Way of The Wand

Even as Jira checked out herself in front of the mirror, all made up and pretty in her red gown, she knew in her heart she wasn’t supposed to go on this date, especially after Tomi’s earlier accident during practice.

But then, the distraction might do her good. She’d been so focused on this tournament, a night from all that might be just what she needs.

A knock on the front door alerted her to a visitor’s presence and Jira guessed it must be the coachman Arron had sent to fetch her.

She wasn’t moved to hurry. Instead she looked back into the mirror, thinking of what else in her appearance she could change for the evening. With the ruby studded earrings dangling from her ears matching her red gown and shoes, she looked great enough already, but Jira decided her appearance could use one more touch.

She slipped out her wand from her pocket and pointed it to her hair. “Braid,” she whispered, and her afro obeyed, twisting into rows of braided hair.

Jira nodded in satisfaction and dipped the crystal stick back into her pocket. Pockets, one more reason to be a witch. Unlike female wizard outfits, dresses made for witches often had pockets because they needed a place to keep their wands. It had to be on them at all times and bags and purses just wouldn’t cut it.

She took one last glimpse at herself in the mirror before leaving her room to go get the front door.

Jira was taken aback when she opened the door and found that it was drizzling. Little droplets of rain descending from heavy clouds, lending the evening an even darker feel than usual.

“Finally,” Jira muttered under her breath, “the rains have come.”

She greeted the coachman at the door, flashing him a warm smile as she screened his drenched robes.

“Niri, correct?”

It was the same coach driver that had driven her twice now to the Tartian Mansion.

Niri’s glee at having his name remembered revealed itself in a cheerful smile.

“I’ve come to pick you up for your dinner with Arron Tartian.”

Jira nodded, still wearing her pleasant smile. “Yes, yes. It’s just, you’re…erm, drenched.”

Niri gave a soft laugh. “It’s nothing to worry about. I don’t mind the rain.”

Jira smacked her lips, trying to hide the fact that she didn’t share his convenience with being soaked.

Niri must have guessed what she was thinking for he suggested they could wait out the rain, but warned that instead of letting up, it would probably only get heavier.

Jira considered it for a moment. She was already looking for an excuse not to go and this could be the answer to her prayers.

But the guilt of bailing out on Arron like that would eat away at her. She ought to honour her word. The least she could do was show up.

She shrugged off her reservations and informed Niri there was no need to wait. Then she took out her wand and pointed it a few inches over her head.

“Shield,” she said, casting a transparent magical barrier over herself to keep the rain from touching her.

Jira smiled at her own resourcefulness. Who needs an umbrella when you could just use magic?

Niri noticed what Jira had done and shook his head. “Too bad I didn’t think of that.”

In response Jira gestured from her head to her toe, pointing out she couldn’t afford to get wet, not after spending minutes getting ready.

As they journeyed along the rain intensified, just as Niri had predicted.

The heavy down pour soon became a delight for Jira despite the increasing cold. She loved the sound of raindrops hit the ground, the trails of water forming into poodles and the petrichor that came with the first rain.

In a month’s time, Benin’s dry looking trees would rejuvenate, shedding their brown for a resplendent green.

Jira traced her hand over the inside of her window trying to get a feel of the moisture. The cold glass zapped the heat from her finger tips, replacing the warmth with a touch of cold.

She removed her fingers and rested her head on the window, closing her eyes to concentrate on the music of the rain.

The carriage bumped along the road, causing Jira to hit her head. She rubbed her temple in pain and caught a glimpse of something move in the darkness.

Jira pressed her eyes to the windows and screened the tree tops for what animal might be lurking outside, unperturbed by the pouring rain.

Her eyes focused in on the tree line, but even after staring for a full minute, she discovered nothing.

She turned her focus to the coachman, deciding it would be wise to give Niri a heads up a wild beast might be nearby.

But before she even opened her mouth, she heard a harrowing scream come from the coachbox, and then the carriage pulled to a sudden halt.

Jira jerked forward, almost smashing her face into the partition separating her compartment from the coachbox. She placed a hard against the thin slice of wood and pushed herself back to a comfortable position.

“Is everything okay?” Her voice was hoarse with a sense of danger.

No reply came, but then she saw the figure of a man fly past her window and land right outside the carriage door.

Jira was quick to whip out her wand but waited just until she felt the door begin to open before she said, “Blast!”

A powerful force forced the door from its hinges and straight into the body of the man who had tried to open it.

Jira leaped out of the carriage, her reservations at about getting wet overshadowed by a need to clear the danger.

She looked at the sorry sight of her would-be assailant squirming on the muddy ground, clad in black with a cracked mask covering his face.

She pointed her crystal wand at him and fired off another blast, just for good measure.

She rushed to the coachbox to meet it deserted. “Where had her coachman gone? What had happened to Niri?”

She remained alert as she scanned around for any signs of what might have happened to him. While spinning around in the darkness, water making its way down her braids and fancy dress to her jewelled shoes, she heard a branch of a nearby tree snap.

Of course, it couldn’t be just one assailant.

She whirled around to where the noise had come from, and sure enough, spotted another man in a similar black outfit making hand gestures from atop a branch.

Wizards, Jira deduced as she aimed her wand at him and yelled “Wind.”

The wizard flew off that branch, leaving just before the gust of wind called by Jira ripped it apart.

He landed on the branch of another tree and manifested a spear in his hands.

Before he got the opportunity to throw it however, Jira levelled off her wand at his tree and said “Lightning.”

A powerful flash of lightning struck the tree and split it in half, causing the wizard to tumble off his branch and careen into a pool of rain water on the ground.

“Freeze!” Jira said, pointing at the poodle of water and freezing the second wizard in place.

An arrow darted past her from nowhere, missing her by no more than an inch. It was like the scary stories her mother used to tell her as a child. She was being attacked, but could hardly see by whom.

She spun around again, searching for where her next target could be hiding.

Suddenly the ground beneath her feet changed into quicksand and she started sinking.

She didn’t struggle, well aware staying still would prevent her from sinking below ground.

Convinced she was trapped, her attackers finally decided to show themselves and came out of the shadows.

She counted six, minus the two already taken care of.

One of the remaining six attackers manifested a lock of chain and came up to her to restrain her, but Jira pointed to the quicksand under her feet and muttered “Hill.”

The ground swirled as it made into a bump.

Jira kicked her heel against the hill and launched herself into the air, tumbling over the closest bandit and landing behind him.

He turned around and received a full blast to the face.

The remaining five jolted forward, with the tallest lighting up the night with a stream of fire from both hands.

Jira threw herself from harm’s way, landing a few feet away from the parked carriage. It gave her an idea.

She sprung to her feet and pointing her wand at the carriage mumbled, “Disassemble.”

The carriage came apart, disassembling into its component parts.

Jira kept her wand trained on the separated components and said, “Animate!”

The wheels, panels and chains of the carriage soared into the air and flew at Jira’s attackers, taking out four of the five.

The final bandit conjured up two swords and cut at Jira, but she blasted him off his feet and used her feet to push the swords from his reach.

With the final attacker backed into corner, Jira decided to interrogate him.

“Who sent you? What do you want?”

He refused to answer and tried to move his hand to use his magic.

Angry, Jira waved her wand over her head in a circle and said “Fire.”

The raindrops around her transformed into droplets of fire and then she directed them at the pinned guard, causing a few drops of fire to burn through his hand.

He screamed out in pain and pleaded for Jira to stop.

“Answer me!” Jira demanded. “Did my mother send you? Is this what it’s gotten to? My mother is so scared of losing she ordered wizards to come and try scare me off?”

She jacked her wand under his neck, dragged off his mask and peered at him through rage filled eyes.

The man shrieked. “Your mother’s not behind this, Arron Tartian sent us.”

His words threw Jira backwards. Arron Tartian. The man she was on her way to meet.

The wizard must be lying. It didn’t make any sense.

She mustered off her shock and flung back at him. “You lie! Why would Arron…No!”

She waved her wand in the air again, turning the raindrops into droplets of fire once more as lightning flashed in the sky above her head.

“I swear!” The man cried. “It was supposed to be a fake kidnapping. Arron never intended for you to make it to your date. He ordered us to kidnap you in hopes that when he paid your ransom, it would make you…”

“Make me what?” Jira’s voice was low but retained every bit of rage and anger as before.

“Fall for him,” the man confessed.

Jira scoffed, hard lines on her face crystallizing all the emotions surging through her into a cold, silent look.

She withdrew from the man, turning her face to the side having seen enough of his pathetic self already. “And Niri, was he in on this too?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

For some reason, hearing that Niri was in on the plan hurt her more than discovering she’d been conned by Arron Tartian.

There was only one course of action she could take now.

“Arron,” she said turning back to crying man, “where is he now?”