The Wizard

Iron Oxide

The constant jarring of being dragged through the forest stopped. Mevener unhooked his elbow from the ladder and let his body slide down the sled to the ground. He wanted to puke but that would require food in his stomach. 

"This is where I might need your help, my friend." 

Mevner looked around as Grimble climbed down the leg of the elk. They were in the middle of thick dense forest, far from any path or stream or trail. Lost in the woods. There was nothing around. 

The gnome disappeared into a bush pulling down withering branches and there standing motionless was a small rusty sculpture. It was like a child made of buckets, cans, and a series of cylindrical tubes slumping over lifelessly. 

"This is Iron Oxide, or just Ox if you like. The thing about old Ox, here, is he needs a real jolt to get moving again and I have to admit I don't have the ability to summon enough electricity to get the job done. Hence, he's been stuck here for a very long time."

"I... I could try." Mevner's voice was returning. 

He raised his gnarled hand and summoned the lightning. "Thhh-under-bolt." 

Lightning rocketed out of his bent back fingers, but instead of hitting the rusty figure it went straight up into the trees overhead. Thunder cracked the sky and the elk ran. Mevner fell over as they pulled the sled out from under him. The branches above burst into flames and burning leaves drifted down. 

"You've got the power of old Melock, don't ya?" Grimble was tickled by the wild destructive display. "But maybe try a little closer to Oxide, there." 

Mevner crawled over to the little rust bucket figure and placed his right palm on its coarse surface. He reached up and tucked his left fingers under its arm. 

"Thunderbolt." 

This time dark clouds swirled overhead and a massive bolt of lightning jumped from the earth to the sky from directly under the spot the rust covered tinman was standing. It came with a second simultaneous thunderclap. Mevner moved away from the four-foot-tall sculpture that was beginning to make sounds and move. 

"By Jove, you are Melock's apprentice." Grimble smacked him on the leg. "Excellent work, Melsner." 

"It's Mevner, Mevner Ozgold." He reached out a twisted finger and Grimble shook it in return. 

"Mevner, yes yes, my new good friend. Mevner Ozgold, meet Oxide. Ox meet the man that brought you back to life." Grimble was beside himself with enthusiastic joy. 

The robotic mechanical being creaked and groaned as its inner gears cranked together. It stood up straight revealing curved glass eyes filled with electricity and a slit of a non-functioning mouth. Its thin arms bent at curved joints and its hands were two large clamps. It lifted thin rust covered jointed legs that led down to solid bricks of rust that were its feet.

Oxide proceeded to clump over to Mevner and offered its clamped hand in assistance. 

"By your command." Oxide's voice was metallic and distorted. 

Mevner had never seen anything like it. 

"That's a good lad, Ox, now go fetch the deer and bring them back here."

And the bucket-headed red-brown rusted mechanism clunked off into the forest. 

"Grimble, how? What is that thing?" 

"Well, my fine friend, as I told you, that's Oxide, he's one of my earliest creations. I admit Melock helped me construct him, the old man called him a Robot. He's been slumped in the woods now for nearly a century. It's so good to have him back." Grimble rubbed his hands together in delight. 

Oxide returned with the elk and constructed a better stretcher out of the existing sled. Then it killed a groundhog, made a fire, cooked it, and gave it to Mevner. Oxide helped him into the stretcher, picked up the back end, and they were on their way. 

They traveled fast the rest of the day, all through the night, and into the next morning.