Wizard's eve

“What do you mean the end of the world?” spluttered Brad, glaring at Davos the Wizard.

“Precisely that” replied the wizard calmly as he took a sip of the lemonade he was sharing with his young apprentice. “I shall meet with Borac tomorrow at dawn on Landswidth Common”.

“But Master, you said you must never again come face to face with Borac”.

“We’ll hardly be face to face my young apprentice. We shall meet at either end of the common”, responded Davos.

“Ok I get it. The common is twenty miles across. But in Wizards terms, you will be face to face”, retorted Brad. “In any case, as I said, you told me you must never be in contact with Borac again”.

“That is why I said it will be the end of the world. Or at least it will be if I mess up”.

“But I don’t understand!” Brad was confused. “Why do you have to meet with your nemesis? You told me the story about how last time you met it almost resulted in your death. You said he employed ancient dark magic that no mage could defeat”.

“Indeed I did, and yes he did almost finish me off. But if I don’t face him he will plunge our world into dark times. Bad things will happen and creatures that we don’t dare dream of will walk these lands carrying out his bidding” said Davos gloomily. Then his mood lifted. “Anyway, that last meeting was a century ago. I have had much time to contemplate how to compete with his magic. I have travelled far and wide across the lands visiting numerous libraries and consulting with other wizards.”

“There are others?” gasped Brad.

“Of course there are others you foolish boy” scoffed Davos.

“Are they friends of yours?” asked Brad incredulously for he knew that Davos was not the sociable type and certainly would not consort willingly with fellows from a similar background. Or so he thought.

“Friends? Pah!” blundered the wizard. “This was business”. Then calming himself again he went on. “I discovered from conversing with one of these good chaps that a certain scroll existed written upon by no other than Ashen the Black. It contains the only incantation that that can negate a dark magic spell. But it can be used only once in any single Wizards duel”.

“Who was Ashen the Black?” enquired Brad, interested all over again.

“Ashen the Black was the single most important wizard in all our history” explained the sorcerer. “He lived thousands of years ago and kept our lands safe from any marauders who might seek to do us harm. He was the greatest wizard ever…”

“So what of this scroll?” interrupted the apprentice.

“After frequenting any number of these wizard friends” scowled Davos deliberately using the term ‘friends’, “I finally fell upon the scroll quite by chance. This strange little fellow, Albus I think he was called, left me alone in his library whilst he went in search of refreshments. He was absent for some time and whilst he was gone I idly took to browsing through the man’s books. I pulled out a copy of ‘Pratt’s potions’ – one of the best books of it’s type ever written; and there behind it on the shelf I spotted a scroll protected by a black leather case. Well, you can imagine my curiosity. I reached forward and extracted the package from its hiding place.  I gently removed the scroll and as I carefully unraveled the parchment I saw the heading ‘Defence against the darker arts’. Well I knew immediately that I had stumbled across the most important manuscript in the world, literally!”.

“So how did you manage to convince Albus to part with such an important artifact?”. Brad was awestruck.

“Well, he didn’t really have much say in the matter. When I realized what I had uncovered I pocketed the scroll and left immediately. Wrong I know and I don’t condone stealing. But that was almost a decade ago and I have heard nothing from the man. For all I know the poor fool could still be looking for refreshments.”

Davos stood and walked toward the window. As he looked across the land that stretched away before him like a luscious green carpet as far as the eye could see the sun was setting casting as amazing claret cloak across the sky. The leaves were beginning to fall as autumn was approaching and a covering of greens and browns scattered across the ground. All around was calm and tranquil.

“And now young Brad” said Davos, “off to your studies for I must prepare for this meeting of minds tomorrow with Borac. I must rehearse this incantation to be sure I have it right”.

Brad collected his things and quietly left the room. Looking over his shoulder he could see the wizard still gazing out of the window taking in the beautiful sunset. “I do hope you get that incantation correct” thought Brad worriedly. “I don’t think it would be much fun if tomorrow was the end of the world”.

End of excerpt....

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