Z-Seasonal Garden Chapter 37

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
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     I tore the island apart; the mice ran in fear of my wrath. I could no longer pursue them myself; instead I had to use my traps. Mice were very smart and very stupid at the same time. Something about cheese had them coming back for more even if it meant they’d risk death to get it. So, I relaxed in the spring and let my creation do all the work.
     I had never been one of power; actually I was usually the furthest from it. I was an average spellcaster, and was never close to royalty, but now I was the one calling the shots. I first had to bend to the will of the seasons, and then I bent back. If I thought spring took too long, I brought along summer, or if fall was too dull I’d reign in a torrent of snow. It was out of the vermin’s hands. I felt the
power flow through me, dark magic I had never touched before. It could have helped Plankrun and me a lot in the Mousoleum.
     My breath caught in my chest. I hadn’t given Plankrun a second thought in days, maybe weeks. I tried to shake him from my mind but couldn’t. With the mice on the run I had too much time to think, and that was a dangerous thing. I picked up my volume of the Forgotten Book and flipped to the last page. I remember my Grandfather reading this too me when I was a boy.
     “And it is the first ever mouse hunter’s duty to banish the evil from the lands, or die trying. Should he fail, a curse will ripple through the world and man will fall.”
     I had cringed at that once before, but it couldn’t still be true. For a time I had pretended I was that hunter, but grandfather had to explain that it would be no one from my land. For none of us were true hunters, just men entertaining the idea.
     I stood up suddenly angry, I let my guard down and let the past in. it was not my concern what happened to Plankrun, he was on his own now and nothing I did would help him anyhow. Irritated spring wasn’t moving along fast enough I called forth the summer.
     I stood; eyes shut, and let the heat of power consume me. A hum rumbled from my core, and then vibrations rippled out into my surroundings. I heard squeaks of panic as mice ran into hiding. For mice of one season could not survive in another. Spring wilted away and scorching heat replaced the puddles. I preferred the heat now, heat held energy, heat held power.
     I knew that bringing a season before it was expected would draw some attention. So I stood waiting for the Mage to come to me. I would not go to him. I felt a blast of scorching heat whiz by me. It singed my sleeve as it went. He had not missed, for he was never really aiming for me.
“You have my attention.” I grinned, opening my eyes.
“What gives you the right to change the seasons!”
     This was the first time I had heard the Summer Mage speak. I had expected more. He seemed weak to me now.
“This is my Island now, and you had better get use to that. I will let your kind stay; after all I have to have something to do in my down time.”
     The insult sent a boiling rage through his core. I saw the heat build into a sphere of pure energy. If it were to hit me I’d be burned worse than my first time. I smiled. I didn’t move as he sent the ball of heat my way. I stood perfectly still and let it hit me. Just before it touched my skin I reversed his magic. Instead of letting it harm me, I absorbed the heat and the energy, then doubled it with my own reserves and sent the ball back towards him.
     The mouse didn’t even have time to gasp before it was killed. His fur was singed but I was after something a little more durable. The mouse was meaningless to me, just a carcass. I reached into his now tattered pair of shorts, and pulled out the summer key. I felt my eyes burn red for a moment as I let the power from the Mage’s ball of energy fade from me completely, then I sprinted to the steps of the tower.
     Shaking I put the key in the door. Nothing. This was expected, so I pulled out the winter key, having not tried it yet. Nothing. I tried all four keys again and again, but all of them were too small. I didn’t understand it, how else was I suppose to get it. Anger boiled in me and I hurled the keys at the door. Two of them bounced of the stone steps and landed together. I watched them as they glowed lightly then fused together as one. My mouth dropped. I picked up the other two that had landed to the right of me and touched them carefully to the others. They all fused together.
     Shaking I put the key in the lock one more time. It turned and a click echoed off the ancient walls inside. I pushed the door open but stayed on the steps.  It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the dark of the entryway. I stepped inside and the door closed behind me.
Once locked inside candles burst into life. All of them with blue flames.
“There’s only one way out now hunter!” a distant voice laughed and it echoed across the seemingly empty room. I couldn’t find the speaker. “You must play!”
I looked down and saw large black and white squares covering the floor. A chessboard. When I glanced back up again there was an entire row of pawns. But they weren’t pawns they were mice. And I was alone.