“Hush!” Pinly replied, then turned to their father. “Can we leave now, please, Papa?” he asked with his sweetest voice, even though he knew what the answer would be. He made a desperate attempt at it anyway; his hands were clutched together as he begged Kwassy.
“No, you are going to help around the library today.” Kwassy waved his long finger in front of them.
“But Pa…” Lion kicked the air in anger.
“No ‘Pa,’” Kwassy said. He snapped his fingers twice and handed them two dusters. “Go dust aisles 500 to 520, and then we’ll see.”
“Unfair.” Lion kicked the air again and turned back. Pinly followed him.
They dusted the aisles, going over every single book on shelves that went up to dizzying heights. Pinly looked down the row. He couldn’t even see the end of it.
“It’s going to take forever.” He picked up a book so old, some of it fell with the dust on the floor like sand.
“It’s all your fault, you know,” Lion snarled.
Pinly turned to him. “How is it my fault? I didn’t make you go out at night.”
“If you hadn’t been caught by Miss Poli, we wouldn’t be here today. We could be playing by the cliff with the others,” Lion replied.
“I know a game we can play.” Pinly raised his eyebrows and grinned at Lion.
“Go ahead…” Lion looked intrigued, quickly forgetting his anger.
“Truth or dare.”
“Hmm, that got us in a world of trouble last time.” He tapped a pensive finger on his chin. “Okay, let’s do it.” Lion put the duster aside.
“Truth or dare?” Pinly asked.
“Dare!” Lion rubbed his hands, ready for a challenge.
“Okay…” Pinly thought about it for a minute and then pointed at the back of the library. “I dare you to go to the restricted area and pick up a book.”
Lion looked at the dark area at the back for a minute. He gulped. They both knew being caught there would not go down well.
“Are you scared?”
“No,” Lion replied with obvious fear in his eyes. The boys flew discreetly through the aisles so that no one could notice them. They stopped at number 700, where the aisles weren’t lit anymore. They froze there.
“It’s not too late to back out,” Pinly whispered. Without saying a word, Lion went through the dark aisles. Pinly waited for his big brother for a while. He couldn’t hear or see anything past the first few shelves, and Lion had gone way past that point.
“Pinly, help!” he heard Lion whisper in the distance. He felt goose bumps on his skin, not because he was cold but because he was afraid.
“Lion, this is not funny!” he whispered back.
“Help! I’m stuck,” Lion’s voice persisted. Pinly stepped through the aisles, shivering.
“Lion? Lion?” He flew slowly and close to the ground, looking for his brother. He passed aisle after aisle, wondering just how far Lion could have gone. He was passing aisle 719 when—
“Boo!” Lion jumped out of aisle 720. He covered Pinly’s mouth before he could scream. Lion’s giggle irritated him. He pushed him away. “You’re too easy to trick; you fall for everything,” Lion laughed.
“You’re an idiot. I hope you know that,” Pinly said.
Lion flew up. “P, check out these books… This one is about how to breed unicorns with dragons,” he said, but Pinly flew further along the aisle. His attention had been grabbed by a book that stood out from the others. It had a golden cover. He picked it up. It was written in another language, but a tiny piece of parchment stuck out of the pages.
“How to Give Life,” he read as he dusted off the cover.
“What’s that one?” Lion asked.
“I think it’s a book to bring things to life,” Pinly replied without taking his eyes away from the cover. Lion gasped.
“Forbidden stuff... open it!” he said.
“No! Let’s go back, before Dad finds us here.” Pinly was about to put the book back into place.
“Open it, you Whisp,” Lion said. Pinly hated being called that. Whisps d fearful creatures. They rendered themselves invisible so that they could rarely ever be seen, but those who had confronted them claimed they were ugly beyond belief . He hesitantly opened the book. As he and Lion flicked through the pages, he saw small characters written in that language he did not understand. “That’s rubbish.” Lion gave up and went off to look at other books.
“Wait, there’s instructions like in the egg book.” Pinly held the book up for his brother to look at the drawings, but Lion showed very little interest. Pinly put the book on the floor and began to mimic the drawings.
“You can barely make an egg; I doubt you can do whatever is in there,” Lion said, getting back to his book on how to breed unicorns and dragons. Pinly ignored him and continued looking at the instructions.
“So I need to place my hands on the heart,” he mumbled. Not having a subject at hand, Pinly placed his hands on the floor. “That must mean… imagine the heartbeat,” he said as he tried to decipher the images. He focused and did just what the book said. He was not expecting what happened next.
Pinly suddenly lost control of his body. It felt as if his aura was being sucked into the ground, draining him of all his power. Next he heard the beating of his heart resonating through the library as loud as an earthquake. White light emanated from the ground, bright enough to blind him. Strong roots grew from the ground at an astonishing speed, shooting in every direction. Some of them rolled themselves around Pinly, and the rest made their way all around the library. The roots wrapped themselves around the aisles; the old wood cracked under the pressure. Soon the library looked no different than a forest.
“Pinly!” Lion shouted, but Pinly couldn’t respond. He still couldn’t control anything. He felt waves of power rushing back into his body, more than he ever had before, too much. It was far too powerful for him, and it made it hard to breathe, and then everything turned black.
Chapter 3
Fire Foxes
P inly woke up in his room. He opened his eyes but was barely able to move. He felt weak, like all his strength had been drained out of him; even snapping his fingers was difficult, and even if he could, nothing would probably happen— His aura was abnormally weak— non existent even.
“Mama? Pa? Lion? Anyone?” Pinly called out he barely recognised, it sounded like an old man and his throat hurt. He heard rushing footsteps, then his mother burst into the room.
“Kwassy! Lion!” She turned back and yelled. Nema hurried into the room to check his temperature, putting her soft hands delicately on his forehead and chest. “Don’t move, my love.”
“I couldn’t move even if I wanted to,” he said. Lion entered the room. He barely looked at Pinly and stood in a corner of the room.
“How are you, P?” he asked.
“I’ve been better,” Pinly replied, trying to catch his eye. “Thank you… I know you got me out of there…” Kwassy stepped in the room before Pinly could finish. Nema moved aside. He sat down next to Pinly and hugged him like he never had and let out a sigh of relief. “Ouch pa, it hurts”
“Sorry…” he let go of Pinly “Boys, we need to talk,” he said.
“Kwassy, the boy just woke up. Can’t it wait?” Nema asked.
“It can’t wait,” Kwassy replied sharply. Nema sighed and gave a long look but she left the room anyway, closing the door behind her. “When I saw you unconscious, in your brother’s arms…” Kwassy took a deep breath. It looked as though he was about to cry. “My heart stopped beating. It looked as bad as it could ever look.”
“Sorry, Pa…”
“Just listen. You almost died, Pinly! What you boys did was reckless! You put your lives and the lives of others in danger. I know you didn’t know how powerful that book was, and how you even managed to perform such a spell is incredible, but that’s not stuff you should play around with… not ever. I don’t even do it. These spells attract all the wrong things, and the
y do the worst things to their users if they’re not ready for them.” As Kwassy said that, he pulled Pinly’s covers halfway down. Only then did Pinly realise how bad it really was. His whole body was black and blue. He could only see from his shoulders to his hips, but he could feel that the rest was the same.
“Am I in trouble?” Pinly asked.
“For now you need to recover, and we’ll talk about your punishment later,” Kwassy said.
“Papa… what was that?” Lion broke his silence.
“What was what?”
“All of it; the bright light, the noise, the roots…”
“Pinly cast the most powerful spell I’ve ever come across; the spell of life. The light was just the spell taking effect; the sound was Pinly’s heartbeat. There wasn’t a body for him to revive, so instead he gave more life to the tree roots growing under the library. They grew and expanded all around the library. That’s it… How did you even manage such a spell? You couldn’t do your own breakfast that morning.” Kwassy shook his head, with a look of incredulity.
Pinly shrugged. “I don’t know, I just followed the instructions,” he replied.
“But it’s not that simple… Anyway, we’ll let you get some rest,” Kwassy said.
“How long have I been asleep?” Pinly asked.
“Two days,” Kwassy replied. “You won’t be able to use magic for a while, so your brother will help you with anything you need.”
“My own servant, nice!” Pinly said.
“Stop joking, this is serious!” Lion’s eyes were red and teary. He wiped his face with his shirt before walking out and slamming the door behind him. There was a moment of silence.
“It’s been hard for him to see you like that. He’s been blaming himself a lot. Don’t provoke him too much, alright?” Kwassy said. Pinly nodded. He gave his Pinly a gentle hug, then left the room.
Pinly stared at his ceiling day after day, unable to do much. He was so bored that when he was done humming or reading, he’d find himself reciting the basics of magic. How he missed doing magic! Lion would eventually bring him food and snacks throughout the day, and help him into the bathtub. The two didn’t talk much. Lion barely even looked him in the eyes. Until one morning, Lion entered Pinly’s room to bring him breakfast. Pinly sat up, and Lion put the plate on the bed.
“How long are you going to be like this?” Pinly asked.
“I don’t know.” Lion shrugged.
“I’m alive. Can’t we move on from this?”
“It’s all my fault,” Lion said softly.
“Don’t be stupid, it’s not,” Pinly said.
“If I hadn’t called you…”
“If you hadn’t nothing! What happened, happened,” Pinly said. “I want to go out… and by the looks of it”—he waved a hand up and down at his barely able body—“you’ll have to put up with me, whether you want to or not.” He saw Lion smile for the first time in days.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Lion said.
The afternoon came and Pinly was ready to go out for the first time since the incident. After refusing his mother’s help and crawling through the house, Pinly pushed the door open to find a very old fairy standing in the way.
“318 years…” she mumbled.
“Mrs. Doria?” Pinly barely recognised Professor Jups’s wife. She had gone from bad to worse since he had last seen her. Her hair was dirty and scraggly, she smelled foul, and her clothes were torn. What had happened to her?
“Run! Run!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “They are here! They’re watching us!” She was out of her mind! Pinly began to panic. He wanted to help her, but there was nothing he could do, especially not in his condition.
“Pa!” Pinly called, but Kwassy was already there.
“Doria,” he began with a gentle voice, “this has to stop.” She began to weep at the sight of Kwassy.
“We have been married for 318 years; he would not have left me without a word,” Doria sobbed. “They did it! They killed my husband!” she cried.
“Doria!” Kwassy grabbed her by the shoulders. “You are terrifying my children, that’s enough!”
“We have to leave,” she began mumbling repeatedly to herself. Kwassy turned around. Only then did Pinly realise that his mother Nema and Lion were surrounding him.
“I will take her back home,” Kwassy said to them. “You boys don’t go venturing too far, understood?”
“Understood,” Lion nodded.
“Sure,” Pinly added.
“Kwassy, you have to believe me,” Doria continued as they flew away. “Their eyes glow green as if lit by an evil fire.” Their eyes glow green! Pinly kept thinking, exactly like in the forest that night.
“She has completely lost it,” Lion said before Pinly could make anything of it. “This is nothing compared to the things she did when you were unconscious.”
“Right,” Pinly said almost to himself, still focused on Doria being escorted away.
“Darnit, I forgot to put my boots on because of her. I’ll be right back.”
Pinly waited patiently on the porch for his brother to come back out. He looked at the other kids down below, running and flying around. He could now put faces on the laughter he heard from his window every day. Clearly Professor Jups had yet to be replaced.
“Are you ready?” Lion closed the door behind him.
“Absolutely.” Pinly stood up on shaky legs, which felt like they were about to collapse. They hurt where the bruises were the darkest. He noticed he was already out of breath as he attempted hopping on Lion’s back. Once done, Lion effortlessly took flight and kept going higher and higher. “Where are we going?”
“I want to show you something,” Lion replied, his voice almost drowned by the wind. Pinly felt the wind caressing his skin and the sun warming up his body, his hair drifting about in the air. It felt like it had been a lifetime since he had last flown. He raised his arms in the air.
“Be careful, P,” Lion said, as they had lost balance for a second.
“Sorry.” He put his arms back around Lion’s neck. They flew past their deserted school and past the busy Soubrey square, where he could see some of the damages he had done as he caught a glimpse of the vibrant green vines on the ground that weren’t there before the incident. Lion landed in an inhabited side of Soubrey. “Where are we?” Pinly wasn’t familiar with that part of the forest. They were not allowed to venture this far away from home, but he wasn’t surprised to see that Lion was very well accommodated with the surroundings. When Pinly dropped off Lion’s back, his feet sank into the ground. It was squishy wet, like a sponge, making it nearly impossible for him to move. Unlike in his village, here the trees were unruly in the way they grew, crowded and full of wildlife.
“Shh.” Lion gestured, before starting to make little calling noises with his tongue. He looked behind the bushes and behind the trees as he called out.
“At least tell me what you’re looking for,” Pinly insisted, his eyes sweeping the forest.
“You’ll see, just wait,” Lion replied. Pinly heard a noise and turned around, forcing his feet out of the mud with great effort, the bushes next to him were shaking. Something was trying to get out. He heard a soft growl, nothing threatening. Whatever was behind it was too young to hurt anyone. Two baby foxes came bursting out. They were play-fighting but stopped when they saw Pinly standing there. One raised its head in an attempt to smell Pinly, its little nose making little sniffing noises.
“Lion, look,” Pinly said.
“Here they are.” Lion crouched down, his knees deep in the mud. The foxes’ tails began to wiggle when they saw Lion. As their tails swished from side to side, they started catching fire. They jumped into Lion’s arms and began licking him. Pinly’s mouth dropped.
“Blazers!” he said. “Where’s their mother?”
“She died. I buried her. Took me the whole afternoon to dig a hole big enough for her.” Lion stood up with the two foxes in his arms. Now I’m the one taking
care of them “Pinly, let me introduce you to Moon and Sun.” He handed the foxes to Pinly.
“Are they not going to burn me?” he said as he grabbed them.
“Their fire doesn’t burn anything at that age. Can you imagine? The whole forest would be in flames with these two.” Pinly put the foxes on the floor. They started playing with each other, fighting over a twig.
“What did their mother die of?” Pinly asked.
“She was attacked. She had bled dry when I found her,” Lion replied as he beamed at the babies.
“You can’t leave them here,” Pinly said.
“Trust me, I wish I could take them home, but Papa will never agree to keep them,” Lion replied.
“I know…” Pinly said as he thought of a plan, “we could hide them.”
“Yeah, but where? Not in the house, that’s for sure.”
“No, not the house. We could build them a little house?” Pinly suggested.
“Do you know how to build one?” Lion raised his eyebrows at him.
“Not really.”
“Me neither…. I know, there’s a hole at the bottom of our tree, we could clean it up and put them in there.”
“It’s a bit risky… we’ll figure it out.” Pinly scooped up the brightly flamed tail foxes and handed them to Lion. He climbed on his brother’s back, and they flew back to the village. They made sure no one was looking at what they were doing. Lion was putting the foxes in the hole when Voly and his acolytes, Lofo and Miki, approached.
“Pinly!” Voly was trotting in his direction. Lion hurried to hide in the hole with the foxes. “I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for what happened to you.” Pinly was a bit confused and suspicious. Voly never had anything nice to say, only mockery and insults had ever come out of his mouth before. “So what happened exactly?”
“Okay. there it is,” Pinly said, realising Voly just wanted to feed his curiosity with more than what the rumours gave him. “I’m not allowed to talk about it.”
“Oh, come on, Pinly, I won't tell anyone,” Voly insisted.
“No, even if I was allowed, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Why?” Voly asked.
Made of Magic and True Grit Page 4
