Bumblestook: Book 1, The Accidental Wizard (38 page)

“They are merely a focal point for the Magic. The real power lies within yourselves.”

“Well,
I
, for one, am ready to lend a hand,” Tom declared. “Whatever Magic I’ve got, is yours to command.”

“Then let us begin,” said Ranger Gary. “First, the spell. Repeat after me.
Skipping stones across the lake, Reveal to me the path to take.
”

“Uh—stones skip—no, no, no! Stones skipping…” Yap scratched his head and frowned, while Tom rattled it off easily, with a theatrical flourish.

“You are quite the accomplished poet,” Heloise purred, rapidly repeating the spell.

“It’s not the words, so much as the intention,” Ranger Gary replied. “Spells can be made up of pure nonsense, but a rhyme is much easier to remember.”

“Skipping stones in—no, no, no—over— no…” Yap said closing his eyes tightly as he concentrated.

“Pur-r-r-haps it is not so easy for some,” Heloise remarked, looking down her nose at the young G-r-r-rog .

“Not to worry, pup,” Tom said, using the tip of his tail to fish the stubby pencil out of his pocket. “This and a scrap of paper, will fix you right up.”

From his own pocket, Ranger Gary pulled forth the crumpled, snack bar wrapper he’d found earlier, back at the Chilao Ranger Station. Using the G-r-r-rog’s back as a surface, Tom smoothed out the wrapper with the flat of his hands, then scribbled away with his incredibly flexible and talented tail.

“The written word fulfills the need, when memory must be remedied,” he proclaimed, handing the paper to Yap.

Next, Ranger Gary had each of them face the water, holding the stones in their open palms. “Now you must cast the spell upon the stones,” he instructed as he walked up and down behind them. “Say the words and concentrate on placing them on the rock. Don’t bother thinking about it—just do it.”

Yap shrugged and read the words over the rock in his outstretched hand. Tom and Heloise cast their spells as well. The Wizard stood behind them, hands upraised above their heads.

“Again.”

As the Amorphae repeated their spells, Ranger Gary closed his eyes.
“Converge and Merge,”
he mumbled, under his breath.

An orange flame sprang up in the Wizard’s eyes, as his coppery hair and beard began to glow. The light spread till it engulfed his entire body, then extended out, surrounding the little group with its aura.

“Again,” he repeated.

The third time round, the little rocks in their hands began to glow as well. Yap whined softly, barely able to contain his excitement, while Tom’s whiskers and tail twitched uncontrollably. Even Heloise’s eyes widened, in surprise.

Next the Wizard had them line up, one behind the other; the Gr-r-r-og in front, then the Bungaree, then the Leonin. The Wizard himself stood at the end of the line.

“You’re first, Yap. Just skip your stone. Get it out there as far as you can,” he said.

Yap’s ears quivered, as he eyed the dark water in preparation for taking his shot. Then, he drew his arm back and whipped it forward. His little stone skipped twice on the water, leaving a glowing footprint on the surface of the lake, before sinking with a soft “ker-plunk”.

Tom was next. Ranger Gary instructed him to skip his stone out beyond Yap’s. The Bungaree shook his arm to get loose, then wound up like a pitcher on the mound, before letting go. His stone skipped three times, landing a bit further out beyond Yap’s. Like the Gr-r-rog’s rock, it left a glowing print.

Heloise stepped forward. Without hesitation, she sent her stone sailing, out across the water. It skipped four times, landing well beyond the Bungaree’s, leaving its own trail of light.

Finally, it was the Wizard’s turn. He eyed the dark water stretched before him, tossing his rock from hand to hand several times, before drawing back and letting it fly with a swift, decisive movement. His rock skipped five times, sinking beyond the others.

Ranger Gary cracked his knuckles and flexed his fingers, in preparation for the next step. Orange flames danced in his eyes, his hair lifted and his beard sparked, as he focused on the glowing path laid out before him. Inhaling deeply, he lifted both arms out to the side, even with his shoulders, then brought them together slowly, till his hands met (palms touching, fingers together) over the water.

“Waters deep, waters wide. Heed my command! Divide! Divide!”
His voice boomed with power. Forcefully, he separated his hands; sweeping his arms back, as if this motion itself would push back the water.

Interestingly enough, it
did
! With a loud
whoosh
the lake parted, forming two towering walls of rushing water; exposing a muddy, rock-strewn path leading out into its middle.

“Time to go,” Ranger Gary said simply, stepping onto the lake bed.

The others followed, casting anxious looks a-plenty, at the water roaring above their heads. A variety of aquatic life were caught within, rising up swiftly as if riding an invisible elevator. The Amorphae barely had time to notice the flailing fish, frogs, snails and eels; before the hapless creatures were carried to the top of the water walls, flung over the sides, and back into the lake.

The path was treacherous; paved with slippery stones that denied them balance and muck-filled potholes that threatened to steal their shoes. Yap’s feet became entangled in a slimy knot of water plants and he fell forward with a yelp. As he picked himself up, he spotted something, sparkling in the mud.

“Hey, look what I found!”

Lying where it had sunk, Chip, the compass rock, still pointed the direction, with its row of twinkling lights. Yap snatched it up and held it out to the Wizard.

Ranger Gary whistled in appreciation. “Good eyes, Yap!” He looked down at the piece of stone lying in the Gr-r-r-og’s outstretched palm. “Looks like we’re headed in the right direction. Since it’s thanks to your sharp eyes we have it back, why don’t you keep a-hold of it. You’re the official Keeper of the Compass. Just let me know if we stray from the path.”

Yap’s eyes shone and his tail wagged.

“Atta-boy,” said Tom, his chest puffed with pride, as he clapped his pupil on the back.

The group continued on, soon arriving at the spot where the children had disappeared. Before them lay a chasm; too wide to cross, too deep and dark to fathom. Ranger Gary knelt down on one knee to toss a rock into the darkness. After awhile, a small splash could be heard, far, far below. Tom and Yap peered anxiously over the edge, while Heloise looked over the Wizard’s shoulder.

“Well now,
this
certainly pr-r-resents an interesting challenge,” she remarked.

“More than you know,” Ranger Gary replied, casting a concerned look at the shore behind him. “I can get us down there, but then I’ll have to release the lake. These mountains are crawling with Human hikers and the longer I hold back these waters, the greater the chance one of them will come along and get an eyeful. I’m afraid I’m going to have to find a way for all of us to travel underwater.”

A strangled sound escaped from Tom’s throat. (Bungarees usually preferred their liquids in smaller doses, such as in a glass.)

The Wizard reached into his pocket; pulling out what appeared to be an ordinary stick, sawed off to approximately four inches long. About an inch in diameter, it was covered in silvery-grey bark, except for a knob of smooth, raw wood, where a smaller branch had been snapped off. Ranger Gary grasped the stick, so that his thumb fit precisely over this spot. With a single, firm shake, a smooth, tapered shaft (stripped of bark and white as bone) telescoped out, spitting orange sparks from its tip.

“From top to bottom, beginning to end! Nature’s Stairway! Descend! Descend!”
he commanded.

Motioning with his wand, he drew steps in the air; the orange sparks created a fleeting sketch of a crude stairway.

“Stand away from the edge,” the Wizard cautioned the others, who hastily stepped back, as he touched the edge of the precipice with the wand’s tip.

A low rumbling could be heard. The small, loose rocks, lying on the path, began to dance as the lakebed beneath them trembled. A grinding sound arose from the crevice, followed by a great
whoosh!
A cloud of orange sparks rose skyward, like a swarm of fireflies, as the earth settled down.

The group approached the crevice warily. Peering cautiously over the edge, they found a stairway. It was roughly carved into the side of the ravine, as though a giant child had scooped away the earth with a trowel the size of a truck.

“Perfectly safe,” the Wizard assured them. “Come along. We’ve no time to waste.” He hopped down onto the first step, then continued on, holding his sparking wand before him to light the way.

Not without misgivings, (and with more than one backwards glance at the world of light left behind) Tom and Yap followed; fear for their charges overcoming their
own
fear of what lay below in the dark, wet depths.

Heloise looked back at the shore, calculating the risk against the thrill of adventure. Then, with an elegant shrug of one well-muscled shoulder, she joined the remnants of the Quest on their descent into the unknown.

**************************************

Shadowy shapes began to take form inside the dome, as the bubble neared the structure’s boundaries. Now, the children could see that the sides of the dome were covered in thick, green slime, a by-product of the water plants that surrounded and clung to it. The light did, indeed, emanate from within. Filtering through the plant slime, it acquired a sickly, yellow-green glow.

Mubglub gestured to his fellow Vish and the giant bubble came to a halt. With a powerful flip of his feet, he propelled himself into the side of the underwater vehicle, its rainbow skin allowing him entry with a soft “plop”, before sealing up tightly behind him.

Farley stood awkwardly, gesturing toward the dome with the hand that held the little knife. “My mom and dad are inside that place, aren’t they? That’s why you brought us here, right?”

Mubglub regarded him solemnly with his large, watery-grey eyes. “You will see your parents soon. But you must not attempt to go to them as of yet. There is grave danger here. We must proceed with caution,” he instructed.

Farley’s heart leapt and hammered away inside his chest. “Are–are they all right?” he managed to ask, around a lump in his throat.

Mubglub seemed to consider this. “They appear to be physically unharmed, but are undoubtedly under the influence of a powerful spell.”

“Whadaya mean?” Farley asked, casting an anxious look at the glowing dome.

“In a moment, you shall see for yourself—but first, a word of warning,” the Vish replied. “My Mistress counsels that you do not reveal yourself at this time. You must remain hidden until we determine a plan of action.”

Mubglub’s cautionary words appeared to have the opposite effect on Farley. Subconsciously clenching the knife tighter, he appeared ready to leap through the bubble’s skin.

Fiona rose swiftly, laying a restraining hand on her friend’s arm. “Farley, I think we should listen to him—” Suddenly, her eyes acquired a glazed-over, faraway look, fixing on a point above his head. “With stealth and wary watchfulness, approach the enemy unknown. Take heed, use caution to proceed, and you may yet return triumphantly home,” she said, in a voice not quite her own.

“Uh—you’re doing it again,” said Farley, shrugging off her hand.

“Wha—?” Fiona shook her head, then looked at him with clear eyes. One brow arched knowingly. “The Lady?” she asked. The boy nodded. “I must be getting used to hearing her in my head, because
this
time I remember what she said. I think we should pay attention to her. After all, she
is
the Head Hero. She knows about this sort of thing—we don’t.”

“All right,” Farley agreed reluctantly. “Before we do anything, we’ll make a plan. But let’s get going. Just thinking about it gives me the heebie-jeebies!”

Hearing this, Mubglub nodded with satisfaction. Diving back into the water, he gestured to his fellow Amorphae. The children sank to their knees, knives at the ready. The giant bubble resumed its forward motion, powered by the Vish.

As they approached the dome wall, the Vish steered them into a particularly thick clump of towering plants, with stems as thick as the trunks of small trees. The bubble was carefully maneuvered, so that it came to rest about a yard away from the dome’s surface. Next, Mubglub used one webbed hand to cautiously wipe away some of the obnoxious slime. In this manner, he cleared two (relatively clean) peepholes. Finally, he had his companions move the bubble right up next to the dome; beckoning the children to look within.

Eagerly, the kids pressed their faces against the bubble’s skin. It was like looking through a very dirty window. They squinted; trying to make sense of the shadowy shapes within.

Then, Farley gasped, as his as his heart skipped a beat. There, before him, in this strange, other-worldly place, was a scene from his very own home! A flash of tears momentarily blinded him, as he recognized the dining room set his mother had painstakingly lugged home, from various garage sales and flea markets. He blinked rapidly to clear his eyes and the familiar furniture came blurrily back into focus. There was the old oak buffet (with the top drawer that always stuck) and the left side door that refused to stay shut. There was the round, oak, dining room table, with its colorful, garden-motif tablecloth covering the multitude of scratches on its surface. There were the three, mismatched. wooden chairs—and
omigosh
,
there! Was that—could it be?

Sitting on two of those chairs, still
wearing their p.j.s, slumped over with their heads resting on the table, were Mom and Dad!

“M—”

Fiona clapped a hand over Farley’s mouth. Her voice was low and insistent. “Remember what Osheanna and the Hero Lady said! We can’t let them know we’re here—not yet. Not until we have a plan.”

Farley looked at her miserably, but nodded agreement and Fiona dropped her hand.

A familiar popping sound alerted them to Mubglub’s re-entry. Farley whirled about to confront him.