by Lady Ellen
They bursted into laughter just as they passed her gate. Biddy scowled, then turned on her heels and walked back up to her porch and in the front door.
Persy and Thaddeus were still sniggering as they turned the corner to head toward Mannington.
Britney, Claudia and Stephanie were hanging by the front gate when Persy and Thaddeus arrived. As Persy and Thaddeus walked past them, they exchanged icy glares that could have frozen a small lake over.
They walked over to where Zach and Rix were talking and shared greetings. Zach remarked, “I see the Ice Queen and her court are guarding the front gates.”
“Yeah,” said Thaddeus. “You’d think they’d give it a rest. I mean what’s a little snake between enemies.” They laughed.
Persy could almost feel the holes burning through the back of her head, knowing Britney was staring at her, and feeling that their laughter is probably directed at her.
“Yeah, the way I see Britney, is like a Wedding Cake, sugar white and over-rated.” claimed Zach.
Thaddeus loved this and laughed loudest of all. “Where did you get that?” he asked Zach.
“Song lyrics from ‘Stances’ by a really hot band, Closethuman, and my fave...good, eh? Britney or what?” chuckled Zach.
“Oh, yeah,” said Thaddeus, exchanging a high-five with Zach.
Surprisingly, the school day went much as any other. Persy and Thaddeus shared a few sly smiles in history class when the teacher went through some of the history of Great Britain and briefly discussed the Witch Trials. The teacher commented on how insane these were; because, of course, there’s no such thing as witches.
On their way home, they were just coming up to Mr. Hornby’s house when Persy spotted Gruesome trotting down the front walkway. Persy checked out the street around them before speaking, making sure no one would see the sparkles.
“Hey, Grues. Wha’cha up to?” The sparkles went flying down in a small cascade between them.
“Well, I was out the back garden, snuffling around to see if I can find an odd bone I may have forgotten about and I see your Mom stumble out to your back porch with a stack of colossal, really old looking books. Wouldn’t have noticed, but my master stood behind a bush in our yard, watching her for ages, obviously not wanting to be seen. Your Mom taking some courses or something? She’s been out there for a while. Seems totally absorbed in them.” Gruesome grunted this all out rather quickly, and now seemed quite out of breath.
“Um, ah....Mom’s looking up some stuff for Thaddeus and me, for a school project. I expect she’s brought the reference books home for us to go through.”
Thaddeus wanted to reply “Nice” to her in Silent Speak, but knew Gruesome would pick it up too.
“Her-rumph,” snorted Gruesome turning around and starting to walk back to his front porch. “Not interesting at all,” he complained. “Still, don’t know why my master was so intrigued if she’s just helping with a kid’s school project.” He continued muttering until he reached the step where he plopped down and closed his eyes.
Persy and Thaddeus rushed into the front yard and in the door.
“Now that’s weird,” Thaddeus puzzled. “What’s with your neighbour?”
“Beats me,” Persy shrugged. “Let’s find Mom and see what she has.”
They walked through the house to the back porch, where they found Angelica.
“Hey Mom,” said Persy looking around at the stacks of very old books.
“Hi Angelica,” Thaddeus joined in. “Wow, Looks like you’ve cleaned the Collection out,” he grinned.
“Well, the more I dug into Krak Ling’s past the more complex his path was. I’ll tell you this, there’s not much he hasn’t touched on in the Asian Magic scene, at least in the evil side of it. You two sit down and browse through the books, I’m going to make some tea and then give you what I’ve got from the beginning.” She went into the kitchen.
Persy and Thaddeus could hear her rattling around inside while they thumbed through a few books.
“Hey Persy, listen up,” said Thaddeus emphatically. He began to read, “‘Krak Ling is one of the most dangerous evil sorcerers known throughout all ages. His name emerges aligned with the darkest of names such as Mara the Evil One, The Guei, The East and West Factories controlled by the Eunuchs, who were largely responsible for taking down the Ming Dynasty, Morgan le Fay, Black Annis, Skadi and the blackest members of the Chinese Triads.’ Geez, this guy is no boy scout. This book is ‘The Quintessential Guide to Leaders in the Black Arts’. He looks even scarier than Melanthios.” He finished and showed Persy a painting of Krak Ling.
“Yeah, in this one ‘Asian Black Magic Through Time’ it makes comments on his love of Time-Linxing to study everything he can on Black Magic. Seems his big goal is the “Potion of Eternal Life”. He’s seeking immortality. And in this chapter,” Persy said, flipping the pages over, “he’s said to have a monumental hate of Melanthios. Which figures, I guess; she has to be his number one competitor.”
Angelica returned with a tray loaded with tea, mugs and sandwiches. She placed it on the little patio table and served it to Persy and Thaddeus. When they settled back into their chairs, tea and sandwiches in hand, she spoke.
“Ok, let me try to give you Krak Ling’s history in a timeline; as much as I have found out to date. Then we can flip through these books to try to fill in any blanks we think are missing.”
The kids nodded, their attention one hundred percent on Angelica and her every word.
“As both of you probably know, in Asia, Buddhism, Taoism and the works of Confucius co-exist fairly well. Krak Ling, it seems extracted most of his beliefs and practices from the darkest parts of Buddhism and Taoism. While a very young man, he Time-Linxed back to the time of Buddha, most say around the 17th century BCE and aligned himself with Mara the Evil One, somewhere around Katmandu. Mara personifies evil in Buddhism, representing temptation, sin and death. Mara tried to tempt Buddha with his own three beautiful daughters. He lost that battle, and he raged on to bring destruction to all Munz. Krak Ling was attracted to Mara like a moth to flame, but it certainly didn’t end there.
He, for the most part chooses to live in Beijing in 1442 now. In that time, the Ming Dynasty was at its peak. It was a good lifestyle for the wealthy and Krak Ling loves the finer things of life. The Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty ruled by the Han Chinese or truly ethnic Chinese, true descendants of the Dragon, the number one creature of the Chinese. His cover was as a wealthy Taoist priest, living in a very regal house inside the Forbidden City...an area walled off from the rest of Beijing and houses the homes of the upper class including the Imperial Palace. He was actually a Tao sorcerer and the fact that there is magic associated with Taoism is a very, very big secret.
In Great Britain, alchemy focuses on the turning of ordinary metals to gold. But in the East, the prime interest in alchemy is immortality. Krak has learned this well and it’s his optimal goal to find the Potion of Eternal Life. He not only wants great power, but to be around forever to wield it. So not unlike Melanthios, he wants to be top dog. Herein lies his hate for her. What he doesn’t have is the Book of Black Dominance, outlining the Nine Magical Objects to becoming the All Powerful One. Whether he knows about it or not at this time, I don’t know, but somehow I feel he’ll be on that track soon.
It’s said in one of the Tomes, that he has a connection with Emperor Han Wudi, who at the end of the first century CE, became obsessed with witchcraft and also sought out the Potion of Eternal Life. This all smells of Krak Ling.
He’s most certainly a ring leader for the Eunuchs and aided their political overthrow of Imperial rule but I think the crux of his strength and army, are the Guei.”
“What are they?” Persy and Thaddeus chorused.
“To explain fully, I should give you an overview on Chinese spiritual beliefs. You see, they feel that it’s the responsibility of those left in this world to look after the ancestors, to make sure that in the next world they do not
go thirsty, hungry or without clothing. That gives the ancestors the best chance to rest in a good place and be able to experience re-birth to go on with their spiritual quests. These end up being good spirits who can reward the living family with bountiful crops, health, prosperity, etc.
On the other hand there are the Guei, and there are two kinds of these spirits. One are those who have no family to leave offerings on their behalf, such as beggars, bandits, widows, spinsters and so do not progress to heaven and in fact live in hell. There are nine levels to hell, the deepest being the worst. In the lowest one, not only are spirits, hungry, thirsty, desolate, lonely, bitter, but some can even have their bodies nailed by multiple spikes to the floor.
The second type of Guei is those who have suffered an unnatural death, such as murder or who have acted badly in their life. Krak Ling makes this much worse in that he has his slaves run around and take as many of the offerings they can from where living relatives have left them, resulting in even more spirits going hungry or thirsty and adding to the number of Guei.
Guei are very angry, vengeful spirits, looking to cause havoc in this world. Right up Krak Ling’s alley. He gives them enough offerings to keep them from becoming complete maniacs, but then feeds their souls with tales of how this world has shunned them and must be punished. He has set himself up as their saviour and somehow they buy it.
Now, what is important to us is that each year there is a time in the seventh lunar month, which of course is August by our calendar, when there is a cosmic rupture and humans and spirits of the underworld can communicate. It’s called the ‘Ghost Festival’, on August 15th of each year. I’m going to Time-Linx you two to about three or four days before the festival in 1442. You’re going to need allies in that world and by giving offerings to some of the Guei, I believe you can put yourself in good favour with a few.
But we need to do some work on preparations of protection spells, and even attacking curses if need be to save yourselves.”
“But why did Krak Ling take the Hagstone, do you think Mom?” Persy asked.
“He’s after the Potion of Eternal Life. It’s thought to be in the possession of either Alchemists or Kabalists. Either way, I believe he’s going to track it again, but now can use the Hagstone to look through any protection or masking spells that are probably going to be around it. Therefore, when you find him and it, I’m sure you’ll discover it’s heavily guarded. So I must prepare you with everything I can think of,” Angelica answered.
Benson flew up at the end of this and sat on the tea tray.
“Um, Earth to Persy. Don’t worry, love. I’ll be wif ya. I can zip around and find that ‘agstone for ya...no problem wif that, to be sure.”
Thaddeus smiled. “Oh, we’re counting on you Benson, our great green conquering hero.”
Benson, miffed, took off, to sit in the sun on a rose. “Never mind, you’d miss me if I was gone. You can be as cheeky as you like.”
After dinner, Robert offered to clean up as Angelica, Persy, Thaddeus, and Benson headed up to Angelica’s attic room.
“I’ve outlined a few really good protection spells, so let’s practice them together, you two.” She looked at Persy and Thaddeus. “The combination of both your powers, casting the same spell at the same time will multiply its strength, more than just by a factor of two.”
For the next four hours they practiced vanishing spells, protection spells which would bounce others’ magic off them; an icing spell which turned the target into a block of ice that took hours to thaw, and even a death spell which was only to be used as a last resort as an aura of black energy stayed with the caster forever.
“You must remember, Krak and his like will not be worried about using death spells. They’re at a point that they don’t even notice the resultant black aura, it just blends with their own, but it will be very different for you two, so it’s a last ditch effort--ever.” Angelica emphasized.
The spell they practiced the most was the vanishing one. Rather quickly, Persy and Thaddeus could say ‘Vanquesta!’ right on cue together, and with a slight blurring, became completely invisible. Their energetic fields became almost non-existent.
“Very, very well done! Both of you. It’s a great thing that you are both such quick studies, you’ll be ready in no time to retrieve the Hagstone,” Angelica smiled proudly.
“And the extra benefit is that when seeing you two, he’s not going to expect you to be very effective, so he’ll only use magic that’s pretty benign, saving his own energy.”
“Benign? What’s that?” Thaddeus asked.
“It’s what you are after you be eight!...Happy Birfday.” Benson snapped back. He had been sitting on one of the large books on Angelica’s shelves and took off doing loop-de-loops in the air, chortling at his own joke.
“Ok, he’s fried...too tired,” grinned Persy in spite of herself. “Time for sleep.”
“Yes,” said Angelica, “I agree. I think we’ll practice in the morning and then you may be ready to go to Beijing by the afternoon.”
Thaddeus stopped smiling at Benson and began to look quite worried. “You really think we’re ready, Angelica?”
“Absolutely. You’re both very powerful, more than I think you realize. The spells and curses I’ve shown you will get you in and out of Krak Ling’s era. The Hagstone’s location is probably no secret, but will be well guarded. A few befriended Guei will help you find it quickly. It’s the taking that’s going to be tricky, but I’m confident that you can manage it,” she assured them.
They headed out down the stairs, Angelica going all the way down to the living room to talk to Robert, Persy and Thaddeus staying on the second floor, each heading for their own room. Benson buzzed by into Persy’s room and perched on the top of the drapes.
Persy and Thaddeus stopped in the landing between their rooms and are again reciting a few spells when they heard a ‘tap-tap-tap’ on the window in Persy’s room. Both headed in to see what was going on.
On the outside were the faces of Delecta and Randy, dripping wet. Persy ran over to the window and pushed the lower part up.
“Hey, you guys. What are you doing here?”
“What? Not welcome?” said a rather soggy Randy.
“No, not at all,” said Thaddeus, helping Delecta into the room. “Just totally shocked, that’s all.”
“Is it raining out?” asked Persy. “Why are you two so wet?”
“Oh, you might want to ask the Brainiac that one,” laughed Delecta, shivering as she stood there. Persy waved her wand quickly at both of them, “Evaporus” and the water disappeared off them, making a small cloud which sailed out the window.
“Yeah, well,” started Randy, blushing a little, (something rarely seen on a satyr). “I was kind of excited to get here and see you two to give you what we’ve brought, so I grabbed Delecta’s hand and came tearing out of the cave and...um...well...heard the waterfalls, you see...but ..well, didn’t realize it was right there, did I? And so...”
“SO!” continued Delecta, “so gives us both an un-called-for shower. Numbskull.”
They’re laughing, particularly, as thanks to Persy, the visitors were dry and comfy.
“It’s great to see you,” said Persy. “Is the visit for something special or just a fun drop-in?”
“Oh, it’s special, all right,” replied Randy turning to Delecta. “You tell them.”
“We asked Laurel how things were going for you in this world and time and she’s been in touch with your Mom. We know about Krak Ling. We were unfortunate enough to cross his path ages ago. It was a request by one of the Empresses for help to get rid of a favourite mistress of the Emperor. Later Ming Dynasty, but it didn’t take us long to figure out how black and evil this Krak Ling dude was. We cleared out as soon as we had done her the favour. So when we heard you were going up against him, we brought you this.” Delecta reached into her pocket and brought out a silken white cloth. She held it in her palm and with her other hand folded the slipper
y fabric back. It was the most gorgeous purple Magical Crystal Seed, Persy could remember seeing, even in the Cave.
“Oh, wow!” gasped Thaddeus, his eyes bulging.
“Delecta.” said Persy. “It’s wonderful.”
“It’s for you guys,” continued Randy. “As you know, the purple ones are for magical enhancement. It magnifies any magic you use, one hundredfold. Take it as our gift and blessing for a successful journey.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Persy stammered. “This is GREAT.”
“Yeah, you have no idea how much better this crystal makes me feel about our little adventure,” Thaddeus said.
“Our pleasure,” replied Delecta with Randy nodding at her side.
They sat and talked for a while about things back in Laurel’s meadow and Rose Arbour. “Zeemeld still talks about you, Persy. She asks constantly when we think you’ll be back to spend some real time with her,” Delecta reported.
“Yeah, I really want to do that. Hopefully when we finally retrieve the Cimaruta, I can come back and just visit all of you, without the heat on.”
“That’d be great, Persy,” added Thaddeus. “We could study with Laurel and be-bop through the Time-Linx. What a blast.”
“That Wolf Kerdling is up to no good again, Thaddeus,” said Randy. “Fawna was telling us how he’s driving Laurel mad, tormenting animals in the meadow, killing flowers and herbs by practicing blasting spells on them. A right nuisance. I sure wish Willow will turn him into a gargoyle or something.”
“He was never around much when I was at Laurel’s, but then we had a big blow up a few years back, and I froze his powers for a time,” laughed Thaddeus. “He didn’t like that much. He’s gone out of his way to avoid me since then.”
“Well, all the more reason to get this quest of yours done and have you back home, Thaddeus.” Delecta walked to the window. “C’mon, Randy my dear, we can Tunnel back to the portal and let these two get some sleep.” She turned and held out her hand for Randy to take. They said good-bye and Randy hung onto Delecta. Together they chanted “Eogorum!” and they were gone in a blink.
