13
ANOTHER PLAN
Kale ran her fingers through her hair, grabbing hold and pulling as if she could yank the answer out of her head.
“We have to get the water above the blimmets. If the tornado’s above them, maybe the wind won’t blow everyone to smithereens.”
“How? How? How?” Toopka hopped with each word.
“Stop jumping,” barked Regidor.
“Jumping!” said Kale. “Regidor, imagine the tornado jumping! Hopping in the air, like Toopka.” She clamped her hands on his shoulders and gave him a shake. “Think of the tornado jumping into the air over the field and hold that thought. Hold the tornado in the air.”
Kale grabbed on to the image with her mind. As soon as she touched the energy of the storm, she knew it had already weakened. Their skills were not developed, and their minds certainly were not disciplined for such a tremendous task.
“Oh, Wulder, help.”
Regidor squeezed her arm. His clawlike fingernails pricked her flesh. His voice came out in a gravelly whisper. “The tornado is above the field. The blimmets are almost directly below and tunneling upward.”
“Hold the tornado,” begged Kale. She felt the energy of the whirling storm seeping away from her. “We have to control the tornado. Wait until the blimmets break the surface, then release it.” She moaned. “It’s falling apart, unraveling.”
“Hold it, Kale! The blimmets are almost to the top.”
“It’s weakening. I can’t.”
“Just a few more seconds.”
Kale begged Wulder to take over. I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough. Wulder, I can’t.
“Now!” screamed Regidor.
Kale collapsed on the floor and felt the tornado give way to a cloudburst.
“What’s happening?” cried Toopka.
Regidor gave a hoot of triumph. “The blimmets are drowning. As they come out of the dirt, they get hit full in the face with water, tons of it.”
“Tons?”
“Well, maybe not tons.” He looked at the tiny doneel with annoyance, and then his face relaxed into a jubilant grin. He grabbed Toopka and whirled her around the room, dancing a jig and hollering. His long tail knocked over smaller furniture, but the clatter only added to the joyful noise.
Kale took deep breaths and scooted to sit with her back against Fenworth’s chair. She reached with her mind and checked each of her comrades. Everyone was drenched but healthy. She even touched Fenworth, reassuring herself that he was alive, even though she could not delve into his thoughts.
They’re safe. Thank You, Wulder.
A frisson of fear gave her goose bumps.
“Regidor?”
The dragon skipped to her side and plopped down on the floor, sitting in his favorite position with his legs crossed.
“We did it, Kale.”
She shook her head. “Where are the mordakleeps?”
Regidor closed his eyes, and a puzzled expression wrinkled his scaly brow.
“They’re strong. Stronger than before. The hurt ones are well again. Uncut, unbruised.”
Kale dropped her head into her hands. Not wanting to listen, she slid her palms over her ears. She still heard Regidor’s deep voice.
“Everything is wet and that helps them. Fenworth is still working on the dehydration spell. It’s almost finished, and he’s going to cast it around their tails, one by one.”
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 placed it on the hook by the entryway. A couple of mice dropped from his cloak and scampered out the open door. “We’ve company here and more coming.”
“Who’s coming?” asked Toopka.
The wizard growled, glared at the child, and pointed his bony finger her way. Toopka’s small frame rose into the air and floated across the room, landing in the hammock she called her bed.
“Tut-tut. Tomorrow, child, tomorrow.”
The lights went out, and Kale found herself in her own bed with the cover tucked around her.
How did I get here? Fenworth! I’ll never sleep. I’m too excited. I want to talk to Dar. I even want to hear what Bardon has to say about the battle with the mordakleeps.
In the background, she heard Toopka. “We didn’t get a bedtime snack.”
Regidor’s voice rumbled from some distance away. “You ate before you went to bed the first time.”
“But this is the second time. We didn’t have a second bedtime snack to go with the second bedtime.”
“I’ll fix you a second bedtime snack in the morning. You can have it for breakfast.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Kale smiled and rolled over. She closed her tired eyes. They were suddenly too heavy to hold open. The adventure seemed like something from a book. But no, it was real. She and Regidor had done something spectacular.
It’s a shame I don’t know how we did it.
She rolled over and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
“I didn’t even get to say hello to Dar,” she grumbled and promptly fell asleep.