The Winter Wizard

  The Winter Wizard

  By Daniel Peyton

  Copyright © 2017 Daniel Peyton

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Daniel Peyton

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Prologue: End of the Ice Age

  Chapter 1: Today

  Chapter 2: Exploring the Park

  Chapter 3: Mysterious Cave

  Chapter 4: The Wizard and The Fairy

  Chapter 5: Dan

  Chapter 6: Winter World

  Chapter 7: Military Strike

  Chapter 8: The Ice Palace

  Chapter 9: Ice Giant

  Chapter 10: Dominion of Ice

  Post Script: Truest Warmth

  Prologue: End of the Ice Age

  An ancient wizard swung a large ice blue staff through the air and created a shockwave of magic. In the wake of this blast, a whole legion of ice fairies turned to dust. Before he could continue his attacks, a shot of white magic hit the old wizard and sent him sprawling across the icy fields. Thinking quickly, he thrust the end of his staff toward the next magic attack and dissolved it. He quickly got to his knees and then slammed the end of his staff against the ground. An explosion shattered the ice covering the grasses and trees near him and sent a storm of shards back at the attacking enemies.

  “You don't stand a chance! I'm the Lord of Winter, ice magic won't stop me!” His voice thundered across the mountains.

  A legion of ice golems crested a distant mountainside and bound toward him. These creatures were thick, faceless, and relentless. Fairies followed behind them, ready to take down any who survived the onslaught.

  “BARRIER!” The wizard bellowed and a wall of clear ice formed in the path of the golems. It was not enough. The golems smashed through the wall like rocks through glass.

  The wizard realized he wasn't going to thwart them all at once, so he began to send huge spikes of ice up from the ground, piercing golem after golem, their rock-like bodies shattering into piles of debris. Unfortunately, the fairies behind them merely formed more golems out of the remains.

  A true look of worry crossed his face as the horde approached. his attacks hardly diminished their numbers.

  Suddenly, a bright ray of sunlight broke through the heavy clouds. A strong heat met the golems and melted the first row in mere seconds, the rows behind them fell quickly one by one. Ice fairies scattered as they screeched loudly in pain from the attack. The wizard looked up to see larger beings flying down. They were carried by huge butterfly wings as orange as the morning sky, their bodies exuding a glowing essence.

  The leader of this group fluttered down and stood next to the wizard. “We've cleared the way. Go, do not stop. We can only hold them off for so long. The queen is far too powerful for us to take her down.”

  “Don't worry, I can handle the queen.” The wizard summoned a gale to help him run at amazing speeds away from the gathered summer warriors.

  Dashing through the mountains, dodging magic from the lingering fairies among the frozen trees, the wizard ascended the highest point in the area. With a great leap, he came to the opulent entrance of a marvelous ice castle. This palace of cold stretched across two full mountain ridges, its base anchored in a valley deep below.

  The wizard now walked with a confident gait down a long, majestic path. Fairy guards and imposing ice golems watched him the whole way. Oddly, none of them seemed willing to attack, but were poised for the order once it was given.

  Lifting his hand to open the main doors, a mighty feminine voice called out from the other side. “So, it is true. My most loyal has betrayed me.”

  The wizard pushed aside the heavy doors and walked into the luxurious throne room. Seated on a tiny, raised throne was an ice fairy unlike any outside. She was twice as big as any fairy, with amazingly wonderful wings as beautiful as a snowflake. Her gown sparkled bright with hints of blue and silver dazzling in the gleaming light. The wizard stood strong, “Winter Queen, I have come to depose you.”

  “How is it that my most faithful general comes to me with threats this day? This wonderful day! The day I am ready to finally rid this world of any other season.” The Queen fearlessly mused.

  “You hold too much power, queen. You forget, I'm not just a general of your grand winter armies, I'm a Winter Wizard. I'm the master of the season. You're just an ice fairy, you do not have the right to take away my authority.”

  The Queen pointed her little wand at him, “So, you side with the summer pixies and seek my power. How unfortunate for you. I have no intention of handing my power over to an usurper such as you. I'm the strongest winter creature in all the world. A lowly wizard cannot hope to fight me. Though, I doubt I would have to lift a finger, I have legions outside my door, right now, ready to cut you down. They would have dispatched with you the moment you set foot here had I not order them to refrain.”

  “Then why did you order them to refrain?” He continued to move closer to her.

  “I needed to know where your heart failed. Now I know. You seek power. What did you promise the summer pixies to get their help?”

  “They didn't need convincing, they want you gone as much as I.”

  She laughed, “Wonderful. They come with hatred for me and will leave with fear. I've had enough of this. Guards!” The doors opened again and a small unit of fairies were followed by several towering golems. “Take him away and bind him so that his powers are suppressed. I want him alive so he can watch the glorious dawn of pure winter, under my authority.”

  The wizard calmly observed the approaching guards as he stood next to her throne. “My queen, you failed to notice something.”

  “And what is that?” she indulged him.

  “I have a new staff.”

  “What?”

  With a quick twist he thrust the top of his staff into her, pressing her against the throne. She suddenly became a brilliant light. Her voice screamed and her loyal warriors rushed to save her. Just as the nearest fairy reached the wizard, the queen was gone, replaced by a snowflake crystal. The echo of her last scream became a shockwave of magical power. It erupted outward and demolished the nearest golems, sent the fairies spiraling out of control, and the wizard was thrown up against a nearby column.

  The castle rattled and shook, the foundations were already crumbling as the magic failed. The wizard quickly got to his feet and grabbed the new crystal from the throne. He dashed for the door, unhindered by any of the bewildered fairies. Huge sections of the ice palace shattered and fell. Enormous shards of ice broke apart from the structure and crashed into the valley below, or slid down the mountains it was attached to.

  Landing on a distant hill, the wizard gathered himself. He stood up and watched the amazing destruction of the Ice Queens palace. As it disintegrated the skies broke open and the heavy winter clouds moved aside for the sun to shine down. He held the cold crystal in his hand and said, “Soon the world will have forgotten you, queen.”

  “You did it!” An excited voice called out from behind the wizard.

  He turned to find the general of the pixy army behind him. These summer pixies were excitable and a little silly compared to the winterfolk. The wizard gave off a short nod, “I did. But, I could not have done it without your help. Tell your king I'm eternally grateful.”

  “I will. Now, where is she? I need to bring her back to be held accountable for her actions to the seasons council.” The pixy held out his hand.

  The wizard slowly slid the crystal into his pocket as he said, “I'm afraid she peris
hed along with her palace. Tell your king not to worry, the ice queen has been defeated.”

  With a curious look, the butterfly winged man pulled back his hand, “Alright. I'm sure he won't be happy, but if she's gone, that should be all he wants. Now, I have to go, it's still too cold here for us. Farewell.” The peppy pixy fluttered away in a hurry to join the other pixies flying as a group southward.

  The wizard walked onward, down the hill and deep into these heavily forested mountains.

  Chapter 1: Today

  A van drove quickly down the highway through East Tennessee. At the helm was a tall, red headed man with one hand on the wheel and a marshmallow treat in the other. Seated next to him was a woman with long, curly blonde hair with a cheerful demeanor. Though, right now her eyes were that of annoyance.

  “Brian, did you have to stop and pick up those?”

  “Look, we had to stop for gas and they just happened to have a display of these meeps left from Christmas.” Brian stuffed a whole red and green Christmas tree shaped marshmallow in his mouth, just to irritate her that much more. Speaking with a mouthful he said, “You should have some, Sherri, they're great.”

  “You know I can't, that's if I wanted one.” Sherri gave off a disgusted snarl at the thought of those overly sweet things. “I thought you got five packages? You've only eaten two.”

  He patted the breast pocket of his coat, which made the crumpling sounds of plastic, “Saving them for later.”

  With a groan and eye roll she merely said, “How much further do we have to go?”

  “He lives in Morristown. The GPS says we only have twenty minutes to go.”

  Sherri looked out at the naked trees of the cold forest. “We should've called first. What if he's not home?”

  “What? And ruin the surprise. No way.”

  “It's still the Holiday season. He probably isn't even home.”

  Brian fiddled around with the last two marshmallows, trying to get them apart with one hand. “He's home. When we did our Christmas show from Orlando, he was at his house. I doubt he ran off since then. Stop worrying.”

  “I still say we should've called first.”

  Brian finally got the marshmallows apart and stuffed one in his mouth. Once again, he was speaking with a muffled voice, “He's there, don't worry. I want to do our first show in Tennessee with one of our favorite authors. He's been on our program over the phone like five times. This is going to be a lot of fun.”

  “I hope you're right. Otherwise, this is going to have been a long drive up from Florida for no reason. We coulda flown from Orlando back to Boston and already been home two hours ago.”

  Brian turned off the main highway and followed a winding road that had cattle pastures on one side and tilled land on the other. “Well, here we are. That sign said Morristown is just ahead. Hey, look, it says there's a State Park up there.”

  “Don't you remember?” Sherri asked, “He's done a lot of photos at that park, and even shot a few videos there.” She got excited, “Hey, maybe we can go up there and do some of the video?”

  “But it's too cold to be doing that outside.” Brian muttered.

  “Oh, stop whining about the cold. We're from New England, this isn't cold at all.”

  He pointed to the temperature gauge on the dash, “It's thirty three degrees at noon.”

  “Still above freezing.” Sherri pointed out, “Besides, look around, there isn't a spec of snow to be found.”

  “Fine, whatever.” Brian muttered and went for that last marshmallow.

  After a short drive through farmlands and into a small factory town, Brian and Sherri followed a road that lead directly for the state park. Just as they would turn to enter the park, another road led them up to an area where some neighborhoods had been built up. Soon they drove up the driveway of a nice modern colonial style house with a few Christmas decorations still out in the yard.

  “Is this it?” Sherri asked.

  Brian held up his phone, “The GPS says this is it.”

  “Looks like no one's home.” Sherri craned her head to look at the dark windows of the house.

  Brian was the first to venture out and head for the door. Ringing the bell he waited. Sherri joined him as he stood there. Before she could say anything, he rang the bell again.

  “He's not home.” Sherri finally said.

  Brian pursed his lips, “He has to be here. I didn't drive all the way from Orlando to find him not home.”

  Just then, Sherri's phone rang and she walked away to answer it. “Oh, hi honey. No, we're in Tennessee already. Yeah, that author we were going to see isn't home...” her voice trailed off and she walked away.

  Brian huffed at the whole situation. Looking up at the empty house he saw something odd. Reflecting in the glass of the door was a flashing of what appeared to be lightning. The clouds in the distance were spiraling very slowly. When he turned around, the sky was perfectly normal and there weren't any flashes. However, it was a gorgeous view. He could see across a set of rolling hills covered in thick forests. Not too far from here was that state park.

  Sherri walked back up as she turned off her phone, “That was my husband. He says we should wait, he agrees with you that our friend is still here. Just out....hey, what are you looking at?”

  Brian shook off the confusion and then smiled, “I agree, he's probably just out and will be back soon. While we wait, let's go over to that park and have a look around.”

  “Sounds great. I'd rather be looking at a lovely park than just sitting in the cold waiting in someones driveway.” She was already heading back to the car.

  Brian withheld reminding her that she told him it wasn't cold enough for them to worry about. He merely followed her to the car and asked his phone to tell him exactly how to get back to that state park.

  Chapter 2: Exploring the Park

  “Panther Creek State Park,” Sherri read the sign as they entered the park, “Hey, do you suppose they have a lot of panthers around here?”

  “I have no idea.” Brian said, “It's named after a creek, not an animal. Now....oh, look, deer.” He drove slowly as they gawked at a family of deer munching on dried grasses.

  Sherri had her phone out the whole time, taking photos and a few short video clips. They drove up into the main park area where the road became even more gnarled with twists and turns. Finally, they came to the highest point of the road. To one side was an overlook that gazed down across Cherokee lake and deep into hills far away.

  “Brian, I want to get out and get some pictures from that overlook.” Sherri tapped his leg.

  He pulled over by a picnic area. They walked out onto a wooden platform at the overlook.

  “Sherri, get a video of me here. I could do a promo for the show.” He turned and leaned back against the railing so that the incredible view was behind him.

  “Do you want me to get some of the equipment out of the back? That camera we used in Orlando is a lot better than a cellphone.”

  “You just like playing with all that new stuff I bought for the show.”

  Sherri nodded, “Of course. And, after all we paid for it, we should use it.”

  “Well, I don't want to set it up. Just get out your phone.”

  “Fine.” Sherri held her phone at the ready. “Alright, go.”

  “This is Brian with the Brian and Sherri show. We are at the amazing Panther Creek State Park in Tennessee. Just a little side trip to meet one of our favorite authors, Dan Peyton. We...what's that?” Brian gasped and looked off to the side.

  Sherri quickly turned the phone to look at the same direction. “What, what is it?”

  “I saw...look!”

  Just then, in the distance, they both saw flashes of light seemingly coming up from the forest and going into the gentle winter clouds. There was a strange sound that came with each flash, not like thunder, more of a crackle of energy. Then it stopped.

  “What the hell was that?” Brian asked.

  “I have no idea. I
've never seen anything like that.” Sherri slowly put away her phone. “Do you think it's something dangerous?”

  “No. They're probably putting on a show at an outdoor theater. Might be fun to see what this is, must be impressive to have that kind of light display.” Brian headed for a walking trail.

  “Wait, it could be dangerous.” Sherri didn't follow him.

  “Dangerous?”

  “You don't know what wild animals are in these trees.”

  “Fine, you stay in the car, and I'll go by myself.” Brian was already into the trees, crunching over piles of dead leaves as he went.

  Sherri groaned and then ran after him, “I'm not staying in the car.”

  He snickered, “Scared?”

  “No. It's just safer if two people go. These trees have bears in them, you know.”

  Brian brushed that off with a wave, “Don't worry, it's a state park, I'm sure the bears aren't going to hurt us. Besides, it's winter, they're all sleeping.”

  “What about panthers?”

  “If you're so scared, then go back to the car.” Brian said.

  “I don't want to be alone, alright.” Sherri finally admitted.

  “Don't worry, little Dorothy. The lions, panthers, and bears aren't going to hurt you while there's a man around.”

  She scoffed, “A real man...where?”

  “Oh, ha. ha.”

  Brian and Sherri walked down a long, twisted trail through the bare trees. To one side they could see through the naked trunks beautiful Cherokee lake. It's surface reflecting greyish blue against the dull gray of the land around it.

  “We've been walking for an hour I think. This is insane.” Sherri muttered.

  Brian laughed, “Seen any bears or panthers yet?”

  “No, but I do see a gigantic dope.”

  “Huh?”

  She prodded him in the ribs, “You! This is crazy. We're freezing our butts off for no reason. There isn't any outdoor event. Heck, we haven't even seen any more of those strange lights. It was probably nothing.”