The Curse (The Windore Series Book 2)

by Valya Boutenko

  “Let us enjoy this time together,” she said. “Perhaps we worry about nothing, and in a few days we will be together once more.”

  “What if I am gone longer than expected?” asked Wendell.

  “Then I will wait for you,” she answered.

  Morning came and before long, Wendell and Ausra were packed up and underway once more. At noon they reached the location that was circled on the map, but apart from a few insignificant rock formations, the space was absolutely devoid of any remarkable landmark features.

  “Where is it?” asked Ausra, setting down her pack.

  “It should be around here somewhere,” answered Wendell studying the map. Ausra looked around at their surroundings. Beside them, two giant red rocks stood near each other forming a rough gateway. A breeze pulled from between the rocks tousling Ausra’s hair. Wendell looked at his wife, and then faced the gateway.

  “Revella!” uttered Wendell, forcefully pronouncing the incantation that would temporarily disband any concealing charms cast upon the windore. A giant roaring portal tore open before Wendell and Ausra. The opening pulled the colors of the world into itself and blended them into a streaked blur not unlike flowing water. Erratic bursts of light sparked within the portal and the windore issued a strange whining sound from within.

  Wendell tucked the new crolackrolite stone he had made into the leather pouch on his hip that contained all the stones he had made so far. He examined the portal. “Since the treasure was hidden on Earth, it is logical to assume to that the mirroring portal has already been opened,” he said. Wendell turned away from the windore, and looked at his wife. “The portal won’t be visible for long,” he said, “after I am gone it will vanish from sight as it was before.”

  “I love you Wendell,” said Ausra, brushing back a strand of hair flying across her face, “I will never regret being with you, no matter what happens!”

  “I still don’t know what the treasure is,” said Wendell with concern.

  “We searched to no end and found no clues in the books!” replied Ausra. “I think this cause warrants the use of magic. Use a spell to find it if you must!”

  “Then that is what I shall do,” said Wendell

  “I will wait for you forever if I have to!”

  “You will not have to!” said Wendell. He embraced his wife and held her close. “I love you more than I can ever tell you in words.”

  “I know,” she said, tears spilling down her cheeks, “I love you that way also.

  “Goodbye Ausra,” he said, holding her in his arms.

  “Goodbye darling,” she whispered through her tears.

  Wendell let go, knowing that no farewell would be long enough to suffice, and turned away to face the portal. He looked back only once.

  “Remember to concentrate on your destination,” reminded Ausra.

  Wendell nodded. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and dove into the portal. There was a burst of wind, followed by a bright flash, and then he was gone. An instant later, the portal itself disappeared with a loud crack, leaving the afternoon serene once again as though it had never existed. In the perfect stillness of the red desert, Ausra fell to the ground and wept.

  Chapter 12

  Earth

  Wendell sped through the portal, focusing with all his might on the word “Earth.” He centered his mind upon the new world as his body sped forward at an incredible rate. Within moments, the journey had ended, and he fell without warning onto a hard black stone. Wendell rolled and then rose to standing. He appeared to be beneath some kind of bridge. There were two thick yellow lines painted on the wide flat stone on which he stood. He looked up in time to see a giant metal machine speeding towards him. The operator of the machine pushed on the steering device and the vehicle issued a loud warning honk. Wendell rushed out of its path as it whooshed by. Wendell found himself on a narrower, light gray-colored stone path surrounded by people. The humans about him wore funny colored clothes and had strange buzzing wires nestled in their ears. The people rushed past the wizard without looking up. Wendell tapped a woman politely on the shoulder to get her attention.

  “Can you tell me, what planet is this?” he asked.

  “Why, planet Earth, of course!” said the woman in alarm, hurrying away.

  “Earth,” repeated Wendell, “fantastic!” He looked around. “Excuse me—” he addressed someone else. “Can you help me—” he tried again, but it was no use, the Earthlings were so fixated on their little glowing devices that they did not seem to notice Wendell or want to help him.

  There was a play structure for children nearby, enclosed on all sides by a stretch of cut grass. A lonely child sat on a swing, rocking gently forwards and backwards. Seeing as the child was the only human not in a rush, Wendell went over to her, hoping she would be willing to answer his simple questions. He set his rucksack down on the sand.

  “What is your name child?” asked Wendell.

  “Nella,” she answered. “What’s yours?”

  Wendell introduced himself.

  “You look so young for your age,” said the girl.

  “Thank you,” replied Wendell.

  “I mean, you are 39, but you look about 25,” she smiled. “I’m only five years old—this many.” She showed him all the fingers on one hand.

  “You are quite good at guessing things,” said Wendell.

  “Yes,” she agreed.

  “I am looking for a hidden treasure,” said Wendell. “What is most valuable on Earth?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “What kind of treasure is it you are looking for?”

  “Not the normal kind,” said Wendell. He saw a strange animal painted on a giant canvass high above the road. A thick metal post held up the enormous painting of the beast. “What kind of animal is that?” he asked, pointing to the painting.

  “The animal on the billboard?” asked the girl. “That’s a lion cub.”

  Wendell studied the strange creature. It had blond hair and wide paws. “Where does such a creature live?” he asked.

  “In the New York city zoo,” replied the girl, “It’s just a cub now, but it will someday grow into a big, brave lion.”

  “What is a lion?” asked Wendell.

  “It is a great big cat that roars,” Nella giggled.

  “It sounds like a fierce creature,” replied Wendell.

  A woman rushed to them from across the way. “You mustn’t speak to strangers!” she reprimanded the child.

  “He is not a stranger, he is my friend!” defended the girl.

  “You don’t know him!” snapped the woman casting Wendell an angry glance. Wendell was not certain that she was the child’s real mother, for she did not exhibit a natural love for the child.

  “I know him better than I know you!” said the little girl. “And I’ve known you for a year!”

  “Go inside!” shouted the woman, aiming to slap the child. Wendell grabbed the woman’s wrist to keep her from hitting the little girl. “Unhand me you brute!” screamed the woman, ripping her arm from his grasp. She grabbed the child’s hand and pulled her down the street towards a large grey house. Grey appeared to be a popular color on Earth. Just before the little girl was yanked inside, she turned and waved to the wizard.

  Wendell waved back and sighed. The inhabitants of this planet were less than charming and they seemed highly unwilling to cooperate. It was a rocky first impression. Wendell decided to waste no time and rising from the swing he uttered an incantation of a finding spell. “Cassala-definita,” he spoke, but nothing happened. He looked down at his hands. His palms were not glowing. Wendell pressed his hands together. They were warm, but nothing more. “Cassala-definita!” he tried again, this time more firmly. Again nothing happened. Wendell sank back down onto the swing. He looked out at the giant city stretching out before him. He was surprised how few trees the city had even though it was obviously an era that could easily grow plenty of them. How was he going to find the treasure, he wondered? Coul
d it be that magic didn’t work on Earth? Perhaps the last era that was determined on Earth was a magic suppressing era? “Wayzara-Luntinda!” he tried another spell. It was no use, the incantations simply had no effect.

  The next moment, a machine with flashing red and blue lights on its roof pulled up near the play structure and two men in strange blue uniforms climbed out. They walked over to where Wendell was sitting.

  “Good day gentlemen,” Wendell addressed them.

  “Are you the one causing trouble?” asked one of the men.

  “I don’t believe so,” said Wendell.

  “Look at him in that outfit,” said the second man. “There can be no question the complaint was about him.”

  “You’re probably right,” said the first man, placing a shiny metal bracelet onto one of Wendell’s hands. Wendell was about to thank him for the gift, until he noticed a chain connecting the bracelet to a second metal ring that was identical to the first.

  “That’s no bracelet!” cried Wendell, “That’s a shackle!” He stood, pulling free and towering over the two men. The shackle dangled from his wrist. The two men stepped back nervously upon seeing how tall and strong Wendell was.

  “Sir, remain calm!” said one of the men, putting his hand on his weapons belt.

  “Why do you intend to imprison me?”

  “We’re just taking you down to the station. It’s our job to keep the city safe,” explained the second officer.

  “I have harmed no one.”

  “Listen, you just need to come with us now, alright?” said the first man.

  Wendell saw there was no reasoning with them, and he made a dash for the bridge. The officers chased him, pulling out their weapons.

  “Stop or I’ll shoot!” yelled one of the men.

  “Reveal-ero!” shouted Wendell desperately, but the portal did not show itself. He estimated where it was likely to be and feeling his clothes rustling against his body, he flung himself forward.

  “What the heck—” muttered one of the officers stopping dead in his tracks.

  Wendell ran out into traffic and leapt through the windore. With a thunderous crack, he vanished without a trace.

  Chapter 13

  Lost

  Wendell flew through the tunnel of light. He focused with all his might on his home planet. He found it was easier traveling home through the windore because he could easily picture the beloved face of his wife, as well as their cozy little cottage in the woods. He could clearly imagine the red desert, and the plains and mountains of his world. Windiffera was the only place in the Universe that he wanted to be, the only place that was home. Wendell began to feel his speed abruptly reducing, and he oriented himself feet first in the tunnel. He fell out of the windore into the red desert, this time, landing on his feet. He bent deeply at the knees, absorbing the impact of the landing as the portal vanished behind him. It was dusk. Wendell blasted the ghastly shackle off his wrist with a simple spell. He knew he had failed the quest but he felt grateful to have escaped with his life and avoided imprisonment. With a stab of regret he realized that he had forgotten his rucksack on Earth. Wendell looked up at the sky, and oriented himself by the setting sun. Eager to see his wife, he raced across the desert in the direction of home. How happy Ausra would be to know that he was not gone very long! She would be so surprised and delighted. Perhaps she had missed him but a few days, he thought. Wendell rushed through the night, too excited to stop and rest.

  In the early hours of the morning he came upon his own tangled forest, and he hurried down the familiar sandy path to the cottage. The path was unkempt, but Wendell took no notice, he would fix it all in due time. Upon reaching the cottage, he was surprised that there were no chickens in the yard. Ausra must have put them away, he decided and raced to the front door, only to find it locked. He pulled a key from his necklace and unlocked the door.

  “Ausra?” he asked ducking his head into the cottage. All was quiet. “I’m home!” he announced stepping inside, but there was no answer. He quickly searched through the rooms looking for her, but Ausra was nowhere to be found. Wendell stood for a moment in the library feeling utterly lost. He ran his finger along the writing desk upon noticing that a great deal of dust had settled there. “Oh no,” whispered Wendell, as he realized that the dust coated everything in the cottage as though no one had been there in a long while. He rushed to the kitchen, searching for some sign of life. There, on the dining room table was a dusty old letter that read, “Wendell Odelious Bloomer,” in Ausra’s handwriting.

  Wendell tore it open and began to read. “My dearest Wendell, I have been waiting for you for a great many years now. I have written this letter in case I do not live to see you once again.” Wendell leaned against the wall for support and slid all the way down to the floor.

  “I know you did not mean for your journey to Earth to take so long, but I want you to know that I am at peace with what happened. Yes, I have missed you terribly, and thought of you and your journey every day, but just because it didn’t go as planned, does not mean it was the wrong thing to do. I trust that you found what you were searching for and have returned victorious. Now at last, you will be able to set things right. Know that I wait for you still, in the afterlife.”

  The last words became blurry with Wendell’s tears. He wiped his eyes only to break down even harder. Wendell could not believe it. It was like a bad dream from which there was no waking. Had he really missed out on her entire life? No! It wasn’t true, he told himself! Wendell ran from the cottage, leaving the front door wide open. He rushed in the direction of the village cemetery. He tore through the woods, his robes snagging on the thorny branches that had overgrown the path. Wendell sped forward, running through the forest until he reached the village. He slowed, shocked by how the village had changed. The shops were nearly vacant, displaying scarce bits of unappealing food and gray-colored clothes through dusty, broken windows. The main street was all but deserted and looked so neglected, Wendell barely recognized it. He met no one that he knew in the village, and he realized with a jolt that everyone who knew him had died.

  Wendell hurried down the hill to the little cemetery, and leapt over the short, wrought iron fence. He searched the small cemetery for a brief while until he found the tombstones of Ausra’s parents. To one side, right next to the mother’s grave was a marble tombstone that read: Ausra Allen Bloomer 3081- 3174.

  Consumed by sadness, Wendell fell upon the unkempt grave and wept bitterly. Ausra had died at 93 years of age. She had been dead many years before he had returned! Wendell wondered in agony what she must have gone through before she passed. He lay on the cold dirt and grass for a long time, unwilling to rise. Eventually he fell asleep, and when he awoke it was already getting dark. Before he left, he cast two spells upon Ausra’s grave. The first, to clear it and make certain that no weeds ever grew on, or near it again, and the second so that large white flowers continued to bloom upon her grave for the rest of time, in every season. Numb with grief, Wendell dropped the two new crolackrolite stones he had made into his waist-pouch and slowly headed home.

  Chapter 14

  Found

  Time passed in a blur, days blending into years. Decades crept by and Wendell didn’t care to notice or even keep track. Had it been fifty years, or a hundred? How long did he have left to live? Occasionally Wendell pondered these unanswered questions, but never enough to bother seeking out answers. He kept to himself, socializing very little with the few people who had remained outside the dome. The number of villagers steadily dwindled as the threats of the new world took their toll. Wendell spent much of his time studying magic and collecting ancient texts from the seven regions. He learned about many new kinds of magic and studied the natural energies of all living things.

  Occasionally, women from the village would make passes at him but he ignored them all. The villagers could not understand why the handsome 45-year-old bachelor who lived entirely alone in the forest would ignore their attention. O
nly those who caught sight of him standing for long hours before the grave of his beloved would shake their heads in mournful understanding.

  Tall tales were spun about Wendell, the strange hermit who lived alone in the woods. When he was asked, the wizard would deny the rumors, never admitting to anyone that many of them were true. It was whispered among the villagers, for example, that the pebble-maker was an ageless magic wielder who traveled the seven regions in search of villains to put to justice, and that was exactly what Wendell did with most of his time. Wendell was amazed that the villagers who knew so little about him seemed to guess correctly about many aspects of his secret life. In time he discovered that as long as he admitted nothing, the rumors remained only that, fictitious tales no one could admit they believed.

  Having no one to take care of, and imprisoned by his timeless curse, Wendell decided to do as much good as possible with his life. Whenever he heard of trouble stirring in the seven regions he would travel to that corner of the world and discreetly address the matter, always framing someone else for the glory of the deed.

  Once, he caught word that a swarm of vampire bats were attacking a small town in the Hexitore region. The townspeople had found a potion to defeat the vicious bats, but the creatures were multiplying faster than they could be killed. Wendell had been told that people were being eaten alive every night, dragged from their very homes only to be found in the morning covered with bites and drained of their blood. Wendell traveled for weeks to reach the Hexitore region. Upon his arrival, he immediately sought out the bat caves and transformed the flying vermin into rapidly growing red and black crystals. The crystals could be used in healing potions that were so precious they would enrich the entire region. Before he left, Wendell made sure that a poor merchant with a large family stumbled upon the cave by accident. Much to the joy and mystification of the townspeople, upon the discovery of the crystals the bats were never seen again.