Chapter 6 – The Best Wizards’ Weapons Are Made by Themselves

Someone kept knocking at Elizabeth's bedroom willing to break in.

The girl was dressed and ready for school, but she didn't expect anyone to knock so early at her door. She looked at the books for the school day she was supposed to take with her, also prepared by someone, after which she opened the door.

“Finally ... I am so excited. Come on!”

It was Johnny. The boy quickly took her hand and pulled her out of the room.

“Where are we going?”

“You'll see.”

“I’ll take my books though,” she managed to get rid of the boy's hand grip and enter her room. In the blink of an eye, the girl came out with a pile of books she needed for her classes. She was in a hurry, because whatever made Johnny so impatient was of great interest to her as well.

Reaching the marble stairs, Elizabeth recognized some children who were colleagues with her as well as other students in the other classes. They all ran on the steps, some faster, some slower, some of them about to push her, others not greeting back.

But, the girl did not get upset about this. She smiled starting to hurry up with Johnny and even ran like the others. They climbed down the stairs only ... one, two, six, eighteen ... forty. Of course, while they were talking.

“Can you tell me why this rush?”

“What's the first class, you know?”

“Yes. Creative workshop.”

“And what do you think we do at this Creative workshop?

The girl shrugged slightly walking at a fast pace.

“I don't know, do we create things?”

“Exactly! Let's create one of the most important things for a wizard ...”

What an answer. This boy had the impression that he gave her the clearest possible explanation? That was the explanation in his answer. They will create the most important thing for a wizard ... Which of them? because there are many important objects, necessary for any wizard.

Elizabeth eventually quit asking for more clarification. When she arrived with Johnny in front of the door, where many students from the primary class stopped for wizard training, she managed to see from where she was a huge room, where many things hung in the ceiling.

All kinds of inventions one wittiest than the other. All kinds and sizes of brooms, who knows who used them long ago, when the old magi, as wizards were called back then used to travel great distances with such transporting objects. There were many types of pairs of wings, which also used to move from place to place, all kinds of magic weapons, watches and magic mirrors, various objects smaller or larger; if someone had questions, it would probably take a week only to mention their names.

There was even a huge carriage hanging from the ceiling, covered here and there by other smaller objects, hanging too, which probably not even the one responsible for this room remembered how or why they got there. Or ... what many of them could use for.

When they finally entered the room, the girl and the other students were amazed. They had never seen a room so big and full of things before.

And not just because in her life, the biggest area she entered was the small shoe factory near the orphanage. A small facility that smelled of oil and paint all the time, with at most 30 workers ... and where most "employees" were older children in the orphanage. Without earning much money, as most of it was taken by Mr. Harp. Still, children from the orphanage worked there with some workers.

But the imposing room they were in now was probably the largest room of all ... because one could barely comprehend everything inside, as there were so many things there.

There were so many things there ... Lots of worktops, surrounded by magic devices and numerous workshops, so that probably half of the students at Elmbridge magic school could attend the creation Workshop at the same time.

And above these worktops, at a great height, there were ... all sorts of things. Including that huge dragon skeleton, hanging in all its glory from several points in the ceiling, leaving the impression, as it was so scattered, that at any time it can grab someone in the room, running off.

There were also, among others, hanging from the ceiling or placed on shelves, human skeletons and ... of many other kinds. Some whole ... and on the worktops even just pieces of them, such as various animal skulls or from more or less known creatures, some of them being used even as a container for various magic famous liqueurs and potions, but unknown to many of those beginners. There were phosphorescent green potions, red or even black and viscous potions in those skull-bowls.

That workshop was full with lots of inventions, many unfinished but some that seemed to be far from the project stage, were almost completed. There were various representations of our solar system ... and other solar systems, as they didn't seem familiar to many of those who saw them.

Needless to speak ... There were, among others, many strange things, thousands in number in the workshop. And the guy who finally welcomed them ... seemed just as strange.

“Hello. I'm Smart.”

“I am smart too. Me too ... me too,” more students answer.

But the professor started to smile and added:

“No ... That's how my colleagues call me. Actually, that doesn't mean I'm not smart, but that's how the others call me. Actually my name is ... Just a second ... what is my name?”

Even stranger was that this professor seemed to forget completely what he meant, as he took an object in his hand, looked at it like a brother who saw his sister after more than ten years and was very happy.

“The compass of happiness ...! I have been looking for it for almost two months. I have to return it to ...:

But the professor's eyes stopped again on the crowd of students.

“Oh, yes ... you came to the creation Workshop. Of course you came. It's just ... Today is ...”

The professor looked at a device taken out of his pocket, which seemed to be some kind of compasses or something to help you navigate, but which answered his question: What day is it today?

“Of course, Tuesday.”

He invited the children to sit at the various work tables near which boiling cauldrons were prepared, glasses full of all kinds of sticks and twigs, dozens of jars with various things in them, all of which looked strange.

Like the famous phoenix feathers, which, held for more than a few seconds in hand, became ashes.

Or dangerous werewolf fangs, which could hurt, as some said, and the next night with full moon you could howl at the sky and become a real beast, cursed to run through the forest all your life. Of course, it is not always possible to take into account what some people say ... I think.

There were also unicorn hairs, thin, dried poplar roots, troll ears, tiny spider's legs, spider's eyes of all sizes, even as a tennis ball and more ... so many that a huge room would be necessary to store them. A room about as big as a palace, because that huge number of shelves where all this was stored did not fit anywhere.

There were also different dusty books, parchments, as if nobody read them since Merlin's time and a lot of jars filled with everything necessary for a wizard.

What was in there? I think that only if you wiped the thick layer of dust off them, you could really see what weird stuff was kept in the many jars on the shelves.

Finally, obeying to the professor's request, the children sat down in pairs at the work bench.

“So it's Tuesday today ...” he checked that object again as if he wasn't so convinced.

“I think he’s nuts,” Alexander whispered to a friend of his.

"My nuts are all right, I’ve got only one ear," he said, smiling at the child, then showing his only ear. Instead of it he had a brass funnel stuck, which seemed to be once a piece of an alembic or who knows what cauldron, probably used to boil various liqueurs in it.

But, that funnel seemed the least weird thing in this professor’s case. Although his appearance was neat, his beard was so long that it could be used to collect dust and debris from the floor or even a spider web from the shelves, so thick and long it was.

In fact, Smart even used it unintentionally for this purpose, when he took out various stuff from the jars on the shelves, collecting with his beard the dust or junk of spider web with spiders running scared through his beard. Probably this gave the professor a nervous twitch, to rub his beard almost all the time, to clean it.

Another strange aspect was his glasses. Better said ... binoculars instead of glasses. Because he had two magnifying glasses instead of lenses, which made his eyes look huge, like those of a fly on tiny head, still not helping him see much.

And the strangest thing was what he told the children, when he finished setting up a lot of ingredients on everyone's tables, including a pile of thicker sticks, as long as the forearm of the students there.

“Professor Squisshy, can you tell me ...?”

“Exactly! Lionel Squisshy is my name. Thank you, I almost forgot,” the professor yelled like a child who remembered his lesson when listened by his professor at school, with a thankful gaze to the little brunette girl who was in the immediate vicinity.

Alexander rolled his eyes, a sign that there was nothing worse than forgetting his name. Maybe he’s right…

“This man doesn't even know who he is or what his name is. How can he remember to teach the subject at the creation Workshop?”

But again, Smart's ears heard what the students whispered. In fact, the ear, or rather the funnel.

“You’re wrong, dear student. To let you know ... I'm not even a man, I'm a gnome.”

Silence in the classroom.

“And I haven't gone out for more than one hundred and thirty-eight years. I was younger then,” smiled Mr. Gnome.

He looked at the children and continued:

“And all this time I created many of these inventions that you see. Including these brooms that you use at the magic flight lesson ... or you play with them at ...”

“Nobody’s flown with such brooms for thirty years. It's an out-dated idea,” little Penny Glasgow said.

The professor stopped talking, astonished hearing these words.

“That's why young students didn't take them anymore. I really wondered ... How fast time passes and how many changes.”

He looked into a room and talked to someone:

“See ... I told you we need to talk to the students. Not just to conduct the Workshop without any interest in what happens out there.”

Then he looked at the children.

“This is what happens when you only talk to the person living next to you down here, and you don’t mind what the people out there have to say.”

“But who are you talking to, Mr. Smart?” asked Penny Glasgow.

“How come with whom? With Lionel Squisshy.”

The gnome rushed to what looked like his desk. He cleared his throat and said to the children:

“Hello, I'm Professor Lionel Squisshy and I teach you within the Creation Workshop, how to create your own magic wand.”

Waiting for cheers of joy, or who knows what sounds of trumpet as if he said something out of the ordinary, Lionel Squisshy showed a disappointed gnome face when he saw the children’s lack of enthusiasm.

Only Johnny and Elizabeth showed some joy, but it disappeared like a flame in the water, when they saw the others’ disappointment.

“But why? Many of us have wands, and others can buy as many wands as they want,” the bold Alexander started to speak.

“Because a wizard must know how to make his own weapon. Like any knight who ...”

“But the knights did not make their weapons. They had blacksmiths for this.”

Mr. Smart looked at the young Alexander like a man at his leg after stepping on a thorn. He knew this young man would make his class burdensome.

“That’s what we do within the creation Workshop. Today we make a wand ... And in the coming workshops we create other things. And finally we improve what we created. So open your books on page twenty-one. We skip the chapters where we are told what the magic wand is used for and we start to create it today. Make it a habit to come up with the chapter read at my class. Here we have no time to read, we need time for tinkering...”

The professor began to walk among the students.

“Take a wooden rod, because there can be no wand without it ...”

All the children obeyed.

“And boil it in the small containers you have in front of you, thirty minutes, forty-five minutes or ... an hour. Depending on what kind of wand you want to create. For hand-to-hand combat ... or maybe one worthier of a wise wizard.”

The children listened to the strange professor, some of them happy and excited, because finally they created an object with their hands. Even if it was just a wand that you can take almost anywhere, from any store or magic wand shop ... it was still one of the most important things any wizard should have. It was the wizard's weapon, as vital as a sword for a warrior: the famous magic wand.

…

“I'm really curious why it came out so red,” smiled Professor Lionel Squisshy, looking at Elizabeth.

“Three drops of venom.”

“Ah, poisonous cave bat venom? Very rare ... It helps in petrifying spells.”

“No, it's just bee venom.”

“Oh, it helps you play with time ... or turn the day into night and vice versa.”

“Professor Lionel Squisshy, I thought more about being able to ...”

“I'm Smart. Lionel is in the room for the creation of luminophobic objects, the professor indicates a dark corridor that led into a room located deeper in the basement of Elmbridge School of Magic.

The girl said nothing but looked puzzled at the professor.

“I see that you also added the beast herb. It helps you get through various locks. But for what? You just have a key that allows you to reach all the places where you are allowed.”

She was about to say something, but Mr. Smart wouldn't let her.

“What else did you put in the liquor in which you boiled it?”

“Mermaid tears.”

“Oh, mermaid tears ... Why?”

“I don't know exactly, but I read in an old recipe. And I thought ...”

“I'm going to look up in the ingredients book. I'm really curious.”

The professor moved away from Elizabeth, after that book, but as he took two steps, he again found a long-lost object.

“Smart! I found the fork! Finally ... For three years I've been eating with my hands, because I haven't found it. Wait to get it.”

But the professor put the fork in a little bag around his neck and headed to another student, completely forgetting whom he should give the fork to. But if we think better, he found its owner.

“What does your liquor contain? I also see tarantula hairs, very good.”

That student went about his business. And he worked with great care, as if he worked with a crystal wand.

…

“For more than fifty years I haven't seen anything like this. Or ... better said, I've never seen anything like this before.”

Elizabeth and Johnny, sitting at the same desk, stared at Mr. Lionel Squisshy as he swung that wand, as he kept twirling and twisting it, unblinking his eyes with the two huge zooms, gazing at that wand.

“Not even a crack. Not even a ... scratch.”

And again he started to spin and twist it.

Alexander, who was also close to the three, could not say anything to such an assertion.

“I also have such a wand, Mr. Smart.”

“No, I have already seen yours. It’s like a branch of a tree barely peeled, rough and full of knots and chips.”

Alexander got close to Mr. Lionel Squisshy, with his proud, lofty posture, displayed as every time by this Soimesti little prince.

“I'm not talking about the one I made. That's ... rubbish. I mean this one.”

And the boy took from his sleeve a beautifully crafted sheath, made of carved ivory and decorated with gold and diamonds, and inside that ivory he took a beautifully crafted wand, also adorned with gold threads and a diamond that looked as if it grew on top of that wand.

“It is an inheritance, left for more than three hundred years to my family, the boy piped up, when he saw how all his colleagues looked at that wand.

Almost the entire group of children stood there gaping, bug-eyed at Alexander’s legacy.

Smart took the wand and looked at it, as carefully as all the others, even wider-eyed, as if the two magnifying glasses got bigger.

“Yes, very beautiful. Worked with great care. Refined and elegant, worthy of a wizard prince. And the top diamond, obtained from the mines in Damascus, I suppose ... a real splendour. It gives it enormous power.”

Alexander was prouder than a peacock.

“But ...”

This ¨but¨ of Smart’s, or Lionel Squisshy’s, depends on which of them talked, intrigued everyone there.

“But what?”

"But this wand is not as perfect as the other," Smart replied to Alexander sharply.

The boy looked at his wand, then at Elizabeth's simple one, without any carvings, engravings or gold ornaments, after which he laughed.

“Hmm, what does a man who hasn't come out of the basement for over 100 years know? And who also has multiple personality.”

“I told you I'm not human. I'm a gnome,” Smart said without feeling offended by the boy's words, except that he was considered human. Apparently for him it was great pride to be a gnome.

Then he went on:

“And I'm sure of it, as I'm sure this little girl's wand is ... perfect. But yours, no matter how bright, is not perfect.”

Alexander was a boy perhaps too stubborn and too proud, but he was not so stupid as to contradict a professor endlessly.

“We'll see when we try them. Let's see which is perfect”.

The boy took his wand, put it back in the sheath, and hid it in the wide sleeve of his school clothes, then went back to his work table to continue making his wand ... that rubbish.

Smart took Elizabeth's wand again, placed another huge magnifying glass next to the ones attached to his eyes, and then exclaimed again:

“It's perfect ... as if made by forest elves.”

And he moved away.

The girl was glad that at the creation class she managed to make her "wizard's sword", that wand, properly, but all this time, careful as always, she asked Johnny:

“What are the forest elves?”

“Some creatures that lived long ago. It is said they were the first wizards.”

“Some horrible creatures, ugly and not too smart, even if they have the impression that they are. But any gnome would tell you the same as me if you asked,” the same Mr. Smart, who could hear anything, intervened. “Some say it's better they disappeared and I agree with them. Yet, unfortunately they did not disappear ...”

Then the professor went to the desk, speaking nonsense for the children’s ears.

"It seems they are creatures that gnomes don’t really like," Johnny concluded the story about those forest elves.

The children continued to work on their wands.

“Each of you tuck the wand with the chosen gem into this furnace, one at a time. Diamond, ruby, sapphire or jade, it doesn’t matter... stick the gem to the wand or what you want to attach to the top, with basilisk glue, then insert it here. But be careful, the fire inside is even hotter than the sun. Leave it there until you count three dragons, and then drop it into this cauldron, where the wind and the blast of midnight wind are hidden. But ... be careful to take it out in the blink of an eye, otherwise it breaks the wand into pieces, as it happens to an icicle...

…

Professor Lionel Squisshy checked the students’ creations. Those weapons that will turn them ... into wizards.

But the proficiency and the fame of the wizard only depended on them.

In any case, they had much work to do in this regard, given Mr. Smart's encouragement:

“This one has a crack in the top of the gemstone. You can hurt yourself with it, you can put out an eye. Throw it!” a girl with red, curly hair just got feedback.

“This one has a crack inside the beech wood, as big as a million years old canyon. It will break at the smallest magic that comes out of it and you can even cut a vein by mistake. Throw it away,” he said to a boy who didn’t seem so upset, considering he didn’t put as much effort and thoroughness as others.

“This one ... to spare you from getting hurt, I'm breaking it right now.”

The professor broke that wand like a toothpick. The dark skin girl’s face darkened even more, but only for a moment, as Professor Smart placed a beautiful wand in her right hand.

“You can keep it until you manage to make one as good. Just don't start crying because I saw thousands of girls crying and I’m fed up with it.”

The girl started to smile, but not because the professor asked, but because she got a wonderful wand: reddish because of the cherry wood it was made of, with green aura surrounding both the wand and the girl's hand, from the jade stone which was on top.

Lionel Squisshy got close to Elizabeth's wand again and as if he saw it for the first time, and exclaimed again, to Prince Dragoesti’s indignation:

“Perfect! Finally a perfect wand!”

And he started the inspection of that wand again.

…

“Now, let's try them,” Professor Lionel Squisshy told the students

They all cheered up, as everyone waited anxiously the end of the workshop, to be able to prove their skill.

"They look like kids who first tasted a shrinking truffle," Alexander told his followers. “Kids ... They will see immediately they are nothing more,” once again the "modest" Alexander managed to judge the others.

As if it was natural to turn into a smaller version of yourself. But for kids like Prince Soimesti, used to magic as everyone is used to waking up every morning and falling asleep when night comes, it was nothing but normal.

Elizabeth was also a happy kid who managed to make beautiful little things with their hands.

But what was to come will make them even happier.

“Elizabeth Edwards. Please spell with me ...”

The girl waited a few moments, but as Smart said nothing, only admired a small skeleton of ... a mouse apparently, with small hooves, but considering the way Smart looked at it, perhaps he didn’t know either what it was.

“Professor Squisshy,” Elizabeth disturbed him.

As if awakened from a dream, Mr. Lionel Squisshy, aka Smart, turned to her with a smiling face.

“Um, as I can see, you have many skills ... including the ability to control water.”

Unaware how the professor knew things and what they meant, eager to see what her wand can do, the girl kept listening to the professor carefully.

“Move the wand as if you flick water into the air and say “Ascensionem Aqua”.

This girl did exactly what he asked.

“Ascensionem Aqua.”

Water rose in the air forming a kind of water chain, and the little girl felt in her hand the wand tingling, as if it were part of her body.

“Can you see what a perfect wand looks like? Elizabeth managed to control water. It helps if you handle it very easily to activate magic. It's like having a very well-worked, sharp sword that helps you defend yourself ... and attack very fiercely. Lethally, I would say.”

All the children stared "what the hell is he saying?"

“Of course, you still have to become very skilled wizards in ... knowledge and use of magic. To know when, how and why use it? To become real wand swordsmen.”

The girl couldn't be prouder when she saw she could do whatever she wanted with water. She could… she could control water as she wanted. Finally, she was a real wizard.

She made some small shapes out of water, pointed them at her colleagues and surrounded them, after which she got the water back.

She looked at the professor curiously, but he said:

“If you point the wand slightly downwards, as if you no longer use it, magic loses its effect. It's like doing something, then you think you don't want it anymore. And then everything ends. But I am glad to see you have chosen the path of a wise wizard. When you deepen the magic like controlling water, you succeed in doing what you want with it. But this requires a lot of work... you all need to work hard on what you get through. These magic tricks become part of you.”

“What to dig deeper? What will become part of me? Me, wise wizard ...?” these questions flashed in the girl's mind. She didn't understand anything about what this professor kept saying. Little by little, she began to agree with Alexander.

The professor ended the discussion, then headed for another student, leaving Elizabeth with her thoughts.

“Let's see your wand, Mr. Alexander Soimesti.”

The boy took out the wand made at the creative Workshop, but the professor signalled that he wanted to use the one from the beautifully crafted sheath ... that family heirloom.

Alexander elegantly took it out of his sleeve, then from the sheath and without waiting for a word of approval from Smart, he cried twice:

“Flammis acribus flamma! Flammis acribus flamma!”

Two fireballs headed toward two jars placed on the shelf. When they were hit by magic, both jars with everything in it became small ashes.

“Very good ... but you may notice it took a little longer until the spells were created with his wand. It's a huge difference between the two wands ...”

The children looked at Lionel Squisshy in wonder. It seemed he just thought there was something different between the two wands. Except one magic controlled water and the other fire, neither saw a difference, only enjoyed that magic show offered by the two wizard kids.

“Whatever ... Mr. Soimesti's wand is for warrior wizards. Specially designed for fighting. And even if Mr. Soimesti chose to know the magic of fire, the magic aspect that provided the most ... wizards among the Dragoesti’s family, who rose up against the Consulate of Magic, I hope he will be an exception. For, there have been many exceptions in recent years, anyway ...”

Everybody was silent.

“Ready for today ... I don’t want to see any student here in a minute. Just me and Smart.”

The children quickly left the classroom, leaving behind a gnome, that strange and small creature, who never in the world wanted to be considered a human.

Some of the children were happy considering they created something, others considering that next time they would do something new, and Elizabeth ... glad that she had become a wizard.

She, a few weeks ago a mere orphan, had now acquired a family and a purpose for which to prepare and learn in life, just as any child should do. That of becoming a wise and skilful person ... and in her case, a wise and skilful wizard.

…

“Maybe Professor Lionel Squisshy is a little weird. And he may sometimes speak of Smart as someone else, but he is very wise. And he has some skills that many others don't have ... It's one of the few gnomes living today.”

Elizabeth listened intently to Professor Knudlac, as he watched the stone elves who cleaned the dry twigs of trees and bushes with their wands.

“For over a hundred years he helped to the best wizards’ training. He was my professor too, in fact ...”

Mr. Knudlac continued his journey followed by Elizabeth. After a few minutes when he inspected a few meadows, he stopped and spoke to some stone elves that followed him.

“In this meadow we will build the stable for the pair of white deersaurs.

“Deersaurs?” the girl asked in surprise. She didn't know anything about those creatures.

“Yes, a young couple. They are ... a doe and a deer both huge. And white ... It seems there are only two such pairs in the world.”

Knudlac saw the stone elves gathering and forming a small group.

"But ... there are some trees that stand in our way," said one of those stone elves.

"We will get rid of them," said the professor.

“Will you cut down these trees?” the girl looked intrigued at those trees that had yellow and bloody red leaves, another had them as black as ebony and another, so transparent that, if you looked closer you could see how the sap flowed through the ribs of the leaves.

“No, dear, these are trees brought from the Sacred Tree Forest ... it is said the elves sowed them when they first came to our world. Maybe it's a legend, maybe not. What we know for sure is they have healing powers. And then, forests are important for us, for our survival. They provide us with the oxygen without which we’re lost. Nature could live without us, but we can’t without it. That's why we have to value it and defend it ... from us.”

“And then how can we clear the area?”

“We ask them to move somewhere else. There could be a good place,” Mr. Knudlac said. “So ... Postulantes ut patet per viam.”

Some loud, deafening crackles began to be heard after these words. For any outsider, it could be bad predictive noise. Not for those gathered there. Not for Elizabeth, who was quiet when she saw how calm Professor Knudlac was.

However, shy, she got closer to the professor and began to admire the show standing by his side.

The roots of the trees began to emerge from the earth, like earthworms. After the root tips of the tree near them, the tree with black leaves, came to light, there was a broken branch sound. The tree rose gently, slightly, until it seemed like a ballerina who instead of standing on top of her feet, stood on the tip of its thick roots, and began to move as slowly as a snail.

Even so, all the trees that were asked and followed the black tree, began to move to an area indicated by Professor Knudlac.

The tree marathon began, under everyone's eyes.

After a few moments of silence, when only crackles could be heard, a stone elf got close to Knudlac.

“Now we have to solve the problem with the group of trees near the Lake.”

"Yes, I know," said the professor. “Please call the others if they finished their task near the western gardens.”

Some elves disappeared after the others.

“My dear, now we have to go to a slightly more dangerous area where you need me. As I told you ... If Lionel told you the wand is very good, as well as the path of magic chosen by you, it means that it is right. He knows what is good because he can see what we cannot see. So are the gnomes, masters in predictions about magic and not only.

The professor smiled slightly at the girl, then walked to the group of stone elves. When he was surrounded by them, they began to disappear one by one, including Knudlac, leaving behind a hollow green area, as if there was nothing there. Only the grass and those trees moving as slowly as helpless elders to the area where they lived.

The girl got back to Elmbridge School raising its lofty towers toward the sunny sky and made her way to it.

She had a full, but beautiful day. And she couldn’t wait getting into her room to see what else she could do with her wand. She had so many books about magic to read and so many spells to try with her wand.