Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [37]
I’m glad you’re here. Kale spoke directly to Leetu’s mind.
Without an outward flicker of acknowledgment, the emerlindian answered. “Friend, we have another adventure ahead of us. Paladin issued a call for warriors and for you in particular.”
Kale nodded and carefully watched her comrades from the previous quest.
Both the officers were of the same height, yet Lee Ark embodied tension and a lethal force waiting to be unleashed. Leetu displayed grace and tranquility.
They answered Bardon’s salute with a tap of a fist to the chest, Lee Ark’s sharp and Leetu’s casual.
“Welcome to my castle.” Wizard Fenworth stepped forward and clasped both of Lee Ark’s arms at the elbows. Lee Ark grasped the wizard’s lean forearms.
“I bring urgent news,” he said.
Fenworth nodded. “Yes, yes. Urgent, deadly, insidious. The world is in peril, and we must rise against evil.” The old wizard released the general and patted him on the shoulder. “Tea and cake first, don’t you think?”
16
WIZARDRY LESSON TWO
“Now, the universe, children, is made entirely out of three things.” Fenworth dusted crumbs from his beard and dislodged a lizard. The creature grabbed a chunk of leftover dessert and darted under the wizard’s chair. Ignoring the skittering reptile, Fenworth looked around the table where the members of the quest had assembled for tea and cake.
“Three things so small that they cannot be seen by the eye of anyone but Wulder.”
Librettowit nodded in agreement and sipped his tea.
The wizard closed one eye and stared with the other at a point above the empty cake platter. A cloud of green mist formed, hovering over the middle of the large wooden table. Its color faded to white, and then an image became clear as wisps of cloud drifted away.
Kale watched the translucent, three-dimensional picture of a bowl tilt slightly so they could all see the creamy batter within.
“Harrumph.” Fenworth cleared his throat and patted his beard. “This is batter for pancakes.”
Toopka licked her lips.
“Add three eggs,” said Fenworth. Three eggs floated into the image, tapped on the side of the bowl, and emptied with a plop, plop, plop into the batter. The shells disappeared. A wooden spoon stirred. “And now you have batter for crepes.”
The spoon lifted and thin batter dripped into the bowl.
“Add flour,” said Fenworth. Two glass cups of flour appeared over the bowl and dumped their white powdery contents into the batter. The spoon stirred. “And you have cake batter. Add more, and you have dough for daggarts.” Another measuring cup came barreling out of nowhere and jettisoned flour into the bowl. The moment the glass cup was empty, it shattered, but the smithereens vanished into nothing.
Fenworth cleared his throat. “You see how changing the amounts of the ingredients changes the substance?”
Kale nodded her head but had no idea how this related to the three very small things Fenworth said made everything in the universe.
“Wulder took three ingredients and made the world,” continued the wizard. “Of course, He also created the three ingredients. One is ozoic, the second is azoic, and the third is ezoic.”
The picture above them changed to three round dots, one red, one blue, and the other white.
“In the first element we will examine, we have one ozoic and one azoic.”
The bowl reappeared, and the red dot and blue dot fell into it much as the eggs had.
Except he didn’t crack them on the edge. Kale suppressed a giggle.
“Don’t let your mind wander, Kale,” the wizard’s voice entered her thoughts, reprimanding her.
Yes sir.
The bowl disappeared, leaving the two colored dots suspended in midair, clinging to one another. The white dot circled the pair.
Librettowit looked up from his mug. “A simple substance. Same three ingredients which make up all substances, only in different combinations. A wizard, with the right knowledge, can call together