Wandmaker's Apprentice

by Ed Masessa

  The real Leonardo sliced precise sections of the root in measured quantities while the ethereal Leonardo committed the science to memory. The process fascinated him, as he had never thought to prepare the root in this manner. He had witnessed the effects of the deadly mandrake root in the past, and yet there was something about this new process that would make it less lethal. In fact …

  A terrifying shriek jolted him out of his dream. His arms and legs flailed in alarm as he thought he was under attack. His eyes searched wildly for signs of an assailant and came to an abrupt stop on the falcon that was perched at the foot of his bed.

  He slowly sat up, never taking his eyes off the bird, which stared back at him with the intensity of a predator eyeing its next meal. “You are indeed a most curious creature.”

  Leonardo rubbed his eyes. After all … it must have been the lingering effects of sleep that made it look as though the falcon winked at him.

  Coralis blinked away the remnants of the fog that penetrated his mind. He tried to rub some life back into his face and immediately discovered his hands were bound behind him. He shook his head, much like a dog would shake the water from its fur, and took stock of his predicament.

  The chair to which his arms, legs, and torso were firmly tied sat in the center of a room of indeterminate size. A dull bulb swaying on the end of a cord in a far corner provided the only illumination.

  Swaying?

  Coralis tensed and attempted to flex his senses. He grunted in pain as an intense pressure pushed against his chest. As he withdrew his probing, the pressure subsided. The bulb began to swing in a greater arc, like a pendulum gathering momentum. Coralis peered into the gloomy darkness and caught the briefest outline of a shadow.

  “My old friend.” The voice rasped as if the words were being dragged over a rocky bed of sharp stones.

  “Malachai.” Coralis cautiously extended his senses and was rewarded with another blast of compressed air. It was as if the molecules in the room were reacting angrily to his efforts. Coarse laughter mocked him from the shadows. “Old friend, indeed.” Coralis concentrated on the rope around his hands. He silently mouthed the words to an unbinding spell and gasped as the rope grew intensely hot.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Malachai admonished him. “First you walk directly into a trap—one, if I may say so, that wasn’t even well concealed. Then you blunder about with your pathetic attempt to escape as if I would have forgotten to set up countermeasures. You taught me this spell. Don’t you remember? The first time you tried to defeat me.”

  Coralis sat still as stone, willing the pain from his hands. Malachai had employed a reversal spell—a powerful one. Every use of his power would be exponentially reversed against him. Coralis expelled a deep breath to relax, conceding defeat for the moment. “What have you done?”

  More laughter grated from the shadows. “It’s not what I’ve done. It’s what you haven’t done. You gave up, old man. You forsook your charge to protect the world and crawled into a shell of self-pity. And in doing so, you gave me an opening—an opportunity.” He laughed again, so hard that it ended in a wet cough. “Now look what you’ve made me do. Coughing up blood is a bad sign, is it not?”

  “You’re sick, Malachai. End this nonsense and I will help you.”

  The bulb shattered. Bits of glass embedded into Coralis’s face.

  “YOU will help ME?” Malachai exploded. “Look around you! Do you seriously think I need your help? For years I have shielded this village right under your nose. I have collected knowledge far beyond anything you could ever hope to learn. I have amassed an army of followers who await my command. And now … I possess the ultimate weapon.”

  “You stole from the Earth Mother,” Coralis spat.

  “She gave me the knowledge to find it,” Malachai said smugly. “She recognized in me what she could never find in you. A champion of the Earth.”

  “A destroyer!” Coralis shouted.

  “Calm down before you have a heart attack.” Malachai pinched his thumb and forefinger together. Coralis gasped from the pain that squeezed his chest. “You have nothing left, old man. I will keep you bound here forever, rotting away like those wretched souls in Milan.”

  “You will never win,” Coralis grunted.

  “Oh? And who will stop me? Those children you call apprentices? Three of them are locked away in my dungeon for safekeeping and the rest are … occupied.” Another wet cough erupted.

  “What has happened to you?” Coralis knew that reasoning with him was futile, but he had to try. “You know the limits to power and yet you seek to control that which cannot be controlled. All that makes us human forces upon us a natural boundary that cannot be exceeded. If you continue, you will collapse under the weight of—”Another blast of pressure slammed into Coralis, forcing the air from his lungs.

  “Oh, shut up already.” Malachai squeezed until Coralis felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. Then he stepped forward and slapped Coralis across the face. “Stay with me, old man. I need you to witness the end of your old world and the fresh beginning of my new one.”

  Coralis gasped as he saw the shredded mess of Malachai’s face. It glowed softly, outlined in a green haze.

  “Ah. You see it now.” Malachai stepped back. “Soon I will leave the confines of this body and become an ethereal force that cannot be stopped. I will bring to an end the mess that humanity has created and reboot the world with new life. That is the reason the Earth Mother has given me her gift.”

  “No, you are wrong,” Coralis growled angrily. “By removing the Pangaea Particle, you are unleashing unspeakable horror that no one can control. The Earth Mother trusted you with a secret that was never meant to be exploited. Stop now and I will help you restore balance.” And your face.

  Malachai read his last thought and leaned in close. “What about my face? Don’t you like the inner me?” He peeled a strip of skin from his forehead, examined it quizzically, and flicked it onto the floor.

  Coralis stared back, masking the revulsion he felt rising to his throat. “You are mad.”

  “Crazy? Insane?” Malachai’s fetid breath washed over Coralis. “No. But I am angry—so, in a sense, I guess I am mad. In any case, I’ve had enough of your preaching. Soon I will have control of all your fledging apprentices and I will bend their power to obey my will.” Malachai began walking away, then stopped. “But I guess I should thank you for bringing them to me.”

  The door latch clicked with finality, leaving Coralis alone with only his thoughts.

  Of how he had failed.

  Molly, Bryndis, Serena, and Luis were cornered. No sooner had Coralis and Brianna disappeared than the battle had begun. A nest of two-headed snakes erupted from beneath a mound of rocks. Dozens of them squirmed their way out and made a beeline for the group, hissing angrily.

  Shock quickly morphed into action as Molly shouted at the others to run. They had not gotten far when the first of the scorpions dropped from the trees. Serena dodged left, barely avoiding being stung by its twin tails, which dripped with deadly venom. It was the size of a healthy crow. Its carapace glistened like polished ebony.

  Luis grabbed a sturdy stick from the ground and wielded it like a baseball bat. He swung with uncanny accuracy, batting several more scorpions into the forest before the stick shattered in half. As more fell from the canopy, he was momentarily paralyzed by the same fear that had gripped him when the giant centipedes descended upon the bats near his village.

  Bryndis locked a fist onto the collar of his coat and roughly pushed him forward. “Keep moving!”

  Molly scanned the trees for an escape route and shouted for them to follow. Hacking furiously through the undergrowth, she failed to see the cliff before her. Only Serena’s quick hands kept her from tumbling hundreds of meters down the sheer mountain wall.

  They turned to face the advancing horde of reptiles and arachnids. Luis was the first to act. He rammed his wand into the rocky ground. Leafy, ropelike vines whipped fre
e from their moorings on the trees and attacked the snakes. They wrapped tightly around the writhing bodies while the snakes snapped helplessly—their venom having no effect.

  Sensing the danger, the scorpions stopped their advance, but instead of retreating, they clicked their tails together.

  “Now what?” Molly attempted to shield the apprentices behind her.

  “Listen.” Serena tilted her head.

  Luis also heard it. “What is that? It sounds like a bunch of people stepping on crackers.”

  “I don’t like it.” Bryndis edged closer to the cliff to search for a way out.

  “Look!” Serena shouted as she pointed at a wall of humongous spiders rappelling out of the trees like an arachnid SWAT team. “What is it with this guy and his menagerie of mutants?”

  Molly took a step forward and stopped as one of the spiders raced toward her and reared up on its hind legs, warning her to stop. “It can’t be … ”

  “It can’t be what?” Luis asked. He held steady, focusing on the vines that were becoming outnumbered by more and more snakes.

  “I have several specimens of these back home, but they’re usually only about five centimeters long. These are easily five times that. They’re Australian funnel-web spiders—some say the most venomous spider in the world.”

  “Is there anything in Australia that isn’t venomous?” Bryndis asked bitterly.

  “Not much,” Molly answered. “But if being five times the size means they are five times as deadly, we’re in some serious trouble.”

  “Like we weren’t in trouble already?” Luis’s face glistened with sweat from the strain of maintaining his concentration.

  “What in the world?” Molly stepped back in amazement as the spiders quickly scurried into the trees and back down, time and again, releasing thread after thread of coarse webbing. Their graceful movements looked like a choreographed dance and would have been awesome if they weren’t so frightening.

  An intricate web rapidly formed and hemmed them in. The apprentices looked apprehensively at one another as they realized there were only moments left before the web would be complete and they would be at the mercy of an army of snakes, spiders, and scorpions.

  Serena concentrated as she raised her wand and commanded the air molecules into action. What began as a light wind grew in intensity. She held the wind back until it crackled with energy, then released it at the forest.

  The first line of arachnids blew backward, a number of them caught in their own webbing. But the rest quickly flattened themselves against the ground. The cyclonic force blew harmlessly over them and through the webbing, doing very little to tear it apart.

  Bryndis stood closest to the cliff. As the wind died down she heard another sound and looked over the edge. Another battalion of eight-legged freaks scrambled up the rocky cliff. She growled loudly.

  “What now?” Luis yelped. “Flying sharks?”

  Molly hurried over to Bryndis. “Oh, for the love of Pete. Does anyone know how to fly?”

  Bryndis’s head snapped up. A wicked grin crossed her face. “Get your wind ready,” she said to Serena. She closed her eyes and lifted her arms up. A low rumble gathered in her throat like an advancing freight train. She opened her eyes and released an enormous squawk, which she followed up with several more in rapid succession—the war cry of an angry bird of prey.

  Molly watched as the spiders stopped their advance. They reared back in a defensive posture, long fangs fully exposed and ready to take on the threat.

  Bryndis grinned wider. “Luis, get over here!” she yelled, bringing the group together. The spiders lowered their front legs to the ground and resumed their ascent. Bryndis shrieked her war cry again, but the spiders kept coming.

  Luis glanced back at the tree line, where spiders and scorpions moved toward them like a black army of death. Snakes began to wriggle free of their bindings. “Um, it’s not working.” His voice shook worriedly.

  “Ha!” Bryndis laughed and pointed skyward as a flock of eagles zoomed in with incredible speed. “Follow my lead.” She pulled her Wandmaker coat over her head and raised her arms parallel to the ground. “Get ready, Serena.” The eagles descended, four to a person. They landed, one on each arm and one on either side of their necks. Bryndis felt the iron grip of their talons as they dug in but could not penetrate the unique material of the coat. As they spread their wings, she said, “Okay, give us a lift.”

  Serena smiled and focused on the air beneath them. They began to rise. Too slowly. The dark army sensed their prey was about to escape and rushed madly forward. “I need more open space beneath us to create a big enough updraft,” she said as she lowered them to the ground.

  “No problem.” Bryndis laughed. “Run!”

  “Wait … what?” Luis shouted. He hesitated for just a brief moment, realized he could die either way, and followed his friends as they leapt off the cliff.

  Serena grunted with effort as they began to drop past the cliff spiders, which whirled about in confusion. Several leaned so far back they lost their grip and tumbled down the mountain.

  With a final push, Serena regained control of the wind. The eagles flapped furiously, sliding into the wind current. The group began to rise, cleared the cliff, and soared higher into the sky.

  “We’re flying!” Molly shouted triumphantly. “You did it!” She laughed out loud while Serena and Bryndis joined in. They looked at Luis, whose face was drained of color, which made them laugh even louder.

  “N-n-n-ot fu-fu-funny,” he stammered.

  As they glided over the forest they glanced back at the cliff. The creatures had lost their prey but not their bloodlust. Angrily, they turned on one another and engaged in a vicious battle. The laughter faded as reality set in. They had escaped with their lives … barely.

  But they were in full retreat.

  “Let me get this straight.” Henry fidgeted uncomfortably in his cramped cage. “Coralis led you into a trap?”

  Brianna shrugged. “Not intentionally. He found the only way into this place and took us to it. But getting captured was my own fault. I sensed Katelyn’s trail and ran past him before he could stop me.”

  “Aye, if anyone is to blame, ’tis me,” Katelyn said, sulking.

  “That’s just crazy talk,” Brianna said flatly. “We would have found you sooner or later, and now there’s three of us to come up with an escape plan.”

  Henry pointed at the key that was out of reach. “There’s our escape plan, for all the good it’s doing us.” He remembered the smelly man who had delivered Brianna and how he had smiled when he saw the key, nudging it farther out of reach with his foot.

  “You said Malachai somehow blocked your wand power?” Brianna squirmed and pressed tightly against the cage, stretching her fingertips as far as she could to reach for the key, when she suddenly stopped. “Well, that’s weird.”

  “That’s not weird,” Henry said sarcastically. “You can’t just make your arm grow.”

  “No, not that … Listen.” Brianna tilted her head. “I wonder … ” She closed her eyes to concentrate on some faint sound only she could hear. A few seconds later, a tiny mouse squirmed its flattened body under the door and sat up, looking quizzically around the room.

  “Did you just call that mouse?” Katelyn leaned forward, obviously impressed.

  Brianna and the mouse stared at each other. “Maybe my link with animals is not a power. Maybe it’s more of an ability. Gretchen told me something like that. She said I could speak Mouse the way others can speak German or French. That means Malachai can’t stop it.”

  “Great news.” Henry slumped back. “It should only take a year or so for that little guy to chew through these bars.”

  Katelyn rolled her eyes. “I don’t think that’s what she has in mind.”

  Brianna smiled as she connected with the mouse. It walked cautiously past the empty cages, stopping every meter or so to sniff the air, its tiny whiskers twitching nervously.

  �
�What are you doing?” At the sound of Henry’s voice, the mouse immediately scampered for cover.

  Katelyn shushed him.

  Brianna frowned at her brother and called to the mouse again. Gradually it approached the key and clamped its teeth down on the ring. It dragged the key toward Brianna, but she still couldn’t reach to the floor. And the mouse could not climb the bars with the key in its mouth. Brianna growled in frustration as the mouse dropped the key and ran off. She looked toward Katelyn, who nodded encouragement at her.

  Brianna squinted as she searched for another voice. Her eyes lit up when she found what she was looking for. Another nose poked out from under the door. Little by little the large body of a rat appeared, easily five times the size of the mouse.

  “I knew rats could squeeze through tight openings, but that’s impressive,” Henry said with admiration. The rat was pure white with pink eyes. “Probably an escaped lab rat.”

  “Good guess,” said Brianna. “And she’s not happy to be around humans again.” The rat chattered angrily in response. Brianna sent reassuring thoughts to the rodent. Several long minutes later the key was within reach, but the rat would not let it go. Locked in a staring contest, Brianna didn’t realize what the rat was up to until it suddenly released the key and nipped her on the finger.

  “Ouch! Why you little … ” The rat ran halfway to the door, stopped to deposit a fair-sized puddle of pee, then squeezed its way back to freedom.

  Henry and Katelyn burst out in laughter. “I’d call that an unwilling accomplice.” Katelyn giggled.

  Brianna wiped a tiny speck of blood against her coat and called to the rat again. A pink nose appeared under the door. “Thank you,” she said aloud. And the nose popped back out of sight.

  The three apprentices pressed their ears to the door. “Do you think your mouse friend can act as a scout for us?” Katelyn whispered.

  “Already on it.” Brianna smiled. “He says … He says the food is this way.” She opened the door a crack and peeked out. “Which apparently means the coast is clear.”