Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders (6 page)

Separated by the explosion, the three bodies were floating along with the wind. In a few minutes they would drift over the village. She absolutely had to stop that. Concentrating, she ordered them down.

The old wizard was surprised to see the scorched bodies descend without Tara making a gesture or saying a word. But he said nothing to Deria, who emerged from the forest behind him and didn't see anything.

“Are they dead?” asked Tara in a small, shaky voice as the wizard carefully examined them.

“No. They were protected by the levitation field you created around them. When the Bloodgrave blew up the house he must've blown off the roof, unaware that he was saving their lives. You saved them by hiding them up in the attic. I'll look after them. Follow us.”

The old wizard cast a spell, and the bodies slipped from Tara's control to obey him. He did this so casually that he rose a few degrees in the girl's esteem.

But the sight of the manor hit Tara like a body blow. The roof that the Bloodgrave master had blown off lay on the ground, split in half. Every window had shattered in the explosion, and flames were destroying what remained of the walls.

The wizard nodded his bushy head, took a deep breath, and roared: “By the Elementus you are hereby bidden to let us see those forces hidden.”

All the flames immediately coalesced into a single place in the ravaged building.

“I'll be darned,” gasped Deria. “A fire elemental! We've got a big problem on our hands.”

“What . . . what's that?” blurted Tara.

“It's a fire spirit. There are thousands of fire, earth, water, and wind elementals on all the worlds. The Bloodgrave summoned this one to commit as much damage as possible. Try to imagine a fire that is intelligent and destructive, and you have a fire elemental.”

It was true. To Tara's amazement the flames gathered into a gigantic scarlet shape with a flickering head and two arms. Great! Now fire was taking human shape!

Spotting the wizard, who looked very small next to it, the burning elemental leaned close, displaying a mouth full of sharp teeth, each of which was a tiny flame.

“Aaaaah!” it crackled. “Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu, you old pile of flammable garbage, what do you want? Why are you interrupting my dinner?”

“This doesn't have my authorization,” cried the wizard. “Leave the manor house alone!”

“But you didn't summon me, you trash heap, so you can't banish me until I've eaten everything up.”

At that, the elemental casually picked up a section of wall and tossed it into its infernal mouth, where it disappeared.

“I'm warning you,” the old wizard answered quietly. “Leave now or suffer the consequences.”

Tara screamed. Without any warning, the elemental had shot a jet of flame at the wizard's small figure. His robe began to burn, and he vanished in a thick cloud of smoke. She was about to rush over to him when he reappeared, wearing only silver long underwear and blue socks—and looking very angry.

“Odd bodkins!” he roared. “One of my nicest robes! And my best magic shoes! You're going to pay for that!”

The elemental was surprised that its fire hadn't vaporized the wizard, but it recovered quickly.

“So what do you plan to do, you ridiculous bundle of rags? There isn't enough of that cursed water around to hurt me. And there aren't any water elementals in the area.”

“Oh, but water won't be necessary!” said the wizard. He waved his hand at the building's rubble and shouted: “By Vomitus spit up what you've devoured, and restore the manor within the hour.”

He had hardly recited the spell when the elemental started to gag, then vomit. Dozens of chunks of debris spurted from its mouth, flying back to their proper places on the manor walls. And the more the elemental vomited, the smaller it got.

“Mercy!” it gasped. “Please stop!”

But the wizard was relentless. When the creature was reduced to a twitching red homunculus, he recited another spell, and a bottle of water appeared in his hand. He calmly sprinkled it on the remains of the infernal fire being, and the bottle and the elemental disappeared together with a dull

The wizard rubbed his hands with satisfaction. Then, ignoring the fact that he was still in his underwear, he said: “By Fixus mend both tile and rafter, and cap the house forever after.”

The crumpled roof pulled itself together and flew up to settle snugly atop the manor walls.

Dumbfounded, Tara realized that everything was completely back to normal. No sign of the fire remained except a puddle of water by the front door. Talk about efficient restoration work!

Even Deria was impressed.

“Magnificent,” she said. “Masterful! Tara, did you hear the formula he chose?”

“Yes. He said, ‘By Vomitus—'”

“Aaaah!” cried Deria, “Don't say it! Not until you've mastered your powers. You could cause a disaster. I really don't feel like puking up my dinner, if you don't mind.”

“Oops, sorry! But why did you ask me if I heard it?”

“Because it was a very clever thing to do. To defeat a fire elemental, you usually need to have a lot of water, or a water elemental. Since Chem didn't have either he attacked the elemental's weak point.”

“Its weak point?”

“Fire feeds on what it consumes. This elemental had become huge because it had ‘eaten' half the manor house. So by forcing it to disgorge everything it had swallowed, Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu weakened it to the point where he could defeat it easily. A very subtle tactic.”

“I mainly thought it was terrifying,” muttered Tara, still shaken by the vision of the wizard going up in smoke.

“Oh, that was nothing!” remarked Deria casually. “He's a high wizard and completely fireproof. But those elementals aren't very intelligent. Too empty-headed.”

“Mmm, also arrogant and conceited . . . serves 'em right,” growled the wizard, who was still quivering with indignation. “Now, let's review everything that happened here.”

Raising his hand, he said: “By Memorus display the recent past so we can make a plan, and fast.”

Blurry shapes materialized out of nowhere, startling Tara. Before her hovered the ghosts of the monsters that had attacked them! The scene she had lived through a few minutes earlier was being magically replayed. But the images of the monsters attacking Isabella began to flicker and waver, and then disappeared. The wizard tried to get them back, but in vain.

“By Gelisor's rotten fangs,” he muttered in annoyance, “this spell really isn't ready for prime time! Tara, you'll have to describe what happened in detail later, because the Memorus isn't stable enough. Meanwhile, I'm going to take care of your grandmother.”

Tara was about to answer when they heard a siren in the distance.

“Rats!” exclaimed Deria. “It's the fire department! They must've seen the smoke!”

Tara thought fast.

“Deria, can you summon fire without it being an elemental?”

“Yes, of course. We can always summon ordinary fire. It's much easier than summoning an elemental. Why?”

“They've seen the smoke, so we're going to have to give them some fire.”

Deria's eyes widened.

“Gosh, you're right! Here it goes: ‘By Flamus, give me fire. A lively blaze I now require.'“

A pile of blazing logs immediately appeared on the lawn at a safe distance from the forest and the manor, sending up a column of dark smoke.

“Perfect!” approved Tara. “I'll let you explain why you built a fire in the middle of our yard at two o'clock in the morning. See you later!”

The wizard had already entered the manor with the bodies. When Tara came in, she saw Tachil and Mangus sitting on the staircase, looking glassy-eyed and holding their heads in their hands.

Mad with joy, she cried, “You're awake!” which made the two servants grimace and cover their ears.

“What . . . what happened?” groaned Tachil, whose breath was being squeezed out of him by Tara's energetic hug.

“Deria will explain everything,” said the girl, now kissing a groggy Mangus. “After she finishes with the firefighters, that is. I'm really happy you're okay. I'm going to see Grandma.”

She left the dazed servants and raced up to Isabella's bedroom. To her surprise, her grandmother wasn't there, nor was the wizard. After a moment's thought she left the room and headed for the basement where, yep, she'd guessed right: he'd taken her down to the Chemistry Chamber.

This was a place Tara didn't much like, where her grandmother conducted all sorts of strange, noisy, and often stinky experiments. It was sealed from any natural light, and completely circular. Even the furniture was round. There wasn't a single angle in the place except for the big pentagram faintly glowing in the middle of the room. Tara had never seen it before, because it was normally covered with a round carpet.

“Er, can I help?” she whispered, nervously chewing on her forelock.

The wizard turned and looked at her thoughtfully.

“No, I don't think so. But you must avoid all contact with the floor while I'm treating your grandmother, so please go sit on the table.”

For once, Tara obeyed without asking questions.

Chem finally noticed that he was dressed only in his underwear. Grumbling at the elemental—Tara caught the words “insolent,” “swaggering,” and “a good lesson”—he conjured himself a midnight blue robe, and a pair of silver slippers appeared on his feet.

Carefully standing outside the pentagram, he pushed Isabella's body to its center, then took off his shoes and socks.

To Tara's great surprise, the wizard then levitated and went to hover above Isabella's body. He waved his hand and recited some spells, and rays shot from each of his fingers and toes. The twenty beams of light struck the pentagram.

It was very impressive.

“By Transformus, I illuminate you, Isabella!”

With each word, the pentagram glowed more brightly.

“By Illuminus, I transform you, Isabella!”

This sparked a flash of light so bright that Tara was sorry not to have sunglasses.

“May the Rigidifus be banished, I command it!”

At that, the light began to turn pinkish. Hovering motionless, the wizard observed it carefully. When it turned a deep blood red, he raised his arms and cried: “By Vivus, this formula is the right one!”

A deafening explosion followed. Isabella's body glowed briefly, and the whole chamber went dark.

Tara felt a little panicky. The room was pitch black and there wasn't a sound to be heard.

Then a slightly irritated voice broke the silence.

“By Demiderus, would somebody please turn on the light?”

“Grandma!” shouted Tara. She was beside herself with joy, but didn't dare move without the wizard's permission.

“Tara'tylanhnem, is that you? What the—?”

“One moment, my dear,” came the wizard's voice in the darkness. “I will shed light both on the room and your situation.”

At his command, a glow lit up the scene, softly at first, then stronger, revealing Isabella seated in the center of the pentagram.

“Chem?” she asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, let's just say—”

“He saved your life!” burst in Tara. “May I get down now, Master?” Tara couldn't pronounce the wizard's name, and “master” was a term of respect that seemed to suit him. If he didn't like it, that was just too bad.

“What? Yes, of course.”

Tara jumped down and ran to hug her grandmother.

Isabella was surprised by the display of affection and awkwardly patted Tara's back. Seeing this, the old wizard frowned. The girl clearly gave all her love to her grandmother, but the latter didn't return it—or at least didn't show it. And Chem knew how dangerous it was to deprive a child of affection. He would have to talk to Isabella, and soon.

He was thinking about this and putting on his unusual shoes while the girl told her grandmother everything that had happened. At that, Isabella hugged her granddaughter tight. This time the wizard's eyebrows went up instead of down. All right, he thought, all is not lost.

But the woman quickly got a grip on herself. She was a little unsteady when she stood up, and Tara helped her, but she shook off the girl to walk alone. The wizard caught Tara's look of sadness and sighed.

When Isabella was sure that Deria, Tachil, and Mangus were all okay, she went upstairs to her office, followed by Tara and Chem.

“Tara'tylanhnem, would you mind going to your room, please? Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu and I have important things to discuss.” Before Tara could answer, the wizard spoke up: “No Isa, she's staying.”

Isabella was about to protest, but she yielded wearily, while looking at the wizard with annoyance.

“Good,” he said calmly. “Come over here, Tara, and let's see what your grandmother has taught you.”

“She hasn't taught me anything, Master! I don't know the first thing about spellbinders, attacks, or those elementary thingies.”

“But you do know that we're spellbinders?”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that one out,” said Tara sarcastically.

“You might say I saw it at work when my grandmother hit me with a forgetting spell and it wound up nearly killing both of us.”

The wizard looked uncomfortable.

“Hmm, we'll see about that later. For now let's start at the beginning, with the basics. There are a great number of peoples in the universe, living more or less at peace with each other. Like humans, these people have children, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents . . . anyway, the races live a long time. Their basic needs and limitations are the same everywhere: to eat, sleep, study—”

Tara was on familiar ground there, and she interrupted the wizard.