Introduction: There are many people in the universe of The Wizard and Spells R Us who are not very happy with what he’s done to them. One transformee decides to take steps necessary to eliminate The Wizard once and for all. She gathers a group of equally disgruntled victims of The Wizard’s magic, and they try to put together a plan. Will they succeed?

Romance is beginning to show up in several places, and not just the cave. Sandra knows for sure that Paula is now her daughter. There is no trace of the former Paul. With only a few treasures left to find, the four adventurers know that there is no room for error. Myrtle is in position to take out The Wizard and as many of the others she can.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

 
This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 16

Tom and Paula shared a kiss as they headed to bathrooms the next morning. Tom saw additional changes in Paula, and she would see them soon enough, although she was already aware of some of them. She was carrying the bra she’d found earlier in the pack. She’d also found a dispenser of birth control pills with a prescription made out to her. The implications were enormous. She smiled as she took one. As she threw out the paper cup she’d used, she realized that the prescription indicated that it was number four of twelve. That meant she’d been taking the pills for at least three and a half months.

The bra proved to be no problem, and she was happy to see she was a 34B. She looked at her profile, and tears almost came to her eyes. She was definitely a woman. She had to be close to five-nine, maybe a bit on the slender side, but definitely all woman. Because she’d been taking blockers before her change, her voice had not dropped into a lower register; however, she realized her voice was no longer a boy’s voice. It was definitely a young woman’s voice.

Aurora was waiting for her as she exited. She was about five-five, and definitely bustier than Paula. She had a sultry appearance that spoke of her Greek ancestry.

“I may have trouble keeping Pappy under control. I accidently flashed him when I got out of my sleeping bag. Look at these girls. I’m a 34C. It’s hard enough keeping his hands off of me as it is.”

“Is that little package what I think it is?” Paula asked.

“Yeah, and I’ve been taking them for a while, apparently. You?”

“The same.”

“Look, just because I’m taking the pill doesn’t mean I’m going to have sex with him,” Aurora said defensively.

“If you change your mind, at least you know you’re protected,” Paula replied with a smile.

They had a major discussion during breakfast.

“This next stretch is very complicated, and there are many opportunities for error. Aurora and I remember most of it; however, there are pitfalls both figurative and real. We will have to be on our toes. The entire time.

“Okay, time to head the way we’ve been before.”

They headed south in the low passage while being careful not to bang their heads on the occasional stalactite. Then it was down to the dirty jumble of rocks, and west to the Dirty Rock Room. From there it was down again to the Complex Junction, west to Bed Quilt and on to the Swiss Cheese Room. From there they went northwest to the oriental room.

“May I take the vase now?” Pappy asked.

“Nope, be patient,” Aurora responded.

They wandered north and west for a while. “This is going to be a bit strange,” Aurora said, “but we’re going to have to leave the lamp here. We can’t take it through that narrow passage. Don’t ask why. It’s just the rules.

“We’ll have enough light without it.” They could see an eerie green light coming from whatever was beyond.

“Damn! I wish I’d played this game before,” Pappy muttered.

They proceeded east through the narrow passage. The green light had been emanating from a large emerald the size of a plover’s egg. At least that was the thought Pappy had when he looked at it. Paula picked it up, wrapped it in a hanky, and put it in her pack. They headed back to the alcove where they’d left the lamp.

“Uh, we have visitors,” Paula said pointing to the exit. A half dozen elves stood between them and the way out. All of them were brandishing rather wicked looking knives.

“Any ideas?” Tom asked. “We don’t have any weapons.”

“Play that flute those little girls gave us,” Pappy said. “It has to be for something.”

By this time, the elves were advancing on them. Two had thrown knives, but the knives had fallen well short of their intended targets.

“If playing it doesn’t work, at least I can use it as a club.” Tom quickly assembled the flute, and blew a few practice notes before starting the first melody he could think of. Surprisingly, the elves stopped their advance. They waivered for a few seconds before collapsing on the cave floor. Tom continued to play as they passed around the snoring elves.

“What in the world are you playing?” Paula asked.

“Brahms Lullaby.” Tom said. “I guess I’d better keep this closer at hand,” he said indicating the flute. He picked up the lamp as they exited the room.

They headed northwest before the passage turned them south where they arrived in the oriental room. “It’s okay to pick up the vase now, Pappy. Just be extremely careful with it. If it breaks, we’re done for, and neither Paula nor I are quite done yet.” Pappy got the meaning immediately.

They continued on to the Swiss cheese room before turning east into a room Tom called the soft room. In the center was a small beautifully decorated pillow. Taking the pillow, they turned back west through the Swiss cheese room to the two pit room. Once again they made the difficult climb up the bean stalk that apparently didn’t feel like talking to them. They proceeded down the long narrow tunnel to the Giant Room.

“You may do the honors, Pappy,” Aurora said.

“Fee Fie Foe Foo,” Pappy said a bit melodramatically.

The eggs, as expected, appeared in the nest, and Pappy quickly scooped them up and put them into his pack. They then headed back to the bean stalk and down to the Two Pit Room and then up and west to the slab room. From there they headed up into the secret north/south canyon that no one would have known about if it hadn’t been for Tom. This time they went south for quite a ways before entering a large room with an equally large dragon sprawling on a large oriental rug.

“Holy shit, what do we do now?” Pappy asked.

“Why, we kill it.”

“With what, your bare hands? We don’t have any weapons.”

“Yes, with our bare hands. Who wants to try it?”

“Tom, you seem awful confident about this. Are you sure it will work?” Paula asked. “I’m not sure what I’d do if you got killed. Why don’t we just quit now, or maybe look for a weapon. There might be something around here.”

“There never was in any version I played. Since you guys made me in charge, I guess I’ll have to do it.”

Tom approached the dragon that appeared to be sleeping, and launched himself at its neck. The startled dragon thrashed about briefly as Tom put an arm lock around its neck. It gave a brief burp of smoke and expired.

“The game never said how to do it. It just says you kill it with your bare hands. That was far too easy.

“Now, what are we going with the rug?”

“First we roll it up,” Pappy said. “Then we put it in one of our packs. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Who has the least stuff?”

“I think I do,” Aurora said. “All we can do is try.”

Removing her pack, she moved some of the contents at the top to one side. Tom and Pappy had tightly rolled the nine foot by twelve foot rug, and after carefully aligning it with the opening of Aurora’s pack, gradually slid it in.

“How’s the weight?” Pappy asked.

“Not bad, maybe a couple of pounds. I guess we’d better move on.”

“This took me forever to figure out,” Tom said.

“Figure out what?” Paula asked.

“When we got the emerald I could see another room beyond. It was very dark. Without the lamp, there was no way to continue on. You might ask why we didn’t do what we’re going to do before; however, if someone is playing this game for the first time, they wouldn’t have the knowledge.

“Pappy, you and Aurora are the bird experts. What did you think when you saw the emerald?”

"It reminded me of a killdeer’s egg. They’re quite pointy on one end so the parent birds can tilt them up when the ground’s hot so the eggs won’t get cooked. It’s kinda neat. They don’t have much of a nest: just a scooped out spot on the ground,” Pappy said.

Aurora added, “They’re a type of plover….” She was gone.

“Quick, grab my hands,” Tom said. They did. “Plover.”

They were in the room where they’d previously retrieved the emerald, and were standing next to a very frightened Aurora.

“Are you okay,” Pappy asked.

“I think so. So that was the magic word. I should have figured that out, but I hadn’t advanced this far when I played the game.

“That was scary, very scary. You don’t last very long around here without a light.”

“You know, all this treasure isn’t worth shit if I lose you,” Pappy said as he took Aurora’s hand. She didn’t flinch; instead she gave Pappy’s hand a gentle squeeze.

They headed northeast according to the compass to the previously dark area. Of course there had to be a treasure; Tom already knew there was. Sitting on a pedestal under a glass cover was a metallic pyramid.

“The honor is yours, Aurora,” Paula said. “I need to catch up on getting some info into the tablet.”

Aurora uncovered the pyramid, setting the glass cover on the ground. She started to pick it up and found it to be much heavier than she thought it would be. “What the hell is this? It can’t be gold.”

“It’s platinum. It’s worth as much as gold. I think that’s enough for today. We need to get this stuff back to the spring house before the pirate finds us again.”

Two magic words later they were back in the spring house. Tom turned the lamp off. “The first thing is to put the pillow down on that table.” Paula did.

“Now, Pappy, carefully hold the vase over the pillow and set it on the pillow." The vase slipped from his hands, but gently settled onto the pillow.

“Damn, I almost dropped it.”

“That wasn’t your fault. That’s built into it. I kept dropping it and couldn’t figure out why. I was extremely careful, but it broke anyway. Then I stumbled onto the pillow, and it all made sense,” Aurora said.

“Same thing here,” Tom said. “It was so damn frustrating because I would be progressing very well, but breaking the vase killed the game.”

They unloaded their treasure, and for want of room on the table, spread the rug on the floor.

“We were down there for an hour and a half according to my phone. My watch says 24 hours,” Paula said. “What do we do now?”

“There’s one more treasure in addition to our stolen treasures. This is something I’ve never been able to do. I’ve been through several areas of the cave where we haven’t been this trip. In one version there’s a dictionary down there. I was never able to figure out what to do with it,” Tom said.

“I had the same problem; except it was magazines. Obviously, we’re supposed to do something with them,” Aurora added. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Speaking of bridges,” Tom said, “there’s another area we need to go to. There’s this damn maze where no matter where you go everything looks the same. Sometimes I’d end up where I started. One time I ended up at a vending machine where I could buy batteries for my lamp. I used the gold coins, but I realized I could do a lot of exploration even if I lost some of the treasure.”

“We’ll enter at a different place this time. We’ve been there before.

“Hold hands. Xyzzy.”

Chapter 17

Sandra was astounded by what had changed. All the pictures that had previously shown her handsome son, now portrayed an attractive young girl or woman. It was very easy to accept what she saw. She would have to, regardless, because that was the way things were. She wondered if Paula would be happy with her changes. Of course she was. The pictures said it all. Her smile was radiant.

Her bedroom was obviously a girl’s room. It wasn’t over the top girly with pink curtains and the like. There weren’t any posters of handsome movie entertainers. It was neat, but all girl. The closet was a shocker. Her daughter’s wardrobe was extensive, but tasteful. Using a mother’s prerogative, she checked her dresser drawers. Everything was neatly placed just as her son had done. “34B: on her that’s probably just right for her frame. She could still grow some more. She’s not eighteen,” she said to herself.

She returned to the first floor where Bob Temple was waiting for her.

“It’s all changed,” she said. “There’s no trace of the former Paul. I don’t have any doubt that this is what she wanted. I just wish I’d been more supportive instead of being caught up in this other crap. I’ve wasted a lot of time.

“It seems that we are parents of a young woman, Bob. What the hell are we going to do?”

“I think we need to get to know each other a bit better. After all, we have to overcome the merging of several realities and nearly nineteen years of being apart. We also need to get to know our daughter a bit better

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll pick you up a little after 4:00, and we’ll join the others when our daughter comes out of the cave.

“I’m sending a distress message by text to the Papandreous. I’ll make them believe that those kids are trapped and the Papandreou kid is hurt. They’ll all come running. We’ll get that wizard for once and for all. I’ll take out as many of those cowards as I can. They’ll never figure out who did it.

“I got something else. I got a silencer for this beauty. I’ll be able to get a lot of shots off, and those sorry bastards will never know where they are coming from.

“I’ve waited a long time for this, and now, we’ll just have to wait a little while longer. I want that sun behind us; just a few more hours.

They headed for the debris room as Tom turned the light on.

“Get that rod. We’ll need it shortly.

They kept going west to the small pit, and continued down to the Hall of Mists.

“I think the intention is for us to camp here for the night. Check out the rest rooms,” Pappy said pointing to two restrooms. Each door had a male/female logo.

Both couples seemed a bit on edge as they finished dinner. It had been a rather difficult day. Pappy disposed of the trash in the convenient trash can while Aurora and Paula headed for the showers. They both exited wearing robes that must have been in the shower because they certainly weren’t carrying them when they went in.

Tom and Pappy decided also to shower. Tom was searching through his bag for clean underwear when he came upon a small box of condoms. He certainly hadn’t put them in there and he was wondering if Pappy was trying to play some sort of crude joke. His mind drifted away from that thought as he entered the warm bathroom. It was quite a bit larger than before, and it was now equipped with a double sink. There was also the lingering touch of perfume in the air. He noticed two hangers on the back of the door. One was empty; the other had a robe with his initials on it.

The shower was great, and maybe he lingered a bit; however, he didn’t think The Wizard would let it run out of hot water. It was obvious to him now. They were being set up, but somehow he didn’t think it was wrong. This had to be a part of the whole thing they were going through. If Paula didn’t want it to happen she would say no, and he would honor her wishes. She certainly hadn’t seemed too disturbed when she left the bath wearing the robe. That’s when he noticed her nightgown lying on the counter.

At the other end of the counter by the sink was a razor and shaving cream. He knew that hadn’t been there when he got in the shower. He put it to use.

The lamp had conveniently dimmed each night, and he had been very worried that first night; however he checked the battery meter, and it had indicated a good power level. He checked it religiously every hour or so after that, and when they’d set up camp that night it still had more than half power left. He wasn’t worried about the dim light when he left the shower; however, there had been some changes made. Their sleeping areas had been separated a bit, and his bag and Paula’s were very close together. In fact, they were now zipped together as one double bag.

“Shut your mouth and get in here. I’m lonely,” Paula said.

Tom removed his robe and set it on a convenient rock next to Paula’s robe.

“You might as well get rid of the rest of that stuff. It will only get in the way.”

Tom felt no unease as he took off his t-shirt and shorts. He was quickly becoming aroused, though.

He slid into the partially open bag, and she quickly pressed her cool skin against him. He was in heaven and she was an angel.

“I have to do this, Tom. If we screw up and don’t finish, I could never go back without making love to the man I have loved for years. All I ask is that you go slowly. I’m not sure if there’s much in the way or not.” She had taken his hand and pressed it against her breast. He was gently caressing her as she talked.

He silenced her briefly with a kiss as her hands wandered to his erection.

“Very nice, I think.”

“What about Aurora and Pappy?” Tom asked.

“Don’t worry about them. She’s so horny she can’t stand it. So am I for that matter.

“Something very interesting has happened. We were talking about our noise bothering each other, and I thought wouldn’t it be nice if I could put a sound proof screen between us. Something just came to me. It’s difficult to explain. I did some things in my mind and suddenly I isolated their bed from ours. I’m sure they’re making a lot of noise; it’s just that we can’t hear them. I think I’m magic.”

“If that’s the case, I love my beautiful witch, but now I would like to try some magic of my own. Please be patient. I’ll just tell you that I’ve read some interesting books.”

The next hour was beyond their expectations. If there had been any hymen, it was no problem for either of them. He made love to her gently and patiently. When he was sure she was ready, they slowly joined before the rhythm of love making took over.

Paula cried a little, but it was okay. Tom held her to him, savoring the contact of their bodies before they gradually drifted off to sleep. They made love once more early the next morning. It was just as good the second time. They had been awakened by Pappy and Aurora leaving one of the bathrooms together. The light had caught them briefly. They weren’t wearing any clothes.

There was some embarrassed silence the next morning as they prepared breakfast.

“Okay guys, I think we need to get over it. Pappy and I made love last night, and it was wonderful. I suspect it was for you, too. Look, in most countries we’re considered adults. Let’s be adults about this. We’re in love, and what could be more natural than making love. It may be a bit difficult to explain to our parents, especially for Paula and me since we’ve changed quite a bit over the last few days. I have a feeling that Paula’s and my mother already know what’s happened, though. His Wisdom is usually pretty good about making sure everything is taken care of.

“Our most important task after we clean things up is to finish the problem at hand.”

“I have a question, Tom,” Paula said. “You said that every room of this maze you got into looks exactly the same.”

“That’s right.”

“We’ve been carrying a lot of extra crap around with us. Why don’t we leave a piece of that crap in each room? I can carefully log each piece so that we will know where each passage leads to. That way we can avoid going over the same ground again and again. We’ll keep going in directions we haven’t been before. If we have to come out the same way we went in, we’ll know. If there is a different way out, we’ll know it, too.

“That pirate has to have hidden our stuff where we can find it. The game wouldn’t work, otherwise. Let’s find it.

“By the way, Paula,” Aurora said, “that little thing you did to make our areas quiet, I can do it, too. This is really getting to be interesting.”

“Okay,” Tom said, “we’ll go west from here to a fissure. I figured this out early when I first played this game. I just thought that the order we did things was faster. It’s moot.”

The nasty looking crack in the ground was obviously too far across to jump. Tom took the rod and waved it at the fissure. A crystal bridge, ala Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, crossed the chasm.

“Just don’t look down,” he said as he started across.

Once across, they immediately found a jeweler’s filing box. Inside were envelope after envelope of the highest quality diamonds. Additionally, there were two other envelopes. One had ‘Isaacson’ printed in neat letters, and the other said ‘Papandreou’. Each held a rather nice diamond engagement ring. They put the box in Paula’s pack.

“This certainly makes this easy. I proposed to Paula several days ago. Thankfully, she accepted. So, without further ado, I ask again. Paula Knight, in front of our best friends I ask, will you please marry me?

“Of course I will. Although I imagine we’ll have to wait a while. Mom’s going to have to get used to having a daughter first.”

He slipped the ring onto her ring finger. It was sized perfectly, of course.

Pappy didn’t miss a beat. “Aurora, I know you seduced me; however, I was in love with you a long time ago. We had so much fun bird watching, and you were so cool about my stupidity.

“A few weeks ago,” he said to everyone, “three beautiful witches cast a spell on me. If I start to tell a fib or exaggerate my jaws lock up. I told Aurora I loved her very much. That was after I thought we’d lost her. The words flowed easily. Last night was just as easy. I meant every word.

“Aurora, would you please marry me and make me the happiest bird watcher in the world.”

“I certainly will. You clean up pretty good, you know.”

Like Paula’s, the ring fit perfectly.

“We’ll have to celebrate later. We seem to be losing battery power.”

They headed west, then a bit south, and they were in the maze. It took nearly two hours, but they finally found their way to the far end of the maze. At the end of the maze they went northwest and there was the pirate’s chest with their stolen treasure. Back tracking, they found a spot where they could drop down to the Bird Chamber without too much difficulty. They headed up the way they first came in while realizing they would not be able to take the chest up through the grate.

That was no problem. “Xyzzy.”

They were in the Spring House. “Lamp off.”

They put the chest with their recovered treasure on the rug. The filing box of diamonds was placed on the table with the other treasures.

As far as the four adventurers know, they have found all the treasure; however, they still haven’t solved the puzzle. There has to be more to it. The only solution is to return. Speaking of returning, Alice Gräber is in for quite a surprise when she returns home. There is only one solution. She will seek out The Wizard. She and The Wizard come up with a very satisfactory solution to her ‘problem’. The next posting completes the adventure.