Peter Carrot-top

by Yolanda Jackson

  Chapter 17

  The Awakening

  Bella sent her watch dogs to keep a close eye on Sam,

  and report back to her. Wherever he went and whatever he

  did, Bella wanted to know. But there were more important

  things on her mind. Now that the seven wizards were all in

  good health, it was time to finish the ceremony and attack

  Baja. Bella flew back to the temple to meet with the other

  wizards.

  The ceremony had begun, and standing in the center of

  a white outlined circle was the youngest of all, Cilus. He

  was the wizard of soul snatching; a dark-skinned wizard

  with long, black leather-like hair. The tips of his hair

  were like razors that would slice anything by a simple

  touch. Cilus was between the age of ten and twelve, but he

  was not a child. Cilus was estimated to be anywhere from

  one million to one and a half million years old. The more

  souls he sucked in, the younger he looked and the longer he

  stayed alive.

  Cilus was the missing piece of the puzzle; the wizard

  world could not work without him, just like the elders

  couldn't be awakened without each other. Then to be

  sacrificed were three of the men in David's army. They

  stood in the circle with the wizard, trembling at their

  knees. Their legs were shaking uncontrollably; one bowed

  down to the ground and begged Cilus not to take his life.

  But Cilus was a cold-hearted wizard.

  Cilus stood over the three men as they were being held

  down by heavy stones, and pressed his fingers into each

  man's skull, ripping out their brains and devouring their

  souls. Cilus ate the men's souls up one by one as the souls

  came floating out of the men's lifeless bodies. It was a

  grotesque sight to see, but for the love of power, everyone

  was willing to turn their heads away.

  It had been many years since Cilus had tasted another

  soul; he roared out to the heavens, and licked the blood

  off of his lips like a wild animal. Then Mirus approached;

  he was the twin brother of Patric Stewart. Mirus had no

  special skills, and neither did the others. They waited on

  Cilus to bestow on them their greatest fantasies of power.

  Mirus was tall, slender and well fit; he always

  carried in his back pocket a golden boomerang. He was a

  well cut and well groomed wizard, nothing was out of place.

  He had shaved his head bald, and had a tribal symbol of a

  star on his head. Approaching Cilus, he asked him to grant

  him the power of invisibility. Once Mirus got his power, he

  immediately tested it out, disappearing and reappearing.

  Mirus was thrilled and excited; he wanted to go to war

  right now, he wanted to use his powers right away for evil,

  but was quickly calmed down by Bella.

  "You fool, slow down, the elders would eat you alive,

  it's going to take all of us to defeat them," said Bella.

  Mirus quickly kept his excitement under control, and

  pushed Bella as he walked by. Next in line to be crowned

  was Marcus, the brother of Sam. Marcus did not need any

  powers, from the last encounter with the wizard Cilus; he'd

  got all the powers and abilities that he could handle. The

  meeting was just for old time sake, to catch up on what had

  been going on while Cilus was asleep.

  Cilus wanted to see if Marcus was still the young

  angry man he had met many years ago. Marcus did not

  disappoint him; he professed his hatred for his brother and

  for Baja. After this satisfied Cilus, he kissed Marcus on

  the hands and told him that he was free to go. But Cilus

  was still not sure about Marcus; his blue eyes glowed as if

  something was truly wrong with Marcus.

  Hoyle the card thrower was next. Cilus just smiled at

  him and gave him a new deck of cards to throw. Hoyle

  quickly tried them out; out of a golden box he pulled a set

  of cards that glowed with red symbols. His evil face gave a

  big grin; he snatched the cards out of the box and threw

  one directly at Bella. She never budged or made the

  slightest move. A card glided across the room with an eerie

  silence, and snipped off a lock of her hair. Bella watched

  as her hair fell to the floor, but never made a move.

  With an angry tone she mumbled, "I will meet you in

  the court yard to settle this."

  Hoyle just laughed his wicked laugh, which echoed

  through the temple. Cilus noticed that an animosity among

  the wizards had developed while he was sick, and demanded

  that it stop. Cilus reminded the wizards that they were not

  the enemy; the enemy was Baja and its elders. But the

  wizards were jealous of Bella and Marcus, fearing that they

  would try to take over. Bella quickly resolved that issue

  with Cilus and told him that the other wizards were just

  jealous. If it wasn't for her, he would not be alive.

  Once Cilus heard this, he graciously thanked Bella and

  ordered the servants to adorn her in the finest gems. Bella

  kissed and rubbed Cilus' face; she even played with his

  razor-like hair, enjoying the pain she got when his hair

  cut her skin. Bella already had her gift from Cilus, the

  gift of poison, and no matter how Cilus offered to give her

  more, she only wanted that gift.

  Cilus then went to the wizard Louis, a tall, humongous

  white giant. His skin was so pale and scary looking; white

  flakes of skin fell to the ground every time he walked.

  Louis had no hair on his head; he was a filthy creature

  with bugs and rodents crawling all over him, in and out of

  his ears, nostrils and ears. He had a bull-like ear ring

  that was pierced through his nose. His teeth were yellow

  and sharp, and his paw-like feet and hands were built up

  with calluses and dried up, dead skin. No one wanted to be

  around Louis, not only because of his flaky skin, but

  because Louis had a terrible odor; everyone had to hold

  their breath as he passed by.

  Mirus whispered to Marcus, "I hope Cilus gives him the

  power of freshness."

  The two wizards laughed at the joke, and that

  disturbed the ceremony. Cilus ordered them to stop right

  away, and when Cilus spoke, everyone listened. Cilus gave

  Louis the power of leadership in the army; he would be the

  first thing people saw when they were going to war. Cilus

  gave Louis the ability to stretch his hands for miles to

  catch a moving target before it hit, or to catch a prisoner

  from a distance.

  To test out his powers, Cilus ordered the guards to

  bring in another prisoner, and demanded that the prisoner

  run. When the prisoner ran, thinking that he was set free,

  Cilus then ordered Louis to reach out and grab the prisoner

  who was yards away, somewhere in the court yard. With a

  stretch of his hands and new found powers, Louis captured

  the prisoner, drawing him in like a fish on a line. Louis

  loved it; he quickly bowed down to Cilus, thanking him for

  his powers.

  Then there was Horitio the wizard with no face.
He hid

  from the world, and spent most of his life scaring people

  in the forest and the countryside. Horitio had no powers

  either; he was one of those children who was born with no

  powers and was cast aside by his parents; left in the

  forest to die. Horitio was a disgrace to his parents, who

  had sons and daughters that had powers and were chosen by

  the elders of Baja. This made Horitio very angry and upset,

  and this is why he sought out the help of the wizards.

  Cilus loved the fact that Horitio had no face, and all

  Horitio ever wanted was a face. But Cilus did not grant it,

  this made Horitio angry and upset. Horitio was an average

  size young lad, with the spirit to go to war constantly. He

  was not afraid of anything; his hair was blue, and his skin

  was covered in tin. Horitio was a tin man, yet he never

  knew it. After a childhood accident, Horitio was severely

  burned, no part of his skin could be saved, and the only

  thing that would heal his pain was the feel of tin on his

  skin. So his parents applied tin, and it grew over his skin

  as if it was replacing the real skin.

  Cilus took one more look at Horitio and decided to

  give him eyes and the ability to snatch people's faces.

  Once Horitio was blessed with his eyes, he looked around

  the room and saw colors and people for the first time. He

  saw what he looked like for the first time. Even though

  Horitio had only eyes, he was happy to be able to see. He

  looked around the room over and over again, and saw that

  everyone was not the same, that they were different and

  that it was okay to be different.

  His real power was the fact that he could snatch

  people's faces. Once again Cilus called in the guards to

  bring him a prisoner to test out the power. The prisoner

  came in with a fearful fright on his face. While the guards

  held the prisoner down, Horitio walked over to him, put his

  hand over the prisoner's face, and with one wave of the

  hand, the prisoner had no face.

  The prisoner screamed and shouted, but his screams

  fell on deaf ears as Horitio held the prisoner's face in

  the air. It was like a picture; one could see the

  prisoner's face moving and screaming. Horitio then put the

  face in a jar to keep; even while doing so, the prisoner's

  face kept screaming. On the floor lay the prisoner, still

  alive but faceless, searching and scouring the floor for

  his missing face. All the wizards laughed and chanted to

  Cilus, but the prisoners cursed them and told them that the

  elders were coming and would soon be awakened to defeat

  them all.

  Cilus just laughed, and said, "No one can awaken the

  elders without the key, and no one knows were the key is."

  The room got quiet and the prisoner belted out loudly,

  "They found a little boy who will save and awaken the

  elders! Haven't your wizards told you that?"

  The prisoner was escorted out of the room by the

  guards. Cilus was very upset that everyone had been keeping

  this secret from him, but Bella quickly assured him that

  the child would be killed. Bella told Cilus that the child

  was the nephew of one of his wizards, Marcus Carrot-Top.

  Marcus was upset that Bella had put him on the spot,

  and he was called to the throne of Cilus. Marcus explained

  to Cilus that by some freak accident Peter Carrot-Top, his

  nephew, was the key to saving the elders. Peter was the

  first ghost born outside of Baja, in the land of the

  living, and was born with special powers to create holes of

  any size, and sometimes the holes lead to other worlds.

  Cilus was very interested, and told Marcus that it was

  his duty to capture the boy. If he did not, he would be

  killed. Marcus assured Cilus that he would have Peter in

  his custody before the war. Marcus mentioned that they had

  captured Peter's father, and Bella had turned him into some

  type of flying creature who still had a heart of love for

  his family.

  "Is this true?" asked Cilus to Bella.

  "Yes it is, but I am working on him," said Bella.

  Cilus was not pleased with Bella or Marcus, and

  ordered them to stop fighting each other, and take care of

  the problem at hand. Marcus was so upset that Bella told on

  him and made him looked incompetent in front of Cilus; he

  told Cilus that Bella had a secret crush on Sam Carrot-Top

  and that she was not to be trusted.

  "Neither can you!" shouted Bella as the two fought.

  Bella used her powers to throw Marcus into the wall of

  the temple, causing the temple to shake and crack. Marcus

  used his powers of strength to throw her into a glass

  window, causing it to shatter into pieces. This did not

  stop Bella, she was a tough young lady, and had more power

  and strength that even Marcus knew about. Bella flipped and

  attached herself to the wall of the temple and threw

  daggers at Marcus, hitting him in the shoulder.

  Finally Cilus put an end to all the fighting and

  fussing between the two; but from this moment on, Bella and

  Marcus had bad blood between them. Yet, they had to come

  together to form the army that would take over Baja. Once

  the bickering and fussing had ended, Cilus sat at the table

  to discuss plans to take over Baja.

  Suddenly watch dogs came in, whispering in Bella's ear

  that something was going on with Sam. He was now changing

  back into his original form; the poison Bella had place in

  his body was wearing off, and Sam might escape. Bella

  ordered her watch dogs to find him.

  Meanwhile, Sam was in the forest near the temple

  wandering around in a daze. He did not know where he was or

  who he was; he stumbled and fell to the ground, calling out

  for his family. He slowly changed back into his original

  self; either the poison was not strong enough or the love

  Sam had in his heart outweighed his hatred.

  Slowly Sam lost his wings and monstrous features; he

  was now becoming his old self again. His memory slowly came

  back; from a distance he could hear the heavy breathing of

  the guard dogs from miles away. He knew he had to get out

  of the path and find a hiding place, but he was weak and

  stumbled and fell. Sam stumbled into a lake and wasn't seen

  again. The water from the lake covered him from head to

  toe, and the waves took him away.

  Sam's scent was soon lost by the guard dogs, as they

  searched for hours and then days. They went back to their

  master, telling her that they had lost Sam. Bella was not

  happy, and beat on her guard dogs like a wicked master

  would. The dogs whimpered and cried. Although they were

  huge stone dogs, they couldn't or wouldn't dare to attack

  their master. Bella had them under a powerful spell, one

  that she thought she had Sam under, but her spell did not

  work on him.

  Sam was gone forever and Bella got nervous; for the

  first time, she feared their leader Cilus. Bella pretended

  to
take care of the problem in front of him, but she had no

  idea where to find Sam. Nevertheless, there was a war

  ahead, and Bella wanted to be a leader of that war.