Palmu Chronicles, pt. 2
libguy3@yahoo.com
New friends found and nearly lost, a new ally almost tossed.


When Princess Timinetus awoke she saw a young man staring at her.
Frightened she backed up in her bed under her sheets, until she saw
Zemus standing next to him.  

"Do not be frightened, Timi, this is Tuckerby, my new apprentice. He
will live here and help me. He has sworn loyalty to me, and will
protect you, as I will." Zemus explained.

Timi got out of bed and greeted Tuck with a handshake. Tuck dropped to
his knees from the pain.

"Oh dear, I didn't mean to do that. I don't know my own strength," she
said looking at her hand.

She continued looking as she realized her hand had grown. No longer
thin and dainty. This was a manly hand capable of crushing boulders.
She looked up and saw the two men staring at her, their jaws slack.
She looked down, or tried to, but couldn't see her feet. A large,
muscular, chest blocked her view. The chest was bulging over clothes
that were 3 sizes too small.  Suddenly she grabbed the blanket from the
bed, ripping it off the bed and wrapping it around herself. In doing so
she accidently caused the mattress where the blanket had been tucked to
spin rapidly, finally becoming airborn and smashing against the window
which broke outwardly showering Zerho with glass as he approached the
house.

"SPECTULATA NIHIL", Zerho shouted, causing the glass to disappear as he
knocked on the door.

Zemus quickly opened the door when he heard ZeRho shout, and saw his
old friend in a displeased state.

"Timi got a little carried away," Zemus explained. 

"I should say so!" Zerho said roughly, then smiled to lighten the mood.
"Who is your young friend?" 

"This is Tuckerby, formerly apprenticed to Zebo," Zemus gave a quick
sign indicating sadness and death, "and now is my Gophur."

Zerho touched Tuck's forehead and felt residual power there.  He turned
to Zemus and raised his eyebrow.

"He grabbed the Yew of Power after we left and drained its spells."
Zemus explained.

"That would be just like Zebo to do that," Zerho said grinning. "Why
create what you can borrow?" 

Tuck smiled at the thought. The wizard was right, Zebo avoided casting
his own spells, trying to find residual power in leftover spells. He
had a knack for locating items of power just after their initial use.
He kept a bag of leftover spells, captured this way. Zebo had to
memorize the container the spell was stored in, or he'd be in trouble.

Zerho turned his attention to Timi, her beauty radiate from her. He
stared at the blanket trying to mentally penetrate...

"ZERHO" Zemus shouted.

Zerho shook his head breaking the spell.

"Damn! I must do something about that. I can't be carrying two
woodies," staring at his Yew stick.

"APHRODITUS NIHIL TEMPIMUS!" he shouted, touching his Yew to Timi's
forehead. 

Suddenly, Timi was less appealing, though still beautiful. The beauty
spell placed on her temporarily negated.

"Now we can talk." Zerho said. "How are you feeling, Timi?"

"I've never felt better.  I'm stronger, and obviously bigger than I
was," she said grinning.

"You must learn to control your powers, otherwise we can't help you.
You have been endowed with many gifts, many available with a thought.
You are a shapeshifter who can become bear-like or cat-like. Try
growing some fur," Zerho suggested.

Timi concentrated until hair formed on her face, then it spread
downward until she was completely covered.

"Try covering just parts of your body," he added.

Concentrating more, her face became hairless, then her arms, until only
her torso was covered.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to lift my spell."

"NIHIL TEMPITUS NIHIL!" he shouted.

Her beauty radiated again until she herself negated it, allowing the
men to look away.

"Thank you!" Zemus said, "I don't know how much more my heart can take.
If I was 200 years younger..."

Tuck's face was showing the agony within him.

"I AM 200 years younger," he said, running out of the house into the
forest.

Ten minutes later he returned looking flushed.

"Where have you been?" Zemus asked.

"In the forest," Tuck said innocently.

"But the forest is right outside," Zemus replied.

"Can we drop it?" Tuck pleaded.

"Ah! right. So, what else can you do" Zemus said to Timi, changing the
subject.

She opened her mind to her inner self, and discovered the other spells 
within her.  As others watched she ran quickly around the men silently
like a cat. She spotted a mouse and quickly froze it, then popped it in
her mouth, chewing a bit, then swallowing. She put on a big grin, then
her body faded from view, leaving only her head, then only her grin,
then nothing.

Zemus jumped as she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Timi said.

"Neat?" Zemus said. "You spent too much time with those Terrans."

"HA!" Timi

Timi reappeared behind Tuck and lifted him up without using her
supplemented strength. Straining, she brought him up to her chest. She
tapped into a ley line of power and grew taller and more muscular.  She
easily lifted him, but he had a surprise for her. He grew more muscular
as well, and her arms dropped. She drew more power and grew more,
lifting him up above her head, and pumping him up and down.  Rather
than grow more, Tuck kissed her on the lips as she brought him down
from above her. She was so shocked she dropped him, then screamed when
she realized what she had done.

"I'm alright!" he exclaimed and jumped up.

She turned red with embarrassment, and he put her at ease.

Zemus and Zerho smiled at the interaction.

Timi realized what Tuck had done.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"I borrowed from you," he answered.

"THAT WAS MEANT FOR ME!" Timi screamed.

Tuck recoiled at the reaction and ran out of the building.

"TIMI!" Zemus shouted. "While it was originally thought that you would
be the sole recipient, the Divine has decided otherwise.

"But he is not royalty!" Timi said.

"No, he is not, but he deserves as much respect as you do.  You know
nothing about him, and it is not my place to tell you, but if the
Goddess has decreed he is to have power, who are you to decree
otherwise?" Zemus reasoned.

Timi dropped her head in shame. Tears formed as she realized how evil
she sounded. Here was a kind and gentle boy who expected friendship,
but she gave him hate.

"I must find him!" she said running from the house.

Zemus looked at Zerho. "I think there's hope for her yet."

Zerho agreed. "I hope she learns quickly."

Tuck ran far from Zemus' house deep into the forest.  He wanted to get
away from the crazy girl. She had no right to yell that way. Who did
she think she is? Then he remembered, she was the Princess. He sat down
next to a large tree and cried. He heard noises and quickly quieted
down.  

"ZAAAAT," Krog said 

Tuck gasped, he heard a voice which brought chills to his bones, an
Urf. He hated Urfs. Those ugly, big-head, freaks whose main goal was to
destroy.

Suddenly the ogre was upon him. The ogre lifted his mighty club and
walked forward. Tuck raised his arm to defend himself and the ogre made
contact with his legs.

"OOOF!" Krog said as he tripped over Tuck. Its club providing the
momentum for the spill. Krog's large body now akimbo over Tuck. He
looked around and stared at Tuck's frightened face.

"SARY!" Krog said.

Tuck was surprised. First that he wasn't killed, and second because the
orge apologized.

"If you be so kind as to get up," Tuck said, "we can both be
comfortable."

"KAY!" Krog said, and attempted to lift himself up, but his twisted
legs couldn't find purchase.  He struggled, making growling sounds, but
he couldn't lift himself.

"Maybe if you let go of the club," Tuck suggested helpfully.

Krog thought for awhile. Because his head was so thick, ideas had to
travel quite a distance before they found their mark. He lifted his
club to release it when he heard someone scream.

"Tuck! I'll save you," Timi said, rushing over to the ogre.

"But..." Tuck said, just before getting the wind knocked out of him by
Timi.

Timi had grown to the size of a grizzly bear and ran into the ogre, who
in turn dropped onto Tuck.

She lifted the ogre and readied a killing blow.

"STOP!" Tuck yelled, or tried to yelled having just got his breath
back.

Timi stopped her actions and looked at Tuck.  The ogre dangling from
her arm.

"He tripped and apologized," Tuck said.

Timi stared at him thinking that he had hit his head and was
delusional. 

The ogre spoke. "Krog not bad," he explained, "Krog run away, not like
Draconix."

Timi put Krog down gently and picked up Tuck. Unexpectedly, she hugged
him and kissed him passionately. Tuck said nothing, enjoying the
moment.

"YOU HE-SHE MATE?" he asked.

Timi blushed at the thought. 

Tuck spoke up, breaking the silence. "Not mate," he said. Timi couldn't
help but hear the sadness in his voice.

"Yet!" Timi replied.

Tuck looked at her and saw her wink. It's amazing the volumes of words
spoken in that little gesture.

Timi held Tuck's hand as they visited more with Krog.

"Krog, why don't you like Draconix?" Tuck asked.

"Draconix hurt Krog family, want take Krog, Krog not want go. Draconix
kill Krog SibSis. Krog come." Krog explained. "Urf march much, come
trees. Urf stop rest much. Krog run away. Find Tuck."

Timi and Tuck smiled at the memory.  

"Me go Tuck?" Krog asked with hope.

Tuck discussed the idea with Timi.

"If he is to come with us, he's got to get some smarts," Timi said.
"Let's bring him to Zemus."

"Come with us, Krog," Tuck said.

Krog followed obediently. 

They walked into Zemus' house. Zemus and Zerho jumped up when Krog
entered. Readying their spells they drew back their hands until Tuck
and Timi stood in front of Krog.

"He is a friend," Timi said. "He needs help. Can you make him smarter?"

"We can only open the mind to possibilities, we can not make him
smarter," Zemus explained.

"He must learn on his own," Zerho said, "we will provide him the raw
materials to make it happen."

"Krog, are you ready?" Zemus asked.

"Krog afraid. Krog not like ZAP ZAP!" Krog said emphatically.

"We will make this as painless as possible," Zemus said, "we'll start
small. Krog, trust me."

"Krog trust," Krog said quietly.

Zemus held a small ball in his hand. "COGNITO SUM ERAT!" he said and
threw the ball to Krog.

Krog caught it and felt its power transfer into him. He suddenly became
aware of his existence and his place in the universe. He knew that he
had a higher purpose than to threw things at people.

Zerho held his Yew. "COGNITO SUM MAGNA!" he said forcefully, then
jammed it into the ground.

Krog knew instinctively that he must grab the stick to gain its power. 

"Kr.. NO! I'm not afraid," Krog said with confidence, and grabbed the
Yew. His hand glowed as the power transferred. 

"Oh Goddess! Such beauty, such knowledge," he said.

Zemus grabbed his own Yew, "COGNITO SUM SUMMA!" he yelled, and held out
the Yew to Krog.

Krog grabbed the stick out of Zemus' hand, momentarily glimpsing Zemus'
full power. He absorbed the spell, then turned to Zemus handing the Yew
back to him. As Zemus took the stick, Krog yelled his own words of
power, "COGNITO OMNI!"

Suddenly Krog knew all that Zemus knew. Zemus felt his mind exposed and
tried to shut it down, "COGNITO CLOSEUS!" he said and collapsed.

Krog felt the connection break, then looked around him seeing the
frightened faces of his friends.

He ran over to Zemus. "PAXUM NEXUS!" and touched Zemus' forehead. Zemus
sat up, at first afraid, but then feeling at peace.

"You have taken what you are not ready for," Zemus said, "you must
control the power."

Krog contemplated his circumstance. He looked at his fingers and
tendrils of power danced between them. 

"Teach me of this power," he asked.

"This power is tapped from ley lines within Palmu.  The sacred words
mold the power into aspects of itself.  All creatures have access to
the power, but most do not perceive it. Only the enlightened know it's
there, and use it for good. All except one, Draconix.  He wanted to
control the others, and succeeded in enslaving the Urfs. You are an
exception, you had something within you that fought his influence, and
brought you to us."

"You are my destiny," Krog said, "I bond with the enlightened."

Zerho spoke, "Krog seeks the bonding. We will call a council at the
Inner Circle."

"CIRCLEUS SUMMONUS!" Zerho yelled.

One by one, the wizards came as they were summoned, compelled to stop
whatever they were doing.

ZeFroz was dripping wet coming directly from a hot tub. 

"This better be good!" he replied, rather miffed.

"It is, I assure you!" Zehro offered. "We have a new wizard in our
midst and he wishes to be bonded."

"Delightful!" ZeIte said, "and you're okay with this, Zemus?"

"I'd rather him a friend, than an enemy," he replied.

Krog was instructed to kneel in the center of the circle. 

"The ceremony is short, but powerful. You must be of a good heart, or
the power will destroy you.  Still want to continue?" Zerho asked.

"Yes," Krog replied.

The wizards marched around in a clockwise fashion three times,
summoning a powerful ley line. The Circle glowed as the final words of
power was spoken.  

"ZETEAMUS PLUBIBUS UNIM!" they all yelled together.

They each placed their right hand on Krog's head and shouted
"PERMANENTUS!"

The power shot through Krog's head to his feet. He felt purged of his
impurities, and cleansed of his guilt.  He was truly now a member of a
great community.

"WELCOME ZEKROG!" they shouted in unison.

Here ends Pt. 2 of the Palmu Chronicles