“Do you want to ride the flying train through the Andes?”
“No.”
“Then go in the magic sphere to the Earth Centre?”
"No," replied the girl weakly for it was clear something disturbed her. “In fact, it seems very interesting. But not now. I’d like to talk about the contest in which I’ll participate... and learn to play chess. Mr. Knudlac says it can help me develop my thinking.”
“I honestly tell you I expected to talk and play chess with you. It's just I didn't expect to speak so soon about the Contest. And not instead of having fun rolling over in the magic sphere towards the Earth Centre. But I’m very proud and glad my girl is more concerned with work than fun when it comes to an event like the Magic Contest.”
“Maybe we'll go there afterwards.”
“Of course, my dear.”
The father signalled to his daughter to sit at a large table. T
After countless times when Elizabeth stayed with her parents and travelled by the magic boat on the thermal rivers that crossed, winding, the high and snowy Lost Mountains, after enjoying the magic sphere that carried them to the most magnificent and so hot depths of the Earth and last but not least, after diving in an air bubble into the depths of the ocean where she managed to see in that deep darkness a lot of marine life, with the help of magic lights coming out of Eliot Edwards’ wand and carried by currents that illuminated everything, after all this and many, many chess matches lost against her father, daughter and father fought again and the mother sat next to them ... a new chess game, of course.“Check,” the father warned her.“I liked it more when you told me what to do.”“That was more than three days ago. Now you’re responsible for your decisions, at least in chess. But you play very well, I have to admit. Better and better ... you learned so much in such
Elizabeth was alone in the hallway of the ice temple, extremely thoughtful. She looked out the window at the blizzard that was milder now, but it was clear it was still too cold outside. Everything was white, snow and ice and even the coniferous forests that were near the temple and were completely covered in ice. The trunks of those trees were also covered by that glossy ice and looked as if they were candied fir trees and spruce trees. And the twigs seemed to be poured into that icy topping, loaded and bent so much as if they weren’t coniferous but willows.Miss Edwards saw white bears lurking around the temple. Were they wild bears or guardians of the temple like the two companions of the white wizard? Who knows? But it was certain that only they could survive more than two minutes in the cold outside, with no clothes like the ones Knudlac gave to the children when they came here.Finally, the door before which Elizabeth stopped opened and Pmyrie, the little
But for Elizabeth, or for any of us, there were just some very small carvings or just tree stumps, where if you couldn't manage to place your foot very carefully, you’d certainly get back to the start, only more banged and scratched.As if it wasn’t enough that these "steps" were too small, they were also placed in a chaotic zigzag, and in some areas you had to jump at least a meter in height to reach the next step.The girl plucked up the courage and tried to climb the steps, using her hands and feet, like an alpinist trying to climb a steep mountain. But after not even three steps, she slipped back from where she started.She struggled once, twice, even three times ... under Pmyrie's eyes showing the wonder of a child who didn’t understand why another child, older than him, struggled to take the first steps.The elf girl went down those steps quickly, with no problem, especially since she knew how to walk for more ... lives. Seeing the ease of
Plenty of people were gathered in a huge amphitheatre, which had on one side, an area full of chairs like the largest football stadium ever seen. All chairs for the students and the lodges specially created for the professors formed a huge semicircle, quite roomy even for the inhabitants of a small town.Everyone gathered there came to see the Magic Contest, or to support their favourite team, hoping until the last moment it would be the winner.That stadium had a snowy surface set up on the huge field. There were rocks, small hills, even small mountains and a lake. The mountains were drilled everywhere by small caves as if someone used dozens of cannons and a whole day to shoot with howitzers at them. Some were more or less deep than others and some of them were so tight that even if you managed to get in there, you had to look for another exit because you definitely couldn't get out in the same place.In one of those entrance halls of the caves, somewhere in t
After all the students got the keys and capes needed to participate in the contest, Nakutsck continued:“As you know, the first test will be the last one for three of the competitors, one from each team. And the three who’ll leave the competition will each win a parchment of fire. Will he be the best competitor of the event ... or the weakest participant in the competition? We don't know exactly. But what we know for sure is that after winning the magic he/she will leave this competition.”A brief pause, when Nakutsck saw a smaller group of four young spectator students not listening to what he said, so a magic of his pulled their sideburns one at a time or ripped their ears. There was silence again on the stadium.“No one will be hurt in this challenge. But I don’t guarantee for the second challenge. We don’t know in which of the other eight possible locations it will take place,” smiled the white wizard slightly.
“Johnny you’ll get the parchment!” Alexander ordered sharply. “I’ll deal with the Golems.”In an instant, the two ice monsters also showed up, just as the three of them entered the arena.“They’re ... huge,” Elizabeth managed to say, looking up at the terrifying face of one of those walking mountains."Yes, they look bigger when you're in their way," Johnny added.But the two golems didn’t want to talk. They prepared to attack the three competitors.“Johnny, I'm taking the parchment! Give me your power!”Johnny took his wand and shouted that magic so famous because of him:“Imperium.”And the spell was cast on Alexander. The young boy began to run towards the cave where the ice parchment was. But unfortunately he wasn’t alone.It seems the two golems didn’t expect Johnny and Elizabeth would bother them, so they started chasing Alexa
In Alexander's so extravagant bedroom, he, Elizabeth and Johnny got ready to take part in the second round. The only thing known about this second quest of the contest was that it would take place in the Burning Desert.Alexander wondered how he could win this event, while Elizabeth hoped and prayed to stay alive during and after the event.“Maybe we’ll have to fight with dragons ... I just hope we won't fight with the Northern Spotted Dragon from Iceland or the Danish Striped Spike ... I heard it can spit lava, not fire.”The only thing Elizabeth managed to say with that mess in her mind showed how scared the poor girl was with every word of Soimesti:“How to ... fight dragons? We’re just children…”That beautifully set up bedroom at Elmbridge magic school was adorned and furnished to the boy's taste. Of course, everything happened following numerous insistences from the Magic Consulate, in which Soimesti
“But you know they don’t let us walk through the school after bedtime. We don’t lose points any longer for we lost them all, but we risk being kicked out.”The other two looked at him inquiring, so he had to tell them the reason:“No one should know we are going there, because we could be sent home ... or worse, punished and eliminated from the competition. Surely, if we went down by day to look for the Lost Lne, the chances of being discovered would be much greater.”He looked at Johnny, but it seemed Davies didn't understand.“Certainly there are professors who walk at night in the school corridors after bedtime and there are stone elves whose job is to prevent anyone or anything to enter those lost corridors or vice versa, prevent something in the corridors from entering the school. By day anyone walking around can see us ... but at night we have the darkness on our side.”Convinced tha