Made of Magic and True Grit

by Landry-Daniel Lié

  “You're right! Why do you think that is though?”

  “I'm not sure…” Pinly pondered “I had come to a conclusion, which made sense but…”

  “Tell me”

  “You know how crazy Cook can be” Pinly started, Vince nodded, eager to hear the rest “Well I was thinking, this is all training, right?” Vince nodded again “so they don't want us to die, but Cook missed us by inches more than once and as far as I can remember the training had been stopped because of him almost every time” Vince's expression brightened as he understood where Pinly was going with his explanation

  “So you think that Tempus wants to keep an eye on Cook?”

  “Exactly!” Pinly grinned from ear to ear “If we separate them, Tempus will be too distracted to stop me from getting the diamond”

  “That's genius!” Vince jumped in excitement. They saw Miss Poli in the distance, walking towards them. They waved vigorously at her. She gently waved back at them. The witch then flicked her hand like a whip and the Massive doors of the castle opened. Like always, the boys stepped in and the doors closed behind them.

  “Tempus! Cook!” Pinly shouted. The blue figures glided through the wall and stopped just meters away from them.

  “Feeling brave?” Tempus snarled

  “Vince, now!” Pinly shouted, Vince transformed at once and bolted away. Cook took the bait and flew after the tiny fairy. Pinly saw panic in Tempus' eyes for a second before the warrior's eyes were fixed on him again.

  “Don't hold back, because I won't” Pinly said as the bright white light appeared in his hands. He wasn't sure himself how he had finally mastered that, but it was there and this time he controlled it. He launched for Tempus. The leprechaun dodged the deadly bright palm and Pinly impacted with the floor. The light exploded, sending rocks and dust flying everywhere. Pinly took the opportunity to escape. As he hurtled through the corridors, he could hear what sounded like Cook's axe hitting the walls with brute strength. He hoped Vince was okay, even though his friend boasted himself on being a lot faster than the leprechauns, Cook, on top of being crazy, was undeniably far stronger than the both of them put together. Pinly continued anyway. He had passed the throne room and several corridors before Tempus caught up with him. He saw the blue light flash past him and Tempus materialised on the wall opposite him. The leprechaun crawled like a lizard before taking a powerful leap towards Pinly. He dodged left and right as Tempus jumped from wall to wall, trying to catch him. Pinly charged towards a massive wooden door with several bulky chains across it. His hands were full of white light. He blasted them open. One of the chains hit him in the face. It hurt more than a punch from Tempus. Pinly spiralled down and crashed into a hard, uneven surface: Coins; gold, silver and bronze but also jewels, crowns, swords and jewelled instruments. Pinly attempted to stand up, but he felt dizzy and stumbled backwards. Using the white light had drained him. He could feel his aura was a lot weaker and started regretting using the white light so much. In an effort to save some of his power,Pinly picked up a sword off the ground rather than conjuring one. He was almost taken aback by how beautiful it was. It had almost made him lose focus. The blade looked sharper than anything. It felt as though he could cut himself just by looking at it. The shaft was made of gold and rubies, but it weighed almost nothing.

  “Are you planning on destroying my castle?” Tempus said over the noise of coins moving under his feet.

  “Depends how long it takes me to find what I'm looking for” Pinly stepped back, holding the blade fiercely. Tempus charged at the boy, their swords clashed. Pinly struggled to keep up with Tempus' swinging: left and right, up and down. Pinly leaped back, Tempus bounced so powerfully that the coins behind him rose in the air like a wave. He swung his sword down, at Pinly. Both Pinly and Tempus couldn't believe what had just happened, it only confirmed what Pinly thought, his sword was unbelievably sharp. Tempus' sword had been cut in half. But the fairy didn't have time to gush over his new weapon, he flew out of reach. Tempus stood there, an air of disbelief on his face. He screamed in anger, threw his now useless sword and grabbed the first one he could find off the floor. Pinly prayed it wasn't as good as the one he had. Tempus jumped up to Pinly's level and their swords rang again. The fairy was getting to know so much about the leprechauns' abilities thanks to Tempus. He now knew that they could walk and crawl over walls and ceilings, they were incredibly fast and now he also knew that they could jump to incredible heights. Tempus rebounded in all directions to try and strike him down. The leprechaun finally got hold of Pinly's leg and dragged him to the ground. They fell in a ruckus of coins. Pinly grabbed a handful and threw them at Tempus who had to let go of the leg to dodge. Pinly made a run for the exit but Tempus was too fast, he reached the exit first and kicked Pinly several meters back. The leprechaun then charged at him, Pinly hurried to stand up and blocked the strike, there was the noise of metal hitting coins as Tempus' sword was split in half again. Pinly swung his sword and cut the leprechaun on the cheek. He tried his luck again, but Tempus punched him back. There was no blood and the cut closed itself almost immediately, but it was still a victory for Pinly, he had never managed to land a blow on Tempus before.

  “You might want to give up Tempus, you're no match for this sword” he said even though he knew Tempus could end him, even without a sword.

  “It's Lord Tempus to you” the leprechaun grinned as if he had a plan

  “Like hell it is, you can't even beat me, you don't deserve the status of lord…” Before Pinly could finish talking, Tempus was charging at him, the leprechaun picked up a hammer as he ran and swung at Pinly. He tried to avoid the blow, but he was too slow and went crashing back in an explosion of coins. Pinly almost blacked out. He was laying, belly down on the coins when he heard a whisper in the air. He knew at once what was happening

  "No! Don't stop this! I have the situation under control" he said. Miss Poli was about to stop the training for the day again. He felt her presence disappear as he painfully stood back up. His whole body shook with pain. Boom! Part of the ceiling collapsed. Down came Cook and Vince. The bald leprechaun looked crazier than ever. His eyes looked wild with fury, his face scarred with deep frowns and his knuckles were white on his red hand from clenching his weapon so hard.

  “Pinly this way!” The fairy heard but could barely see with all the dust, he briefly perceived Vince's golden wings as the boy turned into his fairy form and flew up, back through the same hole he had just come from. Pinly followed him up. They put as much distance as possible between them and the leprechauns. “Mate your arm!” Vince said before turning back into his human form. He pushed a door that led into a dark room. It's only then that Pinly realised his left arm was hurting really bad, worse than the rest of his body. He looked down at it and realised it was all black and purple.

  “Tempus hit me with a hammer” Pinly said as they entered the dark room

  “My god” Vince gasped “Are you sure you want to continue?”

  “Yes!” He winced “We have to get the diamond today, no matter what” Pinly suddenly chuckled

  “What?” Vince asked

  “What did you do to cook? Why is he so mad?” he asked, Vince began to giggle quietly

  “I may have found what ticks him off and rubbed it in again and again... and again” they both suppressed laughter.

  “He is insane…” Pinly giggled “anyway let's get out of here” he said with a sudden urgency

  “Yes. I made Cook go through all the walls, we just have to fly through them and go to the main tower, the diamond is as good as ours”

  “You're the best mate!” Pinly said as they quietly walked back to the door and peeked outside. Vince turned back into a fairy. They burst out and began flying at full speed. They went through the holes. They were all so big. It would have been devastating for anyone to be hit by such strength. Pinly's bruised arm was losing all feeling. It was numb and still painful when moved too much. He held the sharp sword in his other hand. The sudde
n sound of rushing wind, swooshed from behind, the two spectres were bolting in their direction.

  “They're here!” The spectres were rapidly catching up with them. But the boys were close, Pinly could see the dark corridor of the tower ahead, he rushed trying to catch up with Vince who was just going through it. He managed to get in but not as he wanted to. Tempus had kicked him so hard that he hit part of the wall and crashed inside.

  “Aaaaahh!” He screamed in excruciating pain, his arm was burning with agony, tears fell down his cheeks. Blue light flashed past, chasing a tiny gold light as Cook went after Vince.

  “You asked me not to hold back…” Tempus snarled “I'm sure you're regretting it now”

  “Not even a little bit” Pinly groaned through heavy breaths. He picked up the sword and held it with one hand.

  “You honestly think you have a chance…”

  “I made it this far, didn't I?" Pinly replied”Vince get out of here!” His voice echoed through the tower. He heard a loud explosion which meant Vince had made Cook take the fight outside. “I hope for you that you can only die once” Pinly said as power rushed through his body. He gathered all the power he had left in his one working hand. The white light blinded Tempus who covered his eyes. Pinly raised his hand in the air then smacked the floor with it. The white light burst in an explosion that no one expected, not even Pinly. It destroyed the bottom of the tower which began to collapse. Pinly lifted off through it anyway. He avoided the rubble and massive parts of the walls that rained down. He felt a hand brushing passed his foot as Tempus attempted to grab him. Pinly was almost at the end of the rapidly falling tower. He had to get to the diamond, he just had to. Tempus was catching up fast, they were shoulder to shoulder when Pinly saw the red diamond falling away. The fairy leaped towards it. Rocks hit him but he powered through anyway. He jumped and finally grabbed the precious diamond. Last thing the fairy remembered was seeing Miss Poli's black cloaked figure over him, she had conjured a shield, protecting them from the debris.

  Chapter 21

  heart to heart

  I t was very late during the night, but Vince couldn't sleep. It wasn't the night noises or the cold. He was used to those by now. Vince had a lot on his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about everything he had come across so far; magic, mages, spectres and fairies, which he now partly was too. Miss Poli's lights were shining bright through the windows of her tiny house. Vince sat up to look around. He looked at Pinly who was sound asleep, the diamond he had just won, clutched tightly in his hands. The fairy was so tired he even snored. Vince stood up and walked to Miss Poli's house. The door opened long before he had reached it. She always seemed to know when the boys were about to knock. He stepped in and the door closed softly behind him, as if it was well aware of Pinly's slumber. Miss Poli was sitting on her small table, writing on a piece of parchment. It surprised Vince to see her write because Pinly had told him about the time he entered the house and she was dictating words that wrote themselves onto levitating parchment.

  “Do you always know when we are coming see you?” Vince pointed at the door, Miss Poli looked up at him, the door then shook her head.

  “The door is enchanted” she replied before focusing back on her parchment. Vince paced around. He wasn't being impatient while she wrote her letter, but he didn't know what to do with himself. He cleared his throat, but Miss Poli raised a finger before he could speak. She held it there whilst she finished writing. The witch then put her quill to the side, rolled the parchment and finally looked up at Vince who beamed at her.

  “You can't sleep?” The witch stood up and walked to the kitchen area where she filled a metal kettle with water then absentmindedly let go of it, but the kettle did not crash to the floor, it slowly hovered through the room and inside the chimney where a fire came alive on its own, like a beating heart. Vince looked at it all with wide eyes. “What brings you here so late?” She asked

  “I wanted to thank you... for everything” he said, she nodded but narrowed her eyes

  “Good, but what really brings you here?” She waved her hand towards the table

  “I'm worried” Vince walked to one of the chairs

  “This is all new to you, it is normal to be worried”

  “I'm not worried for myself, I'm worried for Pinly” he said, Miss Poli sat back in her chair and sighed

  “I'm worried too... But I won't be able to stop him forever”

  “I don't know what will happen to him out there... Family is everything to him. I'm grateful it is, because he made me his brother in no time, but what will happen if you don't find Lion or worse, if you find him dead?” Miss poli looked down and shook her head

  “I don't know” she said softly

  “You and I are all he has right now, I see the way he takes care of me without even realising what he's doing... Just little things like giving me some of his food... if he was to lose Lion he probably wouldn't survive it himself” Vince and Miss Poli looked deep into each other's eyes, both horrified by this very possible outcome.

  “He has you now, he couldn't have wished for a better friend” she said

  “But I'm not enough Miss Poli... He needs you and Lion” they both sighed and were quiet for a while. The piping hot kettle began to whistle and Miss Poli beckoned it over. It left the fire and hovered just over the table. Vince could feel the heat coming from it. Two cups came out flying from the cupboard and one rested in front of both of them. Another cupboard opened and out came flying a jar full of green dry leaves, the lid popped open and the jar tipped over, sprinkling a few leaves in each cup before closing itself and flying back to the cupboard, then finally the water came steaming out of the kettle and into each cup.

  “The spirit that gave me my powers talked about Pinly, it seemed to have seen every single one of my memories… It said that Pinly was not just made of magic but of true grit too”

  “That’s true. What boy after seeing what he saw would still go after an army? If there's one thing I've learned about Pinly, it's that he's stronger than he shows. He has his moments of weakness, but he's a much stronger boy now, with your help he'll get through it all” she said, Vince nodded. “What you've done today was no small feat... Tempus and cook today were not holding back and these two were some of the most powerful warriors of their time... You proved today that not only intelligence will always have the upper hand, but you also proved just how brave you both are, and I know that if Pinly was to face such evil again, he would survive it... Again” Vince blew on his tea and sipped it carefully. He then put his cup down but his eyes did not leave it.

  “Were they after you?” His eyes drifted up to hers

  “What do you mean?”

  “The creatures who attacked his home…”

  “Why would you…”

  “I've been thinking…” Vince cut in “Why were you hiding there? I mean surely Vikah is a better option for you, unless you are on the run from there too”

  “I…” She started, her voice breaking “I wasn't there when they came for me, I could have stopped it all, just by being present…”

  “Why are you running?”

  “I'm not running anymore! And don't you dare judge me, I’m doing everything I can to make it right” she said, a hint of anger in her voice, but mostly sadness

  “I would never, but he deserves better than this, he deserves to know the truth”

  “Not now, it would crush him even more, I need to bring his brother back first”

  “I've done some bad things too…”

  “It can't be as bad as this”

  “It cost me a loved one too, I understand exactly what you're going through, but it needs to be fixed, for Pinly's sake” it felt as though the roles were reversed, Vince was the master and Miss Poli the student. The boy extended his hand “Promise me you will do anything you can to fix this” Miss poli looked at the small hand for a few seconds before grabbing it

  “I promise”

  Chapter 22
<
br />   Fairy dust

  P inly had learned to appreciate food a lot more now that he had to actually work for it. He hadn't eaten any magic food since he had stepped in this forest and as Miss Poli had said: he was better for it. He and Vince devoured large grilled fish they had captured themselves when Miss Poli emerged from the house holding a dusty brown box.

  “What's that?” Vince asked with his mouth full of fish. Miss Poli put the box on the stump and began to dust it off. When she was done cleaning it, the witch put a finger on the box and drawings began to carve themselves in the form of stars and flowers all around it. Then a thin line divided the box in half. Miss Poli lifted the top half. The two curious boys walked up to her to see what was in the box. Inside there were three fist sized bags lined up. Miss Poli picked one and gave it to Pinly, another one and gave it to Vince

  “What's in it?” Pinly asked as he gently squeezed the bag. It felt like sand in his hand. Miss Poli opened hers, pinched the sand like substance and showed it to them

  “Fairy dust” she said. It was silver, shiny and as thin as salt. Pinly could tell it was nothing like what the man held in the vial a few months back in the close by village. “Show me your scar” she nodded at the nasty scar on Pinly’s left forearm. He raised his arm up, and the witch sprinkled the dust onto it. Pinly felt and saw the scar close up and disappear almost instantly. It left his skin smooth and flawless. It was even better than when Miss Poli had healed his bruises from fights against Tempus. He was at a loss for words. Vince's mouth was wide open. “It heals you and you are stronger for it” she said, Pinly caressed his skin and it felt different to the rest of his body, more resilient. “We're going to start fighting for real, with real weapons. You will get injured... a lot" she said very seriously. They listened attentively. Pinly knew it was all about to become very hard. Harder than escaping and fighting Tempus. He wouldn't be able to use tricks or run away and now that they had the fairy dust she was definitely not going to hold back “keep these bags for yourselves, we will use my dust for your training” she said, shaking the bag in her hand.