The Making of a Wizard

So Finndragon had cursed the Kingdom of Morgannwg and the cowardly Myrddin had fled leaving me with no master wizard to teach me the finer arts of wizardry. The few lessons that Myrddin had taken the time to teach me hardly stood me in good stead to progress to the position of a powerful wizard that I so craved.

You may wonder as to what exactly makes a wizard. Truly great wizards, such as Finndragon, are born with magic coursing through their veins, whilst others have to learn the art over a very long period from their master. It would take even great wizards many years to attain the incredible power of one such as Finndragon, who is probably the greatest that there has ever been. It is said that although he was an old man, he had been able to cast a spell on himself in his later years that had virtually stopped the march of time for him. Thus he had now lived at least five lifetimes.  Unfortunately I fall into the latter category and I now had no master, but I had at least learnt from Myrddin that there are four main aspects to creating a spell:

1) You need a good book of spells. Every wizard has at least one book of spells. Sometimes a book is passed down from a master wizard to his apprentice, but I had been left with Myrddin's as he had no time to collect his belongings before fleeing.

2) A good stock of ingredients for the potions and lotions required to perform a spell are essential. A wizard may take a lifetime gathering all the necessary items to be able to cast any number of spells. Again I was fortunate enough to have been left with everything that had once been Myrddin's.

3) A successful wizard must be able to incantate the relevant spell in a tone suitable for that spell, taking great care to pronounce each word clearly. Alas I had not had anywhere near enough tuition in this important aspect of spell casting. Myrddin had told me on more than one occasion that a spell spoken in the wrong tone could lead to all manner of unexpected and unwanted results. I was to learn at first hand, and on many occasions, how easy it is to get a spell totally wrong just by using the wrong quality of voice.

4) Most importantly, a wizard has to be able to harness the many spirits that are always around us, but are never seen. Spirits that most people will never even know exist. There are good spirits, bad spirits and even mischievous spirits who take a great delight in having fun with a novice wizard. At least Myrddin had helped me to channel my will onto these spirits by giving me what looked like a plain small pebble. I was very surprised at how much importance he had placed upon the simple stone. "When casting a spell it is essential that you focus all of your power into the stone," he had told me during my third and final lesson before he decamped. "Always keep the stone about your person and never let anyone else know that you have it!" So I threaded a thin leather strap through a small hole that seemed ready made for such a purpose and hung it around my neck, the strap long enough to let the stone fall below my tunic and remain out of sight. Unfortunately he didn't explain exactly why this stone was required. It was only when I first tried to cast spells that I realised that this was no ordinary stone as it started to pulsate and began to glow a bright red colour. This was repeated every time I tried to use my magic, but glowing different colours each time.

So here was I, left high and dry, in a world plunged into the bowels of the earth. King Dafydd soon sought me out, hopeful that I may have learnt enough from Myrddin to be of some service to him. He quickly realised that I would be of no use and I was left to my own devices.

For centuries I tried to teach myself the craft of magic, but without even the slightest encouragement of a wholly successful spell, until one day I was visited by a strange group of children. The day that I met Emma, Megan and Scott was the day that I at last started to fulfil the potential that until then only I believed that I had.

In The Beginning

Is this curse thing a load of old infertile bullocks, you might be entitled to ask? Myths, legends, fairy tales, folk lore; there can be no, or very little, truth in all that nonsense. But throughout time there have been stories of Giants, Banshees, Cyclops, Minotaurs, Phoenix and Griffins, to name but a few.

When I was a young lad; well I'm still a young lad, but what I mean is that a long time ago Finndragon's Curse really did happen. I can just about remember the day that majestic Castell y Mynydd was completed. It was a glorious summer's day and the wonderful sun shone down and blessed all of the people in the Kingdom of Morgannwg. The wonderful Welsh realm had been ruled by King Dafydd, who was widely known as The Defiant. This was due to the way that he had been able to repel all would be attackers from the other side of what today is called Offa's Dyke, for many years. But that King Offa had a cheek trying to claim that he had constructed the whole of the dyke.

For two centuries before that, Dafydd's magician Finndragon had raised an earthen barrier that protected the whole of  Morgannwg from attacks from the east. And I should know because I, Gwayne, was there that amazing day to watch the mighty wizard lift his hands to the sky. I looked on in wonder as he strained every sinew in his body as the ground shook and then sprung up before my very eyes. That was the day that I knew that I too would one day be a mighty wizard! Offa may have continued that dyke to the north and the south, but a large section was already there before him.

So Morgannwg was well protected and so were its people who dwelt in and around the almighty castle. Soon after, I got my wish to be a wizard, well an apprentice wizard; you have to start somewhere, don't you? I was taken on by Myrddin, who was still quite young himself, but I soon came to realise that he too was a very powerful maker of magic. It was with great excitement that I began my apprenticeship; I expected to be performing all manner of wonderful spells, but alas, all that I was allowed to do for almost two years was collect ingredients for Myrddin's spells. It was absolutely awful, I can tell you!

OK, there must have been some good times, but all that I can remember is the dirty, smelly jobs that I had to do. If you've never stood behind a cow in calf, who's about to give birth, then you probably don't know what I mean. And if you've never had to scrape bat dung from the floor of a cave, then you would find it hard to place yourself in my shoes.

But I loyally followed all of Myrddin's orders, with the promise that he would soon start my tuition in magic and wizardry. It was about that time that Finndragon got banished from Morgannwg and Myrddin got the job of Court Wizard. I couldn't believe my luck; here was I, Gwayne, about to become apprentice to the King's wizard. I only had to bide my time, obey my master and one day.... yes one day it would be mine.

I have to admit that I hardly paid any attention to that old curse, you know the one where Finndragon warned that unless his exile was lifted, he would sink the Kingdom of  Morgannwg into the earth and all that. I was just so excited that I would be living in the palace with Myrddin and our king. But that no good Myrddin had no intention of taking me into the palace with him. He made me look after his dwelling and all of his lotions and potions whilst he lived it up with the nobles and the gentry. He may have occasionally given me a little instruction in the art of wizardry, but I was not progressing as well as I had hoped.

More than once I told Myrddin that I had had enough and no longer wanted to be his apprentice, but he wouldn't let me go, threatening to turn me into all manner of unmentionable and unimaginable creatures. So there I stayed until the fateful day that Finndragon's Curse befell my beloved land.

It was exactly a year after Finndragon’s banishment, with a full moon in the beautiful night sky, that a terrible storm came up from nowhere, right in the middle of the Feast of August. Suddenly everything was in pitch darkness except for Castell y Mynydd, which was illuminated by a single shaft of moonlight. Every fire and light within the castle was extinguished by the howling wind and the lashing rain. The waters in the moat began to bubble and boil and the ground began to shake.

Myrddin's magic was not yet powerful enough to stop Finndragon’s Curse as he had claimed. So the coward saved himself by turning into a hawk and he flew away before the kingdom sank into the earth, and a mountain rose up above the spot where it had stood, but Dafydd and everyone and everything else weren’t so lucky.

Well that's Finndragon's Curse for you; believe it to be a legend if you will. But beware, because Finndragon still lives and his demons persecute us all and we are only just beneath your very feet!

Mobile Phones and Magic

Well I am really struggling with this technology thing-a-me-jig, I have to say. Just talking into this mobile phone as Emma calls it and seeing my words magically appear on the screen blows my mind. Where (or should I say when) I come from we are still living in the Dark Ages! But Emma has given me an insight into life in the 21st century - that's where she says that she's from. I can't say that I believe everything that she tells me though - I can just about believe in flying machines. After all, there's a spell in my book that I have tried, OK it didn't exactly work, but I'm sure that it could if only I was a better wizard. But I know that she is playing me for a fool when she says that men have walked on the moon - I may be a little bit dumb sometimes, but I'm not stupid you know!

I would love to be able to visit Emma's world; if she can come to mine, then why can't I go to hers? Oh, that's right, how could I forget about the curse - I'm not going anywhere. I've been stuck here for 1500 years and I'll be here until the end of time because of this damned curse.

I guess that you must be wondering - what's he blathering on about, what is this curse? Well Finndragon fell out with King Dafydd; probably about a woman and the king banished him from the land. Now Finndragon didn't take too kindly to that, as you might imagine and he said, "Unless you lift my banishment before thirteen moons light the sky, then you, your castle, kingdom and everything in it shall sink into the earth and be set upon by monsters and demons until the end of time and never be seen again."


And so, here we all are just like....oh sorry got to dash. Here come those dastardly demons again. Oh, I mustn't forget to tell you about some inter-web thing-a-me-jig http://www.finndragon.com that Emma thought you could take a look at. Bye, got to go now. LOOK OUT!!!