TotW 264: Wizard School - WINNER'S CIRCLE!

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Wizard School


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For the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26th of June 1997), the first book of the Harry Potter series.

It took some time for inspiration to strike most of the entrants in this competition, but once it did, they provided a fine contest for us. Our winner this time was Rex Anglorvm, with a story about the wizardry of charm and promises - and a caution about how far those should be relied on.

Here is that winning tale:

TotW 264: Wizard School - WINNING SUBMISSION

Wizard School

The scar formed by the glistening railroad tracks seemed to stretch for miles across the barren landscape of the sand dunes, the wreckage of a train now split the symmetry of the two steel lines, as its carriages and engine spilled over the sand like the body of a decapitated cobra, the smallest but most deadly snake to be found in the deserts of the Nefud.

Abdullah rose from his prone position on the ground, wiping fine grains of sand from his clothing he smiled admiringly at the chaos and destruction that the four sticks of dynamite from a looted Turkish supply truck had provided him with. His smile turned to a snarl of satisfaction as he watched the few enemy soldiers that had survived the derailment cut down by placed shots by the expert rifleman of his people or by mounted tribesmen brandished gleaming scimitars that caught the midday Sun as they were raised to the vertical for the killing stroke, shortly followed by an arc of arterial blood springing from the neck of their chosen victim. Elsewhere men looted the dead or checked the smashed carriages of the train for survivors who were quickly dispatched with the cut of a curved knife to the throat.

He turned to his left and with a smile that never quite reached his eyes looked at the man who had risen from the sand next to him, he remembered how the golden haired man had turned up at his tribe’s encampment seemingly out of nowhere, dressed in the spotless uniform of the British, promising golden sovereigns and freedom from the Ottomans for those who would rise up in resistance to their rule.
Unlike his compatriots who believed the promises that the Englishman gave, he did not believe a word of them, his fellow Bedouin had fallen under the spell of the man; it was as if the swagger stick he tapped against his hip was a magic wand that had bewitched all around him, apart of course from Abdullah.

Like all of this ‘type’ of Englishman, he emanated self-belief, confidence and a level of arrogance concerning his own abilities, this seemed to be drummed into them by what the English and this particular Englishman called Wizard Schooling; however in his case this was tempered by a gift to charm, cajole and persuade all around him to do his bidding or to join his cause, even without the gifts of gold, many Bedouin would have still followed him, it was as they had drunk some magic potion that had installed in them nothing but love for the man and his mad attacks on the Turks.
It wasn’t that Abdullah though that Captain Lawrence was a liar, he just thought him naive; he knew once the Ottomans had been defeated that Britain and France would carve up the lands of his people between them.

It was ever the way of the powerful.

Thank you to all our entrants and all our voters, and, once again, congratulations to Rex Anglorvm.

TotW 264: Submission thread | Voting thread

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If you fancy taking part in the Tale of the Week, please look at our submission thread for TotW 265: Mud and Blood

Thanks for voting for me everyone - and thanks to my fellow contestants for putting upa good fight!

Rex

Great story, Rex! I enjoyed the way that you used the key words and even the title of this TotW to create a very different story - Caillagh described it well by saying that your piece was about the wizardry of charm and promises. Abdullah is a great character, I like his reflections on Captain Lawrence and on the intentions of Britain and France.

And he returns in a blaze of glory... congrats Rex. :D