The concept was utterly terrifying. The three old elves looked at each other with sudden suspicion, suddenly unsure that they could rely on their own senses to know who was an elf and who was a Demon!
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Hancow said, “but I have believed for some time now that the withering of our plants is only a symptom of something more pervasive that is dreadfully wrong. But if even we elves can’t sense Evil except as a vague presence, how can we find it and fight it?”
Soone suddenly had such a powerful insight that the aged elf almost collapsed to the ground again.
“What is it, Gaou?” asked Jeanine, concerned.
“I know someone who can sense Evil directly, and can see through any cloaking!” His companions looked for him to explain whom that might be, but he couldn’t tell the two other elves about Ben King, that knowledge was too dangerous to share. “Hancow, please reassert your personal anti-Evil shielding. Jeanine can help you do it, as she has remained pure.
"Then I want the both of you to seek out others that have been untainted by Evil or can be easily redeemed," continued Soone. "Seek especially elves that do not live in the cities. Tell them what we know, but do not inform the High Council. For those elves that are not so very corrupted, get them one by one to fully restore their shielding against the influence of Evil. But be careful! We don’t yet know who to trust at this point.
"And try to come up with new tactics to use against Demons and Evil. Elves have kept Demons at bay only through use of cleverness as well as magic. The Demons have perhaps spied on us for a long time and know our traditional tactics. You'll need defensive and evasive tactics against powerful Demon bolts of energy, and you'll need to be able to somehow find Evil to destroy it."
"We need to begin with the older elves: the ones who remember Evil and Demons," said Hancow.
"Along with failing gardens, many older elves throughout Alure have died in recent years," said Jeanine. "That is what most prompted me to leave my village and seek the High Council."
"And what did the High Council say about it?" asked Soone.
"They wouldn't even see me!" sputtered Jeanine angrily. "I'm the Chairman of my Local Council, and they wouldn't even see me! If you ask me, the High Council of Alure has been rotting along with its gardens!"
"I fear you are correct about that," said Soone. "Let's now do something about it, and do it quickly! We may be even closer to total doom than we realize! But be discrete! Above all, tell no one that I may have an answer to the problem. Seek out those elves who still believe in our ancient traditions and bring them here to fight Evil effects in the Council. I will seek out the one we need to help us precisely locate the Evil and I will keep you informed. But don't depend only on my quest; you must proceed as though you can only depend on yourselves. Above all, keep your heads and use them!”
Soone hurried back to his gardens to await Sky’s return, although there was no telling when that might be. Ben was needed here on Alure immediately, and if he could get Sky to help with teleportation he could perhaps retrieve Ben quickly while conserving his own energies for other tasks. The boy could then hopefully locate and identify the Demon and the Evil.
On the other hand, finding the Demon could prove suicidal for them all. With weakened plant-life, elf magic on Alure was weakened. Weakened as they were, he doubted that the elves could combat a Demon if it was found, and Ben had no offensive abilities at all. Further, he didn’t even know if Ben’s shielding could stand up to a Demon, since Sky had removed him before the final Demon attack. Ben was part of the answer, he had to be, but exactly how should his involvement be accomplished? Such thoughts weighed heavily on the old elf as he teleported back to his home.
****
“Soone’s gardens are failing, Dark Master,” the Aprentice Demon appearing as an elf reported.
“Excellent, excellent, replied the Master Demon. And how does my old friend feel about that?”
“Soone is quite distressed.”
“Excellent! But this is only the beginning. The Elf Council, weakened from within, will discover too late that it no longer has the strength to oppose us. Alure itself will fall and its elves will all die. When the elf wards totally fail all planets infected with life will fall to my Demons. The quiet simplicity that is non-life will prevail.”
“After Alure, Earth will be attacked, Master?”
“Of course. We can’t take any chances with the Earthlings. The King boy needs to be destroyed while he's still dormant. But other earthlings with his sort of powers will naturally arise; perhaps they already have! Once the elves are gone all humans should also die as soon as practicable. Starting with Hope, I'll turn Demon Hordes down upon them!”
“I can perhaps still learn the boy’s secrets before he spreads them to others and then afterwards I could kill him," said the more junior Demon. "Knowing how to better control the Wild Magic would make us all-powerful against the elves and anyone else who might oppose us.”
The elder Demon shook what might have been at one time been regarded to be a head. “We’ve been over this already. We are already more powerful than our enemies. I do not trust our Wizard pawns on Earth, and you can’t get near the boy; he would see you for what you are. When you are in human form on Earth you must continue to avoid him until I order you to attack them. As with the elves, the logical strategy is to first destroy their Council, then the town of Hope We will do it as soon as we are fully ready and have nullified the elves. In the end the boy's dangerous secrets will die with him and all humans.”
“But there is still someone else who can get near the boy,” said the Apprentice Demon, “and might yet accelerate his healing and learn his secrets; someone we can perhaps get to help us unwittingly. A trusting fool of an old elf!”
A smile erupted on the Master Demon’s reptilian-like, misshapen, blackened face. “My old friend Soone! Of course. What delicious irony! Through our pawns we could convince him that re-awakening the boy’s talents is critical to saving his precious gardens! We could then consume the elf and learn whatever he has learned from the boy.”
"I had planned to return to Earth shortly anyway," said the lesser Demon. His elf form stretched and shaped itself into human form. "But there is one problematic development on Alure you should be aware of that might make you want to move up our schedule. Some of the elf Wizards suspect Demons and Evil among them and are re-establishing their personal anti-Evil shielding."
"That changes everything!" said the Master. "Their actions will likely be too little and too late for them, but we will take no chances. We will strike them immediately while they are still weak. I will strike at Alure while you strike at Earth. Along the way if we learn the boy's secrets, so much the better, but we can take no chances. On both planets we will kill the Master Wizard Council leaders first. We have enough Evil on Alure and Earth to then bring on hordes of minor Demons to kill all the other elves and humans. None will remain."
“I go at once, Dark Master,” the lesser Demon said. He shimmered and disappeared.
The Master Demon smiled. His Apprentice Demon was doing very well both on Earth and on Alure. He envied the younger Demon’s ability to so easily disguise himself so well that he could walk among the humans and even the elves without being detected. He could still do the same, but it was becoming ever more difficult for him. He was too far gone now, too much a Demon to disguise himself as anything else for very long. Increasingly his Evil saturated physiology forced focus on only one thing: his own destructive power applied to kill all other life.
Being a Demon was a delicate matter; a balance had to be maintained between the need to maintain structure and control to accomplish long-term goals, and natural Demon cravings for wanton destruction and chaos. The temptation of causing immediate death and destruction usually became too much for a Demon and insanity and a self-destructive rampage resulted. Only one in a thousand Demons survived transition to full Demon status and an extended period of sanity and
powers. This Master Demon knew that he was extraordinary. He had survived for centuries and would shortly succeed where hundreds of other Demons had failed over many thousands of years. He would eliminate the elves!
Humans were suddenly becoming a greater threat than even the elves! Somehow young Ben King had begun to control Wild Magic! Eight years ago the child had even defended himself from his attack by using Wild Magic!
If King remembered how he was controlling Wild Magic and passed the ability on to fellow humans or to the elves all Demons from the Void could be rendered impotent. The boy’s ability to see through any cloaking was almost as dangerous. For many decades, the Master Demon and his apprentice disguised as humans and elves had infiltrated both the Elf Council and the human Hope Council, and influenced and weakened them. The elves had been an impediment for millions of years, though even that was a very short time from universe perspective. Elf resistance had gone on for far too long.
The emergence of Ben King meant that the final onslaught would have to come very soon, the Master Demon had reasoned. Fortunately this Demon was well versed in both elven and human cultures, and had already greatly weakened them from within. And now with elves attempting to recover themselves the time had come at last to utterly destroy the elves and humans! The blissful simplicity and peace that was death would soon be achieved across the Galaxy!
From the Evil he had gathered around him over many years, the Master Demon gathered more energy. He had one more thing to attend to here on Earth, and then he would transport to Alure to kill all elves!
****
“Good day, Gaou Soone,” said an unexpected voice. "How was your trip to Council?"
Soone was so startled that he nearly collapsed again. However, in an instant he identified the source of the voice; it was only Rog, his useless apprentice, making one of his thankfully rare visits.
After several years, Soone still didn't know what to think of Rog. From the Council's viewpoint, it probably made sense to appoint an apprentice for him. He was already far older than most other elves, and wouldn't live forever. His gardens were the finest on Alure, and would need to be taken care of after he was gone to meet the Maker. His wife had died long ago and they had no children, and he had never gotten himself an apprentice to be his replacement. So the Council was clearly doing its duty when they assigned him an apprentice. Long ago he had similarly been assigned as an apprentice to the former keeper of his gardens, old Lucian. But why had they appointed Rog? And why had he accepted the appointment? The young Wizard had absolutely no interest in or aptitude for gardening!
Rog was clearly currently excited about something; his usually bland pasty complexion was flushed pink with enthusiasm, and he supported a broad smile that Demonstrated to Soone for the first time that the younger elf actually had teeth. “Master, you will never guess the assignment from the Council that I have managed to get!”
Soone’s jaw dropped open. It couldn’t be! “Are you to assess the status of my gardens for the Council?”
“Yes! Isn’t that amazing! I’m not sure that they even remembered that I’m your apprentice! I happened by the Council after visiting the Library and the Great Hall, made my usual plea to them to be assigned to some task that would advance the interests of Alure, and they gave me the job!”
“Very interesting,” said Soone, his head spinning. He had asked for outside help from the Council and they merely gave him his own useless apprentice!
“This will win me points with the Council, I’m sure! It may be my ticket to getting a position on the Council support staff itself!”
Soone stared at the young Wizard, his mind churning. Rog was the worst apprentice imaginable! But perhaps it was more than indifference and incompetence; perhaps Rog was the Demon! Could it be? The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Rog was always off somewhere else, Maker knows where, instead of being with him. He could have been visiting the Soone gardens and the Grand Hall gardens and who knows where else on Alure, spreading Evil! Perhaps he even teleported himself to Earth and other worlds to wreak havoc!
“I will need your strong recommendation, of course,” Rog continued, “but I have learned something else that may make you wish to consider as you reassess whatever negative opinions you may have already formed of me.”
“Really?” Soone remarked, as he tried to quell his growing fear that Rog was indeed the Demon. If Rog knew that he knew he was a Demon, would he kill his Master immediately?
“You had a human here eight years ago!” Rog accused suddenly. His silly grin was bigger than ever. "He lived here with you for a whole Earth year! That’s highly forbidden, as you well know!”
Soone began to weakly protest, after regaining his voice.
“Don’t bother to deny it, Soone, I know what I know," Rog insisted. "And the human was a Wizard, though a sick one, and you think he might be able to help with your garden now, if you can go to find him on Earth and bring him back. Am I correct?”
Soone was speechless. If Rog was the Demon, and the same Demon that had killed the boy’s parents, he would know of Ben’s existence, but how had he traced Ben here to Alure? The answer came to mind almost immediately. Rog had seen Sky visit here several times before he attacked the Kings. When he saw the sprite take the boy, he knew exactly where the human would likely be taken. Perhaps he had even foreseen it, before it happened. Foresight/premonition was a rare gift, but not so rare for a Demon with easy access to the timeless Void, and it would explain why Rog had wanted to apprentice with him in the first place!
“Who told you all of this?” Soone asked quietly, though he was almost too afraid to ask the question.
“Nobody had to,” Rog replied defensively. “You think I don’t notice things, but I do! I spied on the two of you for the whole year he was here. I even learned the human's language so that I could understand his jabbering. It took me nearly the whole time to figure out why you took the risk of keeping him, but I finally did.”
"You amaze me, Rog. What did you conclude?"
"That the boy has secret powers, powers that you wanted to learn from him. Something about being able to detect Evil, am I right? That must be why you risked looking out for him! However you failed to learn his secrets, and finally returned him to his world in the hope that as he matured in his home environment he would become cured and remember all his secrets. Now he is reaching maturity and has likely revived his powers, and your garden faces crisis. So now you want to seek him out to learn the secret of his powers and save your precious gardens. Am I right?"
“You are amazing," said Soone. "So you’ve known about the boy for all these years?” Soone reasoned that Rog hadn’t turned Ben into the Council eight years ago because the boy would have recognized him as a Demon.
“Of course. I only mention it now for two reasons. First, because all you need do is learn the human’s secrets, and you may then be able save the gardens yourself. I offer to you my help in that regard, as I can help get you to Earth and back without the Council knowing, and without you having to expend all your own energies. You will also discover that I am very knowledgeable, as for most of my life I have studied heavily in libraries and museums. I also have an amulet that stores much energy that I can use to power our adventure to Earth and back."
Rog pulled a metallic amulet out from his vest pocket and showed it to Soone for a moment. Soone didn't dare try to examine it closely. Elves had ancient amulets that could store energies but this was just as likely to instead be a chunk of pure Evil.
"All that I ask in return is that you pass on to me the boy’s secrets so that I may be the one to save the rest of Alure," said Rog. "I know more magic than you think; I often study spells in the Alure Great Library. You aren’t as young as you used to be, you know. You are probably far too old to handle the use of new powers great enough to save Alure. A younger elf such as myself should obviously learn them. I should be the one to save Alure. You see, as you may have already guessed, I have certain ambit
ions beyond my apprenticeship with you.”
“Ultimately you want to become a member of Council.”
“Ah, you understand perfectly! I had hoped that would be the case. Should I become a public hero, my ascension into Council will be assured. I will be such a tremendous hero that I will very likely soon lead the Council. I know that you have no personal ambitions, so you have no reason to deny me my own ambitions, am I correct? And you live conveniently near Council as well as the Library. That always made you the perfect Master for me! Do you agree with my plan?”
Soone had no reason to deny Rog except he was by now certain that he was the Demon that was subtly attacking Alure. This business about the boy having some sort of secret powers that could save Alure was a ruse to help entice his help, he reasoned. True, the boy's shielding and cloaking was powerful but his key usefulness would be his ability to see through cloaking and detect Evil, as Rog himself suggested. What other useful abilities Ben might have beyond that, if any, was totally unknown.
Soone knew for a fact that Ben could detect Evil. Soone kept a few jars of material that had been made Evil to experiment with, stored fairly far from his home and away from his most critical gardens. It had taken him years of work and Sky's help to isolate it. Early in his visit, the boy had detected the Evil and convinced Soone to erect even more powerful containment spells to protect the area where the Evil was stored. Ben’s ability to detect and pinpoint the location of the small quantity of Evil was uncanny. “And if I don’t go along with what you want?”
“Regrettably I would be forced to expose you, of course," said Rog. "Harboring a human is a serious matter, especially one with potentially dangerous powers.”
“I suppose you have proof that I was with him?”
“Of course. It is my habit to pay attention to others and learn what I may. Knowledge is power. By spell I have preserved several images of you and the human interacting. I would claim that my own laxity in reporting it to authorities until now was out of my loyalty to you. But I propose that together we now go to Earth, where I will monitor both you and the boy. You and I will learn his secrets and I will become powerful enough to save Alure. Any charges against me would be forgotten after I save Alure from whatever may be troubling it.”
Apprentice Wizards of Hope Page 13
