Rainbow's End - Wizard by Corrie Mitchell Read Free Book Online

not to hurt him.’ With a last spiteful smirk at Orson, and a sneered ‘Say goodbye, old man,’ he dropped his hand. The boys swarmed forward…
    And t he sun came out… and the air exploded. It boomed and reverberated with the sound of heavy thunder and seemed to shatter the overcast air into a million grey and silver shards. The crystal at the top of Orson’s long staff had come alive and shone and shimmered and cast a multitude of colours; Hundreds of spheres as big as dinner-plates and in every colour of the rainbow suddenly floated on the perimeter of the cleared circle, shimmering and crackling, they hovered and jumped and bumped each other, and hummed with the intensity of a large generator.
     
    Rudi was screaming. His arms wind-milled and he was hopping around. His voice carried fear - very real fear. ‘Back!’ he screamed. ‘Get back!! You’ll be cut in half!’
    Most of the boys had already stopped and were watching the dancing circles with apprehension ; but two or three - deafened by the sonic boom, were still advancing. They stopped when one - a boy of about eleven - reached out and touched a hovering red circle. It crackled and pulsed and spun in place, and he was thrown through the air like a rag doll, landing with a loud “oomph”, then rolling and stopping at Rudi’s feet, winded. With a terrified yelp he scrambled to his hands and feet, and - without waiting to regain his breath - on all fours, scuttled further away.
    On the other side of the gambolling circles stood an old man, a boy and a dog. The boy was silently gaping and the dog grinning. The old man was hiccupping and giggling and snorting… and then shouting.
    ‘Give my regards to Kraylle, Rudi.’ He popped his eyes at the furious youth. ‘And tell him: never set a jackal against a lion!’
    He lifted the staff a s high as he could, but kept it vertical, then smashed it down. A shattering “crack” followed, and Thomas saw its wooden end go deep into the solid rock between Orson’s feet. The old man took the now free-standing shaft between his palms, and spun its gleaming wood; the multi-coloured circles first stretched - elongating and then moving in a big circle around the three of them; slowly at first, and then catching up with the turning crystal; then faster and faster until they formed a whirling, continuous, multi-coloured ring; then melding and suddenly a dazzling white light.
    A blinding flash then… and Thomas felt himself plucked into the air, like being sucked in by a giant vacuum-cleaner.
     
    *
     
    Rudi stood in the centre of a perfect circle. It had a diameter of seven or eight metres. The solid rock under his feet had been sucked surgically clean. Nothing remained. Not a drop of snow or a speck of dust. He was staring at the hole made by Orson’s staff. It was about an inch wide and three or four deep; a wisp of smoke was leisurely curling from it. He was paler than usual and softly whispering to himself, ‘Oh man. Is Kraylle going to be angry…’
     
    *****
     
    Thomas was spinning. Like a top. He seemed to be inside a red tube, and then an orange and then a yellow one. Going fast: he could tell by the wind battering his face and rushing through his hair. Next to him Orson was flying like a bird - his arms spread and his black coat trailing and flapping behind him like a witch’s cloak. Thomas extended his own arms and his body slowly stopped twirling. The yellow tube turned green and then blue. He looked down, and saw a slowly spinning, sleeping Tessie at his feet; behind her a swirling white mass of snow speckled with small stones and dirt. He looked at Orson flying again and found the old man watching him with a bemused look on his face. The tunnel turned a very dark blue then, almost black, and for a minute, Thomas could see nothing at all. A soft purple light and then they were slowing down; and fell into a big pool of water.
     
    It was clear and not cold at all, but Thomas’ wet clothes weighed him