” he apologize, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead, “I’m just a little jumpy today.”

  Terrowin nodded gradually.

  “I can see that.”

  “The reason I summoned you here is because I have certain matters to discuss with you.”

  The wizard shifted his gaze over to me.

  “I see you are already familiar with the name Thorodan?”

  I crossed my arms and raised eyebrow.

  “Um, yes?”

  The wizard smiled gratefully. “Good. Now I don’t have to explain that part. Well, as you can see… Thorodan is about to rise again. Some idiot of a wizard is trying to resurrect him with lots of powerful rituals to bring him back from the land of the dead. I believe it to be a socrerer named Zeldin, a powerful wizard with the darkest of hearts.”

  My eyes widened for about the hundredth time since I’ve started this whole escapade. My eyebrows arced in surprise and my jaw literally hung open.

  “You say what now? There’s a chance Thorodan’s coming back?!”

  “Unfortunately, yes. One could only imagine the chaos and destruction Thorodan could bring when back. But… that is where you two come in.”

  I didn’t like the sound of it at all.

  “Us?”

  “Exactly! Now, as you can see, I have been working on a plan that is about 69% guaranteed to stop this from happening.”

  The wizard said it as though it was something to be excited about.

  “Only 69%? What about the other 31%?”

  The wizard grinned sweetly, clapping his hands together.

  “We will all die.”

  I knew it. This wizard is completely crazy! I still don’t know how he can take all of this so calmly… or with that twitching eye of his. Perhaps he’s just too crazy to care? I’ll stick to that theory from now on.

  “Alright! Here is the plan.” He ran back to the giant timeworn map on the wall, pointing at the second largest city on the map: Morrowburg.

  “Okay. There is something I need from Morrowburg. I want you to speak to a good ole friend of mine. He is a monk. He goes by the name of Brother Deodonatus. You can find him in the chapel. Tell him that I have sent you and he will immediately tell you what you need to know and find. Thereafter, you shall have to return to me, directly after. No twists, no turns. Prompt.”

  I narrowed my eyes and secretly knew I was about to start some completely avoidable mayhem.

  “I’m starting to wonder…” I started, “Don’t you ever do any of these things yourself? I mean, come on. You always send someone to run your errands for you.”

  Terrowin frowned and shot me an inquisitive look that clearly said, What the hell are you doing?!

  It looked like a matter of life and death the way he expressed it.

  “I’m sorry, Master. She didn’t mean it.”

  The wizard dropped his gaze down to the floor alongside a silent sigh.

  “No, she is right.”

  “I am?”

  I wasn’t exactly used to being right these days. The word ‘left’ will bring you to only one of my many, many reasons.

  “Yes, you are. I would have done these things myself, but unfortunately, I am not granted that opportunity. I just don’t get the chance to do so anymore. I have been so busy the days of late... That is why I always send someone in place. And by someone I mostly mean Terrowin.”

  I felt somewhat bad for saying what I said. It was never my business. And as you can see, I always make things my business even when I know very well I should not. My speciality…

  “Why so busy?” I asked cautiously.

  “I’ve been busily trying to get more information on Thorodan. I have also been busy trying to help stop the war between Brendwin and Ysellian. I will say no more.”

  I nodded understandably.

  “How are we going to get to Morrowburg?” I asked, trying to get back on the subject. The wizard smiled happily.

  “I’m glad you asked, my dear. Here, I have already planned your entire trip. Firstly, you will have to travel to an old friend of mine. He is a farmer. I have already informed him about your arrival.”

  He slid his finger across the map until he reached the location of the farmer’s house.

  “I advise you to stay away from the witch. Best take the longer route then.”

  The wizard moved along the route he had planned.

  “And so you will travel the other way round, near Hayley, to reach his farm.”

  Terrowin completely froze with knitted eyebrows.

  “H - Hayley?” he stuttered.

  The wizard seemed to have been struck by a sudden realization, seemingly realizing a mistake he made.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. Terrowin looked near the point of blacking out. He shook his head to snap out of his momentary daze, restlessly looking around the room for an escape.

  “Uh, Master, you can tell Carlaylin the rest. I will… wait outside.”

  I wanted to stop him
, but his decisions were his own and I left him to it. He was already out the room.

  “You know, he wasn’t always like this. Before Brendon’s death he used to be quite content, excited whenever he could be, finding joy in even the worst of times. He took life less earnestly. But… he’s changed. He’s always had a short fuse… but these days it only seems as though his ire is getting ahead of him. He spends more time on his thoughts than he’s supposed to. It drives him into dejection. He doesn’t forgive himself. Just look at him… I know it’s not my place to speak of him like this behind his back, but... I know I can… trust you?”

  “Of course. I’m your novice,” I said softly. The wizard… uh… master, carried a grim expression.

  “Hayley… I know it’s not the best place for him, with not the best memories to boot, but… has something happened recently? He seems shaken.”

  “I… I’m not quite sure. Something with his father perhaps? He tried to avoid him… Something about him supposed to be at Hayley…? I honestly can’t tell you.”

  The wizard gradually shook his head, his eyes falling down to his feet.

  “There’s always been conflict between him and his father. Each time it’s something new. I’m yet to find out the latest… No worries. For now, it does us no good pondering and meandering on the past.”

  “Okay,” I smiled, nodding quickly, agreeing to his statement. “Please, do continue your plan.”

  The wizard gave a slight bow of satisfaction.

  “With pleasure, my dear. As I was saying, after you may or may not have spent the night at my associate’s house, you will have to travel to Suntaria. Rent a horse and make for Morrowburg. You can make a stop at the Village of Water if you like, or the Water Village, if you will. But be weary, it’s an unnecessary waste of time.”

  “Suntaria… Got it!”

  A plan hit me and I dug into my satchel I retrieved not long before. I withdrew the old rolled up map I had ‘borrowed’ from that insane necromancer woman. I marked all the locations and premeditated our route.

  “Morrowburg is sited next to Sorrowrock. No one can truly explain why, but it always seems to rain there, in Morrowburg. Always a dark clouded sky with your occasional creeping fog when the rain died down. Must be the main reason why they call it Morrowburg. Even the name sounds depressing.”

  I studied my map and the places we needed to go to and the path we needed to follow.

  “Hmm… Sounds easy enough. I’ll just give Terrowin the highlights and we’ll be off.”

  I stuffed the map back into my satchel, closed the flap and returned the quill to the master’s inkwell.

  “I must warn you that the task isn’t as easy as it may seem at first. There will be many jeopardies, fatal dangers. Just promise me you will be careful.”

  I shot him a quick comforting smile.

  “Don’t worry. I promise.”

  I made my way to the door, but froze in my tracks, on the threshold, a sudden thought rushing into my head. I swung around on my heels to face the wizard one last time.

  “Say, I never did get your name.”

  He chuckled.

  “The name’s Merlin. Well, I’m his descendent actually, something about being his cousin’s son’s brother, twice removed. Point being, I’m Merlin the Fifth, but all who know me well call me Murray.”

  “Merlin? Oh I’ve heard of him. Didn’t he help that King Arthur guy…?”

  “Why yes. Yes, he did.” I returned a giggle. “Farewell.”

  “Fare thee well and good luck.”

  ***

  We were already halfway to the farmer. I had already explained to Terrowin everything he needed to know. I assured him that I would do my best for us to not get too close to Hayley.

  We took on Murray’s task the moment I had done explaining, but now we had a bit of problem.

  We started the quest a bit too late… Dusk was still fine, the sky being a canvas of beautiful red, pink, orange and purple. Nightfall didn’t sit so well. We were stuck in the forest during the exact same time any good survivor dreaded to be at most.

  You could hear owls hooting and wolfs howling. Crickets chirped their tiny little lungs out and the stars glimmered brightly in the night sky and the three moons were as enchanting as ever, shedding some extra light on our path for good measure and to ease at least some of our concerns.

  (Well, mostly mine anyway.)

  “We shouldn’t be doing this,” said Terrowin.

  “What, journey through the forest at night?”

  He studied his surroundings as we made our way through the forest.

  “Yes, we should’ve waited until tomorrow morning.”

  “I still think the sooner we left, the sooner we’d reach Morrowburg.”

  “A couple of hours would have no effect.”

  “Ha. That’s what you say now. I’ll be the one laughing when we reach the city a day earlier.”

  “There’s no telling.”

  “I counted the days.”

  “But you disregarded every possibility of a threat.”

  I stopped in my tracks. My eyes were narrowed. I knew I shouldn’t I knew it was a fatal mistake, but I couldn’t help it. Supporting my end of the argument was always some sort of built-in system of mine I never could really shake.

  “So, basically, everything I do always has a flaw then,” I said lividly, folding my arms across my chest.

  “I’m not the one that landed us in the Whispered Woods. I’m not the one that said we should spend the night at that death-trap of an inn!”

  “Oh, don’t act so innocent. You had a big role to play in all of this too! You were the one that left me the choice at the crossroads. You were the one said we needed shelter. I was only trying to help. How was I supposed to know that a terminal beast would attack us, or that a crazy old woman would try to poison you and kill me?”

  We had our hands clenched into firm fists as we faced one another, sharing a deadly scowl. I was more than ready (not to mention eager) to hit him any second now.

  There was a sudden rustle in the bushes, too obvious to dismiss.

  The alarming, not to mention suspicious, noise had interrupted our little disagreement and caught our devoted attention.

  “What was that?” I asked in a whispered voice, clearly alerted. Terrowin didn’t answer, only scanning the area in alarm.

  I looked around and had no clue myself, but then an idea hit me.

  “I just thought of something. You know that necromancer woman we encountered earlier?”

  Terrowin frowned.

  “Yeah, what about her?”

  “You know that letter I showed you, the one written by the assassin that has it in for you?”

  “Yeah, so? What’s your point?” I leaned in closer to whisper.

  “I’m saying that what if he’s still out looking for you? The woman failed to kill you, didn’t she? That would mean the task is not yet completed. What if his business is finished? What if he’s out there, or here, right now, searching for you since these he paid didn’t quite deliver?”

  We both shared the same sting of anxiety that ate away at our guts.

  There was another sudden, unwanted noise. The creak of a branch. Only, if not my imagination, it sounded a little louder and a little closer.

  Terrowin gulped.

  I panicked, grabbed both Terrowin’s shoulders, shook them and yelled in distress, “Run, man! RUN!”

  Terrowin didn’t think twice and did as I yelled.

  Together we set off, racing into the further blackness of the surrounding forest with absolutely no idea to where we were headed.

  We ran as fast as we could for the fear of our lives. It gave me an extra boost, the panic that stirred within me, that pulsed through my veins. If it were the assassin, and he were to catch us, I knew for a fact that he would pin Terrowin down somewhere, take my life and finish him off… Not exactly something on my yuletid
e list.

  Out the corner of my eye, I caught sight of yet another single blue wisp floating in the distance. Perhaps it was even the same one that tried to visit me the first time in the Forest of Lights.

  I didn’t know whether I imagined it, but I swear it tried to talk to me. More like whispers, if anything

  I stopped dead in my tracks, trying to hear what it was saying, but by sheer accident, Terrowin bumped into me. More like barrelled as he slammed all the wind out of my lungs. He knocked me straight off my feet. It sent us both tumbling down a hill, rolling our way downward.

  I repeatedly rolled into things as the world spun around me in a collage of blurry lines that passed me by. I hit things like rocks, logs, leaves, scrubs, Terrowin and a few other things too. We trundled all the way down until finally coming to an abrupt stop. I hit the earth flat on my chest and skidded across the ground that last pace.

  I lay flat on my stomach.

  Terrowin was groaning next to me, his mind most likely distracted by his own set of thoughts and devices.

  I was the only one that raised my gaze, may it be weary.

  I saw a pair of old shoes, one with a hole in it, untidily stitched up with a material of a different colour.

  My stomach twisted in knots.

  I lifted my head and looked further up. I saw a man, masked by the shadows of the gloomy night, holding a pitchfork.

  At first I thought the assassin was a part time farmer, but for various reasons I knew against it.

  From what I could see, the man wore a battered straw-hat and was busy chewing on a single piece of straw.

  “Yawl must be the folks the wizard mentioned. Welcome, though I did expect another way of arrival.”

  He stared down at us, as calm as ever, almost like two people rolling down a slope was a thing that happened every day.

  “It’s late. Come on in, I’ll give ya somethin’ to eat and show you to your beds.”

  I had never been more relived in my entire life. It was a warming welcome I was most thankful for. There’s nothing better than a man armed with a pitchfork of unknown qualities inviting you into his house to stay for the night.

  I exhaled a single breath and dropped my head.