62 - "The Corridors Under Elmbridge, Myth or Reality?"

In Alexander's so extravagant bedroom, he, Elizabeth and Johnny got ready to take part in the second round. The only thing known about this second quest of the contest was that it would take place in the Burning Desert.

Alexander wondered how he could win this event, while Elizabeth hoped and prayed to stay alive during and after the event.

"Maybe we'll have to fight with dragons ... I just hope we won't fight with the Northern Spotted Dragon from Iceland or the Danish Striped Spike ... I heard it can spit lava, not fire."

The only thing Elizabeth managed to say with that mess in her mind showed how scared the poor girl was with every word of Soimesti:

"How to ... fight dragons? We're just children…"

That beautifully set up bedroom at Elmbridge magic school was adorned and furnished to the boy's taste. Of course, everything happened following numerous insistences from the Magic Consulate, in which Soimesti the senior, Mr. Vasili, was a member, thus having some power among all ranks of wizards.

Knudlac Eaden didn't like all this, because this room that looked like the inside of a royal palace gave rise to many discussions. But he managed not to let the Magic Consulate poke around into more important aspects related to the internal organization of the Elmbridge School of Magic, such as choosing professors to teach in the school, or much other important stuff, so director Knudlac eventually accepted this whim.

Prince Soimesti had in the castle of Elmbridge a room whose standards rose to the level of his pride and arrogance, similar to those in the mansion where his family lived.

The children read with Johnny about that Burning Desert, the hottest place anyone could get to.

"In the arena of the ice temple, if you had problems with the cold there, you could put on thicker clothes. But what can you do here? You can't stay naked ... And I heard there are scorpions as big as a horse or basilisks as big as elephants, hidden in that hot sand ..." Johnny managed to scare poor Elizabeth even more.

Even though Johnny was eliminated from the team, without earning that parchment and the magic he could learn, he continued to help the other two.

"A team will be a team forever," the boy said, smiling when the two still in the competition thanked him for the support.

But this help, as you can see very well, meant ruining Elizabeth's confidence in her own strengths and losing her courage. And maybe Johnny managed to scare even Alexander, but the boy was able to hide it.

"This challenge will certainly be much harder than Nakutsck's. I got that the emir wizard, the 'Desert jewel' as they call him, wants to show through his tests how strong and wise he is. So ... you have to fear," Johnny expressed his precious, helpful advice.

"We'll create that potion that Pmyrie spoke to me about," Elizabeth said encouraging herself. "But for that we need freshly grown sprout from dry poplar root," the girl read from a paper she wrote. "The elf girl told me these sprouts can be found at the end of the poplar roots. And this potion will help us cope with that extreme heat without losing our minds because of sunstroke. Though, I wonder where we can find those sprouts."

This is reason for thinking. The three kids sat like Rodin's famous Thinker.

"Doesn't this dry poplar have the root at least as deep as the crown height ...? Or am I wrong?" Johnny asked, hoping that this time he misunderstood or didn't memorize correctly one of the lessons he studied at Mrs. Harmony's classes.

But Elizabeth's approving gaze that he was right, frightened him. Why was he right at that moment?

"But, the poplars outside are over 100 cubits high. And then the tip of the roots is at ... 100 cubits in the ground?"

"Wrong," Alexander corrected him.

Johnny breathed in relief. But only for a moment, because the situation was actually worse.

"They have the root three times deeper. And that means 300 cubits."

Alexander blighted their hope anyway destabilized by Johnny.

"What shall we do then? Shall we start digging?" Johnny started wincing. "For, to dig 300 cubits of earth would mean ... thirty years of work for us. And the test is next week."

Elizabeth and Alexander kept thinking, but didn't find the solution.

"Shall we speak to Miss Harmony, maybe ...?"

"I've already talked to her," Elizabeth replied. "She's got dry poplar root, but she hasn't got any new sprout. It must be uprooted and placed at once in an ice bottle to stay fresh. Otherwise it's useless ..."

Alexander's face expressed his disappointment. He didn't like it when his solutions didn't work out. For him this could only mean there were no solutions.

"What if ... if it won't be as hot as the others say?" Johnny found in his mind a personal solution to solve this problem.

"Yeah, how come we haven't thought of this, Johnny? Let's leave everything to chance because we'll freeze in the Burning Desert. And maybe the Arctic Ocean doesn't have ice-cold water, but it's as hot as tea. You're a genius ..." Alexander couldn't help being ironic with Davies.

Seeing the boy looked down in shame, Prince Soimesti continued in a quieter tone:

"My father told me that the Emir of the Desert wasn't the host of an event for at least two centuries. I got a competitor was about to die because of poison from the beasts there ... or because of dehydration. So we pray in vain not to be hot, because it will be hot. The only difference between then and now is his promise that something like that will never happen again. That no one will be in mortal danger. But in Dad's opinion nothing will be different from then. He came to talk to Knudlac to change location or I won't compete anymore ..."

"Will you leave Elizabeth alone?" Johnny asked, scared.

"Of course not. I also talked to dad and told him that if I feel something is wrong, I'll ask to be taken out of the game. Saved by those who watch over us. So he let me compete further. But we won't have to leave the competition because we'll find a solution. Finally ..." Alexander ended what he had to say.

"Why poplar roots? Why not cherry or apple tree roots?" Johnny complained louder than ever.

Again, silence. They were so quiet that the painting Elizabeth looked at began to show the construction of Elmbridge school and how it was founded.

The huge picture presented images from over a thousand years ago, when a group of wizards wandered over these lands, followed by several evil wizards who wanted to harm both magicians and sceptics who lived in that area.

That painting not only began to present various moments when the wizards, along with many sceptical workers, worked on the foundation of this school and its construction, but it also made various noises specific to the images that appeared. Noises from various tools and utensils, the sound of pulleys breaking and falling with load, lots of pictures and sounds that showed how exhausting the work was and how tired were the people who each day built the school, and many others ...

But it all disappeared when Elizabeth realized the boys were disturbed by her repetitive study of the painting, which actually she saw dozens of times, so she stopped looking at it again.

"I didn't realize I watched it," the girl apologized. "I watched thinking about ..."

The boys said nothing but kept thinking again about the problem, especially now that it was silence again.

"If those builders thought to make some tunnels below the school, to be closer to those roots, to avoid digging, it would be ..."

"That's it!" Johnny screamed as if he saw a vampire, scaring to death both the girl and Alexander.

Elizabeth looked at Johnny, then at Alexander, hoping the latter would scold the boy for scaring them.

But Alexander was grinning from ear to ear, so if Johnny hadn't yelled, he would do it.

"Exactly," he said, and then he went to look for something in the shelves in the library.

The girl was the only one confused. She wanted to run after Alexander to ask for explanation but when she saw Johnny sitting quietly in a chair, she gave up this idea.

She kept thinking and when she wanted to ask Johnny, Alexander came with a pile of books, atlases and maps.

"The oldest plans of the school talk about 'The Lost Lane' or 'The Labyrinth in the Basement'. Some areas that are no longer represented on the new maps, because ... nobody knows how to get to them."

Johnny's smile faded, because he heard stories about these places too, but he thought they no longer visited them because they were forbidden, or dangerous, or because ... who knows why? But under no circumstances would he think it was because no one knew how to get there.

"What are we doing then?" he asked, scared.

"We must find a solution. Transmutation ... or translocation. Or a portal, a key something ... I have some books here that could help us. Elizabeth will read about them, Johnny, search in Elmbridge School History department, or renovation plans. See if you find something ..."

"And you?" Johnny asked unhappily, as he thought he had the most difficult task.

"I'm going to talk to ... my contacts," replied Alexander secretly. "Those who helped me ... helped us get into the Ancient Forest, they can definitely give me ideas or guide me in some way."

The girl, without hesitating got the book "The corridors under Elmbridge, myth or reality?", opened it and began reading.

Johnny, far less enthusiastically than the girl, also took a map and began to ... leave the impression that he got what he studied there.

"See you at 11 p.m. in the library," Alexander proposed.