Wizard in the Woods

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  The spell will take some time to be fully deployed, Balthor admitted. His long neck jerked up and he nervously scanned the area, as if sensing the thriper was near. However, the first layer will be instantaneous. The thriper must be made solid. The second layer will not engage until it does.

  So there’s a chance the spell won’t work if the first spell, er, first layer doesn’t successfully shift its form?

  Correct.

  What form is it going to take?

  We decided to give it a form it has taken many times before. Hopefully once it sees its new form it won’t panic and try to resist.

  What form? Mikal repeated.

  A horse.

  A horse? A horse cannot survive underwater. Wouldn’t its appearance down here do the job for us and kill it?

  Once the equine form is locked into place, thanks to the second layer, then the third layer should render it unconscious in seconds. Selecting a non-aquatic form is just another way to keep it in its cave, where it will be safe.

  I still don’t like you going in there by yourself.

  I am the wizard. The protection and safekeeping of the shealk is my responsibility. It is an honor to serve.

  What would Gareth say about all of this?

  OUR TASK IS TO DISTRACT. YOUNG GARETH HAS NOT BEEN TOLD OF THE TRUE PLAN TO IMMOBILIZE THE THRIPER. UNDERSTANDABLY, BALTHOR FEARS WHAT HIS SON WOULD DO.

  The thriper is near! Pravara reported. I am in contact with the winged dragons that have been in pursuit. The thriper just disappeared into the water. It will be here in a matter of minutes!

  EVERYONE BUT BALTHOR SHOULD BE BEHIND THAT WESTERN RIDGE. NO EXCEPTIONS. I DO NOT WANT ANY OTHER SHEALK VISIBLE WHEN THE THRIPER ARRIVES.

  Mikal wished Balthor good luck and followed Pravara. She, along with everyone else except for Gareth’s father, allowed themselves to sink to the ocean floor, dropping down below the rock outcropping. Half a dozen shealk heads peered anxiously over the ridge and waited.

  How long do you think we’ll have to wait? Mikal whispered to Pravara.

  NOT LONG. BEHOLD. THE THRIPER APPROACHES! EVERYONE IS TO REMAIN CONCEALED!

  Mikal looked back towards the direction they had come and scanned the dark water. He couldn’t see anything. The thriper was out there? How would they even know? The thriper could sneak right up to them and no one would be the wiser.

  I don’t see it.

  It’s moving fast, Pravara told him. It must favor the equine form as it looks as though a dark immobile horse is heading straight for us.

  Where? I don’t see it!

  Cast your eyes much lower. It is practically floating less than a foot off the ocean floor.

  Mikal stared at the bed of the ocean for a few seconds before he finally spotted it. Pravara was right. The thriper was mostly in equine form. It had the head, neck, chest, and front forelegs of a horse. When viewed straight on it look exactly like a horse. Then it drifted sideways a bit and the creature’s body tilted. The front half may look like a horse, Mikal decided, but the back half was a far cry from anything that resembled an equine. Starting at the middle of the back, where one would expect to find a saddle, was an expanse of open water. There was no back, or haunches, or rear legs, or even a tail. Instead, what Mikal saw was swirling cloud of mist that was gently pulsating as it flowed through the space that should have been the horse’s body. The mist tapered, forming a tight curlicue right about where the tail should be, before fading into the cold depths of the icy waters. The thriper’s head turned. Mikal just knew it was staring straight at him.

  This isn’t going to work. His tail began undulating, pushing up and away from the ridge they were hiding behind. He started to drift up. Lord Phaedren hooked his tail through Mikal’s and instantly jerked him back down.

  STAY DOWN AND STAY SILENT. WE HAVE NOT BEEN DETECTED. YET. IT KNOWS SOMETHING IS NEARBY BUT IT HASN’T SEEN IT YET.

  Balthor appeared in front of the cave, right on cue. He was glowing! An eerie blue glow bathed the shealk wizard’s body from the tip of his nose all the way down to the furthest reaches of his tail. Gareth’s father must have been using every scrap of jhorun he could muster in order to look as appealing as possible to the thriper.

  It’s working! Pravara hissed excitedly. It’s heading toward the cave!

  They watched, mesmerized, as the eerie horse figure moved unerringly towards Balthor. The thriper’s front legs fizzed out and was replaced by a disproportionately large claw. The large avian claw looked completely out of place on the horse, although Mikal had to admit a claw like that showing up on only half a horse really hadn’t surprised him that much in the first place.

  That’s what we saw above the water several days ago, Pravara reminded him. I can only fathom the claw must have formed in anticipation of feeding. I certainly hope Balthor knows what he’s doing.

  WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

  Mikal and Pravara looked worriedly at each other before turning to look at the shealk leader.

  What is it? Mikal hesitantly asked. The last thing he wanted to hear at the moment was that there was a problem, especially when they hadn’t even invoked the complex layer-spell yet.

  I WARNED HIM ABOUT THIS. BALTHOR’S JHORUN IS FAILING. IT SIMPLY HADN’T ENOUGH TIME TO REGENERATE AFTER YOU RESTORED IT.

  What? Oh, no! Mikal felt the blood drain from his face as he carefully peered over the stone ridge. Lord Phaedren was right. Balthor was about to be in a serious situation. He had lost the blue glow and was now casting anxious looks behind him to judge the distance to the cave. Balthor might have been close, but unfortunately, the thriper was still far enough away from the cave to hesitate. It rotated its horse head from left to right as if it was uncertain what to do. Then, surprising everyone, the thriper turned its back on Balthor and the ridge and faced the opposite direction. Something was approaching and that something was moving fast.

  It was Gareth!

  The jet black shealk zipped by the thriper just as it was reaching the large claw out to presumably make a strike against him. Gareth arrived at his father’s side and cast him a disparaging look.

  Did you really think that I was going to let you face this thing by yourself?

  You shouldn’t be here, son. You’re supposed to be a long way away by now.

  The thriper regained its bearings and drifted closer.

  For your information, that has to be the worst covert operation I have ever been witness to. I knew what my shealk ‘guards’ were trying to do just as soon as they guided me away from you. I was so surprised by the notion of Lord Phaedren trying to pull one over on me that it took me a few minutes to come up with a spell so that I could escape.

  They heard the shrill screech of the approaching thriper. Unless they ducked inside the cave then the thriper would be within physical contact in less than ten seconds.

  Father, get inside.

  And leave you to face this abomination? I left you once. I won’t do it again.

  From his position behind the ridge Mikal saw Gareth’s jaws moving. He was chanting! What could he… Balthor grunted with surprise as an unknown force pushed him into the cave. Gareth ducked in at the last possible moment to avoid the swipe of the thriper’s claw. He arrived at his father’s side inside the cave.

  You had better know what you’re doing, son. Balthor opened his jaws, displaying the two glowing crystal shards. He spit them both out and caught one with the tip of his tail. Take the other. Hurry! Be ready in case we need it.

  Father and son huddled together in mock terror as the thriper arrived at the cave entrance and looked inside. It paused for a moment, as if it might have sensed something amiss. After remaining motionless for a few seconds it fully entered the cave and extended its abnormally large claw. Balthor leveraged his tail up and brought it alongside the closest cave wall he could reach.

  By the power of the shealk who have imprisoned you once before, I banish you back to the depths of hell from whence you came!

  Balthor cracke
d his tail against the insides of the cave. Both he and Gareth heard the crystal shard crack. Gareth sighed with relief. His father had done it! He had invoked the spell! It was over!

  A commotion drew his attention back to the thriper. It was writhing in pain and lost what equine characteristics it had been displaying. Instead, it reverted back to a swirling cloud of black mist. The dark cloud shrank, as if it was drawing in on itself. After a few moments it began swelling and changing. A shape was beginning to form. The spell was working!

  The mist reversed direction and fled the cave. Mikal growled with dismay. Had the third layer of the spell been triggered? Had something frightened it? The last thing anyone had expected was to see the thriper speeding away from the site of its new prison. The thriper’s new form was not quite complete but everyone could see that it wasn’t a horse that had fled the scene.

  Mikal could see the creature thrashing wildly about as it clawed its way to the surface. He stared at the receding cloud of mist. Even from a distance Mikal could see what the Athanaus was changing into. Both he and Pravara gasped with alarm.

  The thriper had become a winged dragon and was desperately clawing its way to the surface.

  Chapter 14 – Sealing the Deal

  For several seconds no one said a word. Gareth looked back at his father and then at the receding form of the thriper. He pointed his tail at the rapidly dissipating trail of bubbles the thriper had left behind.

  What happened? Did we miss a step somewhere?

  Mikal might not have figured out how to execute a shrug in shealk form but Gareth’s father didn’t have any problems. Balthor looked at the second shard still clutched in the tip of Gareth’s tail.

  Not that I’m aware of.

  Well, it wasn’t exactly how we planned but the spell did work. Father, the thriper is gone! The shealk are safe!

  Mikal swam over to his friend and stared incredulously at him.

  What are you talking about? The spell didn’t work. Far from it! It just turned the thriper into a dragon and it fled. It fled, Gareth! Do you know what that means?

  It means the shealk are safe.

  What about the rest of the kingdom? Mikal angrily protested. Do you have any idea what will happen if we let that thing loose on the kingdom?

  Gareth’s black shealk head looked up at the distant surface of the water, represented only as a faint shimmer of light.

  Your friend is right, Balthor told his son. The thriper must be pursued and eliminated once and for all. I would gladly stand by your side, but until my jhorun has a chance to properly regenerate, I am unable to shift. You will have to do this on your own, my son.

  No, he won’t, Mikal disagreed. I’ll be with him.

  I, too, will be there, Pravara added.

  THE SPELL FAILED, Lord Phaedren pointed out. HOW DO YOU THREE PLAN TO DEFEAT THE THRIPER? YOU WILL BE NO MATCH FOR IT.

  Gareth’s head snapped up. He craned his long neck to look up and then looked excitedly back at his friends.

  That’s it!

  What's it? What are you talking about, son? Balthor wanted to know.

  The thriper! Father, that’s how we’ll beat him! The way I see it, the spell partially worked. The first two layers succeeded, although I will admit it’s not how we had originally planned it. We wanted it to become a horse. Well, it didn’t. It became something else. The important fact here is it did change form. Then the second layer was triggered, locking the thriper in that form so it’d be unable to change back. If it could have changed then it would have. That’s why it took off for the surface. It no longer had gills! If it remained then it’d be destroyed.

  There’s a good chance the third layer was triggered.

  Gareth turned to his father and shook his head.

  There’s no way of knowing for sure.

  Did you see the way it took off from here? Something had scared it.

  Or else it knew the form it had been shifted into had lungs and needed air. It would have drowned if it didn’t reach the surface!

  Comprehension flooded into Mikal. He looked back at Gareth and nodded approvingly.

  Either way you look at it, the meaning is clear: the thriper is mortal. Whether the third layer was triggered and it was inundated with all types of stimuli or else it knew it was going to drown unless it did something about it, who can say? As long as it’s locked in its physical body it should be able to be killed.

  Exactly! Gareth beamed a victorious smile. He handed the second crystal shard to his father. We have to go. Mikal, Pravara, are you ready? Race you to the surface!

  Without waiting for a response, Gareth took off, heading straight towards the flickering sunlight. Mikal looked over at Lord Phaedren and then at Balthor.

  Please keep an eye on my son. Tell him I will be with him just as soon as I can.

  Mikal cast a quick glance back at the shealk leader to see if he was going to refute Balthor’s statement. When he didn’t answer Mikal angled his head up towards the surface of the water and gave his tail a mighty flick. He all but soared straight up. Pravara was right beside him, matching his speed.

  I think you should let your father know.

  Pravara nodded. I just told him. The problem was, he asked me questions about the thriper-dragon. What color? How big? What is the orientation of its horns? He was displeased to learn I didn’t have any answers to give him. All I could tell him was that it was large, winged, and struggling to make it to the surface.

  What if it didn’t? Mikal asked. What if it drowned before it got there?

  Do you really think we’d be that lucky? Pravara challenged.

  You have a point.

  Gareth was waiting for them just below the surface of the water. Mikal could see the bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds. The tips of the underwater mountains ringing the shealk canyon were nearby.

  You two sure took your time. Are you ready? We are all going to jump out of the water at the same time. I would encourage the two of you to jump up as high as you can.

  Why? Mikal asked suspiciously. Can’t you shift us back as we are now?

  Gareth shook his head.

  I’m told winged dragons don’t like the water too much. It can be incredibly difficult to return to the air when you’re wings have become water-logged.

  He’s not wrong, Pravara agreed. I’ll be ready.

  Mikal, are you ready? Gareth asked. You and I will have the most difficult time. We are going to need some space to get used to being a winged dragon again.

  You’re turning us into winged dragons now?

  How else were you planning on pursuing the thriper? Gareth sardonically asked.

  Fine. I see your point. Do what you have to do.

  I need you to get out of the water first. I’ve triggered my counter spell to activate as soon as your tail clears the water. The higher you can get the more time you will have to get re-acclimated to being a wyverian again. Pravara, be ready. As soon as you have cleared the water then my shifting spell will essentially be nullified, returning you back to your natural form.

  I will be ready, Pravara assured him.

  Mikal smiled. He had enjoyed being a water dragon. He couldn't wait to share his adventures with his parents, or Steve and Sarah, or his friends. Who else could say they had been shifted into a shealk? But has much fun as it had been, he was looking forward to getting out of the water. He was looking forward to having the vast blue skies above his head again. He wanted to be able to take a deep breath of fresh, clean air. He wanted to see his parents again. And, most importantly, he wanted to see Lissa.

  Mikal sighed. There was no point denying it. He missed her. He missed spending time with her. He missed seeing her face brighten every time she looked his way. He missed the way she could brighten his mood regardless of the day he was having. He sighed again and shook his head. It felt as though they had been apart for weeks, even though he knew they had been separated for less than a day.

  He dove to a depth of a hundred fe
et, turned about, and surged forward, traveling as fast as his tail could propel him. His shealk body breeched the surface of the water and was instantly blinded by the intense sunshine. Almost immediately his eyes began to burn but then a myriad of new sensations caught his attention. He felt his body changing. His arms and legs expanded. Muscles sprouted, wings appeared, and the scales covering his body thickened and turned jet black.

  Mikal gasped with shock as a searing flash of pain engulfed his body. Shifting spells weren’t meant to be painful, but since Gareth mentioned he only had a few seconds to prevent his new wyverian form from splashing back into the water, he could see why the spell had to hurry. His entire body stung as a result. It was like getting a scab on his arm and then accidentally catching it on his tunic and yanking it straight off his body. Fortunately for him the entire process was over in less than two seconds. Mikal grunted with surprise. He had become a winged dragon in less time than it took to get out of bed in the morning.

  Pravara’s newly restored dark green body soared past him, rising steadily up into the air on steady, powerful wings. Mikal chuckled. Pravara was rising into the air just as fast as her wings could carry her. Apparently she had been just as anxious as he had been to get out of the water.

  Mikal started pumping his large leathery wings. His wing talons skimmed the surface of the water as he fervently tried to keep himself from going for another swim. Gareth was right. The last thing he wanted to do was get this body wet. How would he ever make it out of the water?

  Mikal’s long black serpentine neck turned to look down at the ocean falling steadily away below him. Where was Gareth? Had he made it out of the water? Mikal cast his gaze to the left, and then the right. Land was nowhere in sight. How far out to sea had the shealk taken him?

  A deep blue dragon with jagged stripes of yellow scattered all across its body appeared. It flew perilously close to Mikal before rising up into the sky. It’s long, polychromatic neck twisted to the right and studied him, as though he was the one that looked absurd.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. Gareth? Is that you?”