Wizard's Quest: Book Two Chapter Two

All works are copywrite Jay D Evans 2013

CHAPTER TWO

 

Looking down upon the stranger from his niche, Richard quietly pulled his wand and said, “Reodh!”

Without hesitation, the stranger swept his arm toward him and stopped the spell. Incredulous at what had just happened, Richard gaped. Never had he heard of anyone being able to stop a spell like that. Even Master MacCorkadall couldn’t do it. Who was this stranger? What kind of power did he have to be able to do the impossible?

“Who air ye? Whit dae ye want?” he asked.

The stranger looked up at the young wizard, “My name is Kahnlin. I want nothing.”

“Whit air ye daein’ ‘en? Why air ye haur?”

“I am preparing you a decent meal,” Kahnlin said, rolling his eyes at having to state the obvious. “As for why I am here, if it weren’t for my help, you wouldn’t have come this far.”

Coming down from his perch, Richard looked at Kahnlin. He was tall and thin, his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, exposing short, pointed ears like an elf. His dark eyes, set beneath thick black brows that almost met above the wide flat nose, made him almost look like a troll. He was something that Richard had never seen before. What kind of being was he?

Kahnlin did not miss the inquisitive look. “I am a trelf,” he stated as if that explained everything.

“What the bloody hell is a trelf?” came from Sean, who had been listening from above them.

Kahnlin ignored the question, instead checking the food he was cooking. “Done!” he said. “Come and eat. I’ll explain things to you when you’re done.”

Sean and Elizabeth, who had been curled up and hiding on her perch during the exchange, came down and sat next to Richard. Accepting the bowl offered him, Richard smelled the contents and smiled.

“Haggis! Where did ye come up with this?”

“You have your talents and I have mine. It seems as though mine are a little more advanced than yours.”

“Haggis? What the hell is haggis?” asked Elizabeth, who, coming from America, had no idea about Scottish delicacies.

“You really don’t want to know,” Sean stated flatly.

Looking aghast at Sean’s comment, Richard said, “Haggis is only the best food a body can have. Meat and barley. Good stuff!”

“You forgot to mention the sheep’s stomach,” Sean said, looking a little ill.

Kahnlin sighed deeply. He dished up a bowl of tatties and neeps for Sean; for Elizabeth, it was beef stew, thick with carrots, potatoes, celery and huge chunks of beef. Both of them looked relieved and happy with what was offered to them, but were curious as to how Kahnlin had dished up different foods from the same pot.

Noticing their looks, he answered their unasked question, “Once again, I have my talents and you have yours. This is just one of my talents. A given with Trelfs, a necessity from long ago.”

Even though they didn’t understand his answer, they acknowledged it and dug into their food. Amazingly, what Kahnlin had dished out of the pot tasted almost like their mother’s homemade.  The meat was fresh and the vegetables were crisp and tender. The young wizards began to believe that even their own mothers couldn’t have made better meals.

Sitting back against the wall once he was done, Richard said, “That was great, thanks! Now, not to be rude or anythin’, but, can ye tell us your story?”

Kahnlin sat cross-legged in front of the fire, “I will show you what I have done for you first. Then I will tell you of my people.” Cupping his hands, he shaped an invisible sphere above the fire.

Slowly, the sphere began to take shape, smoky at first, then, like a crystal ball, it cleared, showing the three young travellers where they were the second day on the plain. The small stone hut shimmering in the mid-afternoon heat. As they watched, a troll came into view. The trolls they had encountered in the mountains were small compared to this one. Over two and a half metres tall with arms bulging with muscle, legs the size of tree trunks and a torso that strained the tunic it was wearing. This one was a giant.

As the troll approached their shelter, he picked up a boulder and lifted it above his head. As he was about to crush the roof, a bolt of lightning appeared, hitting the troll mid chest, knocking him backwards and dropping the stone on his head. Kahnlin came into view and stood over the dazed troll. Staring at him with determination, he made a fist with his index and little fingers extended pointing at the being on the ground. There was a flash of light and the troll disappeared.

Kahnlin looked around and started erasing any trace of activity. The only thing he left was his own footprints coming from the mountains. Satisfied with his work, he looked into the shelter and, seeing that the travellers were still safe and asleep, he returned in the direction he come from, not attempting to disguise his departure.

The sphere showed the same basic scenario three more times. Each time Kahnlin would make sure that nothing happened to the young wizards and each time he erased all traces of activity. Then, the sphere faded from view.

“So you made the tracks I saw,” said Sean. “Why didn’t you get rid of them?”

“I wanted you to know that you weren’t alone. I was hoping you would be more careful. It was a good thing that I saw your arrival. As you saw, you wouldn’t have made it past the second day on the plain without my assistance.”

“Aye, I got careless. After the first night, I didn’t use the protection circle. I thought we would be safe during the day,” Richard said, shame showing in his voice. “We owe you a lot. I don’t know how to repay you.”

“The time may come when I need your help; or it may not. Only destiny knows that.”

“You said you’d tell us about your people. What, exactly, are you? You’re built like an elf, but you look a lot like a troll,” prodded Sean.

Kahnlin took a deep breath. “We are elf and troll. There was once an elf king, Oberon, that took a troll as a mate. That union ended a centuries old war. And other troll/elf unions ensued. The offspring of those unions were shunned by both races so they married between themselves, thus the trelf.”

Looking at the trelf sideways, Richard said, “Kahnlin, not to be rude, but trolls are huge and ugly. What would an elf see in one?”

Kahnlin looked at the young wizard and smiled. “Trolls weren’t always what they are now. A millennium ago they weren’t that much different from you; smaller and less, as you say, ugly. When the wars were over, the trolls went underground and developed into what they are now.”

“They tried to kill me the last time we were here! Why?” asked Elizabeth.

“The trolls have gone back to the old ways. They kill for no reason. The hatred they carried for the elves surfaced again shortly after Oberon died. He kept the peace for over three hundred years. When he died, the truce ended. But, by then, the elves had gone to the far side of the planet and the trelfs had hidden in the mountains.”

“What about your magick? Trolls don’t have any and the elves’ is limited,” Richard asked.

“Enough talk about my people right now. Why are you here?”

Glancing at his companions, Richard started, “Six months ago we came here; the first stop on a quest. We were on top of a mountain and as we were going down six of our friends slipped and fell over the side. Elizabeth was one of them, along with Sean and one other that died later. We’ve come back to find the rest of them.”

Kahnlin looked at the three thoughtfully. “You say you were on top of a mountain? What mountain?”

“Don’t know. We thought we would start there instead of out in the middle of nowhere!” stated Sean.

“What made you think you would arrive on a mountain? How did you get here?”

Pulling out the time/space controller, Richard said, “With this. You just think about where you want to be and you go there. Only it didn’t take us to the mountain.”

Kahnlin stared at the sphere with a look of surprise. “May I see that, please?” he asked, holding out his hand.

Shrugging, Richard handed the trelf the small sphere. Kahnlin no more than touched it and it started to hum and spin. Holding it by the leather string, he let it hang, watching it intently. As the controller spun faster and faster the air around it began to distort. The three humans sat staring with their mouths open in astonishment as the distortion became larger, engulfing the trelf, the fire and just as it was about to engulf them, Kahnlin grabbed the sphere and stopped it. The distortion dissipated immediately as if it had never occurred.

“What the bloody hell just happened?” asked Sean.

Ignoring the question, Kahnlin looked at Richard. “Where did you say you got this?”

“I didn’t. Master MacCorkadall, our teacher, gave it to me before we left the castle. Why?”

“MacCorkadall? Angus MacCorkadall? The Master Sorcerer?”

“Aye! How did you know that?”

“This sphere you call a space/time controller was my great-grandfather’s. I was told a story as a boy about a Master Sorcerer, Angus MacCorkadall, who came here and helped our people. My great grandfather gave him a special gift- this sphere. This is more than just a space/time controller. It can do much more.” Kahnlin handed the controller back to Richard. “Keep this safe and do not lose it. If the trolls gain control of this it will be the end of us all.”

“What do you mean: it can do much more? What can it do?” asked Elizabeth.

“If MacCorkadall did not tell you, he either did not want you to know, or, you were to find out as time went by. I will tell you this – this controller, as you call it, is more powerful than any talisman ever created, there is no spell that can conquer it and the bearer, if worthy, is almost invincible to harm.”

Richard looked at the small sphere that he held on the end of a leather string. If MacCorkadall had known all this, why did he give it to him without letting him know what it did? If the controller was as powerful as Kahnlin said it was, and he could learn its’ secrets, the quest could be over a lot sooner than he expected. Obviously Kahnlin was not going to tell him outright what the sphere was capable of doing, but he may let him know as time went by and situations arose that it could be used for. For Kahnlin to teach him, he would have to travel with them.

“Kahnlin, would you continue with us? Help us on our quest to find our friends?”

After some moments the Trelf answered, “I will travel with you. At this time, you need my assistance. Your lack of knowledge of this world will keep you from finding what you seek. You believe that the only reason you are here is to find your missing friends. You could not be more wrong.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? That’s the only reason we’re here. Once we find Mary, Thomas and Fergus, we’ll go on to the next world to find the others that were lost. That is the purpose of the quest: to find our friends,” Sean exclaimed, a little more harshly than he meant.

“If you were here only to find fallen comrades, why did MacCorkadall give you the sphere? You could have come back here the same way you came the first time. You didn’t need something as powerful as the controller to find them. You are here for more than that. The time may well come that you will repay my kindness as you suggested. The Trelfs may need your help. Only fate knows for sure the real reasons for the way your journey has started.”

Sitting in silence, Richard contemplated what the Trelf had said. It was true; he hadn’t needed the controller to come back here. He could have used the same spell he had when the quest for the Great Power Stone started. That would have placed them on the mountain, he was sure of it. Master MacCorkadall had wanted them to come to the plain instead. Thinking about all that the Master had said, he couldn’t remember anything that would indicate the reason for beginning the search here. The only thing he could think of was that the Trelfs would need his help. As Kahnlin had said - only fate knew for sure.

 

It was past midnight when Kahnlin spoke up, “I suggest that we all get some more rest. It is much too dangerous to travel through the mountains at night. We’ll leave at daybreak to start the search for your friends.”

“I agree,” said Elizabeth. “It was night when the trolls got me. If they’re gonna do it again, I want to see it coming.”

“We slept all day!” exclaimed Sean. “How the bloody hell am I supposed to sleep now?”

“Sleep isn’t the issue. Rest is,” Kahnlin said, sitting back against the wall and closing his eyes.

The small fire had dwindled down to coals, casting eerie shadows. The low, red light of the coals reflected off the faces of the four occupants, making them look almost demonic. The sleeping nooks were cast in darkness, the low light not quite reaching them, making them appear as gaping, black holes in the walls ready to engulf anything that approached too closely.

“I think Kahnlin is right. We need to travel during the day now. The mountains aren’t the place to walk through in the dark. The trolls’ll be out and the trails’ll be dark and hard to follow.” Richard looked at his two friends to make sure they understood.

“I agree,” said Elizabeth. “I really don’t want to meet up with those things again!”

“Okay,” Sean said dejectedly. “It’s not gonna make that much difference anyway. It’s been six months already. A few more hours isn’t gonna hurt.”

Leaning back against the wall, Richard looked at the others. He had known Elizabeth since he had arrived at Crauford Castle almost four years earlier; Sean he had gotten to know during the quest for the Power Stone. These were his friends, his comrades. He knew he could trust them with his life. They had proven that time and again. Kahnlin, on the other hand, was the rogue. Richard knew nothing about him other than what he had been told by him. There was something about the Trelf that didn’t sit right. It wasn’t anything he had said or done. After all, he had saved their hides on the plain. What was it that was so disconcerting about him? Why did he have this feeling of distrust toward the stranger?

 

Through half closed eyes, Kahnlin watched the three humans. It had been a long time since he had seen one, much less interacted with them. Now, out of sheer luck, comes one with the Sphere of Oberon. With this one talisman the Trelfs could once again gain control of this world. Elf and Troll alike would bow to them, to him. He could be King Kahnlin, ruler of Syrus. This world would once again flourish with life instead of being the dry, dead world it had become. All would worship him for what he would do and the Trelfs would no longer have to hide and cower in fear.

Oberon had been a fool to give the talisman to the sorcerer. He should have kept it here, on Syrus. He should have let the Trelfs keep guard over it. He, Kahnlin, could have kept it safe. Now, after almost a millennia, it was back! And carried by a child no less! A child with no idea of the power he possessed while it was in his possession. It would not take long for the Sphere to come back to the rightful owner. Then, because he could not take his revenge out on the teacher, he would kill the three young students of Angus MacCorkadall.