by John Hosh
“No, I don’t. How did he get your amulet?”
“I don’t remember,” said Ostrakan. “I must have lost some of my memory.”
Aegis said, “Tell us what you remember.”
Ostrakan rocked forward and back. He did not respond to Aegis’s question. Aegis looked at Euphonius. Euphonius looked at Aegis. Jono looked at Chloë. Chloë made an ugly face at Jono.
“Ostrakan,” said Euphonius, “why are you here? Why didn’t you come back to school?”
“What’s with all the questions? What’s it to you what I do? Mind your own business.”
Aegis asked Ostrakan, “How did you meet Nox?”
“On the mainland, there was a war. I met Nox. He told me that Mentor was wrong. Nox says we don’t want too many people. Anyways, he invited me here. Then he turned against me. I don’t remember all the details. And here we are.”
Chloë asked Ostrakan, “Are you coming with us?”
“No,” Ostrakan declared. “I don’t got no need for more schooling.” He rocked to and fro while he looked northward.
Jono’s eyelids were drooping. He was chewing slowly. Euphonius said, “Jono, perhaps you want to have a nap. We will be traveling long into the night.”
“I could use a nap,” Jono responded. He let the leg of grouse fall onto his plate. He asked, “Should I leave this here?”
“Adonidas will get it,” Ostrakan said.
Jono left his seat. Chloë chirped, “I want a nap too.” She hurried after Jono. Jono and Chloë went into the house.
A well-tanned man, in a leather skirt and a sleeveless leather jacket, hurried from east of the pens. Twice as old as Aegis, the man stepped briskly toward the plaza’s table. He was carrying a cudgel and a small round shield.
Chapter 38 : The attack
The cudgelman halted four steps from the table. He declared, “Masters, my name is Notopoulos. The village is under attack. My people need help.”
Aegis stood. Euphonius stood. He asked, “How many attackers are there?”
“I don’t know,” said Notopoulos. “There are four big boats. We need Nox.”
Euphonius responded, “Nox is not himself today.”
Aegis offered, “Maybe we can help you.”
Notopoulos asked, “Can you make spears vanish or cudgels turn to dust?”
Euphonius replied, “I think we can chase the attackers away. What do you think, Aegis?”
“I think we should go down there and show the people some magic.”
“Tell your people, Notopoulos,” Euphonius said, “that the wizards are coming. We will stop the attackers.”
“Thank you,” Notopoulos said. “Hurry!” He walked briskly eastward.
Aegis asked, “Ostrakan, are you coming with us?”
“Nope,” said Ostrakan. “I’m tired. I’m going to take a nap.”
****
The shadows were pointing to the east when Euphonius and Aegis were again at the table on Nox’s plaza. Their backs to the table, the wizards were looking northward from the north bench.
Euphonius asked Aegis, “How did you spend the summer?”
“Mentor took me east. We visited some wizards who were Mentor’s first pupils. I saw some strange beasts. I had my first taste of horse.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s like a goat but taller.”
“How was it?”
“It’s good eating.”
From the doorway that was closest to the oven, Ostrakan stepped onto the plaza. His right index finger was smoothing his mustache while he walked toward Euphonius and Aegis. Ostrakan called, “Is the war over?”
Euphonius and Aegis turned to their left. “We stopped it,” said Euphonius, “before it really began. Not one drop of blood was spilled.”
“Ya, I didn’t think it would be much,” Ostrakan declared. He brushed a straw from his cloak’s front. Halting at the southwest corner of the table, he cleared his throat loudly. He declared, “Ya, I have been doing some thinking about my amulet-problem. I have decided that I want your amulet, Euphonius. I want it now. And I want Nox also.”
Euphonius raised his eyes toward the tall Ostrakan. Euphonius drawled loudly, “Or?”
Ostrakan drawled, “Or the girl goes flying with the harpies.” He gave a half-shrug.
Chapter 39 : Ostrakan bares his fangs
Euphonius jumped to his feet. His wand was pointing at Ostrakan. Euphonius shouted, “Collagenize!”
A swarm of blue sparks — one and one-half score of them — burst out of the wand. The swarm arced over the table and onto Ostrakan’s head. In several streams the sparks coiled quickly down Ostrakan. They slipped underneath his boots and gave the soles a blue glow.
Ostrakan swayed. He snarled, “Undo it; or the girl goes with the harpies. She will be gone by the time I count to three unless you let me go. One!”
Euphonius stammered, “Ostrakan, if you harm her, I’ll . . . .” Shaking, Euphonius pointed the wand at Ostrakan’s eyes. Aegis jumped to Euphonius’s right side. Aegis pointed his wand at Ostrakan.
Ostrakan wriggled but his feet did not budge. He swayed. Ostrakan screamed, “Two!” His long arms flailed.
Euphonius yelled, “Stop! I’ll undo the spell. Analeptize!” Out of the wand shot a thin, straight, silvery-blue line. The line touched Ostrakan. He glowed blue. The wand chirped. The blue line and Ostrakan’s glow disappeared. Ostrakan lurched backwards. Euphonius brought his wand to his chest. Aegis lowered his wand.
From the doorway that was the closest to Ostrakan, Sycophant stuck out his head. He glanced nervously from side to side. He shouted, “Hold him! Hold him!”
Euphonius raised his wand. He shouted, “Collagenize.” A swarm of blue sparks burst out of Euphonius’s wand. The swarm flew onto Ostrakan’s head. The sparks coiled rapidly down Ostrakan and formed a blue glow underneath him. Ostrakan fell onto his buttocks.
Ostrakan roared, “Let me go!”
Euphonius shouted at Sycophant, “What is it?”
Sycophant swayed in and out of the doorway. He exclaimed, “The girl. She’s in a bad way. Hurry!” Urgently Sycophant beckoned Euphonius.
Ostrakan barked, “She’s going to take a ride with the harpies unless you let me go. NOW!”
Their wands at the ready, Euphonius and Aegis dashed into the house. From the hallway, between the doorway to the east corridor and the doorway to the west corridor, Euphonius shouted, “Where are you?”
Sycophant shouted, “In the kitchen.”
Ostrakan shouted, “Let me go!”
Euphonius and Aegis stepped toward the doorway through which they had just come. Before reaching the doorway, they went through a doorless doorway on their left.
Euphonius and Aegis were in the kitchen. The kitchen was as big as Nox’s bedroom. From all the kitchen’s walls, wands were giving light. Near the middle of the kitchen’s north wall, in the floor, was a rectangular hole. The hole’s long sides pointed east and west. Those sides were one leg long. The short sides were one forearm long. Collected around the hole and collected in the northeast corner of the room were clay pots of various sizes. Among the pots was a clay dipper that had a wood handle. Against the west wall was a small rectangular table. Against the south wall were several wide-mouthed clay pots and a few reed baskets of various sizes. Against the east wall was a narrow, rectangular table.
Sycophant was floating near the south wall. He pointed to a bowl on the small table that was against the west wall. Spits of water were flying out of the bowl. Sycophant announced, “The girl.”
Euphonius and Aegis looked into the bowl. A small orange fish was lying in no more than a mouthful of water. Flopping forward and back, the fish was struggling to suck life back into her.
Aegis remarked, “Water!”
Euphonius and Aegis put their wands into their cloaks. Euphonius grabbed the dipper. He hoisted a dipper-full of water out of the hole in the floor. He poured from the dipper into the bowl. He wai
ted. The fish sucked in the water. The fish swam.
Sycophant was hovering over the bowl. He declared, “You saved her.”
“She looks fine,” said Aegis.
Euphonius dumped the water from the dipper into the hole. He laid the dipper beside the hole. “I should have been more careful,” he said. “Ostrakan is more dangerous than I thought. Check on Jono, will you, Aegis.”
Sycophant reported, “The boy is fine.”
Euphonius said, “Wake him then, will you, Sycophant.”
“As you command,” said Sycophant. He disappeared through the wall.
Using both hands, Euphonius lowered the bowl gently to the floor. To Aegis, he said, “I’ll get Ostrakan.” Euphonius walked briskly out of the house. His right hand drew his wand.
Ostrakan was standing. Fidgeting while Euphonius was approaching him, he protested, “If you harm me, Nox will hunt you down.”
“I doubt that.”
“You’ll let me go if you know what’s good for you.”
Euphonius stood out of Ostrakan’s reach. Euphonius tapped his left hand with the wand. “What am I going to do with you? I’m thinking that you would make a good worm . . . or maybe a slug . . . or perhaps a leech.”
“Let me go,” Ostrakan demanded. He pounded on the table with his fists. “I’m warning you. I will hunt you down. You will never have a moment’s peace if you transform me.”
“You’re not much of a sweet-talker; are you?”
“Come on,” Ostrakan pleaded. “Be a good fellow. I need an amulet. I did what I had to do to get one. I did what anybody would do. I did the same thing you would do. Maybe it wasn’t my best idea but I panicked. I admit it. I was wrong. I’m sorry. Let’s be friends — for old times’ sake — schoolmates and all that. Let’s forgive and forget. What do you say?”
Euphonius said slowly, “I don’t know.” He tapped the wand on his left palm.
“Come on, Euphonius. We have to stick together. We should help each other. You help me. I help you. That’s what friendship is. Can’t we be friends? What do you say?”
“Fine. You’ve persuaded me. I’m going to take the spell off you — for old times’ sake.” Euphonius walked round Ostrakan. Euphonius placed himself so his shadow fell on Ostrakan. Two arms’ lengths from Ostrakan, Euphonius pointed the wand at Ostrakan’s feet.
“Analeptize,” Euphonius ordered. A thin, straight, silvery-blue line from Euphonius’s wand touched Ostrakan. Ostrakan glowed blue. The wand gave one chirp. The line and the blue glow disappeared.
Euphonius commanded, “Epiphyze!” One and one-half score of blue sparks spurted, as a swarm, from the wand. The sparks swirled round Ostrakan. After a moment they disappeared. Ostrakan’s arms fell to his sides. He stood like a pillar. His eyes opened and closed, and his pupils darted left and right but no other movement showed that he was alive. He swayed slightly.
Euphonius’s left hand seized Ostrakan’s cloak at his throat. Euphonius’s right hand pointed the wand at Ostrakan’s feet. Euphonius commanded, “Wand, change Ostrakan’s feet into big . . . blue . . . duck-feet!”
The wand’s blue line touched Ostrakan. He glowed blue. The wand chirped. The line and Ostrakan’s glow vanished. From the knee down, Ostrakan had big, blue webbed feet.
Euphonius commanded, “Anepiphyze!” A thin, straight, silvery-blue line from Euphonius’s wand touched Ostrakan. Ostrakan glowed blue. The wand gave one chirp. The line and the blue glow disappeared. Except for his feet, Ostrakan disappeared. The blue feet turned away from Euphonius.
“Sullambanize midriff,” Euphonius ordered. The blue hand and the blue arm flew out of the wand toward Ostrakan’s invisible midriff. The blue hand turned itself into a belt around Ostrakan. Instantly Ostrakan became wholly visible.
Ostrakan exclaimed, “What are you doing? Let me go!”
“I’ll think about it after you restore Chloë. March.” Euphonius stepped back from Ostrakan but kept the wand leveled at him.
“You think you’re smart! We’ll see who laughs last.”
“March.”
“Don’t think I’m going to forget this.” Ostrakan gritted his teeth. He waddled toward the house.
Euphonius followed Ostrakan closely. When Euphonius and Ostrakan stepped into the kitchen, Aegis was standing over the bowl that held Chloë. Euphonius asked, “How is she?”
“She seems to be fine,” Aegis responded.
Euphonius barked, “Ostrakan, restore Chloë.” Euphonius stepped back from Ostrakan. The blue arm stretched while the blue hand held Ostrakan. Euphonius warned, “And if there’s any mischief, you are going to learn what it means to be a fish out of water.”
Ostrakan grimaced. His right hand drew his wand from his cloak. He pointed the wand at Chloë the fish. He muttered, “Analeptize.”
The wand’s thin, straight, silvery-blue line touched Chloë. She glowed blue. The wand chirped. The line and the glow vanished. In a wink and a blink the fish grew and metamorphosed. Where it had been, Chloë was standing. She was wearing a witch’s attire, including a cloak. The bowl that had recently been her home clattered against the floor.
Chloë’s hair was wet. She put her head down to toss her hair forward. She twisted her hair to wring the water out of it. When her hair was giving up only a few drips, she tossed her head back. She used her hands in place of a comb. She grumbled, “Nasty boys. I could have died. And what did I do? Why is everybody picking on me?” Chloë used her thumbs to press the water out of her eyebrows. Chloë looked from Euphonius to Ostrakan. Chloë roared, “You wicked, wicked boys. I hope the harpies take all of you right now. I hope a monster rises out of the ground and eats your heads off.”
Chloë burst into tears. She covered her face with her hands. Running to the kitchen’s doorway, she collided with Jono. Both Jono and Chloë fell.
“Aphiemize,” Euphonius ordered. The blue hand released Ostrakan. The wand swiftly retracted the blue arm and the blue hand. Euphonius rushed to help Chloë. Chloë sobbed and gasped while Euphonius helped her up. Jono groaned. Euphonius asked, “Are you all right, Jono?”
“Uh huh.” Jono used his left arm to prop himself up.
Euphonius asked, “Are you all right, Chloë?”
Chloë screamed. She twisted away from Euphonius. In the doorway, with her back to Jono, she scowled. She forced her upper teeth out over her lower lip. She closed her right eye. She looked first at Ostrakan, then at Aegis, then at Euphonius. At each warlock, Chloë blinked her left eye. She turned toward Jono, who was on his feet. Her left eye blinked at Jono. Chloë opened her eyes. She turned toward Ostrakan.
Chloë snarled, “There! Every one of you has the evil-eye on him. You’re going to suffer. Serves you right.” Chloë turned toward Jono. She barked, “Out of my way!” Jono stepped backward toward the rear doorway. Chloë tramped past him toward the house’s interior.
For a moment the world was silent; then Euphonius chuckled; Aegis snorted; Ostrakan snickered. Frowning, Jono stepped into the kitchen. He said, “She makes a good scary-face; doesn’t she?”
Aegis responded, “No doubt about it.”
Jono asked, “Did she really put the evil-eye on us?”
Ostrakan bellowed, “Are you stupid or something?”
Euphonius retorted, “Shut up, Ostrakan. No, Jono, she can’t hurt you. The evil-eye is make-believe. It’s a hoax.”
Jono asked, “Why does he look like a duck?”
Ostrakan grunted, “Mind your own business.”
Euphonius replied, “Ostrakan turned Chloë into a fish. He almost killed her. He is desperate for an amulet.”
Ostrakan shouted, “You’re crazy. I did no such thing. He’s lying, Jono. You’ve got to believe me. Help me. He’s crazy.”
Euphonius barked at Ostrakan, “Shut up!” Euphonius turned toward Jono. “I gave him duck-feet to keep him from running away.”
Ostrakan grumbled, “And don’t think I’m going to forget what you did either, E
uphonia.”
“Jono, tell Chloë we are going to leave soon,” said Euphonius. “Collect your things and meet us out back.” Jono left the kitchen.
Ostrakan shouted after Jono, “That girl is crazy too.”
Euphonius turned toward Ostrakan. “I’ll take your wand,” Euphonius said. He held his open left hand toward Ostrakan. Using the right hand, Euphonius pointed his wand at Ostrakan.
Ostrakan glared at Euphonius. Ostrakan shrugged. He threw his wand down. “Oops,” he said.
“And I’ll take my plate,” Aegis declared.
Ostrakan sneered at Aegis. Ostrakan fumbled in his cloak. The plate fell to the floor. “Oops,” Ostrakan said.
Aegis picked up the plate and the wand. Ostrakan turned toward Euphonius. Ostrakan pleaded, “Can’t we start over? I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll be good. I’m sorry. I got carried away is all. I won’t do anything bad ever again. You can trust me. Let’s let bygones be bygones. Let’s be friends. What do you say?”
“What do you think, Aegis? Should we trust him?”
Aegis put the plate into his cloak. Aegis replied, “I wouldn’t.”
Ostrakan took a step toward Aegis. Ostrakan snarled, “I’m going to remember you too, Agnes. See if I don’t!”
Aegis pointed the wand at Ostrakan. To Euphonius, Aegis said, “Unless you have a really good reason why I shouldn’t, I think I will turn him into a maggot.” Ostrakan’s duck-feet backed away from Aegis. Ostrakan looked anxiously at Euphonius.
“Hold on,” said Euphonius. “He did restore Chloë. He deserves some mercy.”
“That’s right,” snapped Ostrakan. “I didn’t mean any harm. I deserve to be set free.”
“If we set him free, Euphonius, he will make more mischief,” Aegis asserted.
“I told you,” Ostrakan retorted. “I’ve reformed. I’ll be good from now on.”
Aegis barked, “I think you’re lying.”
“I’m not. Look, if you let me go, I will tell you a secret.”
“His offer is a pig in a poke, Euphonius,” Aegis advised.
“I think we should be merciful,” Euphonius declared. “I’m going to let him roam.” Euphonius pointed his wand at Ostrakan. Euphonius commanded, “Metamorphose into a tortoise.” A silvery-blue line from Euphonius’s wand touched Ostrakan. Ostrakan glowed blue. The wand chirped. The blue line and Ostrakan’s glow disappeared. Ostrakan lost his human form. Where Ostrakan had been was a brown tortoise that was not one hand wide.