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ELFENWURL
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Willy found himself standing in a bleak mountainous area. It was freezing, and he was wearing the thin clothing of Elfenwurl. He looked up to see a small, dim sun in the sky. It's light was feeble, and he could feel no warmth from it.
From his vantage point, he could see a valley down below, with a stream of some sort running through it and small patches of scrub brush here and there. There was no sign of civilization anywhere. He imagined that in ages past, this might have been a world with luxuriant vegetation, and perhaps even animal life. But it was a dying world now, and if he didn't find a way to get off this world soon, he would freeze to death.
He still had his magic powers--his normal elf powers and his two special talents. But Clancy had said that his magic would be weakened on this world, except for his special talents. But his talent to control The Book was meaningless now. It was out of his reach.
He decided to try a few spells to see what happened. He searched his mind for a magic spell that would help him now. More than anything, he wanted warmth. Of course! He could produce a fairy flame.
But he found the fairy flame to be of no use; the magic flame danced prettily in the air before him emitting radiant light, but no heat. Next, he attempted a spell that would conjure up warm clothing. He succeeded in conjuring up nothing more than an image of a parka. Several more attempted spells produced similar disappointments. Clancy was right.
He noted that the dim sun was now high in the sky. If it were this cold at noon, he would never survive a night on this planet. He started moving down toward the valley, hoping that he might luck upon a hot spring, or perhaps a deep cave where the temperature remained constant. If nothing else, he hoped to find something to cover his body.
The sun was much lower in the sky when he reached the floor of the valley. But he found only desolation there. The stream he had seen was frozen over. He was exhausted from the climb down, but he dared not sit down to rest for fear of freezing to death. Determined not to give up, he kept moving in hopes he would find a way to survive.
He spotted a patch of the scrub brush, and an idea came to him. If his magic couldn't save him, maybe his ingenuity would. He broke up several small twigs for kindling, and then began rubbing two sticks together. But he was no woodsman, and his efforts produced nothing.
Too exhausted to move on, he sat down on a rock to await the inevitable. There was nothing left. Every spell he had tried had resulted in some kind of half-measure. As Clancy had predicted, his normal powers were indeed weakened. That left his two special talents, but his special power to control The Book was meaningless, since it was out of his reach. "If only one of my special talents had been to start fires. Or if I had a special talent to conjure up ..." And then it occurred to him that he had a way out of this world all the time, and hadn't realized it.
"What if I'd died on this forsaken world," he thought, "and never remembered that my second talent permitted me to conjure up magic potions." This special talent would permit him to conjure up the same kind of potion that Clancy had given him to transport him from Earth to Elfenwurl. The potion was good only for one-way travel to Elfenwurl, but that was all he needed.
The spell for conjuration could not be done with a snap of his fingers, but it wouldn't take more than a minute. He noted that the dim sun of this world wasn't far from setting.
He was about halfway through the spell when he was interrupted by a noise behind him. He wheeled around to see several creatures stalking him. The creatures resembled monstrous rats. They were as big as German Shepherds and were covered with thick, black fur. He counted four of them, and they were already moving to surround him.
He spotted a cluster of rocks nearby, at the foot of a mountain. Many of the rocks and boulders were closely spaced, forming narrow crevices. Once he made it into the rocks, he would be safe. The bloated creatures would be unable to follow him into the tight spaces. He hurried toward the rocks, but the creatures already had him surrounded and were closing in on him.
One of the giant rats blocked his way to the rocks. He tried paralyzing the beast with a magic binding spell. The weakened spell lasted only a few seconds, but it gave Willy enough time to speed past its inert form and head for the safety of the rocks.
The rocks were farther away than he had judged them to be. He wasn't at all sure that he could make it in time. Fortunately, the lumbering creatures were not fast runners, but neither was Willy. His small elf legs couldn't cover much ground. He was beginning to tire, and the creatures were gaining on him. He was breathing hard, and the cold air he was sucking into his lungs made his chest ache.
He was almost to the rocks now. As he looked back, he stumbled and fell. The creatures were bearing down on him. In desperation, he threw up his hands and summoned a spell of thunder and lightning to strike his attackers. The spell resulted in a small flash of light and a pop like firecracker. But that was enough. The beasts stopped dead in their tracks while Willy scrambled to the rocks.
He made it to the safety of the rocks, and after catching his breath, he resumed working the spell to conjure the magic potion.
*****
Willy, still shivering from the cold, arrived back on Elfenwurl and found himself in the throne room of The Keeper. Lara was there, engaged in conversation with Clancy. Both looked up in surprise when Willy materialized. Lara ran up to him as Clancy scampered from the room.
"Willy! What's the matter? Are you all right?"
"Just cold. I'll be all right."
"But where have you been? Clancy was trying to convince me that you had attacked him, and that he defended himself with a secret power he'd learned during his travels. I asked The Book, but it knew nothing except that you disappeared while it was dealing with a new and evil power that came from Clancy. I had no idea where you were. What happened to you?"
Willy explained to her all that had happened.
"How will you punish him?" she asked.
"The harshest punishment The Book will allow," he said. "He'll be stripped of all his magic powers and banished to the wastelands of Elfenwurl."
But Clancy was nowhere to be found; he had made use of his power to escape into another dimension. Willy learned from The Book, however, that Clancy's elf powers would begin to wane in a few decades, for all elves must return to Elfenwurl from time to time to renew their magic powers. And The Book had banished Clancy from Elfenwurl for all time.
Willy also learned that Clancy would be in for another shock. The Book had stripped him of his two special powers of shape changing and jumping through dimensions. When he fled Elfenwurl, he had made his last jump.
Clancy, of course, had to be replaced. Willy summoned Nikki--a fairy with the talent to travel between worlds--and sent her to recruit a replacement for Clancy.
Nikki's recruit was a homely old barfly called Nellie. When Nellie came before Willy, he officially decreed her to be one of The Wee Folk. Willy laughed in delight as Nellie immediately used her new powers to transform herself into a likeness of the genie that Barbara Eden had portrayed on TV, even to the costume.
*****
Although Willy ruled the Wee Folk, he had no real understanding of their culture. He consulted The Book to learn of the culture of his subjects.
The culture of The Wee Folk was a culture of endless pleasures. Life was an endless party of dancing, feasting, games, and many and varied forms of revelry. Parties were always going on, moving from one castle to the next. The Wee Folk never grew tired of the fun and games. Many of their games involved sensual pleasures, and Willy's favorite playmates in such games were Lara and Nellie.
But unlike the others, Willy was growing tired of the endless party.
*****
Few elves had the talent to travel between worlds. Willy did not have that talent, but he learned that The Book could send him back to Earth any time he chose. But there was a catch: once back in his own world, he would lose his two special powers--and thereby lose control of The Book.
His loss of powers on Earth would be the opposite of what it had been on the cold world; on the cold world he'd kept his two special powers, but on Earth he would lose them. , but keep his normal powers He wouldn't be able to conjure the potion for a one-way trip, as he'd done on the cold world. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea after all.
Anyway, life hadn't been that great on Earth. When Clancy found him, Willy was a thirty-year-old wino, bumming spare change for a hamburger and a bottle of wine. Once he had been a fairly successful stand-up comic in night clubs with a promising future ahead of him. But Willy had let booze get the best of him, and he had sunk to the bottom.
The magical qualities of elf wine, however, had cured him of his desire for alcohol. If he ever decided to return to his home world he could begin his life anew, without fear of ever being controlled by alcohol again.
But why would he want to leave Elfenwurl? Life among The Wee Folk was perfect. Men on Earth could only fantasize about the kind of life he was living, and all the other elves who had been recruited from Earth were extremely happy here. But with all the merriment among The Wee Folk, something was missing--he felt empty.
Yes, he enjoyed the games with Lara, Nellie, and others, but the pleasures were animalistic and sensual. Life in Elfenwurl was pleasurable, but virtually devoid of love and emotion. He did not understand why, but unlike the other converted elves, he had retained his human emotions.
If he was already getting bored after only a few months, what would it be like in hundreds of years--perhaps even thousands? He made up his mind. He was going back, whatever the consequences.
He didn't hide his intentions to return to his homeworld. After all, as long as he controlled The Book, nobody could stop him. He was The Keeper; he could do as he pleased. He made a public announcement so that Lara would be prepared to resume her role as Keeper. He picked up his knapsack, bade them farewell, and left the Realm of The Wee Folk forever.
He found himself, back to his normal size, standing by the same park bench where he'd met Clancy. An old man was sitting on the park bench reading a newspaper when Willy materialized. The old man, clearly startled by the sudden appearance of Willy, dropped his paper.
Willy sat down on the bench. "Didn't mean to startle you, sir."
"It's all right. I guess I didn't hear you coming." The man mumbled something about keeping an appointment, looked at his watch, and left.
Willy picked up the paper and checked the date. He had been gone about six months.
Although his two special powers had left him, he still retained his normal powers. Those normal elf powers would begin to wane in a few decades, but Willy figured by then he would be rich and famous.
He went to the nearest public restroom, where he shaved and tidied up. He then set out for one of the best night clubs in town.
*****
Willy resumed his stand-up comedy act on the night club circuit, his act now augmented with sensational magic tricks. He was rapidly becoming the talk of the town. People were delighted with his no-gimmick-no-prop, seemingly endless bag of magic tricks.
Then came TV guest appearances, followed by several TV specials starring Willy. Soon he was negotiating with a network for his own TV show. Willy O'Toole, former alcoholic and homeless man, was on his way to stardom.
Then one day, about one year after his return from Elfenwurl, Willy learned of a sensational magician on the rise in Europe. He was called Clancy The Incredible.
The End
Copyright 2003 by Donald Sullivan
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