A Meeting of Wizards

by John Hosh

  Jono landed on a patch of yellow grass several strides east of the Spinning Tree. “Katabasticize,” he ordered. His left hand pulled his broom from beneath him. His right hand drew his wand. He commanded, “Illumine.” He took a step toward the Spinning Tree.

  A puff of white smoke arose in front of Jono. Out of the smoke, Nox sang, “Ta da!” He commanded, “Illumine.” The wand in his right hand glowed. His left hand seized Jono’s broom. Nox backed two steps toward the Spinning Tree. He flung the broom over Jono’s head. The broom whirled into a grove of lilac bushes that was east of the Spinning Tree.

  Nox declared, “You won’t need that anymore. So! That was really a mean trick you played on me. No doubt you think you are really clever, you and that other one. It’s not everybody who can outwit one of the greatest wizards of all time. You must be really pleased with yourself.”

  Jono looked to the left and to the right. Nox, in his orange and gold cloak, turned toward the north. He took two steps northward; then he turned toward the south. He took four steps southward. He halted and turned toward Jono. “Let’s see now. What did I do to you?” Nox tapped the wand against his uncovered bald head. “Did I turn you into a worm? Did I try to poison you? Did I drop you into the sea? No! I rescued you from a mob.” Nox took one step toward Jono. “I gave you fine garments, including handsome orange boots. I welcomed you to my home. I gave you food and lodging. Did I ask for anything in return? Did I mistreat you? Did I do anything except show you the greatest kindness? No! And what did you do, you ungrateful, miserable, haughty brat?” Nox took another step toward Jono. Nox glared at Jono. Nox’s left hand played with his thick black mustache.

  Jono backed up two steps. He muttered, “I . . . I—”

  Nox roared, “You flouted my kindness. You betrayed my trust. You used my friendliness against me. What do you have to say for yourself? How are you going to excuse your wrongdoing? How are you going to make amends for sticking me in a cage?” Nox pointed the wand at Jono. Nox shouted, “Well?”

  Jono stammered, “I . . . that is, you . . . Euphonius said . . . . You turned Aegis into a troll. You tell lies!”

  Nox growled, “Metamorphose into a worm!” Out of Nox’s wand, the silvery-blue line grew toward Jono. The line slowed. It ended one arm’s length from Jono. Nox’s wand glowed with a deeper and more brilliant blue. Making a loud snap, Nox’s wand retracted the blue line. The wand’s blue glow vanished. Nox staggered. He almost dropped the wand. Jono did not move.

  “So! You have an amulet. So you are not as stupid as you look. I presume the amulet is mine. Give it back.” Nox held out his left hand. Jono backed away two steps. “Give me the amulet, boy.” Nox lunged at Jono. Jono dodged to his right. Waving his wand low to the ground, Jono ran northward. Nox warned loudly, “You don’t know my power, you brat. You can’t escape from me.”

  In a few steps Jono was on a footpath. The footpath went northward for only a few strides. There it met a cliff that towered above Jono. Jono ran eastward along the rock face. Four good spits from where Jono had turned eastward, the path went southward. In a few steps Jono was heading south-southwest. In a few moments Jono was on the east side of the grove where his broom was. He was almost due east of the Spinning Tree.

  The glow of Jono’s wand revealed, alongside the path on both sides, a strip of grass as wide as a woman’s arm is long. East of the eastern strip of grass was darkness. West of the western strip of grass was the lilac grove.

  One score of pigeons flapped frantically above Jono from his right to his left. Close to the Spinning Tree, a puff of white smoke was rising like a monstrous mushroom. Out of the smoke came a clamor of barks, brays, squawks, squeals, roars and grunts.

  Facing south, Jono threw himself down on the grassy strip to his left. His left hand took his wand and held it out eastward and down. The wand sank out of Jono’s sight. Jono quickly pulled the wand out of the darkness.

  Not two strides from Jono’s left hand, eighteen glowing, red, green or yellow eyes, as big as oranges, in sets of two, swayed and bobbed upward. Hastily Jono pushed himself away from the eyes. In doing so, he knocked his wand eastward. It disappeared. Jono moaned, “No.” The glowing eyes went down out of Jono’s view. Jono wriggled westward across the path and onto the western strip of grass while the barking, braying, squawking, squealing, roaring and grunting grew louder.

  Yellow talons, as thick as an elephant’s trunk, ripped into the eastern strip of grass one pace ahead of Jono. Near that spot almost half a score of dragon-heads, each two times as big as a goat’s head, writhed skywards on necks with the thickness and the length of a python. Hissing while flicking long forked tongues, the heads went high above Jono — higher than the tops of the lilacs. Great leathery wings reached north and south along the path’s east side. Jono shrieked. He rolled toward the grove. When he quit rolling, he was on his back in some long grass. Above him, from its left nostril, one hissing dragon-head was waving an illuminated wand.

  A few paces south of Jono and west of him another gang of dragon-heads appeared. Sweeping round the grove, none of these heads was any bigger than a goat’s head. Each head was on a long neck that was as thick as a broomstick. Each head and neck was bobbing and weaving not far above the ground. Each head was barking, braying, squawking, squealing, roaring or grunting. Leathery wings that were reaching to the north and to the south arose behind these clamorous dragon-heads. Jono gaped at the swaying noisy heads.

  The big hissing heads threw themselves down among the smaller clamorous heads. The hissing heads coiled round the clamorous heads. The hissing heads squeezed and pulled the clamorous heads. The hissing heads tugged the clamorous heads eastward.

  Protesting raucously, their necks stretched straight, the clamorous heads jerked eastward. Jono rolled onto his stomach.

  A yellow claw — not much bigger than a man’s foot — scraped across the path in front of Jono from west to east. A loud snap came from a leathery wing that shot across the path from west to east.

  The hissing heads pulled the clamorous heads from the ground. In a cloud of dust, dry leaves and grass, screeching and flapping, a four-footed, serpent-tailed, nine-headed monster passed above Jono from west to east. An instant later the monsters and Jono’s wand vanished.

  In the stillness Jono rose to his feet. He dusted off his clothes. Running his left hand along the grass at the west side of the path, Jono hurried along the path northward and then westward. He hurried to the Spinning Tree.

  Jono’s right hand knocked hard three times on the Spinning Tree. The Spinning Tree spun half way round. Facing Jono was a doorless doorway that had light from the inside. A ramp sloped gently downward from the doorway. Jono tramped onto the ramp.

  A deep man’s voice said, “Hold onto the rails.” Jono grabbed the rails that ran along the ramp’s sides at a height suitable for children. The Spinning Tree spun, and the voice asked, “Who goes there?”

  Looking up to the ramp’s low ceiling, which held two illuminated wands, Jono replied, “I’m Jono, son of Echion, of the island of Oura.”

  “You are expected. Go ahead. Don’t fall into the waterfall. Welcome to Mentor’s School of Wizardry. Watch your step. Nice boots!”

  THE END

  Thank you for downloading this book. I hope you found its adventures exciting. For news about the Jono Books, please visit https://www.johnhosh.com.

  Pronunciation Guide

  Sounds

  â = a in car or ball

  ä = a in care

  û = u in hurt

  zh = s in vision

  The long u, that is, ū may be pronounced like the u in cue or like the u in true.

  Glossary

  Adonidas = ă dōn' ē dăs´

  Aeolus = ē' ŏ lŭs (god of the winds)

  Aegis = ē' jĭs

  Alcibiadës = ăl´ sĭ bī' ă dēs

  Alcmenë = ălk mē' nē = also ălk mā' nā

  Alicia = ă lĭ' shŭ

&nb
sp; anabasticize = ăn´ ŭ băs' tĭ sīz => new word (“go up”)

  anagotize = ăn ăg' ō tīz => new word (“take up”)

  analeptize = ăn´ ŭ lĕp' tīz => new word (“restore”)

  Anaxagoras = ăn´ ăks ă' gō rŭs

  anepiphyze = ăn ĕp' ĭ fīz => new word (“undo rigidity”)

  anthropomorphize = ăn´ thrō pō mōr' fīz => (“make human”)

  aphiemize = ă fē' ĕ mīz => new word (“let go”)

  Aphroditë = ă frō dī' tē (goddess of beauty)

  Arës = âr' ēz (god of war)

  Aristarchus = âr´ ĭ stâr' kŭs

  Aspidos = ăs' pĭ dŏs

  Athena = ă thē' nŭ (goddess of wisdom)

  Atropos = ăt' rŏ pŏs´

  Betelgeuse = bē' tĭl jūs

  Boreas = bōr' ē ŭs (the north wind)

  Chloë = klō' ē

  Clotho = klō' thō

  Clytemnestra = klī´ tĕm nĕs' trŭ

  collagenize = kŏl lă' jĕ nīz => new word (“glue to the ground”)

  cyclogenize = sī klŏ' jĕ nīz => new word (“make into a circle”)

  Deucalion = dū kā' lē ŏn

  Diana = dī ăn' ŭ

  Dionysus = dī´ ō nī' sĭs (god of wine)

  dryad = drī' ăd (tree nymph)

  Echion = ĕ' kē ŏn

  Electra = ē lĕk' trŭ

  Eleutheria = ē´ lū thēr' ē ŭ

  Endymion = ĕn dĭm' ē ŏn

  Enneas = ĕn ē' ĭs

  Eos = ē' ōs (goddess of the dawn)

  epiphyze = ĕp' ĭ fīz => new word (“make rigid”)

  Erebus = ĕr' ĕ bŭs (the underworld)

  Euphemia = yū fēm' ē ŭ

  Euphonia = yū fōn' ē ŭ

  Euphonius = yū fōn' ē ŭs

  Euphrasia = yū frā' zhŭ

  Eurus = yūr' ŭs (the east wind)

  Fida = fī' dŭ

  Hadës = hā' dēz (god of the underworld)

  Hasdrubal = hăz' drū bâl

  Hector = hĕk' tōr

  Helice = ĕ lēs'

  Helios = hē' lē ōs (a god; the sun)

  Hephaestus = hĕ fĕs' tŭs (god of metalwork)

  Hera = hĕr' ŭ (queen of the gods)

  Hermës = hûr' mēz (messenger of the gods)

  Herodotus = hûr ŏd' ŏ tŭs

  hypnogenize = hĭp nŏ' jĕ nīz => new word (“put to sleep”)

  Iphigenia = ĭ´ fĭ jēn' ē ŭ

  Iphitus = ĭf' ĭ tŭs

  Ixia = ĭks' ē ŭ

  Jacob = jā' kâb

  Jonah = jō' nŭ

  Jono = jŏn' ō

  Kalista = kă lĭs' tŭ

  Kalliopë = kăl lī' ō pē

  katabasticize = kă´ tă băs' tĭ sīz => new word (“go down”)

  katatithenize = kă´ tă tĭ' thĕ nīz => new word (“put down”)

  Kronos = krō' nōs

  Krypton = krĭp' tŏn

  Lacedaemon = lăs´ ĕ dē' mŏn

  Lachesis = lăk ē' sĭs

  Larissa = lă rĭs' ŭ

  Lavinia = lă vĭn' ē ŭ

  Leonidas = lē ōn' ĭ dăs

  Leucippus = lū sĭp' pŭs

  macrosize = măk' rō sīz => new word (“make big”)

  Magus = mā' gŭs

  Marcos = mâr' kōs

  Medusa = mĕ dū' sŭ

  Megaera = mĕ jēr' ŭ

  Melikos = mĕl' ĭ kōs´

  microsize = mī' krō sīz => new word (“make small”)

  Miranda = mĭr ăn' dŭ

  neogenize = nē ŏ' jĕ nīz´ => new word (“make new”)

  Nikostratos = nĭ´ kō stră' tōs

  Notopoulos = nō tŏp' ū lŭs´

  Notus = nō' tŭs (the south wind)

  Nox = nŏks

  nymph = nĭmf

  Nyx = nĭks (goddess of night)

  Odysseus = ō dĭs' ē ŭs = also ō dĭs' sūs

  Orux = ōr' ŭks

  Ostrakan = ŏs' trâ kân

  Oura = ū' rŭ

  Pandora = păn dōr' ŭ

  Paracelsus = păr´ ă sĕl' sŭs

  Portia = pōr' shŭ

  Poseidon = pō sīd' ĕn (god of the sea)

  Priscilla = prĭs sĭl' lŭ

  Procnë = prŏk' nē

  Prometheus = prō mē' thē ŭs (the creator, a Titan)

  Proteus = prō' tē ŭs (a sea-god)

  Puknos = pŭk' nōs

  Pyrrha = pēr' rŭ

  Rheon = rē' ŏn

  Rhodes = rōdz

  Scythia = sĭ' thē ŭ

  Selenë = sĕ lē' nē (the moon)

  spasticize = spăz' tĭ sīz => new word (“pull”)

  Sternon = stĕr' nĭn

  stolize = stō' līz => new word (“clothe” or “dress”)

  Stomakhikos = stō măk' hē kōs

  sullambanize = sŭl lăm' bă nīz´ => new word (“take hold of”)

  Sycophant = sĭk' ō fănt = also sīk' ō fănt

  Syria = sē' rē ŭ

  Telos = tĕl' ŏs

  Themistoclës = thĭ mĭs' tō klēz´

  Thucydidës = thū sĭd' ĭ dēz´

  Thumon = thū' mŭn

  Titan = tī' tĭn (ancestor of the gods)

  Tricia = trĭ' shŭ

  Tunisia = tū nē' zhŭ

  Xanthippe = zăn thĭp' pĕ = also zăn thĭp' pē

  Zephyrus = zĕf' ĕr ŭs (the west wind)

  Zeus = zūs (king of the gods)