The Wizard

Light in the Night

Mevner returned at dusk from a day walking in the woods with a small collection of elements; a pile of a spikey weed looking herbs, some white berry's, and four beetles with hard green iridescent shells. That evening he assembled them on a large stone next to the forge.

He'd found and used every scrap of metal on the grounds of the old ruined castle to make little wires, hinges, and a long thin line that ran up the side of the tower to a metal pole he attached to its highest point. At the bottom of the metal line, he asked Oxide to clamp one hand onto the ground and to open his other out forward. 

Grimble watched with fascination. "Do you plan to harness lightning?"

"I do and it will also act as a recharging place for Oxide in the future. When he gets low on energy he can clamp on here and wait for lightning." 

"He could end up waiting a long time." 

"Better than slumped over in the woods with no chance at all." Mevner made a valid point but was too focused on the business at hand to comfort the gnome about it.

He shredded the herbs up with his knife, ground them together with the white berries on the stone, and gutting the beetles proceeded to fill their exoskeletons with the paste. He then took his round glass talisman with Melock's ashes and the three other vials containing the rest and placed them opened on the stone. 

The glow of the forge cast a dim light in the darkness of the forest. Clouds filled the overcast night sky. The last of the season's fireflies flashed their iridescent lights as they flew out of the woods, surrounded Mevner, and lit him in a greenish biochemical glow. He began to speak backward, repeating the same phrase over and over, once for each vial in front of him.

"Esruc steltnuag eht tsniaga dnefed."

"Esruc steltnuag eht tsniaga dnefed."

"Esruc steltnuag eht tsniaga dnefed."

"Esruc steltnuag eht tsniaga dnefed!"

His body seemed to have the same purplish red glow as his astral projection. The fireflies whirled about him like electrons around an atom. Grimble saw the teachings of Melock take a personal twist he had never seen before. It was magic beyond his understanding.

"Sdraziw fo tsesiw eht kcolem, uoy demrah taht esruc live eht morf noitcetorp tnarg!"

The light from the fireflies pulsed and the shells of the beetles on the stone shimmered and glowed. Overhead, the clouds began to swirl, thunder and lightning flashed.

Mevner placed one beetle into each of the vials and the last in his smaller necklace. He pricked his finger with his knife and placed a drop of his blood into each. He sealed them, bound them together with strands of herbs, and placed them into Oxide's hand. Then he stood upon the stone and whirled his hands above his head. The swarm of lightning bugs that surrounded him rushed up into the sky and quickly vanished from sight. The clouds overhead became more turbulent and flashed with a dispersed green chemical light followed by a purple afterglow. 

Grimble's vision was blinded with white light and the thunderclap that accompanied the flash left his ears ringing. As he began to regain focus, he saw Oxide's rusty hull illuminated by the wild electric glow of his eyes. In the robot's hand, the vials of Melock's ashes danced with electric energy. The lightning rod on the tower glowed red hot orange. 

Mevner hopped off the stone and took the glowing vials from Oxide's hand. Their bluish-white aura began to fade as he dropped them into his pouch. He took the glass talisman and sealed it with wire, held it in his hands, and whispered to it. Grimble watched as Mevner's hands seemed to catch fire but as quickly as the flame came it went away. Mevner tied the amulet around his neck on a leather string. 

"Mr. Grimble, my friend, in the morning I leave for the lighthouse. Thank you for everything you've done for me. Without your help, I would've surely died." He looked with gratitude at the tiny old man sitting by the fire. 

"And I'll be going with you." 

"The path I'm taking will be dangerous and a gnome and an iron man would draw much attention."

"Ox will be fine here, you said so yourself. He can charge up at the tower, besides he looks charged enough to last a couple of years."

Mevner turned to the rusty robot. "If you would continue to work on the tower, one day I might return to this lovely spot." 

He waved a hand before Oxide's sparkling eyes and filled them with a vision of a humble wizard's tower. The robot was filled with a sense of purpose. 

"I don't know what we'll find," Mevner warned Grimble. 

"Look, friend, I've known Øregård far longer than you've been alive. I have a vested interest if this Redwing is going to harm him. Meeting you has caused me to hear the call to adventure again, a call I haven't heard in decades. Melock saved my life so many times, it's my duty to avenge his death."

"Melock would say on the path of vengeance dig two graves. I don't go to kill Nicholas, but I will confront him." 

The gnome smiled up at the young wizard, bit down on his pipe, and lit it. His new friend's spirit was just as good, just as fine, and just as powerful as old Melock's and it had been far too long a time since he'd met the like.