JONATHON GOODE, HONORARY WITCH.

THE CRYSTALS OF AZTLAN

( This is a work in progress. Updates and excerpts will be posted from time to time. )

Jonathon Goode, Jack to his friends, is fifteen years old and is on holiday with his parents on a river boat. With his cousin, Lizzie. And her parents.

One night, at a country fair, he receives an odd message from a fortune teller... and strange things begin to happen. For one, Jonathon discovers that he is descended from a long and ancient line of witches and that the bloodline has crossed over to the male line. His!!

He meets an elf who has a door to a place that's not exactly of this world, and he and Lizzie meet the keepers of the remaining ancient crystals of power. Crystals that once were the source of all power and magic in the world. And these keepers tell Jack that a lost crystal has been found... and someone is trying to use it. They want Jack and Lizzie to find it and bring it back; Jack because he is the first real witch to come along in a very, very long time... and Lizzie because she too shares the same bloodline. Not as witch, but as a witches' familiar... and everyone knows that familiars can change shape.

But to accomplish their task they must first learn about their abilities; and to do that they must visit a real magician in a real tower... that happens to be in a strange and real world of myth and fantasy.

You see, dwarves, elves, unicorns, magicians, dragons, centaurs and the like all exist... it's just that they don't exist here. But there are doorways between them and us that can be accessed... can be opened!

And have been.

And Jonathon Goode has a key.

PROLOGUE

In the days of the Earth when mankind was young, there was once an island so fair and proud it was the wonder of the known world.

From her were born all the arts and sciences; and her people took them to far-off places and brought light into the darkness. Farming, animal husbandry, weaving, pottery making and writing were some of the skills they brought; astronomy and medicine were the sciences they taught. They knew the secrets of building in stone, and massive monuments were built all over their empire, for empire it was, as testament to their greatness and fame.

This was in the days before history began, twelve thousand years ago.

In those days, the Earth was in the grip of an ice age and all the northern lands were covered in sheets of ice hundreds of feet thick. The waters of all the seas and oceans were much lower and more benign; the distances between continents were much shorter.

The island was called Aztlan, and it stood beyond the Pillars of Hercules in the waters of Okeanos, the great sea between Africa and America.

And the people of Aztlan plied that ocean with their ships of painted sails and no part was unknown to them, for they knew the secrets of the Earth. They knew how to draw energy from the very air and ground and water and channel it into power that they could control; power to lift great stones. Power to heal. Power to calm the waters. For the people of Aztlan were the first magicians and none could stand before them; all nations bowed to them.

Yet, all things are fleeting. The Earth convulsed, tore itself apart and erupted; and in a single day and a single night, the proud island of Aztlan fell beneath the waves, never to rise again. The Earth changed and brought the ice age to an end... the waters rose even higher over the drowned island. And all the secrets were drowned with her...

...except...

EXCERPT...

The fair wasn't very big and they had nearly seen everything there was to offer, when...

'Jack,' said Lizzie, grabbing his arm and halting his progress through the crowd. 'Look there.'

'Where?' Jack peered into the crowd looking for something unusual and utterly failing to find it.

Lizzie pointed into the dark between two widely spaced stalls. 'There! That tent. See?' There was a dark tent set back from the main row of stall. The tent looked like a teepee and a small red light illuminated a sign on a short pole before the entrance. From inside the tent a dim glow showed through the fabric. Both pairs of eyes read the sign.

MADAME ZAMBOANGA

FORTUNES TOLD & THE FUTURE REVEALED

ONE POUND.

'Yeah, right!' said Jack dismissively.

'I've got a pound,' said Lizzie. She said it in a tone of voice that Jack had learned to be wary of; the soft, silky tone. She also had a mischievous look in her eyes as she held the coin up in front of his eyes.

'Er,' he offered, 'ah, do you mean...?' He left the question hanging; and Lizzie held the coin dangling. The truth hit him fast. 'No way!' he all but shouted. 'Never! Not on your life! No chance!'

Lizzie grinned like a cat that knows it has the mouse trapped. 'I dare you!' she hissed.

Horror struck Jack a blow. This was the worst of all challenges... to be... dared...like it was something easy. This was so unfair... if he refused Lizzie would tell everyone he'd refused a simple dare. If he accepted, she'd tell everyone he went to a fortune teller! A fortune teller! He would be the laughing stock at school. He...

'Well?' Lizzie asked sweetly, certain of her power, her eyes wide and innocent.

The cold fist of reality gripped Jacks' heart; there was no way out... save for one. 'Ok,' he agreed. 'On one condition.' Dares weren't subject to conditions, but this was an exceptional dare and he couldn't take chances if he was to emerge unscathed.

'What condition?' Lizzie's eyes narrowed, she suspected a trap.

'Ah ah,' Jack chided. 'Agree or not?'

'Is it a fair condition?' There were rules, and honour must be adhered to in a dare.

'Very,' Jack stated.

'Oh, alright. What is it?'

'You can't tell anyone.'

'What!! You cheat!' The mouse had sprung the trap.

'Deal or no deal?' Now Jack wore a confident grin, certain that Lizzie would release him from the dare.

Lizzie had gone too far to back out now. The same resolve that flowed in Jack's nature flowed in hers too. 'Deal,' she grated. 'It's a deal. But I come in with you.'

'Deal,' Jack agreed, thereby formalizing the agreement.

Madame Zamboanga took a last slurp from her cup of tea and slid the cup and saucer under the table as the curtains parted and Jack, Lizzie entered. It had been rather a long day and now that it was drawing to a close, Madame Zamboanga stepped to one side and Myrtle Higginbottom took charge. Besides, her feet hurt and she should really get home soon and start the dinner. The presence of the two young ones, and their money, quickly brought Madame Zamboanga back.

'Ah, my young dears,' she gushed, 'what can the Fates divulge to you?' As she spoke Madame Zamboanga spread her fleshy arms to encompass the baize-topped table before her, and the large and imposing ball of crystal that sat in an ebony holder on its surface.

'Well...,' began Jack, as Lizzie's hand shoved him forward, 'we... er, I thought...' He was out of his depth and he knew it. What do you ask from a clairvoyant? His experience was very limited indeed.

'My cousin,' Lizzie stated firmly, 'would like to know what the future holds.' She said it with confidence because that's what was said in all the stories she had read on the subject and Lizzie had read a lot of stories. Besides, her own mother was an amateur dabbler in the arts and that was what she always said.

'Ah, yes. The future.' Madame Zamboanga swished back her long black hair and motioned Jack forward. 'Take a seat, my young friend. Be not afraid.' Her accent was what she had come to believe was Romany, and she had been perfecting it for over forty years. 'The future holds no fears for one such as I; it is a real thing. Be not afraid, it will not harm one of good heart and courage.'

What a ham! Lizzie thought. And I can see grey hair sticking out from the sides of her wig!

Jack sat down and Lizzie stood behind him. He was secretly glad that she was there. The crystal ball seemed to fill the space between him and Madame Zamboanga and his eyes were drawn to it.

'Tell me your name,' said the fortune teller, warming to the task of making an easy pound. Her hands encompassed the crystal ball and moved over its surface, caressing it in a slow deliberate way she was certain was exotic and mysterious.

Jack's mouth was dry and he actually felt a throb at his temples. 'Erm. Jack. Sorry. Jonathon.' He grinned foolishly.

'Jonathon,' Madame Zamboanga crooned in a low voice. 'What can we show of the future of Jonathon?' The last was addressed to the ball and she made a pretense of peering deeply into its crystalline structure. This was the bit that always got the punters, she knew; their eyes always followed hers into the ball, allowing her the chance to examine her subject. Jonathon was no different to most, so she did what she always did; she made it up. She followed the tried and true pathways of the gullible and fed off their dreams; romance; adventure; fame; wealth and success.

Pick any two and emphasize them, the rest distribute in lesser... but moderate... quantities. It always worked.

'Now,' she intoned, peering harder, 'let us see what the Fates hold. Let us...' her voice trailed off as a letter appeared inside the crystal. It was the letter "Y" and it floated around the inner surface of the crystal and crossed the path of her vision. Madame Zamboanga froze, and her heart gave an extra beat. The letter was followed by "O" then 'U". Time froze for Myrtle Higginbottom. All her life she had pretended an affinity with the Art, and now it appeared to be here! In her very crystal! She was scarcely able to control her glee.

Other letters quickly followed... "W" then "I" then two "L's". 'You will,' she whispered.

'Will what?' Jacks asked, peering at the woman opposite who seemed to have gone very pale.

"M" "E" "E" "T". There was a space and other letters followed. "A" "N" space, "E" "L" "F" space "A" "T" space "T" "H" "E" space "E" "M" "P" "O" "R" "I" "U" "M" space "W" "H" "E" "R" "E" space "M" "A" "G" "I" "C" space "I" "S" space "B" "O" "U" "G" "H" "T" space "A" "N" "D" space "S" "O" "L" "D".

The letters spiraled around the crystal faster and faster then, in absolute silence, disappeared. Madame Zamboanga slumped back in her chair, sweat beading her brow. What could she possibly tell them? Elves? Magic? What was all that about? Moreover, where in blazes had it come from?

'Will what?' Jack repeated.

'Right,' the fortune teller said, sitting forward. 'Remember that the crystal never lies.' This was true because it had never said anything until today. 'But sometimes the message can be... well... of a cryptic nature.'

'You mean that the real message is hidden,' Lizzie stated. With relief Madame Zamboanga seized on Lizzies' words. 'Exactly! Hidden. '

'So what is it that I'm going to meet?' Jack asked.

'You, young man, are going to meet an elf.'

Jack's mouth opened, and then closed. 'Elf? As in Elves?'

'Yes. Elf. Exactly.' Madame Zamboanga wasn't entirely there; the last few minutes had turned her world upside down. But Lizzie was insistent.

'Where will this be? When?' she insisted. 'What's the hidden message?'

'Oh, sorry.' Myrtle Higginbottom had to really concentrate now, because Madame Zamboanga was coming apart at the seams. 'In an emporium, it said.'

'Isn't that a type of shop?' Jack asked.

'I think so. But this one buys and sells magic.' There. She'd said it. It was over. What a lot of old rubbish, Lizzie wanted to say; but instead she asked, 'And that's it? There's nothing else?' When her mum did one of her little séances or readings, there was always a lot of ambiguous information; this was totally different.

'I'm afraid not, my dear. An elf in an emporium where they buy and sell magic.' She leaned back in her chair and fell into silence, her eyes fixed on the crystal ball. The reading was over.