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?

Bob Temple asks Sandra Night if she would have lunch with him. She doesn't find it difficult to accept. During their conversation, she suddenly realizes who he was. He's known who she was for quite a while; just that he didn't know the whole story. They agree to talk to The Wizard. Many changes are occurring in the cave, including changes in names.

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

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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 14

“Sandra, Bob Temple. I know things didn’t go very well last night; however, being the eternal optimist I am, I was wondering if we could have lunch. There’s a nice place in the mall that serves very nice lunches. I know I’m stumbling a bit, but I’d really like to talk with you.”

“Bob, you caught me a bit off guard last night, but I think I would like to have lunch with you.”

“After lunch, would you mind if we met with an old acquaintance of yours?”

“No, I don’t mind. I think it’s time we had a talk.

“What time?” Sandra asked.

“How about 12:30?”

“That would be fine. Where should we meet?”

“Maziotti’s. It’s down by the Hallmark store.”

“That will be fine.”

Sandra took a little extra care with her makeup. She’d never had to use much because, in truth, she didn’t need it. Her pale complexion contrasted her coal black hair. She’d religiously avoided overexposure to the sun, and other than her 30 minute jogs in the morning, she spent little time in the sun. Most of the rest of her days were spent on the internet dealing with clients

Bob stood as Sandra approached the table. She held her hand out for him to take, and he didn’t disappoint her. He was very strong without a doubt, but he was gentle at the same time.

“Thank you for coming. After last night I wasn’t sure if you’d ever talk to me again.”

“I think I got over it very quickly for some reason. I wondered if The Wizard was messing with my mind.”

“He told me he wouldn’t do that for any of your group, including the children. He told me the adults would just have to work things out for themselves. He wasn’t about to let anything bad happen.

“Would you like to have a glass of wine before lunch? I think the waiter would like to take our order.”

“Yes, Pinot Grigio please.”

“And, I’d like a pint of the Bitburger draft, please.”

“Their pizza’s supposed to be very good. It even comes in individual sizes; which means you will have enough left over for dinner.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I think I will have the porcini and prosciutto,” Sandra said.

“I’ll have the four meat pizza. Please add artichoke hearts, black olives, green olives and anchovies. I would like the anchovies on the side. Don’t cook them.

“Sandra, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine as soon as I get that bottle er, glass of wine.

“Last night you said you were from out west, but came back here when The Wizard made you an offer you couldn’t refuse. May I ask where you’re from out west?”

“Milpitas: that’s a little town northeast ….”

“… of San Jose. I know it very well. Well bless his little pea picking heart. You’re one of his victims, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say I was a victim. I was a girl who desperately needed to prove her sexuality, even if it meant laying every boy on the football team. I also was a close companion to several of the cheerleaders. It was all pretty empty. My first was the quarterback, but he moved away. I moved on after that. I was getting quite the reputation. I started cratering after a while. It was getting to the point that I thought of killing myself.”

“May I ask who you were?”

“Carol Johannesen.”

“God, I am so sorry I did that to you.”

“You didn’t do anything to me in that world. The only Sandy Knight I knew was the most beautiful girl, now woman, I’d ever seen. You lived in a different world of country clubs and debutante balls. I was just that easy girl who lived in the wrong part of town.

“I was seriously contemplating suicide when I wandered into his shop. Of course he knew everything. He said he would do what he could to straighten my life out, but it would come with a price. Part of that price is the person you see before you.

“The saddest thing was that I lost my family, but the change kept me from being with them when they collided with a gasoline truck on the 280. Had I not been changed, I would have died with them. I was a pitcher for the baseball team and was playing ball when it happened. I was very upset with him, but he showed me that they would have died in the alternate universes. The event was too big to make disappear. In a sense, he’d saved my life twice.

“The insurance money left me very well off as did the out of court settlement. Now that I was relatively wealthy, I thought I’d try to find you, but you’d disappeared off the face of the earth. I also changed my last name to get away from all the scammers and crooks.”

“I wouldn’t call San Jose off the face of the earth. As I told you last night, I was flipping burgers while I went to college.

“What brought you back here,” Sandra said as she bit into a piece of her prosciutto and porcini pizza.

“I received an offer from the school system here after I received my Masters in Education. I’ve been here ever since.

“May I ask about Paul’s father?” Bob asked.

“Certainly. He’s provided one hundred percent of Paul’s support throughout the years.”

“So, where is he?”

“Looking at you.”

“What?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out. The Wizard works in mysterious ways. I hate to break it to you, but you’re Paul’s mother,” Sandra said taking a sip of wine.

“Rise and shine everyone,” Tom said rather loudly. We have a full day ahead of us.”

It didn’t really matter which restroom they used as Tom and Pappy had already taken care of things including brushing their teeth. The Wizard had outdone himself overnight. The two toilets were now the latest thing out of the Far East, and included a warmed seat.

Paul looked down at what wasn’t there and what was there. It hadn’t been a dream. He, no strike that, she had the vulva of a girl entering puberty. There was no question about it. There was even a sparse growth of hair at its top. She had discovered the night before what ‘jilling’ was about, and it had been very enlightening. She realized as she sat there that she was considerably broader in the hips than she’d been the night before. Additionally, her briefs were now girls briefs and her girl’s Levis were very form fitting. They felt wonderful. Then she realized that her shirt was also a girl’s shirt with the buttons on the other side. She was disappointed that there wasn’t a training bra. Maybe that would come later in the day.

Ivan had also undergone similar changes, and the two boys were have trouble not staring at the two new girls.

“Men,” Ivan said, “the first order of the day after breakfast is our names. Obviously, those other names are no longer appropriate. I’ve chosen Aurora. I think my mother will be okay with that.”

“As prosaic as it might be, I’m sticking with Paula,” the new Paula said. "All I have to say is that it will only get better."

“Let’s get on with this treasure hunt. We have quite a bit invested in its success.”

Once more their exploration took them downward into a very dirty and dusty passage. They then headed west around a jumble of broken rocks covered with dirt and dust.

“There hasn’t been any water in this area in a while,” Tom said. “The last time there was water it must have been sitting in here for quite a while. The area hasn’t been washed clean in centuries. At least that’s the way it looks.

“I think we’ll take this passage down.”

The passage led them to a room with a number of passages going in a number of directions. “What do you remember about this, Iv..., er, Aurora? Sorry about that.”

“No problemo, I think we need to go west. See that limestone that is streaked in a crisscross pattern. I think they called it ‘bed quilt’ in the version I did. Once we’re in there, we’ll turn south for quite a while." They finally came to a large room where a huge slab of limestone had fallen from the ceiling. At the far end there were two pits and a very peeked looking plant that was faintly calling for water.

“This is ridiculous,” Pappy said.

“Pappy, whether or not it is ridiculous doesn’t matter. We have to play the game. If we don’t Paula and I are not going to reach our goal, and you certainly won’t reach yours. Just keep that in mind.

“Take that water we got at the spring house, climb down there, and pour it around the base of the plant.”

The somewhat chagrined Pappy did as he was told. After getting the water, the plant started demanding in a much louder voice, “Water. Water.”

The startled Pappy scrambled out of the pit. “What do we do now?”

“We give it more water,” Tom said trying not to laugh.

“We have several bottles of water. Let’s just pour some of that,” Paula said.

“That’s a good idea, but it probably won’t work,” Tom said. “Go ahead and try it. I don’t think any harm will come of it.”

Pappy took a bottle from his pack. Their bottles had mysteriously been filled over the previous night. Dropping into the pit, he poured the bottle of water on the base of the plant.

“Yuck!” the plant yelled. “That is chlorinated tap water. Gag me with a spoon. I require nothing but the best spring water.”

“That’s what I thought. So now we have to find the right type of water. This is going to be a long trip,” Tom said as he shouldered his pack. “Let’s get going. We’ll probably need to stop for lunch after a while and we still don’t have any of the important stuff.”

Back at the slab room Tom led them to a passage that went north. They hadn’t noticed it on the way down, but Tom obviously knew it was there. They headed north through a room with highly polished walls, and then on to a very large room with a large lake.

“This is the water we need. We should need only one bottle, but we might as well fill the bottle Pappy emptied, too.” Then it was back to the plant. Pappy poured the water on to its base and before Pappy could get out of its way, the plant shot upward to an area almost out of sight of the light provided by their lamps.

“My god, it’s a fucking bean stalk,” Pappy exclaimed.

“I’m not just any beanstalk,” the plant replied. “I am an heirloom beanstalk. There are none better than I.”

“Glad to know that,” Pappy answered politely. He realized that the plant was probably a bit sensitive.

“So, do we climb the beanstalk, now,” Paula asked. She was subconsciously rubbing her chest.

“No we’ll do that later. First, we need to go to the bottom of the second pit.” Aurora led the way down a flight of steps where they came to a pool oil bubbling out of the rock. “We’ll need to fill that water bottle. Pour out that extra water. Now we can go up the beanstalk. Back to the other pit.”

If there was any time not to think about heights, this was it. The leaves and tendrils were arranged in a spiral around the stalk. It was really a spiral stair case with a lot of space between the steps. They were just about at the end of the stalk that kept muttering something about being tickled when they came to a passage leading to the north.

“Oh, oh, I knew it was too good to be true,” Tom said looking down the passageway.

At the far end of the reach of their light they could see a group of what could only be described as elves. They were brandishing swords and axes.

“I’ve been worried about this, too,” Aurora said. “What Tom means is that we should have been attacked long before this. The way the game worked was that you are attacked by an elf or dwarf. He throws an axe at you and it misses. You use the axe to kill additional attacking elves. I don’t know if you actually kill them as they disappear in ‘a cloud of oily smoke’. After you’ve dispatched of about a half dozen you’re not bothered by them anymore.”

“That reminds me,” Tom added, “we may have to deal with the pirate again; however, this matter is a bit more pressing. It won’t matter if we retreat or not. They,” indicating the elves, “will press us until they kill us or we dispose of them. The question is, how do we kill them?”

By this time the evil looking elves were less than a hundred feet away.

“Look in your packs,” a trio of sweet voices said.

They turned to see the three little girls no longer dressed in night gowns, but instead dressed in matching play clothes. They wore matching pink sneakers, and were obviously dressed for the playground.

“What you need is in your packs. The Wizard said it will ring true for you.” With that, the three little girls disappeared.

They realized that the girls hadn’t actually been there, that they were probably a holographic projection; however, now was not the time worry about that. The elves were only fifty feet away.

“Shit, it’s the bells in that little music box. Where the hell did I put it?” Pappy was furiously digging through his pack.

“Here it is.”

“Stop talking about it and play it,” Paula shouted.

Pappy cranked the handle and a delightful little tune sprang forth. It was a march and entirely too loud to be coming from the little box. The tune’s effect was instantaneous. The elves snapped to attention and started marching in place. Then they sang a little song.

“That sounds so pretty, that sounds so fine!
La ra la la la la la ra la la la la ra la.
Never did I hear and see anything so sublime!
La ra la la la la la ra la la la la ra la.”

At the end of the song, in perfect step, they marched off the edge of the abyss, eschewing using the vine.

“What the hell was that,” Aurora asked.

“I think it was Mozart,” Pappy replied. “That means the flute is magic, too.”

“That may or not be the end of the dwarfs, elves, or whatever they are,” Tom said. “They took their weapons with them; so we are still basically defenseless. We have a lot to do, and we still don’t have any treasure. Let’s grab a quick bite, then head on.”

After a quick lunch of tuna sandwiches, they headed down the passage from where the elves had come. A sign proclaimed ‘Giant Room’. It wasn’t particularly large; however, against one wall was a large nest filled with golden eggs. Carved into wall above the nest were the words “Fee Fie Foe Foo”.

“Somebody can’t spell,” Pappy remarked.

“Paula, put those words exactly as written into the tablet. We don’t want any mistakes. This is critical, as Tom will attest,” Aurora said. Tom nodded.

“Pappy, get the eggs.”

“Sure.”

Pappy picked up the eggs, and started to stuff them into the pockets in his pack.

“Fee Fie Foe Foo,” Aurora said.

“What the fuck,” Pappy exclaimed, “where did they go?”

“Look in the nest,” Aurora said.

Chapter 15

The Hallmark Store was gone. At least it was for them. Bob held the door for Sandra as she entered the shop she hadn’t been in for nearly nineteen years.

“Bob, Sandra, we’re in the back. I’m sorry Wolf, Padrona and the puppies can’t be here; however, they’re involved in some other business at the moment.”

Parting the curtains, Sandra saw the man she’d tried so hard to hate, but was now finding it more and more difficult. He had three guests. One was Cindy Brewer. The other two were a bit younger. The stunning platinum blonde had to be Cindy’s sister. She was no bimbo blonde (Poor Barbara, Sandra thought). Her eyes sparkled with a keen intellect. An equally gorgeous auburn tressed girl smiled up at Sandra and Bob.

“Sandra, I know you know His Wisdom and Cindy Brewer. This is Christine Miranda Lewis, but she prefers Randi. She’s Cindy’s sister. And this lovely lady is Charli Brewer, Cindy’s sister-in-law. I have their permission to tell you they are witches.”

“Oh my, there was no coincidences about our meeting last night, was there?”

“Ms. Knight, we have been looking out for the four children since they arrived last summer. We want you to understand that absolutely no harm will come to them. They are involved in a project of self-discovery and enlightenment. I think you will be very proud of Paula.”

“You mean Paul, don’t you?”

“No, it’s Paula. That was her choosing, by the way. There are some wonderful things going on right now. His wisdom had nothing to do with Paul’s being transgender, by the way. You need to believe that. My sisters and I experienced that, and it can be very difficult. We’ll give you all the details in a little while.

“Obviously, His Wisdom, and others we’ve never met, allowed us to be who we are today. That has happened for Paula and Aurora, too. You see, they are very special. They don’t know it yet, but they are also witches. There was a little genetic manipulation here. As a male you carried the witch trait in your ‘X’ chromosome. Bob as Carol also carried the witch trait in one of her ‘X’ chromosomes. Don’t ask me how they do that. Our friend Myrna Moskowitz can explain it better than I can.

“The same thing was done for Aurora. But in this case both her parents were carriers. That was very easy to fix. Aurora’s sisters could have been witches, but her mother is deceased and never bore more children.

“So I don’t have any choice in this?” Sandra asked a bit contemptuously.

“No more choice than Paul would have had had he been gay. There is no choice. Paul would always be transgender and miserable. Paula is no longer transgender, and she is no longer miserable. She’s very much in love by the way, and Tom is in love with her. He’s already come to terms with the fact that Paul is now Paula.”

“What will Tom, Dimitri, and Aurora’s parents think when they find out about this?” Sandra asked.

“They already know,” The Wizard said. “They left a little while ago. We had a very nice chat.”

“All of us will meet out there when they come out of the cave. That should be at 5:06 this afternoon.”

“What do we do now?” Pappy asked.

“We take the gold eggs and hope that the pirate doesn’t find us again. We should continue north from here,” Tom said.

“What happened to you?” Aurora whispered to Paula.

“My nipples are itching like crazy. I think there’s a lot going on in there.”

“Yeah, me too. It’s kinda great isn’t it?”

“You have that right.”

It was another hundred yard according to the range finder when they came on an iron door that appeared to be quite rusty. Tom pulled on the large ring handle, but nothing happened. “We need to oil the hinges.”

Pappy poured some oil on the hinges and they waited. Tom gave the door a hard pull. It creaked and maybe moved an inch. Pappy poured a bit more oil on the hinges and they were able to get it about halfway open.

“Leave the oil, we shouldn’t need it again,” Tom said as he squeezed through the opening. He gave the door a push from the other side and it opened another foot. They continued north for a while until they could hear the roar of water. Coming around the corner of a boulder they were greeted with a large waterfall that plummeted beyond what they could see.

“Isn’t that a pitch fork?” Paula asked pointing at something that lay against a large rock.

“Nope, that’s a trident, and we will definitely need it,” Aurora said as she picked it up. “Things are going to get interesting, now.”

They headed west for a while before going down a long sloping passage. From there it was southwest and still on a downward slope, then finally upward to an open area with a large chasm disappearing in both directions. A rather rickety bridge crossed the chasm and a sign rather rudely nailed to a post said, “Pay the Troll.”

Before they could take one step on the bridge, a rather ugly troll appeared. “If ye want to cross, ye gotta pay up.” He really was quite ugly and seemed very proud of it.

“Throw the eggs to him. We’ll get them later.”

Spying the eggs, the troll grunted, “That’ll be three eggs apiece if you want to cross.”

Pappy tossed the eggs to the troll who raced off with his booty.

“Are we coming back this way?” Pappy asked.

“Most likely,” Aurora answered. “That’s part of the puzzle.”

They headed in the only direction they could go until they came to a fork in the cave.

“We’ll go left first. I don’t think it really matters,” Tom said.

The tunnel ended in a small chamber where a small chest sat on a flat spot on a boulder. Inside were carefully labeled bags: each containing precious spices. There must have been a pound of saffron.

Heading back to the fork, they took the other path that dropped down and east where they came upon a rather large bear who immediately growled and stood on his hind legs. Fortunately, he was secured to the wall with a bright gold chain locked in place with a gold padlock.

“First things first,” Aurora said. “I need the lunch in the brown paper bag. I believe Paula has it.”

Paula handed the bag to Aurora who opened it, unwrapped two large sandwich subs, and gave them to the bear. The sandwiches disappeared rather rapidly, and the bear immediately became very docile. Aurora took the keys she’d carefully kept in her Levis and unlocked the chain from the wall.

“Okay, he’s our friend for life. We’ll need him in a little while.

“Come on bear, you’re going to have some fun in a little while.”

They made their way back to the chasm and the troll who immediately barred their way.

“You don’t cross until you’ve paid,” the troll exclaimed.

“Here, have a bear,” Aurora said as she released the chain from the bear’s collar.

The troll screamed as he turned to run down a narrow path alongside the chasm with the bear at his heels.

“Time to cross,” Tom said. He stopped at the far side of the bridge and fiddled with the sign.

“What are you doing?” Aurora asked.

“In one of the versions I played the sign came off a nail. I hung the chain on the nail and climbed down there,” he said pointing at the rushing waters many feet below. “I went along a narrow ledge before ending up in an accounting office. There was a deed to the whole cave. The only problem was that I couldn’t take the deed unless it was signed. There was ink but no pen.”

“The bird,” Pappy exclaimed. “You had to take a tail feather from the bird. It became the pen. That’s cool.”

“Very good, Pappy, I had to die several times before I figured it out.”

They pressed on through the sloping corridor and the large low room where they were very thankful for their hardhats. They turned southeast and found a room decorated with very fine oriental carpets and fixtures. A very ornately painted oriental vase stood on a pedestal.

“Don’t touch the vase,” Tom said as Pappy started to reach for it. “It’s a trap. You’ll see what I mean in a little while.”

They moved on to an area where the limestone was full of holes, and looked exactly like supersized Swiss cheese, except it was gray. Past there they came to where they had been before, the bed quilt formation, and Paul was able to close a loop in the diagram. From there they went to the complex junction and headed to the north. After climbing a considerable way, they came to a giant clam sitting in the middle of the floor minding its own business.

“Now what?” Pappy asked.

“We open the clam with the trident,” Aurora stated.

It was relatively easy to pry the clam open, but when she did, a large pearl popped out, fell to the floor and rolled out of sight.

“Don’t worry about the pearl. We’ll get it in a minute.”

The clam snapped shut and refuse to react to any more probing. Following the route the pearl had taken, they dropped several levels down before they found the pearl up against a far wall. It didn’t seem any worse for wear, and Paula put it in her pack. They returned to the shell room and then south to the complex junction. From there it was past the dirty rocks and dusty passage to Y-2.

“Are we together,” Tom asked as he took Paula’s hand in his right hand and Aurora’s in his left. They, in turn, were holding hands with Pappy.

“Plugh.”

“Lights off.

“How long were we gone his time, Pappy?” Tom asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t find my phone, but all our treasures are here.”

“According to my phone we’ve been gone a little over an hour. By my watch, it’s been a bit more than a day,” Aurora said. “I’m hungry and need a shower. I think we’d better return.”

“I agree,” Paula said looking at Aurora. Her face and skull had changed considerably. She no longer looked like a teenage boy. She was definitely a young woman. She also had a developing bust line as did Paula. It was going to be time for further exploration.

They left their acquired treasures and the trident (Tom felt that it might have another function later on), held hands, turned on their lights, and returned to Y-2 where they would spend the night. Of course the restrooms were now installed in the opposite wall.

Tom and Paula were fixing dinner over the small catalytic propane stove. The food wasn’t bad. Some of required reconstituting by soaking it in water. They picked an Irish stew for the main course and a peach cobbler of sorts for desert.

“How are you feeling?” Tom asked Paula.

“Very good. How do I look?”

“Quite nice, I see the old you; however, you’re now a very attractive young woman. I would say physically you look about 13. You have a ways to go before you catch up to your actual age.

“It really is happening isn’t it?”

“Yes, all the external plumbing is definitely female. I’m pretty sure things are changing internally, too. My hips are definitely wider. I have little boobs now. I hope they grow a bit more.”

“I think you are at least an inch taller than you were when we started. It’s funny, I think Aurora’s at least an inch or two shorter.”

“Yeah, but she’s as cute as a bug. Pappy’s going to have his hands full with her. I mean that in a figurative sense in case you were wondering.”

“What about us, Paula? Is this going to change our friendship?”

“More than likely,” Paula said.

“Oh,” was Tom’s worried reply.

“You know I love you, don’t you?” Paula asked. “I have for a long time.”

“I think I said it in the cafeteria that first day of school when I pointed you out to Pappy. I felt something inside when I realized it was you. I knew then and more so later on that I was going to be at your side while you transitioned. I think I knew then that I loved you and that we’d have to face the world together. I know this whole thing makes things easier for us; however, my feelings haven’t changed. Regardless of the outcome, I want to marry you if you will have me. I’ll make that official when we get out of here.”

“I accept your unofficial proposal,” Paula said as she planted a kiss on Tom’s lips – a kiss that lingered for quite a while.

“They seem to be getting on quite well,” Pappy said as he watched the two in their affectionate embrace.

“Hell, that was written in stone. I hope they use protection.

“What? You mean they’re going to do it?”

“Eventually, the times not right now, though.”

“What about us?”

“That remains to be seen.”

Things are happening rather quickly, and all four protagonists are determined to successfully complete the adventure. Alice Gräber is surprised when she returns home. What is the translation of Gräber?