Apprentice Wizards of Hope

by Gary J. Davies

  Everyone in the tent turned their attention to Colonel Wells.

  "OK," said Wells. "Let's hear some ideas about exactly how to accomplish your Mansion mission."

  ****

  Ben and Soone were alone in their prison of Evil; the Master Demon had for now gone off on its own to possibly work on other issues. If the captives entertained any ideas of escaping through a doorway when the Demon left them that hope soon disappeared. There was no doorway. When the Demon exited the room it pushed itself against a wall and then slowly sank into and through it, seeming to melt himself, the wall, or both.

  Ben was glad for this pause in the confrontation; he was shocked at how disturbed Soone was from the Demon's revelation that it had consumed Soone's old friend and mentor Lucian. Ben held his hand and spoke to him for half an hour before the old elf finally stopped sobbing and could again speak with him sensibly.

  "The terrible fact of this Demon's absorption of my mentor explains much, young Ben," said Soone. "Lucian was by far the greatest elf of his age. The Demon has his knowledge and some of his skills; that is how has managed to so effectively penetrate and corrupt Alure elf culture and Earth Wizard culture. Lucian was a loving, sensitive elf loyal to elf traditions. To have his knowledge turned towards Demon Evil and against elves and life is ghastly beyond measure!"

  "Why doesn't it simply kill us?" asked Ben.

  "We killed its apprentice," said Soone. "The Horde needs more intelligent leadership than one Demon can possibly provide. The Master Demon wants one of his junior Demons to absorb me the way that he absorbed Lucian. He's likely looking for a good candidate junior Demon to accomplish that task, but hasn't found them yet. Thus for now we still live."

  "We have to get you out of here!" said Ben.

  "We have to get both of us out of here and do it soon," said Soone. "For one thing, my personal anti-Evil shielding is requiring too much of my energies. Though you might not sense it your shielding may be draining your energies in a similar way. But then again maybe it isn't."

  "Wouldn't my use of energy have to be draining me?"

  "Maybe not." said Soone. "Over the last eight years you've expended a lot of energy, and yet never seemed to run out of it. I've been pondering that situation for a long time. It must have to do with Wild Magic that you captured. Wild Magic is primordial chaos. When it encounters this universe ordinary energy of this universe is created, which you in turn internalize as Life Energy. The Wild Magic might provide an essentially limitless form of energy for you."

  "If so, I don't know how to fully use it," said Ben.

  "Burt you are rapidly learning how to! And also consider that Evil may be some form of Wild Magic. Demons get energy from Evil. Could you get energy from Evil also?"

  "I really don't know," admitted Ben.

  "How much Evil is here in this Mansion?" the elf asked.

  "Tons of it," Ben said. "Much more than there was at the Glen."

  "It could have been collected here by this clever Demon for many decades," said Soone. "For sure you can quit blaming yourself for attracting this Demon to Hope. It was here long before you were born. You simply happened across the Master Demon when it decided to create a second horde of Evil at the Glen. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time; that is how you humans sometimes describe it."

  "And it caught me and my parents mucking with Wild Magic and didn't like it," said Ben.

  "But that's all history, young Ben. It's time for you to put all of that behind you and get back to learning about the Wild Magic inside you, and about Evil too, and how to destroy it, before it destroys us."

  Ben sat down behind Soone, wrapped his long arms around the little elf, and closed his eyes. "You watch for the Demon's return, and I'll learn what I can."

  Much easier this time, he was immediately able to sense himself and Soone in magic detail. The elf was like an open book, deep and dense with centuries of elegant wards and elf magic lore exposed to his understanding. The elf's personal protective shields were indeed strained, so while he was there Ben strengthened them a thousand-fold with a lasting spell.

  After studying the structured complexity that was Soone, studying himself at first seemed simple, and there were interesting similarities. The elf's style was simple elegance, like a Bach fugue. His own style was rather more complex, like a Beethoven symphony. What he had intuitively done as a child to tame the Wild Magic was like a lovely symphonic passage that he quickly relearned.

  He extended his outreach to the floor beneath him, and the wall behind his back. Instantly he could sense the corruption! It was still mostly ordinary stone; but it wasn't entirely of this universe! Throughout the ordinary minerals were strands of a vast network of pulsing unearthly materials that didn't belong here in this universe at all! Evil! When he probed it with his Life Energies they annihilated each other into nothing, but at the expense of his Life Energies. That's how the Evil at the Glen had been destroyed, but it had taken a great toll of Life Energies to do it.

  Evil was Wild Magic structured to both persist in this universe and to cancel out Life Energy. Living things that carried lower concentrations of Life Energy were weakened by the presence of concentrated Evil; but highly concentrated Life Energy could be used to obliterate Evil.

  With his Wild Magic he reached out to the Evil and discovered that the Demon structured Evil easily reverted to its more natural form: Wild Magic that without protection of Evil structuring or his own intricate Life Energy spell immediately found itself in a universe where it couldn't survive for more than an instant. So it simply disappeared, perhaps into some parallel universe where its form was compatible! Now wasn't THAT interesting!

  For the next half-hour he applied this newly discovered interaction to dissolve away Evil in the nearby wall. When he was done he had nullified the Evil of a cubic foot of wall.

  "There's the good news and the bad news," he told Soone, when he had finished. "The good news is that I have learned a wonderful new way to destroy Evil. The bad news is that it may prove to be a slow process and we are imprisoned by tons of Evil that powers the Demons."

  "Yes, when there is good news there is most often also bad news," said Soone, after listening to Ben's description of what he had learned. "Let us make use of the good. I have been thinking. My Apprentice Rog managed a spell process to almost automatically destroy Evil using Life Force that welled up in the Glen. I sense that this is also such a place not far from here, but beyond are walled room, so right now it is out of reach. But you have your own new way to destroy Evil. Could that also be controlled by a persistent spell that works Wild Magic? Perhaps multiple spells?"

  ****

  After 'interviewing' three dozen minor Demons fresh from the Void the Master finally identified a suitable apprentice candidate. From an elf perspective it looked a little like a minor dragon, which from a human perspective looked something like a wild boar. It was only human-sized but that shortcoming could be easily fixed after the transformation. The important thing was that through some quirk of fate it had both a spark of intelligence and suitable experience.

  Its intelligence was great enough for it to realize that total submission to the Master was required, and to enable it to follow basic commands. More important, it absorbed a dragon/pig-like biological creature on planet Omega a short time ago, which helped explain its current form and perhaps much of its intelligence.

  Now the Master Demon had to somehow separate the elf from the boy without destroying the elf. They likely didn't have much time before the tremendous Evil around them overcame their defenses and killed and spoiled the elf.

  How would he do it? His elf-patterned mind allowed him consider such questions logically. Somehow the Master needed leverage on the boy. A distraction perhaps? Something or someone the boy cared about as much as he cared about the elf, threatened with death by Demon? One of the boy's foster parents perhaps? Or one of the troublesome Tuttles? The Master would have to capture one of them! But where were they?
>
  Not for the first time the Master Demon felt regret about having the memories of an elf Gaou but not most of his abilities. If the Master was a real elf that could control Life Energy and not a corrupt imperfect copy of one, there would be more ways to find and capture victims. Using elf ideas about magic that used orderly Life Energy, the Master had developed several Evil-energized powers but only very few; Evil was in essence too disorderly and difficult to influence in ways that Wizards could subtly influence Life Energy.

  Soone would be the perfect template for a new Apprentice Demon. Then there was troublesome Rog, Apprentice Wizard Elf! Though young by elf standards, he would also provide a viable template to shape a new Apprentice Demon, and would need to be captured soon also. For Demons, elves were both bad news and good news. Right now he wished there were even more elves on Earth for him to use!

  ****

  CHAPTER 18

  Inside Grim Mansion

  Fifty elf Wizards, half of them Gaou, teleported to where the street in front of Grim Mansion had been, before it was destroyed by Demons. Fifty human Wizards followed, most of them unaligned with Hope but united under Alan Dale. A hundred Army Rangers with weapons were teleported with them. Fifty werewolves were already on the scene and rousting half a dozen nearby Demons that attacked the intruders with claws and bursts of lightning. Only robust shielding and evasive maneuvering saved the human and elf personnel.

  While several Wizard/Army teams set about dealing with the Demons, Eric, Sam and Rog arrived and examined the Mansion front entrance. It was non-standard out-sized entrance with steel double-doors, extra-wide and tall. Though plain looking it literally vibrated with Evil-sourced energy.

  "So what do I do now, knock?" said Sam. "Then we are supposed to ask the Master Demon to come out and play with us while Rog cloaks and sneaks inside, right?"

  "That's the super-brilliant plan," said Red Eric.

  "Certified by genius Army, elf, and human Wizard nerds," said Sam. "What could possibly go wrong?" From his weapons belt he pulled out his latest attack hammer. "This is my ninth hammer since this whole thing started, Eric. I should have forged and warded them by the dozen. Stand back now while I ring the Demon's doorbell. Then we cloak and run like hell. I hadn't done this sort of thing since I was a kid, now this is my second time for doing it at this cursed Mansion!"

  "I'll help shield you while you knock on the door," said Eric. "Then I'll cloak us while we run away. Put all your strength into your hammer blow. Remember, if we end up teleporting to escape the Demon, port to Desolation Glen. That place is still overflowing with Life Energy that is likely to be avoided by the Horde Demons like the plague."

  Rog stepped away and to one side of the doorway and disappeared through cloaking. The usually talkative elf hadn't said a word since he learned about his dangerous part in the plan. Eric wasn't sure what a terrified elf was supposed to look and act like, but he suspected that Rog presented an archetypical example. Could the frightened young elf be depended on to do his part?

  Wham! Sam struck a tremendous blow to the Mansion door that would have entirely flattened an ordinary house. The explosion vaporized most of the hammer but Eric's shielding protected himself and Sam, though they were both stunned and knocked off their feet.

  The doors slammed open and the biggest, ugliest Demon they ever saw ducked through the opening to take in the scene. For several seconds it looked about in amazement at the teams of elves, Wizards, and Norm Army Rangers that were engaged in destroying his Demons before lifting his head and belching the most blood-curdling roar ever heard. That delay likely saved Eric and Sam, who finally got around to clearing their heads, cloaking, and running like hell.

  The pause also gave cloaked Rog the time he needed to dash with his short legs behind the Master Demon and into the Mansion. The young elf had reasoned that with everything he had already gone through one more Demon encounter would be easy for him to handle, but he was wrong. A bout of craziness must have driven him to do what he had done earlier to defeat the Apprentice Demon! After that was over and he had a chance to think about it he was very shaken, but at least at the time he thought that the worst was over. He was wrong!

  Then an even more monstrous Demon showed up, and then a whole Horde of Demons! But eventually more human Wizards and elves showed up, relieving him from most responsibility. He decided that he would avoid further conflict. That changed when Soone was captured. For years he had been a horrible apprentice, and now his Master was in deadly danger, perhaps already killed! So he insisted on being the one that would go into the Mansion after Soone and Ben! No doubt about it, he was caught up in another bout of personal craziness!

  Inside the Grim Mansion foyer Rog immediately encountered a stairway up, a stairway down, and a hallway leading left. Otherwise there was absolutely nothing: only what appeared to be bare stone walls, ceilings, floors, and stairs. There were no rugs, furniture, wall coverings, light fixtures, or anything else. To top things off the size of everything seemed huge to the little elf, as if it was fashioned for giants much larger than even humans. Worst of all, it was likely that the walls, ceilings, and floors were stuffed with Evil!

  Rog had no idea which way to go. As he paused to think about it the front door clanged shut behind him, trapping him inside the Mansion. But the Master Demon was outside, and he was inside and perhaps safe from it! He felt so enormously relieved that he dropped his cloaking to focus on shielding against the enormous Evil that was all around him.

  As he breathed a deep sigh of relief a Demon that looked like an Alure minor dragon came charging down the stairs at him!

  ****

  Twenty miles away in a nearby town that was used as an evacuation point for fleeing Hope residents, Maude Phillips was healing Rick Hortega. Although the young man had suffered many broken bones and serious internal injuries, he had immediately started healing himself, very likely saving his own life. He might have even completed the job of healing himself had he not soon become totally exhausted. As it was Maude immediately continued sustaining the boy and healing at a low rate until she could transport him to best healer she had ever met, who happened to be a vampire and the wife of the unofficial leader of the unaligned Wizards of the world.

  "He needs one final push, Jewel," Maude said loud enough to be easily heard in the adjoining motel room by a person with super-sensitive hearing.

  Jewel awoke from her restorative nap and because it was easier for her than using muscle power, used telekinesis to push aside her blanket and float herself into the next room where Maude sat beside Rick and monitored his recovery.

  Maude appraised her floating friend with envy; the beautiful vampire appeared to be no more than twenty-five, though her real age was many times that. Her long brown hair floated about her head like a halo, and even wearing Norm casual clothing her perfect body was evident. She had plainly regained much of her strength after her earlier exhausting healing session with Rick.

  Even before resting her pale hand on his forehead next to Maude's, Jewel could sense that Rick was mostly recovered. She had done the bulk of the healing two hours earlier, but since then Maude's lower rate of healing had also accomplished much.

  Over the next ten minutes Jewel passed more Life Energy to the boy but he did most of the remaining healing effort. "Wow, this kid is amazing!" she at last exclaimed to Maude. "All of his healing has been a joint effort between him and us."

  "He is highly exceptional," said Maude.

  "Where did you learn healing, youngster?" Jewel asked Rick, when she sensed that though his eyes were still closed Rick was now fully awake.

  "I witnessed several healings, and then participated in several more of them as collaborative Wizard Apprentice efforts," said Rick. "But I didn't know that vampires could heal or levitate!"

  "Most can't," said Jewel, "but it's not that uncommon for us to have Wizard-like powers. We usually hide them so that busybodies like the Hope people leave us alone. Vampires live a very long time; we sh
ould learn a few things over several centuries of life, shouldn't we?"

  "I guess so," said Rick. "Thanks for healing me, both of you. You're Alan's wife Jewel, aren't you?"

  "You know that I am, Rick Hortega. We've been exchanging thoughts since Maude brought you here."

  "Where is 'here'?" Rick asked, as the vampire gently sat herself down in a nearby chair. Sitting in a chair and no longer floating in the air made Jewel appear much more ordinary, but the boy-Wizard could sense her immense inner strength and magical complexity. Were he a few years older he might have paid more attention to her beauty.

  "We’re in a Comfort Inn fifteen miles from Hope," said Jewel. "Alan wanted me kept completely out of this Demon affair; I of course insisted otherwise. As a compromise I came here to help with the Hope evacuation and to be near Alan. This hotel is half-full of Hope people, some requiring healing, though most evacuees have traveled on to more distant towns for greater safety, your parents included."

  Maude handed her already ringing cellphone to Rick. A happy and spirited discussion between Hortega parents and son ensued for several minutes, mostly in Spanish. At last Rick terminated the call and handed the phone back to Maude.

  "Thank you again, both of you," said Rick," but your thoughts tell me that my friends Soone and Ben are in great danger, and others place themselves in great danger to free them. I must go to them also and do what I can!"

  "But you are a child!" Maude began to protest, but her vampire friend quickly shushed her quiet.

  "Take then this amulet, young warrior," said Jewel, "with which you may communicate with me, my mother Amanda, my husband Alan, and my father-in-law the Wolf. It could also help you roughly locate them. The amulets glow brightly when in proximity of each other. Help free the prisoners who now I suspect number four, for they hold the keys to the Demon's demise." From her neck she removed a gold necklace that held a large green colored gemstone in a gold setting, and placed it over Rick's head and around his neck.