The Magical Book of Wands

by Raven M. Williams

  “I have power?” Kaelaire inquired. She knew the talent was there, but she thought it went away when self-doubt took hold. “I let it go to waste; it can’t be there!”

  “Just because you’ve never used it, that doesn’t mean it wasted away,” Agatha reminded. “If a sword rusts after a time, it is still there. It is still a sword. You’ve come from a line of great witches. You need to bring your sister back before darkness takes her.”

  Melaine and Agatha walked around to Kaelaire’s back, and both sharply jabbed their thumbs against the innards of her shoulder blades. Kaelaire gasped, her body trembling as if it had been filled with lightning. She breathed, she heard, she felt more clearly, and the pit of her stomach bore a sensation of an opened floodgate.

  As the apparitions of her family stood back, Kaelaire was swathed in a brilliant white aura. She looked at her hands, and they blazed like fire. “Is this—”

  “Magic. The family’s magic that is shared with your sister. It now courses through your veins unimpeded,” Melaine informed. She waved her hand and, in her palm, appeared a wooden rod of twelve inches. Kaelaire looked at it and nearly gasped in sudden surprise.

  “Your wand?”

  “Only a sister wand can destroy Callister Space. You’ll know what to do when the time comes,” Melaine reassured. “We can’t linger any longer.”

  “But why?” Kaelaire asked, her eyes welling up.

  “We’ve passed our power to you, dear daughter. We’ve found our resolution, and once the witch falls, a lot more will find their respite as well.” The apparitions began to fade as they spoke. Melaine was the first to leave, while Agatha lingered the longest. “Save your sister, Kaelaire. Save them all...”

  Kaelaire awoke with a jolt and a cold sweat. Donaka had fallen over in his seat as she examined herself. Her wound was no longer pained, and her body felt good as new. Better than new.

  She looked and still held the wand in her hand. A small voice arose in her mind, just loud enough for her to decipher, and it told her where to go. As if entranced, Kaelaire stood, tapped herself with the wand and allowed magic to craft a new cloak for her. Donaka watched the whole thing and saw the newfound fire behind her eyes, and Kaelaire departed without another word.

  /—-/

  Discordant music invaded the halls of the castle that looked to be devoid of life. “Devoid” was right, as nary a mortal soul traipsed these halls. In a decadent hall meant for grand balls and dinner meetings, the Bone Riders lumbered about to the music. They fought to imitate life, the life they so callously took and destroyed for their Queen.

  Lunesa awoke in a pain as if she’d been dropped to the ground. She looked around and stifled a scream as the Bone Riders shambled about near her. She tried to cast a flame but as soon as it ignited, it was immediately snuffed out. She cursed as she spotted an exit bereft of a door.

  She crept towards it but felt herself slam into a human frame as she stood and broke into a run. A sound of a low wailing sauntered into the hall and the Bone Riders ceased their incessant movements. All light bled away from the area and Lunesa was blind, so she couldn’t discern what it was that she ran into.

  A swath of lightning encircled the two before the “human” frame immolated itself to provide light. Lunesa saw a woman no older than she was, but her eyes burned a malevolent orange-red. Atop her brow was a horned crown of tarnished gold, although, in the dark, the little that Lunesa could see looked like stained metal.

  The light slowly crept its way back into the hall, and before the girl stood her family’s enemy, the Witch of Callister Space. “Welcome,” a staccato feminine voice that unnerved Lunesa to her core echoed across the hall. “You please me with your presence, Lunesa Hume.” She walked down the hall, clad in a red cloak, and urged the young witch to follow.

  One of the Bone Riders moved quicker than its frame should allow. In a horrid voice, it spoke, “We praise your return to this hall with the granddaughter of your old enemy!”

  Entrana sat on a stone throne that was carved into the wall, and a lone shadow cast over her face. She connected her fingers as her eyes glowed from the darkness, boring through Lunesa as her own legs shook like old discarded bones against a turbulent wind.

  “I presume, my darling girl, that you are the eldest granddaughter of Melaine Magdelene,” Entrana spoke, unmoving from her throne.

  Lunesa, for the first time in her life, was at a loss for words. She merely nodded.

  “Then you know who I am? Not this sordid legend that surrounds me, but who I truly am.” Lunesa peeped, afraid of looking at the abomination wrapped in human skin in the face.

  In a terrible boom of a shout, Entrana ordered, “Speak livelily! You are a Witch, not a dog waiting to be reprimanded!”

  “You dueled my grandmother in the plains of Sasan. She defeated and sealed you.”

  What came next was unexpected: Entrana laughed, amused at Lunesa’s answer. “Of course. History is written by the victors, is it not? Of course, my sister would embellish the finer details.”

  That one word made Lunesa’s eyes widen. “Sister.”

  “You heard me right, niece. I’m your great-aunt. You would’ve known me better, had it not been for your overzealous grandmother.”

  “What of my mother? Since we’re about family, then! You killed her!” Lunesa spoke up louder than before.

  The Bone Riders went silent. Lunesa could see that Entrana had raised an eyebrow from within the shadows. Her own accusatory stare matched the intensity of the Witch of Callister Space’s unwavering glare.

  “Your brashness runs in the family,” Entrana responded. “Just as your marvelous energy does too.”

  Lunesa grew defensive. Playing at fealty, she asked, “You’re so great; why do you need my power?”

  “If you knew the true nature of magic, you’d know of a particular discipline called Shifting. To ride the souls of bodies like they were cattle to preserve your own. You’ve witnessed my handiwork – remember your friend from the inn?”

  The eyes of Nameless, glowing as white as pearls were burned into Lunesa’s mind. “I can’t forget, even if I tried. And that’s the fate that awaits me?”

  “It is true,” Entrana began, “that you deserve a better fate. You chose the path of the Witch and you have unbridled potential. If you were willing to trade your life for another... You know of whom I speak.”

  Kaelaire sprang up in her mind. Lunesa breathlessly protested while Entrana laughed. “Your thoughts betray you, niece. It seems like you’ve already made your choice. If it makes it any easier to take, you’ll be at my side at the dawn of a new era. The Era of the Red Witch.”

  In Entrana’s hand appeared a wand with metal wiring encircling it like gaseous rings. She raised it and a bright spark emitted from its tip. Lunesa was ensnared and raised from her feet, and her voice was sealed. “Just in case things go awry, dear niece. Your sister is almost here.”

  /—-/

  The iron main gate of Entrana’s castle scraped open harshly, oiled only with rust and time. Standing outside in the wispy, freezing gale, staring into the black canvas entranceway, was Kaelaire. She was still garbed in her new cloak, fitted high to her chin like a cassock, and she kept her hands inside its confines.

  Kaelaire felt wiser, older more from loss than from years. Loss of illusions, loss of dependency. Loss of family, to evil. Loss of sleep, to stress. Loss of laughter. Loss of her innocence.

  But of all her losses, the greatest was that which came from knowledge, and from the deep recognition that she could never un-know what she knew. So many things she wished she’d never learned. She had aged with the weight of this knowledge.

  The information carried a certain sadness, the sum of all this data. A certain sense of regret. But who could afford to be a little girl in times such as these?

  Resolutely, Kaelaire strode into the arching hallway. Almost immediately, two Bone Riders stepped up and blocked her path. One spoke in a ghastly voice that did not
invite debate.

  “You...you’re the chosen one—” Right as it struggled to finish its sentence, Kaelaire raised her hand, wand in her grip and pointed at the Riders. Before either could draw a weapon, they were both clutching mounds of flesh around what they called a face, choking and gasping. They collapsed on the ground.

  Kaelaire lowered her wand and walked on. The riders, suddenly able to function again, slumped to the cobbled steps. They did not follow.

  Around the next corner, Kaelaire was met by another rider who began speaking as it approached the new witch, but Kaelaire never broke stride. The rider had to reverse its direction in mid-sentence and hurry itself along to say its piece.

  “You must be the one named Kaelaire. Your sister is waiting for you. But first—”

  “Take me to my sister, now,” Kaelaire spoke evenly, never slowing. They passed several more riders at the next crossing, who fell in behind them.

  “My queen has instructed me that there will be no—”

  Kaelaire stopped suddenly and stared at the rider. He locked eyes with the shambling mess of bone and sinew, raised her wand slightly, and took a minutely inward turn. “Bring me to your queen, now.”

  The rider turned and walked down the twisting corridor that led to the great hall chamber. Kaelaire followed it into the gloom. As she entered, the level of tumult dropped precipitously as if Kaelaire’s presence bore a cooling effect. Everyone felt the change.

  Above their heads, Lunesa floated, encased in a ruby-etched prism. Kaelaire saw her there; she could feel her pain immediately from below, but she said nothing and didn’t even look at her. She shut her anguish out completely from her mind; Entrana was already probing there for weaknesses.

  “Well, isn’t this a treat? Little sister, big and powerful, come to save her big sis. What a heartfelt family reunion.” Entrana spoke in her staccato, still enshrouded by darkness.

  “That’s right,” Kaelaire spoke with authority. “I want my sister back. Either give her back or be destroyed, but I warn you not to underestimate me. That’s how you fell, last time.”

  “Spoken like a true Hume Witch,” Entrana answered as she stood from her throne. The darkness slowly drew itself back to reveal a young face, like her grandmother’s during youth. If anything, they could be sisters.

  No. It couldn’t be. The more Kaelaire investigated the face of the witch, the more she looked familiar. It couldn’t be. “You... Who are you, witch?”

  “Your sister asked me the same question, dear niece. We share blood, we share power. Unfortunately, I need one or the other.” Entrana drew her wand and held it at the ready. “Show me the power of a Hume witch! Show me that you deserve to serve me!”

  A tongue of flame flew across the room from Entrana, only for a burst of ice to chill it into icicles. She repeated the attack, but this time the heat was more intense than before. Kaelaire grunted and struggled to keep her footing as her sudden shield of stone she raised from the ground was beginning to melt. Two more chains of fire snaked around her defense, yet Kaelaire managed to deflect them both.

  The wayward fire collided into the surrounding Bone Riders and reduced them to ashes in an instant.

  “Step out, Kaelaire,” Entrana said before she raised her wand upward, “or I’ll rip the life out of your sister and dangle her body as my trophy.” The calmness of her voice shook Kaelaire to her core.

  As soon as the new witch rolled from behind the melted stone shield, a harsh bolt of crimson lightning ripped its way towards her, destroying the stone beneath her. Kaelaire launched a beam of light that bounced off eight surfaces before it struck Entrana in her back.

  The rear of her cloak was singed, and her eyes emitted a red glow. She moved to launch a spell at Lunesa, and Kaelaire anticipated it; she fired the light beam again, and it bounced off two surfaces before it deflected Entrana’s attack.

  Entrana turned her attention back to Kaelaire, and both unleashed powerful bursts of magic that smashed into one another, canceling each side. Without warning, Entrana inhaled deeply before she blew a ferocious gust of wind that ignited itself into a flamethrower.

  Kaelaire swiped her wand down, and a streak of energy split the flame in two, which managed to extinguish it. She followed up immediately with a casted stream of high-pressure water that slammed into the witch; Kaelaire manipulated the water until she was encased in a bubble of liquid.

  Enraged, Entrana screamed, and a shockwave pounded against the sphere until it popped and spilled water across the cobbled ground. Kaelaire unleashed a torrent of lightning that reacted quickly, carrying itself to Entrana’s feet.

  She wailed in unearthly torment before she let loose another scream that dispelled the electricity. “You’re...quite impressive for acting on reflex!” Entrana loosed a wave of concentrated dark energy that clawed its way towards Kaelaire.

  The new witch wasted no time and flung a tongue of fire that snaked itself around the darkness. The energy crashed into the wall behind Kaelaire, but the flame found its target, piercing Entrana’s heart.

  The Witch cried and wailed as her blood stained her cloak. Kaelaire ignored her howls of pain, instead lowering her sister from the ceiling. With a blasting spell, she shattered the prism and tended to Lunesa.

  Smacking her cheek, Kaelaire called her name as Entrana’s body convulsed and twitched violently. The wand, Callister Space hovered in front of her and sparked with energy as its former master levitated before it.

  Lunesa opened her eyes and shook her head. When she laid eyes on Kaelaire, she broke into a panic. “No! Get away! The witch will—”

  “I took care of her, with some help.” Kaelaire held up the wand and Lunesa instantly recognized it.

  “How did you get grandma’s wand?”

  “I’ll explain that later. Right now, we—” She was cut off as she noticed Entrana’s body surging with energy. “Oh, no you don’t!”

  The sisters stood together and prepared their magic. They didn’t target the body – they went for the wand! Both unleashed harsh bursts of elements that struck the wand; it reacted and imploded, and the resulting explosion consumed Entrana’s body.

  They were knocked to their bottoms, and Lunesa had a headache that throbbed in her ears. Looking around, the sisters saw that the hall was filling with light. No trace of the Bone Riders remained, and Entrana’s body was nowhere to be found. Once they regained their bearings, the sisters explored the castle until they found an underground chamber with a locked door.

  Inside were bushels and bushels of gold and silver. Their eyes sparkled with delight as they danced in joy with each other.

  Immediately Kaelaire said, “We’re gonna move to a new house. We’re getting out of that hellhole, find a decent place but nothing too extravagant, FINALLY get some decent food—”

  “Hey, hey!” Lunesa interrupted. She hugged her younger sister and chuckled. “Let’s just enjoy the moment, all right? We both nearly died because of me.”

  “No, it wasn’t your fault. I needed this push, and I got my resolution. By the way, mom and grandma said hi.”

  “Okay, you gotta tell me what happened,” Lunesa said as she sat on a bag of coins.

  “Before I say that, I just want you to know that I love you, Lunesa. Whatever I said in the past, I’m sorry.”

  “Sis, don’t worry about it. That’s what sisters are for; we keep each other in line in case one of us falls.”

  Kaelaire laughed heartily. “I guess we can count this as our inheritance!”

  “And what an inheritance it is,” Lunesa commented.

  Kaelaire began to mentally tabulate the money. She looked back at her sister, who had thoughts of fancy. It was good to see her so happy again, but for the life of her, Kaelaire could’ve sworn she saw a glint of red in Lunesa’s eyes.

  The End

  About the Author

  Shakyra Dunn can't stray away from the impression that there is always an adventure around every corner! When she isn’t playing the
role of the Creator, she is marching through the worlds of her favorite video game characters or taking drives around her city to see the sights. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she currently resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, striving to experience more than the little town.

  SITES:

  www.facebook.com/SeerofWords

  https://authorshakyradunn.wordpress.com

  The Long Way Home

  By Guy Donovan

  MAY 28, 1972

  Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Newport News, Virginia is a long way to sit on a bus—even for me. Once upon a time, I loved to read. In my youth, I spent many hours poring over every book I could find, both novels and texts. However, I have spent much of this journey thinking as I watch the world pass by. Rather than just the world itself though, it seems that I have been looking out at the consequences of my long life upon it. In turn, that gives me cause to question some of the choices I made as a younger man.

  Allow me to start from the beginning.

  My name is Philologus Eads Banning, though I prefer “Philo,” and I was born in the year 1844. Given the date at the beginning of this entry, it should not take you long to conclude that I am either insane, or a liar. I assure you, however, that it is true. As I write this, I am one hundred and twenty-eight years old.

  Given the popularity of such “modern” writers as Messrs. Burroughs, Verne, or Wells, I hope that I have connected with a mind more open than was my own before the events of which you have yet to read. Even if not, however, I hope you continue for entertainment’s sake if no other.

  To elaborate on what I have already stated, I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the twelfth of May in the year of our Lord 1844, the only child of my parents, George and Lucille Banning. Though my family was hardly wealthy, neither were we destitute. My father found such a mediocre standing unacceptable—which I seem to have inherited from him—and in the fall of 1848, he relocated the three of us to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There, he meant to secure a fortune through panning for gold in that greatest of American waterways: the Mississippi River.