Chapter Three The Wand “Let’s just go on foot…” Holly sighed. “We have to make a stop at Stardew anyway.” They walked through the rocky hills for a while, and they had almost reached the mountains when Holly stopped. “I have decided what is wrong with your spells,” Holly said. “What’s wrong with them?” Silver asked. “Based on the spell you did before, I have decided that you have a natural ability for magic, but are not powerful enough to do a complete spell.” “Soooo?” “You need a wand. It channels your magic so you have a normal magical power level. It only works for those that have below average power.” Holly explained. “I know a wand market around here… and I know a wandmaker.” “Can’t I learn another spell first?” Silver whined. Holly thought for a moment. “Fine, but only because I don’t want you to have a wand and not know what to do with it. This is the light spell.” A ball of dim purple light appeared in Holly’s hand and hovered above it slightly. “Focus on a bright moon in your mind, and it will appear.” Silver did as she was told, and instead of a big, dim ball of blue light, there was a tiny, dim ball of blue light. “I really need to get that wand,” Silver sighed. “Come on,” Holly said, and Holly and Silver lifted off the ground, Silver with the purple leash. Two hours of flying later, it was sunset. “There it is! Silver shouted, pointing to a building right up against the first mountain in the range. Silver and Holly touched down and the purple magic disappeared. The building was made of wood and had a bunch of sticks hanging on strings that clinked together in the mountain wind, and smoke was billowing out a stone chimney. There was one tiny window with dim light flooding out of it. Holly pushed open the door. There was a white, tan, and brown calico with green eyes in a fancy magenta and dark purple dress and black pants and gloves, sitting on a rocking chair. The chair was by a giant stone fireplace with a crackling fire inside, and she was carving a stick. “Oh, hi there!” Silver said as she and Holly stepped in. “You see, we’re looking for a wand….” “A good one, and I know you make good wands, Duchess.” Holly bowed. “You didn’t tell me she was a noble!” Silver whispered to Holly. “She’s the Duchess Lucy von Fancytail, and she’s the ruler of this mountain!” Holly hissed to Silver quietly. “That would be thirty-seven gold pieces up front,” Lucy von Fancytail said, not looking up from the stick she was carving. Holly handed her forty gold coins. Lucy stood up, shoved the coins in her purse, and knocked on the wall by the fireplace. Knock, knock, tap tap, BANG! The wall slid over slowly, and the cranking of gears could be heard. The now-open wall revealed a giant stone room carved into the mountain, about 50 feet tall, 2,000 feet wide, and 4,000 feet long. There were tiny wooden buildings dotted around the place, but the one right next to the entrance had sticks hanging from strings. “Follow me,” Lucy said, and Silver and Holly obeyed. They walked onto the building’s porch, and Lucy untied a carved stick. “It’s going to take me a while to carve this. Why don’t you go around the place?” “Oh! Alright,” Silver said. “Holly, come on, I found something over there,” Silver pointed to a wooden building. Silver and Holly ran there and Holly opened the door. It was covered in giant plants on the inside and people were sleeping sitting down on leaves. Soft music played in the background. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Holly asked, smiling. “Only if it involves disturbing people’s sleep,” Silver nodded. She grinned at Holly. Holly punched the bottom of a leaf and the Mooncrosser on it slid off. “Whuh?” he asked sleepily, opening his eyes.
Silver looked at the Fantasy Radio 200000000 and began to turn the dial. Suddenly, the soft music changed into music that blasted in her ear and didn’t even sound like music. Everyone woke up and slid off their leaves, which curled up. Silver and Holly ran out of the place laughing. Holly slammed the door behind them, her eyes watering with emotion that wasn’t sadness. Definitely not sadness. “Cheese, that was so fun!” Holly laughed, falling down and landing on her knees. Suddenly, Duchess Lucy von Fancytail walked up behind Silver. “Which one of you wanted the wand?” she asked. “Silver did,” Holly said, and pointed to Silver. Lucy handed it to Silver, and the tip was immediately covered in light blue goo. “Touch the goo,” Holly instructed, and as Silver touched the goo, it immediately hardened. “What is this stuff?” Silver asked. “Magic essence,” Holly explained. “It helps with your spells. Now, try the light spell.” This time, instead of a tiny, dim, blue orb of light, the blue stuff on the wand lit up. Silver jabbed her wand at the ceiling and a large, dim, blue orb of light shot out of the wand and hovered into the air. “Oh, you think you can do spells in heeeeeeeeere?” Lucy said, drawing out the word and nodding toward a little black cat in a tan short-sleeve shirt and brown overalls who ran into the wooden building. Suddenly, the floor opened up from underneath them. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!” Silver shouted as she fell into the darkness. Whumph. Pain shot through Silver’s body as she and Holly landed on cold, hard, stone. Her glasses, surprisingly, weren’t broken. Silver looked up and saw Duchess Lucy von Fancytail sitting comfortably on a giant dark purple flower. The flower was on a magenta stem with dark purple thorns. Holly was laying down (obviously uncomfortable) on another, smaller one a bit closer to the floor. “This is the test, isn’t it? To test Silver? To test the wand?” Holly sighed. “Yep,” Lucy said, and she snapped her fingers. A beam of magenta magic coming from her hand shined down on the floor. A giant skeletal wolf faded into view. It had tiny magenta pinpoints of light in dark sockets for eyes. “You didn’t tell me she was a Magic!” Silver shouted at Holly. Holly just sat up and shrugged. The wolf lunged at Silver. Silver tried to run out of the way, but the claws pinned her leg. Searing pain rushed up Silver’s leg as blood rushed out. “THINK OF AN ARROW!!! THEN WAVE YOUR WAND AT-” Holly shouted, but she was cut off by Lucy’s glare. Silver did as she was told, and a ray of blue light shot out of the wand and hit the wolf’s eye. It reared back with a roar, giving Silver the time to struggle to her feet and get out of the way from being crushed. The wolf swung a claw at Silver, who ducked out of the way, trying to ignore the pain in her leg. Silver shot another ray of magic out of her wand, hitting the wolf in the ribs. It went on like this for a while, until finally the wolf ended up exploding in magenta light. Silver was now bleeding almost all over. She fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Lucy snapped and the smaller flower bent over to let Holly down. Holly ran over to Silver, and that was the last thing Silver remembered as she blacked out.
