Wizard in the Woods

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  “Where are the guards?” Mikal wondered aloud. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen these doors unguarded before.”

  Two soldiers came hurrying around the corner. One had a roll stuffed in his mouth while the other was taking a drink from a flagon. They saw him watching and both noticeably reddened with embarrassment. The guard with the roll in his mouth forcibly spit it out, causing it to roll along the ground, straight towards a curious corgi.

  “Off, Peanut,” Mikal softly told her. He gave the two guards a neutral look.

  “I swear to you, Kre’Mikal,” the first guard quickly said, “that I have never abandoned my post like that before.”

  “Yet you just did,” Mikal answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

  The second guard took two steps forward then dropped to one knee.

  “This is my fault, your highness. If you’re going to punish someone please be sure it’s only me. I was thirsty. The roast pork I ate must have been cured with too much salt. We decided to sneak to the kitchen for only a moment.”

  “Are you going to throw us in the dungeons?” the first guard fearfully asked. “Please don’t be angry with us for sneaking to the kitchen. All the guards do it.”

  The second guard hissed with annoyance. Mikal narrowed his eyes as he studied the two men. Both of them were barely older than he was.

  “Do you have any idea what would happen to you to if I inform Commander Rhenyon that his soldiers are intentionally abandoning their posts and leaving my parents unprotected? I assure you it wouldn’t go over well.”

  Both guards let their eyes drop to the ground.

  “We were gone no more than ten seconds,” the second guard sullenly told him.

  “Whether it was ten seconds or ten minutes, it’s still plenty of time for an assassin to sneak in undetected. We’re talking about my parents. Your king and queen. Do you see where I am going with this?”

  “We understand, your highness,” the second guard said. His eyes, Mikal decided, had a look of regret about them. He knew that these two guards were sincerely embarrassed.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do,” Mikal told them. “This sneaking off to grab a bite to eat or something to drink ends right here, right now. Spread the word. I will be purposely dropping by, unannounced, at all times of the day and night. If I do not see whoever is supposed to be on duty standing on either side of that door then I will report this discretion directly to the commander. Do I make myself clear?”

  Both guards snapped stiffly to attention.

  “Of course, your highness,” they both intoned.

  “Good. Now, is my father in there?”

  The second guard nodded. “Aye. Would you care to enter?”

  “I would.”

  The second guard rapped on the door three times then pulled it open, allowing Lissa and Mikal, leading Peanut on a leash, to enter. His father was sitting at his usual place behind his desk while three other men hovered nearby. Mikal recognized Rhenyon immediately. He was in command over all the king’s armies and was his father’s most trusted adviser. Mikal studied the other two. One had a shock of white hair atop his head and was easily older than anyone he had ever seen before. The fourth man had his back to him. He wore the uniform of a soldier but Mikal could tell he ranked higher than an average guard. He was tall, Mikal decided. Almost as tall as… His thought stopped in mid-sentence as the fourth man turned around. Mikal’s face broke out in a smile as he recognized the friendly soldier.

  “Captain Pheron! Hi!”

  The tall captain, his face grim, his eyes as hard as steel, gave a curt nod in Mikal’s direction. Kri’Entu gave a small cough.

  “Son, we are right in the middle of something. Can this wait?”

  “I have some news for you, father.”

  His father’s tired eyes locked onto his.

  “Is it important?”

  Mikal nodded. “Aye. You need to hear this.”

  “Very well. Would you be so kind as to either wait outside or else wait over by the second hearth?”

  Mikal looked over at the much smaller hearth on the far side of the room. “Of course.”

  The king looked at Lissa and nodded once. Mikal glanced at his girlfriend and saw that her face had again turned bright red.

  “He’s just my father,” he whispered to her as he guided her over to the opposite side of the enchanted chamber. “Do you have to keep doing that?”

  “I can’t help it,” Lissa whispered to him. “He’s the king! He brings it out of me. If you would have told me last year that I would be meeting the king on a weekly basis, and dating his son, then I would have laughed in your face.”

  “And now that you are?” Mikal quietly asked as he took a seat next to the unlit hearth.

  Lissa pointed at her red cheeks.

  “I don’t think this will be going away any time soon.”

  “You’re the expert healer. Isn’t there something you can take for that?”

  “There’s no salve, potion, lotion, or elixir I can think of that will cure shyness.”

  “You’re not shy,” Mikal was quick to point out.

  “Around him I am,” Lissa argued. “Maybe once we’re married I won’t be.”

  Mikal’s mouth fell open with shock. It was his turn for his face to turn beet red. He tried valiantly to come up with some type of classy retort only nothing but high pitched squeaks came out. Lissa smiled triumphantly.

  “Nothing makes a blushing person feel better than making another person blush.” Lissa leaned forward and placed a cool hand on the side of his face. “Wow. I’m surprised your face hasn’t caught fire. Your skin is hot!”

  “Do you enjoy doing that to me?” Mikal hissed at her.

  Lissa smiled innocently back at him.

  “Doing what?”

  “You know what. Embarrassing me.”

  “Well, it is fun,” Lissa decided. She paused for a few moments, as if trying to make up her mind. “Yes. I do. You’re cute when you’re all flushed.”

  Desperate to change the subject, Mikal looked back at his father’s desk. All four men were looking dour and were wildly gesturing at one another. Mikal frowned. He wished he knew what they were talking about.

  “They look upset,” Lissa whispered quietly in his ear. “Do you know what they’re talking about?”

  “No,” Mikal answered. “They’re talking too softly to hear anything.”

  I can hear them. In fact, I can hear them using your own ears. It’s a pity you can’t.

  Pravara?

  Were you expecting someone else?

  I wasn’t expecting anyone. Are you eavesdropping again?

  A bad habit to have, I admit. However, with that being said, I can answer your question. Once I heard them talking about jhorun I decided it was much more interesting than listening to one about embarrassment.

  They’re talking about jhorun?

  Aye.

  Lissa nudged him in the ribs.

  “What’s going on? Why did you go quiet?”

  “I’m talking to Pravara. She can hear what they’re saying over there.”

  “Really? That’s amazing! Did she say what they talking about?”

  “Jhorun.”

  “Jhorun? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would they be whispering? There’s nothing about jhorun that needs to be kept secret.”

  They evidently disagree. It would seem there’s a problem with the jhorun.

  Mikal quietly relayed to Lissa what Pravara was telling him.

  “There has never been a problem with jhorun before,” Lissa said. She held Mikal’s hand tightly in her own. “What’s going on, Pravara? Tell us everything you hear.”

  They’re talking about the human settlement on the western coast. Capily. The problem with the jhorun has spread throughout the entire village.

  “Do they say what the problem is?” Mikal quietly asked, electing to speak his thoughts out loud so that Lissa could follow along rather than relay the questi
on telepathically. “What’s got them so worried?”

  Pravara was silent as she listened to the hushed conversation happening on the other side of the room. Mikal felt her grunt with surprise.

  Jhorun is failing.

  Mikal gasped with alarm. Lissa’s grip on his hand tightened.

  “What? What is it?”

  “Pravara just said that jhorun is failing! In Capily! Have you noticed any problem with your jhorun lately?”

  Lissa’s eyes widened.

  “Jhorun is failing? How is that even possible?”

  “Capily is your village. Have you noticed any type of problem with your jhorun?”

  “Now that you mention it, I do seem to go through it faster than I usually do.”

  “That would definitely indicate a problem,” Mikal decided.

  You’d best keep your voices down. They heard your outbursts. Now they are wondering if you might have overheard their comments.

  Mikal turned away from his father’s desk and looked at Lissa.

  “We must keep it quiet. They think we might have heard them.”

  “But we did hear them!” Lissa pointed out.

  “Not without help, we didn’t,” Mikal argued. “I don’t think it would go over well with the dragons if they learned one of their own was eavesdropping on my father.”

  Definitely not, Pravara agreed. She was silent for a few more minutes. They are all alarmed. Quite a few dragons have noticed their jhorun isn’t as strong as it used to be. Apparently it’s been declining in strength since the beginning of the year.

  Mikal relayed the information to Lissa.

  “They don’t know how to fix it,” he continued, using the same monotone voice he had used before when he was relaying what Pravara was telling him. “They suspect it has to do with… something. Pravara, what was that word? I didn’t catch it.”

  Athanaus.

  “Right. Pravara says the word is ‘Athanaus’. They won’t say much about it, and that’s because they don’t know much about it.”

  Lissa’s brow furrowed with concentration.

  “I’ve heard that word before. I just can’t remember where I heard it, or what context it was used.”

  I am querying the Collective.

  “Do it discreetly,” Mikal murmured.

  “Do what discreetly?” Lissa wanted to know.

  “Pravara is going to ask the Collective.”

  Sensing a lull in the conversation, Mikal looked over at his father’s desk. The meeting seemed to be paused as no one was saying anything at the moment. Mikal slowly stood. His father’s tired blue eyes shifted to his.

  “Yes, son? I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Please come over here. Gentlemen, you are dismissed.”

  Rhenyon and the two men turned to leave.

  “No, wait!” Mikal rushed over to the desk. “I think you all need to hear this.”

  Surprised, Rhenyon gave him an appraising stare as he returned to the king’s desk. The commander clasped his hands behind his back and waited. Mikal motioned for Lissa to join him. Her face flushed bright red once more as she hesitantly joined him.

  “We have identified the rogue wizard.”

  The king blinked with surprise and straightened in his chair. Rhenyon’s eyebrows shot up and gave Mikal an appraising grin.

  “How in the world did you do that?” his father demanded. “When did you do this?”

  “Remember when you asked me to investigate the mysterious fire caused by the dragons up at Lake Raehón?”

  Not caused by the dragons. That young wizard is responsible.

  Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m getting there.

  His father nodded. “Aye, I remember. You’re telling me that fire identified the wizard?”

  “The burn was, in essence, a mark. The wizard used those dragons to burn his signature onto the ground.”

  “That was the mark you recreated and showed me,” his father recalled.

  “Aye. Shardwyn wasn’t entirely convinced it was a mark but I knew it was. Then we checked the census reports and we figured out who it was.”

  “So who is it?” Rhenyon asked, impatient to know the identity of the wizard.

  “His name is Gareth,” Mikal slowly answered. “And he’s only 15 years old.”

  “This wizard’s a child?” the king stammered, rising to his feet. “These attacks have been happening for years now. Never has there been a wizard so young. Are you sure, son?”

  “I’m sure. We found his house and spoke with his mother.” Mikal noticed Lissa was trying to surreptitiously inch behind him. A twinkle of amusement appeared in his eye as he sensed an opportunity for a little bit of payback. “Isn’t that right, Lissa?”

  Lissa gasped as the king shifted his attention to her. She struggled for a few moments to regain her calm so she wouldn’t stammer in front of the king.

  “Y-yes. That’s right. We spoke with his mother and his aunt.”

  “Remarkable. Excellent work. Both of you. Where is this Gareth now? Did you see him?”

  “No,” Mikal admitted, “but he knew we were there asking about him.”

  “How can you be so certain?” his father inquired.

  “Because he shrunk us. Myself, Lissa, and Pravara. Then he got the griffins to attack us.”

  Mikal watched the color drain from his father’s face. The king began trembling with rage.

  “This wizard, this boy… he tried to kill you?”

  “Aye. He would have succeeded if it weren’t for Pravara.”

  “And Peanut,” Lissa softly added.

  “We couldn’t flee on Pravara’s back because of Peanut,” Mikal explained. “She was there but she wasn’t shrunk. She would have been eaten by the griffins and I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “What did you do, Kre’Mikal?” Captain Pheron asked, breaking his silence.

  “Pravara flew low enough for Peanut to chase her, and Lissa and I rode Peanut. We were almost caught several times but thankfully we found a river and Pravara figured out that whatever had shrunk us might have been a potion of some sort. She washed herself in the river and returned to her normal size. She scared the griffins off.”

  “That was quick thinking, your highness,” Rhenyon told him, giving him a congratulatory slap on the back. “Nicely done. And you, Lady Lissa. The prince couldn’t have found a finer companion.”

  If Lissa’s face wasn’t red before it certainly was now. Her eyes darted from one castle official to the other before becoming affixed to the king’s desk.

  “Thank you for helping my son,” the king gently told her. “I am not certain how you ended up in Verdayn, young Lissa, when I know you were aiding Shardwyn earlier in the day but I will say that I am not surprised. I am sorry you went through such an ordeal.”

  Mikal glanced over at his girlfriend’s face and saw that she wasn’t handling the attention the king was giving her that well. Her hand had become slick with sweat and she was close to hyperventilating.

  “This wizard,” the king began…

  “Gareth,” Mikal helpfully supplied.

  “Gareth. He unwisely chose to attack not only you two but also Pravara. I wonder what the Dragon Lord thinks about the matter. I can only imagine he will be as angry as I was upon learning about the attempt on his daughter’s life.”

  That would be an understatement.

  Mikal smiled. Kri’Entu, who had been studying his son’s face, also smiled.

  “Allow me to venture a guess. Pravara just said something to you.”

  Mikal nodded.

  “She said that would be an understatement.”

  “So Kahvel knows.” The king sat back down into his chair and tapped his fingers on his desk. He looked at Mikal. “Pravara, what did he say?”

  My father specifically stated this threat must be neutralized. He wants this wizard found at all costs.

  Mikal began relaying what Pravara was telling him.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” the king answered.

>   He is also aware of Lissa’s involvement with this investigation, Pravara continued. He knows she is assisting the prince. He has no qualms about her presence.

  Mikal hesitated after he heard himself say the words.

  “Pravara, why would you say that? Did you say something to your father about her?”

  No. However, she was concerned. I am allaying those concerns.

  Mikal looked at Lissa.

  “You were worried about whether or not you should be helping?”

  Lissa nodded.

  “I’m only supposed to be helping Shardwyn with the fever outbreak in Donlari. Now that I’m done I really should be going home.”

  “Your father is here,” the king casually told her. “I see no reason why you shouldn’t be allowed to stay, too. I will assign temporary quarters for you while you are here helping my son.”

  Mikal stared at his father with shock.

  “What’s going on? Why are you being so nice?”

  His father gave him a cryptic smile.

  “Whatever do you mean? I thought I was being accommodating. Is that not the proper thing to do?”

  “You’re up to something,” Mikal accused. “I’d like to know…”

  He trailed off as he felt a strong wave of alarm ripple through him. He gasped with shock and felt the hairs on the back of his neck jump straight up. He gave Lissa a worried look.

  “What’s the matter?” she quietly asked him. “Are you okay?”

  “Something just spooked Pravara.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The Athanaus. I know what it is.

  Mikal’s eyes widened.

  You do? What is it?

  You won’t like what I have to say.

  Mikal swallowed nervously.

  Noted. What is it?

  It is a creature from the times of ancient legends. According to my father it has been imprisoned for many centuries deep within the great western sea.

  The western sea? Are you talking about the Erudian Ocean?

  Aye.

  You’re telling me the Athanaus is some type of ancient monster? What is it? Why has it been imprisoned?

  I asked my father those same questions. Then I had to explain to him how I even knew of its existence. Consequently I have been instructed to cease my eavesdropping.

  Yet you still do it.