Fraud at Snowfields Read online

  Will suddenly felt very foolish. With all the excitement and the pain in his side it had never even occurred to him to question Contractus’s knowledge of the forgery during that episode—or even afterwards. He was concentrating too hard on his job, and then on who could be responsible for the fraud. Somehow he trusted his teacher so much he had never once been suspicious of him. What a fine secret agent he had turned out to be!

  They went on, right up to the door of the room where the meetings had taken place. Contractus opened it, and stepped inside. Will followed.

  ‘Hello, Will,’ said a warm voice that carried the hint of a smile.

  Will looked up. He knew that voice. Sitting there, smiling at him, was Lektrarissima.

  He quickly sat down at the table. It had again been turned into a huge computer display, with a map of Snowfields. Contractus moved his hand over the school building and tapped on it. Promptly the display shifted and changed so the school building turned transparent and grew in size and they could make out the details.

  ‘Now, let’s see,’ he said slowly. ‘Beltorec’s office is here…. He’s not in there. I met you over here…. Hmm…let’s see.’ He moved his hands and zoomed in on the area where they had fought the Bluerorcs. ‘Ah, here they are. And there’s Beltorec, see? He’s there already.’ He moved his fingers and touched one of the dots. A small box appeared next to it. ‘Beltorec, vice chancellor of Snowfields School’. Hmm. Here are the Bluerorcs.’ He tapped on one of the six larger, blue dots. Panels appeared beside them reading ‘Bluerorc’. Contractus squinted at the scene. ‘Looks like he’s still trying to revive them. We must assume he can do that because we’ve obviously rather underestimated him so far.’

  Lektrarissima nodded, not smiling anymore.

  ‘You know, I don’t know very much about Bluerorcs,’ Contractus went on. ‘It’s, thank goodness, not a common topic, and for a long time there has been no reason to be concerned about them. There’s hardly any literature about them, and there is surely nobody alive who’s had to deal with them before.’ Contractus stood up. ‘I think we should visit Wonderock!’

  Lektrarissima nodded, a faint trace of her characteristic smile reappearing. ‘Yes, if there’s anybody who’d know anything about them, he would. After he retired he positively drowned himself in studies about almost everything concerning our special business, and naturally especially everything dealing with Bluerin. He would know.’

  ‘Then let’s go, before Beltorec can get them revived and starts hunting us again!’ Contractus got up and pulled his wand out of his pocket. Then, to Will’s horror, he set fire to the table.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Will shouted. ‘The table…. The computer!’ He was at a loss for words, seeing the table engulfed in flames.

  Contractus looked at him calmly. ‘We can’t let the table fall into Beltorec’s hands. He would only use it against us, to locate us and to spy on us. He’d know exactly where we were and would hunt us down immediately!’

  Lektrarissima nodded without a smile.

  ‘But….’ Will started again meekly, looking in horror at the table that was slowly being consumed by flames.

  ‘I know,’ said Contractus, ‘but the wizards are quite capable, and I believe they’ll be able to recreate such a table after this is over. Of course it won’t be easy. But we have to deal with this problem first. And right now we just can’t take the chance! Let’s leave. We need to find Wonderock.’

  By then the dry table had burned down to a miserable heap of ashes and molten metal. They quickly left the room. Contractus once again led the way, and Lektrarissima followed Will. They went down several flights of stairs until they were back in the bare passages down below Snowfields. Contractus again took a route Will did not know. They passed through grey and ill-lit tunnels with bare and crude stone walls, damp and musty, sometimes with water running across the ground or dripping from the ceiling.

  ‘We’ll head up here,’ Contractus finally said, and opened a rusty, iron gate that squeaked in protest. He lead them up several flights of stairs, and down deserted corridors. Finally Contractus opened an iron grating. They went through and were standing outside in a street Will did not recognise. Contractus replaced the grate. Will looked back at it: from there it just looked like a totally harmless drainage tunnel, not at all like a door to hidden passages.

  ‘Come on!’ Contractus again led the way down the street: ‘It isn’t far.’

  They passed several nondescript buildings, probably some staff homes. Then there were some rather larger and better-looking homes, with an even larger building at the end of the street just before an intersection. This building was also made of the red brick that was so common in Snowfields. It had beautiful, lattice windows with inlays of coloured lead glass and golden frames. Warm light filtered through the windows, illuminating the inlaid Christmas scenes.

  ‘Here we are.’ Contractus went to the ornate entrance and knocked, using an intriguingly-carved brass knocker. It took some time, but finally they heard steps inside. The door opened slowly.

  ‘Yes? Who’s there?’ croaked an elderly voice.

  ‘Good evening, Mr Wonderock,’ Contractus greeted him respectfully. The door opened fully.

  ‘Ah, Contractus. And Lady Lektrarissima, what a lovely surprise for an old man.’ He smiled pleasantly at them. ‘And who’s this young man then?’

  ‘Yes, sir, this is Will Burns, a student at our school,’ replied Contractus.

  ‘Nice to meet you, Will.’

  ‘Thank you, sir!’ replied Will.

  ‘But please, do come in. It’s unpleasant out here.’ He looked up into the sky. ‘There’s something….’ Wonderock shook his head and stepped back into his house, motioning for them to follow him inside.

  On the way in, Contractus muttered, ‘It is indeed unpleasant out there!’

  ‘What was that, Contractus?’

  ‘Sir, we’ve got to talk,’ Contractus replied shortly with a last glance outside, as if to make sure they had not been followed.

  ‘Well, come into the living room and let’s sit down then.’ Wonderock went through a broad door, and Will and the others followed him into a large sitting room. It had comfortable furniture made out of warm woods, lots of lamps gleaming with a pleasant golden glow, bright wall hangings, and many bookcases. They settled down in upholstered chairs and couches that were clustered around a large table littered with books, scrolls, and pens.

  ‘Now, my dear friends.’ Wonderock smiled fondly at Contractus and Lektrarissima. ‘And my new friend.’ He winked at Will, who immediately felt that he liked this old man. ‘What gives me the pleasure of your unexpected visit? I’m sure this isn’t just a social visit.’ His smile turned sly.

  Contractus cleared his throat. ‘Sir, our worst fears have come true. Beltorec has created Bluerorcs!’

  ‘Great fir tree!’ Wonderock exclaimed. ‘That’s a nasty surprise indeed. You’re sure?’ He looked sharply at Contractus.

  Contractus nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve seen them myself. In fact Beltorec had set them on Will, and they were hunting him when we were temporarily able to stop them with Bluerin globes. But even as we talk, Beltorec is trying to revive them.’

  ‘Well, we’ve at least got some time then. Alas, I never thought I’d see these horrible creatures walk the earth.’ He sighed heavily. ‘But we’ve got no time to get sentimental—we’ve got to devise a plan to deal with them. Fortunately I’ve had a lot of time since my retirement to study Bluerin and everything connected to it, so I’ve also made a study of Bluerorcs. But information about them is scarce. And, of course, I didn't have the real thing to study—not that I would have liked that, mark you. And nobody alive has ever seen Bluerorcs or had any experience with them. But I think I know most of the things that can be known about them.’

  Contractus nodded. ‘That’s what I thought, so we came straight to you. We only passed by the secret observation room first, where we met Lektrarissima. And we checked where Beltorec wa
s and what he was doing. Fortunately he was still stuck with his attempts to revive the Bluerorcs. After that we destroyed the table.’

  Wonderock nodded gravely. ‘Yes, that’s rather a loss. But most unavoidable too. It wouldn’t do us any good if he got that into his hands. Beltorec, you say? I can’t say I’m surprised. Even as a student at school, when I was headmaster there, he seemed just a bit too ambitious. And there were always some strange things going on around him. But I never could track them down or prove his involvement. I could never find anything really wrong with him. He always did what he was told. And he did well, scored high marks. That alone is rather suspicious in a student, in my experience. Don’t you think?’

  He looked at Will, who smiled rather embarrassed. Wonderock looked back at Contractus. ‘So you stopped them with Bluerin globes, eh? That was a rather good idea—where did you get that notion from?’

  ‘Well, I also have a bit of knowledge about Bluerorcs, but not nearly as vast as yours must be. I just remembered suddenly that I read somewhere they could be stopped in such a way.’

  ‘Yes.’ Wonderock nodded. ‘Extenboom described such a method of stopping them in his rather unpopular scrolls. Bah.’ He looked rather disgusted. ‘People are always so stupid. They think that just because they choose to ignore something unpleasant it will go away.’

  ‘The globes did indeed stop them,’ Contractus went on, ‘but I fear that Beltorec is trying to revive them as we are talking. We have to do something! We have to stop him!’

  Wonderock rubbed his beard and nodded. ‘Hmm, revive them…. I guess that might be possible. Especially Beltorec might be able to do that—he has the capability, that he has.’ He looked at Contractus. ‘Yes, yes, we have to do something, or it will get far worse than it already is. Fortunately I didn’t only read Extenboom, but also Sententee, one of his students. He wrote some very interesting scrolls about the possibilities of dealing with Bluerorcs. He especially expanded the theories of Extenboom and explored the possibilities of dealing permanently with Bluerorcs—methods to destroy them. Of course this is all just theoretical, as no Bluerorcs have been around for a long time. Luckily no one dared to create them after the havoc they caused in the past. That is, no one has dared until today!’ He shook his head. ‘Well, we’ll have to deal with this mess now.’

  He got up and went over to the bookcases where the books were piled up to the ceiling. Scrolls had been stuffed everywhere in between. Wonderock stood in front the shelves, muttering under his breath: ‘Now where is…. I know I had it in my hands only the other day…. It was here somewhere….’ He sorted through the scrolls and finally pulled out one that was rather battered, antique-looking.

  ‘Aha!’ he called. ‘I knew it was here somewhere. That’s what we need.’ He came back to where Will and the others were sitting.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Contractus, looking curiously at the scroll in Wonderock’s hands.

  ‘What? Oh….’ Wonderock looked up from the scroll he was unrolling. ‘This is one of the works of Sententee, in which he explores a theory on how to disable Bluerorcs permanently.’

  ‘Oh,’ replied Contractus. ‘How does it work? Does it work?’

  Wonderock barked a short laugh. ‘How should I know? Fortunately I never had to deal with Bluerorcs. And even Sententee, or Extenboom for that matter, had never even met one. They could only work out some theories. But those are sound!’

  ‘And how does this theory work?’ Contractus repeated, still looking rather sceptical.

  ‘Ah,’ said Wonderock, raising his long and slender finger high in the air. ‘Sententee proposed a method that uses both Bluerin and Yellowrin combined in one wand, released together with a special spell devised by him.’ Wonderock made a spiralling gesture with his hand while he said this.

  Contractus looked even more sceptical when he heard this. ‘Bluerin and Yellowrin together? What’s the effect of that? Bluerin okay, but Yellowrin doesn’t have any effect at all!’

  ‘Well,’ said Wonderock, putting his finger along the side of his nose. ‘That’s what everybody believes, but it is only in modern times that we use Yellowrin as if it has no effect, no power. And it is good that everybody believes that. For Yellowrin by itself really has no potency, but in combination with Bluerin it is truly powerful. In fact so potent it could quite possibly be the only means that may be useful against Bluerorcs.’

  ‘Very well,’ said Contractus, ‘if you say so. Can you teach us this spell?’

  ‘Yes, I think so. The instructions are all in here,’ said Wonderock, pointing at the scroll.

  ‘But even if he can teach us the spell, it won’t be of much use to us,’ interjected Lektrarissima.

  ‘And why might that be, my dear lady?’ asked Wonderock.

  ‘Well, I don’t have a wand that can be charged with both Yellowrin and Bluerin at the same time. Do you?’ She looked at Contractus.

  ‘No,’ he admitted, scratching his head. ‘I hadn’t thought about that. So what now? We have the method to strike back at them, but we don’t have the means.’ He shook his head. ‘This is really frustrating!’

  ‘But no, no,’ Wonderock retorted, ‘not at all, my friends. Trust old Wonderock! Hardly anybody knows this, but over the years I have collected quite a few old wands, odd wands, special wands, and some of them can be charged with Yellowrin and Bluerin at the same time.’

  ‘Oh…all right,’ said Contractus, rubbing his hands. ‘Now then, for the spell?’

  ‘Very well,’ said Wonderock, ‘please watch carefully.’ And he took out his wand, stepped over to a desk on which a small container with Yellowrin stood, charged his wand, and stood in front of them. Then he showed them the spell, carefully teaching them the rather complex, spiralling motion. When the three of them could perform it adequately, he nodded. ‘That’s good enough. Let’s get you the wands. Follow me.’

  Will, Contractus, and Lektrarissima followed Wonderock into his cellar. There he opened a large cabinet and took out three narrow but long boxes which he laid out on a table. Will opened the box closest to him. Inside was a wand that looked rather old and was richly decorated. When he picked it up, he could feel the age and the power. The others picked up wands that looked to be of equal age.

  ‘Beautiful!’ said Contractus, admiring the wand he held in his hand.

  While Will looked closely at his wand, he remembered something. ‘Sorry, sir, but will these wands work for us? I was taught they have to be personalized to you before you can use them.’

  ‘Ah,’ replied Wonderock, ‘I see you actually listen to your teachers.’ He grinned at Will, who blushed slightly. ‘And yes, you are right. Normally they have to be personalized. But these are old and well-used wands that belonged to powerful members of the organisation. They were specially created using Bluerin and Yellowrin in the process—something that is very laborious and only done in special cases. Your wands are really just wooden sticks, and thus need the personalization. But these special wands can be used by anyone who knows how to use them. Therefore they can be rather dangerous, and that is one of the reasons why they are so rare.’

  Contractus interrupted. ‘Sorry, sir, but this isn’t the time for lectures. We have to hurry if we want to stop Beltorec and his Bluerorcs. Does anybody know the nearest place where Bluerin is stored?’

  ‘Er,’ said Wonderock, looking slightly embarrassed, ‘actually I have a small amount here. Just for an emergency, you know.’ He looked at them. ‘This does not need to go beyond us four, now, agreed?’

  Contractus winked at him. ‘Why, you sly old fox. But I’d say this definitely is an emergency. Where have you got it?’

  Wonderock gave him an amused look. ‘In fact you are just standing on it. If you wouldn’t mind taking a step backwards?’

  ‘Oh, sure,’ replied Contractus, hurriedly taking two steps backwards and looking at the ground where he had just been standing. Will also looked there, but the only thing he could see were some rough, grey tiles. Wondero
ck took out his wand again and pointed it at the tiles. He mumbled a spell and made a gesture with his wand, and a faint trace of Bluerin streaked towards the tiles. One of them slowly lifted from the ground, and underneath a small, glass tank appeared. It was filled with Bluerin.

  ‘Let’s charge the wands then,’ Wonderock prompted.

  ‘Go on, Will,’ said Contractus.

  Will took his new—or rather the very old—wand and inserted it into the opening of the Bluerin container. After his wand was charged, he stepped back. The others charged their wands in turn, and after Wonderock had completed the charging of his wand, he again performed the spell and the tile slowly sank back towards the ground, where it fitted seamlessly in with the others, forming an unbroken surface. Nobody would surmise anything was underneath it. Then the four went back upstairs into Wonderock’s study. Wonderock fetched a container with Yellowrin from a shelf and put it on the desk, and they all charged their wands with it.

  ‘Good,’ said Contractus. ‘What are we going to do now? I don’t think we have much time. We don’t know what Beltorec is doing with his Bluerorcs at the moment. They could come storming in here anytime.’

  Lektrarissima nodded. ‘That may very well be. But even if we have the means to fight them now, where should we look for them? And where should we confront them? We should choose the time and place so we have optimal conditions to fight them. We should not take any chances.’

  Wonderock nodded but said nothing. He went to one of the bookshelves and came back with a scroll that he placed on the desk in front of them, putting some books on the edges to prevent it from rolling up again. Will could see it was a map of Snowfields on which not only the streets, but also every single building was depicted. It was beautiful, highly-detailed and colourful.

  Wonderock peered at the map. ‘Where did you say you disabled the Bluerorcs?’ he asked Contractus.

  ‘Right in the school. I encountered them and Will in some of the rarely-used rooms in the western wing.’