The Tale of Two Wizards -- Part 2

When Iz arrived at the party, he landed about half a mile down the road and changed his shape into that of a handsome young man. There was a man ahead of him on the road--he waited a bit until that man was far ahead. (This, of course, was the obnoxious neighbor.) As he started down the road, he noticed a very attractive young woman approaching, struggling to carry a huge basket for fruit. He waited for her, asked if he could help, and took the basket. She was going to the party too; they walked together.

Mas noticed that his young lady was approaching, accompanied by someone else. This was not to his liking--he had not waited all this time only to have her to appear with an escort. He sent a headache spell at the young man beside her--a moment later he recoiled with pain as his own head began pounding. After fighting to clear the problem, he realized that his spell had been returned to him. He could not remember the last time this had happened--it had been a very long time indeed. He decided to take a closer look at this young man.

Iz and the young lady--whose name was Lucinda--chatted happily as they walked along. She was very pretty indeed -- Iz began wondering whether rents were cheap along this coast, whether he should stay a while. He hoped that she did not have a husband or a boyfriend, but had little hope of that--she was far too pretty not to have been noticed.

They arrived at the party. Lucinda greeted the host, introduced Iz to him, told Iz where to put the basked of fruit. She began to chat with friends, and Iz moved about introducing himself to people. There was a simalicurm of a sheep turning on the spit--he thought that rather odd fare for a party, but was too polite to say so.

While he mingled and chatted, he planned his next shape change -- what would amuse these people, was it worth the trouble? He walked over to the food table, carefully avoiding the ersatz sheep, and helped himself to fruit, bread and roasted vegetables. Threading his way through the crowd, he carefully carried his plate to a ring of chairs around the fire, sat down and began to eat.

There was an older man seated across from him who radiated power - Mas, of course, although Iz didn't know the name at the time. He was staring at Lucinda, who stood near the food table chatting with a couple who appeared to be old friends. Iz became aware that much of the power radiating around this man was beginning to focus itself on Lucinda.

Lucinda abruptly turned and started walking toward the fire. Her friends were staring after her, as though surprised by her sudden departure. The older man had a strange smile on his face as he watched her approach. There were no seats left, and Iz began wondering whether it would be appropriate to make one appear next where he sat. But before he could move, Lucinda stopped in front of the man and sat on his lap, her back to Iz.

Iz shrugged inwardly and returned to his dinner. So much for that - he'd known a lovely girl like Lucinda would probably have a lover or fiance. Obviously this was the man.

Iz finished his meal, stood up and carefully carried his plate to the end of the food table, where a chubby girl with a grin took it away to wash. On the far side of the yard, musicians were tuning up and preparing to play. He began to amble in their direction, crossing behind the folks at the fire.

Lucinda was still sitting on her lover's lap. His hands were cupping her bottom and handling it quite shamelessly. Lover, definitely not fiance, Iz decided, and wondered how a lovely girl like Lucinda came to be with such a jerk.

There was a vacant drum by the musicians - if he hurried, perhaps it would still be available when he got there. He quickened his pace a bit and cut across the crowd.

Too late! A dark youth in gray was just ahead of him and seized the drum. Iz turned and began to walk back toward the fire. Glancing up, he was startled to find himself looking straight into Lucinda's eyes -- and her eyes were full of terror.

Iz suddenly realized that whatever her outward appearance showed, Lucinda did not want to be on this man's lap at all. There was not a trace of pleasure on her face, only bewilderment and fear. Yet she was not struggling and did not move. She continued to sit quietly on that man's lap, but her face looked as if she wished to flee down the road away from him. Her face was in fact the only part of her that moved at all. Fear hung about her like a dark cloud, mingling with the red cloud of triumph and lust that came from the man.

This was too much! Whoever this man was, he had no right to torment a nice girl like Lucinda.

Iz pasted a smile on his face and walked over to them. Paying no attention to the fact that Lucinda was facing away from him, he bowed and asked politely, "Mistress Lucinda, would you do me the favor of a dance?"

As though with a huge effort of will, Lucinda turned and looked at him, Her eyes said, "Oh yes, please!" She tried to open her mouth but couldn't seem to manage it.

"The lady is with me - as should be quite obvious!" growled the man.

"All I'm asking for is one dance, sir. Surely you can allow her that small bit of freedom?"

The people around the fire were beginning to notice. A couple of the women were whispering to their men, who turned to look and find out what was going on.

"Bugger off!" the man said, speaking very loudly.

"Such language! At a party and in front of a delicate young lady, too!" Iz was beginning to enjoy himself. The man's hold on Lucinda seemed to be weakening -- she moved her legs and tried to stand up.

"Are you perhaps the young lady's grandfather, sir? Or her great-uncle?"

The man's face turned red and Iz felt a sudden flash of pain. It was almost so bad that he couldn't get his shields up, but he fought it through and somehow managed to stand up straight.

"That was definitely not nice! You need to turn that lady loose! Right now!"

The man laughed - a very nasty laugh. "And I suppose you are going to make me, young sir?"

"Well, I can certainly try!" Iz gathered himself together, refortified his shields, and hurled a bolt -- only to recoil in pain as it came hurtling back to him, crashing through his shields as if they weren't even there. He almost collapsed with shock and pain. The man smiled a wicked smile, and through the haze of torment Iz realized that another bolt was on the way.

Without thinking, Iz became a seagull and soared high above. He flitted back and forth, unable to do anything except try to stay ahead of the energy bolts. And then he did the one thing a seagull could do -- he shat on the man's head.

Mas screamed an obscenity and grabbed for his hair. Lucinda, suddenly freed from both his physical and mental clutches, tumbled to the ground. She lay there for a moment, then scrambled to her feet and ran to an older woman who was basting the sheep. She was crying. The woman took one look and folded her into her arms.

Iz swooped down, ready to drop another load - only to find that Mas was no longer in his chair. It took him only a second more to realize there was now a huge black hawk chasing him, the largest he had ever seen -- and it looked furious. He darted off -- the hawk followed him with its beak open. He swerved and turned, banked and rose. The hawk stayed right behind him.

No natural bird would do that. Iz fell to earth and turned into a cat.

The hawk swooped down and turned into a large black dog. It bared its teeth and lunged at Iz. Iz unsheathed his claws and jumped onto the dog's back. He perched there, holding on and raking the dog with his claws. He tried to reach the dog's ear with his teeth, and was very near to grabbing it when suddenly everything dropped out from under him and the furry back was replace by something hard and curved, where his claws could find no purchase.

Where the dog had stood was now a large box turtle, closed within its shell. Iz became an elephant, raised a foot, and brought it down -- only to find the turtle was no longer there. And something was inside his trunk, biting and scratching. The pain was excruciating in such a tender area. He tried to think of something that had no nose, he could not think of anything. And the pain continued. It was very hard to think with all that pain.

Iz the elephant turned in circles, shook his head -- and as he was turning, he caught a glimpse of shining water and remembered they were by the sea. He raced into the surf and became a fish. Something was stuck in his left gill, still biting and scratching, but the pain was much, much less. He gave himself to the wave, and it carried him far out into the deeper water.

The biting stopped and a large beetle appeared in the water next to him. Iz darted for it, ready to make a meal of it and end this fight.

A second later, he darted off in fear -- the beetle had become a seal, and seals eat fish.

Iz became a killer whale and chased the seal. He was very near to catching it, then lost it, searched for it--there was a horrible pain and he realized that something long and sharp had grazed his right side. Mas had become a man again, rezzed himself a boat, and was hunting killer whale for dinner.

Iz decided there was no way he would win this fight. He was bleeding badly and would soon loose consciousness, unless he did something very quickly. He became a biting fly, flew to Mas' neck, and bit him has hard as he could.

Mas jumped, and swore a terrible oath. He dropped his harpoon and almost fell out of the boat as his hand flew to the back of his neck. Iz darted away just milliseconds before it would have squashed him. He hovered a few feet above Mas' head and looked for another tender spot.

Oh no - now there was another bird chasing him, a songbird this time. Iz became a tiny gnat, very difficult to see. He bided his time -- this was not over yet, he knew. But he couldn't stay a gnat for ever - he was still bleeding badly, and gnats have very little blood to loose. Deciding enough was enough, he dropped from the sky and became a fish, a tiny silver fish that darted into the midst of a school of other tiny fish and disappeared. The cold water washed his wound and stopped the bleeding almost instantly.

And a very good thing that was! Iz made out the shadow of a shark, and barely managed to dart out of the way as it plowed through the school of minnows with its mouth open. OK, this was definitely enough - Iz darted close to shore, became an alligator and struggled up onto the beach. He was about to become a man, when he heard a terrifying bellow high above him. He struggled to raise his head - alligators don't look up as a rule -- and found himself staring into mouth of a huge dragon.

There seemed noting else to do but become an even larger dragon. Iz tried, but couldn't manage it - he stuck halfway, with only a dragon's belly, tail and hind legs -- no mouth to bit with, and no teeth! He had no eyes to see with, but felt something bite his tail.

Iz became a blob of living jelly, extruded legs, and ran for it. He could hear the dragon bellowing and stomping after him across the beach. He ran for the waves, extruded tentacles, rolled himself into a ball and spun toward the surf. The sand and rocks grated on his tender body, but he had no energy left to put out scales.

It seemed he rolled across that sand forever - was this a beach or the great lost desert? Just as he was about to give up hope, he felt wet sand under his tentacles, uncurled himself, scrambled back into the water, became a fish again and swam as fast as he could for a nearby rock. Then he became a tiny limpet, clinging to the rock. He heard splashing as the dragon made his way through the water, then a horrible crunching sound as it stomped along the rock.

Iz had no more fight left in him. He clung tightly to his rock and waited for the final crunch that would crush his shell and end his existence. After a bit, he realized that the dragon had given up and left. He sighed -- as much as a limpet can sigh -- and decided to wait. Sitting still and waiting was probably the only thing he could do as a limpet, and it suited him just fine right now. He was totally exhausted from the strain of changing shape so many times in succession.

Much, much later, he peeked out of his shell and realized he was totally alone. The party had ended and everybody had gone home. He could feel someone sound asleep in the cabin on the shore, but that was all. He became a fish again, and gave himself to the current. Much as he liked this place, it was obvious that he'd made a dangerous enemy here and it was time to move along. There were plenty of other nice places in the world and plenty of other pretty girls.

But although he did not know it, fate had other things to teach him in this place.