“Aaaah! Ouchh...” Agatha was in pain.
The Wizard immediately left his coffee on a rock and then tried to run towards Agatha while grabbing his tunic like a lady.
“Aaaah...shhhhh...” said Agatha, hurt.
“Oh dear...you do not seem ok at all...” said the Wizard while trying to grab Agatha,
Her leg was broken.
“Bother? Why don’t you come here to help?” asked the Wizard.
Roud was lying on the deck of his ship, still disoriented from the crash and feeling like throwing up.
“Oooh...oookkk...” replied Roud while feeling dizzy and getting back on his feet.
The blue Wizard helped Agatha to get back on at least one of her feet, the healthy one, of course. She grabbed the back and shoulder of the Wizard while holding her leg in pain with the other hand. Roud, meanwhile, attempted to jump off the ship and was slowly running towards them.
“Oh, for Lord Kloud, you have been too harsh this time, Agatha...” scolded Roud,
“Aaah...you talk about being harsh, Roud?” asked Agatha,
“Oh...so your name is Roud now, such a lovely name, don’t you think?” said the Wizard with a big smile while helping Agatha to walk on one foot towards his house.
Bracchius watched the scene from the door, a bit nervous, but did not move from that spot at all.
“Why do you think so...brother?” asked Roud,
“Well, did you ever notice you have the same ending letters as a cloud? I find it quite nice considering your last name was Redimitinsic...such a terrible name, Roud! It was like a tongue-twister! I very soon abandoned the chance to spell it all, so I just called you Redi, and many others only hail you Wizard of Light, since it was impossible to even remember it! Aaha!” said the Wizard,
“My mother Celest gave it to me, so I guess I was lucky this time, and what is your name? Oh, hail to you, Wizard of Wind?” asked Roud,
“I see you have not lost your humour even in this fusion of souls, Roud! My name is Menethas, wizard of wind, and for some others, wizard of air.”
“I still do not remember many things, Menethas...I do hope you can finally make me remember the lost pieces of my mind puzzle,” said Roud.
“This is why, my little dummy brother, I have sent you that letter...” said Menethas,
“I thought it was a joke, so I did not pay attention to it...” replied Roud with a dismayed smile,
“Why didn't you come in person? Why did you not come like in those old books, to teach me the ways of magic like a real mentor?” asked Roud,
“The fusion of souls is not an easy task to accomplish, Roud...memory has to slowly fuse with the soul of the body bringer, or you will fail to fuse or even worse, become a controversy of the mind with wrong thinkings. Which can lead you to become a dark wizard...that is why I could not meet you before, and mostly to an adolescent like yourself. An adult body is already fused properly with the Wizard soul, but yours is in a very delicate stage. Seeing me too early could have been a disaster, or at least, it is very risky, and we are in a rush, but not in a crucial time to risk making things even worse.”
“Mmmh, interesting...” replied Roud,
“Can you...pleeease...make me sit?” asked Agatha,
The two wizards just stopped in front of the door of the little tower house, having their conversation, forgetting completely about Agatha and her broken leg.
“Oooh dear, forgive us...let’s enter!” said Menethas,
The four of them, Bracchius included, entered the home of the Wind Wizard. It was such a special place.
Inside, despite the medieval style of the home, it was quite cozy, a huge open space with a kitchen in a tavern style, with a bar counter, bar stools, and wall cabinets full of stuff. On the other side, a big, warm fireplace, and a fancy blue four-seater sofa in front of it, with a white table carved from bone and a wind sculpture. These types of wind sculptures could move with the wind in certain directions and also make cozy sounds. On the other two edges of the table, there were two blue armchairs.
Right at the entrance, there was an entryway bench with a coat rack full of jackets in different colors. The huge room was round, like the tower from the outside, but seemed much larger than its dimensions suggested. From the walls, stairs went up the tower, ending at doors on the tower's walls? But those doors, once open, you would fall outside!
Agatha was in too much pain to even check the tower; Roud instead watched the inside with an open mouth. Menethas helped Agatha sit on the sofa, gently helped her lie down, and checked her leg. Roud then stopped watching all of a sudden and ran towards Agatha. He put his right hand on her leg and said...
“Lumines Eternas”
From his hand, a very powerful, intense white light emerged, covering her leg. The pain in Agatha’s leg disappeared.
“Better Agatha?” asked Roud,
“Yes...thank you, Roud...” replied Agatha, still breathing hard.
“This won’t cure a broken leg right now, but I fixed the cut and pain instantly for now...the leg instead, will heal faster, you should be able to run again and jump from boats in a week's time instead of a month or more...” smiled Roud.
The Wizard of Wind went back to his kitchen...
“So...tea or coffee?” asked Menethas,
“Coffee! Please..” said Roud and Agatha at the same time,
“Oh well...I guess today I will have a coffee more again...” replied Menethas
Meanwhile, an owl flew from the top of the tower to the sofa to check on Agatha.
“Oh, hello you there...” said Agatha while petting the owl,
“What is your name, cute one?” asked Agatha,
The owl accepted the cuddles; he seemed happy.
“Ahah! I got you! You never let me pet you like that, haaa? His name, Agatha, is Anacelot.”
“Hi Anacelot! You are so beautiful! You do not have many guests?” asked Agatha,
“No, we do not have Agatha so many guests, usually it was my older brother who would bring here his companions of adventures, I am more of a solitary Wizard”, replied Menethas
Menethas put the moka to make on the kitchen fire and walked back to Agatha. He sat on the armchair and began to talk...
“So, Agatha, assigned hunter of the Wizard of Light. You have passed the test of the wind; you are to become a flying knight.”
Agatha looked at the wizard, excited but also scared.
“You mean...you will teach me now how to train Bracchius?” asked Agatha,
“Who? Who is Bracchius?” asked Menethas,
“Him! I named him Bracchius...”, Agatha pointed at Bracchius while he started to try to hunt Anacelot without great results.
“Oh! Well...ahahahah!” laughed Menethas, “Nonono...he is not a beast to tame! Ahahahah! You did not tell her Roud?” asked Menethas,
“It was too risky to tell her Menethas, she is just a young girl...” said Roud,
“What do you mean? Roud?! What have you hid to me?” asked Agatha angrily,
“Mmmmh, you must be right, Roud. As always, you leave the younger brother to do the shocking speech...” replied Menethas,
“What on Sky are you talking about? Can you please tell me who Bracchius is once and for all?” asked Agatha while grabbing her broken leg, still a bit of pain.
“Grgrgrgrgrgrgrgr...”
“Oh, the coffee is ready...” Menethas went back to the kitchen to pour the coffee into some beautiful cups, then returned to the table with a tray.
“With patince my dear, I will tell you all...” said Menethas, giving the coffee cups to Agatha and Roud, and one to himself. He then put his legs across, took a sip of coffee, and so did the others...
Agatha never tasted a coffee so good in her life, it was far way better than the already special one Roud had from the King. Strangely, her love for food and taste got more important in her head than knowing who Bracchius is...
“Why is this coffee so good?” asked Agatha,
“It is not a special breed of coffee, Agatha. But as the Wizard of Wind, I have my own personal coffee plantation, where I cuddle my plants with the power of the wind. It actually brings the best to its taste, don’t you think?” asked Menethas,
“Ye...yess...this is so good”, replied Agatha, having another sip.
“Now, Bracchius, as you have called him, is not a beast first of all. He is, unfortunately, the only one of his kind, and he is not a tameble creature of the Sky. He is kind of immortal, like the elves. He lived millennia Agatha. He is the king’s jewel.”
Agatha coughed some coffee on the table...
The Wizard of Wind took a napkin from his pocket and cleaned the table while still talking...
“Yes, Agatha, Bracchius is the pet of the Royal family.”
“Why do I have the pet of the Royal family with me? And am I wrong, or did you just say elves?” asked Agatha,
“Yes, Agatha, I said elves”, replied Menethas
“You mean those elves in our children’s books?” asked Agatha,
“Yes, I mean those elves...” replied Menethas,
“You are joking, right? You are telling me stories like Liedath and the Thunder Lands or Bruenileth and the thousand arrows are real stories?” asked Agatha,
The Wizard looked at Agatha in the eyes...
“Yes...” replied Menethas,
“And where are these elves? We have no elves in the Sky mountains!” replied Agatha,
“No, Agatha, we do not have elves in the Sky mountains...elves live in the Sky Steppe and some others on the earth.”
“The Sky Steppe?” asked Agatha, “Never heard of them, and I travel all the Sky mountains!” replied Agatha in shock,
“The Sky Steppe Agatha are not in the Sky Mountains...you see, your world is the Sky Mountains because they have been shut from impenetrable clouds. Out there, Agatha, there is a world a hundred times the Sky Mountains. Not only on sky but also on earth. A thousand years ago, our lands suffered the largest strike in history by the dark forces. In order to repopulate these lands and allow our magical beasts to recover and prosper again, it was advised by the elves to close our borders in order to regain our strength again. They have offered themselves to bring the power of air to earth in any defence, also on our behalf if, after this period of recovery, we would defend them and help them prosper in the future millennia as well. As you may know, every thousand years, an element of this world regains its name in the calendar. What you may not know is that you also regain the power as the rulers of the world, or better, defenders of the world.”
Agatha was listening scared...
“We are now close to the new millennium, Agatha. We have prospered, and we risked losing it all with the civil war. Dark forces managed to come here even if the way was shut, and tried to destroy our future power against them by creating chaos within us.”
“The reason why Bracchius is with you, Agatha...is very simple. Do creatures bond with men?” asked Menethas
“No, they do not, but in the past they did...why they did and now do not? Is this test I passed for the flying Knights the reason? Only those who pass the test will bond with a creature? If that's so, why did I bond to Bracchius?” asked Agatha suspiciously,
“I shall answer without too many cloudy answers. Beasts and creatures were tameable, correct. We lost too many of them against Krenas, the dark elf. That has been terrible and almost wiped us out all. We knew that the dark forces would have found a way to enter the Sky Mountains even if shut. We got this advice from the elves. Creatures and beasts prosper and become stronger in the wilds than in captivity or in breeding. It was the best choice because, with the upcoming Civil War created by darkness, we would have lost so many creatures again. The sickness of darkness would have made a very good move for any future war against them. So we made a ritual with the Zenishans; they offered their lives to block the creatures from bonding or being tamed by men.”
Agatha was still listening, this time with such a thin breathing it almost seemed she was not breathing at all...
“But not all men are the same...so since you passed the test of the Flying Knights, flying nights are still able to bond with a creature, but this time you need one of these awakened stones...”
He stood up and went to a drawer from a wardrobe close by...
“And what about Bracchius? Why did he bonded to me? If he is not the creature I have to tame...why is he always with me?” asked Agatha, agitated.
Menethas took a dusty box out of the drawer and blew on it...
“Ah, yes...you see, our lineage of Kings is broken, Agatha. The lonely King has lost all his children in the Civil War and has made a great sacrifice to stop the killings and create a new order of power. The King’s jewel chooses the Kings when a line is broken and has no other descendants...so this, dear Agatha, makes you the future Queen of the Sky lands, for now...princess.”
