Chapter 45– The Best Wizards' Weapons Are Made by Themselves(7)
'Maybe Professor Lionel Squisshy is a little weird. And he may sometimes speak of Smart as someone else, but he is very wise. And he has some skills that many others don't have ... It's one of the few gnomes living today."
Elizabeth listened intently to Professor Knudlac, as he watched the stone elves who cleaned the dry twigs of trees and bushes with their wands.
'For over a hundred years he helped to the best wizards' training. He was my professor too, in fact ..."
Mr. Knudlac continued his journey followed by Elizabeth. After a few minutes when he inspected a few meadows, he stopped and spoke to some stone elves that followed him.
'In this meadow we will build the stable for the pair of white deersaurs.
'Deersaurs?" the girl asked in surprise. She didn't know anything about those creatures.
'Yes, a young couple. They are ... a doe and a deer both huge. And white ... It seems there are only two such pairs in the world."
Knudlac saw the stone elves gathering and forming a small group.
"But ... there are some trees that stand in our way," said one of those stone elves.
"We will get rid of them," said the professor.
'Will you cut down these trees?" the girl looked intrigued at those trees that had yellow and bloody red leaves, another had them as black as ebony and another, so transparent that, if you looked closer you could see how the sap flowed through the ribs of the leaves.
'No, dear, these are trees brought from the Sacred Tree Forest ... it is said the elves sowed them when they first came to our world. Maybe it's a legend, maybe not. What we know for sure is they have healing powers. And then, forests are important for us, for our survival. They provide us with the oxygen without which we're lost. Nature could live without us, but we can't without it. That's why we have to value it and defend it ... from us."
'And then how can we clear the area?"
'We ask them to move somewhere else. There could be a good place," Mr. Knudlac said. 'So ... Postulantes ut patet per viam."
Some loud, deafening crackles began to be heard after these words. For any outsider, it could be bad predictive noise. Not for those gathered there. Not for Elizabeth, who was quiet when she saw how calm Professor Knudlac was.
However, shy, she got closer to the professor and began to admire the show standing by his side.
The roots of the trees began to emerge from the earth, like earthworms. After the root tips of the tree near them, the tree with black leaves, came to light, there was a broken branch sound. The tree rose gently, slightly, until it seemed like a ballerina who instead of standing on top of her feet, stood on the tip of its thick roots, and began to move as slowly as a snail.
Even so, all the trees that were asked and followed the black tree, began to move to an area indicated by Professor Knudlac.
The tree marathon began, under everyone's eyes.
After a few moments of silence, when only crackles could be heard, a stone elf got close to Knudlac.
'Now we have to solve the problem with the group of trees near the Lake."
"Yes, I know," said the professor. 'Please call the others if they finished their task near the western gardens."
Some elves disappeared after the others.
'My dear, now we have to go to a slightly more dangerous area where you need me. As I told you ... If Lionel told you the wand is very good, as well as the path of magic chosen by you, it means that it is right. He knows what is good because he can see what we cannot see. So are the gnomes, masters in predictions about magic and not only.
The professor smiled slightly at the girl, then walked to the group of stone elves. When he was surrounded by them, they began to disappear one by one, including Knudlac, leaving behind a hollow green area, as if there was nothing there. Only the grass and those trees moving as slowly as helpless elders to the area where they lived.
The girl got back to Elmbridge School raising its lofty towers toward the sunny sky and made her way to it.
She had a full, but beautiful day. And she couldn't wait getting into her room to see what else she could do with her wand. She had so many books about magic to read and so many spells to try with her wand.