The Last Great Wizard of Yden

by S. G. Rogers

  “Trust me, Fred, those aren't women,” he said. “They're creatures from the black lagoon.”

  “What do you mean? They're babes.”

  Jon punched Fred's arm with Ophelia and the illusion faded. “Yikes!” he yelled.

  One of the nymphs raised her trident, poised to attack. With instincts honed from years of football practice, Fred tackled her. He wrested the weapon away and tossed it to Jon, javelin-style. When Fred stood, he was covered with green slime—as if the nymphs were made of gelatin. “Eew! The babe slimed me!”

  Stumbling backward, he found himself ensnared in a net fashioned from seaweed. While Fred thrashed around trying to free himself, Jon pointed the trident at one of the sea nymphs. A bolt of lightening shot from the spear into her body and spread to the creatures nearby. The nymphs liquefied. Jon stepped around the ooze, yanked the kelp mesh off Fred, and helped him to his feet.

  Fred shuddered as he surveyed the gelatinous mess on the ground. “I'm gonna have nightmares,” he moaned.

  With more nymphs closing in, Jon transported Fred into the tree house. They practically slid down the ladder into the storm cellar.

  “We got ugly green monsters after us,” Fred said, wild-eyed.

  “Quixoran took care of the Imps, but—” Jon began.

  “You found him?” Dorsit interrupted.

  “Sort of,” Fred replied.

  Jon shook his head. “It’s totally weird. We found his statue.”

  “What?” Brett exclaimed.

  “How did that happen?” Casey asked.

  “I wish I knew. I think Efysian had something to do with it,” Jon replied.

  “Efysian’s here?” Dorsit asked.

  “Yep, and he brought some help,” Fred said.

  “Local fauna or black magic?” Casey asked.

  “Green babes who aren't babes,” Fred replied. He moved his fingers like pincers and made clicking noises with his mouth.

  “Sea nymphs,” Dorsit replied.

  Fred had a blank look on his face. “Huh?”

  “Sea nymphs are spirits who use the ocean to form bodies for themselves,” Dorsit explained.

  Brett noticed the wounds on Jon’s arm. “You’re bleeding! Are you okay?”

  Jon grimaced. “I guess I’ve had worse.”

  “How did you escape?” Casey asked.

  “Fred, uh, created a diversion,” Jon replied.

  “I did? Oh, yeah. I did,” Fred said.

  Quixoran suddenly transported into the cellar.

  “Grandfather! I thought you were dust!” Jon exclaimed, jubilant.

  “I had to let Efysian believe I was dead. Otherwise, he'd never fall for my transformation spell,” Quixoran said.

  He floated a silvery, reflective sphere toward Jon. When it disappeared into his chest, the Dragon Clan wizard was transformed into his grandson’s double.

  “Cool illusion,” Fred said.

  “Nice spell, Quixoran,” Dorsit said.

  “Now go rescue your father,” Quixoran said to Jon. “I'll deal with Efysian.”

  “Be careful, Grandfather. Fred made Efysian pretty mad,” Jon said.

  “I said I was sorry!” Fred mumbled.

  “Keep Efysian busy as long as you can,” Jon added.

  “Avoid the gooey chicks,” Fred said.

  “And any stray Imps,” Brett said.

  “Just take care of yourselves,” Quixoran replied. “Good luck.” Settling Jon’s cowboy hat on his head, he climbed up the ladder and closed the trap door behind him.

  “All right, young wizard. It’s our turn,” Dorsit said.

  But Ophelia’s eyes were dim. “I don't know if I can do it,” Jon said, exasperated. “I can't focus.”

  Fred punched Jon on the arm. “This is no time to choke, dude. Pretend there’s pizza for lunch.”

  “Can you transport us, Dorsit?” Casey asked.

  Dorsit nodded. “I’ll transport us directly to the entrance to Efysian’s lair.”

  The group arranged themselves around Dorsit, and with a rolling peal of thunder and a flash of bright light, they disappeared.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Essence of Lialia

  Fred chortled as they materialized on a rocky, mountainside outcropping. “Yes!” he yelled, punching the air in victory. “It was the pizza thing that did it!”

  A valley spread out below them and a low purple cloud brushed the jagged peaks above. Jon glanced around, baffled. He could see no obvious way inside Wolf Mountain.

  “The tunnel is behind there,” Dorsit said, pointing to a wall of ivy growing in between two boulders.

  Fred and Casey pulled back the vines to reveal a solid, impenetrable rock face. Although Fred pushed against the stone, it wouldn’t yield to his touch. “Open sesame?” he ventured, but nothing happened.

  “Could the opening have a protective spell in it?” Brett asked.

  Dorsit pressed against the rock with his fingertips. As he moved forward, his entire body disappeared into the solid rock.

  “Just another illusion,” Jon said.

  Casey kicked the rock face with the toe of his tennis shoe. “For you, maybe,” he said. “Wizards can get past, but nobody else.”

  When Dorsit stuck his head out from the rock, Fred gaped. “Okay, that looks really disturbing.”

  “There’s a tunnel here,” Dorsit said. “Brett, give me your hand.” The elderly wizard guided her through the illusion, and they both disappeared inside the mountain.

  “New theory,” Casey said. “A wizard can hold the door open for the rest of us, so to speak.”

  Jon guided both Casey and Fred through the opening. Moments later, they were all inside a tunnel. The passage was cold and would have been pitch black without the glow from Jon and Dorsit’s wizard rings. Although Dorsit attempted to fashion an everlasting orb, he was too weak from the transport. With the help of Casey’s flashlight, however, they began to move down the gently sloping tunnel.

  The floor of the tunnel was worn smooth from frequent use, but the sides and roof of the passageway had been crudely carved. Thin tree roots protruded at odd angles. Fred flinched away from the hairy roots that brushed the tops of his ears. “Yeesh, this is creepy.” Lurching against a stony outcropping, he banged his shoulder. “Ow. It’s also painful.”

  “I liked Quixoran's tree house much better,” Casey whispered.

  “Me, too,” Jon whispered back.

  “At least we don't have to worry about Efysian's monster wolf,” Brett said, feeling compelled to whisper as well.

  From far off, a low growl reached their ears.

  “You spoke too soon,” Fred said.

  “Oh, no!” Brett gasped. “It can't be!”

  Howling echoed off the tunnel walls. The sound of the approaching wolf was so clear they could even hear the scrabbling of canine toenails against rock. When Conundrum appeared, Jon hurled a vicious fireball. Inexplicably, the wolf passed through it, unscathed. With a football scrimmage yell, Fred tried to tackle the beast but landed hard on the tunnel floor instead. In the next moment, the huge wolf disappeared and the tunnel fell quiet.

  Fred rolled over, nursing two scraped elbows. “What was that?”

  “A phantasm, I believe,” Dorsit said.

  “What, like a ghost?” Jon asked.

  “It’s not an actual spirit,” Dorsit said. “Some wizards use phantasms to frighten trespassers.”

  “As a supernatural burglar alarm, I think it worked pretty well,” Casey said.

  “Scared me,” Brett admitted.

  “I almost passed out,” Dorsit said.

  “I used to like dogs,” Fred said.

  They shared a laugh, more from nerves than anything else. Casey and Jon led the way deeper into the tunnel, but after a hundred yards or so, Casey's flashlight began to dim. “My batteries are losing power,” he said. “We must hurry.”

  After a few more minutes, the passageway ended at the intersection of another tunnel. Brett pa
tted the wall. “Efysian's cavern is through here. I think you need wizardry to get past the Guardian’s magic.”

  But Casey, Fred, and Jon were staring into the tunnel leading off to the right.

  “Dad?” Jon cried.

  Brett put her hand on his sleeve. “Whatever you're seeing, Jon, it's a trap.”

  Ophelia flared and the illusion faded. Jon suddenly realized he was staring at a yawning hole, but Casey and Fred were still mesmerized.

  “Wearable computer devices,” Casey said. “Awesome!”

  Fred licked his lips. “Nah, it’s a delicious buffet. I've never seen so many pastries!”

  “It's a trick, Fred,” Brett said.

  “She’s right,” Dorsit said. “If you go that way, you will die.”

  “I'm gonna die if I don't,” Fred said, stepping forward.

  Casey and Jon grabbed Fred's arms and dragged him back.

  “Snap out of it, Fred. It's another illusion—like the sea nymphs,” Jon said.

  Fred shuddered and shifted his gaze away from the pastries. “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it, but you owe me a doughnut run when we get home.”

  A thick mist began to swirl in the left-hand passageway.

  “What now?” Jon said, eyeing the mist warily.

  Lialia stepped through the fog, more beautiful than ever. Fred's jaw dropped.

  “So you’ve returned,” Lialia said to Brett. Her tone was quite chilly. “I thought perhaps you had fallen into a crevasse.”

  Fred bristled. “Watch your language, lady.”

  Lialia glanced at Dorsit. “You should not have come back, Leopard Clan wizard. I convinced Efysian you had died.”

  “Thank you for your concern, Guardian,” Dorsit replied. “But I have some unfinished business here.”

  Jon pushed against the entrance to Efysian's cavern, but the rock remained solid. “Can you let us through?” he asked the nymph.

  “I am the Guardian,” she said. “You cannot enter.”

  “Give us a break, Lialia,” Brett sighed.

  “Lialia?” Dorsit repeated. “You’re Lialia of the Andresan Waterfalls?”

  “Does that mean something to you?” Jon asked.

  “Many turns ago, Efysian enslaved a beautiful water nymph as his Guardian,” Dorsit said. “She’s cursed to love and serve him forever.”

  “What a complete lie...except for the 'beautiful' part,” Lialia said. “Efysian and I are soul mates.”

  “Barf,” Brett said. “He's no good, Lialia. Can't you tell he's using you?”

  “Mind your own business, blondie,” Lialia shot back.

  “How can we break the Guardian's spell?” Jon asked Dorsit.

  “I’m not certain,” Dorsit replied. “But—”

  “Terrific,” Fred interrupted. “So we're stuck.” He waved to get Lialia’s attention. “Look, honey, what'll it take to get the door open? Money? Jewelry? I'm sure JonBoy here will be happy to conjure you up a Porsche if you want.”

  Lialia examined her manicure, bored.

  “A poem may be the key,” Dorsit said. “It’s called Fair Lady of the Waterfall, and I think it must refer to Lialia.”

  “Oh, no,” Fred moaned. “If you start with the poetry I'm gonna throw myself down that hole, guaranteed.”

  “Hush,” Brett said as she smacked Fred on the arm. “How does it go, Dorsit?”

  Dorsit recited the poem:

  “Fair Lady of the Waterfall,

  Was stole away by Blackest Knight,

  Her heart this Knave he did Enthrall,

  Forever Cloistered far from Light.”

  “The Rosebud may return to Flower,

  Young Champion of Fire and Claw,

  With Truest Love and Hell-born Power,

  From Driest Rock her Essence Draw.”

  As Dorsit finished speaking, Lialia burst into tears.

  “Okay,” Fred groaned. “I’m jumping into the pit now.”

  “Dorsit, can you tell us what it means?” Jon asked.

  “Lialia is the Fair Lady of the Waterfall,” Dorsit said. “And Efysian is the Black Knight.”

  “How can someone be a black night?” Fred asked. “That’s stupid.”

  “K-n-i-g-h-t,” Casey spelled out. “Like a medieval soldier.”

  “Efysian enthralled Lialia’s heart,” Brett said.

  “Enthralled? I don’t even think that’s a word,” Fred said.

  “It means imprison,” Casey replied.

  “That’s not a word, either, Casey,” Fred said, wagging his finger. “You can’t fool me.”

  “Okay, so Efysian imprisoned Lialia’s heart,” Jon said. “Then he cloistered her far from light. I guess it means he stuck her down here forever.”

  “Cloistered?” asked Fred.

  “Secluded, like in a monastery,” Casey replied.

  “Lialia is the Rosebud who will return to Flower,” Dorsit said.

  “And so the Young Champion of Fire and Claw must be Jon?” Brett suggested.

  “Yeah,” Fred chortled. “He’s the dragon wizard!”

  “What does ‘truest love and Hell-born power’ mean?” Casey asked.

  “I don’t get that one at all,” Brett said.

  “Actually, Yrth is sometimes referred to as ‘Hell,’” Dorsit admitted. “The planet without magic.”

  “Kira told me that,” Jon said, nodding.

  “It makes sense then,” Casey said. “Jon was born on Earth, and therefore so was his power. But what does the ‘truest love’ part refer to?”

  “I don't know,” Jon said.

  “The last line of the poem talks about Lialia’s essence being drawn from rock,” Brett said. “How you do you manage to do that?”

  “What’s Lialia’s essence anyway?” Jon wondered.

  They peered at Lialia for an answer, but she only cried harder. Enormous blue tears splashed from her eyes onto the floor.

  “Turn off the waterworks already,” Fred said.

  “That's it! She’s a water nymph,” Jon cried. “Her essence is water!”

  “Yes!” Dorsit said.

  “You’re the science guy,” Brett said to Casey. “How do you get water out of stone?”

  “It’s complicated—”

  “No, it’s not,” Jon said. He fished a blue marking pen from his knapsack. “Watch.”

  He drew a cup of water on the rock wall and carefully cradled it as it materialized. He offered it to the nymph. “Here, Lialia.”

  But she sank to her knees and began to wail a high-pitched screech. Everyone flinched at the noise. Brett finally lost her temper.

  “Snap out of it!”

  Grabbing the cup from Jon’s hands, Brett threw the water onto the sobbing nymph. Lialia stared at her wet hands and then lifted her shining face toward Brett and Jon. Her hair began to dissolve into white mist, and then her body. The mist swirled a moment, then shot up the main tunnel.

  “Thank you, Jon Hansen,” came a whisper. Then, Lialia was gone.

  “You vaporized the witch,” Fred said to Brett. “Good going, Dorothy. I think she split my eardrums.”

  “Lialia has been released from Efysian’s spell,” Dorsit said. “Jon literally drew her essence from rock and freed her with the help of his true love.”

  Brett giggled. Jon stared at the floor, hoping the dusky light hid his flaming face. Fred gave him a push toward the wall. “C’mon, Romeo,” he said. “Let’s go rescue your dad.”

  This time the solid stone yielded to Jon’s touch. Dorsit, Brett, Casey, and Fred followed him into the cavern, which was lit by some indistinct, unidentifiable source. Jagged fingers of rock thrust up from the floor toward fanglike protrusions pointing from the ceiling. Jon recognized Efysian’s lair from his dream.

  “Be careful where you step,” he cautioned. “The crystals on the ground are slippery and the edges are sharp.”

  Casey frowned. “This place looks evil.”

  “Smells evil, too,” Fred said, skirting
what appeared to be a large week-old pile of animal droppings.

  Jon led the way toward the shimmering column of light in the center of the cavern. He gulped as he stared at his father for the first time in months. Dr. Hansen stood, immobile, surrounded by the light. Jon had dreamed about this, of course, but he wasn’t prepared to see it in person. Painfully aware Fred was standing right next to him, Jon gritted his teeth against a surge of emotion. His vision swam and he had to remember to breathe.

  Suddenly Fred burst into noisy tears and put him in a headlock. “Oh, man, I’m sorry, Jon,” he sobbed. “This stinks.”

  Jon patted Fred’s back as best he could, considering his neck was being squeezed in the crook of Fred’s arm. “Yeah…thanks, Fred.”

  Fortunately, Fred released him before he passed out.

  Brett tapped her fingers against the light. “I don't think the spell is dangerous, exactly, but you can’t get through. It’s like some kind of force field, and it’ll knock you on your—”

  “Lemme show you how it’s done,” Fred said. He took a running start and launched himself at the column.

  “No, Fred!” Brett cried, too late.

  When he made contact with the force field, Fred flew backward. He landed a full six feet away, stunned and sucking wind. Casey and Jon helped him up.

  “Are you okay, Fred?” Jon asked.

  “Yeah. Just remind me not to do that again,” he wheezed.

  Glancing down at the Imp bite on his arm, Fred gaped. The flesh had knit itself together until not so much as a scar remained.

  “Hey! My arm’s not hurt anymore!” he chortled. “Way cool.”

  “When I touched the light, it healed me, too,” Brett said.

  “Maybe the spell holding Dr. Hansen has the power to heal?” Casey speculated.

  “It’s not the spell,” Jon answered.

  “There was a legend about a boy wizard who could bring creatures back from death,” Dorsit said. “I always assumed it was a myth.”

  “He's not a myth. He’s my dad,” Jon said.

  The intensity of the light surrounding Dr. Hansen dimmed. His head dropped forward until his chin was resting on his chest.

  “Efysian must be getting weaker,” Casey said.