Way of The Wand

Chapter 9

When Kalinda informed Jira the tournament would be held at Airad, Jira opposed the idea vehemently, arguing rightly that it would give Airad the home advantage.

They settled on the outskirts, the dry stretch of land that served as Benin’s eastern border with Ife, the former capital.

A two-day ride on horseback across this parched expanse and one would find himself in the old capital.

Next month would make it Benin’s fiftieth year as the kingdom’s capital. Before then, Ife held that title and the prestige that came with it.

With a teeming population of more than five hundred thousand citizens, Ife was a congested city. For years people flocked there from all over Edoh for the opportunities the old capital offered.

King Laide, under whose reign life in Ife life had become dire, desperately sought a change and moved the capital from Ife to the nearby and much smaller Benin.

With time, Ife decongested, even though till date, it remained the most populated city in Edoh.

Not too long after the switch, King Laide died, and the throne passed to his son, Bolu, while he was still a student at Airad.

For two years until he graduated, King Bolu ruled the entire kingdom from his dormitory, an event that helped further cement Airad’s position as a dominion of power and influence in the kingdom.

Jira raised her hand to keep the sun from beaming its rays straight into her eyes as it was much hotter here at the outskirts than inside Benin.

The heat aside, this truly was the perfect spot. Nowhere else in Benin, save for Airad, had the space to hold an arena this large.

And as a plus, its remote location meant the tournament would not interrupt normal activities within the city itself.

“Your mother wasn’t joking,” Timi said as he took in the daunting scene. It was like half the entire city had come out here.

Jira bit her lower lip. “Unfortunately, my mother never jokes about anything.”

Even she hadn’t expected the arena to be this massive.

Six wide audience stands with stepped seats, filled to the brim with people beating drums and blowing horns, surrounded an elevated square stage.

Jira could easily tell which stand was packed with witches and which were packed with wizards.

The third stand to the north had people dressed in all sorts of costumes, from witch hats, to colourful dresses, agbadas and dashikis. A plethora of women had geles woven in a myriad of patterns atop their heads like colourful crowns. Jira even spotted some people wearing face paint, often reserved for special occasions and festivals.

The adjacent stand was the complete opposite. It had person after person in black robes with spots of gold adorning their necklines, arms and ears.

Two stands were marked out for supporters and cheering teams from the two schools.

As Jira and her student filed past the stand with witches, the drumming coming from the crowd intensified, hails rang out reminiscent of what one would hear at a wrestling match.

It filled Jira with a swell of pride as well as a sense of dread. They seemed so cheerful and hopeful, and what would happen if Jira and her pupils let them all down?

Her dread didn’t stay for long as it was soon washed away by the awe of the entire thing.

Indeed, only her mother could have pulled off something like this in such little time. Only Airad had the enormous resources to erect such a massive structure on a piece of desert land.

A man in his fifties stood at the centre of the stage with two unopened crates at either side of him.

Jira figured from his flowing black robes that he was a wizard representative from Airad. If he was here, it meant her mother couldn’t be far away.

And just as the thought came into her mind, Jira found her mother in the crowd.

“Jira,” Kalinda greeted as she walked up to her daughter.

“How did you get so many people to come?” Jira replied, ignoring to acknowledge her mother’s greeting.

Kalinda shrugged, glancing at the stands as if she hadn’t noticed the huge crowd until now.

“I suppose more people than I anticipated are interested in watching witches embarrass themselves.”

“Oh and daughter, you’re late,” she added with a polite smile.

Jira returned her mother’s smile. “In that case, what do you say we get this show on the road right away?”

Kalinda beckoned to her daughter’s students. “Everyone but the champion for today’s task please come with me.”

Lila stepped aside and let Kalinda lead the remaining students to their seats in the stands.

As they marched past the stand of Airad’s cheering team, they were taunted with a bout of boos and scorn.

Jira’s pupils did well to ignore the jesting and just continued to their places.

Before Tomi sat down, she stretched her neck as high as she could, peering several feet to the stands nearby, hoping to single out her parents in the sea of faces.

It was impossible, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that they were watching. It meant a lot to her that they’d closed the shop early to attend the tournament.

Back near the centre stage, Jira crouched down so her face was level with Lila’s.

“I know you’re anxious,” she said, stroking Lila’s hair and dusting off dirt from the collar of her blue shirt. “You’re going up against my brother, believe me I’d be too.”

Lila swallowed. Was it that obvious she was terrified?

Jira’s lips widened into a comforting smile. “But know this, I’ve seen you do things with a broomstick that no one else could even dare to dream. You’re a talented flyer Lila, more so than my brother. The fact that he doesn’t need a broomstick to fly doesn’t change that.”

“Thanks Jira,” Lila said as her confidence surged.

“Summon your broom,” Jira instructed.

Lila pointed her wand a few inches away from her chest.

“Broomstick,” she voiced out, and the zelter appeared, hanging in the air a few feet from where she stood.

Lila reached out and grabbed the zelter, thanking Jira, before running off to join the old man in Airad robes.

Seconds later, Kano joined her, clad in full Airad regalia. His black cloak looked like it was sewn from silk, giving it a distinctive shine in the light of the sun.

Lila stared, unable to tear her eyes from the Airad insignia on the chest, a pyramid with an open book as its base.

Lila wished Jira would come up with an insignia for her school too.

The old wizard introduced himself to both champions as the umpire of the event. He faced the crowd and spoke, his voice strengthened with magic so everyone could hear.

“Welcome one and all. I am Sharazan of Airad, umpire for this tournament. We all know why we’re gathered here today so allow me to get straight to it. This is how this task of speed will go. Both champions will race through the Miran Forest, past the Red River, all the way to Mount Rohan and back. Whoever returns here first, wins.”

Sharazan gestured to the crates beside him, opening them with his magic. “All of you shall watch with these.”

He raised his hands and hundreds of small rectangular mirrors, no wider than the width of a palm, floated into the air. He pushed his arms forward and the mirrors shot into the crowd for each person to grab one.

Sharazan’s attention returned to Lila and Kano as he motioned for them to get ready.

Lila mounted her broom, its sweeping head to the back and the narrow end facing forward.

Kano smiled and simply levitated into the air beside Lila. “Goodluck kid.”

Lila ignored him and maintained her focus.

Sharazan huddled closer to them, the magic making his voice loud suspended. “When you hear an explosion, go.”

He turned halfway from them before whipping back around. “And oh, may the best flyer win.”

The old wizard took several steps away from the floating champions, raised his right hand and brought it down. The instant his hand returned to his side, a loud explosion rocked the sky.

Lila blasted off on her broom, edging into an early lead. She glanced over shoulder and spied Kano, arms stretched forward, gaining on her.

Lila lowered her head and leaned forward on her broomstick to make herself more streamlined.

She gained speed, but Kano wasn’t going to let her beat him that easily.

They both whooshed through the air in blurs so fast that it was difficult for the audience watching them with the magic mirrors to follow.

Lila and Kano stayed ear to ear until they reached the mouth of Miran Forest, where they parted, with Kano going left and Lila flying right.

Lila peeked to her left, but her view of Kano was obstructed by the many trees between them. She faced ahead in time to realise she was a moment away from colliding into a tree and leaned right on her broom to avoid ramming into it.

That was only the first close call. She had many more as she zig-zagged countless times through the forest avoiding tree stems and branches.

When she finally cleared the forest, she scanned around and didn’t see Kano in sight. She thought she’d beaten him in the forest only for her to look up and see him flying ahead just beneath the clouds. That was when she realised Kano had simply flown higher into the sky and over the trees to clear the forest with ease.

“He’s good,” she admitted to herself as she sped up on her broom.

Kano kept the lead till they reached the Red River. Having flown the entire length of the forest so high up in the sky where the air was thinner, Kano started to feel dizzy and slowed as he went into a descent to catch his breath.

Lila capitalised on that and tore ahead, retaking the lead. She made sure to fly just over the surface of the water, to allow the moisture and refreshing air to blow into her face. That way she could conserve her strength.

Little did she know she was flying so fast that the water was parting below her broomstick.

Kano had gained on her again by the time they reached Mount Rohan.

Lila completed her turn around the huge mountain and was bent on getting all the way back to the arena without yielding the lead back to Kano.

Kano kept on her tail, flying as fast as he could go without breaking his bones.

He didn’t give up on catching up to Lila, even when she retained the lead all the way past Red River and into the Rohan Forest. He knew he could not play the same trick twice and so stayed on her tail beneath the forest canopy, intent on keeping her in his sight.

Just when Lila was about to cross the mouth of the forest, the sweeping end of her broomstick got entangled in some vines, causing Lila to slip off and fall to the ground.

Kano could not believe his luck. He sped ahead, overtaking Lila but not before pausing to check that she was okay.

Lila scurried to her feet and retrieved her wooden wand from her pocket. She pointed it at the entangled broomstick and said, “Free.”

The broomstick broke free from the vines and fell.

Lila caught it before it landed on the ground. She surmised Kano would be close to the finish line by now, which meant to win, she had to do something drastic. Something Jira had warned her to never do again.

Lila mounted her broom, holding on to the pointy end with one hand, she pointed the wand in the other to the sweeping end and said, “Boost.”

Lila quickly tucked her wand back into the pocket of her shirt and held onto the pointy end of her broom with both hands.

The sweeping end lit up with fire and Lila blasted back into the air with a force so powerful, its shockwave reached all the way to the arena.

“What was that?” Kalinda asked in reaction to the shockwave that struck the stands. Just then, Kano came into sight, with no sign of Lila behind him.

Kalinda turned to Jira beside her and smiled.

Jira ignored her Mum’s sly smile and got up from her seat, her eyes bulging with concern.

Kalinda saw the concerned look on her daughter’s face and wondered what it meant. She tapped her mirror so that it showed her Lila.

Her throat went dry when the mirror showed her Lila blasting through the air, broom on fire like a comet in the night. She threw the mirror to the floor as multiple people in the stands joined Jira on her feet.

“By the Gods,” Kalinda cursed as Lila tore into the arena causing a great stir in the crowd with her flaming broom.

Kano looked back to check what the whooshing sound behind him was. His face melted with shock as his eyes fell on Lila riding fast on her flaming broomstick, gaining on him.

He’d assumed she was out after she fell. Had it been him, he’d have given up.

Kano panicked and tried to fly faster, but he was worn and tired; his body refused to move any faster than it was already going.

The only thing riding for him was that the finish line was a mere twenty feet away.

Lila blazed forward even faster, leaving a trail of fire behind her.

She caught up with Kano an inch from the finish line and they crossed so close to each other, no one could tell who’d won.

Sharazan watched their cross over the finish line on his magic mirror again. Their bodies had crossed at the same time, but since Kano’s arms were stretched forward, and for that, declared the win went to him.

“Kano wins,” Sharazan’s voice beamed into the crowd.

But the crowd didn’t care. The people were chanting Lila’s name, impressed by the feat they’d just witnessed.

Lila landed and hopped off her damaged broomstick, throwing it to the ground.

When she looked up, she noticed Jira running towards her and got scared her teacher would scold her for using the booster. She decided to apologize before Jira even got a word out. “I know you said I should never—”

Jira shut Lila up with an embrace. “That was the most incredible thing I have ever seen.”

They parted from the embrace when Kano plopped down beside them.

“Nice job kid,” Kano said to Lila, his face bearing a cheerful smile. “That was phenomenal.”

“Thank you,” Lila replied, chuckling.

Kano saluted Jira. “See you around sis.”

He flew back into the air and vanished.

Jira’s other students invaded the stage and carried Lila off, throwing her into the air and catching her in celebration.

“So,” Kalinda’s voice called Jira’s attention away from her students.

“So,” Jira repeated after her mother, her tone snarky and her eyebrows raised.

“Well Kano still won,” Kalinda pointed out.

“Yes,” Jira agreed, waving at the crowd, “but it’s Lila’s name the audience is chanting.”

“I can assure you your next champion won’t be so lucky.”

“Oh, we’ll see about that mother.”

“I hope you realise Jira, that we wizards already have one win out of three. If you lose the next task, we won’t even have to wait till the last task.”

Jira nodded and turned to leave, but her mother caught her by the arm.

“Come by to the mansion later, for dinner,” Kalinda suggested.

Jira folded her arms across her chest. “Why? Why would I go back to that house now?”

Kalinda gestured in the air like she’d been misunderstood. “I’m not saying you should come back to stay. Just come around, let’s have a family dinner…together…like old times.”

Jira scoffed. “Thanks for the invite, but I think I’ll pass.”

“If you change your mind. Our doors will always be wide open for you.”

Jira scoffed at her mother.

“Should I be expecting you then?” Kalinda asked.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Jira retorted before she turned to leave.