Tom had not realised he had disappeared even after he reappeared in the room that he had met his father in the previous night. He thought it was another neither here nor there experience. His father spoke.
“Tom, sorry about that, Llewel was getting me very frustrated, so I intervened and brought you here to be with me.”
“But I’m not really here, am I? I’m there as well.”
“No, this time, you really are here, physically and in the flesh.”
“How did you do that?” Tom stuttered.
Tom felt an overwhelming urge to hug his father, but fought it off, as he still had not come to terms with his father’s disappearance all those years ago. He desperately needed a hug but now was not the right time or the right person.
“Come look....”
In the centre of the room was a fire pit, he waved his wand over it and as they looked into the flames, they could see Llewel the Elder jumping up and down in rage, Flintock standing quite still with a slightly bemused look on his face while Llewel spent his rage. Tryg was nowhere to be seen, he probably thought it was wise to stay out of the way for a few minutes.
“Can’t you magic Flintock and Tryg here too?” asked Tom.
“Sorry son, this is between you and me now. I’ll let Flintock know you are safe, but I can’t bring him here or even let him know where we are, if you, Flintock and Tryg all disappeared, the High Elders might not understand and accuse him of treachery.”
“Shame, I quite like Flintock. So, why now? Why bring me here now and not earlier?”
“Well, that’s twice and almost three times that Asmodeus has found you, so who’s letting him know where you are? And whose letting him know where you might be next? That is the question I need answering.”
“Well it must be Llewel the stupid Elder, mustn’t it?” said Tom.
Llewellyn smiled at Llewel’s new title.
“You shouldn’t call him that, I know he hasn’t earned it, but a High Elder still deserves a little respect.”
“Sorry,” Tom said unconvincingly.
“Trouble is, once you told Flintock that you no longer had the ring, then you put yourself in danger.”
“How? Flintock would not betray us, he said that you and he were besties.”
“Yes, we are ‘besties’ as you call us, but, small as it might be, it was a risk I was not willing to take.”
“But how did it put me in danger?”
“I’m afraid it’s all about the ring. All the time they thought you had the ring; you were a valuable commodity. Put simply, once you no longer had the ring, you were, in many ways, and to some people, surplus to requirements. It’s not you anyone is interested in, it’s the ring. They think the ring is the answer to the disappearing magic in Trymyll, which incidentally, it’s not.”
“But what about you, has your magic been getting less powerful?”
“No, and neither has yours. In fact, although I have now brought you here so that you can fully realise your magic, I can sense that you already have more power than many wizards I know, and your power is growing exponentially. But now you need to learn how to control both your power and the urge to use it.”
“Meaning?”
“What do you mean by ‘meaning’?”
“What does,” Tom’s speech slowed to single syllables, “what does expo tent shelly mean?”
His dad laughed.
“It means that your power is growing faster and faster as each day passes. With that wand, you could, and probably will become one of the greatest wizards ever known. Even greater than the Elder of Elders, whose name is and shall remain a mystery to all.”
“Who’s he then?”
“Well, the Elder of Elders, he is the highest wizard in the land, He is always referred to as the Elder. The other elders believe that this is because his real name is unpronounceable, but in fact, they have never been told his name at all. They cannot recognise him, because they have never seen his face, and they do not recognise his voice because he speaks so little and so softly.”
“Wow, how do you know all these things and the High Elders do not?”
“Oh, my goodness, the wisdom of the wand is working its magic on you already!”
“And how did he become the boss elder anyway?”
“Too many questions for now, when you are ready, everything, and I mean everything, will be revealed to you. Now, I believe you said you were hungry back there. Come let’s eat and meet your brother Jon.”
Tom and his dad moved into the next room, there was a table piled high with food, but Tom had no eyes for the food, he just stopped and looked over at his brother. He was a few inches taller than Tom, but apart from that Jon looked exactly like him. Same long and curly ginger hair, blue eyes, freckles over his nose and skinny as a rake. For what seemed an eternity, they both just stood there staring at each other.
Jon spoke first, "Hi Tom,” he said quietly.
“Hi,” Tom replied sheepishly.
There then followed another staring competition while they both stood eyeing each other.
Their father spoke first, “Come on, let’s eat, Tom must be starving.”
It was very strange for them both, seeing the brother they had never seen before. Well, Jon had seen Tom, but he was so young he couldn’t remember him, and Tom had seen Jon, but only through baby eyes. So, neither knew the other.
They tucked into the food and soon the conversation was flowing, they talked of rugby, how Wales was doing in the Six Nations Cup, whether they should replace the prop forward or not. Was their fly-half up to the job? They talked about football and how Cardiff City was placed in the F.A. Cup. Then Jon remembered to ask after their mother, the mood then went sombre.
Tom then spoke quietly and with reverence, "She’s fine in herself, happy and that, but not well at all. She’s in a wheelchair now and must carry oxygen around wherever she goes. Dad, if I could go back, I could help her, couldn’t I? Make her well like?”
Llewellyn almost welled up to hear Tom call him dad for the first time. Tom also noticed what he had said, and for the first time realised he felt affection for his father. He rushed to him and hugged him and, also for the first time in his life, tears rolled down his face. Tears rolled down both their faces. They just stood there, hugging each other, and loving each other for what seemed like an age.
Jon coughed, “Don’t mind me like," he said.
Llewellyn beckoned him over, they all hugged, they all cried tears of emotion. They were family.
“Yes Tom, we can all go back and visit, but only once the job here is done. But don’t worry about your ma, she’s fine. A miraculous cure came over her soon after you left. I’m afraid that was all part of the illusion created by me and Howel, so you would have to go and live with those terrible Hadley Smythes. Really sorry about that, but you know how Howel is, likes to think he’s a very posh dragon indeed.”
“Why did the Hadley-Smiffs say they were Welsh then? They didn’t sound Welsh at all. And why did I have to go live with them then?”
Well, the first bit is easy. Howel is very Welsh, he is a Welsh Dragon, born and bred in Wales. Just like the one on the Welsh flag.”
“But that’s Red!”
“Red? Don’t tell me they’ve got it wrong,” Llewellyn laughed, “anyway, Hadley Smythe or Howel to give him his real name, had to work quite hard to ‘bend’ your mind and get you ready to come over to this side of the veil. Your mind is very firm and quite closed to probing by mind-benders, which is why he was calling you to the cave for a couple of months but could not get you to go in. It’s also why, when I called you in your dreams, instead of your ‘self’ coming over to where I was in the ‘neither here nor there,’ you wouldn’t budge. Just lay there snoring. Llewel the Elder tried several times to probe into your mind because he thought you were someone else, the fact that he failed only made his paranoia worse. For some people, mind-bending is just so easy that even a non-magical human can do it. Like on the hypnosis shows you see on the television where they get members of the audience to dance like chickens, but others, like you, are a very hard nut to crack, but we had to get into your mind before you came over.”
“Why?”
“Because Trymyll can be a dangerous place, so Howel and I had to be able to read your thoughts and give you thoughts as well, it’s not mind-reading or control, it’s just thoughts and suggestions. For example, had you gone into the Wand Wood without some subliminal suggestions, you also might have come out with a wand that couldn’t even make a good apple pie!”
“What is your wand made of Jon?”
“It’s similar to yours and dad’s, but unlike you and dad, I just can’t connect to it,” Jon said in a dejected sort of voice.
“Yet,” said Tom.
“No, I don’t think I’ll ever connect to it properly,” said Jon.
“Yes, you will. You’re my big brother, so you can do anything I can do and more. That’s what big brothers do.”
Llewellyn felt quite proud of Tom, he was an encourager as well as a healer and restorer. And who knows, perhaps he is right. They just needed to find a way to unlock the power of Jon's wand, to get him and his wand connected.
“But first, I have a confession, sort of, well, maybe more good news and some bad news,” Llewellyn said almost sheepishly, “good news is, you really do have the potential to become a great wizard, the bad news is, as I sort of said before, most of the magic you have done up to now wasn’t actually you, but me acting through your wand. But the next news is either good or bad depending on your point of view. For the next while, I will be teaching you how to do it all by yourself.”
“Lessons,” Tom said, “I did think it was all a bit too easy. But much as I hate lessons, this one will be worth it, so let’s start soon before I go off the idea!”
“Come, let’s go into the next room, it’s my little schoolroom. I think you’ll like it.”
They went through a door and stepped out into a vast desert plain which went on, completely flat until the sky met the earth. The sky was azure blue, the sand as white as snow. It was incredibly hot, and a bright sun hung in the sky.
“Oh,” said Tom, “I thought you said the next room, but we’re outside.”
“No, we’re not actually, watch.”
Llewellyn flicked his wand, the sky darkened, the moon appeared, stars twinkled and there was suddenly quite a chill in the air. Another flick and they were in a vast mountain range, snowy peaks disappearing into the distance an icy blast penetrating to their very bones. Then in a dark damp cave deep in a mountain with the grunts of animals and unknown horrors all around. Then at sea in a small boat bobbing up and down on the waves land nowhere to be seen and dark clouds gathering on the horizon. In a cell deep in a castle, rats and mice scurrying around with bones on the floor and a stench of death in the air. Then in a vast forest thick with trees and the sound of birds and animals. Then atop a castle wall looking down on a vast army and finally in a small room with a single table and some chairs. All these different scenes flashed before him in a matter of seconds, no time to take too much in and no time to be frightened.
“Welcome to the training room, we are deep in the castle, below the kitchens, below the deepest dungeons, below the deepest part accessible from anywhere in or out of the castle. You can only enter through a hidden door in the castle unknown to all but me and guarded by spells and incantations, impassable by anyone or any thing.”
Tom wished people wouldn’t keep using the phrase ‘any thing’, he found it rather alarming.
“Here, we will begin your training. It is all illusionary so you can’t come to any real harm, but you will experience it all as if you are really there, you can see, feel, hear, taste and sense everything as a reality, but of course, it is just an illusion. Fear and emotion will be real. Very real. But nothing beyond what you can endure.”
“What do you mean by that?” stuttered Tom.
“Training is tough, but you have to be equipped both physically and mentally for every eventuality. You will not like some or even most of the training. You may not like me at the end of your training, but you will thank me at the end for the experience and for the fact you will be prepared for most of the things that Trymyll can throw your way.”
Tom did not like the sound of that at all, but not wanting to disappoint his father, he knew he had to go through it. So, with gritted teeth he said.
“Okay dad, let’s do it!”
“Now, when you faced danger over the last few days, you coped very well. When the hordes of Asmodeus came trouncing across the plain, you created the impenetrable thicket and copse which you then enchanted so no one could get in or out. How did you do that?”
“Well, envisioned what was happening as it happened, so I started with the bushes, tree, thorns, gorse, weaving and developing the thought spells one on another to form first the thick impenetrable outer defence, while also visualising the canopy above and continuing to imagine the clear area where we stand, so it wasn’t a spell like you would normally expect, but a continuously developing interweaving and interwoven envisioning spell of what I was trying to develop. Having said all that, I hadn’t a clue what I was saying then and didn’t even understand what I said, or even where that little speech came from!”
“Precisely,” said Llewellyn, "now have a think about what we have discussed previously and answer my last question, which was, how did you do that?”
Tom’s mind was in a whirl, and he had to think quite hard even to remember the last question. Suddenly it dawned on him what his dad had said. He then repeated what he had said word for word.
“I hadn’t a clue what I was saying and didn’t even know what I said, or even where that it came from!”
“Exactly,” his dad said, “now answer your own question.”
“It was you. I couldn’t do any of that really, but you were watching and formed the spell and the speech in my mind.”
“Well done,” his dad said, “but now you’re on your own, and you will have to form your own spells, something you can do and will do with a little training. But you will have to rely on your own wit and wisdom, and wisdom can and will flow through your wand. One remarkably interesting trick, which I have never seen before though. You can stop time. I have obviously been watching over you since you arrived here in Trymyll and could not help but notice how when you returned to your room during breakfast the others didn’t notice you missing for more than a minute despite you being gone for nearly twenty. Just before Asmodeus popped out of nowhere you sensed a trap and again time stood still. It only happens locally, the whole world doesn’t stop, just what is in the immediate area, hence Asmodeus was able to pop into your time bubble and not be frozen as well. It’s awesome and it didn’t come from me, so it must be to do with your connection to the wand. The wand wants to protect you so locally freezes time when the right triggers are in place.”
“Oh,” said Tom, “I thought that was you as well.”
“No, not me, you and your wand. So, make sure you don’t lose that wand. Ever!”
“Can I lose it then?” asked Tom?
“Well yes, it is possible to have it taken from you in the right circumstances, however, a wand always returns to its owner.”
“Meaning what?”
“Well, a senior Elder can confiscate your wand if you are misusing it, but if the taking is unjust, it will just return to you as soon as you say ‘wand’. If an adversary took it, in battle, you only need to call it and it will return. But if the wand is enclosed in a cold iron case, then the wand will not and cannot return until released. But let’s hope that never happens. Well, that’s enough for one day, let’s have some supper and get some shut-eye, because tomorrow... Let the training commence!”