Chapter 2

Oktar stood waiting.. 

He had been waiting for over two hours now. Where is that Druid! he thought, still soaked from the last rain shower. The clouds had given way a few minutes earlier, and the Moon was full over the Oshtar woods, yielding an eerie glow that cast twisting shadows askew over the ground. The fresh smells from the wood meandered through the branches. It was a quiet night, with a kind of freshness that only a recent thunder storm can give. 

Oktar took a deep lungful of moist nightime air, and let it out with a gentle sigh.
"Ahh.. its times like this I know why I live in this wood.." 
Stretching his arms wide as he did so. The muscles in his back complained at this unexpected rouse from their normal inactivity, and told him so by giving him a stabbing pain beneath his shoulder blades. Oh Goddess Mari that hurts... Im too bloody old for this..

The clouds once again drew a veil over across the Moon, throwing the wood once more into complete darkness.
"Damn! Where is that bloody Druid!"
Oktar closed his eyes briefly, as he did he wove his thoughts into a cohesive spell that he channelled through his staff. The Blue-stone at the end glowed slightly, but he held the Magyk back until he was ready, until the spell was mature enough (as he put it to his apprentices) to be released. The glow got brighter, until you could no longer bear to look at it, but you couldnt bear to look away either. Then, in a sharp upward thrust of his staff, Oktar the great Arch-Wizard released his Magyk with a crack. The clouds parted, once again soaking the wood in the light of Maris Moon. 

Oktar took another deep breath.
"Ahh.. thankyou."
Somewhere in the wood a tree branch crashed to the ground, causing a sudden flurry of activity from some of the inhabitants. Must be the rainfall weve had..., heavy for the time of year.. Oktar thought to himself, But nothing to get so uptight about.., thats the problem with Priests, easily put in a flap.. Oktar was of course, referring to the Mad Priest who had prompted this meeting with the Druid. He let out another sigh. As he thought back to their last meeting.

"So were agreed then!" Snapped the Priest. 
"The balance of the natural order is being deliberately interfered with." He continued without breath.
"I didnt say tha.." 
Oktar had tried to inject a bit of sanity into the conversation, but got cut off before he could complete his sentence.
"We need to do something, and we need to do it now!"
With an almost painful inevitability, Oktar had reluctantly agreed to follow the Priests plan to join together in a common cause and get to the bottom of these disturbances.

Now, standing in the wood, wet from the recent rain, and still waiting for that bloody Druid! Oktar was seriously considering that his judgement had been impaired on that day.

"Now where is this bloody Druid!" Oktar announced to the surroundings in general.

Another crash brought the answer. Trudging through the woods came the most unlikely Druid Oktar had ever seen. He had obviously been the cause of the earlier commotion, probably materialised up a tree.., bloody Druids thought Oktar, cant even get a simple transmutation right. 

The Druid (if he could be called that) looked to Oktar more like a swatted dragon fly, his soaking wet arms and legs appeared too long for his frame, adding to the effect.
"Oi!..  Druid!" Called Oktar,
"Over here!"

Jeremy complied and made his way grudgingly over to where Oktar stood.
"Nice weather for it!" said Jeremy.

Oh good grief.... Im too bloody old for this. Thought Oktar, as he turned and started the long journey to see the Mad Priest.

Copyright © 2005 Mark Wilson