| SORCEROUS SIGNALS |
| Written by Ardyth DeBruyn / Artwork by Lee Kuruganti |
| The Wizard's Gift |
The noble fir tree stretched its needles skyward, embracing the sunlight. Everything was a dance of
carbon dioxide, water vapor, and light. Its stomata breathed in harmony, all in perfect balance. It soaked
up moisture from the soil, still wet from the last rain, drawing it up through its cells. Molecules thrummed
with life in a silent but delicate melody of movement.
Suddenly, a wave of energy crashed into it. Everything contracted, and all feeling and thought rushed
toward one place mid-trunk. It could still sense itself, but only from a distance. Its outside changed too,
its branches and roots shrinking.
All its awareness collected into one spot. The loss of the intimate knowledge of all its parts was the most
disorienting. The tree fell backwards and knowledge flashed through its gathered consciousness that to
fall was to die—to be severed from the earth.
It landed on the grass. It had a strange sense that its trunk and branches were now soft, like new
shoots. It stretched its branches and they moved quickly, like one of the lesser creatures. The
movement altered part of its trunk and it had the odd feeling it was now seeing beyond itself. This was
not a chemical message, like the many messages sent by other trees about them and their
surroundings, but a concentration of light. Blue. Sky. See. Mind. Think. Human. The ideas poured into it
and with them understanding. It had been changed into something new, a lower creature.
Another lower creature appeared in its view.
"You call that a companion? How's a tree supposed to help me?"
"It's the best I could do." A second, bushier creature leaned over it as well. "There wasn't anything else
handy. You wanted help, there it is. Stop complaining."
The second creature disappeared. The first one sighed.
"Well, get up then," it said.
This was a message, the fir realized. Like the chemical messages transported over the air, but different.
More ideas flashed through its newly formed mind. Sound. Hear. Talk.
Then a more urgent idea pressed forward. It had fallen and been uprooted. It would die. The need to
explain burst out and it found it could speak like the human creature.
"I can't get up. I've been uprooted."
The human glowered. "People don't have roots. Give me your hand and I'll help you."
The human grabbed one of its branches and pulled. The fir found it could rise and stand. Still, it found
being upright without being rooted unsteady. It looked down at its roots. It only had two main ones left
with a couple of branches at the end.
"What was that wizard thinking? A human with green hair? He must have been off his rocker. A human
tree." The human frowned. "Well I guess I don't have a choice. My name's Ann-Marie, what's yours?" She
looked expectantly at it.
Fragments of thoughts spun through the fir's mind. Would a meaning be provided? Name. Nothing came
to it. "What's that?"
Ann-Marie sighed. "Name is what they call you?"
"Who?" the fir asked. Still no thoughts came.
"Other people, uh, I guess other trees." Ann-Marie kicked the ground. "Drat that stupid wizard!"
Other trees. They sent messages, about weather or disease. There were lots of messages from many
different trees. But the ones about pollination were only to it, the ones from its own kind. What was I? it
asked itself. Tree. Fir tree. Noble Fir.
"I'm Noble Fir."
Ann-Marie rolled her eyes. "You mean you _were a Noble Fir. Now you are a human—a male human. At
least he put clothes on you."
Human. Man. He. Me. It was a he. A human. A human who couldn't feel its cells breathing, carrying,
connecting. It was lonely being human.
Anne-Marie scrunched up her nose. "I guess Noble will have to do."
With the understanding he was human, Noble felt a question again burning inside him. The world swayed
around him and he sank back to the ground. "Why?" he demanded looking up at Ann-Marie.
"I don't like it any more than you do," she said. "They all told me to go to the wizard." Ann-Marie now
spoke in a nasal, mocking tone. "The wizard can help you. The wizard will guide you. The wizard can fix it.
The wizard, the wizard…" She jabbed her finger at Noble, switching back to her normal voice. "You. He
made you a human. That's all the help he gave me. Some help you are."
A wizard. Help. Noble struggled with the new concepts.
"See, the problem's the plague," Anne-Marie said. "It finally made it to our city. Everyone knows the
wizard is the only one who can cure it, and since I'm the princess it had to be me who went."
Anne-Marie huffed and crossed her arms. "And then he would only see me alone, just so he could tell me
he has to have some stupid crystal to do the magic. I can't go tramping around the forest alone and
there isn't time to get help. Well, you're all I've got, so I guess you'll have to do. Come on, let's go."
Anne-Marie moved away from Noble, through the trees. After a few yards she whirled around and glared
at him. "Well what are you waiting for? We can't stand around here all day talking. Start walking."
Standing. Walking. Did she mean he was supposed to move across the ground like her? It was hard
enough just balancing his roots above the ground.
"Uhhh, I don't think I can," he said.
She snorted and waved at him impatiently.
Noble realized she wasn't going to take no for an answer. He slid one foot forward, then another, trying
to copy her motion. After a couple of shaky steps he found it was easier than it looked. After five
minutes, it felt like he'd been walking is entire life. Ann-Marie chatted constantly, pointing things out to
him. From the outside the trees towered above, strong and powerful. Once he had been like this, silently
dancing with the sun, huge and immovable. Now he was a small fragile creature, easily broken or swept
away. That brought up a new question.
"How do you be in the darkness?" he asked Ann-Marie.
"What?" She gave him a puzzled look. "Do you mean at night? We'll sleep of course. But first we have to
eat."
Ann-Marie flopped down. "At least they provided me with food. Don't suppose the wizard gave it a
thought. Hopefully we won't run out. I'm famished, how about you?"
Carefully, Noble lowered himself to the ground beside her. How about him? He considered his body.
Inside he felt a gnawing pain, like if termites were hollowing out his trunk. Was that famished?
"I think so," he said.
"Thirsty?" She handed him a container of water.
Noble didn't see that he had and leaves, so he tried dipping the ends of his upper branches in the water.
"What are you doing?" demanded Ann-Marie.
"Drinking."
"Gah! Not like that." She grabbed the container from him. "You hold it to your mouth." She
demonstrated and handed it back.
Noble poured some of the water into his mouth. Instinctively he swallowed. The water flowed down his
insides. The cold slid all the way down his body, refreshing him.
"Trees!" exclaimed Ann-Marie. "Honestly, when we get back I'll have a thing or two to say to that wizard."
The newness was more than Noble could bear. He could only nod as Ann-Marie revealed one strange
thing after another. Fire—which scared him but kept him warm as the evening cooled. Food had to be
swallowed, like the water, down into him. He was glad when sleep turned out to involve lying on the
ground and shutting his eyes. He lay there feeling more alone than ever before and desperately wishing
for the old comfort of the cellular rhythms, until his feelings dulled into sleep.
The next think he knew the sun was rising. He sat up. His body ached all over, but the sleep helped clear
his mind. He turned and saw Ann-Marie lying nearby, still asleep. Reaching out he touched her.
"Ann-Marie?"
She opened one eye blearily. "It's way too early, go back to sleep." Then she turned over and ignored
him.
Noble was not sleepy. Cautiously he stood up and found he was much better at it than yesterday. He
walked over to a large tree several yards from their campfire. Gently he touched its rough bark. A tremor
went through him. For a moment he could feel its life, the water flowing up and the sugar flowing down.
Gazing up at the branches his consciousness was momentarily lost in the great dance of energy
exchange.
It pulled Noble outward farther, tree to tree, showing him how all the life in the forest was connected.
Something dead and twisted interrupted it though, he could feel it pulsing with power in the forest far off
to his left. It drew Noble onward, seeking it with curiosity. The trees did not know what it was and did
not want to, it was simply there. To Noble however, he could see how it disrupted the life of the forest
and he wanted to know who had put it there and how he could stop it. He dropped his hand and let go
of the consciousness of the trees. Again he was alone, but he did not dwell on it this time. He had to find
the strange power.
He walked back to Ann Marie. "Day started a long time ago and I got to see what all the trees are talking
about. You should get up and be awake."
She blinked at him, her hair sticking up in all directions. "Huh?"
"I can feel it too, we have to find it."
"Find what? You're making no sense, you crazy tree." She wrinkled her nose at him. "I don't know what
you're going on about, but if you're going to keep waking me up there's no point in trying to sleep in.
However, I'm not going anywhere without a good breakfast."
Noble could tell Ann-Marie was not a person to change her mind and so waited while she re-lit the fire
and cooked breakfast. It was mid-morning before they finally started walking. Every step they took the
strange power throbbed stronger in Noble's head until finally it was so strong he could hardly walk. He
stopped in front of a huge oak tree.
"What is it?" asked Ann-Marie.
"It's coming from this tree," said Noble. "I think it's something up there in the branches."
"Well, lets climb up and see."
"Climb?" The thought of leaving the ground made Noble queasy.
Ann-Marie shrugged. "If you're a wimp that's fine with me. I'll climb it. Help push me." She grabbed onto
a lower branch and tried to pull herself up.
Noble gave her a shove and she shot upwards, swinging high above him from branch to branch. He
gulped hard and tried not to let it make him dizzy. Then Ann-Marie shouted with glee and held up a small
box.
"Hey, Noble, catch it!"
She scrambled down, then ripped it out of his hands and opened it. "What the heck is this?" She waved
a small ivory colored little stick.
Noble frowned at the throbbing power it gave off. "I think you should put it back in the box, it feels
dangerous."
Ann-Marie glared at him and put it back. "What sort of thank you is that? I was the one who climbed up
and got it and everything."
"Sorry," Noble said. He hadn't meant to offend her.
"What should we do with it?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered. "But we can't leave it. It bothers the trees."
"Put it in your pocket." She shoved the box at him, and turned abruptly to walk along the forest trail
again.
Noble looked down and saw a pouch on his clothes. Carefully he put the box in it, and followed.
About midday they saw towers through the tops of the trees.
Ann-Marie squealed. "That must be the castle of the magic crystal!"
Her excitement infected Noble. What would a castle be like? What he saw ahead looked like an enormous
bush with stone towers sticking out of it.
"Oh no!" Ann-Maria gaped at it.
"What?"
"The entire castle is covered with thorn bushes. It'll take us years to hack through it all."
Noble struggled to sort out her explanations and finally gathered the castle was only the towers—not the
vines.
"Well, let's get started!" Ann-Marie drew something from her belt. It was long, pointed, and made Noble
feel instantly uneasy. Sword. The word burst into his mind. Fight. Kill.
Ann-Marie swung into the vines, cutting them. Noble winced. The vines shook and started creeping
around Ann-Marie. She attacked harder, hacking more apart, but there were too many. Vines wrapped
around her arms, holding them still. Ann-Marie screamed when the thorns dug into her skin. Noble
watched in horror.
"Help me, Noble! Help me!"
Noble reached out and gently touched the vines. He could feel their life energy, but they were different
from the trees. Magic flowed through them as well. He could feel the pain from Ann-Marie's sword cuts.
He could feel a dull consciousness desperately wanting to grab whatever was attacking—to guard the
castle.
Noble sent a calming message, encouraging the vines to contract. They slowly released Ann-Marie.
"Don't swing at them," Noble yelled as Ann-Marie regained her sword. "You're making them nervous."
"Nervous bushes?" Ann-Marie's voice shook. "Noble you're the weirdest person, I mean plant, I've ever
met."
She sheathed the sword.
Noble felt the bushes relax. He urged them to relax more. The bushes parted leaving a path to the door
of the castle.
"Go in," Noble urged. "I'll keep the bushes back."
Ann-Marie gulped and nodded. She turned and headed towards the door of the castle. The bushes
shook a little but did not move.
It was getting dark when Ann-Marie finally reappeared. She looked tired but grinned when she saw him.
Noble waited until she was next to him before releasing the bushes. They slowly rustled back to their
original position.
"Whew!" exclaimed Ann-Marie. "I thought I'd never get out of there. It was practically a maze and the
dratted unicorn guarding the crystal tried to talk me into staying. Then there were these lions I had to
explain matters to, and a giant to avoid, and..."
Ann-Marie's voice drifted off and she collapsed against Noble. He lowered her to the ground. She half
opened her eyes, then shut them again. Noble didn't try to start a fire. He didn't dare. He just kept
watch next to her.
The next morning they walked back through the woods. Noble kept noticing all the different animals.
Ann-Marie named them for him, robins, swallows, squirrels, deer. Noble hadn't realized how many lower
creatures there really were.
Finally they reached the place were Noble had stood. He shut his eyes and breathed in deeply. This place
resonated with him, he knew this was where he was from.
"Come on," said Ann-Marie. "The wizard lives just up here."
Noble followed her. At the top of the hill was a hut. Ann-Marie rapped on the door.
"Hey, Mr. Wizard! I got your crystal."
The door opened and a man stepped out. He was just a little taller than Ann-Marie and his face was all
wrinkled. The bushy hair white hair all over his face looked like lichen. But his eyes had a cruel sparkle in
them. Noble didn't like him at all.
"Why, thank you, princess." The wizard's voice made Noble shiver.
It didn't seem to bother Ann-Marie. She handed him the crystal. "Now cure my people. Just like you
promised."
The wizard grinned at her showing all his teeth. "Marry me, princess. Then perhaps I'll cure your people."
"What!" cried Ann-Marie. Then she gasped. "Wait a minute…you never intended to help in the first place.
I bet you were the one who made them sick in the first place, weren't you? You sent me on some stupid
quest just for nothing."
"Not for nothing, my dear little princes," the wizard cackled. "This crystal you have brought me will allow
me to bend the entire world to my will. Marry me, and you'll do well. Otherwise I'm going to finish you off
right here."
"Never!" Ann-Marie drew her sword and attacked the wizard.
He laughed and jumped backwards. "I cannot die. I have hidden my life in the bone of my little finger
where no one will ever find it."
The wizard pointed his index finger at Ann-Marie and she dropped the sword with a cry. Ropes shot from
the wizard's fingers and wrapped around her.
"Noble, stop him," she gasped.
With another wave of his finger, the wizard silenced her.
Noble reached into his pocket and pulled out the box they had found in the trees.
"Is this it?"
The wizard turned pale. "Hand that over," he ordered.
"Let Ann-Marie go," answered Noble. "Fix her people. And then I'll give it to you."
"Stupid boy," growled the wizard. "You're nothing but a tree. What do you know about it? What is the
girl to you? Hand it over and you can rule with me."
Noble opened the box and waved the piece of bone. "I'll break it if you don't let her go."
"If you break it," snapped the wizard. "My powers will vanish with me, and you'll turn back into the tree
you were before I made you human. Forget the girl, boy. Join me and I will reward you with riches and
power."
Noble looked at Ann-Marie's face. She was white and her eyes were wide with fright. Her kind were dying
and she was a captive. Besides, Noble had liked being a tree. He did not mind becoming one again. No
one had asked him if he had wanted to be human.
He broke the bone.
The wizard shrieked and started to melt. The ropes around Ann-Marie collapsed and she stumbled over
to him.
"Oh, Noble!"
The wizard was gone. Noble's head started spinning. He could feel the change starting; his thoughts
were spreading apart. The rhythm of the cells came into focus again. Ann-Marie grabbed him. A distant
part of him could feel her.
"Noble, remember me!" She was crying.
It took every last scrap of consciousness left to answer her. "Can't think…can't feel…can't remember.
Would if I could…"
His mind burst apart. It was even more disorienting than the first change. He was spreading outward,
into himself, filling his body. The dance of the gas exchange swept him up and the brightness of the sun
embraced him.
On the forest floor below Ann-Marie stood with her hands on the trunk of the young fir tree. She
embraced it.
"Goodbye, Noble. Thank you."
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