Accidental Archaeologist

by Kathryn Wells

  Raising their arms as they had done on the surface, leaves once again began to fall down on the floor, again emitting a dark green light. As if in response, the stone floor began to glow a deep blue and in the space where the leaves had fallen, a large black orb seemed to float out of it like a blob of ink.

  It rippled once and then hardened, levitating just in front of the outstretched branches of the tree. The Watchem Watchems all fell to the floor, their magic disappearing once again.

  'What is this?' Thordric asked, helping them all back up to their feet.

  Vey looked at the orb, his reflection visible on its surface, horribly distorted. 'This is wizard magic, from our time,' he said, frowning at it. He looked at the tree again, and his eyebrow shot up.

  'Thordric, I believe you were right. This tree must be the boy. That's the only explanation I can come up with for magic of our era having been used on this,' he said. 'He must have used his own magic in conjunction with what was already here.'

  'But why?' Hamlet asked, as Thordric spoke at the same time.

  'Is that even possible?' he said. 'We can't use any of our magic down here.'

  Vey tugged at his beard, considering both. 'We know that he announced himself as Kalljard's son. If he wanted to prove himself as a wizard and knew that the magic here was strong, then perhaps he tried to harness it. If he tried it before the magic was activated, then his magic would have worked.'

  'So you think he was the one who caused all of this?' Thordric asked.

  'I can't be certain, but, yes, I think he did,' Vey replied a little sadly. 'Of course, I doubt he knew what it would do.'

  Hamlet looked at the orb and then at the tree and the Watchem Watchems all huddled together around Thordric again. 'You know, something has been annoying me for a while now. If the Ta'Ren and the ancient Watchem Watchems wanted to grow the forest back, why did they make it turn people into trees as well? It doesn't strike me as something they would do.'

  The Watchem Watchems looked at him and gurgled approvingly.

  Vey had the answer to that too. 'I don't think they did. I suspect that when young Kal used his magic on it, something went wrong and it altered the original spell. It's what comes from being left untrained, I'm afraid.' He sighed. 'If we can only find a way to break through his magic, then I believe the Watchem Watchems may be able to take care of the rest.'

  A tingling from the stone at Thordric's throat reminded him that the Crystos Mentos had the power to divert the ancient magic. They had brought several pouches of it with them just to be on the safe side and suddenly, he found himself with an idea.

  'I think I know how to do it,' he said. Vey and Hamlet turned to him. 'We can't use magic here because it's being overridden by the other magic. If the Crystos Mentos diverts that same magic away from us to stop us from becoming trees, then maybe it can divert the magic surrounding the orb.'

  He went over to his bag and pulled out all of the pouches of Crystos Mentos. Giving some to Hamlet and Vey, he shook the remaining ones out into his hand and then held them all to the orb, forcing them against its surface. 'Press them to the orb like this,' he said to the other two.

  They did so and then looked to him for more instructions. 'I think we should try to smash the orb with magic,' he said to Vey, unsure if it would even work. Concentrating together, they both sent a wave of magic crashing into the orb. There was a loud cracking sound and all of them were knocked back by a sudden wave of ancient magic, scattering their crystals to the floor along with them.

  Recovering, Thordric saw that the orb was covered in cracks, but he was too exhausted to use his magic on it once more. Spotting a crystal beside him, he picked it up and threw it with all his strength. The black surface of the orb shattered, shooting out lethal shards across the room.

  Scooping as many of the Watchem Watchems behind him as he could, he curled up into a ball, shielding them from the shards.

  There was silence for a moment.

  'Is everyone all right?' he said, sitting up. He saw that Hamlet had thrown himself behind the tree, which was now embedded with shards all over. Thanks to that, he was once again unscathed.

  To his relief, he found that Vey was too, aside from a slight scratch on his cheek. He and the other Watchem Watchems had all ran back towards the tunnel and hidden there until the rain of shards had subsided.

  'We're fine,' they both replied, with Vey adding. 'How about you?'

  'I don't think any of them got—' Thordric began, but he stopped as he felt something wet and sticky on his side. He felt it with his hand, looking down at it. It was blood.

  'Spell's rebounded!' Vey said, coming back into the room and seeing the red on Thordric's hand and robes. Thordric went dizzy and fell back towards the floor, but Vey quickly knelt and caught him gently around the shoulders. 'Hamlet, fetch me Thordric's bag,' he said urgently.

  Hamlet ran to get it and brought it back, kneeling by Thordric's side. 'We need to get to the wound,' he said. 'I need a knife or something sharp to cut through his robes.'

  He searched through the bag, but there was nothing he could use. Just then, a gurgling came from behind him and he turned to see a Watchem Watchem there, flexing its pointed fingers.

  Hamlet moved aside and it stepped forward, tearing through Thordric's robes with one swipe, revealing the wound. It was very deep and, as he wiped away the blood, he saw that the shard was still inside. He hesitated, looking at Vey.

  'If I pull it out, it will bleed even more,' he said, remembering about what his Professor had once told him about the tribes that had used arrows as their main weapon. Pulling one out of someone that had been shot only opened the wound more.

  'Not if we're quick,' Vey replied, dropping Thordric gently down to the floor and then pulling two vials out of the bag, one of them the sticky potion that Thordric had used on his cut.

  'Here,' he said, giving Hamlet the other one. 'Pour that one on the wound first; it will cleanse it. Then pull out the shard. I'll pour this sticky one over it and the wound should close.'

  Hamlet gulped at him but then gritted his teeth. He unscrewed the cap on the vial and emptied its contents right over the wound. It fizzled a dark purple, mixing with the blood and turning brown.

  Taking a deep breath, he then took hold of the shard and tugged it hard. Thordric screamed and fell back in a near-faint, but the shard came out cleanly.

  Vey quickly pushed Hamlet aside and poured the sticky potion right inside the wound, covering it completely. They waited.

  Chapter Twenty Five: All Together

  Thordric coughed and rolled onto his side, sitting up. He looked at Vey and Hamlet, surrounded by the Watchem Watchems. They were all looking at him.

  'What happened?' he said, stretching and feeling a dull ache just below his ribs on one side. He looked down and saw that his robes had been torn and, underneath, was a dark purple scar.

  'You had a piece of shard stuck in your side. I pulled it out, remember?' Hamlet said, concern on his face.

  Thordric found that he did have a memory of a sharp pain. That must have been it.

  'We cleaned the wound and sealed it,' Vey said. 'That sticky potion of yours is quite handy; I'm not sure what we would have done without it.

  Thordric grinned, about to say that perhaps Vey should consider putting it on the Council's production line, but then his face fell as he caught sight of the tree. Beside it, where the black orb had been, was a ball of tangled twigs and leaves.

  Vey followed his gaze. 'That was what was under the orb's surface. It's the original spell,' he explained.

  'It hasn't been broken yet?' Thordric said.

  'No, it's the magic of the ancient Watchem Watchems. We can't touch it,' he replied.

  Thordric frowned. So all they had done was simply lift the magic that Kal had put on it?

  'The Watchem Watchems here tried to break it while you were unconscious,' Hamlet said. 'But it looks as though they're not as powerful.'

  A small whining cam
e from the Watchem Watchems as he spoke and Thordric saw that they were all crying small tears of sap. He smiled at them. 'It's not your fault,' he said to them. 'We had no idea what we would find here. It's my fault for expecting so much of you all.'

  They gurgled at him, looking slightly happier and started climbing onto his shoulders. Then he felt something hard hit his head and bounce across the floor. It was one of the crystals.

  Looking around to see who had thrown it, he saw the bearded one staring at him. It pointed at him, then to itself and finally at the floating mass of twigs.

  'I don't understand,' Hamlet said beside him. 'What is it trying to say?'

  Thordric looked at it blankly. 'I'm not sure,' he said. Another crystal flew at his head. The Watchem Watchems sitting on him hissed angrily and knocked it away, hitting Hamlet instead. He yelled out in pain and the Watchem Watchems gurgled.

  Thordric told them off and they went quiet.

  The bearded one pointed again, in the same order, but still he didn't understand.

  'I think I do,' Vey said, nodding to the Watchem Watchem. 'It's trying to tell us to work together.'

  'Can we do that?' Thordric asked.

  'I can't see why not. If we form a chain with them like we do in normal group magic, then perhaps it will work.'

  He stood up and, with Hamlet's help, lifted Thordric onto his feet. The Watchem Watchems stayed clinging to Thordric's tattered robes as he made his way slowly over to the floating ball of twigs and leaves.

  There, they climbed down to his hands and hung there from one another, forming two small chains from his fingertips. The ones dangling from his right side pointed at Vey. Taking the hint, Vey took the hand of the one nearest the ground, lifting it up so that so that they all dangled between him and Thordric.

  Seeing what they were trying to do, Hamlet took the hand of the lowest one on the other side. He felt the spiky fingers of the bearded one in his shin and, looking down, realised that it wanted to be lifted to. Picking him up with his free hand, Vey then took hold of the bearded one's other hand, making the circle complete.

  The other Watchem Watchems kicked their feet excitedly for a moment, dangling in the air, making Thordric, Hamlet and Vey's outstretched arms shake uncomfortably. Then the bearded one hissed loudly and they stopped.

  'Will this work even though I'm part of it?' Hamlet asked nervously, looking at the two wizards.

  Vey smiled. 'The magic will simply pass through you. What matters is that the chain remains strong. As long as you concentrate on that, it will be fine.'

  Focusing on the floating ball of twigs, Thordric and Vey felt their magic merge with that of the Watchem Watchems. It was a curious sensation, and he suddenly felt as though he was connected to every bush, tree and plant in the world. He could feel it all, living and growing around him. Risking a glance, he saw that Vey was pulling the same expression as he was. So he felt it too.

  The sensation grew, but then it narrowed down to just the forest growing above them. He could almost see the new saplings shooting up into adult trees. It felt as though they were being forced to grow and they were crying out to him for help.

  He wanted to return them back to the tiny seeds they had grown from and, hearing the Watchem Watchems gurgle encouragingly beside him, he concentrated his magic on trying to make it happen.

  A few of the twigs in the floating ball cracked. He grinned and focused his magic some more, beads of sweat forming at his brow.

  Swiftly, all the remaining twigs cracked at once and the ball disintegrated onto the floor.

  Breathing heavily, he, Vey and Hamlet set the Watchem Watchems back onto the ground and then sat down themselves, their energy spent.

  A groaning sound beside them made them jump. The tree was slowly changing colour and becoming smoother; its branches shaping into arms and hands while the middle one changed into a head and neck. The shards of the black orb that had been embedded in it dropped to the floor with a soft tinkling. Then the split trunk formed a pair of legs and, after a moment, a boy of around thirteen stood there, staring around the room, quite bewildered.

  'Who are you people?' he asked, his voice croaking so much that they couldn't understand him. He coughed and asked again, though it was only slightly better.

  For some reason, Hamlet and Vey both looked at Thordric to explain. He sighed and started at the beginning.

  After making their way back up the tunnel, much easier now that Vey and Thordric could use their magic again, they came out at the main excavation site to find the archaeologists all sitting around, shaking their heads and rubbing their eyes as though trying to shake off a good night's sleep. One of them had even found Hamlet's camping stove and kettle in the tent and was using it to make tea.

  Thordric blinked as he looked around.

  The trees had all vanished, though the Valley Flats were far from barren again. Small, delicate flowers covered the site like a carpet, spreading out as far as he could see. He looked at Vey suspiciously, but Vey shook his head and pointed to the bearded Watchem Watchem.

  Thordric laughed and the others all gurgled happily, making the archaeologists stare.

  Once they had explained everything again, everyone; Thordric, Vey, Hamlet, the boy Kal, the Watchem Watchems and the archaeologists; all boarded Dinia's Jewel.

  It was a tight fit, with Hamlet and the Watchem Watchems once again piled in the single cabin together while everyone else tried to stay standing on deck, but soon they had sailed in sight of The Jardine.

  Vey and Thordric opened the panel in The Jardine's hull and steered the ship inside, closing it again behind them. They summoned more fires lighting the cargo hold and, once the boat's levitation system had been deactivated, everyone disembarked.

  'What about the Watchem Watchems?' Thordric asked Vey, as he watched them come out of the cabin with Hamlet, who was trying his best to ignore their sharp fingers as they poked at his feet.

  'We'll return them to Watchem Woods on our return to Jard Town,' he replied. 'But first we need to help the people of Valley Edge fix their homes.'

  'Goodness,' Morweena cried when she saw the state the three of them were in. 'What happened to you all?'

  Thordric and Hamlet look away awkwardly, but Vey smiled at her. 'We were simply making it safe for everyone to return to Valley Edge,' he said. 'I didn't wish to worry you with the details before we left, dear auntie.'

  'You stopped the forest?' Roomer asked, standing next to her.

  'Yes…the trees are all gone, but the damage is still there,' Vey said.

  'What about Tome and Yim?' he said anxiously.

  Vey frowned. 'They must still be somewhere by the dig site. We didn't see them though, so perhaps they made their way back to your hide-out. Either way, I'm sure they'll turn up sometime.' He turned to Thordric and Hamlet. 'Shall we get some breakfast? I'm terribly hungry after all of that.'

  Thordric felt his stomach grumble just as Vey spoke. Breakfast sounded like a wonderful idea to him.

  They made their way down the corridor to the dining room, where several people were hurrying out looking decidedly startled.

  As they got closer, they understood why.

  A loud gurgling was coming from inside the room and, as Thordric opened the door, he saw the Watchem Watchems all sitting around a large table, eating vegetables off of a large platter in the centre.

  Vey turned to him as he stared and grinned. 'I couldn't just let them go hungry,' he said. 'Though I was surprised that they like the same vegetables as we do.'

  After filling their own plates, the three of them sat at the table too and ate their meal without anyone else coming in. The Watchem Watchems hissed slightly at the meat on their plates, but as soon as it was clear that they didn't have to eat it too, they went back to stabbing the vegetables with their spiny fingers and gobbling them into their mouths.

  'What are you going to do with Kal?' Thordric asked after a while.

  Vey looked at him. 'He'll be coming back w
ith us to be trained. His mother might be indifferent, but the Captain was more than happy to hear that he was still alive. I believe that Kal and Lily are in the cabin with him now.'

  'Are you going to get the Inspector to charge him with anything though?' Thordric said.

  Vey shook his head. 'He might have caused one of the biggest disasters that I've ever seen, but that still doesn't mean he needs to be punished. After all, if I had had any sense and decided to come out here and let everyone know about the Council's reform earlier, then this probably wouldn't have happened.

  He took a drink of blueberry and chocolate tea and smiled. 'I think you should be the one to teach him,' he said.

  Thordric gaped. 'But I don't know enough yet.'

  'I hardly know anything either, when you think about all the magic that's possible, and look at the position they gave me,' Vey said seriously, causing Thordric to snort.

  Even Hamlet raised his eyebrows, for it was common knowledge that Vey knew more magic than the whole Council put together, despite only being in his late thirties and thus one of the youngest wizards there.

  Vey ignored them both and continued. 'It's not about how much magic you don't know, but your experience with using the magic that you do know. In the few years that I've known you, you've built up great control, and that is precisely what Kal needs to learn.'

  Thordric looked down at his plate. He supposed his control was good, considering that he only really began to master his magic just over three years ago.

  'Alright, I'll teach him everything I know,' he said at last. 'But I'll still get to train with you, won't I?'

  'Of course,' Vey replied. 'I wouldn't want to waste your potential. Besides, mother would never speak to me again if I did.'

  Thordric grinned, but then he remembered something. 'Would it be alright if I taught Hamlet a few things too?' he said. 'I know he won't be able to use all the magic that we do, but I can teach him to make potions.'