Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [31]
Regidor grabbed Kale’s hand and pulled it away from her ear. “Listen, Kale. Fenworth knows we brought the rain. Listen, he’s mindspeaking to both of us.”
She inclined her head and heard the wizard’s crackling voice.
“Clever, that was. Unasked for, of course. Unneeded, for sure. But good thinking on your part if not exactly thought through. Now, children, let’s see if you can follow directions. I doubt it, but we’ll try. I’m altering this dehydration spell. Tricky business, throwing in a switcheroo at the last moment. But I’m a wizard, you know. Quite experienced at adaptation.
“Now listen carefully, my inexperienced but worthy apprentices. Think of each of us here. Not the mordakleeps, of course. Not the blimmets, either, come to think of it. But us! Think wet on the inside, dry on the outside. Normal in and out. Got that?”
Both apprentice wizards nodded as if the old man stood beside them.
“We can help, Kale.” Regidor squirmed closer to her side and threw his arm around her shoulders. “Fenworth says we can help.”
“Me too,” said Toopka and flung herself into Kale’s lap.
“Here goes,” said Regidor, his voice rising in excitement. “He’s going to release it.”
“Are we helping?” squealed Toopka.
“Yes!” shouted Kale and Regidor in unison.
Kale squeezed Toopka’s hand gently. “It’s kind of like mindspeaking. We’re all connected, and Wulder’s part of it too. He’s the biggest part. Do you feel it, Toopka?”
Before she could answer, a shiver zinged through the three huddled on the floor. With their arms around each other, the power sprang from one body to the next, linking them as it sped several times in a circle. Exhilaration filled Kale as the intensity ebbed away.
“He did it!” cried Regidor. “He dried up everything. The rain, the field, their clothes. The mordakleeps are dying.”
“Why?” asked Toopka. “Did he cut off their tails?”
“No. Their tails are shriveling and breaking off. The water’s all gone, and their tails have to be in water because mordakleeps have gills and breathe like fish. The gills are in the tails, but now the tails are on dry land. Oh yuck! Dead mordakleeps kind of drip into the ground.” He wrinkled his long squarish nose. “Their bodies lose their shape and dissolve into a mass of icky goo when they die.”
A giggle escaped Kale’s throat. A tear ran down her cheek. She remembered the last time she’d battled mordakleeps. The slimy creatures oozed into the forest floor, leaving noxious fumes behind.
Giddiness followed relief. Kale leaned her head back on the seat of Fenworth’s chair and laughed. Soon Regidor and Toopka joined her with wild cackling and hiccupped giggles. Kale tried to stand, but laughter weakened her knees. She collapsed in the big chair and wiped tears from her eyes. Toopka and Regidor rolled on the floor around her.
“Harrumph!” Wizard Fenworth stood in the door. His dry hair stood out wildly around his head. He clutched his hat in his hand and shook it at them. Minnows flew all over the room and flopped around wherever they landed. Fenworth frowned at the wiggling mess, waved his hand about in a distracted manner, and the tiny fish disappeared.
The old wizard refocused on the three youngsters, glaring fiercely. He started to shake his hat again, thought better of it, and instead shook the crooked branch he carried in the other hand.
“That’s my chair, and I have need of it. Away with you. What are you doing up? Sleep. No one sleeps at a decent hour anymore.” He stomped a foot. “I’ll have discipline from those under my care. An apprentice should show respect. Two apprentices should show twice as much respect. Out of my chair. Away to bed with all of you. You’d think this was a holiday.”
Kale heard Librettowit muttering behind Fenworth. The tumanhofer shoved the wizard unceremoniously to the side and forced his way into the room. Dar and Bardon followed, stopping to remove their boots caked with dried mud.
“Tut-tut, oh dear.” Fenworth peered into his hat, shook dried leaves from the crown, and