Chapter 24
“Upstairs everyone. I’ll show you everything. I can explain how some things work round here, though others elude me just now. We don’t get many visitors here you know - we’re way off all but the most magical map. I’d say you two lucky souls are our very first for two centuries at least,” Jasper admitted, smiling brightly. His eyes gleamed kindly too. Lawrence decided Jasper was a genuinely pleasant character - an eccentric old man who loved to learn, yearned to teach and enjoyed showing off his inventions and discoveries. Jasper floated off slowly up the long, winding staircase, allowing them to follow at their own pace.
“Did you help create this strange world Jasper?”
“Goodness me, no!” he confessed with a strange jump and a weird stare, “I haven’t been around half as long as that Lawrence. This extraordinary world was most probably created billions of years ago, long before Earth. No one knows why or by whom. Or if they do guess the answer, they seem strangely unwilling to share it. Academics can be like that sometimes. No, I merely study it. And the more I do, the more I discover. I believe it may be never ending,” he whispered, leaning closer.
Eventually the chatty group entered a large curved room upstairs, complete with fabulous metal balcony carved into fantastic shapes and animals. In here the excited brown, wispy creature spun round an antique table, taking tiny chunks out the legs. It grew fatter, then spat out a perfect miniature copy which split up into two others equally as impressive.
“He’s normally far more creative, only he’s just woken up,” Jasper explained, beaming with pride. “Show us another!” he cried, watching the lively thing twirl crazily amongst long drapes decorating the walls. Instantly the excited creature buzzed round in circles at high speed, dripping tiny shards of smoky colour like a jet plane. Lawrence scooped some up from the floor, amazed to find soft, flat pieces springing to life into solid, antique items and arranging themselves in order. Very soon a whole new world lay before them, complete with weird new creatures melded with landscape and sky, working perfectly as one.
“Ah, he’s found my dusty old basement library,” Jasper said, pleased his clever friend felt comfortable enough to explore. And as if that wasn’t enough to impress his captivated audience, it bounced off the floor, taking chunks of marble and stone, growing bigger and bigger. Lord only knows what wonders he’d planned next.
“Bravo!” Jasper shouted, scratching his pointy head furiously and wriggling inside his robes like a dancing worm. Lawrence loved the old fellow’s enthusiasm. The dear creature’s play kept him so enraptured he didn’t hear the patter of tiny feet gathering on the landing.
“Won’t he eat your entire tower?” Lawrence laughed.
“No, the cheeky young scamp will give back bits I truly need once he’s calmed down a little.”
“The tower, your tricks, how do you make all this happen?” Lawrence asked in wonder.
“Lawrence, most folk look at the world around them and mistakenly think what you see is what you get. However, if a master locksmith does enough research and practice, he can pick even the most complicated lock,” Jasper explained, touching his long nose knowingly.
Lucy sat watching the show too, staring very closely at Jasper, while a deep yellow glow grew in her eyes. Suddenly she sprang at the cheery fellow, snarling viciously. Her paws scratched at his face and powerful blue lightning streaked down her fur, forcing him against the wall with a terrible crash. Lawrence was horrified. “No!” he screamed, rushing over to pick the poor fellow up. He was even more horrified finding the ugly face of Brandice May staring back at him. The evil witch had possessed Jasper’s body!
After such an attack Brandice’s temper became the wildest yet. Her eyes burnt deep black. Red hot swirls flicked between them, flashing down Jasper’s shoulders to create curled, bony fingers. The horrible old witch floated high up to the ceiling, screaming terrible curses.
Thick bars pulsing with a powerful charge shot up in the doorway. A vast, screaming army of tiny black creatures poured between pencil thin gaps, swarming over the place like giant ants.
Lucy set fire to the drapes. Each one lit the other so quickly in a flash the tall room became encircled in a golden glow reaching the roof. Thankfully the constant magical burning prevented Brandice getting any further help from outside.
Lucy noticed many of the nasty creatures looked like Brandice herself; even copying her movements. These foul spirits must be part of her evil essence. And how could they fight this evil witch without harming the friendly Jasper too much? Brandice had hatched a wicked plan once again. Like last time she cleverly appeared in spirit form, leaving her physical body safe worlds away.
Armed with only a magical tapestry that swooped from the wall, Lawrence bravely fended off the imps poisonous biting attacks. Its weird swirling only confused them briefly, making them return even madder.
Across the room Lucy quickly gathered her thoughts. During battles they’d always been blessed with magical help. Today, because Jasper wasn’t conscious, his strange and rare friend may allow her to be its master temporarily. Just as she thought, it shot over and hovered over her new collar, awaiting orders.
Lucy’s first idea was to copy the tiny imps, creating confusion for Brandice. Her helper eagerly shot through the curtains, instantly making dozens of improved imps blessed with roaring flame. Taking an instant dislike to their copies, the creatures fell on each other viciously. When one fell explosions covered the room in corrosive slime, and a tiny black speck shot through the ceiling. Seeing results so quickly spurred Lucy on. But her valiant fight back had only just begun!
Their ferocious fight didn’t give Lawrence much time to think, because Brandice changed her plan too. The miserable old crone would have blasted the tiny creature far into space, only it was far too quick. She wasn’t about to let that miserable cat get away with attacking her imps, so turned on Lawrence to take revenge!
An enchanted hypnotic tapestry had little effect on Brandice, who merely blinked twice, easily shaking the weak magic off. With all the mayhem there wasn’t much space left for a young boy’s acrobatics. Soon Brandice had Lawrence backed up against the railing, which melted away under a hail of swirling green powder. Seconds later he hung desperately over a very large drop, though his grip held strong. Brandice just giggled cruelly, tried wildly kicking his hands away, and sent choking fumes funnelling down. This was why other witches feared her - She was truly evil.
Lucy sprung on her back again and again, although Brandice shrugged her magic off effortlessly. At Lucy’s final effort the witch’s spirit didn’t even seem to feel the powerful jolts. Lucy changed tactics fast, but to her horror Lawrence fell off the balcony, plummeting into the eerie smoke. His loud cries were lost amid deafening noise and Brandice’s terrifying screams of victory. Now she concentrated all her rage and power on Lucy, who couldn’t be allowed to live either.
Lucy’s ideas came quicker. Barely had she thought of an object or being and it stood before her, following her will. Jasper’s find was a powerful friend indeed! Brandice conjured poisonous snakes from her fingertips, flinging them everywhere. Many kept dropping from up high, rousing their quick tempers. In return Lucy produced a gigantic ball of fat pythons that held Jasper’s arms so tightly his body bulged, forcing Brandice’s rasping voice into short squeaks.
Brandice’s strong restraints didn’t stop her casting more spells using her deep black eyes. Soon fireballs filled with molten glass pelted off walls, shattering against Lucy’s weakening natural magic. Again and again Brandice attacked with increasing power. Her pool of energy must be immense!
So the wild battle raged on. The terrific amount of magical energy buzzing through the air created some very weird effects. Many times the whole scene blurred out of focus. At one point time seemed to stand still, reverse, then stutter forward. Only sheer luck meant neither of them had been badly hurt yet. Jasper’s friend was young and inexperienced, whereas Brandice was sly and old. She knew
Lucy couldn’t afford to harm Jasper, so she’d gain the upper hand eventually.
Because Brandice’s new magical item of power hadn’t been harmed, she could still draw energy from it, whereas Jasper’s incredible friend couldn’t keep up its work forever. Only minutes later the poor creature sank through the floor, letting out disappointed squeaky beeps. Brandice threw the snakes off, mocked Lucy and her eyes flashed black evilly.
Just in time a heaving great Thunderjelly charged up the stairs, shot right through the doorway and exploded the powerful force field into curtains of rolling steam. Lawrence had returned! Witnessing her enemy’s triumphant entrance, Brandice went wild, cruelly bashing poor Jasper’s body around the walls. He woke moaning in pain, watching her fire blast big black chunks off the weird creature.
Sporting this light, morphing body Lawrence easily matched her quick movements. Seconds later he’d pinned her in a corner, covering her whole face in dangling tendrils. Brandice screamed loudly in frustration and terror, trying her best to escape. Her face spun round and round like a whirlwind. When the creature released its grip her ugly features vanished, dropping Jasper limply to the floor.
One brave Thunderjelly dissolved through the ground, leaving Lawrence scrunched up in some very weird angles. When his body stopped shaking he stumbled to the wall, gazing deeply into Jasper’s eyes before helping him up. No trace of Brandice remained. Fortunately Jasper seemed to have got away with only a few scratches and a bruised shoulder.
“Phew! Friends, thank you! That was very weird! Watching my tower getting smashed up was quite annoying too! I normally put up a barrier when off world that stops me being possessed. It’s easy to forget here though,” Jasper confessed, scrunching his face up.
“You know earlier I thought I sensed the presence of uninvited dark ones, which I foolishly put to the back of my mind. Her kind won’t invade this land another time though,” he declared firmly, snapping his fingers and watching the room tidy up.
Lawrence told how just before he hit the floor far below he’d been swept out the window by one of Jasper’s wonderful tricks, landed outside and entered a Thunderjelly, shot to the nearest light beam and changed to a creepy, crawly, squirmy worm like creature made of solid light and jellied shadows. It seemed this ancient animal had a strange story to tell it had kept for centuries. So many different images flashed before him so quickly his eyes hurt.
After that he had no control for a while and went to an even weirder place than this – a tiny miniature shadowy world that seemed to exist inside a gigantic cave, far beneath the earth. His Thunderjelly rolled over and over inside, coating the walls black, happily watching the world swirl. Millions of mysterious oval shapes dangled from strange points high above, but he couldn’t see into any. As amazing as his experience became, all he could think about was getting back to help his friends. Next thing he remembered was racing up the tower steps. His story truly fascinated Jasper, but the shrewd man didn’t explain why.
Lawrence admitted he didn’t actually plan on grabbing Brandice’s face. Jasper nodded wisely, saying he was sure Brandice left because of an overwhelming fear of imprisonment. “On rare occasions Thunderjellies can be like that. I guess the sleeping spiritual part of them senses an enemy’s weakness and exploits it. I think it’s yet another part of their defence mechanism. As you can see, we still have much to learn from these amazing creatures!”
Jasper wondered out loud where the creature got the idea to make particular items from, then winked at Lucy.
“I always thought he could only make an object if he’d seen or tasted it first. Once again it just goes to show we never stop learning.”
The grateful magician bowed low before them. “Friends, between magic folk it is customary for one who performs a good deed to be granted a gift. Lucy, you have your special collar, so Lawrence, what treasure takes your fancy? Please, pick anything you like,” he offered generously.
“Wow, brilliant, there’s so much here as well!” Lawrence gasped, having a good look around.
“What about this amazing vase Jasper? It changes shape and moves about the room like some sort of game. What else does it do?”
“Oh, I can’t help you there friend. This has to be your decision. Another rule of ours,” Jasper replied with a laugh. Lawrence spent quite some time checking everything out. He’d learnt by now not to be too hasty.
On a transparent table sat an interesting silver brush etched with strange pictures of wood elves, that set his hair in whatever style he fancied. Mum would love that. Perched on a pedestal all of its own sat a very weird, twisted stick, twirling faster the closer he got. Opposite, a wavy scroll jumped out from behind a floating map, unravelled, shrieked, shot a mischievous glance at Jasper and ran through the wall giggling. Ah, it was so hard making a choice!
Finally Lawrence found a tiny box hidden at the back of a high shelf, locked by a shimmering silver clasp. He rattled it eagerly, expecting an exciting surprise. Nothing happened. Curiously he found it empty. Jasper beamed, shrugging at the boy’s puzzled look. Lawrence turned back to see a shiny black pebble sat there innocently.
At first it just looked like a precious obsidian stone he’d learnt about at school, till Lawrence gazed closer, drawn magnetically to the stone’s polished surface. Never-ending swirls set deep within whirled hypnotically, rushing inwards and creating a weird circling sensation like floating above a whirlpool. For a fleeting moment the tower melted away, leaving him travelling through infinite space.
All measure of time vanished. Lawrence drifted on a journey far further than ever before. Strings of vibrating energy flashed past, jolting wildly. Their twinkling light sped onwards, clinging to a giant fiery ball far off in front. Lawrence was granted a flash of knowledge, realising these were stars forming in another galaxy.
Jasper’s tower slipped back into focus with a sharp jolt. Lawrence rubbed his weary eyes to see the stone lying there duller than before. Rather weirdly he’d totally forgotten what happened just then, when he’d spaced out.
Still, something about the intriguing stone reminded him of something or somewhere - but what? That’s it – the magical staffs! This stone may once have been part of one, though it also felt different in such an intriguing way he couldn’t even begin to fathom yet. As they are wont to do, the young boy’s imagination ran wild. It could be a way to contact friends or spirits far away in other dimensions, or an elder wizard’s secret hiding place for his most powerful spells. He even imagined the stone had actually been alive once long ago. Maybe it still was, but for some reason now slept deeply!
“I’ll take this please Jasper!” Lawrence breathed, captivated by the mysterious object. Some incredible and priceless treasures lay there, which may have earned greedy people a fortune. Yet once the stone had shown a small part of its strange power, Lawrence knew even if it never woke he had to have it close. He couldn’t explain why, it was just a strong feeling that it played a part in his family’s future, and was crucial to their continued happiness.
“As you wish friend, have fun!” Jasper winked, tapping him on the shoulder for good luck.
“I’ll remember to inform the Elder Council of your current problem. Lenora or I will be in touch Lucy. Now, we’ll have to move fast. We don’t want your mum to worry. Step over here folks, into my magic circle. It may be later than you think when you return. I’m good, but not perfect!” he laughed.
Jasper nodded goodbye, petting Lucy whose fur glowed golden. The friendly magician clasped his hands together tightly, advising them to close their eyes. Our adventurers still saw a blinding light, then slipped into a deep sleep.