Behind the Sorcerer's Cloak

by Andrea Spalding

  He swiftly plucked more fine strands of sea mist from the air around him and wove them into a ball of thickening magic. He tossed the ball far from Barrule, deep into the Mists of Time.

  As the Mists of Time thickened, Manannan cloaked his island with an unseasonable fog. “Out of sight is out of mind,” he muttered. “The Dark Being may watch Gaia, but her eye must not alight upon the Kingdom of Mann.”

  Back in Glastonbury, Holly sat on the patio, waiting for Myrddin. The morning sun was warm, but it gave her no comfort.

  Owen returned from prowling the garden.

  “How much longer must we wait?” he moaned.

  Holly shook her head. She wound a side curl round and round her finger. First one way, then the other.

  Like Owen, she was tired of waiting.

  In fact she was growing angry.

  She’d been waiting all summer! She felt mad just thinking about it.

  Her brother and cousins had played key roles in major adventures, and she’d just tagged along. Sure, she had been part of things, but Chantel, Adam and Owen had each been chosen by a Wise One.

  She, Holly, had been ignored.

  This adventure was supposed to be hers, but now Adam was lost and everything sidetracked. As soon as Adam had found Myrddin’s staff, it was supposed to be her turn. She was going to help the mysterious Wise One called the Lady. Now Adam had messed up, and the Lady was silent.

  Holly simmered as she looked back over her summer.

  Equus the Great White Horse God appeared to Chantel in her dreams. She rode the wind on his back.

  Ava, the amazing Hawkwoman, came to Owen in the form of a real hawk as well as in dream form.

  Myrddin actually had a human form. They’d all met him, not just Adam. Holly looked around ruefully. This was his home. She was sitting on the patio of Myrddin’s house in Glastonbury where he was known as Mr. Green.

  So what had happened to the Lady?

  Holly’s anger rose in a great wave. “Come on, Lady! I’m fed up with being ignored.” She kicked the table leg. “Ouch!” She rubbed her foot and came to her senses.

  Owen stared at Holly in amazement. She rarely got angry. What was happening to her?

  Holly’s flash of anger dissolved. She began to think.

  Many things were wrong. Big things. Adam was lost in the Mists of Time; Myrddin had vanished to rescue him. Ava and Equus hadn’t come to help. And the Dark Being was approaching.

  What if Owen was right and something else was wrong? What if the Lady couldn’t contact her?

  There could only be one explanation.

  “Owen,” Holly said slowly. “Old Magic isn’t working properly. I think it’s spread too thin trying to protect us.”

  Owen thought for a moment. “You mean it’s struggling because so much bad stuff is going on at once?”

  “Yes.”

  “So what? We can’t do anything about it.”

  “Can’t we?” Holly let her curl spring back. “We’re supposed to be Magic Children.”

  “So?” said Owen. He shrugged. “None of us has real power. I can’t turn you into a frog.”

  “How do you know?” said Holly.

  Owen grinned. “Don’t tempt me.” He waved an imaginary magic wand. “Abracadabra. Turn Holly into a frog. …Darn, it didn’t work.”

  “No, seriously. If we are Magic Children we should be doing magic, not just relying on the Wise Ones.”

  Brother and sister stared at each other.

  “Us…do magic on our own? What sort of magic?” said Owen.

  Holly suddenly seemed older and more assured, “Think about it. Everything’s going wrong because the Dark Being’s found Earth. She’s affecting how people think and feel. Myrddin said everyone is becoming angry and more warlike. And I did, just now. Anger just swept over me. We need more Earth Magic to counteract the bad stuff, and we are the only humans who can do it.”

  “Sure, but…but…”

  “But nothing. The Wise Ones have been showing us how to use Earth Magic all summer. They told us that humans once used it all the time. We’ve done it before.”

  “But only with support,” said Owen.

  “Not much support. A lot we made up on our own, remember? What did the Stones tell you when we were in Avebury?”

  Owen thought for a moment. “That everyone’s rituals are different…that earth, air, fire and water are just symbols…it doesn’t matter how we use them. That what’s important is to concentrate and believe.” He looked across at Holly with wide eyes.

  “Exactly,” said Holly. “So let’s do something. Let’s concentrate and believe, instead of sitting here. Let’s focus on light.” Holly grabbed Owen’s arm and led the way down the steps to the damp lawn.

  The Dark Being’s chuckle echoed across the universe. Her wait was over. Zorianna was reporting, sending mindspeak and mind pictures of what she’d accomplished on the humans’ planet.

  Bad news flashed to the stars. Equus and Ava found their Tools before I reached Gaia, Mistress.

  The Dark Being roared with anger. She paced around, tossing energy bolts and shattering a nearby star.

  Eventually she calmed and returned to listen to Zorianna again.

  I have more bad news, warned Zorianna. The Wise Ones have taught four human children about Earth Magic.

  This time the Dark Being snorted in derision. Four children. What can four human children do against my magic and my army? You are being overly cautious, Zorianna.

  They are no ordinary children, said Zorianna. They do unexpected things.

  So do I, replied the Dark Being. Now send me good news.

  Zorianna sent images.

  The Dark Being laughed when Zorianna showed how she’d snatched the magic staff from the human child and Myrddin.

  She felt the shock wave made by Zorianna thrusting the staff through a portal into the Mists of Time and plunging after it.

  A second unexpected shock wave made her gasp, then she laughed again. So the human boy child followed you, Zorianna? He is grasping the hem of your cloak? What courage! If he survives the journey, that boy shall help me conquer Gaia. He will teach me Earth Magic. Well done, Zorianna.

  The Dark Being applauded the mind pictures. She threw off her cloak of darkness and revealed her presence, surrounded by a circle of gathering Shades.

  Come, Zorianna. Come, human boy. She flung open her arms and waited for them to arrive.

  And waited, and waited.

  Flashes of anger and despair reached her from Zorianna.

  Earth Magic was fighting back. The Mists of Time had thickened.

  Zorianna, the boy and Myrddin’s staff vanished.

  The Dark Being’s boiling anger made the fabric of the universe quake. How dare Gaia fight her? Annihilation was too swift a punishment for such treachery. Once she had located Zorianna and the staff, she’d send the Shades to torture and enslave Gaia’s inhabitants.

  The Dark Being stared at the Mists of Time. She was poised, ready to pounce.

  Holly knelt on the grass in Myrddin’s garden and gestured Owen to kneel opposite her.

  “Copy me,” she ordered.

  “Bossy Boots,” said Owen.

  Holly grinned. “Come on. What have you got to lose?”

  “My image. We look daft,” said Owen.

  Holly refused to be sidetracked. “Copy me,” she insisted. “I learned this from one of the dancers in Avebury. It’s a way to focus thoughts.”

  Holly placed her hands flat on the grass before her. “Earth support me,” she chanted.

  She raised her hands above her head. “Air surround me.”

  She moved her fingertips to touch her temples. “Fire enlighten me.”

  She raised her hands above her head. “Water cleanse me.”

  She folded her hands over her heart.

  “Come on, Owen, do it with me.”

  Owen looked around. No one was watching. “Okay, Sis, here goes.”

  “Don’t call
me Sis,” said Holly automatically. She placed her hands back on the grass.

  Owen rolled his eyes but copied her.

  “Earth support me,” he mumbled. “Air surround me.” He stumbled through the unfamiliar actions and words.

  “Good. Now we do it over and over and think of Adam and Myrddin. But you’ve got to believe. Like we did when we called Ava back in the second adventure. Got it? We’ve got to believe we are sending Adam and Myrddin hope and protection.”

  “Okay…okay…I’ve got the idea.” Owen placed his palms on the grass again.

  “Earth support me.

  Air surround me.

  Fire enlighten me.

  Water cleanse me.”

  “Earth support me.

  Air surround me.

  Fire enlighten me.

  Water cleanse me.”

  Brother and sister chanted the words over and over. With each repetition, their voices grew more assured.

  The chant rose and fell, was captured by the breeze and wafted far and wide around Gaia.

  Adam trembled with fear and exhaustion. The Mists of Time were endless. His strength was fading. They were traveling faster and faster. He could feel it in the way thick cold mist slipped past his body. He hated the sensation.

  Zorianna yelped.

  Adam forced his fingers to grasp a little more cloak, cracked open his eyes and squinted up.

  Something had happened, something had changed.

  He wished he hadn’t looked. He was dangling from the hem of the cloak, swinging to and fro in slow arcs. He shut his eyes again, sick to his stomach.

  “I’ve gotta look. I need to know what’s going on.” He spoke sternly to himself, forcing his eyes open to look up along the length of Zorianna’s body.

  He gasped.

  “The staff’s rebelling. It’s taken over.”

  Instead of Zorianna carrying the staff, it now dragged her along. She stretched out behind it, struggling to hang on, just as he’d struggled to hang onto her.

  Hope flickered in Adam’s heart. He remembered Myrddin telling him the staff punished people who wrongly wielded it. Yeah, about time it did something, he thought.

  He closed his eyes again and focused on holding on. The pull on his arms was agonizing. He gritted his teeth and wished for the dreadful journey to end.

  Zorianna screamed orders at the staff. “Staff…I command you…Heed me…I am your mistress now.”

  Adam’s eyes flew open again.

  The angle of their flight changed.

  The staff was dragging them down toward Earth.

  “Noooo!” screamed Zorianna. “Up…UP to the Dark Being.”

  She shouted, cursed and railed, but the staff towed them faster and faster downward.

  Without warning, Zorianna swung a leg backward, kicking out at Adam. She was trying to get rid of him to lighten her load!

  Adam arched his back and swung his body away from Zorianna’s flailing foot.

  “Be gone, you human pestilence!” she shrieked.

  Sheer panic kept him hanging on. And anger. He’d stuck it out this long. No way was he going to give up if the staff was rebelling. Adam tried to ease his cramping fingers.

  He risked letting go with one hand. He wound the hem of the cloak around his wrist to relieve the weight. The movement made him spin round and round in space. He grabbed the cloak again with his free hand.

  Closing his eyes, Adam sent a desperate burst of mindspeak.

  Someone help me! Someone help me! Someone help me!

  Warmth and hope crept around him. A faint chant sang in his ears, comforting him. He couldn’t make out the words, but the voices were familiar. The chant eased his panic and added strength to his fingers. It was as though his cousins were beside him, encouraging him, giving him strength.

  Manannan cocked an ear. A song rippled around Gaia. Someone was practicing Earth Magic.

  What a pleasant change. He’d thought humans had forgotten. He listened again. “Paitchyn’s voices,” he murmured softly. “Children.” He smiled, heartened by the once familiar chant of earth, air, fire and water.

  Deep in the secret heart of his kingdom, magic flickered. The Sleeper began to dream.

  Zorianna gave up trying to dislodge Adam.

  She turned again to the staff, trying to force it to do her bidding.

  Adam watched as Zorianna dragged her body, hand over hand, along the staff’s length. “Now I have you,” she shrieked. She clamped her knees around the staff, riding it like a broomstick, pulling up on its head.

  The staff plummeted like a stone, down through the grayness.

  Zorianna grimaced and gripped so tightly her hands turned white.

  Adam was pulled along behind. He flinched as Zorianna turned a white face toward him.

  “Boy, help me!” she screamed.

  Adam shook his head.

  “Help me!” she shrieked. “We will both be killed.”

  Adam groaned. She had a point.

  He gave a small nod.

  Zorianna hauled on her cloak. “Quickly,” she gasped as soon as Adam was within her reach. “Add your weight to the back of the staff. Force the head upward.”

  Adam glared. He didn’t want to help. But his arms needed a break, and he didn’t want to hit the ground and become scrambled egg.

  “Climb on, boy. You will be rewarded.”

  Yeah, right, thought Adam. He swung one leg over the staff as Zorianna hauled on the back of his T-shirt.

  Whoa…Adam felt safer sitting astride. The new position rested his arms. He took a deep breath, and new courage flowed through his veins. The only drawback was having Zorianna so near. He hated her. He couldn’t bear to touch her.

  Adam shuffled as far back as he could, perching on the very end of the staff, keeping as big a gap as possible between his body and Zorianna’s. He concentrated on the magic that surged through the wood. Myrddin’s magic. It felt good.

  Zorianna shouted and cussed again.

  Myrddin’s staff refused to alter direction. On and on it dropped.

  Zorianna screamed out spell after spell.

  At last, the staff stopped falling.

  Adam relaxed for a brief moment before the staff bucked like a horse, stood on end and spun rapidly.

  Zorianna threw herself full length, gripping with hands, knees, feet and teeth.

  Adam jerked to avoid touching her as the staff gave a corkscrew twist. He flew off and cannonballed through the mist.

  “Aaaargggghhhh!”

  His cry of despair shivered the stars.

  The Mists of Time alerted Manannan. He jumped to his feet. “The boy’s in trouble.”

  He grasped leaves of Bollan Bane, crushed them and threw their dust into the Mists of Time.

  “Bollan Bane, good Bollan Bane,

  Help this child, in Manannan’s name.”

  Adam, dusted with Bollan Bane, hurtled through the thinned and tattered edges of the Mists of Time.

  The Bollan Bane conjured a fleeting vision. A white-haired old man stretched out a hand and called, “Remember Earth Magic, paitchey. Remember the Light.”

  Adam hardly registered the vision or the message. It didn’t matter. He was toast. He was cannonballing toward something that made his skin crawl.

  Adam yelled, then screamed as a mind-numbing Shade grabbed him and dragged him into a whirling vortex of hatred.

  Still screaming, he was sucked through the maelstrom and dropped into a gray silence.

  “Hush, hush. You are safe, courageous boy. I have you,” said a voice as velvet as midnight, as sweet as honey.

  Adam’s head and mind hurt. He felt bruised, body and soul. The tortured muscles in his arms shrieked with pain, and his fingers cramped and ached. He groaned, wished he was dead and realized he was still alive. Adam opened his eyes.

  A smiling young woman, her face and shoulders framed by an untamed cloud of curly dark hair, leaned over him.

  He lay on a soft wrap at her feet.
>
  Despite his pain, Adam’s breath caught. She was beautiful, and as she moved her gown rippled like molten silver. She leaned over and dropped another wrap of exquisite softness over him. She made stroking movements in the air above his body, and the pain dulled.

  Relief and gratitude swept over Adam. He’d been rescued. This amazing woman had snatched him from the terror of the Dark Being. His eyes closed. He was so exhausted he couldn’t think clearly, but he tried to lift his head to thank her.

  A new wave of agony hit. He whimpered and fell back.

  He felt the woman gently touch his temples, then stroke his arms and shoulders. The pain began to recede.

  Adam tried again.

  “Th…thank…you. Thanks…for rescuing me.” He shuddered. “The…the dark…the cold…was awful.” He struggled to make sense of things. “Are you th…the Lady? Holly said you’d be beautiful.” He fought the waves of exhaustion engulfing him. “I…I…thought…the Dark Being had me.” He tried to grasp her hand, but muscles spasmed, and his arm fell back. “Th…th…thanks…I’m Adam…a…Magic Child.”

  The beautiful young woman smiled and tucked his arm inside the wrap. “Don’t try to speak, you’re hurt and tired. Sleep, Adam the Courageous, sleep and heal.”

  Adam’s eyes closed. He sank into oblivion.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ________________________________

  STIRRINGS OF EARTH MAGIC

  In the hallway of Mr. Green’s house in Glastonbury, the phone rang.

  Mr. Smythe pounded downstairs as Holly and Owen leapt up and rushed in from the patio. The three collided in the hall.

  Holly reached the receiver first. “Hello.”

  “Good morning, Love. Having fun at the Glastonbury festival? Sorry to phone so early, but we thought you might be out if we left it much later.”

  Holly lowered the receiver, clamped her hand over the mouthpiece and hissed, “It’s Mum. For us!” A wave of longing for the family farm at Uffington and a dose of her mother’s good sense swept over her. If only she could confide in her mother.

  Holly pushed the thoughts aside, lifted the receiver to her ear again and beckoned Owen.