Jacks School of Shines, page 12
“Bad dream, Colin?” Kah’la asked from his perch on a branch above me.
Wiping my forehead, I nodded. “I think Eibhlin’s in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let me see if I can find out.” Kah’la fluttered through the trees and landed at a small pool of rainwater. With his eyes closed, he rocked back and forth for several moments, a deep hum coming from his throat. When he opened his eyes, the water stirred ever so slightly, like fairy wings brushed against it. He leaned over and peered in, searching. He watched the scene unfold, Eibhlin questioned and held in the Evil Goblin’s castle. No one at the school knew where she was.
Kah’la returned and stopped beside me. “The Evil Goblin has her.”
“Where?” I leapt to my feet.
“At his castle.”
“Then let’s go!”
“Patience, boy. I don’t know where that is.”
“But I do,” said a voice behind us, breezy and wavering.
I wheeled around to face a creature I’d never seen before. Tall, much taller than I, his skin started out green at the top, but turned dark brown by the time it covered his feet. His arms looked thin and his face, if you could call it that, looked like melted wax, the features drawn and distorted.
“W…who are you?” I gasped, my hand on my wand.
“Linking Tree. I’m a forest creature of ages past.”
Kah’la squawked. “I’ve heard of your kind, though I’ve never met one.”
“Likewise.” Linking Tree nodded once, taking great effort to do so since he didn’t have any neck that I could see. “You want to go to the Evil Goblin’s castle?”
“Yes, please.” I managed to find my voice. “He’s holding our friend captive.”
“Then follow me. I’ll take you so far, but then you’re on your own.”
“Thank you! Any help is greatly appreciated.”
With a nod toward the bird, Kah’la perched on my shoulder and we followed our new friend down a path only he could see.
Chapter 20: The Dragon Vine
Kah’la and I became impatient while hiding all day in the shrubbery among the thickness of the leaves by the Evil Goblin’s front gate. It became dark finally; the time drew near. Fireflies flickered and twinkled in the warm air. They took delight in bothering the magical bird as he rested next to me.
I was growing ready to cast Patroness Debus Charm, the invisibility spell, upon myself. I remembered it after searching my brain all afternoon. If I could do this right, it would prove how great my saying was. However, one wrong slip of my tongue would lead to a different cytology. My nerves were a bit jumpy and I started to get the hiccups, exactly what I didn’t need now.
With my upgraded wand in one hand, I asked Kah’la, “Does it really matter that I never tried out this spell with this wand before?”
“I don’t know,” the bird answered. “The power of your old wand was used to you, but this wand is now a part of you. You can’t go wrong, Colin.”
“Cast me…” I stuttered a bit when I began the spell, and stopped.
“No. Don’t stop now! You’ll blast us into a nothing.”
The wand grew warm and shook in my hand, sweaty from the excitement of trying this task. I knew I was attempting to do what a wiser older wizard would not think of doing.
Gulping once, I licked my dry lips, looked to Kah’la and said, “It’s dark enough. Let’s do it.”
Quietness surrounded the castle, for there’d been no guards posted. They felt safe in their secluded part of the forest. Hesitation came to my memory, stuttering to my lips and my hand trembled in fright. As my wand stirred and rang and zinged out in an enchantment of old, it hummed tunes of old time wizards’ hymns.
“What’s happening to my wand?” Surprise rearranged my features; my eyebrows reached for my hairline, my mouth opened, and I could only stare at this piece of wood in the palm of my hand.
The mystic bird said, “Oh, about that, I think I should have told you that adding greater power to your wand comes with a ticklish price. The power through an upgraded spell has a temper to it. You as the holder of said power need a steadier hand and a better grip on it, for it will jump and move about if not contained. I should have told you of the changes before you cast this spell, but I’m old and lately, I tend to forget things.”
I now thought twice before attempting the casting on myself. But we’d already come so far, that I decided to take a chance and stood upright. I tapped my wand on my forehead and said, “Inconclusive, bring me into the haze and fog of things tonight. Incardo! Millraces!”
Nothing changed, I thought, until Kah’la jerked his head this way and that.
“Where are you, Colin?”
“I’m right here.”
Kah’la yelled and flapped his winds in a displeased manner. “Colin? I can’t see you.”
I said in laughter, “But, I’m right here.”
The bird kept looking and even gave a quiet whistle and then, in panic, turned his head and pointy beak counterclockwise, looking for me.
I said once more, “Can’t you hear me, my fine feathered friend?” I reached over and touched the bird on the tiptop of his head. Kah’la jumped. I couldn’t be seen or heard now. The spell took! Off I went to the castle.
Walking up to the front gates proved to be the easiest part of leaving the cover of the bushes. I saw that the front offered no protection for this castle. Mmm, I thought, that is strange. The Evil Goblin and what’s left of the Dark Robes inside the castle never thought that anyone would find their lair. The potion was never thought of, for no one, man or boy, had been this far out in the forest. It took a full night’s broom flight just to get here from the School of Shines.
In spite of its ruined state, the enormous wooden doors were closed tightly and I couldn’t see any easy access from where I stood. I headed away from the front doors and around the side of the castle. It was quite a bad sight and looked nearly impossible to pass. After his flight, Kah’la felt he knew which room imprisoned Eibhlin, so I needed to search this side, but it was going to be difficult due to the overgrowth of this jungle-like mess.
I took steps over the growth that hung and choked the pathway. Two steps in, I slipped, my feet shooting out from underneath me, and I landed hard. I started to push myself up, but a vine wrapped itself around my wrist and two more around my leg. Sharp thorns bit into my flesh, and I wondered if this was how a fish felt caught on a barbed hook. When I tried to shake free, more vines whipped around my limbs, piercing me with heavy, pointed thorns and, invisible or not, my blood showed. Now entangled, I felt I’d be ripped apart if I moved any further.
Closing my fingers around the handle, I pulled the wand free, the magic making a ringing, metallic sound that hung in the air. I’d never heard a wand make a sound quite like it before. In my palm and on my fingers opposite, I could feel the bumps of the gold wire that spelled out the word Truth on each side of the handle. It pressed almost painfully into my flesh.
The weight of the wand fit me exactly. I felt as if it were a part of me. “A young seeker as magical as one young wizard can get,” was written and it was mine. Sorcery was at work in this forest.
It was such an odd looking vine. Dusky variegated leaves hunkered against a stem that wound in a stranglehold around the smooth trunk of a balsam fir. Sap drooled down the wounded bark, and dry limbs slumped, making it look as if the tree were trying to voice a moan into the cool, damp evening air. Pods stuck out from the vine here and there along its length, almost seeming to look warily about for witnesses.
“A wand maker’s tree, it ain’t,” I joked to myself as I tried to struggle through.
A smell first caught my attention, a smell like the decomposition of something that had been wholly unsavory even in life. I combed my fingers through my thick hair as my mind lifted out of the fog of despair.
Coming into focus upon seeing the vine, I saw a sea of more vines, none looking more or less sharp than the last one. Everything else looked normal. The maples of the upper forest were already tinged with the Stinging of the Crimson, proudly showing off their new mantle thorns in the light breeze. With nights getting colder, it wouldn't be long before their cousins in the lower woods joined them. The oaks would be the last to surrender to the season. Having spent most of my life in the woods, I knew all the plants, if not by name, by sight.
This vine, though, I’d seen only once before, and not in the woods. I found a sprig of it at my father's house when I went home for the summer last time.
My father, a trader, traveled often, looking for the chance exotic or rare item. People of means often sought him out, interested in what he turned up. The day came when he brought back a wand, a fine wand as all could see, but no one was allowed to touch that piece of holly. He gave it to me on my third birthday and I learned it uses quickly. A given wand to the hands of a child meant great things to come. It seemed to be the looking for, more than the finding, that special thing to bring back that pleased my father. He had always been happy to part with his latest discovery so he could be off after the next.
From a young age, I liked to take my wand and spend time in the forest alone while my father traveled. My brother, John, was four years older and a great deal smaller than me. John showed no interest in sorcery and use of Enchantments and spirits in these hidden woods.
I preferred to spend my time with people of means, now people from Shines school. They were like me. Five years before I moved away to live at the School of Shines, I often stayed at Father's home, unlike John, who was always busy and rarely had any time to visit. Whenever my father went away, he would leave me a message in the blue jar telling me the latest news, some gossip, or of some sight he had seen.
When John came to tell me our father had been murdered, I went to my father's house, despite my brother's insistence that there was no reason to go, nothing I could do. I had long since passed the age when I did as my brother said.
Wanting to spare me, the people there didn't let me see the body. But still, I saw the big, sickening splashes and puddles of blood, brown and dry across the plank floor. When I came close, voices fell silent, except to offer sympathy, which only deepened the driving pain. Yet I heard them talking in hushed tones of the Stories.
Now, here I was, stuck in the vines. A large one rose up in the figure of a dragon and threw out all of its vines to further entangle me and wrap itself around my body. With my wand in hand and the thick brush wrapped around me, I took measures to get it off of me. I tried to avoid touching it, for its sharp thorns cut deeply into my legs.
Now the Dark Robes could see the blood or, even worse, they just may be keen enough to smell it as I came closer to the trap. This monster plant never grew where I was from. It now surely hooked me. I thought of yelling but, through this spell, I couldn’t be heard. I feared that the vine would take me down and pull me into the mouth of its hedge-like choppers. I saw in there thorns for teeth. For this very reason, as it pulled me almost into its mouth, I raised my wand and pointed at the red eyes that peered in anger right at me and said, “Alehouses.”
The dragon vine exploded into the air above and flew by me while I lay there, bits and pieces falling all over me. It rained green leaves and clods of dirt. I felt grateful and shook my wand in thanks for blasting that monstrous bush that tried to eat me.
I had seen the start of this dark side coming that covered this ruin. The dark side of this castle started to become a challenge as I stood to look at the north side. Its entire length went on for a mile. It looked overwhelming from where I stood, and I gulped and stirred in discontent.
I muttered, “In what window shall I start to look?” I needed to figure out what’d be best. The time was running short on how long my spell would last. It’d be best to find an opening and climb in before my spell wore off. I needed to hurry before I got stuck or caught, for it had taken half the night to get that plant off of me. I had no time to waste.
I needed to walk down to the burned out window area where I could see the room with the light shining through. Where I stood now, from where my feet were placed, this place once had a fire. It looked to have been burnt down by flames from many dragons. The stone crosses that made the window frame strong and added that bit of protection were ripped out long ago. The remains of large and small chunks of stone lay about on the ground. I used a big piece of stone and granite to step on, lifted onto my belly for balance on the sill, then flung myself in through the open window. I plunged headfirst and fell onto the stone floor. Invisible or not, I came down with a big thud and a bang, rattling the lamps and jugs of winter wine on the table.
Tiny, creepy crawly creatures sensed my presence, thousands of them on the floor and slithering on the walls. They saw me somehow — my blood, I bet. My wounded leg dripped with it. Evil looking, horrible things overran the room. One turned to stare at me as I passed by.
“Yikes,” I breathed in. A young person would feel sick to his stomach, so it was a good thing I’d grown up. I felt older for what I’d been through in the past few months. I was in a tight spot as the room felt like it was closing in on me.
The crawling things tried to take a bite or two out of me. Some were no more than a size of a tiny bug, others flew, still others looked like creatures from who-knew-where in space and time. I could hear them preying on each other, chomping when they caught one. I tried to tune out the terrified squeals of the victims as they were being crunched on.
This gathering sniffed me out and all started crawling toward me. I stomped and squished them the best I could. Still silent, I knew the smell of blood drove true evil wild and straight forward. I was stuck in the corner of this room, pressed against the wall in fear. As they crawled close to me, I discovered that parts of my body were coming clear. The spell was wearing off. I leapt and hopped and ran across the floor to gain my freedom from the nasty creatures. They tried their best, for they couldn’t see me, and they’d rise up and snip and clip and bite at the brief movement rushing past them. The ubiquitous creatures that pinned me against the wall turned and scurried after me. With one huge leap, I made it through the door, slamming it shut behind me. While catching my breath, I scanned the area.
I’d heard rumors that the sight to see was a huge galley that held the treasure of the Evil Goblin’s ill-gotten gains from all his raids to pay off his evil men. But, I didn’t have time to sightsee and considered my options.
This level of the castle floor couldn’t be the one holding Eibhlin. Kah’la described a different view. The somber feeling in the halls and the rooms I peered in didn’t seem right to me. But I pressed on because a very special friend from the School of Shines just might be around the corner.
I needed to be quicker looking in here for there were a hundred doors to choose from on this floor, especially before the rest of my body started to show. The remaining night grew short and so did my time.
* * *
In his office, unaware of my presence, the Evil Goblin paced back and forth, praising his men for the great deed they’d done. Then, his own driven madness took over his usual stature and a change came over him. The others watched in disbelief when he started to growl, his eyes glowing red.
The thing that angered him most was his plan to use Eibhlin as a hostage. He told the school professors he had a Shines’ student to offer for a deal. When the school didn’t respond, the prisoner turned herself into stone and couldn’t be moved or touched, and it upset the Evil Goblin. No one dared open that door since Eibhlin went through a dream state realm. It’d been many weeks ago since she’d into stone. And now he grew angry and impatient.
The Evil Goblin talked to a handful of his evilest men, and told of his plan. He’d been thinking of this for many years.
“There’s only one way to get the magical book,” he said, “We must reach out and dig deep into the darkest realm and see what evil I’m to control in getting the magic bird and getting a way into the School of Shines.” For now, though, the new ruler waited for his plan to work.
The response to his ransom note came by way of an owl messenger to the ruins of his castle. The School of Shines declined the Evil Goblin’s offer — one student returned in exchange for the Evil Goblin’s freedom to roam the halls of our school. The school staff held tight that the Evil Goblin would not destroy his captive student. The staff was baffled by whom it might be, and incensed at just the thought of it being a Shines student. They still believed it was a hoax, but they were missing Eibhlin. They worried about Eibhlin’s whereabouts and wondered if she was the captive. The facts came in, persuading the professors that the Dark Robes might indeed have her. They kept this from the students; Professor Toms and Professor Hinkle asked Professor Woods to remain silent to the students. Biting their nails, frazzled or not, the safety of the whole school was the premise of their decision. They swore to stick to the instructions in the High Council’s last letter.
Evil had captured most of the strongest parts of this magical realm. School of Shines was the last stronghold that kept them back. The school had to be taken so the Evil Goblin could get that black book which was so wicked. The book was the only known holder of the one spell that would change the Evil Goblin into a mystic creature. It was unseen still who would rule this land and bring it into the dark side forever. All ears were alerted to hear who would obey him. The obeying cries went out to all the weakest members to rally against the school this coming Sunday. The power that evil held would teach the finer arts of the Dark and Evil to all and rule the world then.
Chapter 21: Catered
I opened my eyes, then rolled onto my front and rose to my knees and elbows, to crawl from under the window. I’d moved two inches when several things happened in quick succession.
A loud, echoing crack broke the sleepy silence like a gunshot; a cat streaked out from under a table and flew out of sight; a shriek, a bellowed oath and the sound came of a breaking china doll, Chattering China Doll Tina we called them, by the window from the rooms below me.
